Today, Lords of the Realm might not look like much, but in 1994, this was cutting edge stuff.

This was one of the first games to combine TBS with RTS – two genres that seem to be at the opposite sides of the spectrum.

Or, if you’re not familiar with the alphabet soup I just mentioned, imagine Civilization combined with Command & Conquer.

But how does this even work? How can a game be turn-based and be real-time at the same time?

Like Civilization, you manage resources, do diplomacy, keep the population happy. And you make those adjustments ever quarterly season.

Once you raise an army, though, you can walk into another county, attack a castle. But when you fight, you gather your army – which will have all sorts specialized troops – and fight your rival in real time.

I should mention that the goal of the game is to become the king of England. But when you’re doing this, you’re contending with four other lords, each with their own colours. Success in this game depends on efficiently managing each county under your control.

That is to say, you can’t just attack. If you go hog wild but don’t keep your citizens happy, they will be displeased and your grip on power could become temporary.

Graphically, this very much looks like a DOS game. You have lots of detail with big chunky pixels. Personally, I love the art style, and I’m sure that I’m not alone.

The soundtrack is also great. There’s lots of medieval music here that is downright folky. It’s got a chill vibe.

While I like this game, I have to confess that I like the sequels better. Lords of the Realm still had lots of rough edges, especially in the realm of keyboard controls. Later games were more intuitive.

Impressions Games made Lords of the Realm. The also made the Lords of the Realm sequels as well as the Lords of Magic spin-off. They’re also known for the wonderful Caesar series.

If you’re only going to play one game in the series, I’d go with Lords of the Realm II because it’s got the most balance and depth. However, this game is the most DOS-like in the series and also the least expensive.

On Steam, Lords of the Realm sells for C$2.59 – which is quite inexpensive even for an old DOS game. This is definitely a PC gaming classic, and one which deserves to be played even now.