GameSpot has recently posted a preview of The Northern Expansion, an add-on pack to the popular strategy title Majesty. For those unfamiliar with the title, Majesty is a kingdom building/management sim in which a player advances by completing various quests. The twist to the game is that none of the characters, including the fighting classes known as heroes, can be directly controlled. Instead, the player must post bounties, direct wizards to cast spells by paying them money, and otherwise give incentives for any actions to take place.

The backstory of the expansion is as its name says - it expands the land of Ardania northward, adding snowy plains that include new monsters and lairs. The overworld map is enlarged to encompass both the original quests and the new quests contained in the north, to allow players to access both games at will.

Tweaked hero classes and new buildings have also been added. The sorcerer's abode, one of the new buildings included, allows access to six new spells, including the "change of heart" spell. This spell allows a player to cause a charging hero to flee, or a fleeing hero to go berserk.

Another new feature, dubbed "special effects," can trigger the appearance of random heroes or induce waves of monster attacks. This feature is touted to make older quests more replayable, but the review notes that it really doesn't add all that much, other than a few more monster attacks.

The review also notes that it's probably a good idea to have completed the original Majesty before moving on to the expansion set, as its difficulty level is extremely high. A mission listed as a "beginner" on the expansion set was considerably more difficult than the beginner levels contained in the original. Also mentioned is the fact that several secret quests, each with a very high level of difficulty, are also contained within the expansion.

Multiplayer and freestyle play modes have also been tweaked a bit:

Multiplayer enhancements include a build-tree editor, which can be used to limit the number and types of buildings you can construct in a multiplayer game. There's also a map view mode that lets you combine your field of view with that of your allies. The freestyle (skirmish) mode is also customizable, so when added together, The Northern Expansion provides quite a bit of additional gameplay.

For the rest of the review, be sure to check out GameSpot's posted impressions. There has yet to be an official annoucement regarding a Mac version of this expansion set, but both Cyberlore and Macplay have hinted that a Mac version of the expansion may be forthcoming.

GameSpot - Majesty Review

Majesty Official Site

MacPlay

Majesty

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