Defender of the Crown

Defender of the Crown description

I think any self-respecting gamer heard of this masterpiece. If I'm not mistaken, this is the first full-fledged turn-based strategy game, originally released. Despite the basic graphics (though happy owners of EGA cards and monitors, which in those days was very little, had seen as many as sixteen colors instead of the standard four) and quite monotonous gameplay, the game immediately won the hearts of millions of people around the world - played by everyone: students, zachityvalis novels about the middle ages, and their fathers, who did not know how to spend a boring winter evening.

The events of the game unfolded in medieval England (the opposition of the Saxons to the Norman conquerors in the middle of XI century). In order to win, the player had to win all the Norman castles, however, the allies, the Saxons could at any moment to strike a treacherous blow in the back and keep the offensive.

In the beginning the player was required to choose one of four playable characters: one of them was an excellent horseman, the second was a born leader, a third had no equal in fencing with swords, and the fourth was a "Golden mean" - he had all the necessary skills, but he especially didn't succeed in any of them. After selecting your character, the player immediately moves on the strategic map. In the beginning he was able to control only a single province, in order to support a large army and get at least some space for strategic maneuvers, it was urgent to begin expansion. And conquer new lands was not necessarily - you could make a jousting tournament and the winner received an allotment of losers (of course, it's risky, but it was possible to attach a new territory, without losing a single soldier). In any province you could recruit troops, and the strength of the army was limited only by the thickness of your wallet and your common sense. The inhabitants controlled by the player provinces regularly paid taxes are brought low, but stable income. You can organize raids on enemy castles - in case of success, a player could improve his financial situation, but in case of failure, he would lose a large part of their savings (redeemed himself from captivity).

Military action the player could not control in the outcome of the battle was determined completely randomly, sometimes even a handful of soldiers could prevail against the huge and well trained army. This is a significant drawback, but it is unlikely the developers were any alternative.

Almost everything in the game is done quite schematically, but still, if you somehow inexplicably missed it, I highly recommend immediately to fix it because it's a true classic of the genre. Not so long ago, there have been several remakes of "Defender of the Crown", they differ from the original with modern graphics and sound, as well as improved gameplay.

Play your all-time favorite Defender of the Crown free on your browser here.

Source: Archive.org, Mobygames.com