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Whenever a new, profitable game genre comes around, tons of companies show up to add their cheap knockoffs to the mix of game releases. Meanwhile, a handful of companies lead the pack with slight variations of the main theme. Cyberlore Studios and Microprose are daring to do something different. The recently released Majesty demo sports only one very quick scenario, but it shows a lot of promise for a new type of real time strategy game.

In a standard RTS, the player must micromanage the resources of the team, which usually consist of money or a set of two or three minerals, metal, or other natural resources that can be collected from the environment. These resources are used to make buildings that produce units or perform some special function. These games have been wildly popular lately, but the basic RTS has been done to death. At the same time as the leading companies in this genre seek out new ways to keep the RTS alive, Cyberlore Studios has decided to enter the market with Majesty.

The twist in Majesty is that the player takes a much more realistic role as a leader of a kingdom. Instead of micromanaging all of the resources and troops, as ruler you use your wallet to get things done. The only resource is gold, and it can't be mined. The only way to get more is to have your troops kill enemies. You don't even command your troops in Majesty. They have an AI, a personality, and a wallet that decides what they do.

Instead of micromanaging troops and guiding each to a target, you use reward flags. There are two types of reward flags: attack and explore. The player assigns a money value to a reward and then places the reward on the location or monster they want explored or attacked. The heroes decide whether or not they are interested in working for the paycheck.

The heroes make money from killing monsters whether you assign a reward to them or not. When they feel like they need sleep, they return home from their adventures and deposit a portion of their spoils in their guilds' treasury, where it is collected by the tax collector and given to you. The rest of the money that the heroes earn is theirs to use however they like on equipment upgrades and items like healing potions. Unfortunately, the demo is very limited and only offers one level of equipment upgrades and healing potions, so it was difficult to get a sense of the way the economy really works.

The demo starts by giving you a small settlement with a castle, a guard tower, a marketplace, and a house. In addition you are given a couple weak soldiers, some peasants, and a tax collector. Your available funds are enough to build all of the buildings in the demo from the start: warrior's guild, ranger's guild, blacksmith, marketplace, and tower. The guilds allow you to recruit heroes, and the blacksmith provides upgrades for your hero's weapons. The guilds are essential to build because enemies soon begin to overrun your city and you need heroes to defend it. The guard towers give your troops a place to visit, and when upgraded they can shoot arrows at enemies.