Fantasy settings are a dime a dozen in gaming--things such as fire-breathing dragons and wizards with flowing beards and pointy hats have long since become clichés. After all, despite how many games take place in fantasy realms, very few of them--for various reasons--manage to use these settings effectively. Yet the success of the recent film The Lord of the Rings is a reminder that fantasy, when done right, can be cool. Disciples II: Dark Prophecy is further proof of this--it's one of those very rare computer games that draws on all the usual fantasy conventions but presents them in truly inspired, artistic form. However, the visuals aren't the only good thing about Disciples II. This turn-based strategy game, an overdue sequel to Strategy First's sleeper hit released back in August of 1999, has an elegant simplicity about it.

The tactical combat in Disciples II looks outstanding.

Disciples II takes place not long after the events of the original, and as such, the same four factions are the focus. These include the Empire, a sect of mighty human warriors; the Mountain Clans, a stalwart group of ancient dwarves; the Undead Hordes, restored to unnatural life thanks to the twisted magic of their queen; and the Legions of the Damned, literally demons from hell. The latter two perhaps sound more appealing, and to some extent they are, since it's always fun to play as the bad guy--especially bad guys as fearsome and evil as the undead and the demons of Disciples II. But all the factions are equally appealing in their own right, and while they all basically play the same way, each side has its own wide variety of great-looking, powerful units for you to use.

It's easy to get started playing Disciples II, but no thanks to the sparse manual and well-hidden, lackluster in-game tutorial. Like in the original, the core gameplay and mechanics of Disciples II are superficially similar to those of New World Computing's popular Heroes of Might and Magic series, since scenarios all take place on densely detailed isometric maps filled with treasure, wandering monsters, and plenty of places to explore. The game's resolution is locked at 800x600, and the maps are so concentrated that it can often be difficult to see some of their important features--for instance, you might overlook a powerful enemy squad that's practically in plain view. A minimap is always onscreen to help give you a better sense of the surroundings, but the game's fixed resolution keeps it from being particularly useful. However, you'll soon grow accustomed to the cluttered appearance of the maps as you scour each one using small yet mighty squads led by hero characters that you'll recruit from your castle.

You will spend little time building up your castle and will usually be occupied with more adventurous things, such as exploring and battling your foes. Resource management is important but thankfully simple. Each turn in Disciples II corresponds to a day of game time, and each passing day, the land surrounding your castle or any towns you've captured expands to encompass any nearby resources. These include gold that's used for buying new structures and items, as well as four different types of mana that are used for casting various spells. You can tell when you're on the home turf of any of the factions--the Empire's lands are lush and green, the Mountain Clans' areas are covered in snow, desolate wastelands are home to the Undead Hordes, and molten fissures in the earth are the trademark of the Legions of the Damned.

Each day, you can build a new structure in your castle, most of which are used to unlock higher-level versions of your units. You can't just recruit these--you must earn them by gaining enough battlefield experience with the basic unit. Your forces will engage in battles frequently, as most maps are filled with hostiles and are well balanced to include plenty of weaker foes near your starting location but much stronger foes farther out. Since all your units gain experience levels individually, you'll have to learn to pick your battles carefully and make sure you can keep your forces alive long enough to level up. This should all be familiar territory for Disciples players.

The richly detailed maps can take hours to fully explore.

In fact, aside from the completely redone graphics and sound, there aren't many immediately noticeable differences between the sequel and the original. Just about every single unit from the first game returns intact in the sequel, though you'll find that some unit balance issues have been fine-tuned. The resource model is the same, spellcasting is the same (as are most all of the spells), the role of thief units is the same, and the ability to choose from three different leader classes remains the same as well. That is, if you're familiar with Disciples, you'll be able to dive right into the sequel.

If you're not, you may be wondering about those three leader classes. You can play as a warrior lord, mage lord, or guildmaster lord--respectively, these options predispose your forces to focusing more on brute force, magic, or subterfuge. All the choices are viable--the warrior lord is the easiest route to take, the mage lord is strongest late in the game, and the guildmaster is the most interesting of the three. Each faction has access to a thief unit capable of spying on his foes, but as a guildmaster, your thieves will have exclusive access to various useful abilities. They'll be able to assassinate weaker foes outright or make other covert actions like send counterfeit orders to an enemy group, forcing it to rearrange in a random formation that might place its most vulnerable units in the front line.