Total Annihilation: Kingdoms
Encyclopedia
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms or TA:K is a medieval fantasy
real time strategy game created and released by Cavedog Entertainment
on June 25, 1999. While it was the last major title from Cavedog Entertainment, an expansion pack, The Iron Plague, was released in 2000.
franchise. Although the game was neither a prequel nor a sequel to the original Total Annihilation game, comparisons between the two games were inevitable. There were numerous thematic and design differences between Total Annihilation and Total Annihilation: Kingdoms.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
real time strategy game created and released by Cavedog Entertainment
Cavedog Entertainment
Cavedog Entertainment, or Cavedog, was a video game developer based in Bothell, Washington. Cavedog gained the attention of gamers and the gaming press alike with the 1997 release of Total Annihilation , winning many accolades such as multiple Game of the Year honors or being one of The Greatest...
on June 25, 1999. While it was the last major title from Cavedog Entertainment, an expansion pack, The Iron Plague, was released in 2000.
Gameplay
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms was the anticipated second installment of the Total AnnihilationTotal Annihilation
Total Annihilation is a real-time strategy video game created by Cavedog Entertainment, a sub-division of Humongous Entertainment, and released on September 30, 1997 by GT Interactive for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. It was the first RTS game to feature 3D units and terrain...
franchise. Although the game was neither a prequel nor a sequel to the original Total Annihilation game, comparisons between the two games were inevitable. There were numerous thematic and design differences between Total Annihilation and Total Annihilation: Kingdoms.
- A more in-depth storyline, told with cutscenes between missions just as Total Annihilation had, but with more detail.
- A change from a futuristic setting to a fantasy setting.
- Four sibling monarchs struggle for domination of the land of Darien: Elsin of Aramon, Kirenna of Veruna, Thirsha of Zhon and Lokken of Taros, following the disappearance of their father, Garacaius.
- Simplified resource-management, with just one resource(mana) instead of two(metal, energy).
- Four sides at the start, as opposed to the original's two, with an expansion pack that added in a fifth.
- While the original Total Annihilation had players playing through the Core or Arm campaigns separately, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms switched between the four groups, players playing each side, as the levels progressed.
- Unlike the original Total Annihilation which had most of the units on its two factions virtually the same, other than in appearance, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms had very distinct characteristics between factions.