King’s Bounty 2 — a forgotten Ukrainian DOS strategy game
The screenshot is from King’s Bounty 2, an unofficial, independently developed DOS-era strategy game created in Kharkiv, Ukraine, around 1992–1993. It was inspired by New World Computing’s original King’s Bounty, but it is presented as a separate game with its own story, mechanics, and ultimate objective.
Game description
In King’s Bounty 2, you play as a knight in the service of a king. Your mission is to reach a mysterious Ancient Continent, but getting there requires collecting all the pieces of an Ancient Map. You have a strict limit of 600 days to accomplish your quest.
The game combines overworld exploration, army management, strategy, magic, and encounters with rival knights and wizards. Your personal authority increases as you progress, allowing you to recruit stronger monsters and larger armies. A friendly wizard can improve your magic or authority for a price, while an evil wizard can curse you, erase your memory, and send you to a remote part of the continent.
Rival knights are another major threat. They command armies of their own and can pursue you across the map. Ships provide an important means of escape—and also allow you to travel across the game's waterways.
Important facts
- Title: King’s Bounty 2
- Genre: Strategy / fantasy adventure
- Developer: Independent/single developer
- Origin: Kharkiv, Ukraine
- Development: 1992–1993
- Platform: MS-DOS
- Graphics: EGA
- Hardware: Designed to run on IBM-compatible PCs, including 286-class machines.
- Publisher: None listed
- Main objective: Assemble the pieces of the Ancient Map and reach the Ancient Continent.
- Time limit: 600 days
- Core gameplay: Exploration, recruiting monsters, building an army, magic, rival knights, ships, and strategic decision-making.
A fascinating piece of early PC-game history
What makes King’s Bounty 2 particularly interesting is that it wasn't simply a commercial sequel. Its creator explicitly described it as a personal project that grew out of a long fascination with the original King’s Bounty. The game borrows the basic concept while adding a different storyline and its own mechanics.
For an Apple Portal Blog, I'd frame it as a fascinating example of early post-Soviet homebrew PC development: a locally made DOS game produced at a time when an individual programmer could create an ambitious strategy title for relatively modest hardware.
Apple Portal Retro Verdict: King’s Bounty 2 is less important as a polished commercial release than as a snapshot of the creativity of early-1990s independent PC developers. Its EGA artwork, medieval setting, 600-day campaign, army-building mechanics, and distinctly homemade origins make it a compelling piece of DOS gaming history.
