Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim Preview

The editors at Alltern8 were able to get their hands on a press copy of Paradox's Majesty sequel and have conjured up a preview based on their impressions.
Heroes level up on their own, advancing to more powerful classes, though this class system wasn't fully present in the portion of the preview I played. But one interesting new system found in the campaign was that of the Lords; heroes from previous battles that can be brought back into new missions with their experience and abilities intact. You are able to promote one hero to a Lord at the end of each campaign mission, and though these superior units soon build up, they are expensive enough to prevent them from being brought into play straight away.

Another element introduced in Majesty 2 is the ability to group heroes into parties. By building and upgrading a tavern, a group of four heroes can form an alliance, fighting as a single unit. This works great for weaker heroes, as one member can make up for the others' deficiencies for example, a ranger is excellent at long distance combat but weak up close, so pairing him with a warrior and a cleric (healer) reinforces his archery talents by ensuring that enemies attack the group's tank. With a wide range of guilds, forming the perfect party is something that will require considerable research. As well as permitting you to hire heroes, Guilds also grant Your Majesty's Spells, which allow you to do anything from instantly healing a hero to having the Rogues Guild extort your peasants for taxes; though like everyone else in this game, they'll require a cut.