Dragon Isles

Dragon Isles is a video game in the strategy genre and published by BUG Multisystem Ltd. originally released in 1993. It is currently playable on DOS.

The green archipelago of the Dragon Isles: home to a prosperous nation led by an emperor, enjoying a thriving and peaceful culture. Or so it was, until a huge hostile fleet invaded from across the ocean, devastated the land and reduced the once flourishing civilization to ruins. Only groups of survivors managed to escape with their lives, and the conquering enemy remained on the islands for decades. Until one day a leader rose up, gathered the scattered remnants of his people and set sail back to the Dragon Isles to try to reclaim his ancestral home.

In command of this small group of warriors and settlers, newly landed on the first island, you must gather your forces and launch the reconquest. As in most real-time strategy games, your efforts will be focused on gathering resources, creating units, repelling enemy attacks and constructing buildings to strengthen your village base and improve your military skills. Once all enemy forces and facilities are annihilated, the island is yours, and your brave company travels to the next one to open a new campaign.

Unlike the common top-down type of real-time strategy game, the player is not a mere disembodied, invisible commander: your character dominates the action from the back of a flying dragon, and the screen scrolls along with your movements. There is no 'fog of war', and the entire map is visible from the start, including enemy-controlled areas, but there is a limiting factor: in hostile territory you may encounter the enemy general, who rides another flying dragon and may banish you to your base after a brief scuffle.

Resource gathering is handled by the peasants, who till the land, harvest food and materials, and produce the necessary upkeep to maintain your army and your various facilities. Additional profits can be made by building windmills or exploiting the islands' natural resources (such as oil). To create a capable reconquest army, it will be necessary to build barracks to train various types of units, from knights and archers to cavalry and war elephants. As the game progresses, you will be able to build temples and monasteries to commission monks, castles to produce large-scale forces, and even start a Secret Service to train spies and, yes, ninjas(!).

Dragon Isles can be played in Hebrew or English.

It is possible that we have multiple downloads available when different versions exist.