''Polanie'' is a historical

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, turn ...

video game developed by MDF and published by USER for

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

in 1996. An enhanced CD version was released the following year. It was the first Polish RTS game and has been since described as a

cult classic A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

in Poland. It was followed by ''

Polanie II ''Polanie II'' , also known as ''KnightShift'' and ''Once Upon a Knight'', is a real-time strategy and role-playing video game hybrid developed by Reality Pump Studios and released by Topware Interactive for the PC Windows Windows is a gro ...

'' in 2003. The planned third game, ''Polanie 3'', eventually turned into an unrelated action RPG '' Two Worlds''. A canceled remake of the original has been in development during the 2010s.

Gameplay

The game offered 25 missions, based around the plot of fictional Polan tribal leader Mirek, who returns from an expedition to his hometown only to find it in ruins. Throughout the game, Mirek will try to rebuild his country, defeat enemies, and conquer new lands. The game has fantasy elements, including magic and spell-wielding units. The game economy is based around a single resource, milk, produced by cows which roam regenerating grasslands (therefore unlike some other games, the resources in ''Polanie'' can never be exhausted). Military units are expensive to produce, and battles often involve only a few units on each side.

Development and release

''Polanie'' was designed by a team of several young Poles headed by Mirosław Dymek, developed by MDF and released by Hurtownia Oprogramowania USER. When they were designing the game, Dymek and the developer team were students at the

AGH University of Science and Technology AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, (abbreviated as ''AGH UST'') is a public university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1913, its inauguration took place in 1919. The university focuses on innovation, innovative technologies, its ...

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. They did not expect to profit from game sales, but instead saw the game as an entry in their portfolio. The game was released on

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...

. An enhanced edition in 1997 was released on CD-ROM, adding new missions (five new scenarios in addition to the one from the base game) and new units. The game was released in Polish, Czech (as ''Osadnici'') and German (as ''VICTORY''). An unofficial English mod called ''Slaves'' for the floppy disk version of the game was rumored to exist at one time.

Reception

The game received the award for Best Debut during the 1996 Play-Box trade show in

Katowice Katowice ( , , ; szl, Katowicy; german: Kattowitz, yi, קאַטעוויץ, Kattevitz) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area. It is the 11th most popul ...

. Reviews praised innovative and amusing elements, such as the presence of animals like cows and bears. The plot of the game was also positively reviewed, and described as interesting, particular due to the fact some missions instead of regular build and conquer required the player to complete specific objectives, such as leading a cow to a sacrificial altar. Several reviewers criticized the simplistic and underwhelming graphics. The lack of multiplayer functionality was also criticized.

Legacy

While the game sold only 6,000 copies, it was considered a surprisingly good record for that time and place, and the game has been since been described as a

in Poland. There, the game has been frequently compared to the international hit ''

Warcraft ''Warcraft'' is a franchise of video games, novels, and other media created by Blizzard Entertainment. The series is made up of five core games: '' Warcraft: Orcs & Humans'', '' Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness'', '' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos ...

'' from 1994, and while reviewers noted it is not strictly better, Polish fans appreciated the game lore tying it to Polish prehistory and

Slavic mythology Slavic mythology or Slavic religion is the religious beliefs, myths, and ritual practices of the Slavs before Christianisation, which occurred at various stages between the 8th and the 13th century. The South Slavs, who likely settled in the B ...

. In 2003, a sequel, ''

'' for Windows environment, was released. A real-time strategy like its predecessor, it was distributed in English as ''KnightShift''. A second sequel, ''Polanie 3'' or ''KnightShift 2: Curse of Souls'', was announced in 2004. A playable demo was already available in 2004, with plans for a release in 2005. It was to be a

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

, abandoning its real-time strategy roots, for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms. The game was never released under that title. The project however did develop into a high fantasy action role-playing game '' Two Worlds'', released in 2007, which itself got a sequel, ''

Two Worlds II ''Two Worlds II'' is an action role-playing game developed by Polish developer Reality Pump and published by TopWare Interactive as a sequel to 2007's '' Two Worlds''. It was released on 9 November 2010 in Europe for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, ...

'', in 2011. While the developer team traced the game's continuity to the 1996 game, very few fans realized the connection between those titles. In 2014, a remake of the original game for Android, iPhone and PC, tentatively titled ''Polanie Remake'', was announced, with a planned release date of 2016 for the 20th anniversary of the original game. It was delayed and eventually cancelled in 2018.

References

External links

*{{MobyGames, id=/polanie, name=''Polanie'' 1996 video games Cancelled Android (operating system) games Cancelled iOS games DOS games Fantasy video games Real-time strategy video games Single-player video games Video games based on Slavic mythology Video games developed in Poland Video games set in Poland Video games with historical settings Windows games 1996 establishments in Poland