Description of Ultimate Domain
A highly underrated empire building game, Ultimate Domain (or Genesia as it is known in Europe) plays a bit like a cross between Bullfrog's Populous and Sid Meier's Civilization, but with some unique twists.
The plot goes as follows: a long time ago, the King of Genesia defied the gods by giving the sacred jewels to his beloved. Angry, the Gods cursed the land, resulting in years of draught and starvation. Years later, three of the King's descendants are returning to the land. Only one can obtain forgiveness of the Gods by recovering the Jewels of Neort.
There are 2 ways to win the game: either you become the first to recover 7 of the 9 jewels, or eliminate all your adversaries. Since the jewels are scattered across the land, though, the two ways require similar strategies since you must invade the enemies' lands to capture their jewels, and defend your own against attack.
Gameplay in Ultimate Domain is definitely its strongest point. It is multi-faceted, varied, and gets deeper and more engaging the more you play, although it bogs down in later stages due to micromanagement (there is no "auto-build" option, for example). As with other empire-building classics, success in Ultimate Domain requires a fine balancing act between economics, military, and research on new technologies. Trade is crucial for obtaining raw material you don't have in your lands, which are needed to construct buildings. Similar to Sid Meier's Colonization, each citizen of the land must be assigned jobs, e.g. settlers, architects, woodsmen, farmers, and so on. Proper allocation of your workforce is therefore key to winning the game.
Ultimate Domain features many nice little touches that set it apart from other games, such as seasonal effects. For example, Fall is the best time to cut wood, and you will need a lot of surplus food to survive Winter. The graphics change to reflect what season you are in, and are quite pleasant to look at (although the overall color tone of the game is a bit dull). Another neat touch is the numerous technologies (here called "crafts") you can research and implement via inventions built by your inventors (who must work in workshops built by architects). There are over 70 inventions you can develop, most of which (such as the balloons and swords) are a lot of fun to observe once they are put in action. You can also hang out in the tavern to listen to adventurers' tips on locations of the jewels, and make offering to the gods in temples to raise the morale of your population.
On the downside, the AI is nothing to write home about. Although the computer players manage their lands quite effectively in terms of resource management and trade, their military tactics are severely lacking. This means that the outcome of most battles are determined more by the number of troops and the level of technology (e.g. whether they are equipped with sword), than by strategic planning. Ultimate Domain also suffers from the same weaknesses that many European games share: below average graphics, and cumbersome user interface. It would be much better if the most important game functions can be accessed from icons on the main isometric map screen (a la Populous), rather than having to click on each building to bring up a separate screen, then click on a few more items inside to bring up a menu where you can do something.
Despite all these weakneses, however, Ultimate Domain is a deep and engaging strategy game that fans of the genre should enjoy, once they get used to the interface and poor graphics. Two thumbs up!
Review By HOTUD
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Comments and reviews
Orceye 2024-02-05 0 point
I noticed some versions of the game has more starting options. Why is that?
Carlos Magnus 2022-09-23 0 point
HANGEMHI can u teach me how to use that mod? is for the .iso version?
Hangemhi 2021-01-02 0 point
IROG, thanks for the map extension tool. Such a great mod to allow some variation in game play. I have the original game and your mod appears to be solid at first use. Well done. When will you have the random map generator complete:)
Irog 2020-10-04 5 points
Hello Ultimate Domain / Genesia fans, I built a basic map editor to extend this awesome game live. It allows you to chose starting land for all 3 players and chose the number of settlers per land. https://rpgmaker.net/users/Irog/locker/UltimateDomainWorld.zip
dublarontwich 2019-12-04 0 point
i just realized i had to restart the game again. my warehouse got too full to where i couldn't build another warehouse! xD i can't just dump metal out the window i guess. i did play this when i was much younger. it's missing the cinematics but it's fine.
Alex 2019-06-28 -1 point
Thank you for this wonderful old game. I need system files for windows 7 or something else, I don't know. I just cannot play this game on windows 7. Please give me instructions how to prepare my system for iso version of Genesia. Thank you.
Hawk 2018-05-19 0 point
in dos box mount you dos drive
then mount the image
Z:\IMGMOUNT E C:\Images\MyImage.iso -t iso
then go to the director and run install :)
Hawk 2018-05-18 0 point
ultimate domain is genesia there is no difference i had it on my old pc played it lots and the remake on steam is chit they distroyed genesia
John 2017-10-18 0 point
I am getting an unknown file or damaged file error when attempting to extract the ISO.
Archer 2016-11-30 0 point
Meant to add that the error I"m getting is:
error "windows cannot find E:install.exe"; make sure you type the name correctly and try again.
running as admin, tried winrar, dosbox, etc. still same error or that 'this app cant run on my pc' if i just double click the exe instead of selecting 'run admin'. thx
Archer 2016-11-30 0 point
Hey! Thx for the game dl, but I am having problems running the actual Ult Dom ISO that you just uploaded. Running on Win8. Mounting from the actual / original file doensnt work and cant get it to run in DOS box either. Any suggestions? All other versions I've found are just the Genesia, I really would love to play the UD version. Thx for your help!
Buzzkillington 2016-04-03 1 point
So just to be fair. the download isn't actually Ultimate Domain, It's Genesia instead. It's the same game except Ultimate Domain has much better graphics and user interface.
Cogry 2013-05-18 0 point DOS version
Ultimate Domain is an awesome game that brought me hours and hours of fun. I really like the way it combines economy, military, town building, scientific development, and taking care of your people.
To give the game extra possibilities, I built a map generator. With it, you can select starting land for each player.
http://rpgmaker.net/users/Irog/locker/UltimateDomainWorld.zip
Feel free to use and comment.
Cogry 2013-05-18 0 point DOS version
Reviving the link:
http://rpgmaker.net/users/Irog/locker/UltimateDomainWorld.zip
Cogry 2012-06-30 0 point DOS version
Ultimate Domain is an awesome game that brought me hours and hours of fun. I really like the way it combines economy, military, town building, scientific development, and taking care of your people.
To give the game extra possibilities, I built a map generator. With it, you can select starting land for each player.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ysc708 -- "Click here to start download from sendspace"
Feel free to use and comment.
Write a comment
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Download Ultimate Domain
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DOS Version
824 KB
DownloadISO Version Ultimate Domain 49 MB
DownloadFloppy version French 
1 MB
Manual 3 MB
Amiga ROM
- Year: 1993
- Publisher: Mindscape International Ltd.
- Developer: Microïds
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