Myth II: Soulblighter

Myth II: Soulblighter is a real-time tactical game developed and published by Bungie Software Products Corporation for Windows 95/98. A direct sequel to the critically acclaimed Myth: The Fallen Lords, the game is set sixty years after the first war. The dark lord Balor is dead, but his lieutenant Soulblighter has returned to ravage the land with undead hordes. Players command a small force of medieval and fantasy units through a 24-mission single-player campaign, each mission providing a fixed set of troops with no resource gathering or base construction. The emphasis is on tactical positioning, terrain use, and unit preservation. The engine supports a fully three-dimensional, rotatable and zoomable camera, dynamic lighting, and detailed physics that drive the game's signature gore system. Multiplayer is a cornerstone, offering free online play via Bungie.net, LAN support, and spawnable installs from a single disc. A dozen game types, from classics like Capture the Flag to unique modes like Stampede! and Hunting, keep the multiplayer fresh. The game includes powerful editing tools, allowing the community to create custom maps and mods. Shortly after launch, Bungie discovered that the 1.0 version's installer could delete critical system files if installed to a non-default directory. The publisher immediately recalled all copies from shelves and reissued a fixed 1.1 version, a move widely praised for its integrity. Myth II received universal acclaim for its deep tactics, atmospheric presentation, and multiplayer innovation, cementing its place as a landmark in the real-time tactics genre.