Zeus: Master of Olympus

aka: Herrscher des Olymp: Zeus, Il Signore dell' Olimpo: Zeus, Le Maitre de l'Olympe: Zeus, Master of Olympus: Zeus, Mestre do Olimpo: Zeus, Olympens Härskare: Zeus, Señor del Olimpo: Zeus, Zeus: Pan Olimpu
Moby ID: 2640
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/27 9:41 PM )

Description official descriptions

After Pharaoh, Impressions Games took its city building series into Ancient Greece, land of Zeus, Ares and his dragon, and many other mythological figures.

The most important change to the core of the previous games is how dwellings are built and improve. Instead of allocating single tiles of land the player can choose between building common and elite housing. These only expand inside the allocated plot; common houses cannot evolve into elite houses, which allow the player to build a city block immediately without worrying about newcomers building in the middle of a 2x4 block, rendering the four plots on each side almost useless.

The distribution of goods has also changed. While the production remains the same, goods are now sold at the Agora, a roadside market. Then, the player builds the shops and after they arrive from nearby warehouses and granaries, a peddler roams the streets, selling his goods until he is sold out (roadblocks can be used to control his path, keeping him in the neighborhood).

Finally, religion plays a larger -and more palpable- part than in previous games. In many missions, the player may be facing a monster summoned by a deity (which requires the player to call a hero such as Heracles by building him a nice building with all required commodities) or the Deity himself, which can cause extreme damage to the city (like Ares or Athena) or lure inhabitants away from the city (Aphrodite). To obtain their favor and blessings, the player first must build a gigantic temple and then offer a sacrifice, even if sometimes they help the player from their own kindness. While in previous games their actions were communicated by message boxes, in Zeus they have their own sprites, roaming across the city.

The rest of the game remains unchanged from the core of the series. The player is in charge of developing a plot of land and turn it into a thriving new city. For that, the player must build enough housing spots and provide jobs for the people, either working in production of raw material, manufacturing of goods or services done to the city. These services include philosophers, athletes and actors, who entertain the people and every four years take part in the Olympic Games, which brings fame to the city. Other services include tax collectors, water bearers, healers, watchmen, and superintendents. Each level (excluding sandbox games) have a goal that may range from stockpiling a number of goods, submitting neighboring cities, or acquire enough currency.

Spellings

  • Зевс: Повелитель Олимпа - Russian spelling
  • אדון האולימפוס: זאוס - Hebrew spelling
  • 宙斯 - Traditional Chinese spelling
  • 宙斯:众神之主 - Simplified Chinese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (Windows version)

164 People · View all

Designer
Programming Director
Producer
Programmers
Music
Sound Design
Adventure Production
Beta Testing Supervisor
Localization Producer
Art Director
Additional Design
Artists
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 83% (based on 34 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.2 out of 5 (based on 43 ratings with 2 reviews)

Hours upon hours of great entertainment

The Good
The graphics were very good, and being able to rotate the world view came in handy. The tutorials are excellent, each one building upon the last. The gameplay is reasonably open-ended (for those who enjoy combat, there are plenty of other cities to conquer. For those that prefer diplomacy, you can bribe and sweet talk your way into friendly relationships with other cities; even fighting is optional, as you can simply bribe enemy armies to leave you in peace). The people's voiced opinions of you can be quite entertaining. Building the temples (gathering the marble, bronze, sculpture etc) is good The game tells you in advance how hard or easy certain adventures are Adventures can take a long time to complete, giving far more time to enjoy the game You can reschedule labor if you're short on people but need certain industries well-staffed (Example: tell everyone to work on the farms producing food, then tell them to get to the granaries and unload that food and get it sent around to the houses). The monuments you get for different things (conquering, winning the Olympic games etc) are good

The Bad
When you conquer a city, it pays you an annual tribute. It would have been much better if you could have selected the kind of tribute you wanted (I often end up having extra fleece or olives dumped on me when I've got too much as it is!)

The Bottom Line
Although not normally a fan of city building games, I was surprised at how much I loved this one. Simple, easy, open-ended enough (Sandbox mode is available right from the start) and even a little bit educational. If you like city building games, you'll love this one. If you don't, try it anyway; you may be as surprised as I was.

Windows · by Jude Austin (2) · 2012

The best city building game other then SimCity.

The Good
Impressions fixed what I found to be the most annoying aspects of the earlier Impressions game Caesar II (and I would presume, Caesar III). In Caesar II, the land value of your houses could suddenly drop for no apparent reason. In Zeus, land value can still drop; however, land value does not play as large a role in Zeus as in Caesar II. In Zeus, distribution of goods and access to culture are the most important factors in housing levels. Goods can be produced in your own city, or imported from another city. Also, access to water, culture, and other services is more understandable in Zeus. In Caesar II, each house had to be within a certain distance from a well or fountain if it was to have water. In Zeus, fountains send out "water bearers" to deliver water to your citizens. You can see them walk and it is much easier to tell if a building has water access.

The Bad
Back to the water bearers. There is a disadvantage to them. They are not very smart, and unless you give them only a few choices (or better yet no choices) as to where to go, they may not go to the places that need water the most. Also, Zeus is not a very realistic game. Greece was not as Zeus portrays it, and this will be clear if you play it for a time and then think about it. However, I should point out that SimCity is for the most part, the only realistic game that I have played. For example, the game Civilization is unrealistic because the government does not build factories and banks or research everything.

The Bottom Line
Zeus is a city building game where you must manage all aspects of your city (you are the sole employer). You must make sure that your citizens have enough food, fleece, olive oil, water, culture, and jobs. You build and then you must manage, manage, manage.

Windows · by Alex Schwendner (34) · 2001

Discussion

Subject By Date
can't play with windows 7 64 bit Angel80 May 18, 2015

Trivia

Look out in the game CD for an MP3 file named "explixi". Not heard anywhere in-game, it is a mix using several of the walker voices over a fast-paced synth tune.

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Acropolis
Released 2001 on Windows
ExZeus
Released 2003 on Windows, PlayStation 2
ExZeus
Released 2009 on iPhone, 2010 on Android
Zeus Quest: Remastered
Released 2016 on Windows, Linux, New Nintendo 3DS...
Secrets of the Past: Dion
Released 2018 on iPhone, Android, Windows
Poseidon: Zeus Official Expansion
Released 2001 on Windows
The Battle of Olympus
Released 1988 on NES, Game Boy
Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares
Released 1996 on DOS, Windows, 1997 on Macintosh
Iratus: Lord of the Dead
Released 2019 on Windows, 2020 on Linux, Macintosh

Related Sites +

  • Zeus Heaven
    Fansite for Zeus, contains an active forum, plenty of game-related information, and hundreds of user-created files. Part of the HeavenGames network.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 2640
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Andrew Hartnett.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, tbuteler, Kabushi, Maw, Aubustou, danowar, Luis Silva, Crawly, Kola256, Paulus18950, marley0001, Plok, Zhuzha.

Game added November 26, 2000. Last modified March 18, 2024.