The game was released on November 14, 2003 in North America[1] for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Each god-type costs design points which can be spent on the god's dominion properties, his/her magical abilities, or on the national castle type.

Troops and commanders are organized and a simple overhead-view grid can be used to place them in specific starting locations for combat.

The host-computer calculates the results of all battles and random events simultaneously and sends the result-files back to the players.

Many nations also have access to unique spells or choices of Pretender, as well as various abilities such as a bonus to castle defense, dominion which spreads death and decay, and more.

Abysia Atlantis Pythium Man Ulm Caelum C'tis Arcoscephale Ermor Marignon Pangaea Vanheim Jotunheim R'lyeh T'ien Ch'i Mictlan Machaka Dominions II was praised for its flexibility in allowing the player to command and customise his armies in a large number of ways.

[5] The long lifespan of Dominions II was also commented on, with the way gameplay concepts are introduced in stages being particularly impressive.

[6] The way that Dominions II introduces new gameplay concepts was found to present a steep learning curve to the player, requiring constant reference to a manual.

[6] The user interface, despite being streamlined from the original, was still described as cumbersome and unintuitive in areas, requiring the player to forcibly exit the game in order to correct errors in turn phases.

[6] The graphical representation of the player's armies and battles was also described as being "1998-era",[4] offering little feedback on the progress of encounters with opposing troops.

The editors wrote that "there's no fantasy game more epic, varied and vivid" than Dominions II.

They called it the year's best 4X title, and wrote that they "found it impossible to ignore the [game's] almost overwhelming depth of strategy".