Empire of Sin, the turn-based mafia strategy game developed by John and Brenda Romero, just released to a variety of opinions. The game was developed by Romero Games and published by Paradox Interactive, and it lets players live out their gangster fantasies in a 1920s Chicago.
The allure is palpable. In Empire of Sin you get to take control of a crime boss, recruit gang members, and build your underground empire as you dominate your way through the Windy City in the midst of the Prohibition era. While the story isn’t really new, Empire of Sin hopes to turn the trope on its head by immersing you in the action through a combination of XCOM-like strategy and mafia-focused management sim.
The game can allow for multiple unique playthroughs, since you can choose from 14 crime bosses that are based on real or fictional people. You could even choose to play as a woman that’s based on the developer’s own great-grandmother. The real question will be how all these concepts blend together for the full experience. Empire of Sin is currently sitting at a score of 67 on Metacritic, so here are some highlights from several reviewers of this game.
IGN (Jon Bolding)
“[Here’s] what Empire of Sin does best: Well-written, complex personal relationships, both positive and negative, that develop between your crew of criminal soldiers and make this management and tactical strategy game work….It’s an ambitious and complex mix of genres with a cool setting, but the result is riddled with janky bits, quests that feel unfinished, unreliable balance, and a boatload of bugs. It just isn’t a good game…All the good ideas and strong 1920s atmosphere in Empire of Sin amount to nothing in the end.“
Score: 4/10
ScreenRant (Peter Morics)
“The thrilling combat and engaging 4X gameplay put on a charming façade, but players won’t be able to embrace these aspects fully without also contending with the game’s dark side, a lack of diplomacy incentives and punishingly repetitive gang wars. The struggle of this duality leaves the player with a game in Empire of Sin that’s easy to have fun with but doesn’t quite live up to the potential of all of the innovative qualities it tries to implement.“
Score: 3/5
Windows Central (Samantha Nelson)
“The best gangsters in history and fiction know when to take a high-level view of their empire and when to get their hands dirty, and Empire of Sin lets you seamlessly do both as your mood strikes. If you’re a history buff or have spent a significant amount of time in Chicago, it also offers some extra charm of letting you carve up the city by leaving plenty of corpses in your wake.“
Score: 4.5/5
Eurogamer (Robert Purchese)
“There’s a lot to like about this 1920s gangster sim. It’s an intricately detailed game about a romanticised time… [but] I feel as though I’ve just done the equivalent of tank-rush. I’ve barely seen anything of the other neighbourhoods but somehow I’ve won. And all the negotiating, the trading, synergies – the nuances of a strategy game: I haven’t done any of that in ages. I never saw anything of the police, never saw the Bureau of Investigation. Surely I should have…The flip-side of that is it could be very different next time. And that’s exciting.“
Score: Recommended
TheGamer (Sam Watanuki)
“Although I went in with cautiously optimistic expectations, I am pleasantly surprised by Empire of Sin’s welcoming and incredibly deep tutorial system, allowing hardened veterans and newcomers alike to play the game at their own pace. With its colorful characters, rich environments that ooze the sign of the times, and enjoyable combat, Empire of Sin can consider itself made within the tactical strategy genre.“
Score: 4.5/5
PCInvasion (Jason Rodriguez)
“It’s chock-full of activities, mechanics, and systems that can be overwhelming when you first try them out. In a way, all of these ideas are good, at least on paper. The downside is, once you apply them in a campaign, very few mesh well while others remain problematic…With a few fixes and tweaks, we might see Empire of Sin reach its full potential. As of now, that potential is sleeping with the fishes.“
Score: 6/10
All in all, it seems that reviewers are split. For some, the bugs and repetitiveness are too hard to look past. For others, the draw of the aesthetic and history outshines any problems they had. Either way, a common theme across these reviewers’ comments is the idea that Empire of Sin could have lived up more to its expectations. When promised a groundbreaking new game from famed developer John Romero, the expectations created might be hard to meet. It seems that the game had a lot of potential, but could have done more to provide a better experience for players. Especially since the game was specifically delayed in order to make everything polished.
It does look like the developers plan to release future content for the game in the form of two expansions, so that may help with the game’s longevity. At a price point of $39.99 for the base game, it may seem like a worthwhile investment for those who already have an interest in the game’s concept. However, since players would still have to pay $30 more for the Expansion Pass, it may be more worthwhile to wait for a deal.
Empire of Sin is available now on PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
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