Empire of Sin Reviews
Empire of Sin's many bugs, balance issues and competing systems undermine what could have been a novel mob management game.
A charismatic and enjoyable gangster sim that gets a bit bogged down in admin.
Empire of Sin's criminal management sim and turn-based tactical combat combo sounds brilliant on paper, but it completely fails to live up to its aspirations due to major imbalances and bugs.
The potential for an exciting period strategy game is clear but that only makes the buggy mess of unbalanced combat and simplistic tactical decisions all the more frustrating.
Despite a couple of negative aspects, if you are fans of the mafia genre, strategy and management, Empire of Sin will make you an offer that you will not be able to reject.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Empire of Sin is a promising strategy game but one that feels woefully incomplete. I can't recommend it, but I can recommend following it's hopeful transition into something genuinely wonderful.
There’s a lot going on in Empire of Sin. Romero Games and Paradox Interactive build quite a hybrid of business management, character growth, and turn-based combat, and the 1920s Prohibition-era backdrop makes for an interesting story. The gang leaders are varied in so many ways between their business, combat specialties, and personal stories. Meanwhile, the overall flow of business expansion, hostile takeovers, and diplomacy or confrontation with other gangs also makes for a mostly engaging gameplay loop.
Fantastic mafia management game with a good combat system. Employee relationships make up for bad artificial intelligence and some illogical situations.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Empire of Sin isn't a bad game, just a simple game, not deep enough to catch the attention of the genre's veterans. The organized crime theme is, as always, interesting, but it could have been developed better: as it is, Empire of Sin looks more like XCOM-lite with gangsters than a true mafia simulator.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Empire of Sin has its bugs and some rough cinematic moments. But Romero Games pulled this project off with a team of just 30 people. For a game of its ambition, that seems like a small team. It’s pretty much an indie project, or perhaps “double-A,” compared to other games that are more polished but have hundreds of developers — or even more — working on them.
The sight of a gang leader brutally shotgunning several enemy goons is only improved by some sick swing high-hat hits on an old fashion kit while horns parp happily. In these moments Empire Of Sin is a world I want to live in, but ultimately not a world I really want to manage.
A seamless blend of genres and high replayability make Empire of Sin and excellent choice for strategy gaming fans.
As a prohibition-era mob boss, you're at war with rival gangs as well as the police in this ambitious, if uneven, gangster sim
Empire of Sin is a sincere love letter to a fascinating moment in American history and delivers all the style, swagger, and Tommy-Gun-inflicted violence you'd expect. Unfortunately, somewhat shallow sim elements, pushover AI, and a serious lack of polish means this probably won't be your next great strategy obsession. That said, if you love gangster stuff, Empire of Sin might still be an offer you can't refuse.
Empire of Sin is a competent hybrid that borrows mechanics from tycoon games, turn-based tactics and RPGs. Unfortunately, the game is plagued by numerous bugs and glitches that risk compromising the experience.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Despite an overwhelming number of strategic options and features, many of Empire of Sin's mechanics just don't mesh well or they can be completely ignored. Playthroughs will feel roughly similar to what you've done previously, and it becomes a repetitive affair and a chore to see what else you could do.
The complexity of the interlocking systems in Empire of Sin feel like more than the game can handle. For every time a story emerges about love and loss as I described above, there are times when your speakeasy suddenly starts losing money and the game doesn’t communicate why. I’m sure through hours of play a pattern will emerge, but for now too much is too opaque and difficult.
Oh dear. Empire of Sin has a fantastic idea at its core, and the jolly soundtrack perfectly complements the over the top character designs. But the game is a technical mess, littered with a spectacular array of bugs, and crippled by poor design choices that derail whatever little momentum the game may otherwise have had. Empire of Sin? They should have called it Buggy Malone.
Empire of Sin is a poor and skeleton-thin management game at its core with complicated systems, menus, and tutorials that do a poor job at getting you acclimated to the experience. Add on top of that a library worth of bugs that force you to restart, ruin pivotal moments of the game, and just make the experience more frustrating and you have a game that is not worth even worth a slight bit of consideration. Empire of Sin is a massive disappointment.
Empire of Sin brings X-COM-style combat and in-depth strategy to 1920s Chicago in a package with tons of great ideas, but a lack of real focus.