Skip to main content

Doodle Empires

Doodle Empires Game Cover
93%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:gameplay, story
Most mentioned negative aspects:stability, graphics
93% User Score Based on 888 reviews

Platforms

LinuxPCMac OSWindows
Buy Nowfrom €6.89
Buy NowGet on Steam €6.89
Doodle Empires Game Cover

About Doodle Empires

Doodle Empires is a single player turn-based strategy game with medieval and historical themes. It was developed by Turtle Stack Games and was released on May 30, 2025. It received very positive reviews from players.

Doodle Empires is an alternate history sandbox game all about drawing your own nations with your own histories and stories in a variety of maps. Watch your world take shape and evolve over time, and decide which nations will rise and which nations will fall.  How to play:1. Create your first nation by selecting a border color and typing up a name 2. Draw the borders of your new nation onto the m…

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
Doodle Empires screenshot
Doodle Empires screenshot
Doodle Empires screenshot
Doodle Empires screenshot
Doodle Empires screenshot
Doodle Empires screenshot
Doodle Empires screenshot
Doodle Empires screenshot
Skip Games Like Doodle Empires

Games Like Doodle Empires

Looking for games like Doodle Empires? Here are top turn-based strategy recommendations with a medieval and historical focus, selected from player-similarity data — start with Ages of Conflict: World War Simulator, Age of History II or FantasyMapSimulator.

Ages of Conflict: World War Simulator Image
96%5kreviews

Ages of Conflict: World War Simulator

2023Casual Strategy
LinuxPCWeb Browser+2
Games like Ages of Conflict: World War Simulator
Age of History II Image
87%9.5kreviews

Age of History II

2018Open World Turn-based Strategy
PCTabletAndroid+5
Games like Age of History II
FantasyMapSimulator Image
89%1kreviews

FantasyMapSimulator

2024Casual Strategy
PCWindows
Games like FantasyMapSimulator
Age of History 3 Image
83%3.4kreviews

Age of History 3

2024Tactical Real-time Strategy
PCTabletAndroid+4
Games like Age of History 3
Galimulator Image
87%1.3kreviews

Galimulator

2018Real-time Strategy
LinuxPCTablet+5
Games like Galimulator
Prison Architect Image
84%32.5kreviews

Prison Architect

2015Casual City Builder
Nintendo SwitchXbox 360Android+17
Games like Prison Architect
Ages of Conflict World War Sim ImageAges of Conflict World War Sim ImageAges of Conflict World War Sim Image
75%1.3kreviews

Ages of Conflict World War Sim

Simulation
TabletAndroidPhone+1
Games like Ages of Conflict World War Sim
WorldBox - Sandbox God Sim ImageWorldBox - Sandbox God Sim ImageWorldBox - Sandbox God Sim Image
88%10kreviews

WorldBox - Sandbox God Sim

Casual Simulation
TabletAndroidPhone+1
Games like WorldBox - Sandbox God Sim
Rising Front Image
89%3.1kreviews

Rising Front

2026Tactical Shooter
PCMac OSSteam Deck+1
Games like Rising Front
War of Dots Image
81%2.9kreviews

War of Dots

2026Tactical Real-time Strategy
PCWindows
Games like War of Dots
More games like Doodle Empires
Skip User Reviews

Reviews

93%Audience ScoreBased on 888 reviews
gameplay8 positive mentions
stability29 negative mentions
  • Highly creative sandbox experience allowing players to draw and customize their own nations and maps, providing immense freedom to craft alternate histories and stories.
  • Accessible and easy to understand gameplay with a minimalist, hand-drawn visual style that supports imagination and emergent storytelling.
  • Active and engaged developer with frequent updates and a supportive community, continuously improving and adding features to the game.
  • Lacks depth and complexity compared to traditional grand strategy games; gameplay can become repetitive and simplistic over time.
  • Numerous bugs and technical issues, including crashes, lag spikes, and game-breaking glitches that can affect save files and impede progress.
  • No in-game tutorial or sufficient instructions, making the user interface and gameplay mechanics difficult to grasp for new players.

  • gameplay

    38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    21% positive mentions, 71% neutral mentions, 8% negative mentions

    The gameplay is characterized by simple, streamlined mechanics that allow players to experiment and create unique political simulations without overwhelming complexity. While some find the random card system and lack of AI limiting and occasionally frustrating, others appreciate the freedom, addictiveness, and potential for emergent storytelling. Many users express hope for additional mechanics, improvements, and features like alliances or government types to deepen the experience.

    • “There are no massive spreadsheets, endless tutorials, or overwhelming economic mechanics standing between the player and the core gameplay.”
    • “This simplicity allows players to immediately start experimenting with scenarios and ideas rather than spending hours learning complicated systems before any meaningful gameplay begins.”
    • “Even though the mechanics are intentionally simplified, the game still creates the illusion of living political systems that evolve organically.”
    • “It took far too long to parse the pictographic interface to understand the basic gameplay principles, and the browser-only wiki that replaces any form of tutorial didn't explain any of what I needed to know.”
    • “Every time I play this it cannot be fun; the system of getting random cards is so annoying. Yes, that might be the core mechanic, but it is just bad. Very disappointed.”
    • “Broken mechanics and constant glitches make it frustrating to play.”

  • stability

    29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game is notably unstable and plagued by frequent bugs, including broken mechanics, save issues, and control glitches, which often hinder gameplay and cause frustration. While some users acknowledge its indie nature and potential, stability problems remain a significant drawback, though ongoing updates show promise for improvement.

    • “For right now this game is buggy as hell. I have lost several saves because the game won't let me do something needed to continue. Sometimes my city placement bugs, forcing me to place cities repeatedly with no progress, or I couldn't place a fort and the game bugged.”
    • “Broken mechanics and constant glitches make it frustrating to play.”
    • “Would be good but it's very buggy, with bugs like selecting a nation or fulfilling a card being broken almost every game, making it very hard to play.”

  • story

    18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    33% positive mentions, 50% neutral mentions, 17% negative mentions

    The game's story aspect is largely emergent, with no fixed narrative but strong encouragement for players to create their own stories and roleplay. It serves more as a story generator than a traditional game, offering freedom and potential for creative nation lore, though some gameplay elements may occasionally disrupt player-driven storytelling. Overall, its appeal lies in imaginative player-driven narratives rather than a set plot.

    • “What initially feels like a basic map simulator slowly becomes a surprisingly engaging experiment in emergent storytelling.”
    • “Another surprisingly effective aspect of the game is how naturally it encourages emergent storytelling.”
    • “The game is really good for developing your own story for nations and country lore.”
    • “☑ no story”
    • “It does get annoying sometimes when you are trying to tell a story and the game just keeps overwriting your religion which you cannot say no to from what I have tried at least.”
    • “Honestly, I would call it more of a 'story generator' than a 'game' exactly since a lot of what you do is fairly random due to the card system.”

  • graphics

    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    25% positive mentions, 50% neutral mentions, 25% negative mentions

    The graphics feature a minimalist, hand-drawn map style focused on borders and political changes, creating a unique, sketch-like alternate history feel. While visually simple and effective, some users note occasional lag issues and suggest adding subtle animations or music to enhance the experience. Overall, the graphics are praised for their clarity and distinctive aesthetic despite lacking realism or detail.

    • “Instead of realistic graphics or highly detailed environments, Doodle Empires uses a minimalist map-based presentation focused entirely on borders, colors, and political changes.”
    • “The hand-drawn aesthetic reinforces the feeling that players are sketching alternate histories directly onto the world itself.”
    • “Nice music and good graphics.”
    • “I really should not be having constant lag spikes on this simple of a game; what amount of spaghetti coding is there for this to be the one game I have frequent lag spikes with compared to more graphical games?”
    • “Visuals and UI design are terrible, as bad as it gets.”
    • “A little bit of flavor to the graphics without changing the style like animations or even music would be nice too.”

  • optimization

    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    30% positive mentions, 40% neutral mentions, 30% negative mentions

    The game generally performs well with a clean interface and smooth visuals, maintaining good performance even during complex scenarios. However, some users have reported occasional optimization issues and bugs, particularly in earlier versions, indicating that further improvements are still needed. Overall, optimization is decent but not perfect, with room for refinement.

    • “The interface is clean, intuitive, and easy to navigate, while the lightweight visual style keeps performance smooth even when maps become crowded with expanding empires and shifting borders.”
    • “The game is great, it just needs optimization.”
    • “For $7 US, the game is very basic, poorly optimized, and buggy.”
    • “Poorly optimized.”
    • “I have unfortunately encountered a handful of optimization issues in the past, specifically relating to the randomizing button and creating save files, but it seems like those issues have been fixed from what I've heard.”

  • music

    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    40% positive mentions, 30% neutral mentions, 30% negative mentions

    Users appreciate the game's music for adding enjoyable ambiance and enhancing the experience, with some praising its quality and others noting a desire for more variety and additional sound effects. While the current music is well-liked, suggestions include expanding the soundtrack and incorporating more audio elements to complement gameplay.

    • “Furthermore, it also has amazing music.”
    • “Nice music and good graphics.”
    • “Imma have it on in the background just for the music.”
    • “Some music repeats itself, which can be repetitive during gameplay.”
    • “It would be nice to have a little bit of flavor added to the graphics without changing the style, such as animations or music.”
    • “While you can play whatever music you want, it would be better to have some original sound added to the game.”

  • replayability

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    60% positive mentions, 40% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game offers strong replayability through diverse map options and the dynamic unfolding of fictional histories, providing endless entertainment. Additionally, continual updates have improved playability over time, enhancing the overall replay value.

    • “Map variety also adds considerable replay value.”
    • “While it may lack the depth of larger grand strategy simulators, it compensates with accessibility, replayability, and the endless entertainment that comes from observing fictional histories unfold naturally across custom-built maps.”
    • “After 5 months of following this game, it's changed so much, and is much more playable than before.”

  • grinding

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 40% neutral mentions, 60% negative mentions

    Grinding in the game is notably time-consuming and can feel tedious, requiring significant player effort to progress. This repetitive aspect may detract from the overall experience, especially without features like a scenario editor to streamline setup and reduce unnecessary grinding.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “A lot of the heavy lifting is on the player, however, and it can be at times tedious.”
    • “What would be nice though is if there is a scenario editor allowing us to place countries down before we start a game (without relying on drawing a card as it can be tedious), so it's easier to create scenarios (e.g., WWII).”

  • humor

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Users find the game humorously entertaining, enjoying its playful and quirky elements, especially the amusing concept of repeatedly expanding and dividing an empire. The humor is lighthearted and adds a fun charm to the gameplay.

    • “It's a very funny game as you can be expanding an empire then you must divide 8 times in a row.”
    • “Funny paint game.”
    • “Funny.”

  • monetization

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The reviews do not provide specific information about the game's monetization, focusing instead on the overall enjoyment and gameplay experience.

Skip Game Offers

Buy Doodle Empires

Play Times

31h Median play time
245h Average play time
3-700h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 3 analyzed playthroughs
Skip Videos

Videos

Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Doodle Empires is a turn-based strategy game with medieval and historical themes. Common tags for Doodle Empires include turn-based, indie, alternate history, 2d, family friendly and others.

Doodle Empires is available on PC, Mac OS, Windows and Linux.

On average players spend around 245 hours playing Doodle Empires.

Doodle Empires was released on May 30, 2025.

Doodle Empires was developed by Turtle Stack Games.

Doodle Empires has received very positive reviews from players. Most players liked Doodle Empires for its gameplay but disliked it for its stability.

Doodle Empires is a single player game.

Similar games include Ages of Conflict: World War Simulator, Age of History II, FantasyMapSimulator, Age of History 3, Galimulator and others.