East India Company

About

East India Company is a strategy game that allows players to build a trading empire and engage in naval battles in both single-player and multiplayer modes. As a budding emperor, players can choose from eight nationalities and build their fleet, establish trade connections, and manage ports. In times of conflict, players can command their fleet in real-time tactical battles and fire devastating broadsides to defeat their enemies.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

58%

Audience ScoreBased on 103 reviews

story4 positive mentions

stability4 negative mentions

Engaging gameplay that combines trading, diplomacy, and naval combat, appealing to fans of strategy games.
Nostalgic value for players who enjoyed it in the past, with a decent amount of content and fun mechanics.
Great naval battles and the ability to directly control ships adds depth to the gameplay experience.

Frequent crashes and bugs significantly hinder the gameplay experience, making it frustrating and often unplayable.
DLCs do not work properly on the Steam version, leading to disappointment for players expecting additional content.
The AI is often poor, leading to unchallenging gameplay and frustrating combat scenarios.

story
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
50%
21%
The game's story is engaging and features a variety of missions, including trade and diplomatic quests, which add depth but can be challenging to manage simultaneously. While the narrative is enjoyable, some players find the historical accuracy lacking, particularly regarding the East India Company. Additionally, the time constraints on missions can be frustrating, as they often do not account for other ongoing tasks, leading to potential failures.
- “Good storyline and quite challenging to win.”
- “The pirate DLC is a blast, and privateering is very mission-based, which is interesting as well. The Battle of Trafalgar is a great challenge for all who think themselves up to it.”
- “Nice game, historically not correct (East India was a lot bigger in those days), but it features nice trade quests and diplomatic scenes.”
- “Some missions didn't state a time frame, but failed me as I was trying to prepare for the mission.”
- “The missions do not take into account that you are probably doing other things with your boats.”
- “If you accept the mission, you are given a short time frame.”
gameplay
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
33%
33%
The gameplay is generally entertaining and offers a mix of naval strategy, economy, and combat, appealing to a wide range of players with its extensive campaign and battles. However, it suffers from significant bugs and crashes, as well as clunky trading mechanics and AI issues that detract from the overall experience. While the graphics and sound are commendable, the gameplay feels average and could benefit from refinement in certain mechanics.
- “Gameplay is huge; personally, I had over 180 hours.”
- “This is the supreme naval strategy game, combining elements of economy and warfare along with the addition of multiple levels of gameplay to entertain all manner of gamers through the endless campaign and fierce battles in the name of your king.”
- “From what I understand through gameplay and game files, random quantities of goods spawn in markets and prices randomly scale between 95%-105%.”
- “Gameplay-wise, it's not a bad game with decent content from the 2000s, but what breaks it for me are the bugs and crashes that make me unable to recommend this game in its current state on modern computers.”
- “Trading mechanics are painful and require manual intervention and a lot of clicking through.”
- “AI frequently crashes the ships into each other (or into islands), adding a nice bit of random chance into the mix. Ballistics are highly variable, and damage mechanics are questionable and relatively linear to profile, proximity, and pitch/roll.”
graphics
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
22%
33%
Overall, the graphics of the game are described as decent and pleasant, with some users noting impressive visuals, while others feel they fall short compared to similar titles. Despite some technical issues and installation challenges, the graphics do not significantly detract from the gameplay experience, which remains entertaining for many players. However, there is a consensus that the graphics could have been improved further to enhance the overall quality of the game.
- “The graphics were impressive.”
- “The graphics are pleasant.”
- “I loved Sid Meier's Pirates and Assassin's Creed Black Flag; this one is my third choice so far because it lacks graphics, and there are so many more things they could have done in this game. However, for its price, it's definitely a good buy!”
- “At first, I used the graphic option but found that controlling five warships was a problem, especially since more often than not you're surrounded by islands that will rip ships apart, and the ships are not capable of sharp turns.”
- “Decent graphics and gameplay.”
stability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with players reporting frequent bugs that lead to freezes, particularly after pirate encounters. Despite its potential and engaging features, the prevalence of glitches raises concerns about the testing process prior to release.
- “Love the game, but there is a bug that freezes the game after a pirate attacks and I flee.”
- “I get away safely, but the screen freezes and I have to Ctrl, Alt, and Delete to exit.”
- “Lots of potential (e.g. interesting era ship types and manual naval battle interface), but there are so many glitches. I don't understand how this got past the testers.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Players find the initial stages of the game easy to manage, but as they progress, the need for more efficient tools to alleviate tedious micromanagement becomes apparent, highlighting a frustrating aspect of grinding.
- “At first, managing things seems like a walk in the park, but soon enough, you realize the interface is craving some magical tools to handle all the tedious micromanagement tasks.”
- “The grinding feels endless, and it quickly becomes a chore rather than an enjoyable part of the game.”
- “I found myself repeating the same tasks over and over, which made the gameplay feel monotonous and uninspired.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is described as deeply heart-breaking, evoking strong feelings and resonating with players on a profound level.
- “Very heart-breaking.”