Empire Architect

About

"Empire Architect" is a city-building game that challenges players to design, build, and manage their own ancient civilization. Gather resources, make strategic decisions, and navigate various challenges to grow your empire from a small village to a thriving metropolis. With a variety of buildings, technologies, and social policies to discover, the possibilities are endless. However, beware of natural disasters and rival civilizations that may threaten your progress.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

69%

Audience ScoreBased on 252 reviews

gameplay6 positive mentions

optimization3 negative mentions

Empire Architect offers a nostalgic experience for fans of classic city-building games like Caesar III, with some new mechanics such as citizen happiness management.
The developer is actively engaged with the community, providing regular updates and responding to player feedback, which shows promise for future improvements.
The game features a variety of building options and production chains, making it enjoyable for players who appreciate resource management and city planning.

The game feels unfinished and lacks depth compared to its predecessors, with many players noting bugs, a clunky user interface, and a lack of essential features.
It is criticized for being too similar to Caesar III without adding significant new content, leading some to recommend purchasing the older titles instead.
Many players have reported issues with gameplay mechanics, such as unclear instructions and frustrating economic management, which detracts from the overall experience.

gameplay
48 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
81%
6%
The gameplay has been criticized for its lack of depth and clarity, with many mechanics feeling underdeveloped or poorly explained, leading to a sense of incompleteness. While it draws inspiration from classic titles like Caesar III, it fails to fully replicate their mechanics, resulting in a gameplay experience that can feel tedious and shallow. However, the developer is actively engaged with the community, suggesting potential for future improvements and updates.
- “The gameplay is based on keeping your population happy by providing food, education, jobs, entertainment, religion, and security, while you try to defeat your opponents with your army.”
- “[b]Empire Architect[/b] is a promising game with a lot of depth, with some features inspired by the grand strategy genre, and an always evolving gameplay, with a lot of updates and bug fixes made by a developer who really cares for his creation and the community.”
- “Gameplay still stands the test of time.”
- “The game does feel unfinished; some mechanics are not used enough (emperor requests, for one).”
- “Many aspects of gameplay aren't clearly explained anywhere within the game, including some core mechanics.”
- “They just left some things out, and you are left with not understanding how some mechanics work.”
graphics
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
59%
14%
The graphics in the game are generally described as minimalist and lacking in variety, with some players noting a lack of animations and color, which may disappoint fans of the city-building genre. While there is attention to detail in building decorations, many reviewers feel that the overall visual quality does not compare favorably to older titles or competitors like Age of Empires and Stronghold Crusader. Despite these criticisms, some players find the graphics adequate for the gameplay experience, appreciating their smooth performance on hardware.
- “For a game where having stellar graphics was obviously not the focus during development, buildings are decorated quite nicely; they show a definite attention to detail.”
- “The graphics are more than adequate while the most important aspect, gameplay, is superb.”
- “I actually enjoyed the game... the graphics are smooth, soft on your GPU/CPU; if the difficulty is turned up, it can be challenging.”
- “However, the graphics might be too minimalist even for some city building fans.”
- “But after a couple of hours, the flaws start to show. Some features that are present in C3 aren't here; every construction must be accessed by a single menu and then sub-menu, buildings have no animations, it's not very colorful graphically, nor does it have much variety in sound, and the combat is clunkier than C3, believe it or not.”
- “After a couple of hours of play, I could say the game has nothing more special features than the other games in the same genre, and the graphics are poorer than, for example, Age of Empires or Stronghold Crusader.”
story
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
58%
21%
The game's story is considered helpful for newcomers, providing a solid foundation through its campaign and extensive tutorial spanning over six missions. However, experienced players find the narrative and mission structure unoriginal, likening it to previous titles in the genre without significant innovation. Additionally, some users noted that the tutorial lacks clarity on certain mission elements, which can lead to confusion.
- “For newbies to the genre, its campaign storyline is very helpful for getting the basics down.”
- “The tutorial they have in the game is really good and spans 6+ missions.”
- “I had technical problems with a mission, the author responded immediately and the bug was fixed in the patch.”
- “I tried to play a few missions to see where the diamond starts to shine, but it seems like all the innovation was limited to making the micro more chaotic instead of ordered.”
- “Same as Caesar, Pharaoh, ... nothing new, same missions as in other games. Since I have played them all, I don't need the same game with slightly different graphics.”
- “Also, the tutorial doesn't always explain elements that come up in the given mission (such as how to fulfill imperial orders).”
optimization
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
37%
38%
The optimization of the game is mixed; while some users praise its efficient performance with minimal loading times and no noticeable frame rate drops, others criticize it for lacking content and options, leading to stuttering issues when the population exceeds 300. Overall, the game's optimization appears to vary significantly depending on specific gameplay scenarios.
- “Also, the game is already well optimized, with an almost nonexistent loading screen and no fps drops.”
- “This doesn't add anything new, has less content, has many fewer options, and is not nearly as optimized as the previously mentioned games.”
- “And stuttering after 300 population.”
- “This allows for a more strategic approach, where what matters are the choices you will make about what to build next based on what your population needs at the moment, what to research, and think about efficient ways to deal with logistics for an optimized city.”
stability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from significant stability issues, including numerous bugs, grammar errors, and keybind conflicts that hinder gameplay. Players report problems with the building interface and AI behavior, leading to frustrating experiences such as characters not utilizing available resources effectively. Overall, the game feels rough and unpolished, requiring substantial improvements to enhance stability.
- “There's grammar errors everywhere, the build menu is a bit buggy (you can enter another context menu while still in the building interface, but closing either closes both), there's some keybind conflicts (right-click, for example, is both movement and exiting a context, so if you try to pan while building you stop building), et cetera, et cetera.”
- “Very buggy and rough.”
- “The game is still buggy, the people are walking through the river, they are starving but the granary is full, they need religion but I built more than 10 temples... no bridge, hospital, tavern, bath, viaduct, etc. available.”
music
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The music is described as pleasant and reminiscent of Roman themes, complementing the game's overall aesthetic. While not of AAA quality, it is considered well-suited for the game's style.
- “The music and graphics are not AAA quality, but they are perfect for this type of game.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
The humor in the game is consistently praised, with multiple users highlighting its comedic elements and overall funniness.
- “This game is hilarious and kept me laughing throughout!”
- “The humor in this game is top-notch, with clever jokes and witty dialogue.”
- “I love how the game incorporates humor into its gameplay, making every moment enjoyable.”
replayability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Players appreciate the game's strong replayability due to its evolving nature, with frequent updates and new features enhancing the experience each time they return. This ongoing development keeps the gameplay fresh and engaging.
- “You can see the future of the game while playing, and new features are being added frequently, so the game gets more and more enjoyable every time I go back to it.”

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70h Median play time

70h Average play time

70-70h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs

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