Impire
- February 13, 2013
- Cyanide Studio
- 58h median play time
A muddled collection of good ideas, Impire has charm enough but its flaws are likely to frustrate most players.
Get on Steam"Impire" is a fantasy real-time strategy game that allows for 2-player multi-player, co-op, and single-player experiences. Players control the demon Baal-Abaddon, who must rebuild his form and construct a dungeon underworld filled with evil creatures and spells to stop heroes from interfering with his return to power. The game is full of humor, but beware of bugs that may hinder gameplay.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features a charming art style and humorous dialogue that can be entertaining.
- The squad system allows for interesting combinations of units, adding a layer of strategy to gameplay.
- The concept of building a dungeon and managing minions is appealing for fans of the genre.
- The game suffers from tedious micromanagement, making gameplay feel repetitive and frustrating.
- Many players experienced bugs and crashes, leading to a lack of polish and stability.
- The fixed room sizes and layouts limit creativity in dungeon building, detracting from the overall experience.
- story107 mentions
- 24 % positive mentions
- 62 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The game's story is described as entertaining yet inconsistent, with a mix of humor and randomness that can feel meandering and ultimately forgettable. While some players appreciate the quirky characters and amusing moments, many criticize the lack of depth and coherence, particularly in the ending, which leaves a sour impression. Overall, the narrative offers a fun ride but suffers from repetitive gameplay and unresolved plot points, making it a mixed experience for players.
“The storyline is amusing, up until the end.”
“While I found some characters annoying, I enjoyed the story enough to play through twice.”
“The dialogue and story in the game is really fun though, which is what you can expect from the guys who made Magicka.”
“The story is extremely random, and you never really know what the overall point is.”
“The story is awful, but the gameplay is pretty good.”
“It's a generic, poorly written, unfunny story, which takes away the best aspects of a dungeon-sim to replace them with cheap-shot humor.”
- gameplay79 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 48 % neutral mentions
- 32 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it tedious, repetitive, and plagued by clunky mechanics and poor controls. While some appreciate the humor and certain fun combat engagements, the overall experience is often described as lacking depth and strategic variety, leading to a sense of frustration and disengagement. Despite some unique ideas and a charming aesthetic, the gameplay ultimately feels unpolished and overly reliant on micromanagement, detracting from the enjoyment.
“It definitely falls under the ‘dungeon-management’ subgenre of strategy games, also bringing some nifty ideas and clever mechanics.”
“A charming strategy, with pleasant gameplay, some original ideas and humorous wackiness.”
“The gameplay is fun and the mechanics are strong.”
“The gameplay is repetitive and boring.”
“The controls are messed up and some mechanics are just plain frustrating.”
“A very poor game, I'm sorry to say; repetitive and boring gameplay mixed with some rather game-breaking bugs.”
- humor62 mentions
- 94 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is highly polarizing, with many players finding it hit-or-miss, often leaning towards the latter. While some appreciate the quirky characters and occasional funny dialogue, others criticize the humor as cringeworthy and reminiscent of outdated clichés. Overall, the attempts at humor are seen as a distraction from the gameplay, which many find tedious and lacking depth.
“Its funny, the main character is our little (for now) demon who just doesn't respect the lord who summoned him lol.”
“A charming strategy, with pleasant gameplay, some original ideas and humorous wackiness.”
“But in the end, Impire is a captivating game; unique characters and funny dialogues are more than enough to recommend it to everybody.”
“Dialogues full of cliché jokes that are mostly not funny.”
“Shallow, grindy, and distinctly unfunny.”
“It's a generic, poorly written, unfunny story that takes away the best aspects of a dungeon sim to replace them with cheap-shot humor.”
- grinding31 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The reviews overwhelmingly describe the grinding aspect of the game as tedious and monotonous, with players expressing frustration over excessive micromanagement and repetitive gameplay. Many feel that the game lacks depth and freedom, leading to a frustrating experience that detracts from enjoyment. Overall, the grinding mechanics are seen as a significant drawback, making the game feel slow and unengaging.
“The gameplay is not super bad, but it’s filled with tedious and clunky micromanagement.”
“The game can get tedious and rather monotonous as the general tone of each level is essentially build up dungeon, build up troops, raid, rinse and repeat until you're strong enough to go into the main part of the level.”
“It's tedious to control your minions, the traps are useless, you're given little leeway in designing your dungeon, the 'humor' is embarrassingly bad, and the campaign is long and boring.”
- graphics31 mentions
- 32 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The graphics of "Impire" receive mixed reviews, with some praising the art style and high-resolution visuals reminiscent of "Dungeon Keeper," while others criticize the lack of depth and optimization issues that hinder performance. Many players appreciate the variety of graphical options available, but feel that the overall design and animations are dated, detracting from the immersive experience. Overall, while the graphics are considered decent by some, they are often overshadowed by gameplay flaws and poor design choices.
“Nice story idea, nice graphics.”
“The graphics in Impire will again remind you completely of Dungeon Keeper; they just have a higher resolution look to them.”
“The graphics are very good for an independent title from a now increasingly un-independent publisher, and the subtle touches are all fantastic.”
“Conclusion, Impire has potential, but I think the current graphics engine does not seem to be doing the job.”
“Graphics and animations are dated, the voice overs ruin any immersion, the interface is bad and I don't even see a solid idea behind it gameplay-wise.”
“Decent graphics but bland micromanagement gameplay and lack of real defining strategic gameplay.”
- stability11 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- -18 % neutral mentions
- 91 % negative mentions
The game's stability has been a significant concern among users, with many reporting persistent glitches that can disrupt missions and require restarts. While some players note improvements since its initial release, describing it as "pretty fun" now, the overall consensus remains that it is still plagued by numerous bugs and unresponsive controls, making it difficult to recommend without reservations.
“It progresses slowly, and while the hand-holding tutorial can be tedious, it can also be turned off. Overall, it isn't as buggy as some people have made it out to be.”
“The game runs smoothly without major issues, providing a stable experience that allows players to focus on enjoying the gameplay.”
“I've encountered very few bugs, and the overall stability of the game makes it a pleasure to play.”
“Glitches ruin missions to the point that you have to restart levels to fix them.”
“I first played this straight after release back in 2013; back then it was a buggy mess with some game-breaking bugs that stopped the campaign from advancing on certain missions and prevented one from playing multiplayer for more than a few minutes before desyncing for various reasons.”
“The game is extremely buggy, with lots of bad ideas implemented into it.”
- replayability4 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
Overall, the game has limited replayability due to a lack of content and an uneventful multiplayer experience, which detracts from its long-term engagement. However, the strong narrative and impactful choices provide some incentive for multiple playthroughs.
“It's filled with great voice actors, an awesome story, and the changes that the choices in the game grant you give it some good replayability.”
“There isn't a lot of replayability in this title.”
“Lack of content and uneventful multiplayer make this game have little replay value.”
“A lack of waypoints, patrol routes, and other RTS staples really turns the game into a micromanagement fest, which is unfortunate because it would have taken so little time to improve upon the basic accessibility features to make the game more playable.”
- monetization3 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- -33 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized as a cash grab, leveraging nostalgia while implementing a pseudo-free-to-play model that encourages players to spend money to reduce grinding. Although the microtransactions are not overly aggressive and do not include loot boxes, they still create a paywall for certain units, detracting from the overall experience.
“To be fair, the microtransactions are massive and they only give a small edge and are limited in number, so there's no ridiculous loot boxes or crap like that, but they are still there and lock out some cool units behind a minor yet still very factual pay-wall.”
“They solely made this game as a cheap and quick cash grab based on nostalgic Dungeon Keeper vibes.”
“Many parts of the game feel either too generic or too convoluted, but the main problem lies in the weird pseudo-free-to-play mechanic of leveling your dungeon lord between campaigns and maps and being able to cut the grind short by putting money into microtransactions.”
“To be fair, the microtransactions are massive and they only give a small edge and are limited in number, so there's no ridiculous loot boxes or anything like that, but they are still there and lock out some cool units behind a minor yet still very factual paywall.”
- music3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The music in the game is criticized for feeling disjointed and uninspired, resembling a random assortment of tracks rather than a cohesive soundtrack. While the integration of classic heavy metal references is appreciated, the overall audio experience, including voice acting, is described as disappointing and lacking depth.
“The music and voice acting bring a tear to the eye in the same manner as an onion does.”
“The way they managed to weave a million classic heavy metal song titles into their script is impressive.”
“The music plays like a curated list of tracks, creating a unique atmosphere.”
“As much as I love the way they managed to weave a million classic heavy metal song titles into their script, the game falls flat as soon as you step away from their snarky humor.”
“Horrible grind and micromanagement, very odd controls and menus, music and voice acting that bring a tear to the eye in the same manner as an onion does.”
“Music that plays like a list of random tracks from Jamendo.”
- atmosphere3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -67 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is praised for its charm and humor, drawing loose inspiration from Dungeon Keeper, though it is not considered a direct successor. Overall, players express a strong appreciation for the game's unique ambiance.
“The atmosphere is fantastic; I absolutely love it.”
“It seems to have the look that could be perceived as a spiritual successor to Dungeon Keeper, however, only the atmosphere and humor could be loosely based on it.”
“Not a successor to Dungeon Keeper, but it is loosely influenced by its atmosphere and humor.”
“Sure, it seems to have the look that could be perceived as a spiritual successor to Dungeon Keeper; however, only the atmosphere and humor could be loosely based on Dungeon Keeper.”
“Tl;dr - not a successor to Dungeon Keeper but is loosely influenced by its atmosphere and humor.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with reports of significant performance issues that strain even modern graphics cards. Players have noted stuttering during cut scenes, particularly when camera angles change, which detracts from the overall experience, even at lower resolutions.
“Horribly unoptimized, taxing even most modern graphics cards.”
“I did have one technical problem whilst playing the game – it can be played on all resolutions up to 4K, which is nice to see; however, even on the lower resolutions, you will notice quite a bit of stuttering on the cut scenes when the camera angle changes. It just looks janky, but if you can ignore that, you’ll be fine.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviews indicate that the emotional impact of the game is undermined by stilted humor and a condescending presentation, leading to a feeling of frustration rather than enjoyment. Despite improved graphics, the overall experience fails to evoke positive emotions, leaving players dissatisfied.
