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Impire

A muddled collection of good ideas, Impire has charm enough but its flaws are likely to frustrate most players.
42%Game Brain Score
story, humor
gameplay, grinding
41% User Score Based on 646 reviews
Critic Score 47%Based on 2 reviews

Platforms

PCPCWindowsWindows

About

"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.

Impire screenshot
Impire screenshot
Impire screenshot
Impire screenshot
Impire screenshot
Impire screenshot
Impire screenshot
Impire screenshot
Impire screenshot
Impire screenshot
Impire screenshot
+6

41%
Audience ScoreBased on 648 reviews
story52 positive mentions
gameplay50 negative mentions

  • The game has a charming art style and humorous dialogue that can be entertaining.
  • It offers a unique squad-based mechanic where players can create combinations of different units for strategic advantages.
  • Fans of Dungeon Keeper may find some enjoyment in the nostalgic elements and dungeon management aspects.
  • The gameplay is repetitive and tedious, often requiring excessive micromanagement of units.
  • There are significant bugs and technical issues, including crashes and unresponsive controls.
  • The game lacks depth in dungeon customization, with fixed room sizes and limited strategic options.
  • story
    214 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story in the game is described as entertaining yet inconsistent, with many players finding it amusing at first but ultimately lacking depth and coherence. While some appreciate the humor and quirky elements, others criticize it for being repetitive and meandering, with a disappointing ending that fails to impact the overall experience. Overall, the narrative is seen as a mixed bag, offering fun moments but suffering from bugs and a lack of polish that detracts from the gameplay.

    • “The storyline is a lot of fun with plenty of little geek references.”
    • “While the campaign does get a little repetitive with its levels, it's still funny and enjoyable enough, and the humor-filled story does take ye with it.”
    • “The game itself has some nice storytelling and the units are quite adorable.”
    • “The story is extremely random, and you never really know what the overall point is.”
    • “The story is kinda meandering and doesn't really go anywhere; the deck system (for unlocking rooms, units, upgrades, etc.) is hideously limited even with the rune that gives you more points.”
    • “The story is awful, but the gameplay is pretty good.”
  • gameplay
    158 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it tedious, repetitive, and plagued by clunky mechanics and poor controls. While some appreciate the fun combat engagements and unique dungeon-management elements, others criticize the lack of depth and strategic options, leading to a monotonous experience. Overall, the gameplay is seen as below average, with a few redeeming qualities overshadowed by its flaws.

    • “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.”
    • “Tedious gameplay with little freedom to develop your own style made all the more painful by it trying too hard to be funny.”
    • “A very poor game, I'm sorry to say, repetitive and boring gameplay mixed with some rather game-breaking bugs; I was hyped for the release but was left very unhappy by my experience.”
  • humor
    124 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is highly polarizing, with many players finding it hit-or-miss, often leaning towards the latter, as it relies on clichéd jokes and cringe-worthy cutscenes reminiscent of outdated comedy. While some appreciate the quirky characters and occasional funny dialogue, others criticize the humor as annoying and poorly executed, detracting from the overall gameplay experience. Despite its attempts at humor, many reviews suggest that it ultimately falls short, overshadowed by tedious mechanics and a lack of engaging content.

    • “Its funny, the main character is our little (for now) demon who just doesn't respect the lord who summoned him lol.”
    • “A great game with a twisted sense of humor.”
    • “Very enjoyable game with a lot of hilarious references and moments as well as features and all this for just 9.99 euro.”
    • “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.”
    • “The campaign is supposed to be funny but comes off as being dumb, partially because the animations appear off.”
  • grinding
    62 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The grinding aspect of the game is heavily criticized for being excessively tedious and monotonous, with players expressing frustration over clunky micromanagement and repetitive gameplay. Many reviews highlight the lack of freedom in gameplay and the slow progression, making the experience feel more like a chore than enjoyable. Overall, the game is described as shallow and grindy, often leading to a frustrating experience rather than fun.

    • “The gameplay is not super bad, but it’s filled with tedious and clunky micromanagement.”
    • “It's far too grindy, and a lot of people will go in hoping for Dungeon Keeper, only to end up with a squad-based RTS where every unit looks the same.”
    • “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.”
  • graphics
    62 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics in "Impire" receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the art style and high-resolution visuals reminiscent of "Dungeon Keeper," while others criticize the graphics for being unoptimized and lacking depth. Although there are customizable graphical options, many feel that the overall design choices detract from the experience, leading to a perception of dated animations and poor atmosphere. Overall, while some praise the graphics as decent or good for an indie title, they are often overshadowed by gameplay issues and design flaws.

    • “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.”
    • “The game has a wide variety of graphical options so you can customize the graphics to match your rig very easily.”
    • “Eye candy graphics, but without any depth or substance to keep players engaged, full of bad design choices.”
    • “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.”
    • “Graphics give me a headache.”
  • stability
    22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability has been a significant concern among users, with many reporting numerous glitches and bugs that can disrupt gameplay, including mission-breaking issues and multiplayer desynchronization. While some players note improvements since the initial release, the overall consensus is that the game remains quite buggy, leading to frustration and a recommendation to avoid purchasing until further fixes are implemented.

    • “It progresses slowly, and while the hand-holding tutorial can be tedious, it can also be turned off, and it isn't as buggy as some people have made it out to be.”
    • “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.”
  • replayability
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Overall, the game has limited replayability due to a lack of content and an uneventful multiplayer experience, which detracts from its value. However, the engaging story and impactful choices do provide some incentive for multiple playthroughs. Improvements in accessibility features could enhance the overall experience and replay potential.

    • “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 and patrol routes and other RTS staples really makes the game into a micromanagement fest, which is so unfortunate because it would have taken so little time to improve upon the basic accessibility features to make the game more playable.”
  • monetization
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized as a cash grab, leveraging nostalgia while incorporating a pseudo-free-to-play model that allows players to expedite progress through microtransactions. While these transactions are limited and do not include loot boxes, they still create a paywall for certain units, detracting from the overall experience.

    • “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.”
  • music
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is criticized for feeling disjointed and reminiscent of a random assortment of tracks, lacking cohesion and emotional impact. While the incorporation of classic heavy metal song titles is appreciated, the overall execution of the music and voice acting is described as disappointing, detracting from the game's experience.

    • “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 selection of tracks, creating a unique atmosphere.”
    • “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.”
    • “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.”
  • atmosphere
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is praised for its charm and humor, drawing loose inspiration from Dungeon Keeper, though it is not considered a true successor. Overall, players express a strong appreciation for the game's unique ambiance.

    • “Atmosphere: love it”
    • “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.”
  • optimization
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is reported to be poorly optimized, placing a heavy strain on even modern graphics cards, leading to noticeable stuttering during cut scenes across all resolutions, including 4K. While it supports various resolutions, the performance issues detract from the overall experience.

    • “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.”
  • emotional
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    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, players feel that the overall experience lacks emotional engagement and fun.

Buy Impire

58h Median play time
45h Average play time
20-70h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 4 analyzed playthroughs

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