Empire of Sin review

We tell you how the new project of the legendary video game developer John Romer turned out

Brick by brick, bullet by bullet, Empire of Sin invites you to build your own crime syndicate in Prohibition-era Chicago. Taking control of one of 14 different mafia bosses (including the famous Alfonso Capone), you will have to open numerous underground establishments, casinos, supplying them with illegally brewed whiskey and protecting them from the police and other gangs.

This is a detailed, unusual in structure game, tied to the management of the economy and violence. In every neighborhood in Chicago there are many who want to drink, but depending on the wealth, the requests are motley - someone needs low-grade liquor, others serve high-quality whiskey. By quenching this thirst for alcohol through various establishments, you earn money that is spent on modernizing the business, improving the quality of drinks and attracting more affluent customers.

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But nothing is free in 1920s Chicago. Direct acquisition of property is expensive, so the cheapest way to expand is to take what another owns. There are dozens of gangs - from rampant gangs to thugs?? about serious competitors, in terms of organization in no way inferior to your syndicate. Any institution can be captured during brutal turn-based battles. These fights are not as elegant and detailed as their source of inspiration - fights with aliens in X-COM, but they take on their severity and weapons appropriate to the era.

By taking over the establishment by force, you expand your business for free. But you have to pay for everything. A rival gang may try to get revenge or declare war on you. Gang fights affect the prosperity of the area, forcing the sale of cheaper drinks, as wealthy people try to stay away from armed clashes.

And this reaction is one of the most interesting aspects of Empire of Sin. Your chosen henchmen will fight side by side with you, manage parts of the organization and even have their own mini-stories. But they can die, and even if they survive the attack, they are unlikely to remain unscathed. For example, after a particularly brutal shootout, one of my closest henchmen drank himself in an attempt to numb his grief. He climbed on the rampage, fought with everyone, until I hired a doctor to get him out of the binge.

Empire of Sin is ambitious but reliablenot in everything. There are quite a few technical issues, ranging from quirks like changing the color of thugs' jackets when they die, to more serious glitches where fighters simply disappear from your squad. Technical quality may have suffered due to the current Covid-19 pandemic. However, there is no doubt that all this will be “tightened up” in subsequent patches. Perhaps the positives still tip the scales in favor of acquiring Empire of Sin.