Paradox Interactive is increasingly proving that it can not only develop complex global strategies, but also publish projects in other genres – such as gangster tactics Empire of Sin from Romero Games. The developers are also no slouch: the spouses Romero (John Romero, Brenda Romero) made a name for themselves with real masterpieces – about John’s merits in creating Doom, Quake and other hits id Software you already know, but Brenda, for a minute, was a game designer Wizardry 8 and series writer Jagged Alliance.
U Empire of Sin there was everything for a good start, but it seems that we have just the case when it was worth waiting a little.
Sin City
The advisability of introducing Prohibition in the USA in 1920 can be debated for a long time, but the fact remains: this ban had many consequences, one of the most important was the emergence of many criminal empires that took over almost all spheres of life in large American cities. Chicago is the most striking example: the Italian mafia, and indeed all American organized crime of that time, is associated with this city. Not far from the truth – really, but there were plenty of gangster groups, large and small, in those days.
It is not surprising that the authors Empire of Sin placed an emphasis on the diversity of criminal communities and their leaders: the player can choose from almost a dozen bosses, among whom there are celebrities, including Al Capone and Dean O’Banion, and exotic ones like the prototype of his great-grandmother Romero.
Bosses differ in appearance, skills used in battle, as well as features that affect the entire criminal empire. For example, production costs in breweries under the control of the Chicago syndicate will be lower, and Al Capone himself knows how to shoot for suppression from a machine gun. It seems that this should ensure unique roleplaying for each of the factions, but in reality this does not happen: you will notice the consequences of the initial choice only on the battlefield, and economic and diplomatic bonuses remain behind the scenes (I’ll tell you why a little later).
The gang requires a clear structure, but in reality the bonuses from positions held are invisible. Sometimes this hierarchy does not work in the literal sense – due to bugs it is impossible to choose the desired position.
The second (and last) important difference between one leader and another is a unique backstory that results in a long chain of quests. It’s not necessary to complete them, but it won’t hurt to further immerse yourself – if you don’t get tired of running around different ends of the map, of course.
Much attention is paid to dialogues – EoS wants to be like a role play. But all such nods towards RPGs, such as testing skills during conversations, turn out to be a fiction: they won’t trust you with important decisions (if you stick to your line, then at most you will get a little money from above for your persistence), besides, the boss very quickly pumps up the parameters to the maximum, thanks to which he is able to convince any interlocutor that he is right.
Brigade
You can hire up to ten subordinates to help the gang leader, choosing your favorite from fifty characters to suit every taste. If the buildings are defended by ordinary faceless guards, then these bandits are not inferior to the bosses in terms of development: they have a memorable appearance, backstory, a unique leveling tree and a set of skills, both starting and acquired during the game.
These guys are not averse https://nonukcasinosites.co.uk/mifinity/ to talking with our superiors, and the consequences of this conversation can be quite unexpected: for example, one of the fighters left my gang when I refused to help his friend.
But something else is more interesting – the system of character relationships. Each bandit has his own friends and enemies (or even lovers) among the rest of the Chicago criminal world. A war has begun with a neighbor, and he has an old friend of one of your mafiosi as his assistant? Be prepared for the fact that the latter will refuse to shoot at a friend, or even run away if a comrade dies by your hand. The death of a sworn enemy, on the contrary, will only please.
It is noticeable that the developers tried to make as many bright and memorable NPCs as possible, and they coped with this task perfectly. On the other hand, there is clearly too much variety here: there are an abundance of female characters, including among the bosses, every second gangster is African-American (which in those days was rather the exception to the rule), and if you look closely, you can find hints of same-sex relationships between one sweet couple of bandits.
As a result, considerable problems arise with the atmosphere of crime in Chicago. Yes, stylish jazz music, yes, beautiful locations in the spirit of those very 20s, but maintaining adherence to the “agenda” of the developers turned out to be much more important than ensuring authenticity. I don’t deny the right of the game’s authors to their own opinion (in addition, you can find isolated examples confirming their point of view), but the bloody showdowns of the 20th century, in which the majority of participants were women and blacks, I personally weakly associate with the gangster wars of the Prohibition era.
Underground Empire
In strategic terms, the connection with the realities of that time is better: the key features of the game are tightly tied to the illegal trade in booze, gambling and pimping.
IN Empire of Sin Chicago is divided into districts (the number of them, as well as the number of gangs, the player chooses before the start of the campaign), each of which has several buildings of various types: brothels, breweries, speakeasies, casinos and hotels. Breweries, as their name implies, produce alcohol, sell it in bars, brothels and gambling houses bring constant profits, and hotels serve to increase the number of clients who drink away their money in the above-mentioned establishments.
Three more types of buildings are buildings for sale, abandoned houses and shelters. The former can be purchased legally, the latter are waiting for their new owners, who will clear the “abandoned area” from a small number of unorganized bandits and put the property into business (however, instead of building a business, you can take out everything valuable or even burn the building to the ground), the latter serve as the heart of the entire group. Each gang can have only one hideout in each area, and the boss himself, as a rule, lives there with numerous guards.
In general, the global regime in EoS matches a serious economic strategy: the player is responsible for the entire range of issues related to illegal (and legal) business, from the production and storage of alcohol to expanding the customer base. It is noticeable that the authors tried to move away from the primitive system of “Buy low – sell high”: residents of different areas prefer different drinks, a casino can go bankrupt due to a lucky winner, and the habit of leaving one of the characters at the bar to help ordinary security guards can lead to the development of alcoholism among your assistants. Buildings can be improved – to increase attractiveness, expand the range of drinks produced or, most importantly, strengthen security.
Perhaps in future patches the global mode will work properly and studying detailed reports will become a necessity. For now you can ignore them, focusing only on war.
You can’t go anywhere without this – don’t forget that there are other gangs in the city. For the time being, they remain neutral, but one day they may choose a forceful solution to the issue. In some ways what is happening on the city map resembles a typical 4X from Paradox: AI has the same capabilities as the player (except for completing quests), they fight and make friends not only with him, but also with each other. The rich diplomatic system only enhances this impression: trade, wars and truces, alliances, payment of tribute – everything is in place.
Strike first
But the desire to look like a real strategy is not enough – the economy doesn’t really work due to bugs and balance problems, and the confusing interface only makes it more difficult to understand the processes. Reports on the state of affairs in the Underground Empire lack clarity, so it is almost impossible to understand exactly how the player’s decisions affect the life of the city (and whether they affect it at all).
You can start taking over all the buildings in a row without thinking about whether opening another brewery will lead to bankruptcy or excessive police attention. The cops, judging by the training tips, should actively get involved in the criminal life of the city, but in all my playthroughs their participation was limited to only random intervention in street shootouts with other gangs.
Moreover, to win, all this fuss with diplomacy and business development is not needed at all. Having barely gotten to your feet and having slightly upgraded three or four fighters led by the boss, you can safely set off to capture the shelter of the first neighbor you come across. Tactical battles are quite simple, and after killing the leader of an enemy gang, all its property automatically comes under the control of the player. Money begins to flow like a river, but there is simply nowhere to spend it: trophies obtained in battles are enough to equip fighters, and the hiring of new gangsters is hampered by the slowly growing level of fame (especially since a small team is enough). As a result, it becomes simply pointless to engage in economic development.
Turn-based battles are also nothing special. Yes, they are moderately interesting, but this is not the merit Romero Games, but completely copied from XCOM two-phase tactical system with percentage hit probability – you won’t find anything new here, except for fresh bugs and balance problems. For example, some skills are so strong that they allow the player to emerge victorious from battles with a much superior opponent even at the start of the campaign. Mediocre animations and generally outdated technical parts do not add attractiveness to the battles – there is not even destructibility here.
If we recall the famous aphorism Al Capone about a kind word and a pistol, then in EoS a clear bias in favor of the latter. The easiest way to victory is war, but constant battles get boring, quickly turning into a routine of ingenuously grinding down enemies.
Empire of Sin looks like an unsorted pile of potentially interesting game design ideas. There are many of them, and if they worked as they should in a single connection – the economy affects diplomacy, and that looks back at the combat system – then it would be much more interesting to play. However, all these “features” are not only broken by bugs, but also exist on their own, which is why they become useless in some places and simply boring in others.
One gets the feeling that the developers simply did not have enough time to build a holistic image of the game. An indirect confirmation of this is the release postponement that happened earlier. But this didn’t help either – hence the main shortcomings right at the junction of the systems, such as meager rewards for quests coupled with huge prices for weapons in the store and the lack of the need to buy them.
Maybe after a few patches EoS will reach "Commendable". But for now, forget about “a kind word” and “just business” – unfortunately, now all it takes to capture Chicago is just one pistol.
Pros: memorable images of gangsters; system of relationships between characters.
Cons: bugs, including those that prevent you from completing the game; strategic mode does not work as intended; skewed gameplay towards combat; inconvenient economy interface.