Dabbling With… Empire In Ruins

The fourth episode of a short series on games I discovered at EGX Rezzed 2019.

The last proper tower defence game I played was Defense Grid: The Awakening (Hidden Path Entertainment, 2008) so it’s been awhile. Enter Empire In Ruins from Hammer and Ravens.

On the surface, and I stress on the very surface, Empire In Ruins looks like classic tower defence. You build towers, aggressors come at you along defined paths. Towers can be upgraded, but they also find themselves under attack and need to be repaired. You have powerups at your disposal which provide a temporary boost, but take time to recharge. Super.

Hammer and Ravens themselves call it “the bastard child of 4X and tower defence” and it’s certainly not straight up tower defence. There’s a huge amount of tweaking that can be done to each tower, in terms of their behaviour, all of which will be too much for the first-time player. I didn’t need to drill down far to get through the demo level. You have limited builders to make the new towers and, if they’re out on the field when the new wave rolls in, they can get killed, which makes it feel a little RTSy. I was shown some enemies carving out new paths along the map; I’m told they can also tunnel to escape your towers.

There’s a campaign map in which you are reclaiming lost territory (hence the “empire in ruins”) and losing a battle will set you back. I did not get to see this in the demo, but you have to manage your reclaimed territory carefully – you can be betrayed and each region is vital to keep resources flowing to the front line. There’s also a tech tree to research.

Empires in Ruins has been in the works for several years and is still in development. Do check out the website if it sounds like your kettle of fish.

From the website:

Empire In Ruins is a new take at strategy that merges the Tower Defense genre’s detailed, recognizable gameplay with elements of Turn-Based Empire Management, in a hybrid never before seen.

Conquer, build, defend and lead the grumpy Sgt. Hans Heimer in his own personal vendetta against “the system”.

• Plot driven campaign – betrayals, diplomacy and nasty twists
• Turn based strategy – quell the rebellion, kick back the enemy and restore the law.
• Empire management – conquer back the provinces, strengthen your command, chose your best governors and grant your military campaign a steady flow of resources
• Tower defense-based combat – fight your battles in a new, advanced tower defense style that winks at advanced real time strategy
• Arcade play mode. Because… FIGHT!
• Low brow humor, low brow humor everywhere! – Don’t smile, it’s punishable.

Interested in other games I’ve dabbled with? Check out the series index!