Empire of Sin Reviews

Game is an interesting mix of turn based tactic and economic strategy made in really interesting and unusual setting for this genre. If you like this kind of games definitely should try it. Especially if you like noir and 20-40 USA Aesthetics and noir.

Let me be frank. I enjoy this game. However I can not, not use this opportunity to mention that for some reason, I can not appoint an advisor. I have tried this at all levels of notoriety, but all the same can not complete that mission. There are other missions like this, for instance for Frederick Joyce that are bugged. Maxim Zelnick also has bugged missions, never triggers mission 3. Only works with the option of staying small for the 2nd Mission. Can we have this addressed please ?

Empire of Sin is a unique blend of strategy, role-playing, and management simulation set in the gritty underworld of 1920s Prohibition-era Chicago. Developed by Romero Games and published by Paradox Interactive, the game immerses players in the life of a burgeoning crime boss, tasked with building a criminal empire through a mix of tactical combat, business management, and narrative choices. This fusion of genres creates a rich and engaging experience, offering both depth and style as players navigate the treacherous landscape of bootlegging, racketeering, and gang warfare. The game's setting is one of its strongest assets, brilliantly capturing the atmosphere of the Roaring Twenties with its jazz-infused soundtrack, period-accurate visuals, and detailed environments. The city of Chicago is brought to life with a vibrant color palette and distinct neighborhoods, each with its own character and strategic importance. Whether managing speakeasies, casinos, or illegal breweries, the game excels at making players feel like they’re part of a sprawling criminal network that constantly evolves. The art style strikes a balance between stylized realism and a comic book flair, which adds personality to the characters and world without sacrificing immersion. Gameplay in Empire of Sin is multi-layered and demands attention on several fronts. At its core, the game is about empire-building: acquiring businesses, recruiting and managing a crew of unique mobsters, and expanding your influence while fending off rivals. Each character brings different skills, personalities, and backgrounds to the table, which influence both strategic planning and narrative interactions. The RPG elements shine through in how players develop their mobsters’ abilities and navigate relationships, adding emotional stakes and tactical complexity. The variety of activities, from negotiating deals to orchestrating hits, ensures that no two playthroughs feel the same. Combat is a significant and often intense part of the gameplay, employing a turn-based tactical system reminiscent of classic strategy games. Battles can be gritty and unforgiving, requiring players to use cover, positioning, and the unique abilities of their crew members effectively. The AI opponents can be challenging, and the game rewards thoughtful planning and adaptability. While the combat system may not revolutionize the genre, it integrates well with the broader management and narrative elements, providing a satisfying test of strategic skills. The ability to plan heists and coordinate attacks adds another layer of depth to these encounters. Narrative and role-playing elements are intricately woven throughout Empire of Sin, with branching dialogue options and multiple ways to approach conflicts, alliances, and rivalries. The game features a cast of colorful characters inspired by historical figures and gangster lore, each with their own agendas and quirks. Player choices often have meaningful consequences, shaping not only the story but also the dynamics within the criminal underworld. This aspect adds replayability and encourages experimentation with different strategies and alliances. The voice acting and writing are solid, bringing life and personality to the cast, though some lines can feel repetitive after extended play. On the management side, players must carefully balance finances, reputation, and resources to keep their empire thriving. This involves upgrading businesses, dealing with law enforcement, bribing officials, and handling the day-to-day logistics of running a criminal organization. The economic simulation is robust without becoming overwhelming, allowing players to focus on growth and territorial control. However, some players may find certain mechanics—such as supply management and diplomacy—require a fair bit of micromanagement, which can slow down pacing during longer sessions. While Empire of Sin offers a compelling package, it’s not without flaws. Some players have noted bugs and performance issues, especially during combat or complex management sequences. The pacing can occasionally drag, with certain missions or diplomatic negotiations feeling repetitive. The UI, while functional, sometimes lacks polish and clarity, making it harder to track objectives or manage large crews efficiently. Despite these hiccups, the developers have shown commitment to improving the game through patches and updates, steadily enhancing the overall experience. In conclusion, Empire of Sin is a distinctive and ambitious title that successfully melds strategy, RPG, and management elements into a flavorful homage to the gangster era. Its richly detailed setting, diverse gameplay systems, and branching narrative make for an engaging and often intense experience. While it may require patience and persistence to overcome some rough edges, the game rewards players with deep strategic choices and a captivating glimpse into the life of a crime boss in 1920s Chicago. For fans of strategy games who appreciate narrative depth and historical flair, Empire of Sin offers a memorable and rewarding dive into the underworld. Rating: 7/10

Good update, makes the game fun again. New story, new characters, Vanguard class, more missions, weapons, new challenges, and even a dog.

I really love Paradox. Their strategy games are almost always worth hundreds, if not thousands of hours of game play. I cannot recommend Empire of Sin though. Having spent countless hours building my dynasty in CK3, growing my galactic empire in Stellaris, and getting steamrolled in HOI4, I found EOS and was immediately intrigued. I've always liked prohibition era mafia media, from movies to books to games. I had high hopes coming into this. Empire of Sin is unfortunately just one of Paradox's weaker titles. There's countless game balance issues, both for and against the player. The diplomacy is lackluster at best, even after the update, there's very little replayability, and several bugs, ranging from annoying to save corrupting. The game balance issues are the most minor of the lot. Player controlled mobsters move faster than AI mobsters, allowing you to react to situations far away from you with ease. On the other hand, the AI gets to deploy multiple groups of dispensable mobsters for exploration and combat while the player is limited to 10 mobsters at a time that all take a monthly cut of the profits. RNG seems to weigh heavily in the player's favour during combat, but simulated battles seem to heavily favour the AI. After having been on the market for years, EOS still has game breaking bugs. From incomplete missions and story lines to simply being unable to open the map or select characters after a battle, these bugs seriously harm the playability of the game. Aside from balance and performance issues, there just isn't much replayability. Each mobster has different perks and special abilities, so there's some minor differences between each playthrough, and the "main quests" for each character are different, but at the end of the day you're just going to end up taking rackets, declaring wars, and taking more rackets. The player always grows faster than the AI so you quickly eclipse the AI's income and the neighbourhood system forces you to grow in a rather predictable way. I've invested hundreds of hours in Paradox's other titles, but I doubt I'll ever hit 100 hours in Empire of Sin.

I seen the preview commercials long before it released, ever since I thought thats gonna be a cool game. It's been on my wishlist ever since it released. Finally got it in this summer sale... It is so much better than you might know at first glance. It's basically a prohibition era version of Xcom crossed with perhaps, I dunno, Star Trek Birth of the Federation. If you love either of those games you will probably have a blast with this one, especially if you like the whole gangster themed empire building. Sure, they could probably have done more, added more, expanded, but it is a solid playable game as is. Anyone who doesn't like the game probably doesn't like any of the other games either... It is kind of a hybrid of everything, not quite real time but not strictly turn based either. And, your every decision matters. So, if you love Xcom, or similar, you probably going to enjoy this. If thats not your kind of game, then you probably wont.

i really hate leaving bad reviews on games but this game kinda deserves a bad review, the game is great, the graphics are great, what is not great is the fact that is so anti player is not even funny, if you play on medium difficulty or higher the AI has a ridiculous amount of armor and grenades that they just grenade spam you and kill all your guys, basically killing any sort of strategy you may have in mind dead on its feet, the fact that you cannot change the music at will is also another big downside, if you are playing a long run you get what i am saying, the DLC did nothing to really make the game that much enjoyable because the game is great is the anti player tactics the ai and difficulty will use to kill your vibe, sad to leave a bad review to a game that couldve been a great gem of a game.

Empire of Sin – A Tactical Take Worth Revisiting As someone who grew up playing classics like Gangsters: Organized Crime and Mob Rule, I approached Empire of Sin with both nostalgia and high expectations. It’s true that the game launched in 2021 with more bugs than bullets in a Tommy gun, and it took time for the developers to stabilize the experience. But once you're in, there’s a strategic depth and charm that sets this game apart from other entries in the genre. What really shines in Empire of Sin is the turn-based tactical combat (Like XCOM, Jagged Alliance, Wartales). Every fight feels personal. The mechanics reward smart positioning, synergy between crew abilities, and careful planning. This isn’t just a numbers game—it’s a street-level chess match with tommy guns and grenades. The character relationship system is another standout. Crew members aren’t just interchangeable units—they have backstories, relationships, grudges, and romantic ties that affect gameplay. It feels more like managing a dysfunctional criminal family than an anonymous empire, and that’s a strength. It adds personality and unpredictability to each playthrough. I also appreciate the simplified business management. Some older titles buried you in resource logistics. Here, once a racket is up and running, you don’t have to micromanage supply chains. That lets you focus more on expansion, strategy, and interaction—especially exploring neighborhoods, which actually matters in Empire of Sin. You’ll uncover new businesses, interact with minor factions, and get drawn into side stories that give the city texture. For future updates, I’d love to see more assignable tasks for our crew, similar to older titles. Right now, crew members are mostly tied to combat or guarding rackets. Giving them more proactive responsibilities—like collecting debts, bribing cops, or building relationships—would bring more utility to your gang outside of battle. Second, there’s a real opportunity to make neighborhoods feel even more alive. Let us meet and recruit local citizens. Maybe each district has unique hires or passive benefits that reward deeper exploration. It would fit the game’s tone and further differentiate territories beyond just who owns them. In short: Empire of Sin may not be the economic simulator some were expecting, but for those of us who value story-rich, tactical gameplay, it’s a worthy addition to the gangster genre. Don’t write it off because it isn’t a clone of what came before. Embrace what it does differently—and hope the next iteration builds on its promising foundation.

Game is trash, utter stinking trash. And i'm not talking about the messed up RNG, The graphical Glitches and Bugs in a 5 year old game (ambidextrous gunslinger? Second gun is worn on the forearm ! Thug dies ? he stays up and at a glance appears to still be a threat ) or the fact a common thug has an almost full armor bar whereas you seem to be entirely dependant on luck to see what equipment you MIGHT get. Game balance seems totally questionnable. No, when i say trash, i mean it in the ways of : Each 1 hour or so session of gameplay i did, whenever i closed down the game ? the SECONDARY LAUNCHER ( yes, because buying the game on Steam still forces you to install Paradox's launcher to start your GODDAMN GAME ... ) basically dies and REFUSES to start my game, unless i uninstall and reinstall it ... The Game CRAPS ITSELF TO DEATH each time i close it, forcing me to reinstall it ... HOW !?!?! WHY !?!?! THEY CHARGE 50 $ FOR THAT !!! At least it IS in theme witht he game, clearly it was meant to be a Racket ...

This game is a cool idea and I had a lot of hope on release but unfortunately is simply not very fun. Likely due to poor development process (long story short: Romero were the initial devs and quit after scamming, to protect themselves Paradox the publisher took over development SEVERAL years late) the game simply is not all that fleshed out. You'll likely see Paradox do what they did when they bought Prison Architect and sling out high amounts of over priced DLC and end up ruining the functionality of the game in the process. The game really boils down the slog of taking your group of unique mobsters (as in their models, there's nothing more to it than that other than their relationships which only matters in terms of who you can have hired at the same time) to run around the map and kill off the other factions. Not that it should be a problem, but there is a finite number of them so if they all die off/get hired by enemies you could get soft locked. The combat system is pretty well fleshed out; however, the animations and sounds are wonky (pumping a shotgun wrong and six gunshots for a three round burst from SMGs for example). You will run into the same map repeatedly. While you have to cut through copy and paste enemy gangsters, you only have access to bringing unique ones with you. You also can't send out groups on scouting or exterminate missions like the AI can, that has to be done with your unique crew. I think the game would be better if you had to have a unique gangster as a crew leader that you send on missions and can have several out there as opposed to really only having access to one party. Diplomacy is empty and the autoresolve calculator is pretty dumb (a 6v1 ended in total defeat for me one time... my troops were better quality too). All of the quests are fetch quests and none are particularly interesting, but they do spice up the world a bit. The AI is also pretty bad at building their empire. Also got soft locked in a war after ransacking and entire enemy neighborhood and couldn't find their safehouse. Any management decisions you make are pretty irrelevant, I had an event pop up where I sent two of my gangsters to jail and they only lost one morale and loyalty each (these scale from 0 to 500). Managing finances is very easy, strengthen one area to bankroll your expansion and then expansion will cover all future expenses. Equipping your crew is also a very "eh" process, the black market really isn't helpful unless you get lucky (weird reset cycle too). It's also weird that you select a boss but when you control them on the world map they say stuff like "on it boss." Nit picky I know but it gives me a sense that you're not really playing as that boss. The game autosaves in months and money is earned weekly. But you can get a TON done in just a day which can put you in a weird situation where you might just have to wait for long periods doing nothing. I'm not sure how the modding scene is, maybe it can do great things for the title. But other than that just save your money, get XCOM or hold out for the upcoming Star Wars turn based game.