Forge of Empires: addictive city-builder game

Forge of Empires which was released over 9 years ago the game still enjoys a very healthy player base and remains one of the most popular mobile/browser games in existence.

Originally released for browsers in 2012, then iOS in 2014, and Android in 2015 the game quickly amassed over 10 million registered users thanks to TV advertising and genuinely addictive gameplay.

The game has cross-platform appeal. Mobile gamers will likely feel obliged to take a look due to the fact it is now predominantly a mobile game. PC gamers will be likely to investigate due to city-builders historically being seen as a PC-centric genre.

Developers InnoGames had developed 3 previous games prior to Forge of Empires, all successful. They have also released several titles since then although Forge of Empires remains inactive constant development.

How does it play?

Forge of Empires is a city builder at heart but includes elements that gamers will recognize from titles like civilization as you progress through different time periods. Currently, the game lets you progress to the space age.

As you would expect you start with a modest settlement and few villagers. Your two main resources are coins and supplies. You’ll need to spend both in order to build new structures in your city. You generate coins automatically at residential housing. Supplies are generated at other building types like a hunter’s hut or pottery. There is a time-limiting factor here which is common in many mobile games and acts as a mechanic to get you to purchase more.

You need to consider the happiness of your villagers. If villagers are not happy then production slows. In order to maintain happiness, you can build structures such as memorials or theatres.

To progress through the game you need to research technologies. In order to do this, you need to spend forge points which you acquire passively at a rate of 1 per hour. Or you can spend diamonds.

You need to consider the happiness of your villagers. If villagers are not happy then production slows. In order to maintain happiness, you can build structures such as memorials or theatres.

To progress through the game you need to research technologies. In order to do this, you need to spend forge points which you acquire passively at a rate of 1 per hour. Or you can spend diamonds.

You will receive missions from advisers that will reward you in various ways, usually giving you resources of some kind. The missions will serve to point you in the right direction in terms of progressing your empire and technology tree.

You can expand your empire by taking control of nearby provinces. This will reward you with additional resources. It doesn’t allow you to build new cities but provides you with extra space to expand your city. In order to control additional provinces you first need to scout them from the map screen before invading with military forces and battling the current inhabitants.

Then you can see how many sectors there are in the province and move to conquer them one by one. You can conquer a province through negotiations and paying a certain amount of resources or through the glory of battle.

It’s a refreshing change to see some sort of battle engine in the game. There’s actually some strategy involved in as well. Positioning your units in certain positions on the battlefield will grant them bonuses to defense or attack. It does feel a little shallow though. If the developers were going to bother with a battle system I feel like they could have added more depth to it.

The battlefield itself is a hexagonal setup similar to that of a Civilisation game so it pays to keep your units closer together. That way if one of them gets attacked you have reinforcements close by.

There’s an in-game guilds feature that allows players to band together. Doing so provides benefits like trading and guild expeditions which can be very lucrative and useful for expanding your city-state.

PvP

Players can pit themselves against each other in PvP in 2 different ways.

PvP towers can be found in provinces that are invaded which serve as a conduit to join PVP tournaments against other players. Tournament winners are rewarded with diamonds.

Players can choose to attack others through the neighborhood list. If you have been attacked by another player you will also have the option to launch a counter-attack. To unlock the neighborhood you must first research “thatched housing”.

Conclusion

We’re starting to see that there are levels to this mobile gaming market. There are games that are basically interactive click funnels that relentlessly push the player towards spending money. Then there are games that are actually good games in their own right.

Almost every free-to-play mobile game has some form of monetization and that’s just the way of the world these days. Games like Forge of Empires give us hope that there are actually developers out there we can trust to make good games and if we choose to invest a little bit of money to make the experience more enjoyable or easier for ourselves then we can.

Forge of Empires is a well-balanced, satisfying experience. One of the OG’s of the mobile gaming revolution that got it right from the beginning. You can check it out here.