After watching content for Empire of Sin for a few hours, I couldn't help but feel that this game has many core issues when it comes to its design.
The combat is basically a very bland XCom, like a game that's trying to jump onto a ship that sailed in 2012 and arrived at port for a long rest in 2017.
XCom's combat is fun because of the slew of abilities available to you through the class system, each class being highly developed and allowing for synergies between each other. Combat in XCom also often forced you into making strategic and risky decisions, maybe you've accidentally triggered a pod of enemies or a Chosen is coming for you in that very same map, all the while a mission timer is running down, forcing you into taking further risks. Now I'm not going to say that everything about XCom's combat is a jewel of game design (cough cough, enemy pods and timers), but they do give the game's core gameplay loop an increased intensity.
What does Empire of Sin do? Give you that same gameplay loop but with none of the stuff that intensified the experience in XCom 2. No enemy diversity, no height advantage (actually, no z-levels) no meaningful range mechanic, no developed class and perk system, no sense of urgency (beyond trying to find something fun to do in the game), nothing. Sure, some of your 'gangsters' have shotguns and SMGs instead of pistols, but that honestly didn't seem to change much at all. Shotguns had shoddy aim at close range, SMGs are just a roll the dice thrice but with lower chances to hit, and pistols are the 'accurate' weapons, and... That's it. Add in some throwable items with very situational uses and you've got Empire of Sin's core gameplay loop.
Management is too simple.
Take over turfs, slap in some upgrades. Bang. That's the height of the management gameplay. Money will start flowing in on its own so long as you keep the extremely basic building chain going. No need to visit your turfs unless it's being attacked. What's the point of adding depth all around it through prosperity and upgrades if the core of it is so simple it can run itself for most of the game?
Diplomacy, why even?
Diplomacy between families is pointless. Only one is left standing, so why ally at all? Actually, if there are no real repercussions for wars, why even engage in diplo at all? Paradox developed games have consequences for abusing war, such as your country exhausting itself leading to revolt and less income, running out of manpower, coalitions being formed against you, etc. In EoS, the consequences for just ignoring diplo alltogether is almost null, and in fact a benefit in the long term for your game.
The story of organized crime in the US is so riddled with betrayals, agreements, mergers and alliances between families it's ridiculous. The game fails to portray the necessity of these negotiations completely.
Also, the game suffers very much from the fact that bosses and NPCs feel underwhelming, almost like generic, cliche padding. My sit down with another boss doesn't feel like this gloomy, tense encounter, more like a shoddily animated and voice acted cutscene for a low-budget indie game. Speaking of...
Character design, voice acting and animations, all terrible for a developer with a reputation to defend.
If you'll allow me to compare once more, XCom had excellent custom animations and intense voice acting all brought together with a great sound design fitting to given situations. Empire of Sin has... none of those. Most sounds are generic clanking, during reloads I noticed that some noises were louder and some were way lower because... Because there was no QA, I guess.
The voice acting in EoS is also a rollercoaster. Some characters have great voices and lines, other have terrible ones. Most fall into boring and generic cliches. This is normal, you want to start with a character archetype defined in a few bullet points when you have to design dozens of characters.
But this character design and experience is also... shoddy. This is a pitfall in a long term strategy/management game like this, I won't 'like' a character for their hastily written past in a text box and outlandish clothing choices for civilian life (Can we tell the WW1 veteran to drop the uniform already?). I want to like these characters for the story we build together as our gangster empire rises. I'll mention XCom again, all you had for characters was their voices and country of origin, everything else was built through your experiences with the characters in the high intensity combat situations during the grand campaign, the fact that each character was customizable and could be upgraded also helps tons. EoS can go a step further, and have their personalities develop as they use the characters in the game. Will they be more ruthless or more merciful? Drunkards? Druggies? Actually evil or more of a 'noble rogue' type? Will they change as you make decisions in the game? When the characters you are presented with have shallow cliched preset personalities and designs which can't be explored beyond a text box and a fancy 3d model, your experiences with the limited pool of characters you are supposed to cherish is extremely limited.
In the end, a game that has not learned enough about the past 10 to 20 years of gaming development.
That's it, my final statement because my belly grumbles and I gotta cook my dinner. It's a game whose designers and developers don't seem to have done their homework and haven't studied the industry in a long, long time. I appreciate it as a rushed passion project, something I can see in the care given to the woefully underutilized 3D map, the care put into some of the characters and, more generally, in the ambience they tried to setup. But, as a 2020 game, it's failed on too many fronts for me. Thanks for reading.
The combat is basically a very bland XCom, like a game that's trying to jump onto a ship that sailed in 2012 and arrived at port for a long rest in 2017.
XCom's combat is fun because of the slew of abilities available to you through the class system, each class being highly developed and allowing for synergies between each other. Combat in XCom also often forced you into making strategic and risky decisions, maybe you've accidentally triggered a pod of enemies or a Chosen is coming for you in that very same map, all the while a mission timer is running down, forcing you into taking further risks. Now I'm not going to say that everything about XCom's combat is a jewel of game design (cough cough, enemy pods and timers), but they do give the game's core gameplay loop an increased intensity.
What does Empire of Sin do? Give you that same gameplay loop but with none of the stuff that intensified the experience in XCom 2. No enemy diversity, no height advantage (actually, no z-levels) no meaningful range mechanic, no developed class and perk system, no sense of urgency (beyond trying to find something fun to do in the game), nothing. Sure, some of your 'gangsters' have shotguns and SMGs instead of pistols, but that honestly didn't seem to change much at all. Shotguns had shoddy aim at close range, SMGs are just a roll the dice thrice but with lower chances to hit, and pistols are the 'accurate' weapons, and... That's it. Add in some throwable items with very situational uses and you've got Empire of Sin's core gameplay loop.
Management is too simple.
Take over turfs, slap in some upgrades. Bang. That's the height of the management gameplay. Money will start flowing in on its own so long as you keep the extremely basic building chain going. No need to visit your turfs unless it's being attacked. What's the point of adding depth all around it through prosperity and upgrades if the core of it is so simple it can run itself for most of the game?
Diplomacy, why even?
Diplomacy between families is pointless. Only one is left standing, so why ally at all? Actually, if there are no real repercussions for wars, why even engage in diplo at all? Paradox developed games have consequences for abusing war, such as your country exhausting itself leading to revolt and less income, running out of manpower, coalitions being formed against you, etc. In EoS, the consequences for just ignoring diplo alltogether is almost null, and in fact a benefit in the long term for your game.
The story of organized crime in the US is so riddled with betrayals, agreements, mergers and alliances between families it's ridiculous. The game fails to portray the necessity of these negotiations completely.
Also, the game suffers very much from the fact that bosses and NPCs feel underwhelming, almost like generic, cliche padding. My sit down with another boss doesn't feel like this gloomy, tense encounter, more like a shoddily animated and voice acted cutscene for a low-budget indie game. Speaking of...
Character design, voice acting and animations, all terrible for a developer with a reputation to defend.
If you'll allow me to compare once more, XCom had excellent custom animations and intense voice acting all brought together with a great sound design fitting to given situations. Empire of Sin has... none of those. Most sounds are generic clanking, during reloads I noticed that some noises were louder and some were way lower because... Because there was no QA, I guess.
The voice acting in EoS is also a rollercoaster. Some characters have great voices and lines, other have terrible ones. Most fall into boring and generic cliches. This is normal, you want to start with a character archetype defined in a few bullet points when you have to design dozens of characters.
But this character design and experience is also... shoddy. This is a pitfall in a long term strategy/management game like this, I won't 'like' a character for their hastily written past in a text box and outlandish clothing choices for civilian life (Can we tell the WW1 veteran to drop the uniform already?). I want to like these characters for the story we build together as our gangster empire rises. I'll mention XCom again, all you had for characters was their voices and country of origin, everything else was built through your experiences with the characters in the high intensity combat situations during the grand campaign, the fact that each character was customizable and could be upgraded also helps tons. EoS can go a step further, and have their personalities develop as they use the characters in the game. Will they be more ruthless or more merciful? Drunkards? Druggies? Actually evil or more of a 'noble rogue' type? Will they change as you make decisions in the game? When the characters you are presented with have shallow cliched preset personalities and designs which can't be explored beyond a text box and a fancy 3d model, your experiences with the limited pool of characters you are supposed to cherish is extremely limited.
In the end, a game that has not learned enough about the past 10 to 20 years of gaming development.
That's it, my final statement because my belly grumbles and I gotta cook my dinner. It's a game whose designers and developers don't seem to have done their homework and haven't studied the industry in a long, long time. I appreciate it as a rushed passion project, something I can see in the care given to the woefully underutilized 3D map, the care put into some of the characters and, more generally, in the ambience they tried to setup. But, as a 2020 game, it's failed on too many fronts for me. Thanks for reading.
Last edited:
- 4
- 1
- 1
- 1
