Empires in Ruins, a story-driven strategy game that incorporates tower defense and 4x elements from developer Hammers & Ravens, launches in Early Access today over on Steam. There’s a free demo available, too, for those that want to dip their toes in first.
Twinfinite previewed an early build of Empires in Ruins during last year’s EGX Rezzed event and had a blast experiencing a build that featured only its tower defense loop. The Early Access version, though, brings the full package, combining tower defense, 4x grand strategy, and the first five chapters of its story-driven campaign.
Voice acting from Doug Cockle (Geralt, The Witcher series) helps to bring the game’s story to life, as does some rather clever writing and an engaging plot. The aesthetic, too, is an interesting one, featuring comic-book-style cutscene animation and a rockin’ medieval/rock soundtrack that we may or may not have been humming repeatedly at every quiet moment over the past week!
The gameplay experience takes place across two separate aspects: real-time tower defense and turn-based 4x strategy. During 4x turns, you’ll be managing the kingdom from a world map, carefully supervising your territory’s economic situation as you squeeze taxes to research new technologies. Then, when you’re ready to fight, it’s all about classic TD gameplay as you attempt to master the strategic placement of 17 different upgradable towers across a plethora of different stages.
You can check out the game’s cinematic trailer below. Standby for a full impressions piece in the near future.
