Over the break we had a chance to do some serious scientific study of this business we call games, and it turns out that games are actually good. 2020 in particular has a healthy mix of big budget bonanzas and smaller indie plates to suit everyone’s discerning tastes. And, as you know, the RPS treehouse is the most discerning, so to make it easier for you we’ve got a big ol’ list of the games we’re most looking forwards to this year. It’s traditional.
In Romero Games’ Empire Of Sin, you play a prohibition era crime lord in Chicago, organising your rackets and engaging in turn-based combat with rivals. It’s an era developer Brenda Romero has always been fascinated by. She grew up in a town in New York state called Ogdensburg, which hadn’t, historically, had a lot going for it until US prohibition started in 1920, triggering 13 years in which getting hammered was basically illegal.
In a happenstance which perfectly demonstrates how ridiculous border control can be, Ogdensburg is right smack on one side of the St. Lawrence river. On the other side, is, um, Canada. Armed with the knowledge the river isn’t that deep and that it freezes over during the winter, a man could make thousands of dollars by getting the right cargo across it.
The mob, for all their terrible, terrible crimes, are the perfect set-up for a tactical game. They have a structure, guns, and are in continual conflict with just about everyone, including themselves. Off the top of my head, I can t think of a game that s done the organisation justice (that s for the police to do, aha!) from a top-down level, but with Empire Of Sin on the horizon that could change.
Brenda and John Romero's really-rather-wonderful-looking mobster-themed strategy game, Empire of Sin, just got its first gameplay trailer, courtesy of today's Inside Xbox livestream.
Empire of Sin unfolds among the shadows of 1920s Prohibition-era Chicago, with players attempting to build their crime empire from the ground up - using business smarts, intimidation, and, yes, violence - in a bid to become mob king or queen of the city.
In order to climb to the top of the crime pile, you'll be able to indulge in the likes of bribery or black market trading, and even establish rackets (including speakeasies, breweries, casinos, brothels, or good old-fashioned protection rackets), all of which plays out in real-time.
