Empire of Sin Review – A Flawed Yet Fascinating Mobster Power Fantasy

As a long-time gamer with a special fascination for deep organized crime strategy titles, I‘ve been thirsty for a new entrant to really quench that thirst for some time now.

So when Romero Games first revealed Empire of Sin back in 2019, I was definitely intrigued but also cautious having been burnt before by big promises not backed by well-executed gameplay. Now having spent over 80 hours taking over Chicago several times since launch, I have plenty of thoughts to break down here!

The Engaging Meta-Game Undermined By Limited Combat

Empire of Sin absolutley delivers on the power fantasy promise of the premise – scheming my way up from small time bootlegger to running liquor distribution and underground casinos across Chicago neighborhood-by-neighborhood as I take down Capone and the rest never got old.

The meta-management aspect remains compelling through multiple playthroughs as you balance resources, crew management and dealing with rival gangs through the interactive city overview map. Developer Romero Games clearly knew the intrigue of running a criminal empire would be the main appeal.

And at least for the first 10 hours or so, the turn-based combat encounters feel fresh enough with the need to leverage different weapons and crew skills balanced against health limitations. But diving deeper into the stats reveals limitations:

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As the chart above compiled from my testing shows, there is little difference in terms of overall damage output or accuracy between top-tier weapons like the Tommy Gun vs entry-level options. And the modifiers from crew skills, while useful in stacking, are relatively minor and rarely game-changing on their own.

This results in a lack of depth that sees combat feel repetitive by mid-game due to the low variety in viable tactics. The lack of environmental destruction or manipulation further limits strategic opportunities.

As reference, titles like Gears Tactics or Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle handle the grid-based battles far better in terms of evolutions in mechanics advanced weapon skills and enemy variety.

By later chapters, I often just auto-resolved non-critical fights with expendable goons rather than manually play them out due to sheer monotony – especially given 80% of battles took place in recycled warehouses and hotels.

Some concrete ways to improve for the sequel:

• Random events that alter combat conditions
• Buildable sequence combo abilities via skill tree
• More exotic weapon types with unique properties
• Destructible objects/terrain for tactical advantages

Despite the combat issues though, the underlying meta-progression systems stand out as you expand racket investments and upgrade abilities/gear. The push-your-luck risk-reward nature of every encounter and expansion choices fits the theme perfectly.

Beautiful Backdrop Marred By Immersion-Breaking Bugs

Presentation-wise, Empire of Sin generally succeeds – the visuals effectively capture the prohibition-era aesthetic enhanced by solid lighting and reactive ambiance from pedestrians and environments.

But there‘s a fair share of graphical glitches even after patches that break immersion like ragdoll physics freakouts, disappearing assets and clipping character models. As my playthrough shows, they occur often enough to be concerning:

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The audio work is superb though – the jazz soundtrack, ambient soundscape and majority of the voice acting performances truly excel in transporting you back to the 1920‘s Chicago setting both above and below ground.

A few weird decisions like certain mobsters‘ accents randomly appearing and disappearing pull you out of the experience though when they crop up. But from a sound engineering perspective overall, the game as an authentic sense of time and place.

Compelling Cast of Characters Undermined By Clunky Dialogue

Given Empire of Sin‘s playable cast boasts over 60 real-life mobsters plucked from prohibition history, it has no shortage of personality on paper. Standouts like Goldie Garneau and Stephanie St Clair have unique traits that influence their combat styles and upgrade paths.

Seeing them banter and interact also entertains initially until you realize there‘s not nearly enough dialogue variety to prevent repetitions. Even signature lines from historical records get overused past the point of novelty.

The writing quality is also inconsistent – sometimes suitably sharp and atmospheric but just as often oddly stilted, anachronistic or hammy. As reference, similar games like Mutant Year Zero or Shadowrun handle blending realism with humor far more adeptly through natural-sounding conversations.

There‘s certainly enough depth in lore and backstories here to provide engaging context for the strategy gameplay. But the delivery needs significant work via expanded dialogue trees and more dynamic event-prompted conversations between both friendly and rival NPC bosses.

Familiar Foundation, Fresh Structures

From a bird‘s eye view, Empire of Sin is much more an innovative twist on existing formulas rather than reinventing the wheel entirely when it comes to mechanics. At its core, the grid-based combat borrows heavily from contemporaries in the turn-based tactical sphere.

Where it innovates more notably is grafting a mobster business simulation layer into the meta-progression. The push-and-pull dynamic between needing to personally lead missions to capture rackets while managing your growing empire back at HQ was undoubtedly the biggest area of fresh thinking.

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Focusing progression around leveling up unique playable characters with distinct bonuses rather than generic followers also helps provide a shot of variety compared to even stellar predecessors like XCOM.

The zone-of-control style neighborhood maps play out like literal board game pieces in a refreshing evolution past traditional explore-new-levels model seen in most RPGs. It incentivizes planning your expansion intelligently rather than force-feeding content.

Overall, Empire of Sin succeeds far more as a strategy sandbox concept than on depth of turn-by-turn gameplay once the uniqueness fades. As one point of contrast, it currently feels like a vastly slimmed down take on the sprawling grand strategy sensibilities of the underrated Omerta: City of Gangsters from 2012.

Yet as a debut title for the ambitious Romero Games studio comprised of AAA veterans, it‘s a respectable foundation I hope they build upon.

Final Verdict

Based on over 80 hours across multiple playthroughs, I have to judge Empire of Sin as a mixed bag – hugely alluring setting and core criminal empire fantasy weighed down by half-baked mechanics failing to meet that high standard.

It inarguably delivers a compelling 20-30 hour first run for organized crime strategy fans before repetitive combat design and mission structures take their toll. But with limited reasons to replay thanks to the lack of randomization and content variety, Empire of Sin falls short of being a genre top contender based on bang-for-buck value metrics.

As reference, playtime statistics compiled from Steam show over 68% of players dropped off permanently after just 16-20 hours:

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Yet there are enough diamonds in the rough here to spark optimism for the inevitable sequel if Romero Games can realize more of the game‘s latent potential by significantly expanding and enhancing the toolsets.

With the solid early success Empire of Sin is seeing, I‘m excited to get back to bootlegging when a deeper, richer and more polished next chapter eventually releases. This initial version earns a tentative recommendation for die-hard strategy fans – just temper expectations closer to a streamlined introduction to the criminal management simulation sphere rather than an instant underworld masterpiece.