The bastard child of 4X and Tower defense, with a black humor infused plot, set in a grim, disillusioned world. Quell the rebellion, tame the Western Marches, disobey your orders and save your brandy. Not strictly in this order.
![Image](http://www.sanitarium.fm/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/FlyerA-e1581429544334.png)
Darsch Pugs here for Sanitarium.FM and today I am previewing Empires in Ruins. Empires in Ruins is developed and published by Hammer&Ravens and is a mix of 4x and tower defense set in a fictional medieval fantasy world where you are set to task quelling a rebellion in campaign mode or playing the freeplay sandbox mode to a killer soundtrack and humorous writing.
![Image](http://www.sanitarium.fm/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/EiR-Screen-0-e1581429607963.png)
The core gameplay loop of the game is set up to manage your towns, research new tech, and then attack or defend nodes in a tower defense battle. A lot of the ideas and concepts are pretty common to all 4X games and tower defense games, but here we have a bastardized merger of the two that just seems to work, if in a somewhat clunky way. You can set members of your army as guards in each providence, or nodes as I like to call them, and this weakens your army for battle but does not seem to be clear exactly how it effects the tower defense game and conversely you can take away guards to add to your army, which has a clear effect on the node but yet again not so much of a clear effect on the tower defense game.
![Image](http://www.sanitarium.fm/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/EiR-Screen-7-e1581429647764.png)
The story of the campaign is fairly comical, if you enjoy dark humor or shit jokes, fart jokes, and dwarf jokes, it's pretty low brow and low hanging fruit at times but there is something enjoyable about Sergeant Hans Heimer complaining about not being able to sleep or enjoy his brandy and belittling everyone around him as he deals with this rebellion he finds him self in charge of ending.
![Image](http://www.sanitarium.fm/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/EiR-Screen-15-e1581429732441.png)
The graphics are pretty minimal, you have basic tiny units running along the ground towards your towers, visual fx are basic too, no major eye candy here. But that's not a bad thing though.
![Image](http://www.sanitarium.fm/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/EiR-Screen-21-e1581429989439.png)
The game does however have an amazing soundtrack, one I find myself wishing I had a copy of for my weekly pathfinder and dungeons and dragons games. The music blends your typical medieval faire with subtle and not so subtle rock tones here and there in a nice blend of what I like to call medieval rock.
![Image](http://www.sanitarium.fm/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/EiR-Screen-16-e1581429936433.png)
I recommend this title for people looking for something different than the standard tower defense or standard 4x title. The gameplay loop is fun if you like either 4X or Tower Defense and has plenty to offer to those looking for something with a different approach to each genre.
~Darsch
Empire in Ruins is available now in Early Access on STEAM, head over to the game page and pick up a copy, or join the community in their Discord for more info!