Fall of an Empire is the inverse of the 4X formula. You don't start off as a small tribe, nation or civilisation, and you don't explore a new world, conquer new lands or exploit new resources. Instead, Fall of an Empire makes you play as the ruler of a vast, ancient empire on the brink of collapse.
In the game you'll have to take charge of a land with over 150 settlements, ranging from small villages to full-sized cities. Most of these aren't ruled directly by you, but are part of a province which has its own ruler with their own goals, plans and desires, and you'll have to play them off against each other by sending them gifts, making them promises and doing favours for them.
Political decisions will be a major factor in the game, since you'll be balancing your limited resources on the huge number of problems you face. Should you spend a month's taxes on shoring up defences at the empire's edge? Or should you use them to bribe a trader's guild that's about to hire mercenaries to overthrow you?
Treacherous vassals, however, won't be the only threat to your rule. At the start of the game you're facing one of the largest barbarian incursions in the empire's history, and these incursions are only going to get worse as the game goes on. Additionally, your crumbling buildings and declining loyalty of your underlings will make it difficult to deal with plague, famine and other natural disasters. You'll have to be a ruthless and effective ruler to survive.
Fall of an Empire has a combat system with both strategic and tactical layers. In the overworld, which is the main portion of the game, you'll have to train and deploy your armies against your enemies. When they are in battle you can either let your commander fight it out over a period of time or take direct control of your forces in a tactical mode where you can directly control each regiment in a tactical battle map.
The narrative of the game is focused around saving your empire as long as you can. The longer that Rephsis lasts, the more you'll discover about the setting, those that came before you and the ultimate future of your world.
Dev Diary 1: What is Fall of an Empire?
In this dev diary we discuss the core concepts of Fall of an Empire, and some of the main systems in the game.
Posted by FOAE on
