Hempire - Plant Growing Game

Review by eFreeware

Hempire is a plant-growing simulation game from LBC Studios Inc., built around the fantasy of running a cannabis farm and turning it into a business. It has been on Google Play since April 2017 and has passed 10 million installs, with a 4.8 average across roughly 396,000 ratings. The developer describes it as a gardening simulator, and the tongue-in-cheek framing runs through the whole thing.

The main reason to consider it is the scope. Rather than stopping at planting and harvesting, Hempire layers crafting, retail, town renovation and player competition on top of the growing loop. You start with seeds and end up managing a dispensary, shipping orders and investing in local property. Few mobile sims of this type stack that many systems into one progression.

It is free to download, carries ads and offers in-game purchases of items for real money, so the usual free-to-play considerations apply. The content rating is Mature 17+, which fits the subject matter. If you like the idea of a farm sim that grows into a small business empire, the breadth here is what makes it stand out.

Growing strains and breeding your own

The core activity is cultivation. You plant named strains such as Northern Lights, Hindu Kush and Jack Herer, and the game lets you lean into indica, sativa or both depending on what you want to produce. Each strain has its own character, and the developer pitches them as progressively more potent.

The Lab is where the system opens up. There you breed new strains and hybrids, which gives the growing side a longer arc than simply replanting the same seed. You can also customize your favorite seeds, so the plants you keep coming back to are not fixed in stone.

Progress is driven by tapping and clicking rather than long unattended waits. The developer frames this as an idle-style farm that fits into gaps between other games, which suggests short sessions work as well as longer ones. The rhythm is gentle rather than demanding, and that seems to be the intent.

Turning plants into products

Once you have a harvest, Hempire pushes you into manufacturing. You bake cookies, brownies and other edibles, and you craft concentrates including hash, kief, shatter, rosin and oils. This gives the raw material somewhere to go beyond a simple sale.

Breeding feeds back into this. Hybrid strains are described as producing stronger, higher-yielding buds, so the Lab work has a commercial payoff rather than being a side curiosity. From there you trade your goods and sell them for profit, deal by deal.

The crafting layer is what separates Hempire from a straightforward planting game. It adds decisions about what to make with a given harvest, and it means your best strains are worth more than their weight in buds alone.

Running the dispensary and building the town

The business side is where the empire in the title comes from. You manage a dispensary and sell your products, deal with locals, and work toward becoming a hemp tycoon. Earnings can be invested in local cannabis businesses and real estate, which turns profit into further growth.

There is also a physical town to look after. You repair and upgrade growing equipment one tool at a time, renovate buildings, fix the streets and unlock decorations and special 420-themed items. Your town starts run-down, and you build it into somewhere worth remembering.

Limited-time deals from townsfolk appear on a schedule, which gives regular players something to watch for. Between the equipment upgrades, the property investments and the town work, there is always a next task queued up. That density is a strength if you enjoy having several goals in motion, and a lot to track if you prefer something simpler.

Competing, chatting and shipping with others

Hempire has a social and competitive layer. The Hempire Cup lets you compete against other players, and you can invite friends to chat and play. Leaderboards reward customized strains, so the breeding work you do feeds directly into how you place.

The Train Depot handles fulfillment. Orders come with deadlines, and you have to meet them. That adds a timing element to the business side, since orders and shipments need to line up with what you have produced.

The developer maintains Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and a website for weekly competitions, updates and event schedules. If you follow those channels, you get a clearer view of what is running at any given time. For players who like a competitive edge on top of the farming, this is the part that keeps the loop going after the town is built out.

What the free-to-play setup involves

Hempire is free to download and includes ads. Some game items can be bought with real money. A network connection is required to play.

The theme is cannabis throughout, from the strains to the edibles to the dispensary, and the game does not soften that.

Tommy Chong endorses the app, which signals the tone it is going for. It is a relaxed, joke-forward take on the subject rather than a straight-faced business sim. How much that appeals to you will shape how much time you get out of it.

Who tends to stick with a game like this

This suits players who like progression with several tracks running at once. If you enjoy watching numbers climb while also managing a crafting chain, a retail operation and a town that needs repairs, Hempire gives you plenty to do. The mix of idle-style tapping and active decision-making covers both moods.

It also suits people who want a light social element without a heavy commitment. Competing in the Hempire Cup, chatting with friends and shipping orders add a competitive layer that you can engage with as much or as little as you like. The developer's framing of it as a chill in-between-games schedule fits that.

It is less suited to anyone who wants a quiet, one-and-done experience. The network requirement, the ads and the purchasable items are part of how the game is built, and the long-running progression is designed to keep you coming back. The Mature 17+ rating and the cannabis theme are also front and center rather than incidental.

The case for planting your first seed

Hempire has earned a large audience over several years, and the 4.8 average across a substantial number of ratings suggests it has kept people engaged. The breadth is the draw: growing, breeding, crafting, selling, building and competing all feed into one another rather than sitting in separate menus.

The trade-offs are straightforward. It is free with ads and in-game purchases, it needs a connection, and it is rated Mature 17+. Those are not small things, and they shape the kind of sessions you will have with it.

If you want a farming sim with a sense of humor and a long progression to work through, this is built for you. If you want something you can play without ads or purchases, the way Hempire is structured will not match that. For everyone in the first group, the first seed is easy to plant.