Total War: EMPIRE

Review by eFreeware

If you have played a Total War game on desktop and wondered whether the formula would survive on a phone or tablet, Total War: EMPIRE is the answer Feral Interactive is offering. It is a paid strategy game for Android that puts you in charge of an 18th-century power and asks you to turn it into a military and economic force, moving between a turn-based map and real-time battles. The people most likely to want it are strategy players who already understand the rhythm of a grand campaign and want that depth on a device they carry around.

What they get is the complete desktop experience of EMPIRE, adapted for Android rather than cut down. The developer describes redesigned interfaces and a long list of quality-of-life changes made for the port. That matters, because a game built around moving armies, managing provinces and fighting battles in three dimensions has to be rethought before it works on a touchscreen.

It is not an impulse buy. The game costs $19.99, contains no ads, and offers in-app purchases, one of which is the large A New World expansion. It also asks for Android 12 or later and 12GB of free space, with the developer recommending at least double that to avoid problems during installation. If your device and your budget both clear those bars, the proposition is straightforward: a full historical strategy game, not a trimmed mobile version of one.

An 18th-century campaign that spans the globe

The setting is the age of exploration and conquest, and the campaign map is built to match. You lead one of eleven factions and compete with rival powers across Europe, India and the Americas, growing your nation through war, diplomacy and trade rather than through a single scripted path. The developer frames the whole thing as a race for dominance, and the structure supports that: territory, money and technology all feed into the same contest.

Statecraft and subterfuge are part of the toolkit. Scientific advances are the other long game. Developing new technology powers industrial expansion and improves your military, so a faction that falls behind in research will feel it on the battlefield later.

What I appreciate about this design is that it gives you several ways to be successful without pretending they are equally easy.

Gunpowder battles decided by tactics and technology

When diplomacy fails, EMPIRE switches to real-time 3D battles. This is gunpowder warfare, so the decisive factors are formation, timing and the quality of what your soldiers carry. The developer pitches these clashes as seismic affairs settled by tactical genius and technological superiority, which is a fair description of what the era offers: lines of infantry, artillery that punishes poor positioning, and a real payoff for the research you invested in during the campaign.

The technology angle is what ties the two halves of the game together. A battle is not just a test of how you move units in the moment; it is also a test of how well you prepared before the fighting started.

I would expect the transition between the two modes to be the part that decides whether the port works for you. Turn-based planning and real-time command ask for different kinds of attention, and the redesigned interface is what the developer is relying on to make both feel natural on a touchscreen.

Naval warfare where the wind has a vote

Sea battles are their own discipline here. You maneuver fleets against rivals, and the outcome can turn on wind direction, positioning and the timing of a broadside.

The A New World expansion, available through in-app purchase, adds to this side of the game with fourteen naval units. They include variants on vessels already in the game and ships carried over from Total War: NAPOLEON, among them the 140-gun Santissima Trinidad.

The same expansion widens the campaign considerably. It unlocks every playable faction in the Grand Campaign apart from the rebels, forty-four in total, spanning Greece and Gran Colombia through Mexico to the Mamelukes, and adds two new campaigns: a Late Start campaign that shifts the global map to 1783, and a Warpath campaign built around a detailed map of the Americas.

Controls built for a touchscreen, with a mouse option

You can play with touchscreen controls designed for the game, or connect an Android-compatible mouse and keyboard. Managing a campaign map involves a lot of selecting, issuing orders and reading information, while a battle asks for quick, precise commands under pressure.

The recent update is a reminder that this is a living port. It resolves a crash some players hit when launching a Custom Battle, plus another that turned up during diplomatic talks in the Warpath campaign. It also repairs the Dock Unit to Wall function when playing with a keyboard and mouse, and addresses several smaller problems tied to the A New World factions.

The game supports nine languages: English, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish and Russian.

What you need before you buy

Feral Interactive says it aims to block purchases on devices that cannot run the game, so in most cases being able to buy it is a sign that it will run well. There are rare cases where the Google Play Store fails to identify a device correctly, letting it slip past that block. If you want certainty before spending $19.99, the developer maintains a page listing supported chipsets and tested devices, and that is the sensible place to check.

The price is a one-time $19.99 with no ads in the game. In-app purchases exist, and the A New World expansion is one of them, sold separately from the base game.

Who this campaign is for

This is a game for players who want to think in years rather than minutes. If you enjoy building an economy, weighing which technology to research next and deciding when a war is worth starting, the campaign map gives you a great deal to work with.

It also suits players who like their battles to have consequences beyond the battlefield. Because technology and preparation carry into combat, the time you spend on the campaign map is not separate from the fighting.

The practical side matters just as much. A $19.99 purchase, a recent version of Android and a substantial amount of free storage are the entry conditions, and a mouse and keyboard are an option if touch controls do not feel right for you. Players who want a quick session on a low-end phone, or who prefer not to pay upfront for a strategy game, will find the fit less comfortable. For everyone else, this is a serious historical strategy game that expects to be taken seriously in return.

A deep historical strategy game worth the commitment

Total War: EMPIRE is one of the more substantial strategy games you can buy on Android, and it earns that description through scope rather than spectacle. A turn-based campaign across three continents, real-time land and sea battles, and a research system that feeds directly into combat give it a depth that few mobile strategy titles attempt.

The caveats are real but manageable. The price is $19.99, in-app purchases sit alongside it, and the storage and Android version requirements rule out older or fuller devices.

If you are a strategy player with a capable device and an appetite for a long campaign, this is an easy recommendation. If you want something lighter, cheaper or playable in short bursts, the commitment this game asks for will likely outweigh what it offers.

What's new in version 1.7.1RC1

• Fixes a crash that could occur when starting a Custom Battle. • Fixes a crash that could occur during diplomatic negotiations in the Warpath campaign. • Fixes an issue in battles where the Dock Unit to Wall function would not work when playing with keyboard and mouse. • Fixes a number of minor issues relating to "A New World" DLC factions. • For a full list of changes, please visit feral.in/empiremobile-changelog