Empire of Sin Announcement Trailer Shows Off Just A Bit of Gameplay

Romero Games and Paradox Interactive have finally revealed the secret project they’ve been working together on for a while. It’s called Empire of Sin, and it’s a strategy/tactics games set in 1920s Chicago. It’s supposed to be pretty character-driven, and your goal will be to build up a criminal empire using whatever means necessary. They’ve released a trailer as well, most of which is pre-rendered footage of a bar shooting, but there’s a smidge of gameplay in there as well.

Whispers about a collaboration between Romero Games and Paradox Interactive have been echoing for a while now, and a lot of people were confused by them. Paradox have made a name for themselves by developing grand strategy games before they dipped their toes into publishing waters. Romero Games as a studio, on the other hand, never went far outside the confines of casual, social games. However, it was initially formed by Brenda and John Romero, both famous game designers with careers spanning decades. Although John is best known for his first person shooter level design, it is Brenda who is the leading creative force on Empire of Sin, and her credits are much more on point (they include Wizardry 8 and Jagged Alliance).

We know little of the game at this point, but it’s going to consist of a tactics layer, which will be similar to XCOM, and a strategy layer in which you’ll build up your criminal organization. You’ll be able to recruit a bunch of unique characters for the tactics part, and their personalities and relationships will affect the whole team. There’s no firm release date yet, but launch is planned for next spring. We’ll keep an eye on it and report any interesting developments along the way.