Legend of Empress Review (iOS, Android)

Harem-building role playing games are getting a lot of attention nowadays and fans of the genre are treated nicely by game developers who do their best to offer unique and exciting games. Legend of Empress is such a title, one that delivers a deep story with a massive focus on Asian culture.

Compared to all similar games that I have played recently (such as Game of Sultans), Legend of Empress definitely pays a lot more attention to the storyline itself.

The story is not force-fed to you, as you can skip it if you want to, but it’s interesting the follow the rise to power of your character and all the intrigue, plot twists and whatnot in the story itself. It’s a double win for those who love to read and are particularly interested in the Asian culture. The translations in English are not always the best, but sometimes it’s this that makes the entire thing more charming.

However, it is the gameplay that matters the most and Legend of Empress has tons of ways to keep you busy. It is actually built in such a way that even unlocking all the features of the game requires several hours of play. This is a good thing in my opinion, as you don’t get all the features thrown your way instantly and you have solid incentives to keep on playing in order to see what the next feature does.

Except for the setting itself, the game doesn’t really innovate the genre, though. I always consider that if things are not broken, there’s not need to fix them – and it seems that the game’s developers agree. Gameplay-wise, everything in Legend of Empress has been said and done by other games, but this one does a good job as well, offering a solid alternative to other similar RPGs.

This means that your main goal is that of recruiting and training your team of warriors, then pitting them against other fighters in the single player campaign, or even go against other teams in the Arena.

You can spend time meeting new people in the various places in the Encounter building or craft your next costume, as the game does seem to love them a lot. Costumes are an important part of the game, as you have to equip the right clothes in order to be allowed to promote, for example.

What I really enjoy about Legend of Empress is that, despite the fact that it’s a free to play game that relies of IAPs to generate money, it can be thoroughly enjoyed without spending any real life money. If you decide to spend money, you do it because you really love the game and you want some of the bonuses that come from IAPs, and not because the game is Pay to Win. This is a really important thing, in my opinion, and a big bonus too!

There are so many things to do in the game – people to meet, banquets to hold, fights to win, costumes to create and beautiful ladies to marry that you will sometimes feel overwhelmed. I sure did at times and I highly appreciated the fact that not all the in-game features were introduced at once.

This means that you are constantly entertained in Legend of Empress and you will never find yourself stuck, unable to do something. This game offers many activities and things to do, exactly like real life. It’s hard to put it down, so be warned about this!

On the other hand, it’s kind of slow paced and getting new people for your team is not as easy as you might want it to be. For those who are not particularly interested in the storyline, there will be a lot of dialogue skipping and multiple missions in the story will be completed simply by going through some dialogue. And you do have to go through the story in order to level up and unlock all features of the game.

But at least you are not forced to read the story and you still have the freedom to do things your way, although I would advise against it – at least until you unlock everything in the game.

For fans of the Asian culture in particular, but also for those who like this type of RPG game, Legend of Empress is a solid pick, delivering many hours of high quality entertainment and even more unlockables. It’s not very fast paced and sometimes the story does seem to drag it down a bit, but all in all it’s a really good game.

Legend of Empress is available for free on the App Store and on Google Play.