Where to get it

Steam

2007 · 4X · Board game

Armageddon Empires

Armageddon Empires is a post-apocalyptic, turn-based, strategy game where players can play as one of four factions. The game plays like a combination of a board game and a collectible card game.

Released: 16 July 2007
Platforms: Windows macOS
Genres: 4X Board game Platformer Quiz Strategy Turn-based strategy
Developers: —
Publishers: —
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Action Science fiction
Country: United States
Languages: English

About

Armageddon Empires is a 4x turn-based strategy video game for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It was released internationally for Microsoft Windows on July 16, 2007, and for Mac OS X on October 9, 2007. The title is the first game released by independent game developer Cryptic Comet.

›Story

In the year 2025 human civilization makes first contact with not one but two alien civilizations. The Machine Empire and the Xenopods have been enemies locked in a death struggle for over 10,000 years. As the battle for control of the solar system and the earth rages with unimaginable fury, neither group pays the insignificant natives of the planet much attention. Within a month of first contact, 99% of the human race is exterminated by thermonuclear fire, kinetic weapons strikes, genetically engineered plague and starvation.

The survivors scurry like cockroaches to stay out of the aliens’ way. A little over 20 years later the fighting stops as suddenly as it started. A shift in the tide of battle moves the front to other star systems and all that remains on the devastated planet are scattered groups of human survivors and the abandoned remnants of the aliens’ fighting forces. They have been left to fend for themselves until the system can be reoccupied and the stranded units withdrawn.

The earth smolders like an ash heap and the once blue green jewel of the solar system has been transformed into a brown scorched wasteland.

That was 300 years ago.

Now you must take charge of one of four factions and build a pocket empire on the bones and burning metallic hulks of your enemies. Gather resources, deploy armies, and crush your foes without mercy. Only then can you rule the wasteland!

Players say

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The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

In Armageddon Empires, players take on the role of one of four factions in a post-apocalyptic setting. Each faction is at war with the others, seeking to dominate the meager resources of a fictitious wasteland. The only way to achieve victory is to crush all others.

The game is designed to be a hybrid of traditional strategy board games along with some elements of collectible card games. While the cards are not truly collectible, in the sense that the game is complete with a single purchase, it does feature deck design and deck optimization elements. Cards are used to represent all assets in the game, including buildings, units, heroes, tactics, and weaponry. The game board is a hex map representing the wasteland, upon which in-play cards are placed.

Story

The game is set in the year 2325 AD, 300 years after Earth is invaded by two alien races, the Xenopods and the Machine Empire. Waging war against each other, the two invaders use nuclear weapons and genetically engineered plagues, which in turn results in the deaths of 99.9% of the population. The war between the Xenopods and the Machine Empire has lasted for 10,000 years, but the two sides only fight on Earth for twenty years before leaving in 2045 to continue their fight in other star systems.

The resultant power vacuum causes conflict to break out between four factions: the remaining Xenopods and the Machine Empire, along with the Empire of Man, who are the remnants of human civilisation, and the Free Mutants, who were created by the Xenopods using human tissue.

Development

During an interview, Vic Davis, the developer behind Armageddon Empires, revealed that the idea for making a turn-based strategy game of his own first came to him in 2004. After having played a number of such titles and noticing that the industry was moving in a different direction, towards real-time strategy games, he decided to go ahead and pursue game development.

Davis was working on his first project, a Darklands-style role-playing video game/turn-based strategy hybrid, when he reached the conclusion that it "wasn't going to work" in January 2005. Following this, he was inspired by several board games he was playing at the time, as well as the Call of Cthulhu Collectible Card Game. This eventually led him to merge the two game types to create the core mechanics behind Armageddon Empires.

Reception

Armageddon Empires received positive reviews overall. The game received positive marks for its deep strategy gameplay and return to genre roots. Negative criticisms focused on the bare-bones user interface. Pelit called Armageddon Empires "A very entertaining turn-based post-apocalyptic strategy game with a lot of tools of war.

A gem marred only by clunky UI." PC Format said it is "A strategy triumph and a real must-play.