There’s a healthy amount of skepticism involved with most free-to-play browser games, especially strategy ones. Yet despite this trend and the fact there’s enough competition out there to keep any gamer occupied until the end of time, Jagex has decided to enter the Ebony-a-like fray with their own empire-building sim, 8Realms. Only the difference is this one is actually quite good.
The makers of Runescape have managed to insert some humor and historical relevance into the genre with players required to guide their aimless settlement from obscurity to prosperity with the advice of comic helper, Gary. By adhering to his thoroughly British input and performing set tasks, you’ll see your tribe progress through eight different eras ranging from ancient times right up to the modern day. All of the action takes place in the browser so the visuals are simplistic, but they’re colorful and boast a great deal of character.
Upon creating your account, you start with a village that has a host of local resources to harvest, and from there you accumulate gold, meat, wood and other components as real-time passes. Then it’s up to you to invest these components into new buildings, technology and facilities in order to grow the population, fight off occasional barbarian hordes and progress to new eras.
8Realms won’t win any awards for originality, but it’s an interesting character-fuelled take on a stubbornly generic genre. If you’re looking for a laid-back management sim experience you should keep an eye out for its release later this year.
