An Empire to Run

Dragon Empire is a completely accessible sim game, which we don't see nearly enough of. In the game, you're tasked with rebuilding your empire to get it back to the great standing it once held. After you were attacked by enemies, you and your most loyal followers were forced to flee, and now you're left with nothing. It's your job to build from the ground up and reclaim your power.

Games of this type are nothing new. It's a "sim," which stands for "simulation," meaning that it simulates a certain job or occupation. In this case, you're running a kingdom and overseeing its construction. Unfortunately, most entries in this genre get bogged down with all of the intricate, boring details. That isn't the case here. Dragon Empire lets you control all of the fun aspects while it takes care of all the boring stuff. On top of all this, you'll get to experience a lot of match-3 puzzles, which definitely helps keep it entertaining.

Match-3 Hybrid

You need resources to build, which anybody working construction can tell you. To acquire resources, you must play match-3 puzzles, gathering specific resources for each icon that you match. When you first start, you can only gather certain resources, which keeps it simple. As you progress and start to get into the swing of things, new elements are introduced. It all happens at a very easy pace so you'll never get overwhelmed or confused.

The actual goal in each puzzle is to clear the bottom tiles, which isn't anything new to fans of the genre. You might think that you need to take a long time, collecting as many resources as possible before completing a level, but this isn't true. While you could take a long time and make more matches, you also get a bonus for beating it quickly, so it's actually in your benefit to clear the tiles as fast as possible.

Working Construction

You do have some control over what you build and when you build it, but certain structures require certain resources, and those resources can only be earned once certain structures have been built. In this case, you will have to prioritize accordingly. This adds a layer of strategy to the game that makes it intellectually stimulating.

Bonuses

Everything you build will have some sort of effect on the matching portion of the game. After you build a forge, you can earn more resources. After you build huts for your villagers, they'll be closer to their tools, which means you can use those in the matching. All of the tools offer different effects.

A Perfect Match

Dragon Empire merges match-3 gameplay with a sim experience and the end result is a fantastic game. It's deceptively simple, it's accessible, and most importantly, it's fun. It will also keep you busy for a good while as you build your empire up. There are a lot of little details I haven't covered here that give the game depth and complexity, so if it sounds like something you'll like, you'll probably end up loving it once you experience all it has to offer.