Empire: Total War

Empire: Total War brought the Total War series into the era of matchlock muskets, artillery, and colonial wars of the 18th and early 19th centuries. To the classic combination of a turn-based strategic map and real-time land battles, developer Creative Assembly added elaborate naval combat with sailing ships, where the outcome is influenced by wind, ship formations, and the direction of broadsides, plus a global map stretching from America through Europe to India, opening up new possibilities for colonization and trade with distant territories.

The original Windows version was released in spring 2009 and was the first entry in the series to combine building trading empires, diplomacy between European and non-European powers, an early modern technology tree, and battles for dominance at sea and on land into one comprehensive whole. It was a technically demanding title for the computers of its day, whose optimization and stability were addressed through updates in the following years, but it was this game that set the direction the series would take in later entries set in similar historical periods, from Napoleon to later re-releases.

The strategic map also allowed players to build and manage an empire across continents simultaneously - European holdings had to be defended against neighbors, while overseas colonies generated resources and trade profits that other powers were also after. This combination of land, colonial, and naval strategy in a single package was new for the series in 2009 and defined the genre formula that subsequent Total War entries would draw on.

Why play: The PC version of Empire: Total War is a natural choice for fans of deep historical strategy games who want to experience the combination of colonial diplomacy, empire building, and battles on land and at sea in the form Creative Assembly originally designed - with full mouse and keyboard controls and none of the compromises of the later mobile edition's touch controls.