Empires: Dawn of the Modern World 2025 Review

In 2003, a spiritual successor to Empire Earth was released. It was known as Empires: Dawn of the Modern World and it is an intriguing game. Made by the same people who made Empire Earth, Stainless Steel Studios, it is game that refines Empire Earth by giving it a new coat of paint. That paint is quite effective and transforms Empire Earth into a lush if somewhat more shallow game.

Unlike Empire Earth 2, which sought to push the franchise into the direction of being more like Rise of Nations vs its original game, Empires takes what made Empire Earth successful and refines it.

Empires Dawn of the Modern World Fortress Korea — In Empires: Dawn of the Modern World, every civilization has their own unique architecture and some even have unique structures.

Empires plays very similarly to Empire Earth. Much like many other RTS in that era, it is mainly about the military rather than the economics. Empire Earth 2 would have a much greater emphasis on economics. Empires in fact simplifies the resource mix in the game. Iron has been taken out of the game. Population is not dependent on technology anymore and is simply built through houses. This simplifying makes the game easier to play though it lacks some of the depth of Empire Earth and especially the sequel, Empire Earth 2.

Empires: Dawn of the Modern World Fishing Junk — The game has beautiful reflections and water effects, especially when you consider that the game came out in 2003 and just two years after *Empire Earth*.

The game plays quite well and does not require reading a manual in order to learn is mechanics.

Some civilizations are easier than others. England for example, allows you to build any building without need the citizen to participate in the process of building. England also can build mining camps on stone and gold mines in order to mine them automatically without needing citizens at those camps to been getting the resources with their pickaxes.

Empires Dawn of the Modern World Cities — Empires has a neat gameplay mechanic where roads are automatically built whenever you build a building close to another one, making the game seem more stylistically interesting than Empire Earth.

The civilizations are all unique but I think they sometimes make the game too easy, especially on some maps and difficulty settings.

Empires Skybox — The game has some really beautiful skyboxes.

What is remarkable about this game is its skyboxes. They are truly beautiful to look at in this game. While the game has some of those angular landscapes, I remember that it is a early 2000s game and not Oblivion Remastered with Unreal Engine powering it. This is the charm of these games that were made in that era. This same sentiment is why Oblivion Remastered managed to sell so many copies within its release.

Empires: Dawn of the Modern World English — The small details in *Empires* is what makes it special to me. Look at the clock on the England Town Center. It is not simply *static*, **it actually moves**

What the game is probably best at it is graphics, most importantly the presentation of those graphics.

Graphics are much more effective when you have good presentation of how the graphics work in a game. Instead of just plastering good graphics everywhere, using them effectively is what makes a good game a great game.

Empires is that great game and while it may more simplistic, the character and charm of this great game can be found in those graphics.

In the screenshot above, you can see English Town center towards the left of the screen. The hands of the clock in the tower actually move in the game. Other nice touches are that when a house or fortress is garrisoned with citizens or soldiers, you will see a flag appear next to that building. Such visual presentations were also seen in Empire Earth 2.

Empires Vicars and Longbowmen — The game has many map types and it looks better than the original Empire Earth, especially with the interaction of the water coming onto the beaches.

Empires is a very nice early 2000s game in its landscapes. The greenery of the forest one is better than the desert one in my opinion, but they are both one of the game’s strengths.

In the screenshot above which takes place on the Peloponnese map, which is a unique map type one does not see often in video games. It is a map type which simulates Greece’s most famous area which is filled with highlands and seas on both sides. Here you can see two vicars and three longbowmen on the top of a mountain near a sea. This is the game’s graphics at its best. Unlike Empire Earth’s graphics palette, the greenery in this game looks more appealing. This is quite impressive considering that the game came out only roughly two years after the original Empire Earth.

Empires Korea Commoner Building House — The graphics close up in this game are truly beautiful and have like wine. Unlike Empire Earth, they are not too rough.

Another nice touch in this game is that the roads are automatically built between buildings. Such little additions are what gave Empires its character back when it was released. Unlike Empire Earth, I feel like its 3D graphics are nice and cleaner to look at and that is why I think that some players prefer playing it.

Empires: Dawn of the Modern World Ocean — The coastline in this game is probably one of the strongest in aesthetical presentation I have seen in this era of RTS games.

Empires: Dawn of the Modern World is a magnificent game that is well worth playing in 2025, especially with the dearth of RTS games on the market now. It is a fun game with just the right amount of complexity to keep casual players interested in the gameplay and coming back for more experiences.

The Norwegian Internet: Retro Video Game Site Retrospillkongen

The video game market in other countries has always been interesting to me. With the usage of machine translators, the ecommerce cultures of other countries become more available to outsiders.

The world of Norway, one of the world’s most intriguing countries. I am interested in how the small country manages to create its own cyber culture.

Norway: A Country missing the Cyberspace?

Norway is a wealthy country in a sense but it is not wealthy in a Qatar sense. Qatar may not have as many EVs but it is a country that is focused on the future not maintaining the past. Norway’s social welfare and culture is seen in high regard by some but it clear that is starting to run into stagnation and the internet seems to be passing by the Nordic country. Yes, they have fast internet speeds, but the internet is more than having quick speeds, it needs to be integrated into the way that the country interacts with the world. In many ways, these European countries tend to treat the internet like it is an extension of the television establishment rather than its own thing that is separate from those older forms here.

Enter Retrospillkongen

Retrospillkongen.no is a Norwegian retro gaming website. In a country of 5 million people, this website helps to bridge the gap for a country that is wealthy yet paradoxically is not exactly in the right place for commerce.

Retrospillkongen.no is a Norwegian company serving Norwegian needs and it reminds of the many retro gaming stores dotted across America.

Retrospill Kongen is very appealing site to read. Unlike other sites, it is not full of ads and auto-playing videos. The color scheme is easy on the eyes and it seems to reference Japanese aesthetics which makes sense, considering how important Nintendo was with revitalizing the industry after the crash in the early 1980s.

Retro Gaming is popular in Norway?

As the video game industry continues to stagnate and people are not as confident in it as it once was. In my opinion, the video game industry has become a lethargic place lacking any sense of direction. Only a couple games show any vision. Grand Theft Auto VI, while risky in its production cost, actually seems to have competence behind its making. It is like an interactive movie, the likes of what Hollywood used to make.

Norway having an interest in retro gaming is no surprise. The country unfortunately never really had any major companies in the video game landscape except for a few companies such as Funcom, which just recently released the Dune Awakening game.

Retrospillkongen is another example of the power of the internet.

People have a tendency in this age to be cynical about the internet now. There ads like there are gas stations on every corner; however, this site shows that people have to be willing to make the effort to commit to changing the digital nature of the internet. Big companies only have such power on the internet because we allow it. The Internet is ultimately about collaboration and healthy conflict, not stale stagnation. Retrospillkongen should be inspiration for other small nations put their own mark on the Internet we all enjoy in this epoch.

Empire Earth: The War of the Walls

This is a gallery of a recent Empire Earth skirmish that I had with two medium level AIs.

I made a choice to have the era start in the Dark Age and only let it progress towards the Middle Ages. I wanted to see how the AI interacted in this match.

The AI at Medium Difficulty was still cheating in Empire Earth.

The AI is alot more competent at this difficulty level here. They use the unit upgrading system in Empire Earth unlike in the Easy mode where they do not use it. This means that the AI tends to be better at tactical movements of their units.

They are also better at using their naval power in this game. In this particular match with the AIs, the Carthage AI was sending ships to my port and harassing me. My ally helped me with this, allowing for my fishing ships to deliver food to my empire.

However, I generally go for Wonder Victories in Empire Earth.

The Wonder victory in Empire Earth was analogous to the Wonder victory in Age of Empires games. These wonders take time to build, so I recommend having many citizens to build it and do it when you have strong economy and military in place.

The AI, as soon as you build the wonder, immediately starts beelining for the wonder with huge armies, sending everything to the wonder to prevent you from winning.

Of course, the AI has full view of the map. There is no fog of war for a smart computer. The AI also has huge resources and can just send tons of troops and ships to the location.

When one looks at the AIs towns and cities, alot of the citizens are not farming or mining. Often times, I will see them moving in straight lines, getting harassed and taken down by soldiers.

The match was somewhat annoying but I bulit strong walls and chose Byzantine Rome as my civilization. This meant by walls were strong and I had no issue with winning this wonder victory. Carthage was getting really aggressive at the end but my team was victorious.