Impire

 PC
User Score
5.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 148 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 47 out of 148
  2. Mixed: 40 out of 148
  3. Negative: 61 out of 148

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. ogre
    Mar 2, 2013
    2
    Don't buy it if you expect Dungeon Keeper. In fact, just don't buy it.
    The gameplay is extremely tedious, and it's just a sad waste of time. It feels and looks like a lot of effort went into its production, but it doesn't matter because the gameplay isn't cohesive, and it's not fun at all.
    I have a serious feeling that the "10" reviews are friends and family of the developers...
  2. Zardoz998
    Feb 20, 2013
    3
    Complete rubbish. Nice graphics and voice acting, but that's all. Stupid campaign that's just a linear tutorial, no option to avoid it, no sandbox mode. Unless you're a complete moron you'll be bored silly within minutes. A cut-down version of Dungeon Keeper. Very buggy and crashes often. Stupid over-powered boss fights as a substitute for mission design.
  3. wubala
    Feb 21, 2013
    3
    units are kinda unresponsive, really not a smooth game a lot. super repetitive nothing new or special about it that sets it aside from other games, not really worth the money at the moment feels like an early version of what could of been a good game.
  4. AlexB138
    Feb 17, 2013
    3
    More time with this game has just made it less likable. Way too much micromanagement, poor squad control, poor balance and bugs. Might be a fun game after some patching, but as it stands it's not worth it.
  5. Rugz
    Feb 17, 2013
    1
    A mix between Dungeon Keeper and Evil Genius, with none of the features that made them games classic.

    So many things need to be said about this game. Firstly, the core idea of the game and its humour are interesting, but really fail to entertain. Textures are fairly tacky, and the voice acting is fairly bad, but that isn't what makes this game awful. The core mechanics seem to defy the    A mix between Dungeon Keeper and Evil Genius, with none of the features that made them games classic.

    So many things need to be said about this game. Firstly, the core idea of the game and its humour are interesting, but really fail to entertain. Textures are fairly tacky, and the voice acting is fairly bad, but that isn't what makes this game awful. The core mechanics seem to defy the genre of the game. Room placement is static and unchangable, you only choose where to place them, which would still matter if enemy heroes came from set directions or were predictable in any way, or at very least, you'd need to create an efficient interlinking of rooms in order to have your minions perform well. This is not the case with Impire, units can be teleported anywhere at will (you rely on this pretty much 100% of the time) and to make matters worse, ladders spawn semi-randomly into your dungeon, which heroes use to get into your dungeon if not taken out. This renders any and all strategy in relation to base building completely pointless, given the heroes ability to get where-ever they like, and your ability to teleport. After removing the strategy and simulation aspect of any reasonable game of this kind, they feel it necessary to fill the game with nonsensical amounts of impractical micromanagement. The squad screen (the primary way you will group and control your units) is completely separate from your unit creation menu, so if your squad has suffered casualties, you must look at the squad menu, memorise what unit has died so that you can replace it, close that menu, change to the spawn menu, wait for the unit to spawn, then back to the squad menu and drag it into place. On the topic of the units, it is incredibly imbalanced. The scout for instance, relies on range to do average-high damage, but you'll find more often the enemy will run past your other units and kill him straight away. On top of that, he isn't created with the same type of resource most other units are created (mushrooms, which are generated via the mushroom room, a non-buildable room that produces mushrooms at a slow rate) which makes his death a useless waste of resource.

    The tutorial does not inform you of anything important, and is a drag to go through as you watch your workers do meaningless tasks until the game decides to move the tutorial on, and on top of that, the guardian at the end of the level is very difficult, and you are not told in any way how to defeat him. The controls of the squads make it extremely difficult to issue precise commands, often your units will just disregard them anyway. And finally to leave that bitter taste in your mouth, the game will crash often, with stages lasting a rather long time depending on whether or not you do the side quests (which seem to have no real reward) so you make it through an hour and a half of this tedious game only to have it crash on you and force you to start from the beginning. No thanks. Do not buy this    … Expand
  6. Dozmo
    Feb 17, 2013
    2
    A poor game. Bugs have so far forced me to repeat all of Act I, as well as my current mission 3 times over due to seemingly random freezing up. Even frequent saving did not help saves turned out to be unusable. Their tech support forum says these are "known bugs", but IMHO these things should have been fixed before the game was released to the public. I could forgive the technical issuesA poor game. Bugs have so far forced me to repeat all of Act I, as well as my current mission 3 times over due to seemingly random freezing up. Even frequent saving did not help saves turned out to be unusable. Their tech support forum says these are "known bugs", but IMHO these things should have been fixed before the game was released to the public. I could forgive the technical issues if the gameplay is good, but, frankly, it isn't. The strategy element of the game is severely lacking in depth, and appears poorly thought through. Example: treasure chests can spawn mobs that take 4 squads to kill, and reward 25 treasure. A basic treasure quest also offers 25 treasure, but only requires you fight a single level 1 mob. That isn't remotely balanced. Another example: squads can restore themselves by eating food at a kitchen, but even when they're starving they will never eat without explicit orders to do so from you. Even then you have to order each squad individually. Makes no sense, and heavy on the micromanagement. Overall, this is a game with many bugs, but little strategy, and these two things combine to ruin it. It does have some upsides like the great character dialogue which while cheesy is fun to read, but they aren't enough to save a poor game like this.… Expand
  7. Cytokinesis
    Feb 16, 2013
    4
    I thought it was borderline between good and mediocre. The storyline and campaign is pretty garbage but the gameplay is alright. I originally expected it to be a lot like Evil Genius or Dungeon Keeper but it really isn't that similar. There is some base building but there is very little resource management or planning. With the way you control your units it plays a lot like an rts/rpgI thought it was borderline between good and mediocre. The storyline and campaign is pretty garbage but the gameplay is alright. I originally expected it to be a lot like Evil Genius or Dungeon Keeper but it really isn't that similar. There is some base building but there is very little resource management or planning. With the way you control your units it plays a lot like an rts/rpg hybrid kind of game. I bought it because I was desperately looking for anything to play and it doesn't really fail in that regard. I am kind of disappointed in spending 20$ but it's not like I feel robbed, just sort of let down because my expectations were probably way too high. Also the humor and writing in the game is pretty atrocious. It's not even cheeky or ironic it's just plain bad.… Expand
  8. MuhOo
    Feb 17, 2013
    3
    The strategy part is boring and you lack control and the base management ist partly to complex and partly to boring. Overall it plays like a cheap clone trying to combine Evil Genius, Dungeon Keeper and Dungeon Lords. I played all those games and this is the must boring of all of them, the only good point about the game is the price with 20 its ok.
  9. Noruka
    Feb 19, 2013
    2
    Gamers have to stop accepting and buying games that are poorly developed and published as money grabbing items. This game is boring and the AI is non-existent. You build a dungeon but your minions just stand around until you tell them to do anything (unlike dungeon keeper games). This game is similar to the aliens:colonial marine game where the developers do not actually develop the gameGamers have to stop accepting and buying games that are poorly developed and published as money grabbing items. This game is boring and the AI is non-existent. You build a dungeon but your minions just stand around until you tell them to do anything (unlike dungeon keeper games). This game is similar to the aliens:colonial marine game where the developers do not actually develop the game play into an unique experience. The structure of your dungeons does not matter at all as you can just teleport your troops everywhere. It is an unfinished game and released to grab easy profits.Please stop buying these terrible releases. A continuation of the genre called "unfinished masterpiece" that started with Warz and Aliens.… Expand
  10. Mellemhund
    Feb 20, 2013
    0
    Warning! Do not spend you money on this garbage,
    This game is so terrible, that I even made an account on MC to let you know. Looking for dungeon building fun? You won't have any. This game feels like a tedious chore.
    Want to construct dungeons? Well, you can place pre-designed rooms, with fixed entrances, that can't be destroyed. Limits your choices severly. Want to level you    Warning! Do not spend you money on this garbage,
    This game is so terrible, that I even made an account on MC to let you know. Looking for dungeon building fun? You won't have any. This game feels like a tedious chore.

    Want to construct dungeons? Well, you can place pre-designed rooms, with fixed entrances, that can't be destroyed. Limits your choices severly.

    Want to level you minions? Well, you can level them to level 3, they still never become badass and die off rather quickly. Mind you, that you still have to micro every single one of you minions, from replacing armor to when it goes to eat! why, oh why?

    Want to fight heroes? Well, you can teleport your squads in and watch them slug it out. There is no real feeling of big battels going on, as troops on each side is very limited.

    Go to the game forums for more wrongs with this game. Again I can only say, your money will be better spent on almost anything else!    … Expand
  11. Timson
    Feb 16, 2013
    1
    This game is absolute disappointment and disgrace for Dungeon Keeper legacy. While being graphically appealing it lacks so much in gameplay department that it made it unplayable to me. Dialogues are stupid and main two characters are nothing but annoying. Combat system are imbalanced making 90% of units totally useless (all except melee dps and healers). Heroes spawning all over youThis game is absolute disappointment and disgrace for Dungeon Keeper legacy. While being graphically appealing it lacks so much in gameplay department that it made it unplayable to me. Dialogues are stupid and main two characters are nothing but annoying. Combat system are imbalanced making 90% of units totally useless (all except melee dps and healers). Heroes spawning all over you dungeon makes usage of traps and complicated dungeon layouts absolutely pointless.… Expand
  12. dubesor
    Feb 19, 2013
    4
    Huge disappointment. I was so looking to another DK spinoff, liked the graphic-style and thought I'd try it out. The game itself is one of the least fun experiences I have ever had. They literally managed to exclude completely everything that would be fun about a dungeon manager. There is no managment at all. You can not design your dungeon properly, as enemies will spawn randomly anyway,Huge disappointment. I was so looking to another DK spinoff, liked the graphic-style and thought I'd try it out. The game itself is one of the least fun experiences I have ever had. They literally managed to exclude completely everything that would be fun about a dungeon manager. There is no managment at all. You can not design your dungeon properly, as enemies will spawn randomly anyway, sizes and shapes of rooms are entirely predetermined. The dungeon always feels empty and dead. There is literally no AI, you'd think your minions and units would do stuff say eat, sleep, wander around, visit various rooms or anything like that: no. They are braindead standing waiting for you to port them onto enemies so you can watch them autoattack a bunch of units until they wait some more until you send them to a kitchen to feast. That's it. Oh there is an overworld map where you can gather resources. This has been done in the most boring event I could possible think off. You can't see where they are raiding, they just despawn and come back after 2 or so minutes and that's it. There is absolutely zero management in this game. The micromanagement in this game is dumb and tedious. The total lack of AI ruins it. The campaign is boring, long and tedious. Multiplayer and Coop is still in beta and doesn't function properly. I hade several bugs where I would get error messages having to alttab to cancel them. The UI and controls are simply annoying, everything has a delay. Unit responses aren't instant but rather take a second as well as even opening the wheely menu or scrolling with your mouse has a default delay. Why? Don't ask me. The game contains literally not a single aspect of what a dungeon manager should have, other than it's looks. It's not fun, it's tedious, it's unfinished and it's simply boring.… Expand
  13. djvampyre
    Feb 19, 2013
    0
    Some huge things missing from this game killed it for me.

    1.) There is no AI whatsoever. Minions don't wander your dungeon on their own. They will literally just stand there and starve to death not interacting with anything unless you tell them to go eat something even if they are STANDING IN THE KITCHEN!!! How lulz worthy is that? How can you possibly make a game playtest it yourself    Some huge things missing from this game killed it for me.

    1.) There is no AI whatsoever. Minions don't wander your dungeon on their own. They will literally just stand there and starve to death not interacting with anything unless you tell them to go eat something even if they are STANDING IN THE KITCHEN!!! How lulz worthy is that? How can you possibly make a game playtest it yourself and not be frustrated by that??? You'd have to be the most simple minded person ever to not view that as a huge problem.

    2.) Enemy has no AI and no challenge. They don't attack things using a strategy it's just a random location enemy spawn. Yep that's right so your traps and unit placement are useless. No building defenses or anything like that. Enemies spawn in a random location... you teleport your squad to that location DONE... that's the whole "challenge" behind this game. Once again it's either rushed and not play tested or just plain evil money grab to allow a game to be shipped like this.

    3.) Overworld resource gathering is horrendously bad. You send a squad to a location on the overworld then 5 minutes later you get a pile of resources. You have no control over them after they are sent. The simplest Facebook games execute this mechanic better. WHY!? Why did you guys do this!?

    4.) Multiplayer and PVP are still in beta! Surprised? I'm not because this game is obviously unfinished.

    5.) Dungeons aren't customizable!!! You missed the biggest aspect of these games. Building a personalized death trap maze for the heroes that enter just isn't possible with this.

    There's so many other issues telling me this game is unfinished it's really not even funny. It's sad. Just very very sad to see the state of gaming come to this when an unfinished game just gets squeezed out and sells copies anyway encouraging the next group of developers to do the same. WAKE UP PEOPLE!    … Expand
  14. birdbrain5
    Feb 19, 2013
    3
    This game is brutal. It is lacking so many mechanics that old games like dungeon keeper had. For example, the heroes can come into any place in your dungeon instead of coming in the entrance. This means that you can not make your dungeon defensible.
  15. Sanius
    Feb 16, 2013
    3
    Taziars review has all the details a good review needed...but for loving dungeon keeper so much and felt nothing at all playing Impire i would rate it 3 by max.
  16. Doconicus
    Mar 7, 2013
    3
    Once again we go underground to discover a disgruntle evil force who preys on heroes and uses miniature demons to tunnel. I have always scaled a game based on this formula. Price vs quality vs how much time I would have spent playing pinball in a seedy bar vs entertainment (graphics, sound, playability/replayability) For $19.00, Impire isn't a bad deal. Yeah, it ain't Dungeon Keeper, andOnce again we go underground to discover a disgruntle evil force who preys on heroes and uses miniature demons to tunnel. I have always scaled a game based on this formula. Price vs quality vs how much time I would have spent playing pinball in a seedy bar vs entertainment (graphics, sound, playability/replayability) For $19.00, Impire isn't a bad deal. Yeah, it ain't Dungeon Keeper, and only when Peter Molyneux makes a new version, will I even try to make the comparision. But it did keep me entertained, though it did leave quite a bit to be desired. A manual would have been nice and so would being able to participate some of the 'out of dungeon' quests. Also, a considerable more customization of Hell Slayer would have been a welcome event. All in all, this isn't Black and White, Quake, or Shogun Total War, no new ground is being broken, But, it is fun and I feel, worth the $19 clams for the game. Oh, and John Pinett should have been given a lot more lines and been allowed in the monster's kitchen and been force to leave. Now that would have been funny.… Expand
  17. Jockedamus
    May 4, 2013
    0
    This game is so insanely boring I don't even know where to begin. No part of it is entertaining in any way and I feel so foolish for buying it and even more so for pre-ordering. What the hell was I thinking? Everything you do in this game is a chore. Destroying the enemy is in no way gratifying as you really have no part of it. Just warp your units in in greater numbers and see the bigThis game is so insanely boring I don't even know where to begin. No part of it is entertaining in any way and I feel so foolish for buying it and even more so for pre-ordering. What the hell was I thinking? Everything you do in this game is a chore. Destroying the enemy is in no way gratifying as you really have no part of it. Just warp your units in in greater numbers and see the big mess of a slugfest that is the combat. Then feed your units. God forbid that they would consider eating when they are hungry! Then replace your losses and warp them into a fight again. Do a facepalm, feed them and replace losses. Repeat this for the rest of the level and the next and the next and also the next. Traps are utterly pointless and boring. It isn't so much a dungeon as it is a camp for the not so gifted.
    Best part: when you have uninstalled it successfully. (at least the uninstaller works)    … Expand
  18. RoofieColada
    Apr 18, 2013
    3
    There are so many issues with impires gameplay that I dont think I could cover them all if I tried with the space allotted. Besides everyone else has collectively covered it all, so I will touch on the one thing that disappointed me the most the lack of one ingredient that makes games great.....the fun. The game bored me....after about 10 hours or so I was forcing myself to keep playingThere are so many issues with impires gameplay that I dont think I could cover them all if I tried with the space allotted. Besides everyone else has collectively covered it all, so I will touch on the one thing that disappointed me the most the lack of one ingredient that makes games great.....the fun. The game bored me....after about 10 hours or so I was forcing myself to keep playing just to find something to really like about the game other then the animation and graphics.It just dragged on and really got worse the more I played it. I took a break and came back to it a day or so later. Trying to clear my mind of its initial impression, and just give it an honest view from a fresh new perspective.
    the problem was,I was comparing this game to dungeon keeper the first time around.Which disapointed me beyond belife, cause lets face it DK was a great title. But even then, playing the game and letting it stand on its own merits and not comparing it to previous title in the genre I still got bored and frustrate. Wondering the whole time why they elected to use....well just about all the gameplay mechanics. The part that makes me want to pull my hair out though isthat there really is soooo much potential there. It really could be a good game but the potential is completely squandered. And considering Cyanide studios put this out, I would be completely amazed and shocked if they actually did anything with this title.
    Now this one was gifted to me, and when I saw it was 10 dollars I thought ok 50% off so 5 bucks isnt a total waste..I spend more on lunch. But then realized it was 10 bucks with the 50% off, I myself would not spend 5 dollars on this title...let alone the full 20. Hell I just checked ebay and amazon and you can get dungeon keeper cheaper then this title at full price, shipping included.
    Anyway...rating this game on potential...I could give it a 6 or 7, but I dont rate on potential...and also as I said earlier Cyanide is the dev. Maybe Cyanide will pull there heads out of there back ends...but there track record speaks for itself so Im not holding my breath.. Replayability and fun factor are the most important things for me, and as you can see the score I gave it really reflects on this title.
    If you really want to try this genre I would have to say to buy a copy of Dungeon keepers as it would be cheaper then this title at full price in the steam store(at this time 20 dollars) as Ive already said. But also its a title that will keep you entertained for hours on end. Not to mention that it wont make you want to throw your monitor out the window in frustration XD    … Expand
  19. TheReject
    Mar 16, 2013
    2
    Dull, repetitive, shallow, and buggy. The voice acting is fun but is not enough to save the title from the horrific flaws with the game play. The game taunts you with an appealing story and hints at a satisfying dungeon-builder, but never quite delivers. The constraints on building prevent you from truly designing your dungeon freely and the endless cycle of hero invasions and ladderDull, repetitive, shallow, and buggy. The voice acting is fun but is not enough to save the title from the horrific flaws with the game play. The game taunts you with an appealing story and hints at a satisfying dungeon-builder, but never quite delivers. The constraints on building prevent you from truly designing your dungeon freely and the endless cycle of hero invasions and ladder attacks quickly turn into endless drudgery.… Expand
  20. ThePhysGun
    Jul 8, 2013
    3
    Very poorly made, simply.

    The control scheme is exceedingly awkward and counter-intuitive, which leads to such horrible mistakes such as wanting to move a squad of units and ending up teleporting your main imp to the exact wrong place. The voice acting, and it's writing, is annoying with rather lame attempts at humor. The most notable issue is when you come across the first boss    Very poorly made, simply.

    The control scheme is exceedingly awkward and counter-intuitive, which leads to such horrible mistakes such as wanting to move a squad of units and ending up teleporting your main imp to the exact wrong place.

    The voice acting, and it's writing, is annoying with rather lame attempts at humor.

    The most notable issue is when you come across the first boss battle. A boss is supposed to make you use everything that's been taught to you up to that point making for more of a challenge. This however, does something completely different. It introduces a new mechanic without even showing that it's there. Four healing items around the room, boss can use healing item to regenerate all health at once, unit must destroy healing item before boss can use it. This can cause an issue when the boss does absurd amounts of damage and immediately kills all of your units and consume a healing item. The incredibly awkward control scheme makes it just about impossible to micro-manage correctly and is unfortunately frustrating.

    It looked fun, but must have been beta-tested by some four-armed spider people with computer mice from the future.    … Expand
  21. Type4101
    Sep 8, 2013
    1
    People have been clamoring for a remake/reboot of the Dungeon Keeper series for decades, and have been met with bitter disappointment time and time again. Enter Impire, perhaps the worst of them all. Imagine a group of film makers who absolutely adore the movie Jaws, announce they are making the spiritual successor to their favorite movie. Then, with great fanfare, they roll outPeople have been clamoring for a remake/reboot of the Dungeon Keeper series for decades, and have been met with bitter disappointment time and time again. Enter Impire, perhaps the worst of them all. Imagine a group of film makers who absolutely adore the movie Jaws, announce they are making the spiritual successor to their favorite movie. Then, with great fanfare, they roll out Sharknado. That's Impire. The game version of Sharknado (not Jaws). Don't support this crap.… Expand
  22. Voyou
    May 20, 2021
    4
    Dungeon Keeper knock off number 411, this one made a great effort on the presentation. For naught. What seems like a sophisticated UI at first rapidly shows it cracks and inadequacies. Most jarring is the whimsical responsiveness of the mouse. Most mysterious the way you fail to send units anywhere you want.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
45

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 28
  3. Negative: 13 out of 28
  1. PC Master (Greece)
    Jun 10, 2013
    80
    A charming strategy, with pleasant gameplay, some original ideas and humorous wackiness. A must have for old friends of Dungeon Keeper. [April 2013]
  2. CD-Action
    May 7, 2013
    50
    A game similar to Dungeon Keeper but worse in every aspect. [CD-Action 05/2013, p.76]
  3. Pelit (Finland)
    Apr 15, 2013
    58
    Impire would be below average strategy game in the spirit on Dungeon Keeper, but thanks to really awful, long-winded and unfunny attempts of humour, it becomes something much, much worse. [Apr 2013]
See all critic reviews »