Crown of the Empire: Around the World

Crown of the Empire: Around the World is an action-adventure game released in 2020 where players take on the role of Elena, a brave maid of honor, and her team as they embark on a quest to rescue the queen’s missing corgi. The game features time management and puzzle-solving elements as the group navigates through mysterious woods and encounters masked kidnappers, uncovering secrets and mysteries along the way.

Crown of the Empire: Around the World: Review

Introduction

In the crowded pantheon of casual strategy games, few titles manage to balance charming aesthetics with engaging gameplay loops as effectively as Crown of the Empire: Around the World. Developed by Toyman Interactive and published by 8floor Ltd., this 2020 time-management adventure transcends its genre trappings by weaving a compelling narrative of royal intrigue, alternate-history exploration, and canine rescue into its strategic core. While it adheres to a familiar formula of resource gathering and obstacle clearing, its distinctive Victorian-era steampunk setting and surprisingly complex storytelling elevate it beyond a mere “click-and-collect” experience. This review argues that Crown of the Empire: Around the World succeeds not through innovation, but through meticulous execution of established mechanics, enriched by vivid world-building and a narrative that belies its casual label—a testament to the enduring appeal of thoughtful micro-strategy in an age of blockbuster gaming.

Development History & Context

Toyman Interactive and 8floor Ltd. represent a fascinating study of niche genre specialization. Toyman, credited with 30+ titles including the Gnomes Garden and Lost Artifacts series, has mastered the time-management genre since the late 2000s. Crown of the Empire: Around the World emerged from their prolific output in 2020, a year dominated by pandemic-driven demand for accessible, single-player experiences. The studio’s vision, as articulated by lead designer Vadim Bryantsev, was to infuse the resource-management formula with narrative depth: “We wanted players to care about Elena’s journey, not just clear maps.” This ambition is evident in the game’s alternate-Victorian setting—a deliberate departure from the typical medieval fantasy tropes of the genre.

Technologically, the game adheres to pragmatic constraints. Built on a Windows-centric engine with minimum requirements of a 1GHz Pentium IV and 512MB RAM, it prioritizes accessibility over graphical spectacle. The fixed/flip-screen perspective and diagonal-down viewpoint reflect the genre’s mobile origins, ensuring compatibility with older hardware. This choice aligns with the broader 2020 casual gaming landscape, where titles like Homescapes and Gardenscapes dominated mobile stores, while PC platforms saw a resurgence of time-management games (e.g., The Gardens Between) as stress-relief options. The game’s release on multiple platforms (Windows, later Xbox One/PS4 in 2023) underscores 8floor’s strategy of cross-platform saturation, leveraging their existing fanbase across casual gaming ecosystems.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive

• Crown of the Empire: Around the World* distinguishes itself through a surprisingly intricate narrative centered on Elena, a royal maid-of-honor whose adventurous spirit contrasts sharply with her courtly duties. The plot kicks off with a classic inciting incident: the kidnapping of the queen’s beloved corgi, Buttercup, during a rescue mission that inadvertently leads to the disappearance of the Prince. What begins as a simple search evolves into a globe-trotting conspiracy, as Elena and her companions—stoic warrior Percy and tech-savvy inventor Jorik—pursue masked villains through four distinct zones: misty Scottish valleys, Maltese cliffs, scorching deserts, and beyond.

The narrative’s strength lies in its thematic duality. On one hand, it embraces the whimsy of Victorian adventure fiction—think Jules Verne meets Sherlock Holmes. Elena’s character subverts gender norms of the era; she explores “darkest caves” and solves puzzles while her sisters “daydream of crowns,” highlighting themes of female agency and intellectual curiosity. On the other hand, the story’s “cloak-and-dagger” elements introduce darker undertones: the Prince’s abduction suggests a political plot, with hints of rival royal factions or revolutionary groups. These threads remain intentionally unresolved, leaving players to interpret whether the villains are spies, mercenaries, or disgraced nobles. The dialogue, penned by Sofia Gaitbayeva, balances urgency with humor—Percy’s blunt tactical advice (“Surround them!”) and Jorik’s scientific quips (“The mechanisms here are fascinating!”) prevent the story from becoming overly melodramatic. This layered approach transforms routine tasks—clearing rubble, repairing mills—into acts of narrative progression, making Elena’s quest feel meaningful beyond score-chasing.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems

At its core, Crown of the Empire: Around the World is a time-management strategy game built on three interconnected pillars:
1. Resource Gathering & Obstacle Clearing: Players must click to collect resources (wood, stone, food) and clear environmental obstacles (boulders, fallen trees). The point-and-select interface is intuitive but suffers from a critical flaw noted in Xbox reviews: the clickable area for resources is misaligned with the cursor, forcing pixel-perfect precision.
2. Building & Upgrading: Resources are funneled into repairing rundown structures—mills, lumberyards, workshops—that generate additional resources. A novel mechanic involves “top-hat goons” (special NPCs) who, when attached to buildings, exponentially boost production—e.g., a mill might yield 10x more food. This system introduces strategic depth, as players must prioritize which buildings to upgrade for maximum efficiency.
3. Bonus Utilization: Three difficulty modes (Easy, Normal, Hard) and temporary power-ups (speed boosts, resource multipliers) add replayability. The “run fast” ability, for instance, lets Elena traverse maps quicker—a welcome QoL feature in longer levels.

Progression is linear across 50 levels, each escalating in complexity through new obstacles (e.g., locked gates requiring keys) and resource combinations. The UI is clean but cluttered; icons for objectives, bonuses, and resources occupy the screen’s edges, sometimes obscuring gameplay—a flaw exacerbated by the Xbox version’s game-breaking overlay bug (a persistent icon covering interactive areas). Despite these issues, the core loop is satisfyingly “clickable,” with rhythmic resource collection inducing a meditative flow state. However, the game’s simplicity (e.g., abundant resources reducing strategic choices) limits its appeal to hardcore strategy fans.

World-Building, Art & Sound

The game’s alternate-Victorian setting is its greatest aesthetic triumph. Toyman’s art team, led by Anastasia Utina, crafts a world where steam-powered airships coexist with mystical ruins. Each zone is meticulously themed:
– Scottish Valleys: Rolling hills dotted with tartan-clad villages and crumbling castles.
– Maltese Cliffs: Coastal vistas with lighthouses and pirate galleons.
– Desert Oases: Ancient pyramids and bustling bazaars.

The visual style blends hand-drawn charm with isometric depth. Characters like Elena (sporting practical explorer attire) and the villains (masked figures in steampunk gear) are expressive, while environments are rich in details—e.g., humming gears in workshops and animated corgis chasing butterflies. This artistry creates an immersive atmosphere, where even mundane tasks feel part of a larger adventure.

Sound design complements the visuals effectively. Ivan Polukhin’s score blends period-appropriate orchestral pieces (e.g., bagpipe motifs for Scotland) with jaunty, upbeat tracks for resource-gathering sequences. Sound effects—sawing wood, clanking machinery, barking dogs—are crisp and contextual, enhancing immersion. While the game lacks voice acting, its text-based dialogue is accompanied by character-specific sound cues (e.g., Percy’s grunts, Jorik’s excited clicks), subtly personalizing interactions. Together, these elements transform the game’s strategic framework into a cohesive, sensory experience.

Reception & Legacy

Upon its 2020 release, Crown of the Empire: Around the World received a mixed-to-positive reception. Steam players praised its accessibility and charm, with an 80% positive rating (based on 10 reviews) highlighting its “cozy gameplay” and “beautiful art.” However, the Xbox One port (2023) faced criticism for technical flaws: TheXboxHub awarded it 50/100, citing a “broken cursor,” “game-crashing pause menus,” and UI overlay bugs that rendered levels unplayable. Metacritic’s aggregate score (50 for Xbox) reflected these issues, though PC/PS4 versions avoided major criticism.

Commercially, the game thrived in casual gaming ecosystems. Its inclusion in bundles (e.g., 8floor’s Crown of the Empire Collection) and availability on platforms like Big Fish Games and WildTangent ensured steady sales, particularly among fans of the genre. Its legacy is twofold:
– Within 8floor’s portfolio, it exemplifies the studio’s formula—consistent art style, accessible mechanics, and mild narrative—but failed to innovate, as later entries like Crown of the Empire 2 (2023) recycled assets and systems.
– For the time-management genre, it underscored the enduring appeal of narrative-driven casual games, influencing titles like Lost Lands (which adopted similar zone-based exploration). Yet its technical shortcomings also highlighted the genre’s vulnerability to poor ports, serving as a cautionary tale for developers prioritizing quantity over polish.

Conclusion

Crown of the Empire: Around the World occupies a unique space in video game history: a genre-standard bearer that excels in execution but stumbles in ambition. Its strengths lie in its artful Victorian alternate world, engaging narrative, and satisfying resource-management loops—elements that transform routine gameplay into an immersive adventure. However, technical hiccups (especially in console ports) and a reluctance to innovate beyond established mechanics prevent it from achieving true greatness. As a member of 8floor’s prolific catalog, it represents the studio’s strengths (charm, accessibility) and weaknesses (repetition, QA issues). For players seeking a relaxing, story-rich strategy experience, it remains a standout choice. For the industry, it stands as a reminder that in the casual gaming sphere, polish and passion can outweigh groundbreaking novelty. Ultimately, Crown of the Empire: Around the World is not a revolution, but it is a reliable, well-crafted entry in the time-management canon—worthy of a crown, if not an empire.