Building an empire starts with a single click in How Empires Work. Crow Cottage has announced that its incremental grand strategy game will release on Steam on 3 November 2026, with a demo available to play now.
Players are tasked by Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress, with building the systems that hold an empire together. Starting from a local lordship, the state grows into a sprawling network of trade and conquest, with players discovering systems for taxation, trade, colonisation, labour and more along the way.
As the empire expands, automation features turn repeated actions into institutions that run on their own, gradually building up the economic and political machinery of the state. The aristocracy can then be put to work managing the bureaucracy that keeps everything running.
The game is set on a hand-painted map that comes to life with the movement of money, goods and armies. New lands can be brought into the empire through diplomatic influence or conquest, and players can explore new regions, build roads, manage provinces and extend their reach.
How Empires Work changes as the empire develops across the Early Modern period and beyond, requiring new approaches over time. Internal unrest and rival powers both need to be dealt with.
