Romero Games is making a mafia strategy game called Empire of Sin

Shown off on Nintendo Direct this morning, Romero Games is making a new "character-driven strategy game set in 1920s Chicago." It's not the first-person shooter you might expect, and apparently not the top-down shooter it looks like from the trailer.

Here's the description from Youtube: "This exciting strategy game from Romero Games and Paradox Interactive, puts you at the heart of the ruthless criminal underworld of Prohibition-era Chicago. It’s up to you to hustle, charm and intimidate your way to the top of the pile and do whatever it takes to stay there. As a player, you’ll be smack-dab in the glitz and glamor of the roaring 20s, giving you a chance to thrive in the gritty underbelly of organized crime."

The official site notes you'll have to build up a criminal empire as one of 14 crime bosses vying for control of the city. You'll pick a racket, like speakeasies or casinos, train up a team of mobsters, and take over enemy territory "in brutal turn-based combat." Apparently there's some character elements here as well: "Recruit your goons strategically to build a strong chemistry within your crew to maximize combat damage and help secure your hold on the city."

Empire of Sin is out in 2020.

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Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he'll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.

When he's not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it's really becoming a problem), he's probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).