← Binder · Set 01 · No. 001
BuilderInnoGames
- DEPTH9.4
- FAIR8.0
- PACE7.6
- POLISH8.8
Forge of Empires
Builder · InnoGames, first printed 2012 · Legendary · graded 8.5
- Depth 9.4
- Fair 8.0
- Pace 7.6
- Polish 8.8
Card text
The chase card of the set, and it earns the frame. Forge of Empires starts you with huts and a Stone Age tech tree and, if you keep at it, you're still finding new eras, units and buildings a year later. Nothing else in the binder has that much road ahead of it.
It's better mechanically than its age suggests. Battles are fought on a small hex map with up to eight units a side, and past the early ages they reward positioning and counters rather than brute numbers. Great Buildings, guild expeditions and a constant stream of events give you something to plan around each day, and the guild scene is active on every server we tried.
The sub-grade it loses is pace. From the Late Middle Ages the game slows noticeably unless you lean on your guild or the premium currency, and the events overlap in a way that can feel like homework. We never spent and never felt stuck; "steady" here means weeks per era, not days.
What pulls you in
- A progression arc measured in months
- Battles that reward thinking once you leave the early ages
- One account across browser, phone and tablet
- Guilds that do things together every week
Misprints
- Mid-game slowdown from the Late Middle Ages on
- Overlapping events, each with a paid tier
- City space is tight; expansions get expensive
- Set
- 01, Season 2026, card 001 of 005
- Artist
- InnoGames, official artwork
- First printed
- 2012, still updated
- Formats
- Browser, iOS, Android (one account)
- Deck time
- 15–30 min a day
- PvP
- Optional