← Binder · Set 01 · No. 002
BuilderInnoGames
- DEPTH8.0
- FAIR8.2
- PACE8.2
- POLISH8.6
Rise of Cultures
Builder · InnoGames, first printed 2021 · Epic · graded 8.2
- Depth 8.0
- Fair 8.2
- Pace 8.2
- Polish 8.6
Card text
The newest print in the set and the cleanest. Rise of Cultures is InnoGames' second go at the ages-of-history builder, and it learned from the first: the city is bigger and prettier, the research is a campaign map instead of a wall of icons, and the whole thing runs on one account across browser and phone without a stutter.
There's no player-versus-player. You fight the game's own campaign battles with a small army, you build allied cultures as side cities with their own goods and quirks, and you climb through eras the way you'd expect. The ceiling is lower than Forge's and it isn't trying to hide that; the trade is a game that respects your time and your wallet.
The sub-grades are even because the game is even. The shop sells gems and speed-ups and never gets in the way, the opening hour is the best in the binder, and the art is lovely. What it lacks is a long tail: by the third month the loop is familiar, and there's no guild war to shake it up.
What pulls you in
- The best first hour in the set
- No PvP and a shop that stays out of the way
- Allied cultures give the mid-game texture
- Polished on every screen we tried it on
Misprints
- Less depth than its older sibling
- Familiar by the third month
- Events lean on the same loop
- Set
- 01, Season 2026, card 002 of 005
- Artist
- InnoGames, official artwork
- First printed
- 2021, still updated
- Formats
- Browser, iOS, Android (one account)
- Deck time
- 10–20 min a day
- PvP
- None