Empire of Sin
Empire of Sin
Categories

Empire of Sin review — Beating Al Capone at his own game

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 8 min

I’ve been trying my hand as a gangster, trying to make crime pay in Empire of Sin, a strategy video game about being a mobster in Chicago during Prohibition. It’s the first game from the collaboration of developer Romero Games and publisher Paradox Interactive.

Empire of Sin comes out on December 1 on PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and the Paradox Store. I’ve played the final game on PC, and it stood out to me from a lot of holiday fare because of its pedigree and its extraordinarily long gestation. The game is the brainchild of Brenda Romero (see our interview with the noted game designer), who dreamed about making a mobster game for decades.

Unlock premium content and VIP community perks with GB M A X! Join now to enjoy our free and premium perks. 

Join now →

Sign in to your account.

Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.