Evony
"Evony" is a browser-based kingdom-building strategy game. Players control their kingdom, and expand it by acquiring resources, conquering portions of the land, trading, and more.
There are thousands of other players in dozens of worlds on at any time, and unlike a lot of these games "Evony" has full graphics, and a fully interactive map all in the client. This means that you don't have to load 30 browser pages just to manage your kingdom!
SCROLL DOWN TO THE COMMENTS BELOW AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS GAME.
- Pro: A lot of options when it comes to buildings, troops, and techs.
- Pro: Nice graphics for a game of this type.
- Pro: Extensive newbie quests give you a large amount of in-game resources and free
- Genre: Strategy, Browser, 2D, Fighting
- Area: North America / Global
- Official Site: Evony
- Publisher: Evony
- Developer: Evony
- Platform: Web Browser
Screenshots
Review
You’ve probably seen the ads for “Evony.” They’re hard to miss, with the huge elf boobs, allusions to domination, and overuse of the word ‘discreet.’ But once you sign up for “Evony” there’s not a single elf boob, huge nor delightfully understated, to be found. In other words, do not get suckered in by “Evony” if you’re on some lonely Internet quest for medieval themed digi-chicks.
What you will get from “Evony” is a well-structured, absorbing kingdom building game that’s been compared to “Age of Empires” and “Tribes,” with shades of “Settlers of Catan.” In fact, it’s been noted that the graphic similarities between “Age of Empires III” and “Evony” are too close for comfort, and that some of the images of busty wenches in earlier “Evony” ads were stolen, unlicensed, straight from costume catalogues. With all of this graphic thievery going on, one might think that the game was equally hokey, but more on “Evony”’s legal and ethical issues later.
“Evony” itself is a beautiful, isometric kingdom building MMORPG. Using your resources of food, iron, lumber, stone, gold, and people, you slowly build your town from the dirt up. As you deplete your resources, they’re slowly replenished at different speeds, depending on how you’ve set up your town. As the game begins, it’s exciting to manage a city full of people, schools, army barracks and a field of resources just outside of your city’s walls. Each task that you perform -- such as learning a new skill in the academy, training troops, or building structures -- takes resources and time. Here’s where the devious makers of “Evony” seek to devour your money, and possibly soul.
In the early stages of the game, simple structures can be built instantly, but as your structures become more advanced, they can take up to 256 hours to be built. That’s right: 256 real-world hours. A whole hell of a lot of time is also spent waiting for your resources to replenish, and if you don’t have gold to quickly buy more, you’re stuck in a rut of endless, obnoxious waiting. So, while “Evony” bills itself as ‘free forever,’ it’s constantly prompting you to use your real-world money to purchase in-game ‘cents’ to speed things up.
Essentially, the monetizing of “Evony” is solely based on how impatient you are. While there’s generally a solution to every problem that might arise that won’t cost you any of your actual money, those solutions will take hours upon hours to implement. By the time your Town Hall has reached Level 7, you can just walk away from the game for a day or so at a time, since the game progresses whether you’re there or not. You might just have something to do once you come back. Maybe.
Forget about the scores of idle population you might have; they’re just going to sit around getting fat, since only one structure can ever be built at any given time. Ten thousand peasants and they refuse to put up a shed if fifteen of their pals are hammering together a stable?
Therein lies the problem with the game: the better a player you are, the less you’ll need to tend to your town. Of course, there’s always the danger that a neighboring city might attack and plunder you, but the fact of the matter is that my server is very densely populated by people who have clicked on the aforementioned elf boobs, couldn’t get their jollies by trading lumber in the Marketplace, and never came back. There are 35 abandoned castles for every player who’s even remotely serious, and to make that even suckier, I can’t even plunder them for the minimal resources they’ve been accumulating, since players within their first week are protected from all harm.
I feel I’ve reached a point in the game where waiting 6 hours to build a cottage just isn’t worth it. If I hadn’t built a second city next to my main city, I’d have reached this point a week ago. You can build alliances with other real-world players, but that doesn’t mean that anything will happen any faster.
I’d attribute at least half of the abandoned cities to a complete lack of instructions to be found in the game. There are some forums, and there’s a very basic “Evony” wiki, but finding your way through the learning curve is a solo effort unless you beg for help from the other newbies. Oh, and asking for help in the chat will also cost you money if you don’t have the requisite items to allow you to speak.
Still, it’s had me addicted for a week. I’ve made huge progress without spending any of my money, so I feel like I’ve subverted the system somehow. Unfortunately, if the warlord next door decides to drop twenty bucks on resources, I’m completely screwed unless I also pony up. The gaming system is almost rock solid (it runs perfectly on my Mac [which is a rarity] as well as on the Windows computers at work) and dammit, it’s fun to manage resources.
Now, let’s get to the aforementioned legal and ethical issues within the game. Before “Evony” was called ‘“Evony”’, it was “Civony.” Without much warning, makers UMGE retroactively started calling “Civony” a ‘beta’ and moved everyone onto “Evony.”
To top that off, there are numerous claims that money being spent on in-game currency is just not showing up properly, and there’s also the legal question regarding online gambling and the way that “Evony” distributes ‘mystery’ prizes, and where a large portion of the game’s art originally came from. While 100% of the negativity surrounding “Evony” is purely non-gameplay-related issues, it’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to get involved in a game that’s on dubious legal footing and provides absolutely no customer (and very little player) support.
When I played, the chat was mostly people looking for drugs or sex, and the game suffers from poor English at points, to the degree that it actually makes your next game objective impossible to understand. As I mentioned, if you want to ask for help, not only will you have to pay to say a line in the chat, but you also have to hope that someone is there who will respond and help you.
Still, “Evony” is popular enough to have grown through over 26 servers -- even though the website’s front page and forums don’t indicate this, and logging onto servers above number 21 requires manually changing the URL, which they also don’t tell you. Ultimately, it’s a very good game that exists under some very unfriendly circumstances, but I’ve had a lot of fun playing through it.
I’m sure it’ll be even better in 36 hours, when my walls are finally done.
Review Collin David
October 9, 2009
Review
The great thing about evony is also the reason that some people will not like it. When the adds mention discretion, they mean that you CAN play at work without the boss getting pissed, spending an average of twenty actual minutes out of an eight hour day to keep your kingdom growing. It is a great little distraction. I have taken to setting the timer on my cell to go off when a building is completed, then spending five seconds to set a new one in motion. On the whole it is entertaining, to those who like civilization or ages of empire type games. Although chatting in world speak is expensive, if one is lucky enough to find an active alliance, chat there is fre of charge. This further encourages close knit friendships, as only eight or ten people are likely to read the posts at a time, and most of those will be regulars. This is a plus in my book. I would recommend that any gamer give it a day and see how you feel about Evony. What it really needs is a smartphone app, so that it could be played even more inobtrusively on ones own PDA. Kiebold on server 67
Robert Kritzer, on October 1st 2009 07:53 pm
Evony" has full graphics, and a fully interactive map all in the client.I don't have to load many browser pages just to manage my kingdom.I enjoy this game even this is my first time to play this game. I like the graphics of Evony.
Joel, on September 28th 2009 03:24 am
i've made huge progress without ever spending money. buying premium items really is just a plus here, you don't need it to succeed
fobley, on September 21st 2009 09:03 pm
Lord Name: TAK559 Server: 39 Game E-mail: tak559@hotmail.com I have been playing this game for about two months now and enjoy it very much. If you like the tycoon style games then this is a game for you. One of the best features of the game is the alliances. With the alliances even a beginner player does not have to worry about being totally anialated within the first couple of weeks of game play. The other members of the alliance can help you with protection or resources. They will also help you with questions about the game. Another good feature of the game is that it is free to play. You get a free amulet every day that you can use on the wheel of fortune, to win items, resources, or game coins. It plays a lot like Age Of Empires, where you have to build up your resources so that you can build up your army and your cities. You can also conquer valleys to gain resources or medals. Or you can attack NPC or player cities to gain resources. I really enjoy games like these where you have a choice of what path you take in the game. You can either build up your army and attack everyone around you or you can be passive and just build your resources to either sell or supply your alliance members who do a lot of fighting and need quick resources. If you choose the latter you still need to build up your defenses. Build tall walls and build many archer towers to defend your city. You can also research things that will gain resources or defense for your army. I also like the rank and title aspect of the game. The higher your rank the more prestige you get in the game. The other players can also see what your rank, title, and prestige are. If you do not want to wait for luck to give you the medals that you will need to gain rank and title. The game gives you the option of purchasing game coins. With these you can purchase speed up items so that you can build things faster. You can also buy items like medals that you can use to get promotions for your rank and title. There are also items to buy that you can give to your heroes to boost their stats and experience levels. The only thing that I would like to see changed is maybe a safe area created. A country that if you live there you do not have to worry about being attacked. Other than that this game is great. I have talked to players that play both ways, they both say the same thing "they love playing this game." Regardless of how you play the game, you will enjoy it!
Tak559, on September 18th 2009 01:05 am
Notice that the review is August 5, 2009 and Debbie and neville where here before that... Throrgar sounds like an ad. I guess Evony has some astro-turf bloggers to match their stolen graphic. Go figure.
Chicken Soup, on September 17th 2009 08:58 am
To Play Evony: Today I massed an army of 60,000. Today I assaulted the walls of an enemy city. The alliance of lords of which I belong has gone to war. Our enemies have been engaged us through out the world. Today I assaulted my enemy’s defenses numerous times. Today his city fell to me. Now I command 3 cities and over 15 valleys. I control deserts, lakes, mountain ranges and grasslands. I’ve built mines, quarries, sawmills and farms to supply my cities. I gather materials to build barracks, feast halls, town halls, walls and much more. My supply chain allows me to field vast armies. Today I command over 150000 troops. That is what I did in Evony Today. Yesterday I talked with my allies via the alliance chat. It took some time to find and join a solid alliance but good alliances are built over time, they don’t just happen. Yesterday we discussed the best way to build our cities, grow our recourses and develop our armies. Yesterday tensions grew with an alliance that encroached on our territory. Yesterday rivals turned to enemies as army’s invaded our lands and took precious resources from us. Yesterday I wanted to retaliate in rage but cool heads within my alliance prevailed. We waited, planned and prepared. We knew that time was the great leveler and we waited until the time was right to go to war. That is what I did in Evony Yesterday. Tomorrow I will rebuild my newly conquered city. I will first pacify the riots against my occupation by providing my new citizens comfort and wealth. I will build them more farms for food and new cottages to live in. I will build mines, sawmills and quarries for them to work. I will provide them with a good mayor to lead them, strong walls and soldiers to protect them. There anger will subside and their loyalty will grow. The riots will end the city’s population will increase. At first I will supply them from my other cities but in time my conquered city will stand on its own. The successful conquests have earned me medals and prestige. My cities have provided me with gold and in time I have been able to gain rank and title. I now hold the rank of Major and I have secured the title of Baron giving me the ability to rule over 4 cities. The time has come to choose. Do I build a larger army and launch an all out conquest of another city or do I mass my resources and build a 4th city. Building a city is time consuming and costs a significant amount of resources. Conquering a city is a risk. I may fail and loose troops, honor and prestige. However, that is the essence of the game. That is what makes Evony so addictive and fun to play. One day you wake up to broken and defeated cities, and a kingdom in ashes around you. The next you are part of an alliance that is dominating the game with a kingdom the envy of all. I play Lord Throrgar on Evony Server 26.
Throrgar, on August 24th 2009 12:02 pm
This game is one of the best Online Multi Player games i have ever played. I started playing this about a month ago and i am hooked. My Name is the game is Dekcah and i am on server 26 if you are looking for a great game to either spend a little time or alot just check it out. Dekcah Server 26
Dekcah , on August 23rd 2009 10:42 pm
nothing like civ 4 i can say that
me, on August 22nd 2009 01:10 pm
Evony is a lot like Sid myers Civilization games. same theory behind this game its about strategy and patientce. if you liked civ you'll like evony
Debbie, on July 19th 2009 02:11 pm
very good game
neville, on July 10th 2009 05:17 pm
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I have been playing Evony an online RTS for at least a week now, ever since I started on Server 81 and still loyal to it.I I love to play the game because I've always been a fan of RTS's, I have a very good rapport among my alliance partners and even in other alliances. A great game to practice your medieval strategy, and it almost feels like you are an actual lord in the Ancient Medieval Times, fending off barbarian hordes from the safety of your city. Invading the enemies own territory is a cool feature i enjoy whether it be an NPC or fellow player or alliance the awesome feeling you get when you can win a battle or one of their cities. You can build cities and expand your army or armies of course you have to buy food resources to support them. Now with the army or armies you can conquer valleys and cities with grand maneuvers and attacks there is also a plus to warring you can start an alliance with fellow players and take over your home province and steadily move outward, defeating all your enemies and bring honor to your city or alliance. It is so neat to experience a change of pace in gaming from another period of time. I have truly fell love this game I won't quit playing Evony because the game is unique and in its own ways stands above most other RTS's games out there. I say kudos to all the people who have put their time and genius into Evony Keep up the good work! Lord Jesse James Cantu Server 81, and a proud member of the Alliance: "BlackX". My email is jjcantu@gmail.com
Jesse James Cantu, on October 10th 2009 01:05 am