Empires & Puzzles Review – Legit Game or Pay-to-Win Trap?
Empires & Puzzles is a popular match-3 mobile game developed by Small Giant Games, a subsidiary of Zynga Inc., which itself is owned by Take-Two Interactive, a major player in the gaming industry. With millions of downloads, this game blends tile-matching puzzles with base building and hero collection mechanics.
But the big question remains: Is Empires & Puzzles legit or a clever scam disguised as a game? In this review, we’ll cover everything—who owns it, how it makes money, real user experiences, red flags, and whether it’s worth your time or money.
🔍 Who Owns Empires & Puzzles?
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Developer: Small Giant Games (Finland)
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Parent Company: Zynga Inc. (U.S.)
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Acquired by: Take-Two Interactive (the company behind GTA and NBA2K)
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CEO: Timo Soininen (Co-founder of Small Giant Games)
These are big names in the gaming space, which adds credibility to the game. However, it also raises expectations for fair gameplay.
🎮 What Is Empires & Puzzles?
Empires & Puzzles combines traditional match-3 puzzle gameplay (like Candy Crush) with elements of RPGs, hero collection, base building, and PvP battles. It sounds fun—until you realize how steep the difficulty becomes unless you spend money.
💰 How Does Empires & Puzzles Make Money?
The game is free to download, but heavily relies on microtransactions and loot boxes to generate revenue. You can purchase:
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Gems (in-game currency)
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Energy refills
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Special event heroes
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Raid shields
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Ascension materials
To stay competitive or even complete higher levels, you’ll be subtly or directly pushed to make in-game purchases.
⚠️ Major Red Flags & Complaints
1. Extreme Pay-to-Win Design
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The game becomes unplayably hard at higher levels unless you have rare heroes or powerful items—which are mostly locked behind gacha (loot box) systems.
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Without spending money, you'll get stuck or lose constantly.
2. Unbalanced Raids and PvP
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Players often face opponents with much stronger heroes.
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AI seems designed to punish free players by targeting their strongest heroes first.
3. Energy Limits
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Your gameplay is limited by energy, which regenerates slowly unless you pay or wait.
4. False Sense of Progress
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Early levels are easy and addictive.
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As soon as you get invested, the game introduces walls that can only be bypassed with purchases.
5. Aggressive Ads and Popups
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You’ll constantly be shown offers and bundles, some of which are disguised as “special events.”
🤔 Is It a Scam?
While Empires & Puzzles is not an outright scam—because it does function as a game—it’s a highly manipulative, pay-to-win system that exploits behavioral psychology.
So, is it legit?
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Technically, yes. It delivers what it promises—a match-3 game with RPG features.
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But is it fair or worth it for free users? No.
It’s a “freemium trap”, designed to get you hooked early and then frustrate you into spending money.
👎 Real User Experiences
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“I was loving the game, but once I reached level 20, it became impossible to win without buying heroes.”
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“Raids are completely unbalanced. I always lose against players who obviously paid for better heroes.”
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“It’s fun at first, then turns into a money pit.”
Despite these, the app still has millions of 5-star ratings—often boosted by incentivized reviews or from users who haven’t reached the paywall yet.
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🧾 Final Verdict
Category | Verdict |
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Legitimacy | ✅ Real app, not a scam |
Fair for Free Users | ❌ No – very difficult |
Red Flags | 🚩 Paywalls, rigged difficulty |
Monetization | 💰 Gacha + microtransactions |
User Satisfaction | 😡 Mixed to negative after Level 20 |
❌ Skip It If:
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You don’t want to spend money
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You value fairness in games
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You want to play casually without pressure
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