Empire Of Sin adding mod support in 'The Precinct' update this year
With many bugs fixed, development shifts more into new features
Mobster strategy game Empire Of Sin will add mod support later this year as part of an update named 'The Precinct', publishers Paradox Interactive announced today. That will also introduce new ways to streamline running your criminal empire. This future news comes alongside the launch of a more bug-focused patch today.
See the Gangster Update patch notes for everything that hit the game today. It's not hugely exciting but does fix a number of bugs as well as introducing a new weapon proficiency system, making more gangsters available at the start of the game, and promising "major mission improvements." With this patch out the door, developers Romero Games are looking ahead to new features.
"While there's always work to do and improvements to make, Empire Of Sin has reached a point where we feel we can start shifting our focus towards more new ideas, like we've done so far with things like autoresolve, weapon proficiencies, the safehouse rework, and more," game director Brenda Romero said in today's announcement. "Of course, we'll always work to respond to any issues raised by our community, but starting with The Precinct, you'll see the patch notes include a lot more in the 'new features' section than ever before!"
Mod support is one big part of The Precinct, with later updates planned to expand modding possibilities. New win conditions are planned for The Precinct too. But the update is named after Precincts, a new management feature which Paradox explain thusly:
"Precincts create a new management layer across neighborhoods, allowing for better synergy and control of numerous ways to streamline your criminal empire. However, turning your neighborhood into a massively integrated monopoly on illegal booze can have consequences - top precincts will garner more attention from the police. New empire management screens have been unified under a precinct screen as a means of streamlining gameplay mechanics and making it easier for the common criminal to break bad, at scale. Precincts and their rackets are controlled via a central building known as The Depot. Take the depot to win the precinct."
We heard last year that they planned to add mod support in 2021, but it feels closer now. Not just because, uh, it is now 2021.
The game did need this series of bug-fixing patches first, with our Empire Of Sin review noting an unpleasant amount of wonk.
"Its a shame, because it's a wonderfully ambitious mashup of systems wrapped around a lovely, if extremely cliched, caricature of the golden age of gangster fiction," Tom Senior said in the review. "When negotiations break down and you end up in a shoot-out with enemies that look like they're dressed for a wedding, Empire Of Sin feels like a farce worthy of a Coen brothers movie."
Bugs have been a real problem for Paradox lately, with their latest Europa Universalis IV expansion becoming the worst-rated thing on Steam.