Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires vs Rise to Ruins
Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires
Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is another Empires spin-off from the main Dynasty Warriors franchise. It combines the repetitive hack and slash that the series is so famous for with a more strategic, Risk-like gameplay where you'll not only need to get your hands dirty in actual combat, but also make important military decisions based on your role as a leader of an army.However, many players have said that this game is definitely a step down from the 7th installment. Not to mention, like Dynasty Warriors 8, this PC port is plagued with the same control issues if you use the mouse and keyboard combo, but the problems go away once you switched over to using a controller. So, if you plan on buying this game, make sure you have a controller ready.
That being said, Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is definitely the sort of game that caters to fans of the game series and may also appeal to some fans of strategy games, but as mentioned, despite being the newest, it's certainly not the best game in the spin-off series - it is merely a somewhat decent one.
Rise to Ruins
Rise to Ruins is a godlike empire-building strategy game that incorporates some elements of tower defense (during night time). Inspired by games like Towns, Gnomoria, Banished and Dwarf Fortress, you will need to build a thriving empire, recruit new nomads to join you, manage your empire's resources, and ensure that your people are content in this game. During the night, however, enemies will start hammering at your gates, and as such, set up proper tower-defense-like defenses to funnel your enemies into easily manageable "slaughter zones" as well as appoint guards to patrol your empire's parameters.There are also tons of fun little features that made this game so engaging to play, including your special godlike powers which you can use to help your little people survive or to cause them a huge amount of distress, and how the creatures and people in the game react to the presence of godly powers. You can even completely change the landscape of a map if you wish. The game has a ton of maps and game modes, even in its early access form, for you to play around with as well!
Rise to Ruins is still a work in progress but the game seems almost completely done and ready for launch. So, although it's still technically in early access, you can rest assured that the game is in its playable stage of development - you can immediately dive right in after purchasing the game!
P/S: There's also a trick that you can use to stop enemies from proliferating at all on the map you play on if you fancy a peaceful sort of game.