Sublight Empire vs Empire_mobile
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Sublight Empire
Experience a unique 4X space strategy game where actions and events unfold over years due to the speed of light limitations. Explore, colonize, and conquer star systems to achieve galactic dominance.
- Relativistic speed of light mechanics
- Real-time command propagation delays
- Explore and colonize star systems
- Defend and conquer colonies
- Classic 4X gameplay
- Galactic conquest objective
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Einstein's theory of relativity states that nothing is faster than light. This also applies to this game. Information is radio signals propagating at the speed of light. These radio signals transmit your commands and the events you receive. Spaceships move at a fraction of the speed of light. So it takes years for a command or a spaceship to reach its destination. When a battle takes place, you won't know about it until years later. Apart from this, it is a classic 4X game. In the beginning you rule a single star system and you are exploring and colonizing the surrounding systems. Later on you will meet your opponents and you will have to defend and conquer colonies. To win the game, you must conquer 2/3 of all stars.
Empire_mobile
Engage in a turn-based strategy war game on a computer-generated map. Capture cities to produce units for offense and defense, aiming to eliminate your opponent. Games can be lengthy and saved across sessions.
- Turn-based strategy gameplay
- Computer-generated maps
- City capture and production
- Unit production (armies, fighters, ships)
- Exploration and tactical combat
- Save and resume games
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Empire is a strategy and tactics war game, pitting you against the computer. The game is played on a computer generated map that contains land areas, sea areas, and cities. The object of the game is to eliminate the opponent by capturing cities and destroying the enemy forces. Cities once captured have production capability, and can produce units such as armies, fighters, destroyers, submarines, or carriers for offense or defense. Of course, the computer is trying to crush your forces and take over the world, as are you. Early in the game, exploration is most predominant, followed later by planned offensives and holding actions, till eventual victory or defeat. Warning, typical games can take as long as ten hours, and some people find the game addictive. The program keeps the game state in a disk file, and a single game usually takes multiple computer sessions. Since you can store the game on some cloud service (e.g. iCloud) you may also continue a game with the Mac version of Empire (https://apps.apple.com/de/app/empire/id1287139467?mt=12) and vice versa. Special credit goes to the author of the original game, Walter Bright.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Sublight Empire at 5.0 against Empire_mobile's 4.3. Empire_mobile's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 6 months) and ratings volume (6 vs 2). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Sublight Empire holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 6 respectively.
Sublight Empire ships an update every 6 months, Empire_mobile every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Sublight Empire | Empire_mobile |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | 4.3 (6 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 6 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Enrico Unger | Frank-Peter Poschmann |
Customer experience
Sublight Empire
Empire_mobile
In-app purchases
Sublight Empire
No in-app purchases
Empire_mobile
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Sublight Empire free?
Is Empire_mobile free?
Which has better reviews, Sublight Empire or Empire_mobile?
Do Sublight Empire or Empire_mobile have ads?
Which is updated more often, Sublight Empire or Empire_mobile?
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