Eight-Minute Empire: Complete Edition is a digital board game all about conquering territories. Learn more about it in our Eight-Minute Empire: Complete Edition review!

 

Eight-Minute Empire: Complete Edition from Mobo Studio and Acram Digital on Nintendo Switch is a very fun digital representation of an actual board game that is very much a real product in the physical world. As I mentioned, you’ll be working hard to conquer as many territories as possible to be able to win. As you can imagine, annexing territories to your cause will require a good deal of strategy, and even more so when the gameplay includes completely randomized cards!

The twist is that unlike other board games you might have played in which gaming sessions can take hours for each run, in the case of Eight-Minute Empire: Complete Edition, the game does its name justice since you’re going to be spending around eight minutes or so for playing a full game from start to finish. This is an idea that I really liked as it made it easier to find the time for taking on at least a match or two. You can play locally with others, enjoy the game’s online multiplayer (as long as you have an active Nintendo Online subscription), or play the game solo on your own as you take on AI bot opponents.

The main goal is really simple since you must conquer the most territories to emerge the victor. To do this, you will need to build up your army so that you can take over other territories since your opponents will try and do the same by sending their own units. To be able to build up your army, you will need money and resources. The more you have of both, the easier it will be to conquer as much of the map as possible. For every turn, each of the players will take a card from the available hand.

To kick things off, each player will participate in a secret bid, using some of the coins you start with to set how much you’re willing to pay to get the first turn. Since you can’t see how much other players are bidding, it can be risky to go with a high bid or go all in. Coins are a very valuable resource, and you won’t have much at the beginning of the math, so don’t go crazy with how much money you’re willing to set on the table just for the chance of taking the first turn. While going first does have its benefits, the game is a very fair one, so you can certainly win the match in the end even if you go last during the first turn.

There will be a set of cards at the bottom of the screen, each with a cost to activate and a different bonus to your resources. Because of this, there are a few things you need to think about when selecting a card. Some of the cards will increase the number of soldiers in your army so that you can send them into each of the areas you want to conquer. You can use resources to build cities, or you might want to get rid of your opponents’ soldiers. You will need to always be one step ahead of your opponents since they will be trying to do the same, and making the wrong choice in one turn might come back a couple of minutes later to hurt your chances of winning the match.

You will notice that cards might have a symbol, and these are tied to the resources you can collect, contributing to your end game. By keeping an eye on your opponents’ resources and always taking note of the available cards to select, you can have an idea of what your enemies will try to do a turn or two later. Most board games or strategy games require some complex gameplay mechanics that are time-consuming to learn, which make it harder to start a run. Eight-Minute Empire: Complete Edition does require some planning, it’s a game that is easy to understand and pick up since each game takes around eight minutes, since it’s a minimalist and fun take on board games in general.

While your first reaction might be to think that a game that can be completed in eight minutes per run might not be very replayable, but this one actually has a ton of replayability. The version on Nintendo Switch includes the main game as well as the expansions for the physical board game – what you could call DLC for the game – all included in one go. There is plenty of variety in the maps you can play, and when you add in the online multiplayer, and you can easily play against players from around the world. Along with the many maps you can take on, there is also an in-game achievement system, which will keep you going for many hours.

Eight-Minute Empire: Complete Edition really is indeed the complete edition, giving us a ton of board game in a digital format, giving you a lot of bang for your buck. For only $14.99, you will get a game that is very fun to play, can be enjoyed in short eight-minute sessions, and which offers a ton of replay value thanks to its variety. You can take on this one on your own playing against bots, or enjoying some local or online multiplayer against human players. If you’re a fan of strategy games and board games, then you’re going to get a kick out of Eight-Minute Empire: Complete Edition on Nintendo Switch!

Disclaimer
This Eight-Minute Empire: Complete Edition review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Acram Digital.