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Empire Earth

2001 Stainless Steel Studios Real-time strategy Updated 25 Jul 2026

Empire Earth is a 2001 real-time strategy game developed by Stainless Steel Studios, led by a designer who had worked on Age of Empires, and epic in scope, letting players guide a civilization across hundreds of thousands of years of history.

Spanning many distinct epochs from prehistory through ancient, medieval, and industrial ages to a speculative future, the game has players gather resources, research technologies, and wage war with units that evolve from stone-age clubmen to swordsmen, cannons, tanks, aircraft, and eventually futuristic mechs. Powerful hero units can heal allies or boost attacks, a morale system affects nearby troops, and extensive civilization customization lets players tailor their nation's bonuses.

Often compared to other age-spanning strategy games of its era, it appealed to players who enjoyed watching an empire transform dramatically through the ages within a single match, and it spawned sequels. It remains available on digital storefronts, and its grand, era-hopping ambition still resonates with fans of historical strategy today.

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