Ikariam – lead your people through ancient times, build cities, trade and conquer islands. The browser game Ikariam was developed by Gameforge and has been played by over 51 million players worldwide since 2008! The strategy game is available in many different languages and is played in over 60 countries. In Germany there are 23 servers named with Greek letters. Browser games like Ikariam are controlled via the web browser. This means that you don’t have to install a game and you can play Ikariam online for free – from anywhere! Only a few building games have such an interesting topic as this one: Here you will be taken into the world of antiquity, because it is about mythology, for example, but also about historical and political circumstances of antiquity!
That’s what the strategy game browser game Ikariam is all about
You are probably familiar with building games and you probably know that the main aim is to generate certain raw materials. In this game the raw materials are wood, marble, crystal, sulfur and wine and are obtained from luxury mines. The mines are located on islands that you as a player can colonize. Unfortunately, each island only has one luxury mine. This means that in order to produce all four raw materials yourself, you would have to settle four islands. But of course you can also join an alliance, trade with other players or fight against them to get resources!
Buildings, research and military: The expansion of various buildings is typical for building games, which is central to your success in the game – because you get points by expanding your buildings in stages. However, you only have a limited number of building spaces per island and you have to decide which buildings you want to expand. You should make this decision wisely, because it determines the way you play! At the same time, you can conduct research in the areas of economics, science, maritime and military and thereby collect points. For example, successful research reduces the costs of buildings and the expansion time or increases the production of your mines. Depending on which strategy you have considered, you should adapt your research. If you choose an offensive style of play in which battles play a major role, then you will also need a large army! For example, you can train soldiers, ships and other units, but these will also cost you upkeep in the form of gold. Even with a more defensive and trade-oriented style of play, you have maintenance costs, for example for trading ships or raw materials from the office – but these are much lower!
The wonders of antiquity: Of course they also exist in Ikariam: the wonders! Each island has one of eight wonders named after ancient gods. Ares is the god of war and boosts the morale of your troops. Athena is the goddess of cities and increases the number of storages you have, from which resources cannot be looted in the event of an attack. Demeter, the goddess of fertility, accelerates the growth of your population. Hades, the god of the underworld, converts units killed in battle into the raw material marble. Helios is the sun god and fends off enemy attacks through the Colossus. Hephaestus is the god of blacksmithing and improves the weapons and armor of your troops. The fast messenger of the gods Hermes speeds up trade at ports and the sea god Poseidon makes your ships travel faster.
Forms of government as well as piracy and ambrosia is the food of the gods!
Over time, browser games are constantly being revised and become more and more complex. In one version of the building game, forms of government such as democracy, anarchy or oligarchy were added, which influence certain game values. Choosing a suitable form of government can also influence the success of your strategy! The research added piracy research, which allows you to build a pirate fortress. From this pirate fortress you can then go on pirate trips and raids and collect pirate points that strengthen your pirates. You see: There are many very different ways to design this browser game and none of them will ever get boring!
You can play Ikariam for free, but as is usual for browser games, there is also a paid premium area in this game. With Ambrosia, as the premium currency is called, you can, for example, speed up research, relocate cities or accelerate the mining of raw materials. Ambrosia is something special and therefore unfortunately cannot be obtained in large quantities for free. For example, you can buy Ambrosia using your credit card, PayPal, a Paysafe card or even your cell phone. Many players are annoyed by the paid currency because it undoubtedly provides advantages. Nevertheless, the browser game is a strategy game and a premium currency can also be viewed as a strategic element. In addition, no one is forced to use Ambrosia and there is always the possibility of playing Ikariam for free!
Conclusion on the browser game Ikariam
In short, excellent! Ikariam has already received several awards, for example as best browser game or best strategy game. And it deserved these awards because the fun remains and new game elements are added in almost every version. All that’s left to say is: Try it out for yourself and see for yourself how versatile and appealing a browser game can be!