Castle Empire is a new browser-based MMORTS title from the same people who brought you the popular Settlers franchise. Unlike the Settlers games, Castle Empire is available free to play and includes many of the familiar RTS features fans have grown to love.

As with most RTS games, the aim of Castle Empire is to build your Village with the hopes of eventually controlling your own Kingdom. At the beginning you will have access to a few buildings and units, which increases as you gain more experience points and research new technologies. The higher your level and your research capabilities, the more Villages, Towns and Castles you can own, eventually being able to populate entire continents with your vast Empire.

Trade and resource management is highly important, players can gather resources from certain buildings like Farms, Windmills and Water Wells, each providing a unique resource. Each resource has a particular use, with Food and Water being used for training basic troops for your army, while Wood and Metals are usually used for buildings or unique troops. The more resources you have, the faster your Kingdom will grow, if you're lucky enough to have an abundance of a single resource, you can trade it with other players for other resources you may not be able to obtain so easily.

As your Kingdom expands, you'll want to explore news areas and maybe even conquer opposing Kingdoms. Once you have an army, you can scout out any part of the region, discover rare treasures and artifacts or create new diplomatic relations with other players and guilds. The more allies you can get, the greater your chances of surviving a surprising attack or a severe shortage of resources.

The game is currently available to play in Germany, France and the US, although Ubisoft have announced that they hope to expand to more countries as time goes on.