Grepolis

Grepolis puts you on an island in an archipelago of other players. You raise a polis, worship one of the Olympian gods for favours and spells, and expand by conquering or founding cities across the sea. Land and naval units matter separately, which is the game’s best idea: a wall of hoplites means nothing if your harbour is empty when the triremes arrive.

The first weeks are calm and mostly about farming villages and build queues; a ten-minute visit two or three times a day is plenty. The temperature rises once the beginner protection ends and alliances begin to carve up the sea. From then on the game rewards being reachable — a city under siege needs its owner to respond within hours — and the people who do well are in an alliance with a shared schedule.

Depth is the reason it has run for fifteen years. Mythical units, god powers, alliance pacts and the endgame of claiming the world give the experienced player a lot to plan, and world after world starts fresh so you can try a different strategy. The browser client is older than the mobile app but still readable; the app is the better way to check in from a phone.

Gold buys advisers that automate the chores, speeds builds and can finish them outright, and on competitive worlds the top alliances spend. A free player can hold a cluster of cities and matter in an alliance, which we did, but should not expect to win a world. The mark reflects that: excellent depth, fair-to-middling fairness, and time that depends entirely on how much war you accept.

Artwork © InnoGames GmbH. Official press-kit asset used for identification. Facts checked 6 November 2026.