Big Bang Empire

Big Bang Empire graced the internet all the way back in 2013, as an in-browser flash game, with all the limitations and 2D promises that entails. In 2016 the game hit Steam shelves and also received an Android port. The Android port is unfortunately not available on any mainstream Android game platforms like Google Play, but the game is freely available nonetheless.

Pornographic Farmville Tribute

To say that this game draws inspiration from FarmVille would be an understatement. For those of you who aren’t big on non-pornographic flash games, FarmVille took the world by storm some time ago as a flash game that served to entice you to play it over and over again and push you into micro-transactions. That game came with a certain, now recognizable layout that other games quickly adopted as well. That layout has you nurturing a business or organization in real-time, as you wait for improvements on your home base to develop. This layout has been applied to everything from farms to now pornographic productions.

Big Bang Empire takes this game layout into the world of porn productions. You role-play as a pornographic actor or actress – your choice – and explore the world of the adult film industry. From the premise alone, you might presume that this is a roleplaying game in which you get to make decisions about your character and unravel storylines. While there are certainly some enticing quests, so to speak, hidden within Big Bang Empire, the game is far from a role-play experience.

It’s more of a base simulator, where your base is essentially your adult film career. Whether you’re performing in a porno or recording one, it’s all about getting the big payoff at the end. You collect various types of currencies that allow you to further acquire currencies and the cycle continues. That’s why this game is a classic example of the modern freemium model. It gives you a nice and simple to grasp gameplay concept, hooks you in on the promise of adult themes, and eventually you hit a paywall.

You Don’t (Technically) Have to Pay

Big Bang Empire is a completely free video game. It’s available on Steam and you can pick it up for free. The Android APK is also available on the official website, and no-one asks for your credit card information. However, the game is a bit disingenuous when it comes to the length of the in-game progress. Say you want to perform in a pornographic movie. At the start of the game that’s going to take less than a handful of seconds. That’s only because you are learning how to play the game and it’s roping you in on the promise of gameplay.

As you get into it, however, you come to understand that any action you take in the game essentially requires you to wait in real-time while it is being performed. These waiting times are naturally completely arbitrary and are put into the game as padding. To get past them, you don’t have any other choice except to fork over real world dollars and speed along the process. That’s what cements this game as a standard freemium title.

Deep into The Gameplay

Regardless of the game’s love for micro transactions, there is a ton of gameplay to be experienced in this title. First of all, your character is completely customizable and as they are your in-game avatar and you’re supposed to identify with them to some extent, they’re fully customizable.

You can play as a man or a woman. Unfortunately, as of yet there are no transgender options for the characters, but such progressive options might be in the cards in the future. Regardless, the customization options are very extensive. You cannot technically modify the anatomy of your character, so if you’d like to be shorter rather than taller or modify your female character’s breast size, you’re out of luck. However, there’s a ton of cosmetic customizations that come on top, that are more than satisfying to play with. They really add to the role-play perspective as you are free to cover your character in dark grim clothing and fake tattoos, or make them a pristine cookie cutter blonde.

Beyond the customization, which is available throughout the game, there is the actual gameplay. There is a somewhat thinly written storyline to push the quests forward, but generally you’re looking to become an adult film star and producer and that’s where things get really interesting. Beyond the tons of single player content and options, you can rope your friends in on the action and record pornos with them as the stars.

Unfortunately, you don’t actually get to see the end result of your labor, because this is a very basic flash game after all. Your reward comes in the form of in-game currency and a short report of how well you’ve done in recording your adult film. There is no pornographic payoff, so to speak.

Other similar flash games that hit the same genre and feel usually come with a ton of mini-games and one could argue that those mini-games are the meat of the gameplay. You’d play Tetris, but the payoff would give you currency to improve relations with a female character in the game that you’d get to romance at the end. You get none of that with Big Bang Empire. Instead, the core of the gameplay is the waiting game. You make a decision on what your character will be doing next and then you wait and watch a counter run down until you can repeat the process. It really is the kind of pet-simulator type game where you don’t play it consistently, rather, you come back to it frequently several times a day, 7 days a week. That’s what makes this game much more appropriate for the mobile market, but that decision is ultimately up to you.

Great Mobile Game Pastime

The game might seem extremely lackluster as a full-fledged pornographic PC title, but as a mobile game experience it actually flows quite nicely. It’s completely free, the mobile port is very optimized and the game is built around the idea of coming back to it for very short decision making. That means that if you commute every day or if you’re in school you could play the game in-between every class or while you’re waiting for the bus and not lose out on any quality gameplay. After all, you are looking for any excuse to pass the time while you wait for your character to wrap up the previous orders you’ve given. That’s what makes this game the perfect mobile pastime, especially if you like your mobile games with a smutty undertone.

No Such Thing as Too Much Smut

This game is a mixed bag of poor decisions and redeeming factors, but the main crippling flaw in its design has to be the severe lack of actual adult content. The game is after all an adult exclusive and is not at all appropriate for young audiences. It’s also marketed as an adult game and is very popular among the online pornographic scene. It therefore stands to reason that the game should contain some amount of masturbatory material, at the very least as a payoff to the long and grueling gameplay.

Unfortunately, even though a ton of the characters in the game appear fully nude, quite frequently, there is no real pornographic action to speak of. You don’t get a sex scene as a reward for doing quests. You don’t get to have intercourse with the characters you meet – at least, not directly on screen. The game is absolutely not built around the idea that you can satisfy yourself while playing it.

It’s more of an homage to the old style Leisure Suit Larry type video games that appealed to adult audiences back in the 90s. It’s smutty and adult as well as a bit tongue-in-cheek but it definitely doesn’t take itself too seriously. If it had a bit more story and an actual price-tag, but featured no micro transactions it might even contend with the more modern Leisure Suit Larry video game titles. However, it never really makes that leap and remains a browser game trapped in the body of a fully-fledged Steam available PC game.