A world built from circles
Circle Empires: Rivals is a real-time strategy game where the map is made of circular patches of land. You start with a small kingdom and expand outward by taking the circles next to yours. The map is generated procedurally each session, so the layout of biomes, enemies and loot changes every time. There are 20 circle biomes to move through, from dry deserts to scary swamps to mystical extra XP biomes, and each one gives the map a different look and a different set of things to deal with.
Building an army and a treasury
Everything you do runs in real time. You harvest resources, build structures and field units while enemies and monsters roam the circles you have not claimed yet. The game ships with over 300 units, buildings and level-ups, plus 30 faction leaders, each bringing its own bonuses or special troops. Picking a leader shapes how your kingdom plays, so a group can spread across different leaders and cover each other's weaknesses. Units and structures keep gaining stats even after they hit their so-called max level, all the way up to bonus level 99, so there is always a reason to keep pushing a favorite unit further. Your wizard can even become an army-destroying archwizard with a new look.
Playing with friends
Multiplayer is the headline addition in Rivals. You can team up online for co-op, or fight each other in PvP, and the store text is blunt about it: friends can quickly become rivals. The world is full of enemies to fight, monsters to hunt and loot to hoard, so a session can turn from shared conquest into open competition the moment the loot looks better on someone else's side of the map. There are 6 game modes, including ones unique to the RTS genre such as Roguelike and Stop the Army, which give groups different shapes of match to try.
Before you start
The difficulty options are extensive, and advanced settings let you tweak the game to your group's liking, so it is worth agreeing on those before the first match. Expect fast-paced action rather than a slow build-up: hundreds of units on screen and a procedurally generated map mean no two sessions play out the same, and you will need to invent new tactics as the circles shift around you.