Games like Forge of Empires, and how Inselnova differs

Forge of Empires starts you with a few Stone Age huts and walks them forward through history, one age at a time, until your city looks like something from the future. That long climb is the heart of the game, and InnoGames keeps extending it: at the end of August 2026 it added the first of the Stellar Ages for players who had reached the end.

The climb comes with a routine. Your productions finish on timers and wait for you to collect them, and a finished production you leave sitting there can be plundered by a neighbour who has beaten your defending army. Inselnova is a different shape of game: islands across a sea rather than one city through time, with no production waiting for a click.

I build Inselnova, so take this as a comparison written from one side of it. The Forge of Empires facts come from InnoGames’ own help pages, game page and store listing, listed under Sources.

The Forge of Empires iOS app was updated twice in November 2026, and Stellar Age: Discovery arrived at the end of August.

One city through time, or islands at sea

In Forge of Empires you build a city that you lead through the ages. You research new technologies with Forge Points, which you receive at one an hour up to a set maximum, and spend on research, trades and other players’ Great Buildings. There is a single-player campaign across a continent map, guilds to join, and neighbours to trade with or attack. InnoGames runs many worlds side by side and opens new ones from time to time.

Inselnova has no eras. You start with one island in a medieval archipelago, build it up, and grow outward: fleets carry goods and soldiers between your islands, and you settle new ones as you go. Instead of watching one place change over centuries, you watch your patch of the map get bigger, and you deal with whoever lives next to it. There is only one world, the Founders World, which opened on 27 February 2026 and has never reset or merged.

What Diamonds buy

Diamonds are Forge of Empires’ premium currency. InnoGames says you do not need to buy them to play, and you can earn some from quests and community contests. Its FAQ also says Diamonds “generally give certain benefits that speed up your progression”. From InnoGames’ own pages, they buy:

• Extra Forge Points, which you spend on research.
• Goods and Great Building blueprints.
• Collecting and restarting every production at once, for 5 Diamonds.
• In Settlements, halving a time: 50 Diamonds for a goods production, 150 to cut a waiting time, plus extra premium expansions (these prices were announced in 2024).

Forge Plus is a separate paid subscription. Without it, Collect All skips your Forge Point buildings once your Forge Point bar is full (100 points or more). On the US App Store, Diamond packs run from $2.99 for 110 to $99.99 for 13,000, next to an Army Pack at $3.99.

One long-time player put the spending side this way:

Then never ending events, gold league buildings in events which you can only acquire if you pay cash creating powercreep spenders who pack themselves in one guild that dominates the whole world.

KKathryn2020App Store review, November 2026 (Forge of Empires)

Nothing in Inselnova is sold for real money. No building finishes sooner for money, and there is no package that keeps your production ticking over.

Plundering, and what protects you

A neighbour can attack you once a day, and if they beat your defending army they have 24 hours to plunder one of your buildings. InnoGames’ advice is to be ready to collect your productions when they finish, set up a strong city defence, and buy a city shield at the Friends Tavern, which stops new attacks but not a plunder from an attack that has already won. Neighbourhoods are reshuffled automatically every other week, and you can’t choose your own.

Some players who log in around a job find that routine hard. This review is from 2022, but it puts the problem clearly:

“How hard is it to collect on time?” When you have a life where you have to work and take care of others? Pretty dang hard actually.

MMagslynn2App Store review, June 2022 (Forge of Empires)

In its public reply at the time, InnoGames said attacking and plundering are part of the game and that neighbourhoods are reshuffled so players meet comparably strong ones.

Inselnova has plundering too, but it protects you differently:

• A protected first week. For seven days of Sanctuary no other player can attack, raid, colonise or spy on you, unless you attack, raid, blockade or send settlers at another player’s island first. Alongside it, Patronage makes your raids on empty islands and your settling more reliable. It never helps in a fight with another player, and it fades as you grow, gone by day 14 at the latest.
• No productions to collect. Production goes straight into your stores, up to what your Storehouse holds, so no building sits finished waiting for you. Your Storehouse shields most of a modest store, but a successful plunder always takes a share, and lumen has no protection.
• A patrol meets plunderers. A plunder run gives no warning, so the defence is already on station: a patrol over your island with a fresh crew turns every plunder run back, fewer as the crew tires.
• Picking on people pays less. Plundering the same island again within three days brings back less each time, whoever does it, a large realm plundering a much smaller one takes home a smaller haul, and repeat offenders can end up Wanted, with a bounty on them.
• Assaults you can see. Once your Watch Tower sights a fleet, the island’s Defense page shows when it lands and, once the tower reads its ships at level 16, how your patrol, wall and garrison are likely to meet it. Every battle fought has a replay, and a plunder report names what was missing from your defence.

What you can lose is different too. Once your first week is over, an ordinary colony can be taken by another player at any time, and ships sitting in harbour are lost if the island loses a battle. In Forge of Empires a lost defence lets a neighbour plunder one building; in Inselnova it can cost you an island or a fleet.

For time away, I couldn’t find a vacation mode in InnoGames’ help pages, so check in game if you need one. Inselnova has Shuttering: up to 21 days per rolling year, free, switched on by you for at least 24 hours, and not while a hostile fleet is already on its way. Your islands stand still while shuttered, with no attacks but no production either. An island already out of food keeps starving, so stock it before you go.

What players say

The second review came during a run of one-star reviews in early November 2026 that followed a change to how Great Buildings work, so it reflects that week’s mood as much as the long-run picture.

Stewards, and a world that clears itself

Forge of Empires gives you one city to look after. In Inselnova, once an island reaches Dominion prestige you can seat a steward on it if you want one. The steward stays for life and follows one of four doctrines (Wealth, Attack, Defence or Stealth), which can’t be changed. It raises some of that island’s buildings past level 20 and opens the doctrine’s own research and workshop bench, so different islands in one realm can take on different jobs.

The map also looks after itself. When a player falls silent for 30 days without Shuttering, the Black Tide, a computer-run force, can begin claiming their islands one a day, capital last (sooner for a single island that was never built up). As of November 2026 it has never taken an island from an active player.

Other games like Forge of Empires

• Elvenar, from InnoGames too, is a fantasy city builder where you play as elves or humans, in a browser or on iOS and Android, with optional purchases.
• Grepolis, another InnoGames game, trades the city through time for islands, fleets and Greek gods. See how it compares with Inselnova.
• Ikariam is an island game built around trade between cities. See the Ikariam comparison.

For a wider list, with what each game sells, read the best browser strategy games.

When is Forge of Empires the better choice?

If the climb through history is what keeps you playing, stay with Forge of Empires. It has a single-player campaign, Great Buildings to work toward with your guild, a steady stream of events, apps for iOS and Android on the same account as the browser, and a huge community: its App Store listing shows 168,000 ratings. Inselnova has none of the ages, no app, and far fewer players.

Inselnova may suit you if the collecting has started to feel like a chore. Your islands fill their stores while you are away, and nothing is for sale. Start your first island and see whether a sea suits you better than a century.