Empire of Sin is the collaboration between leading strategy studio Paradox and veteran game designers Brenda and John Romero. It’s set in Chicago during prohibition, and accordingly, “Money and alcohol are the two most important resources”, says Romero Games developer Ian O’Neill. He’s talking about 1920s organised crime, but the sentiment could easily apply to, say, 2000s student life in the UK. Or 2010s game journalism. Or almost any other period in human history, come to think of it. Anyway, your criminal empire (of sin) will depend on alcohol – it supplies your speakeasies and other rackets – and you can produce it in varying quality depending on your strategy. “You can produce a low-level swill that’s pretty terrible, but it’ll get the job done and keep your rackets running”, O’Neill tells us in a demo at E3. “Or you can produce a really good, premium alcohol, and you can use it in your rackets to get a quick cash boost if you’re running short.”