[3] In 2013, a television advertising campaign helped the game reach 10 million user registrations.

[6] The game is similar to both SimCity and Clash of Clans, but includes turn-based strategy elements.

[10] The main goal of the game is to expand and develop a city, evolving from the Stone Age to the future era of establishing a "Space Age Space Hub", presumably beyond the orbit of Titan.

Forge Points, with a meter that refills in time (one Forge Point per hour up to 10 at a time), allow players to research technologies, which unlock new buildings, more building space and other bonuses.

[13] Forge Points may be contributed to Great Buildings, based on historical structures and which can be assembled when a player finds the correct blueprints.

However, diamonds can sometimes be acquired upon the completion of certain quests and through some buildings like the Crows Nest[15] and Wishing Wells.

Combat takes place with turn-based tactics, and unit types work in a rock paper scissors style against each other.

[20] A player can choose to join a guild, which offers gameplay benefits including additional daily forge points, combat bonuses and social interactions, such as aiding and building progression.

Players must use treasury goods which can be donated or medals for AA to set sieges or to place defensive armies (DAs).

[22] GvG is only available on desktop version of the game[22] and InnoGames announced its upcoming termination in 2023.

Every two weeks, guilds fight for provinces on the map that generate victory points to improve final ranking and to determine league participation.

Rewards are credited to all participating players in multiple ways: by chance when doing battles, according to their performance at the week's end, and progress in a monthly personal league.

[27] As of 2023, there are 46 Great Buildings in the game:[14] The Castle system was introduced on 13 October, 2021, and it involves a castle built off-grid of the player's city, which tracks the player's everyday activities like fights, negotiations, advancing in the Guild Expeditions, as well as trading at the Antiques Dealer.

The feature can be unlocked in iron age, and the player can choose from building a village from the following cultures: Vikings, Feudal Japan, Egyptians, Aztec and Mughal Empire.