Road to Empress II lines up a June 9 mobile palace-drama launch watch

Road to Empress II is one of next week’s more distinctive launch-watch items because it sits far away from football, shooters and fantasy combat. GamingOnPhone’s June release calendar lists it for June 9, with Google Play listed as the download route. That puts it in the palace-drama and historical-life-simulation lane, a category that can do very well on mobile when it combines story choices, character relationships, fashion, politics and progression.

The appeal is less about reflexes and more about narrative power fantasy: climb the court, manage alliances, look good doing it and survive the social battlefield. The challenge is monetization and pacing, because these games can become heavily gated around outfits or story progress. Still, for Gameforce Mobile readers who want something different from another combat RPG, this is a useful watch item.