Just curious, has anyone here played A New Empire?

I haven't. I always assumed it was just a pay-to-win or pay-to-build cash cow with familiar character sprites.

As far as "side games" go, I really enjoyed A King's Tale. Even though it was a free to play side game with retro graphics, it still contributed to the lore of Regis' story under the guise of a bedtime story and I felt more enriched playing Final Fantasy XV because of it. Where as A New Empire doesn't seem to have anything to do with the base game aside from using the world for marketing.