Empire of Sin is Romero Games’ upcoming Prohibition-era strategy game. Brenda Romero serves as Game Director on the title, which just introduced a fascinating new character to the roster. In celebration of Mother’s Day, John and Brenda Romero announced that Elvira Duarte, John’s real-life great-grandmother, will be a playable character. As someone who lived during the 1920s and ran three brothels in Nogales, Mexico, Elvira fits right into the game world.
Brenda and John shared the news in a video yesterday. Check it out below:
According to John, Elvira ran the three brothels in Mexico for roughly two decades. She then won the lottery and retired. To make her character work in a video game, she’ll receive a special ability in Empire of Sin. With Devil’s Breath, Elvira will blow a cloud of purple mist at her enemies, giving the player complete control of their foe for approximately three turns. Once the final turn comes to an end, the previously possessed enemy will fall to their death. This ability is shown off in the video above.
Empire of Sin’s version of Elvira Duarte does not exactly look like John Romero’s great-grandmother. Instead, she was modeled after Romero’s grandmother, Socorro Duarte Romero. As an added touch, Brenda notes that Elvira in Empire of Sin has grey streaks on the side of her hair similar to John. However, it was apparently nothing more than “a pure coincidence.”
Empire of Sin was originally meant to launch this spring for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Xbox One. Romero Games and publisher Paradox Interactive recently delayed the title to sometime this fall.
[Source: Paradox Interactive]
