Empires and Puzzles has millions of F2P players. Here's what the free experience looks like in practice.
By Tasha Reeves· Features & Roundups
May 26, 2026
Empires & Puzzles has been running since 2017. A game doesn't sustain that kind of playerbase without offering something real to people who never open their wallets. The question is where the free experience runs out and whether it bothers you before you get there.
What works well for free players
The core match-3 RPG loop holds up completely without spending. You're assembling a team of heroes, using their special skills in combat, and working through a story campaign that has years of content behind it. New players have more free material to work through than they can exhaust in months.
The gem income from quest rewards and events is real. You won't pull heroes as fast as paying players, but you will pull. The key is understanding the event calendar. Seasonal events give F2P players periodic windows to catch up on hero rosters that would otherwise require spending.
3-star and 4-star heroes cover most of the story campaign content fully. Players who try to 5-star everything before progressing will feel squeezed by the game's economy faster than players who work with what they have.
Where the free experience gets harder
Alliance Wars and top-tier raid tournaments require fully maxed hero rosters. Getting there without spending takes a long time. That's by design. Competitive PvP is the game's endgame and it's structured around a whale-friendly economy.
Ascension materials are the real bottleneck. You'll have heroes ready to ascend before you have the items to do it, regardless of spending. The F2P path through this is running rare quests and seasonal events consistently.
The honest summary
Empires and Puzzles gives you a lot for free, and it takes about six months of consistent play before the spending pressure becomes hard to ignore. Whether that's a good deal depends on how competitive you want to be. Players who are content with campaign progression and casual alliance participation will find the game generous. Players chasing leaderboard rankings will eventually need to decide how serious they are.