Oil Imperium

Year 1989, the Iron Curtain is crumbling outside, and I'm sitting at a monitor with orange text, virtually pumping oil from the ground. Oil Imperium from German studio reLINE Software had me reliably glued to the keyboard for the entire afternoon — and back then, I had no idea what a futures market or stock speculation even was.

It's a business simulation of the oil industry. You drill wells, extract oil, refine it, sell it, and pray the barrel price stays where you calculated. The competition never sleeps, the market fluctuates, and your cash disappears faster than the planning suggested. The game offers four different victory conditions — dominate the market, accumulate capital, maintain a leading position over a set period, or drive other players completely out of business. Each requires a different approach, which extends the game's lifespan more than expected.

Control is mouse-driven and menu-based, which wasn't a given in 1989. The interface is clear, the colors striking — typical Central European DOS style of the era, a bit stiff, but functional. Gameplay hinges on decision-making: where to drill, when to sell stockpiles, whether to invest in a refinery or wait. It's not a deep economic simulation with twenty screens of graphs, more of an accessible mainstream affair — complex enough to hold your attention, understandable enough not to discourage you within the first half hour.

What stuck with me about the game is that basic rhythm — tension between investment and return, between the risk of drilling in new locations and safely extracting from established fields. This works as well today as it did back then. What's aged less elegantly is the pacing: the game sometimes gets bogged down waiting for results, and if you don't enjoy slow rhythmic planning, you'll soon grow bored. Direct clashes with AI rivals are more thematic window dressing than actual tactical challenge — the artificial intelligence is no Byron Wien of the oil business.

Today Oil Imperium will suit those who like simulations with a clear goal and don't want to spend hours reading manuals. It's a game where you can relax, think slowly, and occasionally curse unfavorable prices. Fire it up in your browser via DOSBox emulators without trouble, and since control depends more on menus than keyboard shortcuts, you won't be lost without a paper manual. If you enjoy economic simulations from that era — from Capitalism to SimCity — Oil Imperium is a pleasant side discovery, one you easily forget and just as easily return to.