Step into the world of ancient Mesoamerica, where empires have risen and fallen over centuries.
In the realm of online strategy gaming, one title stands out for its unique blend of historical inspiration and engaging gameplay — Tentlan.
Developed by Lionmoon UG, Tentlan is a free-to-play online strategy game that invites players to embark on a journey where they’ll build and manage their Aztec empire.
As you manage your society, you’ll be tasked with everything you’d expect from an online city-builder game.
From city planning to resource management to war, Tentlan immerses you in the complexities of ancient societies, offering a fresh perspective on the challenges faced by civilizations of the past.
This guide offers new players tips when getting started, a look at the game’s features, where you can play it, and an overview of what has made this game popular among players over the last five years.
| Our Rating: | 4.2⭐ |
| Genre: | Historic city-builder, MMO |
| Available On: | Browser, PC via Steam |
| Developer: | Lionmoon UG |
| Cost: | Free-to-Play (with optional microtransactions) |
| Released: | 2018 |
What Is Tentlan?
Tentlan is a free-to-play online city-building game that sees you take on the role of a city leader to build the next great Mayan empire. Throughout your play, you’ll have to erect buildings, build up armies, collect resources, conquer lands, and more.
The story of the game is a long one with plenty of lore to learn, but to summarize:
In the ancient world of Tentlan, the prosperous Eagle empire faces upheaval as the Balam dynasty seeks revenge, forming alliances with coyotes and black naguals. The Balam king, Wakatel Balam II, orchestrated an attack on the Eagle empire, leading to widespread devastation, famine, and the loss of the symbolic golden eagle statue. As the empires crumble, the Atlants emerge to warn of an impending catastrophe and attempt to restore the disrupted balance. With everything that has happened, there is a plea for you — the player — to prevent further chaos, unite with allies, and build a new empire to save the land from descending into darkness.
At the start of the game, you’ll begin in the middle of the rainforest with nothing to your name. Though there isn’t a campaign, per se, in Tentlan, there are various quests and rituals to complete within the game.
Quests are given to you by one of three NPCs — Ahkin, Itzel, and their father. As you complete these quests, you’ll be rewarded with experience and Tentlan resources that will help your empire grow.
Rituals are important moments throughout the game. Performing them gives you the ability to do things like change the seasons which can help you in different ways depending on your specific needs.
Tentlan Features
Being a city-builder, a number of the features within Tentlan will feel familiar to you if you’ve played any similar game before. However, each feature has its own unique feel from other games to help it stand out. Some of the features, per developer Lionmoon, that you’ll find in Tentlan include:
- Play Alone or With Others: “Build great cities on your own, in cooperation with other players or tribes, or fight for supremacy against other emperors.” Within the game, you can either team up with players and take on PvP battles, or simply train an army and defeat various barbarian villages.
- Use Seasons To Your Advantage: “Some rituals will allow you to invoke the season effects. Switch from one season to another to take advantage of their effects in decisive moments.”
- Devise The Best Strategy: “In Tentlan, the winners are not those who have more resources or units, but those who know how to play their aces. Develop different strategies and methods of play to irritate your adversaries and attack them unexpectedly.”
How Much Does Tentlan Cost?
Tentlan is a free-to-play online game that anyone can jump right into. The game was designed to be played fully without feeling like you have to spend money to have success. That said, like any free-to-play game, there are optional purchases you can make.
Tentlan’s premium in-game currency is Turquoise, which can be used for anything from decreasing building times to building a larger army, faster. The cost for Turquoise begins at $1.99 for 180 and can go up to 14,500 Turquoise for $109.99.
As always, make sure you can afford anything you want to buy, and don’t spend what you don’t have. Also, if you find any place trying to charge for access to the game, be aware that it’s a scam. Tentlan is free for everyone, everywhere.
How To Play Tentlan Online?
Play Tentlan In Browser
If you want to quickly dive into Tentlan, the best way to play the game online will be via your web browser. The game works with all major browsers available and requires you to just sign up for an account to get started.
Play Tentlan On PC
If you want a more “traditional” way to play Tentlan, the game is available to download for free via Steam. Simply search for Tentlan in the Steam store, and you can download the game right to your PC. For those worried about storage space, the game is small in size at just 162MB.
Play Tentlan On Mobile
Unfortunately, Tentlan isn’t available via mobile just yet. If you want to play it on your phone, you’re going to have to do it via the browser rather than a standalone app.
Best Tentlan Beginners Tips
With Tentlan being around for over five years, there is a lot you’ll learn throughout your playtime. If you want to have the best playing experience and do the most with what you have, follow these helpful Tentlan tips for beginners when you start playing online.
- Don’t Go It Alone: While it may be enticing to try and go through your entire journey alone, it’s not one of the best strategies to use. As soon as you can, you’ll want to join a Tribe. Tribes offer diplomacy between other real players around the world. By being a member of a Tribe, you’ll get access to shared resources like military and even artifacts. You can also use your Tribe members to help you when you feel you are being overwhelmed in an attack and have them come to your aid to provide more defense. Lastly, you can communicate privately in the game with your Tribe to get or offer advice to other players. Once you find a Tribe and are established, it’s not a bad idea to move your settlement. Being as close to other Tribe members as possible will help you immensely should you need their help in a pinch as you play.
- Don’t Ignore The Tzolkin Wheel: The Tzolkin Wheel allows you to use your amber stones to spin for extra resources or even Turquoise. The wheel resets every 24 hours, so check in daily to get as much extra help as you can.
- Build A Military: Even if you don’t plan on ever becoming the type of civilization that prioritizes its military over everything, you don’t want to ignore it entirely. You’ll want a strong army to protect yourself should you ever come under attack. Also, there are barbarian encampments throughout the rainforest that will provide resources and amber stones as you defeat them. You can also use espionage mechanics to scope out opponents in anticipation of an attack.
- Stock Up On The Big Lump With Knobs: Corn is vital to your city in Tentlan. Without out, your citizens will die and you’ll have nothing to build upon. While you may want to focus on other areas of your city, keeping your corn farm as high a level as possible will help ensure your citizens always have enough food to eat.
Should You Play Tentlan?
After learning about what Tentlan is and what it has to offer, the question becomes whether you should play Tentlan online. With the game being free to play for everyone, there’s no risk to dive in and give it a shot.
If city-building MMOs with an extra dose of strategy is your type of game, then Tentlan might just be the game for you. Plus, when you get started playing, you’ll be given plenty of sign-up bonuses to help you get your city thriving in the early game.
If browser games are your thing, do not forget to check other game titles we play at Insider Gaming.
Insider Gaming sometimes publishes affiliated links, from which the website may earn a commission.