Last updated on January 3rd, 2026 at 02:49 pm
Jade Empire™: Special Edition – Roleplaying Game Review
Jade Empire™: Special Edition is a Roleplaying/Action game from Aspyr Media (iDP), first launched in 6th October 2016.
It’s rated 17+ and currently has 419+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Jade Empire™: Special Edition Stand Out
Jade Empire: Special Edition is an award-winning action RPG from the makers of Dragon Age and Mass Effect. Experience a unique combination of fast paced martial arts action with a gripping, character driven story set in a mythical land. Each decision builds your reputation, changing the course of interactions with other characters and followers. Take the role of a master of martial arts, and recruit followers to your cause in an interactive, living world.
Embark on an epic journey with fascinating characters across a graphically beautiful, fantastic new world inspired by the myths and legends of ancient China. Sinister events upset the peaceful harmony of an isolated martial arts school, drawing you into a story that unfolds with drama, action, and adventure. Detailed followers and other non-player characters enrich the adventure by providing comic relief, rivalries, flirtations, and hostility. Stare in awe at the sweeping views of the lush environments, sheer vertical drops, and overpowering scale that provide the visual backdrop to the story. Confront wild outlaws, evil magicians, demonic incarnations, and other foul villains that protect the Jade Empire’s darkest secrets.
Game Features:
• An epic experience with a rich blend of role-playing and exciting real-time combat.
• “Special Edition” version of the game with additional content.
• Elegant touch controls designed from the ground up for a mobile screen.
• Jade Empire: Special Edition for mobile is the full experience, with over 40 hours of gameplay.
• Achievements for the first time!
• Full MFi extended controller support
• A streamlined user interface custom-made for the touch screen helps immerse you in the action and exploration.
••• Note: This game is compatible with iPad (3rd generation), iPad Air, iPad mini (2nd generation), and iPhone 5 and newer. THE GAME WILL NOT RUN ON EARLIER DEVICES! •••
© 2017 All rights reserved. BioWare and the BioWare logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd. Aspyr is a registered trademark of Aspyr Media, Inc., and the Aspyr star logo is a trademark of Aspyr Media. Mac and the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.
This Roleplaying game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Jade Empire™: Special Edition is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 5th December 2016
Recent improvements include:
This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.
Minor bug fixes.
Download & Availability
Jade Empire™: Special Edition is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Jade Empire™: Special Edition on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
Just finished our first playthrough and this is awesome. Id never heard of this game until a couple months ago. Works perfectly on our iPad. For anyone having problems with targeting or controls, we recommend doing a lot of practice fights (sparring) and perhaps adjusting sensitivity or difficulty. We made it through the entire game on normal difficulty. It was very enjoyable and we are looking forward to replays.
Played on the Xbox as a kid and so fun playing now. This and KOTOR are some of our favorites.
Hey, we noticed a display glitch with our device (iPhone 14) it has us playing in a window-screen mode like was with old tvs back in early 2ks (the setup where theres a black border and the picture doesnt fit the whole screen), its also displaying our battery lvl, clock, wifi, and cell signal on the left side of our screen in game; can you please fix this.
Amazing storyline. Kinda clunky movement (because its such an old game), forgot how good the story is. Was worth every second.
We remember playing this game a lot when we were younger back in the olden days when the Xbox console was the coolest thing. We dumped so many hours into this game, and we were very sad that this game hasnt gotten any kind of remastered because it is a gem we havent even played the game yet on our phone but we know its going to make us happy. First thing we did was grab an Xbox one controller connected to our phone and it worked so we dont have to deal with the finicky touch screen buttons. For anybody else whos like us wanting a little bit of nostalgia this is perfect. The folks who brought this game to Phone did a fantastic job. It is outstanding and is worth your money. Please give it to them lol.
Playing without any issues on an M1 iPad Pro. Highly recommend this game.
Its a good game . We just wish you will allow us to play full screen . We cant do however on our iphone . We got it switched over and last time it full screen . Now we only have half of a screen . Please fix . This game has so much potential.
Exactly like the game we loved to play on Xbox. We were skeptical at first but this is truly the same as the Xbox version. Navigating is extremely simple.
This game is hands down our favorite game of all time. As a kid we played this gave beating it over and over with different characters and honestly can say its worth $10 for the game.
You wont find a better console quality RPG on the App Store! Amazing story. Controls are great.
Went with the closed fist way first and we have to say way to fun and deep stories and options to choose.
Hey would it be possible for you to make an update that allows us more options for base martial styles (Willow, seven thunders, etc). Also please add a female strong character Thx.
If you are looking for an amazing action RPG from the makers of Mass Effect and KOTOR then you have found it. This game is spectacular and we have loved it since it's initial release on Xbox and PC. We are extremely grateful that Aspyr has kept it up to date and hope to see more amazing titles from them in the future for iOS. KOTOR 2 with Restored Content would be a really amazing gift for us to buy up if you ever decide to Port it. Thanks again Aspyr, we appreciate all your hard work.
If you liked KoToR, this is worth playing! Very few games do we play multiple times making alternate choices and getting to experience multiple different endings. This game deserves a lot more attention than marketing has given it. Its creative, dynamic, well thought out and worth the cost. There are no in-app purchases sand it will keep you engaged.
Once you beat the game can you play it over with a toon youve already leveled up.
As a lover of both RPG games and Martial arts alike this game has always been a favorite of ours. It has a compelling narrative, a surprisingly well done combat system, and plenty of interesting mechanics and locations to keep you on your toes. Once we saw this available on the App Store we just knew we had to have it. We just wish this game got the KOTOR treatment and received an update for iPhone X to take advantage of that bigger display. Fingers crossed.
This game brings us back to our childhood playing it on the original Xbox. It has everything we remember from when we were 10. Thank you so much for the nostalgia.
Had to open from app store page otherwise get black screen with audio.
Ive been playing Jade Empire for years now & telling friends to get it too & the only downside it it never gets updates.
Please format it to iPhone X please.
Great work, Aspyr. We love using the "expert" touch controls. Work like a charm. We only encountered one bug, that being we could not retry Kang's final mission after "disengaging" once. Other than that, smooth ride. BUT, we're going to nitpick here, the apps name doesn't fit on our iPhone, and shows up as "JadeEmpire…". We assume the name is "JadeEmpire: SE". Could you guys shorten it to just "JadeEmpire" so the ellipses don't appear? We know, big nitpick, but we feel this would be trivial to change unless you can't call it that for legal reasons. Thanks, Aspyr Team, please continue the good work bringing these amazing games to our pocket.
Love the game and no issues. Please make it fill the entire screen of an iPhone XS Max.
Pls, make screen mode for iPhone X :3 Thank you.
Yes yes yesssssssss we have been waiting forever to play Jade Empire again. Everything is the same which is perfect. The only downside to being ported means that the controls are not as good. Especially when you're playing on an older iPhone 6s. Our screen is generally big enough to play games but here the controls don't let us block, jump, attack properly. We're getting our but kicked by some random thugs when we should be showing them our closed fist and punching through mountains instead. We want to finish this game bc it is probably our #1 game tied with Mass Effect, but the controls cause us to die so easily it's infuriating. We'll see if lowering the difficulty will help us.
Hello the Jade empire: special edition, okay we owned this game for the Xbox way back when. Anyone who doubts this is the game STOP. This is it! We like the touch screen controls, at first we were concerned but ounce we began playing the controls are very much like the OG controls from the xbox. The graphics are somehow look better on the iPhone and the sound, combat, its all great. With that said, walking around we found was a little bit of a challenge. You walk straight just fine, but walking and turning can be a bit sticky. But thats the only problem so far we found. All dialogue boxs are nice and big you can easily scroll through and choose the answer you want. The game isnt super hard, but it isnt easy ether. And the fact we havent seen one ad is super cool too. For $10 we mean may sound like a lot but but in the day they charged $50+ so youre getting the whole game for $10. Thats a great deal. The Jade empire is a true masterpiece.
This game is impressive and the owner this game is incredibly intelligent. First you start this game kinda confused you but after you play for little you will see how the story goes and we cant even believe in the end of this game your only family betray you!! We.
Its known to be a great game and this is a great port. Very few crashes or issues. Having a controller was very helpful.
We backed up our iphone 8+ to our computer using itunes. Then we used iexplorer to navigate to the apps-jadeempire folder. Found the config file. Right clicked and clicked something like bring us to source file which highlighted a strange file with tons of letters. Luckily we could open this file in windows10 notepad. You could see all the advanced graphic settings. We edited clampfps 1 to clamp fps 0 and saved. Then we plugged phone into pc again and restored latest backup on our iphone. It worked! It takes some work but The fps is now buttery smooth and no longer capped at 30fps.
Great game with fantastic battle mechanics , great story line and not to mention the fun mini games to mix it up. Just recently though, we havent been able to load our save up, the bar gets loaded all the way and the game crashes.:/.
Im so happy we found this game, as BioWare is our favorite game developer. The only complaint we have is how hard it is to move around! The controls are horrendous.
This is the best game Ive played in a while. The controls are weird at first but in about five minutes it was super easy. The storyline is emotionally investing and we couldnt stop ourselves from playing it.
The game is very nice and fun to play we wished there was a way to play after the game was over because we would like to finish all the other side missions.
Touch controls are easily manageable. Playing on an iPhone 7. Another flawless Aspyr port.
First off its actually formatted to a phone. Instead of just dropping a d-pad on the bottom left like fez its more like an invisible joystick. Second it runs really well which blows our mind cause we remember playing this on the Xbox and thinking it was the future of gaming so if you want to enjoy a bio-ware gem on the go we cant imagine a better game.
This game totally caught us by surprise as to how good it is. Most ports from other systems have trouble converting controls elegantly. This game makes it feel like it was designed for a touch screen originally.
We dont write a lot of reviews but just had to for this amazing game. Its truly epic. Ive been playing it for months now and Im just now nearing the end, sad to say. The story line is super deep and multi faceted. Gameplay is very smooth. Characters that you interact with are unique and full of personality. If you are a fan of this sort of game where you start out on your little island and then head out into the big world while you gain experience and the storyline unfolds before you then this is a must have. This game is leaps and bounds beyond other games of this genre. A+.
Please make an app for SWKOTOR two we would gladly pay your games are great.
We played Jade Empire constantly as a kid on our original xbox. We have played this games more times through then any other game we have EVER owned. We long for the day Bioware decides to make a sequel for this amazing series they really need to. Spend the 10 dollars and buy this game it plays just like the actual xbox and it takes us back every time we play it. We still have our xbox special edition disc we love this game so much we bought it twice. We also hoped Bioware would notice sales for this beautiful app and see they need to make a sequel also. Do your self a favor buy this.
It like mass effect except u use martial art as a weapons we love the storie and we felt like a hero who save the the city in the game this game is a master piece it deserve a lot of love glad we bought this game it worth every penny and we like the quest story and romance option where u can atleast choose to be gay which it rarely happen to this kind of game.
We have gotten more than 7 hours into the game and we're extremely impressed. Those complaining about touch controls should just buy an Mfi controller, we use gamevice and it's flawless. Absolutely perfect for Mfi. Graphics are great, and we saw the review talking about the in game cut scenes being less quality. So silly, are you playing the game for the awesome fights, the music the graphics during the gameplay, the storyline? To complain about the cutscenes is a joke, they are the original cutscenes and it's just fine let alone minuscule to the overall game. There's another guy who can't download it, that's either you (your not waiting to fully download, your phone or your wifi) or apple. The developers have nothing to do with you downloading anything from the App Store, review apple poorly not the game you can't download for likely user issues. So far the pros are the storyline, gameplay with lots of fighting (like your own martial arts movie) and the music. The cons are probably touch controls but why play a game like this for the touch, too many buttons for a phone, maybe better on iPad. The graphics are a pro during the gameplay and the cutscenes are certainly not a con with graphics, but not a pro. Honestly it's nice to see the original game cutscenes with updated gameplay graphics. We give this a high 9.5, and we do so because it's a great game from a great developing team who has brought the best games to iOS. This game moves mobile gaming to the next tier and hopefully more teams will bring new huge titles to the mobile gaming platform. Tested on iPhone 6s Plus iOS 10.2.
We played this on the Xbox as a kid we're glad it was ported to the IOS some minors problems with the controls but other then that we are happy.
When trying to attack am constantly swapping opponents makes it hard to kill in groups of mobs.
First, to correct a previous reviewer's comment: the iOS version does support the "area attack" through a MFI game controller. You just have to hit both power attack and quick attack buttons together. This was definitely confusing since it's not listed in the controller diagram in the game menu. Area attack is vital since it pushes clumps of enemies away. Besides that this is a classic Bioware RPG. The combat is definitely real-time relative to say KotOR but is basically positioning and rock-paper-scissors. It does get pretty awkward on touch which is why we bought a steelseries Bluetooth controller which has worked well so far in a day of play. The voice acting is generally very good. The plot and humor are rather cliched but nevertheless fun.
The iOS port is very good. It's almost as good as the Xbox version save for a few camera quirks. We love the game but we're upset Bioware hasn't given us a 2nd Jade Empire, when they've release multiple dragon age, baldurs gate and mass effect sequels.
Great game but please add a cloud save feature so we can transfer a saved game between different devices.
This game will forever go down in time as one of the most hidden/overlooked/underrated RPG gems of all time. For those of you whining about controls – it's on your phone. Be grateful you can simply experience this amazing story on a road trip or wherever. Don't like dying because of a small screen and touch buttons? Change the difficulty of the game to "Student". Fixed.
We remember playing this back in 2003 as a kid on xbox (yes, It's rated 17+, we wasn't raised a snowflake millennial). Now 2017, we're playing it on our iPhone! Pros: Childhood memories relived Cons: controls are a bit annoying.
A very high-quality port of a fun and eccentric game. Very reminiscent of "Mass Effect" gameplay. What a great time to be both a mobile gamer and a retro gamer!!! <3.
One of the best RPGs available on iOS when played with a gamepad. Wish it were available on Apple TV.
We love this game but there is no sound for us when we play.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.0.2
- Size: 3,715.89 MB
- iOS: 9.0 or later
- Languages: CS, EN, FR, DE, HU, IT, PL, RU, ZH, ES
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References, Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes, Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor, Infrequent/Mild Simulated Gambling, Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence
- Developer: Aspyr Media (iDP)
Last updated: 5th December 2016 | Genre: Roleplaying, Action | Developer: Aspyr Media (iDP)