“Games like Torn” is a search with a specific shape behind it. Someone has played Torn, the text crime game that has run one city since 2004. They want the same slow loop somewhere else: a timed meter, crimes with visible odds, a faction worth fighting for, a player-run market. Between 29 September and 1 October 2026 we checked every game in our crime genre that fits. Eleven showed activity within the previous month. One still ranks for these searches but has had no dated developer post since 2024. The groups below answer the question Torn players ask first: does the world persist, or does it reset?
What Torn players are actually looking for
Torn was built by British developer Joe Chedburn. It entered alpha in August 2004 and its beta ended on 15 November 2004, per Wikipedia. Crimes 2.0, announced in 2014, arrived on 20 June 2023. The Google Play listing showed an update dated 29 September 2026 at our check. Its “two million real people” line is Torn Ltd’s own copy, not a figure we can verify.
The loop has four parts:
- Timed resources. Torn has an energy system for the gym and fights and a nerve meter for crimes. A fan guide puts energy at 5 points every 15 minutes, with a bar of 100 (150 for donators). Torn’s own wiki returned a Cloudflare challenge page when we fetched it, so treat those numbers as approximate.
- Crimes with odds that improve as you level.
- Factions that war and hold territory.
- A player economy: bazaars, item markets, player-owned companies.
How we checked
Each game needed a dated signal: a changelog entry, a forum timestamp, a store “Updated on” date or a round with published dates. Live counters are self-reported, so they weigh little. We record a check date on every listing and mark a game closed when its own site says it has shut down. We do not quote player counts without saying who published them and when.
Games like Torn with one persistent world
This is the group most Torn players mean: your character is kept indefinitely.
The Fifth Family launched in March 2026 and is the most Torn-shaped game in the index. Crimes cost 2 to 29 nerve, with listed success odds from 95% down to 3%. Gym training costs energy. There are four battle stats, 10 districts, 20 multi-stage heists and an eight-company stock market. Five preset families, each tied to a stat, arrived with “Phase One” on 11 August 2026. At our 1 October 2026 check the newest forum post was two hours old and the Android app had been updated on 20 September. How it differs: ten districts and five fixed families rather than one open city. Regeneration rates are not published.
Street Crime says it first went online in 2007 and is run by DHEWY LTD. Its changelog had entries dated 1 October 2026, and entries on 26 days of September. How it differs: its FAQ describes no energy bar. Petty crime and car theft can be repeated at once, but each attempt raises Heat and lowers your odds until it cools. Drug deals, flights and five-player organised crime run on timers. Street Crime publishes its own “games like Torn” guide; read it as a competitor’s.
Mob Wars: La Cosa Nostra has been online since 2009 under Kano Apps. Its Facebook version has closed; characters now live on KanoPlay. Google Play showed an update on 27 September 2026. The newest forum thread was a player recruiting on 8 September 2026. Kano’s own forum recaps stopped in August 2024, so the store date is the better signal. How it differs: a job-and-collect loop with bi-weekly syndicate wars and monthly raid bosses, run by a studio rather than a founder.
Cartel Empire moves the loop to Bolivia: production facilities, sicarios and cartels instead of jobs and companies. Its Updates page listed four patches on 29 September 2026 and fifteen on 28 September. The Android app was last updated on 22 April 2024, so judge activity by the web patch notes. How it differs: its wiki says it is developed by a single person, and the setting is narco rather than mafia. Whether crimes use energy or plain cooldowns we could not confirm.
Mafia.org is the outlier. Characters die for good: a death wipes your Street Credits, and only account-bound Godfather Favors carry over. New characters get 48 hours of protection unless they shoot or mug someone. Patch notes carry dated entries through September 2026, the newest on 30 September. One caveat on “persistent”: the same notes record a full reset on 4 July 2026. How it differs: permadeath and roleplay rules instead of a timer.
Criminal Warfare is the small one: 839 accounts, with 3 online and 18 in the last hour when we loaded it on 1 October 2026. A “September Raffle” post was dated that day. It has gangs, ranks and leaderboards, but its public pages mention no market or energy mechanic.
Long rounds and seasons: 60 days to 15 weeks
Rounds and seasons long enough to feel like a campaign.
Gangster Nation dates itself to 2005 and says it has been through “multiple complete redevelopments”. Rounds usually last 15 weeks. Round 45 runs from 3 July to 15 October 2026, and the guide promises an in-game alert ten days before the end. The changelog’s newest entry was dated 25 September 2026. Its Android app lags (last updated 20 August 2025). How it differs: a full reset every 15 weeks, 50 levels plus unlimited Prestige, invite-only families. What carries over is not stated.
BELLOCCO runs 60-day seasons. At our 1 October 2026 check Season 2 had 38 days left. Crimes have a 45-second cooldown and a HEAT meter that cuts success by up to 40%. Its homepage says cash and progress persist and only the leaderboard resets. Its own wiki says cash, XP, vehicles, holdings and families all reset, and only Diamonds, VIP status and badges stay. We could not resolve this without an account. How it differs: cooldowns instead of energy, and a reset the game describes two ways.
Ultimate Assassins is a UK game played in numbered rounds. Round 14 was live on 1 October 2026, and the Android app was updated on 28 September 2026. At a reset, rank, money, bullets, cars, property, crews and messages are deleted. Only points and VIP bought in the previous three months can be reclaimed. How it differs: a full wipe each round. Round length is not published.
Short rounds that reset every few days
The Mafia Boss has run since 2005 and publishes results for every round. Standard rounds last ten days: Round 1503 ran 13 to 23 September 2026. Turbo rounds last two days: Round 1506 ran 28 to 30 September 2026 with a 3,975,800-credit prize pool, per its past winners page. The two types overlap; turbo Round 1504 ran 18 to 20 September, inside Round 1503’s dates. How it differs: nothing persists but your account. A round is a ten-day race for credits.
Mafia Inferno, turn-based since 2010, runs three-day mini rounds and seven-day main rounds. Loyalty points earned by playing speed up turn regeneration and stay on the account. We found no dated developer post, and the homepage copy still reads “here in 2024”. The evidence is live counters (17 online, 73 today at our 1 October 2026 check). How it differs: turns instead of energy, prizes instead of progression.
Torn alternatives side by side
| Game | Structure | Pacing | Newest dated signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Torn | Persistent | Energy + nerve | Android app 29 Sep 2026 |
| The Fifth Family | Persistent | Nerve + energy | Forum 1 Oct 2026 |
| Street Crime | Persistent | Heat + timers | Changelog 1 Oct 2026 |
| Mob Wars: LCN | Persistent | Not documented | Android app 27 Sep 2026 |
| Cartel Empire | Persistent | Unconfirmed | Patch notes 29 Sep 2026 |
| Mafia.org | Persistent, reset 4 Jul 2026 | Permadeath | Patch notes 30 Sep 2026 |
| Criminal Warfare | Persistent | Not documented | News 1 Oct 2026 |
| Gangster Nation | 15-week rounds | Not documented | Changelog 25 Sep 2026 |
| BELLOCCO | 60-day seasons | 45-second cooldown + HEAT | Android app 5 Sep 2026 |
| Ultimate Assassins | Numbered rounds, full wipe | Not documented | Android app 28 Sep 2026 |
| The Mafia Boss | 10-day and 2-day rounds | Round race | Round 1506 ended 30 Sep 2026 |
| Mafia Inferno | 3- and 7-day rounds | Turns | Live counters, 1 Oct 2026 |
“Not documented” means the pages we could read do not describe it.
Still ranking, but dormant by our checks
Made Man Mafia still ranks for text mafia game searches and still loads. Its homepage shows a “Last Prize” figure with no date beside it. The newest post on its blog is “Summer 2024 cleanup and stats”, from August 2024; the newest What’s New entry is from April 2024. Its own transparency page showed 18 accounts active in the last 30 days on 1 October 2026. It is dormant rather than closed: the server is up, but there has been no dated developer activity in over two years.
Which one to try first
If you liked the whole Torn loop, nerve and energy and factions and a market, start with The Fifth Family. If you want persistence without a timer dictating your sessions, Street Crime’s Heat system lets you play in bursts. If you miss the early game, when the ladder is still open, The Mafia Boss restarts every ten days.
All checks were made between 29 September and 1 October 2026. Rounds end, apps go stale and one-person projects pause. Each game page in the directory carries the date we last confirmed it.
