Aggressors: Ancient Rome
This review is actually a Thank you letter to the developer for making this game.
For unbiased reviews skip this one.
I think it was 25 years ago that most of my school holiday time was used to do what I really like. Gaming. But I did not had my first PC yet, so gaming was spending one day in the city to collect all kind of painting materials and paperboards to create the ultimate game myself.
The Civilization boardgame, HeroQuest boardgame and some rare tabletop games I owned served as an example. But mine had a bigger boards, more options, more counters and features, more of everything actually.
– Real player with 562.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Rome Historical Games.
Aggressors - Ancient Rome
This obscure historical game is turn based strategy / tactics to dominate the world starting in 280 BC by default, but adustable from 1000 BC to 500 AD. It is single player and is my personal choice for game of the year. I have played it for over 480 hours in the past 60 days. It is published by Slitherine and available through them, on Steam and GOG.
Where I am coming from
–———————————–
I am the curator of Strategic Win https://store.steampowered.com/curator/9074928/ and have reviewed 142 games there in the past 2 years. I bought this game from Matrix games.
– Real player with 521.5 hrs in game
The Age of Decadence
–-{Graphics}—
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☑ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
The game portrays an aesthetic I have a massive soft spot for - Post-apocalyptic colonial Roman Empire. The environment art is well polished and beautiful, and the art style is self-consistent and immersive. I really feel like I’m somewhere in Carthage. The cities feel appropriate for their size – Maadoran feels like a dirty, bustling metropolis down on its luck. The design of the armours and weapons are all era-appropriate, with proper, real-life names (e.g. Lorica Segmentata).
– Real player with 391.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Rome Choices Matter Games.
In brief: AoD ditches many of the genre long established staples to focus on the roleplaying, and this it does amazingly well; there really is nothing quite like it out there. The EA version is very much playable (there are less bugs than in many releases). The combat, which has been much the focus of attention due to its difficulty, is not awesome, but it gets the job done and it is optional.
***Since for some reason Steam has decided to implement a character limit to user reviews (what’s up with that Gabe?), you can read my whole review here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/230070/discussions/0/666827315713399977/ , but below is a very long extract:
– Real player with 214.3 hrs in game
Age of Gladiators II: Rome
A diamond in the rough.
The short review……
An epic upgrade giving fans of the first game many requested features and priced for perfection based on the value you get back gameplay wise. Basically a business mgmt game set in ancient rome, this will test your budget balancing skills and planning ahead. The learning curve exists but if your smart its not to punishing to figure out whats going on. The game is such a dynamic upgrade to the first one that its a must own for fans of this genre. A lot of people have been waiting for a game like this and with the rpg and new tactical combat features its truly a gem among casual games. It adds so much depth of choice and strategic options with budget and gladiator mgmt along with the new option to fight yourself it almost knocks itself out of the casual genre which is why you see mixed reviews. Honestly those reviews are very unfair and treat the game like a AAA title from a huge developer. This is one guy who made a great game with a lot of features and options. It’s not meant to be battle brothers in ancient rome, it’s meant to be an upgrade to the first game and its a hell of an upgrade. If you want to manage a ludus this game is for you.
– Real player with 119.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Rome Management Games.
BLUF: If you always wanted to run a stable of detailed gladiators with RPG levelling you will like this game. If you are looking for X-COM-like depth in the tactical combat aspects of the game though, this isn’t nearly to that level. Dev involvement is swift and sure (huge plus).
There simply aren’t many gladiator simulators out there anymore…. the reigning combat king (especially for asymmetric multi-layer) is still the old BBS door game *Melee! (the exclamation point was part of the title)
– Real player with 95.6 hrs in game
Gods of Sand
Gods of Sand is a gladiator manager with turn based combat, heavily inspired by the Swords and Sandals series, but in a darker and unforgiving setting. Besides fighting in multiple arenas, micromanaging your ludus and gladiators is an important part of the game, which features:
To run a ludus (a gladiator school) you must always pay attention to the economics of your business. Fight to get money and prizes, train your gladiators enough to maintain a solid income and restore the old and abandoned ludus your family left you.
Multiple items and weapons are allowed inside combat, but knowing the best time to use your gear is key if you want to be the champion of the arenas.
Any skill, armor or weapon is usable by any gladiator, generating lots of possibilities when it comes to creating new builds.
Last Day of Rome
A promising game, but so much bugs after only a couple of hours ! This game is clearly not finished and broken. I would really like to play this game, but at that point, it’s more a pain than a game. Too bad.
Here are some. There are probably more:
- the biggest bug : manual battles! I had to Alt+F4 so many times because it seems to freeze if I move the mouse too fast over an unit while some are fighting (not sure about that). Or when I’m attacked and have defense buildings, the game freeze after the IA made his attack. Really painfull. This is one of the major bugs to my point of view.
– Real player with 17.6 hrs in game
New game in my library - Last Day of Rome
This is a military-economic strategy about ancient Rome since the 2nd century AD.
In short: we take command of a people within the borders of Rome. We will have to use both tactics and strategy, and
diplomacy. Therefore, it is possible to gain respect among their own people and, for example, to raid or launch a campaign against the 1st Reich xD
Actually, the system is nothing new, we control any country in Europe, we build buildings and
infrastructure in their regions, that is, we focus on the development of our army through the study of new technologies.
– Real player with 10.1 hrs in game
Roman Wars: Deck Building Game
In “Roman Wars” we fused elements of deck building board game and strategy together. Build your deck, upgrade your cards, develop your base, and fight different enemies. Try various missions, use bonus cards, and don’t forget about cats!
Features
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Ten different missions: Build your deck of cards and meet multiple criteria to complete the missions
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Ten different enemies: Suppress a riot, make a sortie, fight the enemy stealing your gold and other enemies
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Bonus Cards: Earn experience points and unlock special Bonus Cards which make the missions much easier
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Themes: Choose between the classic Roman theme and Cats theme
Demo
Check out the demo and play first two missions of the game
Swords and Sandals 2 Redux
If a potential buyer is reading this, I recommend reading the conclusion paragraph first.
If this is someone who has purchased and played this game already, I want you to add any more bugs/recommendations to the list in the comments.
Game-Breaking Bugs
-When the AI jumps, it results in them gaining essence (two turns of sleep) while the player loses essence for jumping.
-When using a ranged weapon, the only way to access your inventory for potions is if you get close to the enemy that only allows access to inventory if out of range, which for a bow is anywhere but in close range.
– Real player with 26.2 hrs in game
Well okay, first time ill write a long review.
I have played around 20 hours and gotta say it wasnt bad, like the game could be really good IF there wasnt so much buggs like holy sh*t!
I know its hard making games by only yourself, trust me, Im also a solo game developer but you should instead of making 3 or 4 games focus on one or two untill its stable and as good as it can be. Just my thoughts…
Well now Im going to talk about the game.
The story is great and just like s&s2. Some people dont like the graphics but i think its cool. The weapons could been in a better quality doe cause they are kinda blurry and upscaled it feels like. Sad cause the characters and armor quality looks great.
– Real player with 19.6 hrs in game
Total War: ROME REMASTERED
~ DIFFICULTY ~
🔲 My 90 year old grandma could play it
🔲 Easy
✅ Normal
✅ Hard
✅ Dark Souls
It can be changed to hard or Dark Souls depending of your difficulty settings and your faction choice.
~ GRAPHICS ~
🔲 Graphics don’t matter in this game
🔲 MS Paint
🔲 Bad
🔲 Meh
✅ Good
🔲 Beautiful
🔲 Masterpiece
~ MUSIC ~
🔲 Soundless
🔲 Just SFX
🔲 Not special
🔲 Bad
✅ Good
🔲 Beautiful
~ STORY ~
🔲 This game has no story
✅ Like playing Temple Runners for the story
🔲 It’s there for the people who want it
– Real player with 156.2 hrs in game
Even with it’s problems it is the best way to play Rome Total War. Wish the new menus and intros were better and wish it got more updates and also that co-op campaigns would be added. Other than that it’s a great looking game and a lot of fun.
– Real player with 153.7 hrs in game
Field of Glory: Empires
Field of Glory:Empires is a good game and a great one when paired with Field of Glory II. I’ve owned the latter for over a year and have enjoyed it but it is spectacular now that stakes are involved. The purchase of this game is worth it just for the improvements to FoG2 as it really captures the ebb and flow of tactical battles during this era better than any game I’ve ever owned (including the Total War which IMO only becomes better for gunpowder era battles).
I could gush about FoG2 but this review is about the base Empires game and my feelings there are a little mixed. My initial impression was overwhelmingly positive but I wanted to play an entire game before fixing my opinion and I’ve found issues there the further you go into the game.
– Real player with 630.8 hrs in game
I’ve edited this review to become a response to the most upvoted negative review because that review does not permit comments. That review was written by @Saber_6 and can be found here:
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198006747725/recommended/1011390/
Random Selected Objectives: They aren’t random. They seem to instead be based off of a combination of geographic proximity, historical conquests, and ethnic/government type affiliation. For example, when I played as Syracuse the objectives were first the rest of sicily, then tarentum, then epirus and massalia, and finally they extended to much of the hellenic world, with the result that you create a Hellenic Mediterranean city state league. When I played as the Picts the objectives were the rest of what is now scotland, and then expanded into the greater celtic areas in northern ireland and Brittany, and then out to the rest of britain and ireland, and then into coastal northern Europe. As Carthage I got objectives to secure southern and easter spain, sicily, sardinia, corsica, southern italy, etc…you get the point. They aren’t random at all. Random would be like if Hibernia was given an objective in India or something like that. Can you tell us what nations with what objectives you are referring to?
– Real player with 533.5 hrs in game
Field of Glory II
If the Panzer General of old was considered a Beer & Pretzel game, then Field of Glory II is surely the craft beer and gourmet pretzel of the wargaming genre. With its simple to comprehend mechanics, yet deep tactical applications, it is a direct translation from table top to the computer (with all the benefits that entails) and a love letter to the history of ancient warfare as well. Before you shake your head, let me tell you, it’s true.
Field of Glory II is a turn based (IGOUGO) system, which allows for a leisurely, thoughtful pace, while making far reaching tactical decisions, hopefully three steps ahead of your foe. How fast you click has no bearing on your generalship and ability to conduct war. There’s plenty of time to think and plan and execute. It’s a play style that compliments the game mechanics as well as the Early Roman (and DLC) era battles, quite nicely. But don’t let that fool you. There is as much stress and imminent threat in a given round of FoG II as any Real Time game can offer (when your center fragments during the first move of your opponent’s turn you’ll understand). And woe unto you if you think the enemy can’t take advantage of a mistake you make during your turn. He can and he will.
– Real player with 367.7 hrs in game
Update 2017.10.14
Just wanted to post again to comment on the AI. The higher level AI does have some issues with specialized battle types. I played the Advanced Guard and Escort Baggage Train types and the AI didn’t seem too interested in fulfilling the objectives, however it still gave me a challenge to win the scenario. I’m not really counting this against the AI; for instance the Advanced Guard scenario is kind of a odd fellow, the object is to keep as many of your units over in the center of the opponent’s side of the map for as many turns as possible. The AI pretty much doesn’t care about that, it just wants to beat you. I’m OK with that.
– Real player with 129.9 hrs in game