Rome: Total War - Collection

The first foray into full 3D for the total war series, and what a revolution it was. There was nothing like it in terms of scale and dynamics, and few games outside of Total War have matched it. Between the base game and mods I've probably sunk hundreds of hours into RTW. It is obsolete in some ways compared to newer titles, but the game has it charms and systems that arguably work better than modern total war. Even at release it was not the most stable game and I imagine that hasn't improved with time.

The game is a classic and it is fantastic to see it up on GOG. Unfortunately while the game runs on modern systems, this appears to largely be the same version as the original disk and Steam versions. This results in poor performance on modern systems (25-35 fps in battles, drops to 20-30 fps when scrolling in campaign mode). Given GOG's preservation motto, I'd expect better to give a 5 star review, though the game may still be playable for some.

I wasn't expecting to see Total War games here on GOG. Rome Total War is a childhood game of many people, and until now there wasn't really a legal way to purchase it and own it (unless together with the remastered version on Steam). I will never stop to appreciate the dedication GOG puts into preserving games, and together with this purchase I donated some money to the program. I never donate for anything, but seeing how you guys work hard and for a good cause, I really wanted to contribute a little!

But it still cannot run smoothly on win10 or win11

RTW is the most moddable game of the franchise and the one with an excellent mix of gameplay and serviceable looks. The mods increase replayability and longevity exponentially, in fact this release will likely bring me back to modding.