Expeditions: Rome

This is one of the best games I've played so far this decade. I got it when it first came out but ended up forgetting to play it for a few long stretches of time. But regardless, I absolutely love this game. The playable characters are some of the most well written and thoughtfully interesting characters I've seen in a contemporary game. It was also so nice, playing a game set in this time period. An excellent turn based RPG with good combat mechanics. And no magic. I would love to see more games like this that do have combat and can take artistic license but also keep things hyper realistic. The end game especially is one of the best I've ever seen. Maybe the best. It's only rivaled by Mass Effect 3, in my opinion, when all three games finally reach their zenith. The choices you make throughout actually feel like they matter. And it doesn't seem like you just get funneled into an option A or B type of an ending, like in the original Life is Strange. I also loved the way strategy and to an extent base building is incorporated into this game as well. The soundtrack is also just incredible. Overall, I loved this game. A cast of characters that includes Cleopatra and Cicero, ugh. I just love this game.

The game provides a campaign mode placing you in charge of Roman legions which does not impose a time limit so you can enjoy the experience. It also features exciting turn-based strategy based around small squad combat. In addition, it features an engaging and thought-provoking story, with great writing and impressive voice acting. A great deal of love and research seems to have gone into the historical setting of the game, with many characters referred to in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Anthony & Cleopatra getting a mention. The story deviates from historical accuracy in interesting and unexpected ways, but always to advance the very engaging plot and to put you in the centre of the action. The graphics and sound and stability of the game are also top notch. I did not come across any bugs despite the great amount of content in the game. Highly recommended.

I am about eight hours into the game and here are my thoughts: The Good: Polished - Unlike a lot of games coming out recently this game doesn't have a bunch of bugs or problems with it. The UI works properly, the game runs smooth and it is overall an enjoyable experience from that standpoint. Props to this developer for actually making this a priority. Art - I like the direction they went with the art. The game looks really good. Opinions: Story/Characters - I could see someone getting into this story and these characters, but I just can't. I do not find any of the characters very appealing at all and the story is kind of dragging for me. Very generic. Combat - I personally do not enjoy the combat, but I could see some people liking it. I feel like this is a massive step back from other games in the modern 'CRPG' space. The Bad: Siege System - This whole commanding an army system feels like it was rushed. It was zero depth to it and doesn't seem like it belongs in the game. I dread when it comes up because I feel like I am wasting my time with it. I'd have a much better time with the game if this could just be automated... perhaps it can, but I haven't found that option if it is available. World Map - It's okay, I guess. It can be a bit janky to use and sometimes the objectives are not entirely clear. You get used to it after a while though. Loot - Not only is there not a lot to loot, but the loot all feels very bland, at least to me. I wasn't really excited to find any gear or upgrade any of it. It all just kind of blends together. World/Options/Choice - This game seems to advertise that your choices matter, but when you are playing it certainly doesn't feel like they matter. I did a couple of saves to see what the differences were. Some choices made battles a little easier or harder... but that was about the extent so far. Overall: If you really, really love CRPGs I could see you enjoying it. It's polished, but I just can't get into it.

Expeditions: Rome is a party-based RPG with turn-based combat. I have not finished the game and unlikely to do so. In almost every aspect, it is downgraded from the previous game in the series, Expeditions: Viking. The only improvement is the combat, which is more fluid and encourages a more active playstyle (killing a low-level foe restores an action point). The area map was removed, so were the mercenary (custom companion characters) customisation, non-lethal combat, and the dialogue options were significantly reduced. The story NPC companions cannot be dismissed and their deaths lead to game over. The campaign itself is bloated and the main missions force to use these story companions, but only one of them is allowed for the region conquest battles, the rest of the party must consist of the RNG’ed mercs, who take their equipment with them when they retire between acts. The region conquest consists of the Legion battles (mini-games) and the final actual tactical battle. The conquest cannot be skipped or avoided. Rome introduces more explicit character classes, each with 3 skill trees and certain equipment restrictions. During the game a character of each class is recruited. The equipment pieces have the active abilities attached to them, independently of the class. The abilities are specific for a weapon class, but random for each piece and only 3 for each weapon set can be active. To craft a weapon, the components and the recipe are required, and the crafting itself takes time. The non-combat abilities were almost completely removed - there are 3 rhetorics, which rarely allow to avoid a battle or to ask for money. In general, there are less roleplaying choices than in Viking and the ones present affect mostly the attitudes of the companions, which affects only their combat resistances. The controls are rebindable. The optimisation is poor and the camera angles and the field of view felt uncomfortable, which was amplified by the lack of the area map.

I don't normally write reviews, but I felt like I needed to for this game. In the beginning, I struggled a bit with the difficulty. I was sort of interested in the story and what would happen to the characters, but to be perfectly honest, at about the 5- to 10-hour mark I did start to think to myself "Is this all there is to this game? Not sure I want to do 50+ hours of the same thing." I kept playing, though, and I'M SO HAPPY I DID! The story and characters were great. The decision to change things up a bit in between acts was fantastic and kept me interested in the gameplay part of things. As a side note, as a female gamer, I appreciated the inclusion of the bits about your character if you played as a female. Overall, I would definitely recommend this game, particularly if you enjoy story-driven games.