Imperator: Rome Reviews

Worth it, and I'm even kinda glad it's on the least popular side of paradox games, because while that means it gets less updates, it also means its complete version is way more accessible, and it does feel very complete. It's a really good game and I'm having a LOT of fun with it.

Had a deservedly bad rap at launch and the first year or 2 of its lifespan but surprisingly the game has had continued work put into it and it's actually gotten fun (at least as playing as Rome and a few others, honestly if you aren't playing as Rome then you're playing the game wrong), still has a bit of a way to go but this is a substantially better game than it used to be overall

Not my favorite Paradox grand strategy, but good enough that I'm sad it was dropped. An interesting mix of EU and CK. If it got the same long term support that more successful paradox titles get, it could've been great.

Actually. Really good. Solid gameplay. Nice mechanics. Good graphics. Can recommend.

Actually very solid, especially with the Invictus mod

Even for all its flaws, I can't help but love this game. Once you really get into setting up your capital and colonies, it just feels like you're building history in a way that other PDX games don't capture. The population mechanic, which I believe is unique to this one, is also great (very satisfying to watch population centers grow). And yeah, a lot of mechanics aren't fleshed out, but no PDX game starts like that. TLDR: If they'd just kept with it, I swear that this game could be one of the greats.

TL;DR : One of the best of all Paradox's map games. Amazing war mechanics, amazing governing mechanics, and hands down THE best looking map of any Paradox game. And all of that is incredibly well optimised, achieving what I believe is a nicer looking map than CK3's despite running way better. P.S. it's displayed on a sphere! The biggest downside to this game is that it ends too soon! If the most scathing criticism I can give your game is that I wish there was even more of it, you've made a good game. Because development was stopped after Imperator didn't sell as well as other paradox games, it feels like the ending in 27 BCE is really abrupt and unexpectedly short. As such, if you wanna play as Rome and achieve full Roman borders you'll basically never manage it before the game's reached it's end. I've played Rome in ironman mode a lot and I've never managed to even just get the full mediterranean coast, let alone full historic borders. Perhaps that's just a skill issue on my part, but still I wish you could go at least until the fall of western Rome in 476. Please paradox, what you've created here is an absolute gem of a game, and if you came back to finish it it could be one of your best games of all time! Please extend the "end" date to at least the fall of Western Rome in 476 A.D. On top of that, having additional start dates could also bring more attention and excitement to the game, and I have the perfect one in mind that nobody on the steam workshop seems to have thought of yet: The War of the First Triumvirate! The issue with making any start dates after the one already in-game is that Rome would be too powerful for it to be feasible to play anywhere near them, but setting the start during the War of the First Triumvirate would mean that Rome's massive 3 way civil war would leave them divided and weak enough for neighbouring powers to move in. You'd have Ceasar, Crassus and Pompey, and perhaps a united Senate all fighting for control of the Rome from their segment of its land, with many different ways it could go. (Like with the Diodachi). You'd have Egypt under Cleopatra and you could try to ally with one of the Triumvirs. Or you could play as the Parthians, Gauls, Germanics, Celts, Dacians, etc and take advantage of Rome's instability in order to nab a large piece for yourself. If I was smart enough to mod this start date into the game I'd make this myself, but alas I am not. Please bring more life to this already wonderful game, Paradox. It's absolutely deserving of more than it got, and I know the numbers would come back if you did.

---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☐ Beautiful ☑ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☑ Potato ☐ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{ Game Size }--- ☐ Floppy Disk ☑ Old Fashioned ☐ Workable ☐ Big ☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive ☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it ☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data ---{ Difficulty }--- ☐ Just press 'W' ☐ Easy ☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☑ Significant brain usage ☐ Difficult ☐ Dark Souls ---{ Grind }--- ☑ Nothing to grind ☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks ☐ Isn't necessary to progress ☐ Average grind level ☐ Too much grind ☐ You'll need a second life for grinding ---{ Story }--- ☐ No Story ☐ Some lore ☐ Average ☐ Good ☐ Lovely ☑ It'll replace your life ---{ Game Time }--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☐ Short ☐ Average ☐ Long ☑ To infinity and beyond ---{ Price }--- ☐ It's free! ☑ Worth the price ☐ If it's on sale ☐ If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{ Bugs }--- ☐ Never heard of ☑ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs ---{ ? / 10 }--- ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7 ☐ 8 ☐ 9 ☑ 10 ---------- By far my favorite of the Paradox Interactive Grand Strategy games, and certainly one of the most underrated. Vanilla post 2.0 the game is very approachable. It combines elements from Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings together. Sometimes the combination works well, othertimes it leaves something to be desired (specifically the character management). With mods, primarily Invictus, Timeline Extension and Crisis of the Third Century, you get a full experience with nearly endless replayability. For the average person, a lot of the nations in this game will be unrecognizable or even outright unknown. This does not diminish from the experience but I feel only adds the depth and understanding one gets when looking back across history. Starting date includes many historical events from the peace following the Second Samnite War, as well as an intial option for an alternate history with Seleucus I Nicator and Chandraupta Maurya, and lastly the Fourth War of the Diadochi. The modding community also supports this game in the ParadoxGameConverters, taking your save from Imperator Rome into Crusader Kings and beyond. This is easily one of my favorite games of all time.

This game deserves to be taken back into development. It still is the best pop-based Paradox game, and the series (and I) need a version of the real time strategy game placed in this timeframe. The game is playable and enjoyable as it is, but Paradox should work on more content in stead of abandoning it.

TLDR: Forget the launch. Get it now. It’s really good! I rarely leave a review here, but this game deserves one. Like everyone else, I heard about the flop that was this game when it came out. So, I skipped it and only remembered it as “the boring Paradoxgame”. However, a couple of years later I stumbled upon a playthrough on YouTube of this game and thought “Yea, I’m bored and have some minutes to waste. Seeing someone try to endure it might be a laugh.” I ended up watching the whole thing. I was hooked on watching video after video, shocked that the darn thing was actually looking really fun! It seemed to have a surprising level of depth. Coincidentally, it was on a steam sale at the same time, practically free. I played the hell out of it… I then found the mod “Invictus” recommended by someone. I played the hell out of it… Suddenly, out of nowhere, came an update to this abandonware-game! I played the hell out of it… Now, approx. 1 year later and 550h played it turns out that this game is at the same time the cheapest paradox game I’ve ever bought and is soon to be my most played one. It’s surprising the stories you can find (and make) in this game!