Imperator: Rome

I’m a huge fan of grand strategy games, but Imperator: Rome feels very unintuitive to me. The UI comes across like a cluster of buttons and stats thrown together without much thought for structure or clarity. You’re constantly presented with options and numbers, but rarely with a clear explanation of what they actually mean, what they affect in your empire, or what in turn affects them. Instead of feeling like I’m making informed strategic choices, I often feel like I’m guessing until I see what happens. Random side note is the population system. The concept of “POPs” might make sense on paper as a layer of abstraction, but in practice it feels like just one more thing to learn on top of everything else. Why not just count the population properly, rather than using another abstract metric? It makes me feel like I’m juggling systems that don’t need to be as abstract as they are. It’s the little things like this that throw me off. I find myself spending more time battling the interface and trying to decipher how the mechanics interact than actually enjoying the strategy. For example, figuring out what I need to do to increase raised levies feels like a scavenger hunt through poorly explained menus rather than a clear progression of actions. I don’t mind learning complex systems—that’s part of the appeal of grand strategy—but the information needs to be accessible and presented in a way that helps me make sense of it all. At the end of the day, I want to be challenged by the strategic depth of the game, not by how difficult it is to navigate the UI or find basic explanations. Imperator: Rome has potential, but right now it feels like the barriers to understanding outweigh the fun of actually playing.

Fantastic grand strategy game. Especially with the invictus mod plus a few others. Took me a long time to get over the learning curve but once I did I was absolutely hooked.

great game and it feels like eu 4.5 but it doesnt get any more updates so not 100%sure id recomnd buying it at full price but if you get it at a sale sure go ahead

This game is great. It has its flaws like any other Paradox game, and yet it is still great in spite of them. Although development ceased for this game years ago, I feel it is the best Classical Era based strategy game bar none. If you're a Rome-nerd or just enjoy this era of history, this game is for you. I'm leaving this review so that other curious players can enjoy this game just as I have. Mechanically, this game is very similar to EU4 (at least the warfare is) so it is already easily picked-up by experience Paradox Grand-Strategy players. And even if you're new to this kind of game, there are plenty of good tutorials on how to play (e.g. the one made by Laith). Of course, I highly recommend you play this game with mods like Invictus, as the gameplay without them can feel as vast as an ocean with the depth of a puddle. Overall, I believe this game deserves a solid 7/10. Buy it, you probably won't regret it. Go in with the expectation that Paradox will never give this game a massive content update again and you will not be disappointed.

This game is the closest to EU4 out of all paradox games I’ve played. Everything revolves around map painting, and the rest you do just enough (and not an inch more) to facilitate it. Assign officials (1st one from the list), click options that are more green than red, select the omen that is for peace or for war, delete newly conquered forts to sustain economy, lower maintenance in peace time, research inventions equally across the board, click accept all trade and that’s it. Aesthetically is very cool. Roman thematics is a world of its own that is so pleasant to immerse into. Music, menus, characters, events, soldiers’ designs, icons, flags and the era itself. I loved it all. Am I going to continue playing after I’m done with my campaign as Rome? I want to say that probably not, but also the simplicity of the game hints that it’s exactly what might hook me up despite the anticipated repetitiveness, and I won’t notice how I’m playing dozens upon dozens of hours more to get that dopamine from painting, and learn about the period from different standpoints.

Honestly it's just really boring. Most of the mechanics are not engaging. I love Paradox grand strategy games and play most of them regularly and despite my interest in this period of history this one just isn't interesting. Trade? Boring. Warfare? Boring. Settlement development? Boring. Politics? Boring. I put a lot of hours into this trying to enjoy it and I just couldn't.

When this game came out I thought my dreams came true. A strategy game about Rome's rise, Alexander's empire and ancient Greece?! What could be better! But of-course the launch was bouched and now people disregard this game as a failure, which(atleast in my eyes) it isn't. After 2.0 and the incredible Invictus mod this game is still kicking and hard. If you haven't tried it, do it and if you have tried it before, try it again, it is worth it!

В преддверии выхода пятой части помянем лучшую с точки зрения оптимизации игру Paradox Interactive (контурных карт). Игра для меня лучшая с точки зрения геймплея: идеальный баланс механик. Да, контент без модов весьма скудный, но это не отменяет того, что игровое ядро мне очень нравится.

Absolutely recommended to check out if you love the other major paradox strategy games; this one is a masterpiece. Unfortunately, it was completely abandoned by Paradox, so spend your money only when it's on sale in any case.

Really fun game and makes for an incredibly nice break from hoi4 burnout