
Never Second in Rome is a turn-based historical game with RPG and management elements. You are a Roman centurion in the army of Julius Caesar. You will control both your character and the unit under his command.
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About
Never Second in Rome is a turn-based historical game with RPG and management elements. You take the role of a Roman centurion in the army of Julius Caesar.
In a Republic dominating the Mediterranean World and yet shaken by internal strife, still traumatized by the horrors of the civil war that marked the previous generation, the arrival of a new governor in your province will initiate a succession of events that will ultimately define the future of Rome and its empire.
Starting right before the beginning of the Gallic War, you will assume command of a century in a newly raised legion.
In addition to the main character, you will control the small army unit in your charge, your century.
Train yourself and your century, appoint your staff and discover the most remarkable individuals at your service.
Fight and lead your legionaries in real historical battles relying on a complex system of intertwined stats.
Turn-based individual combat involving not only your main character, but also the soldiers under your command.
Text-based events and narrative sections with many Attribute and Skill checks.
Great care and attention to historical detail and accuracy.
You can download and play the free demo directly on Steam. It allows you to explore the first three chapters of the game at your own pace. I recommend trying it before you buy, it's the best way to find out whether this game is up your alley.
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Reviews
Themes across 90 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
Reviews
disappointed too complex and difficult to understand the game
This game just like A Legionary's Life was clearly made by a real sicko for Roman history in the best way possible. The level of detail is really fascinating and kind of feels like reading a history book (again, in a good way). It's longer than ALL, and the century combat adds a whole new aspect beyond what was in the last game where it was just a check here or there if you made it to a leadership rank, now it's a key aspect of the game. The system isn't 100% obvious but I see the dev has added a lot more tool tips and explanations of the mechanics. The reviews that complain about RNG are an interesting insight into human bias and how we don't often understand statistics at an intuitive level. Yes, over the course of a 15 hour game with thousands of rolls happening, you might actually encounter a very unlikely bad sequence of rolls. Part of the game is when some scrub spearman knocks you way off balance against the odds. Part of this game and its predecessor is managing risk and sometimes having to be conservative especially in ironman mode. The added meta progression helps on that front too. It's nowhere near as powerful as it was in ALL but knowing you nudged progress forward a bit when a good run ends is nice.
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Languages: English
Hours played at review time, across 90 reviews with recorded playtime.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
I really wanted to like this. And I did... right up until my first combat... its just sooo overly complex and its hard to tell whats going on because we're basically playing on a spreadsheet.
The hood to this game needs to be shut more firmly, and the UI simplified so that what's going on is actually comprehensible. The mechanics in the first game were opaque, but you could ignore most of them and kind of muddle your way through until you got an intuitive feel for what's going on. For this game, there is a BEWILDERING array of buttons, widgets, attributes, stats that influence other stats but only touch a third stat under the auspice of a harvest moon...I love complicated games but this is a rube goldberg machine for literally no reason. I might give this another chance later, but for now I'd say skip it.
Century combat gets so bad, so quickly. Too many individual fights, sadly unbearably boring. Other aspects are good, but cannot be saved.
Highly recommended. I enjoyed several playthroughs, including multiple Iron Man with the meta progression. Vivid historical accounts - what a fun way to relive some of ancient history. I adored the training, statistics and combat systems and think they are a delight for turn-based fans.
10 times as good as the first game with 9 times the rage from missing 3 +20 momentum rolls in a row, wouldn't change anything 10/10
This and its predecessor, Legionary's Life, are truly one of a kind, replayable, low tech games. I have found them perfect for Steam Deck and laptop/desktop alike. Roman history obsessors will enjoy, as well as I suspect fans of choice-based RPGs. The quintessential 'just one more turn' kind of game. The combat system for all levels is quite complex. If you haven't played either game yet, I envy you, because you are in for a treat.
Ламповая игра.
Genuinely unplayable. 90% of playtime is reading text wall tutorials and the other 10% is failing luck rolls which determine quite literally the entire game. No matter how you spec your character and his century, you will fail the overhwelming majority of rolls and lose. Don't bother.
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