Polismos

Extremely fun for first 2+ days because its innovative and challenging. I appreciate challenge. Not fun once you master the game, and there won't be updates to address that. [edited out to not spoil it]. What a cool concept overall, and its immersive, but it's a short term game.

Great little game. The challenge is to stay afloat economically, with other challenges as well, but the main 'puzzle' is how to grow sustainably. has some GREAT IDEAS THAT I CANT SEEM TO REMEMBER EVER BEING USED IN SIMILIAR GAMES, for them alone it is worth trying this game. One would be the separation between public and private currencies, a great take on the economics. This game can be BRUTAL the first times you play it, dont expect a chill experience like in nova roma.

Update: The game is a 5/10 and that's only if you accept its shortcomings generously. After an additional 10 hours I am happy to report that I was right. The terrain remains an insurmountable obstacle. Scaling in size and owning all of your neighbors is pretty fun, however, and I think if you already own the game and can't refund it, it's worth playing through to that point. Speaking of owning your neighbors: Combat is abysmal dog sh*t. It feels SO SO BAD to move units, you have to LEFT CLICK to move them which deviates from every strategy game on the planet that uses right clicking. This of course only applies to defensive combat, as that's the only time you move your units. When you're attacking a city it's a literal numbers game, as long as your number is bigger you'll win, just click a button or two and you've conquered a city. I do think getting resource tributes (rather than money) changes how you see the game as it frees up labor that you can then use for other things (especially if your tribute can help get you some manufactured goods like wine or olive oil). After an additional 10 hours, no secrets mechanics have been bestowed upon me that would change my mind. Game just feels bad. I also checked and a solid 30% of all maps are literally unplayable because you dont get ANY space that isn't covered in mountains- once again this should not ever be the case and is a failure of the game designer. Terrain management and combat overhaul (which frankly, just needs some minor tweaks to make it feel more engaging) would go a long way to improving the game. The economy mechanics in this game is likely FUBAR, because it's supposed to be the intricate balancing system where you slowly progress towards stability, and making one minor chance or tweak to this would destroy the delicate balance that the game designers have, to their credit, done a good job of creating. What really sticks out to me is that I think there actually should be efficiency upgrades- making your citizens gather resources 10/15/20% faster. This would free up labor in the late game and allow for more rapid expansion (getting to the empire state is the hard part, why not make it super easy AFTER getting there by giving you extra resources on?) but I understand that this ruins the game balance. ORIGINAL REVIEW: It's fun, but there really isn't much potential. You'll spend your first two or three cities trying to get your bearings, learning with each defeat- what works well, what doesn't. That part's okay. Then when you finally understand the game it feels impossible to fail, just a slow ascent upwards until you can do whatever you want. The biggest complaint I have, and it truly is a deal breaker, is that there is no way to edit or manage the terrain. You can't build on mountains, and the game takes place in one of the most mountainous regions in the world- it's a recipe for failure. The game boasts its 150 pre-made cities, but at least half of them are 90% mountainous. Crete is a small island with like 10 cities on it and im serious, like 7 of them are unplayable because they are nothing but mountain. Why put them in the game? How were these maps generated & approved? Its bad. With no way to edit the terrain its just pointless. The dev says that this is considered a "completed" game, and no future updates are planned while they work on their next game. That's great, but that means the game is left in an otherwise unplayable state. I'd refund it but that's how they get you- by the time you figure out the game you're past the 2 hour mark, and you don't realize that there's no replayability until a few hours after that. I guess over the next 10 years I'll put a few more hours into it, but to charge $20 for this game is a slap in the face, this could easily be a mobile game, and i'm sorry to say that. Literally just patch out the mountains or add a terrain editor and the game would be worth playing as a time killer.

One of the best city builders i have played. Challenging....tough to win but sooo worth it when you do! Balancing the resource needs vs workers needed is SUPER tough!

EDIT: April 13 2026 - Get Nova Roma. It's what this game should have been. The current concept just doesn't work. You need to do things perfectly or your city quickly falls apart. Trade and resource statistics need to be more transparent and communicative. Demands need SERIOUS adjustment, they are ridiculous and the penalties for failing are even more so.

Seemingly simple, but actually challenging, for the larger the city, the more commodities people demand.

At first glance, Polismos is a modern version of the old Caesar series. It even primarily relies on a walker-system for the distribution of goods and integrates real-time tactics. The game introduces three main innovations. The first is that conflict happens not between you and amorphous entities like Caesar, but rather other city states that you can invade back and subjugate. The second is that the game has two treasuries, the state's and that of private families'. Each earns money through different means, and can be spent on different ends. The third is that individual families control private buildings and have political aspirations which must be managed. Compared to Caesar, Polismos is also a bit features bare, but has enough, and is still being updated. The game is also quality enough that the $20 seems like a fair ask for a modern Caesar. Personally I disagree with most reviews and did not find the game particularly hard, aside from the fact that not much is explained. The tutorial is short, and there are not many informational tooltips at the moment (for instance unlike most major strategy games, there's no tooltip that tells you what contributes to your current relation number with an AI player). Furthermore, you do have to control yourself to go at a slower pace than most city builders. But this is only difficulty in the same sense that early Minecraft was "difficult" by forcing you to discover recipes yourself and wait out the night in a hole. And to compare to Ceasar again, I found Polismos quite easier than Ceasar III Augustus. All in all, Polismos is a good, relaxing city builder. I hope it continues its positive development.

Very interesting take on the city builder genre. The separation of both Public and Private funds, as well as Urban and Rural families, makes for a pretty unique take. On the first part, essentially there's two pots of money. One for public utility (trade, health, religious, and entertainment infrastructure), while the other is for goods collection and refinement (mining clay, firing pottery, etc). Public funds are ideal as you can stimulus it to private funds freely, where private funds can be called up in special taxes but at the cost of political clout. On the difference between urban and rural, both sets of homes consume goods. Urban offers "labor" to be spent producing refined goods and building structures. Rural generates crops (gapes, grain, olives), and are self sufficient on their produced grain and a derived product. It's a clever balancing act to ensure you support your ballooning economy in a way that doesn't swamp your available labor, and a pretty unique take on city builders in general. I worry the game would get stale after a play through or two, as what makes a good city in most cases is true anywhere. But a wide variety of possible city locations to choose from offers unique maps and resource strengths and weaknesses to keep things fresh. Very hopeful with this title. Looking forward to future updates!

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It's good, but very difficult.