Recent reviews by Awesome_Matrix

Fresh new era of Paradox Grand Strategy releases, or glorified mod of EU4 with some sweet bells and whistles?
Not gonna lie, leaning toward the latter. But I hope PDX can make this game the Colossus it can be.

Yes, after some updates. Right now, no unless on sale. That's my TL;DR review.

These opinions are accurate up to 1.0.1

It's a good look at an underrepresented time period in the PDX strategy timeline, the only other entry being EU: Rome, but I haven't played that one. But I have played HOI4, Stellaris, CK2 and EU4 and this game shares the most with the latter game. To a fault.

The Power (or Mana) system calls to mind EU4 and let me tell you, they seriously went overboard with this thing. Stability increases, technologies and fabricating claims I can tolerate. But improving relations? Couldn't that be done with a character in your court like CK2, their skills determining how much relations improved a month?

That's another disappointing aspect of the game: it calls itself the marriage of the best parts of EU4 and CK2 but it seriously half-asses the latter. Stuff like regnal numbers are coming in a future patch (no more Cassander's son inexplicibly called Philip IV despite not assuming the throne) but no family/dynasty tree? No history of pre-existing characters, I wanna see Alexander the Great's godlike stats. You have the court of characters but they're only really useful for their stats, their traits never play into their personalities or interactions. No more lustful spymasters sleeping with all of your wives.

Another annoyance? Cultural map mode only distinguishes between groups. Individual cultures in a group aren't coloured. Want to evaporate Epirote culture & replace it with mighty Macedon?. Gonna have to hunt down all those provinces cos I can't distinguish them on the map or without a ledger. Oh yes, no ledger either.

The game doesn't teach you about what pops do. I didn't know how to fix tech imbalance until I saw you just promote people to citizens.

Citizens = Tech & trade income
Freemen = Manpower
Slaves = Tax & you stack them in certain cities to produce bonus trade goods

What purpose to tribesmen serve? less tax & less manpower. They feel useless

Colonizing might be the worst in any PDX game including EU4. The 10 pop requirement for colonizing is stupid. Makes playing a tribe boring as all hell. Just wastes mana moving pops around

And you're gonna be wasting more than you think because you can't move pops outside their state. Well you can but only to bordering cities of adjacent province or coastal zone so if you wanna move a pop into a city one state over, it takes at least 3 moves to get them there. Just burning your power for no reason.

They traded most of the slow satisfaction waiting for claims to be fabricated, culture/religions to be converted for the instant gratification of doing those same things but with power. I get that it's an abstraction so it doesn't perfectly simulate what life was like back then, but I argue that everything this game does with power could be achieved by using it's people. Maybe keep it for researching tech but you could use diplomats to improve relations & fabricate claims, maybe an idea improves the amount of diplomats you have. EU4 has actual diplomats so it's odd that a game that cribs so much from it doesn't use them.

But. I don't have all that time with the game for nothing it's 24.5 hours as I write this and it will go up. It's still an enjoyable if familiar ride for anyone whos a fan of PDX grand strategy games.

I actually like some features of this game. The time period obviously ( even if it's nothing I couldn't get with a mod like Imperium Universalis or Extended Timeline)

The Civil War system is interesting. Unlike normal wars where you have to wait to siege down smaller cities, here they flip to your side immediatley when you enter, but the same applies to your enemies. It makes them a more active threat than EU4's "Here's a few stacks, go wipe them out" approach.

Multiple unit types make this the most interesting game to actually fight in aside from HOI4. Matching unit types strengths and weaknesses is more fun than CK2's "throw stacks at enemies" And the trade goods system means that everyone can make every type of unit (Germanic Barbarian Elephants), but they just have to have the trade good to build them, making smaller starts more challenging.

So yeah, a very mixed bag. As it is now, the game is bare compared to other PDX outings with all of their iterations and downloadable content. If you think thats unfair, then you're right. Which is why I know PDX will pour their all into making this game the best it can be.

Roadmaps are a silly new addition to games recieving regular content updates and this game is no exception. They've already tweaked a few thing with their recent 1.0.1 hotfix, and will continue to do so for the next one, tweaking features such as truce breaking, province govenors and the stability system. Maybe with cool new features (actually putting characters to use), quality of life improvements (LEDGER!), and looking less like an EU4 mod, Imperator: Rome can shape up to stand alongside it's brethren. But as it is right now, it cowers beneath them.

That's why my recommendation is a yes. It's provided on the condition PDX support this game. Their games often go on sale frequently and I assume Imperator will do likewise. If that happens then get it and see if it tickles your pickle. Just give it a few patches. Hey, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Overpriced as usual. What kind of absurd price is "free"? Paradox should pay ME to download it. Don't bother until it's on sale.

What other game can you describe as a "role playing grand strategy medieval despot simulator"? I dare you to give me even one.

Where to start with Team Fortress 2? From it's well designed classes and levels, to it's unique style and presentation from the variety of weapons and tools, game modes and maps, even a free to play business model that never feels forced... it's simply a tor de force in multiplayer gaming that I can't recommend enough.