Expeditions: Rome is the newest entry into the Expeditions series that has been created by Logic Artists and THQ Nordic. While both of the last two games (Expeditions: Conquistador and Expeditions: Vikings) set a decent bar for this newest entry to beat, I believe that this game does a great job of refining the gameplay of this series! In fact, this game has been made so well that I am even considering going back to play the previous two games to see just how far the series has come over its almost ten-year lifespan since Expeditions: Conquistador came out in 2013.

This game starts off with your character being on a boat headed towards the Eastern part of the Roman Empire that is currently in the midst of a war with the Pontic Empire. You are on the boat after your father has died and a powerful leader in Rome is on the path to moving you out the way in order to take over the entirety of the power vacuum that your father has left behind. On this boat, you have your loyal tutor, a leading Roman soldier who is a friend of your family, and a mysterious gladiator that tends to stay in the shadows during the voyage. While on the high sea, the boat is suddenly attacked by pirates and your adventure begins!

The combat in this game mostly consists of you and your party engaging in Turn-Based Strategy with the typical random number generators affecting both how much damage you do and if you hit ranged shots. This combat is generally enjoyable, though things do get hairy occasionally. One of my most hectic fights was one that involved Greek Fire, which proved to be both a blessing and a curse. The other form of combat that you will run into is that of Army Battles, where you send your legion in to fight the enemy army in order to capture various forts and cities within the various regions in the game.

One of the things that I came to enjoy a lot more is the companions that join you during your adventure. At the beginning of the game, you are given a total of four companions who each have their own special abilities and backstories to explore through dialogue. The companions also have a loyalty system that you have to make sure to keep in check because this can change how they react to some of your decisions, how they interact with you, and how well they will fight when put under pressure. Over the course of the game, your companions will sustain injuries through combat or random events, so it is good to keep them all healthy. Especially since some difficulties allow your companions to be killed and the game to end.

The overworld of the game is not something great to explore, but it is worth exploring since you can find various landmarks that will lead you to various treasures that you wouldn’t be able to find otherwise. The biggest thing to be aware of in the overworld is the random events that you will encounter. It is important to read all of the information that you are given as it can sometimes save your life or change the fate of future events.

One of the encounters that I had was when a pack of wolves attacked my camp. I decided to defend the camp, but this proved to be the wrong choice since one of my companions suffered a moderate wound from the fight and had to be taken back to camp to heal up. That healing took a total of 60 hours (in-game time) and forced me to rethink my approach to the next part of the story.

The skills and items within the game are a mixed bag of usefulness. There are some skills that I acquired for certain characters that I have barely used and there are other skills that I use in almost every combat situation. The same thing can be said for the various weapons that I encountered since most of them didn’t give too much of an advantage compared to the initial gear until I had passed quite a few levels. Even crafting proved to be more difficult than I expected as you need to find the schematics for many items, some of which you need the right craftsmen in order to make it.

Overall, I find Expeditions: Rome to be an absolutely wonderful game. It is a shining example of not just a great game in the Expeditions series, but also a great TBS game that players will enjoy for many years to come.

A PC Review Copy of Expeditions: Rome was provided by THQ Nordic for this review.

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Expeditions: Rome

$44.99

9.5

Score

9.5/10

Pros

• Excellent Game Mechanics
• Easy to Jump In and Out of
• Great Mix of RTS Formats

Cons

• One Menu Bug