The good news is that players who love the Expeditions franchise are going to once again love Expeditions: Rome. The turn-based RPG strategy game retains the familiar framework of its predecessors while putting greater emphasis on player choice. The bad news is that anybody that isn't already an Expeditions fan might struggle with the antiquated design.

The positive notes are worth addressing individually because this game knows its target audience and gives them everything they want. Expeditions: Rome has all the management systems of the previous games and, though they can be tough to balance, conquering a region is all the more satisfying when executed well.

The difficulty has been fine-tuned to perfection. In combat, one bad unit move leads to death. Players can shoot something with a 75% chance to kill it but, if they miss, they can have a 75% chance to be killed by that same character. Turn-based games can struggle with intensity, but the stakes are heart-pumping enough that invested gamers will rarely get bored.

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Outside of combat, the game offers a lot to do. Gamers will need to build up their forces while also gathering supplies and upgrading them. All the while, movement will make the clock go forward and a battle could present itself at an inconvenient time. XCOM fans know and appreciate the work it takes to balance these two sides of the coin. This is a hardcore strategy game where it might take a couple of do-overs to get the builds right.

Expeditions Rome Choosing The Fate Of The Captain

The biggest seller is the increased player choice, which can lead to some interesting developments. Players can forgive individuals only to be betrayed by them later or execute traitors that could have been reformed for other missions. These choices change the missions in ways that can make them easier or harder, which will undoubtedly save a playthrough that is not going well or sink a promising campaign.

Expeditions Rome Army Battle Screen When Sieging A City

The music, graphics, and sound effects are not revolutionary but that's okay. The designers were well aware that time spent on fixing up the polygons would not be appreciated by players nearly as much as the time spent adding decisions during a battle.

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As such, all big battle scenes with the legions have been replaced by two-dimensional markers with text on the screen. It's almost comical that the biggest moments are seen with paper cutouts with logos on them attacking each other, but it works well enough. The blood effects in standard combat are above-average, and they were appreciated.

Expeditions Rome Speaking To A Character That Has No Portrait

While many of the game's shortcomings are easy to overlook, others are more glaring. For example, there are named characters that don't have portraits, which gives the experience an unfinished feel. Gear in the game gives only incremental upgrades, which strips away a lot of the fun of improving one's characters. Skills are similarly disappointing in that they don't feel like beneficial upgrades.

Expeditions Rome Upgrading The Spotter Skill For The Archer

For example, one archer skill allows them to see characters in an area, but at the cost of a turn. On paper, the skill sounds useful but usually, the enemies will simply move out of the small area and then shoot the archer that fired the shot, possibly killing them. There are a lot of different skills or mission choices that don't feel well thought out or run against the benefits that are trying to present. What should be interesting or difficult choices instead leads to frustration or confusion.

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A common complaint about 2017's Expeditions: Viking referred to the lack of options in character creation and there has been sadly no progression on that front. If the player character wasn't important, this could be glossed over but unfortunately, the game takes well over the developer's original estimation of 40 hours to beat (our playthrough clocked around 65). When spending so much time with our avatar, the hope is that there would be more authorship to their unique look.

Expeditions: Rome feels more like a mod with Roman themes than a fully fleshed-out game. From the customization to the design, there are many details that feel unfinished or lack the depth expected of games in the strategy genre. Still, there is fun to be had if players are willing to focus exclusively on the tactics and strategy. Those looking for more of the same coming off Expeditions: Viking will be satisfied enough, even if this new title doesn't feature any major innovations.

Expeditions: Rome was released on January 18th, 2022, and is available for PC. Game Rant was provided a code for this review.

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