Buzz
Although the opening sequence may feel a bit slow, Expeditions: Rome is a captivating historical RPG filled with ambition.
Expeditions: Rome is a turn-based combat game, where players manage armies strategically and engage in numerous dialogues. There's even a button to customize Roman characters in this game. Players take on the role of a young man appointed as an officer in the army during Rome's wartime. This leads to a trial battle, marking the beginning of an extraordinary journey of resistance.
At the beginning of each battle, dialogue options determine how players approach the fight. For instance, characters can select better starting positions and navigate to the two ships needing destruction. Alternatively, one can swiftly burn a ship first and then figure out how to destroy the other amidst chaos.
At its most basic level, Expeditions: Rome intersperses battles with moments of roaming around the Roman military camp, enabling character interactions and conversations with everyone. Soon after, players are thrust into the role of managing the camp, where the entire army resides. This entails strategizing for real battles, territorial conquests, resource trading, and addressing political issues through dialogue.
Expeditions: Rome meticulously attends to the minutiae in describing the Romans, even down to how characters employ Latin in both vocabulary and pronunciation. This occasionally leaves players pondering over whom the characters are discussing and what matters they're addressing.
Completing Expeditions: Rome takes over 40 hours of gameplay. While not a simple minigame, the game's construction does not lean towards massive strategic maneuvers. The game has commendable points in abstracting some of the mundane aspects of traditional RPGs. For example, when collecting loot after a battle, players just need to press a button to 'suck up all the items dropped on the battlefield,' which helps alleviate the hassle of collecting everything.
There's also a level setting place that allows players to adjust various aspects of the game regularly, making it difficult for them to overcome, but still retaining the challenges they enjoy.
With surprising and creative design, compelling character development, and various integrated side activities, Expeditions: Rome keeps players constantly anticipating what will happen next. But that excitement may diminish when looking at other characters move on the map at a rather sluggish pace.
