Imperator: Rome
Military Traditions Each culture has a unique way of waging war. Romans and Celts have different options available to them. Unlock unique bonuses, abilities and units. Different Government Types Manage the senate in a Republic, hold your court together in a monarchy, answer to the clans in a tribal system. Character Management A living world of characters with varying skills and traits that will change over time. They will lead your nation, govern your provinces and command your armies and fleets. We also introduce our new, more human-like character art. Diverse Populations Citizens, freemen, tribesmen and slaves – each population with its own culture and religion. Whether they fill your armies, fill your coffers or fill your colonies, keep an eye on their happiness – your success depends on their satisfaction.
Game Discussion
Steam User 77
An ostensibly underrated game whose only observable drawback is being the product of a company that routinely releases map painter RTS games. Or more precisely routinely releases DLC for the same 3 games. (EU4s launch date was 2013 my dudes).
Imperator Rome is great. You really do feel like you're controlling an antiquity era Empire. Republics have civil wars, monarchies have usurpers, migratory Germanic tribes can.... migrate. Egypt, Carthage, India (Muarya), Persia, Thrace, and of course Rome are all presented with a fair degree of uniqueness and character.
While there's map painting there's also character interactions with generals, senators, leaders etc. You can ransom captured generals back to their countries for money or you can make them fight to the death in gladiatorial arenas. You can bribe people to ensure loyalty and you can appoint governors and imprison / kill / assassinate disloyal characters etc. Comparatively it's a good balance between the character focus of the Crusader Kings games and the nation building aspect of EU4. It does feel like a unique experience in that regard.
Wars are straight forward but include AI options for your armies. You can tell your armies what they should be doing in times of war and if it's a major campaign or you're fighting a civil war, it's helpful. You can also micro-manage. Your military is a combination of standing armies (mercenaries and legions) and Levies that you call up in times of serious conflicts. These armies are made up of smaller units that contain unit diversities and different cultures prioritize different army compositions. But you as a player can design whatever army you want. This is important should you wish to challenge Rome. The Rome units and research paths are mostly heavy infantry and heavy cavalry, this is rare for the time period as most other contemporaries are investing in light cavalry and archers…. This means most AI comes up lacking when the Roman juggernaut pulls up.
ROME, the entire reason you’re contemplating this game (unless you’re weird like me and thought ancient india was more interesting). ROME:™ starts off as its historic republic in central Italy and expands outward until holding most of Europe. If you as the player want to play as Rome that's definitely where most of the game's flavor lies. You justify claims and expand outward rapidly until facing your first real threat, Carthage or beta-Gaul (sometimes one of the french or germanic tribes subjugates the rest and that means there’s a large European empire to deal with after you unify Italy). After you take on Carthage or beta Gaul you snowball until you fight whatever empire rose out of Persia / Egypt. After that you just fight civil wars until you decide you want Britannia or India.
The economy is intricate enough, nothing fancy just imports and exports with a fair degree of automation. (But you can import Camels and Elephants to create Elephant and Camel units which is cool). Taxes / expenses come in different selections you can manually increase or decrease etc, basic paradox map painter stuff.
Multiplayer is also functional, I tested it with a friend for around three hours, no issues. Connectivity was fine.
Alright time to address the elephant in the room, is it “Bare Bones?” No, it really isn’t. You have to be spoiled by EU4 and shocked that a decade old game with a DLC released every 4 months has “more content” to feel this way. What this game is, is an honest attempt at an antiquity era map painter RTS that is completed. Look around, look at those DLCs for Imperator Rome, all 5 of them (one being free, one being a soundtrack and three being greek ‘flavor’ packs for skins and greek related missions. This game had its development cut prematurely and is better off for it. For $40 you get a complete and functional base game, no dlc wishlists, no subscription, you just get to own this solid game.
The games has community support and many new / constantly updated community mods and what remains of the original paradox team has said they are happy mods have brought life back to Imperator.
A solid 82/100
Steam User 64
TLDR: Forget the launch. Get it now. It’s really good!
I rarely leave a review here, but this game deserves one.
Like everyone else, I heard about the flop that was this game when it came out. So, I skipped it and only remembered it as “the boring Paradoxgame”. However, a couple of years later I stumbled upon a playthrough on YouTube of this game and thought “Yea, I’m bored and have some minutes to waste. Seeing someone try to endure it might be a laugh.”
I ended up watching the whole thing. I was hooked on watching video after video, shocked that the darn thing was actually looking really fun! It seemed to have a surprising level of depth. Coincidentally, it was on a steam sale at the same time, practically free.
I played the hell out of it…
I then found the mod “Invictus” recommended by someone.
I played the hell out of it…
Suddenly, out of nowhere, came an update to this abandonware-game!
I played the hell out of it…
Now, approx. 1 year later and 550h played it turns out that this game is at the same time the cheapest paradox game I’ve ever bought and is soon to be my most played one. It’s surprising the stories you can find (and make) in this game!
Steam User 73
If I had a nickel for each time a dead game managed to keep me glued to the monitor for over 150 hours, I would have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s odd that it happened twice.
P.S. since the game was abandoned, it didn't suffer the same fate of all the other Paradox Games, which means that to make it playable you just need the base game and the Invictus mod, which is really cheap for a paradox game.
Steam User 63
Paradox pls revive this game, it gained so much traction last year from many popular streamers and we would love nothing more than to see this game succeed.
This underrated gem deserves more attention!
Steam User 53
Alright, listen. I know what you’re thinking, “Didn’t that game bomb on launch?” Yeah. It did. And so did *No Man’s Sky*, but you still built a shrine to your freighters, didn’t you? Same thing here.
*Imperator: Rome* had one of the worst first impressions in Paradox history. It launched as a sterile spreadsheet simulator wearing a Roman toga. But here’s the twist: they actually *fixed it*. The 2.0 update didn’t just slap on some QoL changes, it *reengineered* the damn thing. And nobody noticed because everyone already left the party.
What makes *Imperator* secretly incredible is that it takes mechanics from all other PDX games and blends them into something... smarter. You’ve got:
* **Pops like in Victoria** but more dynamic.
* **Characters like in CK** but they’re *actually tied to gameplay*, disloyal generals start civil wars *because you made them powerful.*
* **Trade that actually matters**, not just background gold flow.
* **A culture/religion melting pot system** that makes EU4 look like it’s stuck in the 90s.
Want to turn Sparta into a cosmopolitan hellscape of philosopher-kings? Do it. Want to roleplay as a petty Iberian tribe and survive on pure spite and mountain forts? Go ahead. Every corner of the map feels alive, like a real ancient world, not a board game with event spam.
And the map? Chef’s kiss. Zoom in and you’ll see *aqueducts*. Zoom out and you’ll realize half your provinces are ready to betray you because your governor is embezzling enough gold to fund Carthage 2.0.
Downsides? Yeah, it still has a weird UI, and the dev team got Thanos-snapped before the final patch. But honestly? That just makes it more modder-friendly. The *Bronze Age Reborn* mod literally turns it into a pre-Classical sandbox with over 7000 provinces. Insane.
Verdict:
If you play Paradox games for flavor text and hats, stick to CK3. If you want a *systems-heavy, sandbox beast* that punishes your hubris and rewards long-term planning, *Imperator* is the unsung king.
It’s not Rome that fell. It’s you who never rose.
Steam User 39
This game deserves to be taken back into development. It still is the best pop-based Paradox game, and the series (and I) need a version of the real time strategy game placed in this timeframe. The game is playable and enjoyable as it is, but Paradox should work on more content in stead of abandoning it.
Steam User 33
Don't let the old reviews scare you, this is very good grand strategy game, especially with the invictus mod. It's entertaining from start to finish. I don't feel overpowered with one of the most powerful empires in my current game. Still plenty of challenges and things to do. If you're interested in the ancient time period and a fan of grand strategy games, you gotta get this.