Check out my YouTube review on this if you're interested! https://youtu.be/lWSSGfpyqxw?si=X2Z-erhyY1lUewnX
The best gladiator sim since Colosseum: Road to Freedom in 2005. Already a good game now in EA, excited to see what it looks like as a finalized product.
I will admit at first I wasn't a fan of the art-style. I went in believing I'd prefer a bit of a darker aesthetic, but playing the game the style surprisingly works really well and can be really pretty! I wouldn't want it changed much from what it is now aside from the refinement and additions that come with development. The variety in arenas is super nice, the before mentioned Colosseum: Road to Freedom only had 2 arenas, 3 if you count the small tutorial one that never returned. This has tons, and they range from a small pit to a fenced off fight in the streets, to a villa's hallways and courtyard, to Jigsaw trapped environments, to a huge regal arena; and everything in between! The empire is also interesting aesthetically, you would expect just a vague Rome, and while that is there, there is also some broad East-Asian aesthetics as well as Persian, African, Greek, Byzantine, and even slightly more technologically advanced Europe in the early Middle Ages with bardiches and plate armor. It makes for a nice variety of locales and armor/weapons. And that variety is much needed in a game like this.
The roguelike experience is just great too, you find yourself getting addicted to the loop and the attachment you form with randomly generated gladiators is just perfect, along the same lines as attachment to characters in say Kenshi or Crusader Kings. There is just enough events and things to do in the menu between fights that it makes it enjoyable, though I would like some more by full release. The only real change I want right now is a dual-wielding option! And while I love the dismembering system, a little bit more blood and gore to follow after the body parts would be awesome. That's it! Keep trucking on Jordy, you got a good thing here!
The best gladiator sim since Colosseum: Road to Freedom in 2005. Already a good game now in EA, excited to see what it looks like as a finalized product.
I will admit at first I wasn't a fan of the art-style. I went in believing I'd prefer a bit of a darker aesthetic, but playing the game the style surprisingly works really well and can be really pretty! I wouldn't want it changed much from what it is now aside from the refinement and additions that come with development. The variety in arenas is super nice, the before mentioned Colosseum: Road to Freedom only had 2 arenas, 3 if you count the small tutorial one that never returned. This has tons, and they range from a small pit to a fenced off fight in the streets, to a villa's hallways and courtyard, to Jigsaw trapped environments, to a huge regal arena; and everything in between! The empire is also interesting aesthetically, you would expect just a vague Rome, and while that is there, there is also some broad East-Asian aesthetics as well as Persian, African, Greek, Byzantine, and even slightly more technologically advanced Europe in the early Middle Ages with bardiches and plate armor. It makes for a nice variety of locales and armor/weapons. And that variety is much needed in a game like this.
The roguelike experience is just great too, you find yourself getting addicted to the loop and the attachment you form with randomly generated gladiators is just perfect, along the same lines as attachment to characters in say Kenshi or Crusader Kings. There is just enough events and things to do in the menu between fights that it makes it enjoyable, though I would like some more by full release. The only real change I want right now is a dual-wielding option! And while I love the dismembering system, a little bit more blood and gore to follow after the body parts would be awesome. That's it! Keep trucking on Jordy, you got a good thing here!