Expeditions: Rome is a very welcome surprise. It’s a very narrative-focused XCOM-like, or a CRPG with tactic and objective-based combat. Or it’s a mix of both and very refreshing for that same reason. It takes cues from Larian’s Divinity: Original Sin 2 (Rome’s developer, Logic Artists, were supposed to make a tactics Divinity spin-off) with its reactive elemental surfaces and extremely good voice acting, but keeps things focused and snappy, with dialogues never using more than two or three lines, back-and-forth conversations, and great 2D character art that immersive you in the cruel but extremely attractive world it presents. Everyone here is hot, so why not make companions romanceable? And they do – even if the romance arcs are a little sudden and rushed.

But combat is what you’ll be doing for 80% of the game, and it’s never boring thanks to its class variety and puzzle-like encounter design. The legion encounters are a different story. Simplistic in nature, neither challenging nor rewarding, they serve as a minigame in between main stories. But the fact that you have to grind them out to get resources or simply progress is what end up making them tedious.

Overall, Expeditions: Rome offers a great tightly packed story with memorable characters and dialogue, plenty of meaningful choices, and a surprisingly engaging tactical combat. The legion battles and conquest progression overstay their welcome, but never managed to bring down my enjoyment.