Kingdoms and Castles is a great city-builder but it seems Lion Shield want to do something a bit different, so they've revealed Nova Roma. It was announced at the PC Gaming Show.
Clearly building upon the work they did for Kingdoms and Castles, they're aiming a bit higher here with a whole bunch of new mechanics but it still looks a bit familiar. You will need to adapt to heavy rains that will causing flooding and damage, keep up with the needs of all your citizens through food and entertainment and even deal with the gods. If the gods aren't happy with you, then you might find they unleash punishment on you. With it being based on a Roman theme it will explore the cultural, political, and military trials of the era.
Direct Link
Features:
- Innovative new water mechanics that can be manipulated via infrastructure.
- Complex supply chains requiring constant expansion into resource-rich countryside.
- Population needs that range from food and finery to coliseums and games to keep the people entertained.
- Intricate city management through laws, edicts, and a tech tree.
- A new day/night cycle.
- Confront the dangers of the world, whether it be barbarians, gods, or the jealous machinations of the old empire.
- Bigger, better maps, better terrain sculpting, and much more!
From the press release:
“We’re honored to be working with Lion Shield on its next project,” says Tim Bender, CEO of Hooded Horse. “Kingdoms & Castles is a gold standard in city-building games, and we’re excited to publish the Roman-themed successor.”
“We’re pleased to work with Hooded Horse on Nova Roma, “ says Pete Angstadt, Creative Director and co-founder at Lion Shield. “We're building on everything we learned making Kingdoms and Castles and hope to create the best ancient Roman-era city builder we can, set in a world informed by both history and mythology."
You can follow it on Steam. It should have Linux support just like their previous game.
But after reading the article, I'd rather play Nova Roma instead :-).
It's not that I didn't enjoy Kingdoms and Castles for an evening or two, but it didn't really offer much once the city was established and fortified. Nova Roma sounds like it might have more complex and/or varied production chains and then also other mechanics that might make the game entertaining for a bit longer.
Quoting: Purple Library GuyY'know, so many of these non-modern city builder things are vaguely medieval that it had never even occurred to me--architecture wise, Rome was so much cooler for this kind of thing.Well, there is Caesar I-III (and Pharaoh/Cleopatra, Zeus/Poseidon) or more recently Nebuchadnezzar… also Builders of Egypt/Greece/China. Lastly the Pharaoh remake “New Era”.
Frankly, I can’t say anything to which is architecturally the most appealing as that is highly subjective.
Quoting: benstor214It's not even a matter of appealing. I think medieval castles are awesome looking.Quoting: Purple Library GuyY'know, so many of these non-modern city builder things are vaguely medieval that it had never even occurred to me--architecture wise, Rome was so much cooler for this kind of thing.Well, there is Caesar I-III (and Pharaoh/Cleopatra, Zeus/Poseidon) or more recently Nebuchadnezzar… also Builders of Egypt/Greece/China. Lastly the Pharaoh remake “New Era”.
Frankly, I can’t say anything to which is architecturally the most appealing as that is highly subjective.
It's more like, the Roman era had a much stronger government that made various public buildings. Amphitheatres and circuses, dams and aqueducts, public baths . . . none of this stuff had a medieval equivalent. And they're all monumental and impressive. Plus they presumably have in-game functions, making the game more interesting.
Something about the trailer, with its aqueducts carrying water and its hippodromes having races and its circuses showing gladiators murdering each other for public entertainment just drove home that distinction for me.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 13 June 2023 at 10:58 pm UTC
But I get what you mean. Roman society was highly organised and roman cities were build by plan. They even copy/pasted whole cities across Europe. One could say the Roman empire had a system for city-building… it is a perfect setting for such games.
Quoting: benstor214Quoting: Purple Library GuyY'know, so many of these non-modern city builder things are vaguely medieval that it had never even occurred to me--architecture wise, Rome was so much cooler for this kind of thing.Well, there is Caesar I-III (and Pharaoh/Cleopatra, Zeus/Poseidon) or more recently Nebuchadnezzar… also Builders of Egypt/Greece/China. Lastly the Pharaoh remake “New Era”.
Frankly, I can’t say anything to which is architecturally the most appealing as that is highly subjective.
Don't forget Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom, quoting Wikipedia:
QuoteEmperor is the last of the series to use the same 2D-sprite game engine as seen in the earlier titles, and the first to introduce a multiplayer option.It's only available on GOG!
Thought I played a lot Zeus and Pharaoh, but not this one even though I have it in my collection.
I came into this article thinking I could skip the next one, but the trailer changed my mind. As long as it releases on GOG again, I will most likely buy it.
And İ like to see Ottoman architecture too. even with support of famous builders as architech Sinan, and so on that would be awesome addition to the game mechanics.
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