Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition
" Immersive strategy with extensive factions and battles but frequent crashes and bugs "
Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition Review
Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition is a grand strategy game that offers a deep and immersive experience blending turn-based empire management with real-time tactical battles. Players appreciate the extensive faction variety, detailed unit rosters, and the historical authenticity that enriches the gameplay. The Emperor Edition notably improved upon the original launch by refining AI behavior, balancing mechanics, and polishing the user interface, making empire management more intuitive and enjoyable.
Despite its age, the game’s graphics and large-scale battles still impress many players, and the vibrant modding community, especially the Divide et Impera overhaul, significantly enhances replayability and depth. However, some players report ongoing issues such as crashes, poor optimization on newer systems like Windows 11, and a steep learning curve due to complex mechanics and insufficient tutorials. Overall, it remains a beloved title for fans of historical strategy, though it requires patience to overcome some remaining flaws and dated elements.
Highlights
Players praise the game's strategic depth and extensive faction diversity, which provide unique playstyles and rich historical immersion.
The large-scale real-time battles with detailed animations and combined arms tactics are highly regarded for their authenticity and tactical challenge.
Graphics, while aging, are still considered good for the genre, especially with HD texture mods.
The mod ecosystem, particularly Divide et Impera, is frequently highlighted for adding complexity and revitalizing the experience.
The improved AI and refined mechanics in the Emperor Edition have made the late-game empire management smoother and more engaging.
Criticisms
Common criticisms include frequent game crashes and poor optimization, especially on modern operating systems like Windows 11.
Some players find the political and building systems overly complex, tedious, or distracting, with too many buffs and debuffs to track.
Combat AI and pathfinding issues persist, sometimes resulting in frustrating battles or naval invasions.
The tutorial system is often described as inadequate, making the steep learning curve more daunting.
Visuals and unit portraits are considered outdated or less appealing compared to earlier Total War titles by some players.
Pros
- • Extensive faction variety with unique units and playstyles enhances replayability.
- • Large-scale real-time battles offer authentic tactical depth and strategic challenge.
- • Historical accuracy and detailed campaign map create immersive gameplay.
- • Emperor Edition significantly improved AI behavior and game balance.
- • Strong modding community, especially Divide et Impera, adds depth and realism.
- • Good graphics for a strategy game of this scale, enhanced by HD mods.
- • Campaign variety with multiple start dates and objectives increases engagement.
Cons
- • Frequent crashes and bugs, especially when loading battles or on Windows 11.
- • Poor optimization leads to performance issues even on high-end PCs.
- • Steep learning curve with inadequate tutorials frustrates new players.
- • Political and building systems can feel tedious and overly complex.
- • AI pathfinding and decision-making issues reduce battle quality.
- • Visuals and unit portraits considered outdated or unattractive by some.
- • Naval invasions suffer from poor AI behavior and pathing problems.
Rating Criteria
Emperor Edition is the definitive edition of ROME II, featuring an improved politics system, overhauled building chains, rebalanced battles and improved visuals in both campaign and battleEmperor Edition contains all free feature updates since its release in 2013, which includes bug fixes, balancing, Twitch.
