Expeditions: Rome – Quick Impressions (& rant)

Another game, another uncertainty, hence the “quick impressions”. This impression so far has lasted me about ten hours with the game, and while certain parts show great potential for Expeditions: Rome, it also has incredibly boring mechanics that are part of the core gameplay. While I loved Logic Artists‘ first game Expeditions: Conquistador, which felt like a true expedition into the unknown, filled with danger and the lure of treasure, Expeditions: Viking fell way short for me. When I played it, it was buggy as hell, and in general, I found the game tedious and uninspired, missing what made their first game so good in the first place. All that barrel-smashing for random loot didn’t feel like the epitome of gameplay.

The good parts
What I like about Expeditions: Rome so far is the setting (you can’t go wrong with ancient Rome), the characters, the story, the graphics, and the fabulous tactical turn-based combat. The combat stands out, as it feels very tactical, like a damn good copy of the modern Xcom games but set in ancient times. The classes are great, and so are the skills that allow you to create interesting synergies between them. The battles are also very gritty and brutal. They don’t take very long to complete either for being turn-based. The movements are fast since the AI takes a simultaneous turn when moving more than one unit. The animations are also very satisfying, which complements the graphics and visual style. It just looks good, and very immersive. It truly has that Roman flavor to its artwork. The story also seems interesting. It has me curious about where it will lead me. So, all this sounds really good, right? Almost like it’s an exceptional RPG. What could possibly be wrong?

The bad
Well. What drags all this down is the actual expedition part of the game. It’s extremely boring and easy, and it has me questioning if this is truly an “expedition” game in the first place. There is no danger of running out of food or having to make any hard decisions for survival, like in Expeditions: Conquistador. See, you are a commander for Rome commanding a several thousand-strong legion, which means you have all the resources you need. This could have been interesting on its own in another game, however, this core aspect of Expeditions: Rome that has you conquering and painting the map with your legion like it’s a mini 4X game is beyond dull and trivial. It reminds me of the army aspect of Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, which I also find tedious, but to its favor, it actually had some challenge to it, unlike Expeditions: Rome.

The reason why it’s so uninteresting is how big a part it is. There is a lot to maintain here, everything from your base of operations to the officers you recruit for your army. But when it comes down to the gritty and nitty of it all, you are just watching numbers going up and down when fighting another army, when the most important thing just seems to be having more forces than the enemy. All these extra things that seem to be important, are just annoying busywork when it comes down to it. You do these battles incredibly often too, and nine times out of ten there is absolutely no danger to it. This aspect is so monotonous that it pollutes the good parts to such a degree that I can’t be bothered with it more.

All this is a real shame of course, because as mentioned, the other things have serious potential. The tactical combat is fun, yet these fights are so far and between the tiresome busywork that it can’t save the game. I don’t know what they thought when making the core of Expeditions: Rome the army system, considering how banal it is. They must have tested this system, right? I can’t fathom anyone enjoying it, as it is. It makes me a little sad since I feel Expeditions: Rome could have been something truly special. The story and setting are a big leap from Expeditions: Viking, but then it locks itself into this mind-numbingly trite army system for some absurd reason – a system that should have been reworked and redesigned. Maybe one day we will get a good RPG set in Rome.

Thanks for reading.

/Thomas