When I attempt to click 'Play', the splash screen goes away and nothing happens. Other times it just stays and the mouse pointer "spins" for minutes. It is a small game - it shouldn't take long to install/launch. I briefly visited the help forum for the game and found nothing within the tech support area.

Bummed. Was looking forward to playing the game. If the devs read this, let me know if there is a fix, but for now I'll just request a refund.

Have not been able to get it to run, even using Windows 7.

Zero replies to requests to help from Slitherine.

I asked Steam for me $0.99 back, but it was after 2 weeks - DENIED - LOL.

The game started up for me just fine, except when I go to move units. The game just gives the loading icon for eternity.

It's a shame, I had some nostalgia for this game.

Couldn't get the game to work at all. Whenever I try to get a unit to move the game stops functioning.

Edit: Steam asked me to update my review. Performance has gotten even worse. Will not run on my modern computer without freezing and crashing my entire system. Slitherine Support boils down to one person saying "try uninstall/reinstalling it." It should be illegal to release a game for full price on steam without updating it for YEARS to the point where it doesn't even work anymore.

I don't want to give this game a bad review, but ultimately Steam's review system is whether or not I recommend it. I don't, at least for new players or someone looking for a streamlined experience.

To start, like other reviewers, I have played this on and off for 20 years now. I bought it for $19.99 on sale from my local GameStop (a real boxed copy). There's just something about this game, that gives me an itch to play it again every few years. I would say I love this game and have found a lot of joy in playing it. So why wouldn't I recommend it?

1. Anti-virus interference. At least for my home gaming PC, it wouldn't launch at all. Seems like an official workaround from the devs is to disable anti-virus. I use the anti-virus package from Charter (Spectrum) and I had to completely disable every option to get it to run. Obviously, this is a bit of a pain. And strange that this issue hasn't been fixed in the DECADES it has been out.

2. Steam Deck non-compatibility. Not every game is going to work on the SD, and that's fine. But this one actually does work fairly well...up until you try to start a battle. Immediate crash out. I contacted Slitherine support (who were very nice) but ultimately went radio silent unable or uncaring to solve my issue. They did state that this was a known issue with an older version of the game but shouldn't be present anymore, but not sure about the cause on the SD. I'm sure I'm in a very small minority of players, but still very disappointing to me personally.

3. (Minor) I don't recall the annoying, unskippable movie in any of my past installs. You can pause it but not skip. But you can delete it from the game files without consequence.

Listen, I got this game for $1. After years of using the original game disc, to no-cd cracks, to iso mounts and everything else to get it working, its nice to have an "official" copy of the game in my library. It was worth $1 to play it for a day. But ultimately I can't recommend it to others because this a 20 year old game that's been thrown on Steam for a quick paycheck for Slitherine without any improvements for the modern era.

Cannot move units on map. I searched for an answer but even the developers don't have a work around. This sucks since I really like this game

Yes, it's very easy to learn since the game involves little more than making troops and moving them around along with upgrading cities with nearly no other options or settings whatsoever. However, nothing is explained or given reasons as to why it is so. For example:
- Why do some cities grow when population growth shows 0 while others never at all?
- Why can some cities make certain troops/buildings but not others or none at all?
- What are the stats/attributes or strengths/weaknesses of certain troops? (The manual only lists them without comment)
- Why do you have to check the diplomacy screen constantly to know who you're at war peace with instead of just seeing it on the main map or when mouse hovering over units/cities?
- Why are some cities listed in yellow on the Empire screen?
- Why are city names on the map black or green?

I was a fan of Chariots of War and Spartan back in the day.
For a long time I was hoping they would come to either GoG or Steam and was quite surprised to see their first game in the series, Legion, finally appear.
It was 90% off, so it was a no brainer to get it.
In short, this is for people that prefer Total Wars campaign gameplay to its battle gameplay.

In terms of story/premise there isnt really anything than you playing on certain map scenarios. You can choose any faction with their own units, but thats about it. There is no campaign to guide you or move you along.

Visually it still looks quite decent. Art style has aged pretty well in my opinion and is still enjoyable to look at.
The weakest part is probably the 3D battle map. It pretty basic and I cant say it offers a lot. Sound and music are servicable.

Now for what carries this game and what most strategy fans look for - gameplay.
Its qutie simple and surprisingly deep. You have cities that require population to work buildings and produce soldiers. You also have 3 resources that are needed for production and maintenance. Gather, build, conquer, repeat. Fairly straightforward and there are enough scenarios and gameplay options to be engaging and entertaining.
It does have its issues, though. Shallow diplomacy, weak UI, lack of tooltips, tedious micromanagement at times, limited variety palette for a game that is meant to be played over longer perios.
Its still perfectly fine and playable and for a fan of strategy and "campaign-map" focused gameplay I would recommend it.
But not at the base asking price .....

Ive read the bundle information for this series and I dont know what they are trying to pull making it out as if this is the newest of the bunch, but you can get "Spartan" that has much more fleshed out mechanics, streamlined UI, better tooltips, better dimplomacy and overall more gameplay options for the same price. If this was 3-4 Euros then I would say yes, its a fair price for an over 20 year old game. It came out first in around 2002. But for todays standards at that price its lacking.

5/10

TERRIBLE GAME!!! Very limited, deceptive and poorly done! Even on sale for .99 cents its really really bad.

The Ai is weak, the battles involve no tactics, it offers a historic mode or an alternative mode which is supposed to be random but IS NOT RANDOM!!!

To top it off, I was told there was a level editor for it back about 20 years ago but its gone and lost.

Doesn't matter. The game is weak, weak AI no replayability!!!


RATING
0 out of 10

DONT EVEN GET IT ON SALE!!!

You have no control over the battles. You just set your deployment and speed of movement and watch them play out. This single factor takes the fun out of a strategy game like this. The city building mechanics and army production are simple enough but works quite well. This game was surely adequate for its time but not today.

However if you could get this for a great sale like 90% you could always try it out.