There is a lot of potential in this game, some interesting concepts, but poorly executed. I hope the developers see this. I want this game to be better. Don't pay full price, wait until its on special!!

Pro's/Interesting features/positives:

- Unified strategic-tactical zoom. I like using the mouse wheel to get a bigger picture.
- Capturing enemy troops and making them slaves, and getting them to work/produce resources.
- Storyboard and voice acting of Caeser
- History lessons, fun facts in the tool tip pop ups.
- Supply system and logistics. Its interesting to have to factor in the constant need for food. If only this was done better.
- Supply: Getting resources around the map, rather than a phantom stockpile like in AOE2.
- Supply lines, and interrupting them.
- Morale of troops and enemies, routing. Idea done very well in Rome2: Total War, but half done here.
- Taking hostages and sending them to other towns to guarantee public order.
- Building camps at strategic points is good idea, but these are poorly done.
- Seiging concepts are good - starve them out, drop their morale to zero and they surrender, or reduce the fortifications and overwhelm. I understandthe concepts but these are not clearly presented.

Cons/Negatives/Feedback to Devs:

-No multiplayer!
- Confusion with the colour scheme. Zoomed in the Romans have green unit icons, but zoomed out, they are red figurines, and vice versa for the enemy/other factions. The faction colours are too similar.
- There needs to be unique sounds to indicate an action happened. Unless you are closely watching everything in real time, the various drum beats mean nothing and blend in with the sound track.
- There is no clear delineation between who is friend or foe until they start attacking you. There should be some colour system to indicate what your current diplomatic status is.
- There is no clear indication of garrison or garrison strength. There is stacking under figurines on strategic map but these are not clear. Something better is needed, such as a flag.
- "Camp" look fortified when built but are too easy to capture. There needs to be some visual cue that the camp is unguarded.
- Supply lines are not clearly articulated. I want to hover mouse over line and see what the flow is, and what the rate of change is. I want to know the network, of where supplies are going, and how long to get there.
- Diplomacy to way too simplistic. How is it can chose what treaty to have... can't the other side have a say?
-How do I know the stats of an enemy asset? Wouldnt this be a mystery?
- Faction flags are poorly done. These should clearly different from each other. Suggest and Icon.
The use of figurines in general is poorly done. Its like trying recreate a board game, The figurines lack detail, need more colour differentiation and better indication of what their strength is.
- Zoomed in Icons are too similar/ not easy enough to distinguish between unit types. More details needed on icons.
- Resource problems... all the time... starving troops... swarming enemy... undefended settlements... no guidance from the tutorial, or manual. Its poorly presented.
- No visual cues on stockpiles of resources at a settlement.
- The icons indicating no food, poor morale, not in supply line, whatever the lightening symbol is etcare not clearly explained. Need a sound cue on whats going on. If voice acting is used some variety in expressions would be needed to avoid repitition (We're hungry!" We haven't been paid!" I cant get my goods to market!" etc)
- Needs clearer indication of when towns are requisitioned (rented!), who they are native to and that they are now under Roman control... otherwise it all looks Roman.
- Requisitioning resources from allies means all workers in it disapear. Why can't I rent the resource and hire the workers too?
The panels are too big and say too little.
The figurines are too big and lack detail. Cities look the same zoomed out, but quite different zoomed in. Why do Gallic villages look like the Greek Acropolis??
Combat system leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe I've been spoilt with RTW2... but seeing figures throwing javeline the wrong way in a seige is silly. No use of shield against missles.
- Seeing slingers shoot through mountains to troops on a road on other side.
- Castles look medieval... Gauls did not build such massive fortresses.
- The range of units indication reticle is outrageously huge. A low key indication is needed.
- Selecting units is too tricky. Suggest following conventions in other RTS.
- Not enough detail in zoomed in unit icons. An inidcator bar on the left for something and on the right for something else would really help. This infor is on the unit detail panel but could better presented.
- NSome features that could really improve gameplay: a technology system, unique resources,trade between factions, alliances where allies help, senate politics, disease/plague, civilians.

Summary:

If you get this, your patience will be tried, the learning curve steep, and the lack of expected niceties/features very fustrating. So much potential but it fell short by too far.This ambitious game has features that remind me of a number of games:

- Morale like Total War,
- Food like Caeser 3,
- Zoom out like Supreme Commander,
- Empire building like Civilisation,
- Resource and supply like Knights and Merchants (and Settlers),
- Building forts in strategic locations like AOE2,
- Capturing forts/cities by attrition like 7 Kingdoms
- Seasons and day/night like Empire Earth,
- City capture like Rise of Nations,
- Fog of war and figurines like Shogun Total War...

...but all of them did each of these concepts much much better, including games from 2001 (13 years ago) Its an ambitious game but it needs the budget and technical wizardry of the big gaming developer publishers. It especially needs sounds and visual cues, and to improve icon differentiation.

Overall, 6/10. I'm glad I only bought this on a 75% off special. In its unrefined state, its not ready for full price. However if some changes were made, along with my feedback, this could be an excellent game. Don't pay full price. If you get it, prepare to be disapointed, but maybe you'll see the good side too. Its no-where near as good as the premium product of Rome 2 Total War, and is quite a different style of game, but it has some different features to keep you coming back.

I hope the developers see this. I want this game to be better!

blxz covered it pretty well. A great strategy game that should have appeal to all levels of RTS players.

I'd just add one thing though, Longbow's track record. This alone should be an important factor in your purchasing decision.

Both Hegemony PoM and Hegemony Gold were supported and improved upon for many years following release, I have no doubt that Rome will see the same due care and attention. One of a small list of developers that do not send their games out in the wild and forget they exist beyond first week sales.

Combine that with modding support built in from the go and we have here a game with potential to provide hundreds of hours of entertainment value for years to come.

If Total War: Rome 2 left a sour taste, this will go a long way towards scratching the Roman itch.

This game had great potential, however it was brought down by a lack of enthusiasm by the developers to make it into a polished product.

The Good--
- Some attention to historical detail. The towns and cities throughout Gaul come with a small snippet of history about them.
- Complex supply and recruitment system. As you conquer more territories and resources, you must work them into your supply network in an efficient manner.
- Sometimes challenging AI.

The Bad --
- Optimization is poor to non-existent. Even if you have a higher end machine that can run far more demanding games, odds are you will suffer from extreme lag.
- Very buggy and prone to crash.
- Small selection of recruitable units.
- Awkward and clunky unit command system.
- No further fixes in sight. The developers have stated that they have moved on to other projects, so if you are waiting for patches and fixes, you may have to move on as well.

A great game. Don't expect this to be a total war clone. A lot of reviewers compare this to that series, but it is not. Battles are part of the fun but it is not the main objective. Keeping your supply line, linking up your cities, and making sure you don't run out of gold is what makes the game challenging. The map is interactive and exploring in this game is fun to do. I highly recomended it for a historical and stratagy game alternative.

Some time ago, on a steam sale I bought an unknown game by the name of hegmoney: Phillip of macadonia. A basic, rough little arcade RTS with some neat ideas. But despite its rough edges I ended up putting 110 hours into it because it was fun.

So imagine my delight at seeing Hegmoney rome on a bundle star sale. Ther latest game from the same devs, but with all the rough edges smoothed out. Wow was ever I mistaken in thinking that.

In fact this game is quite the opposite. The nice clean interface is gone, now its an eyesore of icons and walls of text boxes. The epic battles are gone, now you just end up with a mess of mobs brawling all over the place. In fact its hard to find a mechanic they have not broken. The way my army eats, I can no longer put more than a hand full of units into the field as they end up starving to death. The econmy? No idea whats going on there as one minute I have hundreds of gold, the next I'm flat broke and my armies are rebelling.

They have added the ability to requisition/build camps etc and upgrade bases, but with the broken economy I never get the chance. Oh and they added a very basic diplomacy function. Woot.

But the real deal breaker is the bugs. They are the only legions you will find in this game. Units randomly vanishing (including Ceaser himself in one game), unit hot key assignments randomly change so you end up sending in the wrong uinits. Camera locking to the terrain forcing reloads, trigger points that don't trigger....and lag spikes and crashes. And often you need to click a unit multiple times before it will finally select, and often your units will not replensish as the game will give you the recruitment blocked message, even when there is nothing blocking it.

Sure the devs can find the time to create DLC, but not time to fix this mess. They can even find the time to start making an entire new game for a kickstarter - but still can't find the time to fix this broken mess.

The only pros I can think of, is the voice acting is generally good, and the music is also very fitting. Andf the mechanic to take hostages instead of having to garrison every town was nice.

If you want to see this game done right, then grab hegemony gold. Same devs (tho hard to believe) but none of the issues, crashes or broken mechanics, and a very good game with many hours of game time. If you want Rome then get one of the excellent total war series.

Luckily it was part of a bundle so I ended up with some good games, A shame this was not one of them.

A fantastic game with oodles of potential so far in the beta phase. Given time to release more sandbox modes, complete the campaign and iron out any bugs this game has real potential to be one that will draw you back time and time again.

Given the track record of the Longbow team I look forward to them delivering fully on all their promises and perhaps even throwing a few surprises in there for good measure. A must buy for those looking to expand beyond the more generic Rome Strategy games out there.

As a Beta tester, this game is just as awesome as the original Hegemony. I can't wait to play the full version! The new wood resource is awesome, allowing you to fortify camps, bridges and build great buildings. I LOVE this game.

Saw this game and liked the idea, thought I would support the developers and buy this, even though I knew it was unfinished, spent 20 euros to get it, played it a bit and then didnt play for a while in hopes that it would get improved. That wasnt the case, developement was stopped and I sat there with an incomplete game and 20 euros less. Dont make the mistake I did.

Game looks amazing at first blush for someone like me. I love historical combat, I love the Roman era. Slam dunk right?

Not so much, once you start peeling back the actual mechanics of the game you get pretty depressed at a wasted oppurtunity by the devs. Theres so many things that needed to obviously be addressed. Here are my top annoyances off the cuff.

-This is a game where the entire beginning level terrain is mostly constrictive mountain passes. to this end, unit pathfinding is atrocious. You tell them to move through a pass wide enough for one unit and they will always attempt to deploy into some kind of battle line as if they were in an open field, which they rarely are.

-the supply system is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ byzantine. After reading tons of forums (the in game manual is useless) I sort of kinda figured out how it works. But you cannot see what the supply flow is, or how it is working. The game tells you "make a supply line!" with no explanation of how or why supply flows, stops, reverses ect. These sorts of things are critical to know, even in the first tutorial mission or you will find your armies melting away with no undertstanding why. It is a very large part of the micro in the game to manage stockpile rates, supply lines, ect. These are NOT things that can be hand waved in the first mission.

-The alerts are piss poor. Once again you have long supply lines and you will be periodically raided in your rear. The only alert you get is a little drum beat that mixes into the drum beat filled soundtrack. So suddenly your armies are melting, you dont know why. You zoom out and realise your supply lines 200 km back are being raided for quite some time. Seriously?

Again. Very cool and interesting concept. But a lot of basic interface Dos and Donts that gam designers figured out 10 years ago are missing. In a lot of ways its like playing games from an earlier era where you were just dropped in and told 'good luck'. Every once in awhile I come back, load up the game determined to give it another try bc I like the idea so much. I always walk away after 45 minutes or so, never making it past the first tutorial bc of how frustrating the actual mechanics are. I would stay away from this title. Other Hegemonies have better reviews, start there first.

Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar is both a solid, fun game and a serious contender for the best 'Rome-based' RTS game in the last few years. Like the majority of others I consider the Total War: Rome franchise to be the benchmark for this genre, and despite the bugs and gameplay issues Rome II had, it got better after patching. The original Total War: Rome was fantastic regardless. It may not be fair to compare the two games considering this is technically an indie release, but I figure even newcomers to the RTS genre have heard of or played a Total War title and it's the most logical (and easiest) comparison.

That said, the devs here didn't try to mimick Total War by redesigning or borrowing its good parts. In fact this game is nothing like Total War. Rather, Longbow Game Studios changed the focus entirely by making historical accuracy and in-depth resource management the two biggest components of Hegemony, and it works very well on top of the standard RTS framework. Hegemony is also far less daunting than Rome and Rome II. Players new to strategy games can jump into the campaign mode and start playing immediately*, but there's also enough substance to keep veteran RTS gamers engaged. The graphics are passable and run smoothly on the highest settings, and the cutscenes are just that - static scenes drawn with a "comic book" style to them. It's a nice break from the bombardment of massively rendered 3D action scenes that end up cheesy and unrealistic because of bad anti-aliasing and direction. The comic book art is also very mature, and there is plenty of violence and blood, which is a nice touch as well.

That asterisk up there? It's for the biggest flaw in this game and (ironically) part of why this game is so easy to jump into: the tutorial system is lacking. You can jump right into this game as a new player and the tutorial will guide you, but you are going to have to learn a lot of the minute details by banging your head against the wall losing captured cities and dying often during the first couple hours. Even veteran RTS players will have to figure out some of the details by trial and error. The most glaring is the lack of explanation about hostages and captured city morale. After you understand it, it makes sense, but you will have to experiment a lot first. (Hint: move your hostages to far away cities. The game fails to mention that part.)

Overall, this is a good game. Is it worth $30? Yeah, but probably only for Roman history fans and RTS fanboys in general. If you are brand new to RTS games you might want to wait until this goes on sale.


[Update after a long, long break: They've patched it a few times and there's even a DLC out now, which shows me they do care about this game longterm. I'm about to play through again on Hard mode and am looking forward to it. If you read the early reviews about constant crashing, those issues seem to have vanished now. Keep that in mind when deciding on purchasing this.]