The story is told quite quickly: Our family and friends are killed by the Romans and we manage to escape so that we do not end up in slavery... or worse. Finally, we spend the day with fighting and drinking alcohol in the company of shady ladies - until one day we meet a famous gladiator who gives us some advice on how to become a great champion ourselves. And so our first fight of many begins in the arena...

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1922080223


City:
In the city, we have the possibility to visit different NPCs. Among others, we find a Combat Trainer, a Butcher, a Blacksmith, and an Animal Trainer. We also get to the arena here to prove ourselves in combat, earn money and gain experience to level up.


Character Development:
Through level upgrades, we earn skill points that we can spend at the Combat Trainer to learn new skills or improve those already learned. There are active and passive skills, most of which can be improved. If you're not happy with a skill, you can easily reset and redistribute it. The skills offer a variety of combat styles, so you can customize your gladiator to your liking.


Equipment:
The further we move in the game and the richer we become, the better equipment we can get. We can buy bandages, throw axes or spears at the General Store. The Blacksmith also offers us weapons, shields and armor for money. We also have the possibility to change the skins of the equipment a little bit, so that we can customize the appearance of the gladiator according to our preferences.

Furthermore we can buy amulets. Therefore we have to be successful in the arena, because they are only available with a certain number of stars; depending on how well you win in a fight you will get 1-3 stars.


Temple:
We also find a Temple in the city where we can pray. As a result, we can get appropriate support from the deity during the battle if the audience in the arena likes us.


Butcher:
With all sorts of delicious food we have the possibility to get an advantage in the next fight. It doesn't always have to be a feast, because even for the small purse there are a few delicacies.


Animal Trainer:
At the Animal Trainer we have the possibility to get a companion for the arena. We can choose between lion, tiger and panther. Each of these animals acts differently in the fight and cannot be killed. We can also buy food for our pet here, so that it gets more bonuses.


Library:
Last but not least we find a list of our stats in the library (Win Ratio, number of fights and killed gladiators, score and so on). This way you can compare your skills with others if you want to.


In the Arena:
There are three "campaigns". That doesn't mean there's a lot of story, but the theme of the enemy changes. At first we fight against the Greeks, then against the Africans and finally against the Romans.

In the beginning, the fights are quite easy and simple, but they become more and more difficult. When you reach the Africans they become more varied. The enemy types act differently and have different abilities. This means you have to adapt your tactics over and over again and not every fight feels the same. In the arena you don't only fight against humans, but also against animals and in some fights there are additional traps like spear traps and pits. Furthermore, there are boss fights, which again have a special difficulty.

If we do well in combat and satisfy the audience, we'll also get some support in the form of things thrown into the arena. Food gives us some health, money helps us to improve our equipment, and sometimes stones are thrown at our enemies who are then dazed for a short time.

If we win the fight, there is a rating that depends on how much health we have left. The better we do, the more stars we get. And that helps us with the amulets, as mentioned above. If we don't win a fight, that is not a problem, because all fights can be repeated at any time and thus we have the possibility to farm money and level ups. With the money we can then improve the equipment and repeat the hard fight.


Atmosphere, music/sound and drawing style:
This is of course a matter of taste, but I really like the drawing style. The sound and the music are good. At some point, however, the music in the city was too monotonous for me, so I turned it off.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1922080298


Conclusion:
Even if you could assume a story according to the title of the game, it's not really the aim to tell a story. It's just about kicking some ass in the arena. And that's a lot of fun and you can always come back and play a bit. There are still a few bugs, but they don't spoil the game experience. Personally, I would have liked a couch-coop mode so that I could have beat up gladiators together with a friend, but overall, Story of a Gladiator is a nice little game for spending some time.


Just a side note:
I got the game from the developer before realease so that I could play and test a bit. That's the reason why I have that many hours of playtime.

Verdict: Recommended with 50% discount or better due to the length
+
Steam achievements (23 in total, needs at least 2 story playthroughs and 3 tournament playthroughs)
Soundtrack
Visible equipment (10 armors, 10 shields, 18 weapons, 3 pets)
Armors have different variations that can be conbined - chest + head + shin + shoulder
Active items (3 variations - 2 damage, 1 healing)
God powers (3 different gods, all are broken as hell and basically result in a free wave)
3 campaigns with a very different feeling and unique enemies - 11 arenas each + boss
Combat training adds some depth
Tournament mode is basically a mini RPG - you get a skillpoint for every wave cleared
Remote play for tournament
Graphic style
The game has intro and a short outro after every boss - all very well narrated

-
Incredibly repetetive - you will do basically the same thing over and over again
Game length - On medium difficuilty the game took me about 2 hours, 100% campaign then another 1,5h
Grinding for achievements - require at least 2 playthroughs of the story (buy everything+max level on 1st one, second on on the highest difficuilty) and 3 playthroguhs of tournament (1 per each class)
No trading cards
Some of the arenas are terribly designed (4 pits with enemies causing fear and having kick was not a fun experience)
Possibility to get stunlocked / combo killed without the ability to react
Bosses are more like a really healthy basic enemies
If you are getting an ally for the arena it is sometimes hard to tell them appart from enemies
Combat training is not exactly balanced and some skills are clearly better than the rest

Ahh Ryse: Son of Rome - Demastered.

I’ve always wanted an awesome game about Gladiators. I’m still waiting for an awesome game about Gladiators.

The MANOWAR video game we never knew we needed.

Now sure, this game looks like something you would play on free google games, but if the Untitled Goose game can be hugely popular and you pay for that too, why wouldn’t you waste a couple of bucks on this one too?

So there is this guy, and he's a gladiator. That’s pretty much it.

It looks like a students cheap homework, and it’s just a mindless 2D hack and slash about Gladiators for you to play while you’re sitting on the toilet, so should we really be that demanding? Don’t let the appearance fool you though, its fun and addicting. I just want a sequel to Gladius…

The true question is… Do you like movies about Gladiators?

4/10

I want to like this game, the nice graphic style gave it a good sympathy capital
Unfortunately there are two main problems:
1-It's literally impossible to tell when the attacks will connect with their target and when they wont. Way too often the enemies strike you from a position where you think they shouldn't. Even worse is when two of your attacks will hit the enemy and the third one won't. even though both of you remained at the same position. The hit distance is very vague both vertically and horizontally and after a while it becomes almost like a running gag.
2-Every time there is rain on the arena, the framerate is halved and the game becomes unplayable. I know I'm playing on a laptop with integrated graphics, but there is nothing on screen that justifies such a bad framerate, except the developers' incompetence. Some arenas become unplayable because of that.

For these two reasons alone the game can't not get a thumb down.
There are other minor anonyances such as the fact that you have to completely exit the shop every time you want to examine a new category of items or the fact that the campaigns seem very basic and don't have any kind of scenario at all.
The starting cinematic is very well done but the story is so bad and childish that I would have preferred no cinematic at all.

This is a nifty little beat'em up. Down on your luck and with nothing to lose you register to fight in the arena as a gladiator. There are three arenas to compete in. A Greek-themed one, where you face hoplites and other ancient Greek-style warriors. An African-themed one where you face tigers, black panthers and various Zulu-style warriors. Finally a Roman one, where you must contend against the might of the Roman legions. Yes, none of this makes any sense, but hey it's fun. As you win fights you gain better equipment, new skills and even a pet panther to help you in the fights. There are several consumables and other one-offs adding some more depth. Finally, aside from the story mode there is also a survival mode that offers some extra challenge.

The game is not very long, a couple of hours tops, but it is pretty entertaining while it lasts. I bought it on a sale for a couple of € and I don't regret it. For that price, it's worth it.

The game looks amazing, but it lacks the key component: gameplay.
I found this game very repetitive and I don't think it is rewarding enough. You grind to get all that stuff and it feels very anticlimactic in the end. It is fun to play for about 20-30 minutes.

Just overall not a good game.

Amazing 2D combat Gladiator Game: Maximus would be jealous.
Tons of weapons, armour, amulets, skill point upgrades with 3 classes and multiple levels
Game supports xbox controller.
Still not convinced watch this clip-->

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52DnonK1R-Y

10/10

Excellent art direction and fiendishly addictive. A simple brawler that plays out way more engaging than it's Store listing might imply.

The game provides short beat them all sessions with several waves for each fight.
Combat is smooth and the enemy patterns are easily readable.
Visuals are gorgeous.
Character evolution is light but still meaningfull. (Be ready to replay some fights to get your next level up or to grab the gold you're missing on to buy the next weapon.)
Your glad can also wear an artifact (passive bonus), pick a god (special power), have a pet (helping out during combat) along with consummables (health kit/throwing weapon).
I'm far from done with SoG and i look forward to reaching Rome!
Strongly hoping for a #2 or DLCs!

+Simply play
+Fun Arcade mode
+Good customized armor,weapons and etc


-Short game
-No story or side quest
-monotonous game

So-so 6 out of 10