A solid 7.5/10. It would've honestly been a 8 or even a 9 for me, if it wasn't for the legion management part. It was a cool gimmick for a bit, but by Act 2, it had gotten so repetitive and I was already so tired of it that wished I could just get back to the story and really satisfying turn-based combat. It honestly feels like it's there to just pad the runtime.

Wow. Hell of a game. I'm pretty sure I enjoyed every part of the game. Excellent, thanks.

Expeditions: Rome isn't horrible, but if it had any competition at all in the "Roman tactical cRPG" space, I don't think it would get nearly as much positive coverage. The writing is basic but strong with a cast of decent characters stretched very thin. Beyond this much, the developers have managed to shoehorn in basically every mechanic conceivable from every game you've ever played: inventory management, crafting, gear upgrades, base upgrades, consumable management, army management, companion organization, overworld conquest, cRPG party exploration, XCOM hardcore tactics and permadeath: the list goes on.

The verdict after six hours is "incoherence." I want to fight Greeks and crucify rebels as a Roman legatus. Instead I've had to do legions of battle minigames, all of which come down to nothing more than clicking whichever one of the three strategems the game offers to me that inflicts the most casualties. This is not gameplay. I have barely any idea how this war system works, but it doesn't matter, because I've won every time with no thought whatsoever.

Four excruciating overland battles out of the way, I figured I could get back to the actual game. In fact now it was time for me to send one of my companions in as the captain of a small squad of my praetorians--random idiots who I've hired because the game made me--on a side quest. My main character isn't allowed to come, and I'm not allowed to bring any of the voiced, developed NPCs that I actually care about. This would be tolerable if the combat were extremely engaging, but it's really just serviceable, and pretty much basic in all respects. Archers have way too much range and the ability of enemies to focus down certain units is way too extreme for a game like this.

I'm six hours in, by the way, and I've leveled up four times.

There's plenty of worrying about whether or not you have enough food or water. There's a lot of horrific crafting systems. But if you were hoping to actually feel like a Roman legatus, this game does not deliver. I don't know what my PC is doing, mostly wandering around the Greek countryside and getting into fights with random shepherds for no reason I guess, but he's not a general. It's obvious that the developers didn't know whether they wanted to make a game about playing Roman XCOM or a cRPG where you're Caesar; this shows through everywhere.

It might be worth playing if you're in a Roman mood. The story really isn't bad at all for this type of game, and I hear you get to bang Cleopatra. But I wouldn't pay $45 for it.

Edit: This game has the worst tactical combat of any game on the market. It looks appealing at first, but it's a complete nightmare; mandatory missions with random no-voice NPCs that are underleveled and undergeared, against high level enemies, in bizarre, infinitely respawning mazes, filled with traps, where the only objective is to kill the enemy who can turn invisible with his ancient Roman StealthBoy: whose idea was this? In a recent mission, I stumbled between Greek villas killing guards for no reason; when the encounters ended, I was asked "WHY DID YOU KILL MY GUARDS?" only to be able to reply, "I unno lmao."

The level designers decided we needed some combat. The narrative designers couldn't figure out a better reason. This game is not good.