Deal | Civilization too simple? A complex Roman 4X strategy game just dropped to $5 on Steam

At first glance, Aggressors: Ancient Rome looks like a fairly generic Civilization clone. Players take control of a major power from the ancient Mediterranean – such as Rome, Carthage or Persia – and spend their turns fighting battles, founding cities and expanding their empire. Beneath its rather unassuming exterior, however, lies a strategy game with far more depth than first impressions suggest.

The 4X title from Kubat Software offers a level of strategic complexity more commonly associated with games like Crusader Kings III. Rather than focusing solely on expansion and military conquest, players must keep a close eye on nearly every aspect of their empire. Population, logistics, loyalty, trade, diplomacy and research are all tightly interconnected and constantly influence one another. Even successful military campaigns can create long-term problems if supply lines collapse, the economy begins to stagnate or newly conquered provinces revolt.

One example illustrates this well: new soldiers do not appear out of thin air but are recruited directly from the population of your cities. While maintaining a large army increases your chances on the battlefield, it also deprives the empire of valuable workers and slows economic growth. Once the war is over, that shortage of manpower can quickly become a liability when the next neighboring empire begins mobilizing its own forces.

GameWatcher reviewed Aggressors: Ancient Rome at launch in August 2018 and praised its strategic depth, detailed state simulation and demanding approach to warfare. Although battles are resolved automatically, their outcome depends on numerous factors, including terrain, supply, experience and morale. That level of complexity, however, also creates a steep learning curve. According to the review, the large number of interconnected systems can easily overwhelm newcomers and requires several hours to fully understand. The reviewers also criticized the rather dated visuals and the lack of UI scaling, which can become an issue on larger monitors. Even so, GameWatcher awarded the game a solid 8 out of 10.

The Steam community has reached a similar conclusion. 82% of more than 280 user reviews recommend the strategy game. On Metacritic, it holds a Metascore of 76 and a User Score of 8.0.

82% off on Steam

Aggressors: Ancient Rome normally sells for $29.99 on Steam. An 82% discount lowers the price to $5.39 until July 26. According to SteamDB, this matches the game's all-time low, most recently seen during the Steam Summer Sale. It has never been available for less. On Steam Deck, however, Aggressors: Ancient Rome is officially rated as Unsupported.

Disclaimer: Notebookcheck is not responsible for price changes carried out by retailers. The discounted price or deal mentioned in this item was available at the time of writing and may be subject to time restrictions and/or limited unit availability.