Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition
Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition screenshot 1Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition screenshot 2
StrategyHistoricalTurn-Based StrategyGrand StrategyRomeTactical

3,787 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 5,737

Peak in the last 7 days: 6,911

Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition Steam store

Game description

Emperor Edition is the definitive edition of ROME II, featuring an improved politics system, overhauled building chains, rebalanced battles and improved visuals in both campaign and battleEmperor Edition contains all free feature updates since its release in 2013, which includes bug fixes, balancing, Twitch.

Basic info

DeveloperCREATIVE ASSEMBLY, Feral Interactive
PublisherSEGA, Feral Interactive
PlatformsWindows · macOS
Steam DeckPlayable
Release dateSep 2, 2013
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSXP/ Vista / Windows 7 / Windows 8
Processor2 GHz Intel Dual Core processor / 2.6 GHz Intel Single Core processor
Memory2 GB
Graphics512 MB DirectX 9.0c compatible card (shader model 3, vertex texture fetch support).
Storage35 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 419 reviews from the past 1 year

85.4/ 100
Top 40%

Steam rating: Very Positive (88%)

Metacritic: 76 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 22, 2026)

Commanding legions across a vast campaign map, this historical strategy game scores 85.4 from 419 analyzed reviews.

👍 Strengths

Content Volume ranks 77th of 1351 and Gameplay ranks 220th of 1396. 159 reviews call it a great game they have enjoyed for years, and some say it is the best in its series. 46 praise the strategic depth, from army composition and city specialization to politics and faction variety. 25 like the visuals and the sight of large armies clashing, and a few credit mods with keeping it fresh.

👎 Where it falls short

45 reviews report bugs, such as crashes when loading battles, endless loading screens and a buggy prologue, and some recall a rough launch. 25 find the balance off, with overpowered factions, similar units across nations and a civil war system that causes constant rebellions. 23 object to the price of an older game and its paid DLC, including one that enables blood. Pricing & Fairness ranks 1059th of 1399, and Tech & Support ranks 901st of 1399.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“great game, 1600 hours played, won't disappoint” · 159 reviews
“many viable builds and synergies to discover through legion composition” · 46 reviews
“terrible and buggy release in the past” · 45 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 48% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Strategy +3.41 · Depth of builds, tactics, and meaningful choices
Positive “many viable builds and synergies to discover through legion composition” · 46 reviews
Negative “flanking barely matters, stats are king, political system works against you” · 5 reviews

Progression 5% · Difficulty 11% · Onboarding 11% · Freedom 8% · Controls & feel 8%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 21% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

World +3.36 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “game inspired deep interest in Roman history and shaped educational path” · 23 reviews
Negative “lacks historical depth and realism without mods” · 1 review

Story 1% · Characters 1%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 28% of reviews · Top 10% of the games we've analyzed

Volume +3.40 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Positive “50-100+ hours of engaging strategic gameplay with massive scale” · 17 reviews
Negative “campaigns take way too long even when success is guaranteed” · 6 reviews

Variety 9% · Replayability 10%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 18% of reviews · Bottom 40% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +2.54 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “historical context appreciated with decent visuals” · 25 reviews
Negative “graphics need improvement for unrivaled status” · 6 reviews

Audio 3%

Playing with others, the community and servers
Mentioned in 11% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

Playing together +2.38 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals
Positive “civil and military management combined with excellent battles” · 9 reviews
Negative “영국 법 때문에 채팅 막혀 멀티 게임 재미 떨어짐” · 1 review

Community 5% · Servers & Connection 1%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 22% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Balance -0.28 · Whether classes, weapons, and builds are evenly matched
Negative “broken balance, overpowered factions, units with identical stats across nations” · 25 reviews
Positive “different factions offer distinct strategic experiences” · 2 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Pricing 11% · Matchmaking 2%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 23% of reviews · Bottom 40% of the games we've analyzed

Stability -0.38 · Crashes, freezes, save loss, and game-breaking bugs
Negative “terrible and buggy release in the past” · 45 reviews

Performance 7% · Developer support 12%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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