Nova Roma ▶ Trailer
Nova Roma screenshot 1Nova Roma screenshot 2
SimulationStrategyCity BuilderBase BuildingGrand StrategyHistoricalManagement

118 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 223

Nova Roma Early Access Steam store

Game description

The glory of Rome is at your fingertips in this city-building game where you must appease the gods, enact laws, and develop complex supply chains to meet the needs of your citizens.

Basic info

DeveloperLion Shield
PublisherHooded Horse
PlatformsWindows · macOS
Steam DeckPlayable
Release dateMar 26, 2026
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows® 10 (64-bit)
ProcessorIntel® Core™ i5-6600K (quad-core) / AMD® Ryzen™ 3 2200G (quad-core)
Memory4 GB
GraphicsNVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 (2 GB) / AMD® Radeon™ R9 285 (2 GB)
Storage2 GB
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Review Analysis Score

Based on 446 reviews from the past 1 year

85.1/ 100
Top 40%

Steam rating: Very Positive (93%)

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 31, 2026)

Players rate this Roman city builder with water physics at 85.1, top 40% of games we analyzed.

👍 Strengths

203 reviews find it extremely fun and challenging, and some say they are still hooked after long sessions. 62 praise its charming style and the interesting water physics, and Visuals & Sound ranks 709th of 1249. 31 value the freedom of a building system that is easy to use and forgiving, with layouts that work as intended. Story & World ranks 410th of 1096, and some call it an easygoing builder without heavy stress.

👎 Where it falls short

38 report bugs and save problems, the most upvoted losing hours of progress with no auto save. 30 want quality of life controls, such as a mass reassign button, and some find logistics and job priorities clunky to manage. 30 say the balance is off, citing a tedious combat system, and some find dams fail during drought or the gods features annoying. Pricing & Fairness ranks 835th of 1399, and Gameplay ranks 768th of 1396.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“extremely fun and challenging game worth many hours” · 203 reviews
“charming style with interesting water physics mechanics” · 62 reviews
“combat system is tedious and ineffective” · 30 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 59% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Strategy +1.56 · Depth of builds, tactics, and meaningful choices
Positive “excellent water system with deep strategic planning” · 26 reviews
Negative “RTS components need more work to make combat fun” · 17 reviews

Progression 12% · Difficulty 10% · Onboarding 17% · Freedom 22% · Controls & feel 14%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 15% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

World +3.24 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “ancient Rome atmosphere beautifully conveyed, engaging city building” · 25 reviews
Negative “charmless and dull world with bland colors and lacking depth” · 1 review

Story 1% · Characters 0%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 25% of reviews · Bottom 40% of the games we've analyzed

Variety -1.03 · Fresh content and situations versus repetition
Negative “can get repetitive in late game” · 21 reviews
Positive “gameplay variety improvements over previous game very clear and exciting” · 2 reviews

Volume 16% · Replayability 3%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 23% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +2.83 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “charming style with interesting water physics mechanics” · 62 reviews
Negative “building animations lack interactivity compared to previous game” · 5 reviews

Audio 3%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 1% of reviews mention this.

Community -3.00 · Who you play with — how many, and how friendly

Playing together 1% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 17% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Balance -0.28 · Whether classes, weapons, and builds are evenly matched
Negative “combat system is tedious and ineffective” · 30 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Pricing 7% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 35% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Developer support +0.39 · Updates, patches, and how devs respond to players
Positive “devs actively working on features, balancing, and bugfixing” · 18 reviews
Negative “god system half-baked, devs released broken mechanic without player concern” · 5 reviews

Stability 13% · Performance 10%

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

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