Praetorians Single Player Demo

The Roman Empire went on to become one of the greatest superpowers in the world, even if the world at that time was slightly more restrained than it is now. From northern Africa to the eastern Europe, everything was under the empire’s control, regardless of whether they welcomed it or not. However, just like all great empires, it had to start somewhere.

Praetorians is a real-time strategy game that concerns itself with some of the most interesting periods in history, namely the one that lead to the formation of the Roman Empire. As you might probably suspect, it happened through war and a lot of other civilizations were involved, given the fact that the empire has its roots on two different continents and its sheer size meant that it incorporated more than one nation initially. As such, you are provided with the option to play as the Gauls, the Egyptians, and of course, the Romans themselves.

The game comes with a few different ideas when it comes to gameplay and mechanics, since it doesn’t really adhere to the norm of the genre. Despite the fact that it recommends itself as an RTS, with real-time battles and a lot of units on the map at the same time, there are no resources to gather and no buildings to erect, which is highly unusual. However, that only leaves you more time for war, which is by far the most refined aspect of the game.

In order to make up for the lack of resources and base management, Praetorians puts a lot more emphasis on the combat itself. Thus, the units can gain experience after every fight, as long as they manage to survive to tell the tale. Your troops are much more valuable this way and you can learn to count on certain teams when it comes to giving them special orders.

From a technical point of view, the game may have a few years to account for since its release, but the graphics are exactly what you would expect from an RTS. The isometric view of the battlefield is as useful as ever, especially since the developers remembered to make the interface easy-to-use and intuitive as well. Moreover, each unit model and building from around the environment received plenty of care, so the game certainly doesn’t lack detail.

When it’s all said and done, the daring approach used by Praetorians panned out in the end, although it certainly was a gamble. The subtracted elements were masterfully replaced with additional combat mechanics, which make the gameplay that much more challenging and fun.