When Paradox unveiled the map for its latest grand strategy romp, Imperator: Rome, I don t mind admitting that I made an involuntary noise that normally only comes out of me when I m biting into something delicious and unhealthy. It is excellent map porn. Zoomed out, it s clean and no-nonsense, but when you narrow your focus, it explodes with colour and detail, particularly on the coast, where golden beaches hit seas gorgeous enough that you ll want to lap them up. Europa Universalis looks drab in comparison.
It makes an excellent first impression, but it doesn t have many opportunities to make a second one. While Imperator is due out in 2019, the build I got to see is still so early on that, were I to get a glimpse of any other corner of the map, I d only see barren wastelands waiting for the touch of an artist.
I think we’ve all been there. You’ve centralized power by taking over most of the known world. You’re feeling pretty chill about your choices and how you’ve bent the continent to your iron will. That’s when some of your buddies are like “nah brah” and you get super-stabbed to death. Not chill. Not chill at all. Well, now you can bring home all the fun of this highly relatable situation, via Paradox Interactive’s upcoming grand strategy title Imperator: Rome.
Imperator: Rome is Paradox's big new grand strategy game, due out in 2019.
The game, made by Paradox's internal development studio (Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings), lets you explore alternative histories. Here's the set-up:
"What we think of as 'western civilisation' was not guaranteed. Imagine Alexander's empire centralised under one successor. Italy might never have been unified under Roman rule, strangling a juggernaut in its cradle. A world without Caesar. Now you can explore these alternate histories in Imperator: Rome."