Imperium Romanum

Lore & Background

Imperium Romanum features significantly improved graphics from its predecessor and adds several large Roman monuments such as the Circus Maximus and the Colosseum. The game does not have a scripted campaign mode but instead has the player navigate different historical scenarios such as life in Pompeii under the terror of Mount Vesuvius. Along with maintaining cities, players must keep them very well-organized and keep money evenly distributed among the people; if the people experience extreme poverty, crime rates may increase, which has a number of negative effects on the city. The game features fully rendered 3D structures and people and allows the player to zoom in and out as well as rotate the camera a full 360 degrees. While much of the game is focused on building and maintaining cities, there are some RTS elements when opposing cities and civilizations do battle with the player's. Players may build fortified walls and towers around their cities to prevent enemy attacks, and also build objects such as trebuchets to go on the offensive against opposing nations. An expansion pack entitled Imperium Romanum: Emperor Expansion was released in the summer of 2008 in North America and Europe. A successor game, Grand Ages: Rome (also known as Imperivm: Civitas III), was released in 2009.

Reader's Guide

Imperium Romanum received mixed reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. A review in GamesRadar+ praised the game's pace, buildings and user interface, while criticizing its uninspired mechanics and underwhelming design. IGN gave a similarly mixed review. The Emperor Expansion pack received a mixed review based solely on IGN's review according to Metacritic. The game is notable for its improved 3D graphics over its predecessor and the addition of large Roman monuments, as well as its lack of a scripted campaign in favor of historical scenarios. Its RTS elements for combat distinguish it from purely city-building titles. The game was licensed for a U.S. release by SouthPeak Games via Kalypso Media.

Did You Know?

• The Italian and Spanish versions of the game are titled Imperivm: Civitas II.
• The successor game, Grand Ages: Rome, was released in 2009.

Development & Regional Release

Imperium Romanum arrived in 2008 as a Windows city-building title crafted by Haemimont Games, the same studio behind the 2006 entry Glory of the Roman Empire. Kalypso Media handled publishing duties globally, while SouthPeak Games secured a licensing arrangement that brought the title to North American shelves under Kalypso's banner. The game positioned itself as a direct sequel, building on the developer's earlier Roman-themed project while retaining the core premise of governing a provincial settlement. Notably, the Italian and Spanish-language editions carried a distinct subtitle, appearing under the name Imperivm: Civitas II, which set them apart from the standard English branding. This regional naming quirk gave the game a slightly different identity in those markets. The project sat in a transitional period for Haemimont, as the studio would follow it up just a year later with Grand Ages: Rome, effectively continuing the same thematic lineage under yet another title. The 2008 release thus served as a bridge between the studio's earlier Roman experiments and its subsequent broader historical strategy ambitions, anchoring a short but focused run of Roman-province management games.

Gameplay & Strategic Depth

At its core, Imperium Romanum casts the player as the governor of a Roman province, tasked with constructing and sustaining a prosperous settlement during the era of the Roman Empire. The gameplay loop centers on erecting Roman towers, gates, and bridges while managing a currency pool to fund ongoing projects. Unlike many city-builders of its era, the title forgoes a scripted campaign in favor of open-ended historical scenarios, one of which places the player in Pompeii under the looming threat of Mount Vesuvius. A distinctive economic layer requires the governor to distribute wealth evenly among citizens; if extreme poverty takes hold, crime rates spike and cascade into broader negative effects on the city's stability. Visually, the game offered a significant graphical leap over its predecessor, featuring fully rendered three-dimensional structures and inhabitants. The camera system allowed players to zoom freely and rotate a full three hundred and sixty degrees around the scene. Beyond pure construction, the title wove in real-time strategy elements whenever rival cities or civilizations clashed with the player's domain. Defenders could raise fortified walls and watchtowers, while aggressors could deploy siege engines such as trebuchets to assault opposing nations.

Expansion & Successor

The base game's lifecycle was extended in the summer of 2008 with the release of the Emperor Expansion pack, which reached both North American and European markets during that window. This add-on provided additional content for players who had already invested in the core experience, though its critical reception remained modest, drawing a mixed assessment based on a single review from IGN as recorded on Metacritic. Looking beyond the expansion, Haemimont Games did not abandon the Roman-province management formula. In 2009, the studio released Grand Ages: Rome, also marketed under the name Imperivm: Civitas III, which functioned as a spiritual successor and carried the thematic torch forward. The naming convention—Civitas II for the Italian and Spanish editions of Imperium Romanum, followed by Civitas III for Grand Ages: Rome—reveals a deliberate attempt to position these titles as a numbered series in certain regions, even though the English-language branding shifted to the Grand Ages label. This succession pattern underscores how the studio iterated on a core city-building loop, refining it across three closely spaced releases while gradually broadening the historical scope and mechanical depth of each entry.

Critical Reception & Player Perception

Upon its 2008 launch, Imperium Romanum landed in the middle of the critical spectrum, earning an overall mixed rating on the review-aggregation platform Metacritic. GamesRadar+ offered a balanced assessment, singling out the game's pacing, the visual appeal of its buildings, and the clarity of its user interface as standout qualities. However, the same review flagged the underlying mechanics as uninspired and the overall design as underwhelming, suggesting that the presentation outshone the depth of gameplay. IGN delivered a similarly tempered verdict, reinforcing the mixed consensus. The Emperor Expansion fared no better in the critical eye, receiving a mixed rating that rested on a single review from IGN, as catalogued by Metacritic. The pattern across both the base game and its add-on points to a title that impressed visually and offered a comfortable, well-paced loop of provincial management, yet struggled to differentiate itself mechanically from the broader city-building genre. For fans of the Glory of the Roman Empire lineage, the game delivered a familiar and polished experience; for critics seeking innovation in strategy design, it fell short of expectations.

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