Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar

Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar is a historical real-time strategy game released in 2014, developed by Longbow Digital Arts and published by Kasedo Games for Windows. It follows the 2010 prequel Hegemony Gold: Wars of Ancient Greece, blending tactical real-time battles with strategic empire management, and emphasizing logistics and military campaign planning. The game takes place during the Gallic Wars, focusing on the campaigns of Julius Caesar as proconsul of Gaul and Illyria.

The game features two main single-player modes: a campaign and a sandbox mode. The campaign is split into four chapters—"Emigrants and Conquerors," "The Most Courageous of All," "Conquer the Island," and "The Power of Desires"—starting with the Helvetii migration, moving through the Belgian rebellion and Roman arrival in the British Isles, and ending with the final clash against Vercingetorix’s Arverni. In sandbox mode, players can freely conquer Southern Britain, the Alps, or all of Gaul, with tutorials included for newcomers. For the first time in the series, wood is a resource needed for building structures like forts, cities, watch towers, markets, warehouses, and siege workshops. Units have upgradable abilities, such as reducing food consumption or recruitment needs, boosting morale, attack, and defense, or improving movement through marshes and snowy mountains.

Three DLCs were released. The Bannerman Pack, a free addition, introduces four new animated units, including the Roman Eagle and Gallic hornblower, which appear based on unit upgrades to make experienced units more visible. The Advanced Tactics Pack, the first paid DLC, adds six mercenary units: Kush Archer, Parthian Cataphracts and Horse Archers, Berber Javelineer, Naked Skirmishers, and Gallic Ambushers. The Mercenaries Pack, the second paid DLC, adds another six special mercenary units: Garamante spearmen, Dacian swordsmen, Sarmatian lancers, Thracian peltasts, Iberian swordsmen, and Suioni raiding ships.

Reception was mixed. Hegemony Rome was seen as a less refined follow-up to Hegemony Gold, with the same core gameplay on a larger map and few new mechanics, leading to repetitiveness. Strategy Gamer gave it 6/10, noting that while simple problems can become more interesting at a larger scale, a great strategy game should not be this repetitive, even if the Romans favored methodical conquest.