The Last Roman Village

Review

They are many aspects that contributed to the great Roman Empire falling to its knees, but the true reason was never outlaid. Think about it . . . how did an Empire that survived the best part of 500 years decline so rapidly.  It is true that the ongoing fight with the German tribes took its toll on the Roman Empire, but the real reason is that the Romans were attacked by two armies: the Undead and the Orcs. You don’t believe me? Well, how about helping out the last remaining Roman village? Will you be their saviour or are they simply doomed!

The Last Roman Village is a casual/strategy game developed and published by Twin Stone Studio and released on the Steam platform on 26th July 2019.

After a short and colourful introduction, you’ll be given the choice to start a new game on either easy, normal or hard difficulty.

Then you’ll be taking control of General Aurelius (who must be the doppelganger of Ivan Drago, from Rocky IV) and your goal is to repel 100 waves of enemies, save the Emperor, and give the Roman Empire a small hope of resurrection.



You’ll have 80 seconds between each of the waves to erect buildings or train soldiers. But at the start, you’ll have pretty much bugger all, with the exception of 30 coins and a kid with a slingshot stationed in a tree, ready to defend the almighty Roman Emperor, who is happily staying put in front of his house.

There are 12 buildings to erect on each side. What I like in this game is that the waves of enemies can come from both sides of the screen at the same time. Therefore, you have to make sure you build the correct structure, such as defend towers and walls, before recruiting soldiers to give you a chance of survival. It will take you a while to build all the structures as you will only receive a small number of additional coins after repelling each wave. Aurelius will be able to help you fight against the enemy, but he will start with only one spear per round, and three once you’ve built a few important buildings, so he will provide limited help during each of the waves. What you really need is to build an archery and barracks to train archers and soldiers. But you also need people, and therefore you’ll need to build houses. Once you’ve done that, you can recruit either soldiers or archers. If you leave people alone, they will repair defensive walls when each of the waves is over.

You can upgrade your structures, soldiers or archers but it will cost you coins to do so. In every nine levels, you’ll be given a shot at the Wheel of Fortune, where you can win more coins, special skills or nothing at all (that happened to me several times in a row). Then, every 10 waves, you’ll face a boss, which will make things slightly more difficult until you reach level 50, when it will double in difficulty. The special skills are either summoning dead soldiers, wrath, or unleashing a rain of arrows upon your enemies. It will take a minimum of 3 turns to regenerate after using them.   

I really like the cartoon graphics and I must say, I am a big fan of Ivan . . . (sorry, Aurelius)! You can play the game with either your keyboard or gamepad, too, which is great. It must be said, however, that it is repetitive.


Positives

+ Nice cartoonish graphics
+ Fun and easy to play
+ Achievements

Negatives

- No trading cards as yet
- A bit repetitive

Review Summary

The Roman Empire depends on you. Can you save the Last Roman Village from the onslaught of the Orcs and Undead Army?

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Zeepond Rating: 6/10

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