One of my most anticipated games right now is Pompeii: The Legacy. The Ancient Roman city builder takes my love of history and combines it with metropolitan planning in a way few other videogames do. So if you’re looking for an alternative to Cities Skylines 2, or Civilization 7’s twist on the past, you’ll want to give this game a look. Best of all, it’s about to get a playtest on Steam, and you can sign up right now.
Pompeii: The Legacy tasks you with rebuilding the titular ancient city. You return 20 years after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD to bring the town back to life, tracing the lineage of the family governing Pompeii. It’s a city building game steeped in historical accuracy, if that’s what you come to the genre for.
The campaign spans over 200 years, as you build up not just the town but also your own political standing in an effort to keep this new version of Pompeii alive. You need to establish trade routes, sharpen your political skills, and navigate the social climate of the time. Iconic Roman structures like roads and aqueducts will need to be managed, too, so the nitty gritty of metropolitan infrastructure can’t be ignored.
Developer Siscia Games is going to make a lot of improvements to Pompeii: The Legacy ahead of the upcoming playtest, so if you’ve been following the game for as long as I have, it’s only getting better. We’re going to have enhanced visuals, gameplay refinements, more buildings for the city, a trade system, military defense mechanics, and citizens who need their hygiene looked after.
If you want to learn even more about Pompeii: The Legacy before you try it for yourself, I interviewed its solo developer Zeljko Kos last year. From the minutiae of management to the historical inspirations, it’s already looking like looking like one of the best city builders around, and I can’t wait to try it.
The Pompeii: The Legacy Steam playtest launches in mid-March, and you can sign up for it now. Just go right here.
While you wait for the playtest, be sure to check you all the best strategy games and best simulation games currently available on PC.
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