5 Games to Play When You Can’t Stop Thinking About the Ancient Roman Empire

This week on the internet, plenty of us learned just how often everyday people, particularly men, are thinking about the Roman Empire. Thanks to a new TikTok trend, we now know that it’s actually … quite a lot.

But if you or your friends are now Rome-pilled with nowhere to invest all of this phalanx-collapsing know-how, what do you do? Relax, dear friends, we can help. For those who simply cannot escape the Roman Empire brain rot, driven toward a career in historical re-enactments or building an aqueduct in your yard, we’ve got a list of great titles to pick up or revisit if you simply can’t stop thinking about ancient Rome! There is, after all, there’s just so much to think about.

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition

Whether you’re into real-time strategy games or not, Age of Empires is a shining beacon for the genre with a decades-long legacy, and Age of Empires: Definitive Edition brings historical civilisations to life in remastered 4k. What better way to take in all of the battles, tactics, and iconic infantry units in full detail? As a base game, AoE comes with plenty of content and mechanics to grapple with — but if you want to go even further into Roman Empire territory, Centurion battles and all, check out the Rise of Rome expansion.

Cities: Skylines

Now, bear with us here: when it comes to how Cities: Skylines connects to the Roman Empire — trust me, it does. While there are plenty of great RTS and turn-based strategy games based on historical civilisations (some of which are in this list), sometimes you just want to build up a massive city — nay, a civilisation — of your own, and this game is the bread and butter of the city builder genre. While there may be no Colosseum, no mounted archers or cavalry, and no absolutely fire Roman costumes — there’s room to expand, build your city, and lay down roads (that could all lead to a custom city named Rome if you’d like). We think that for some of you out there, that might just scratch the itch generated by routinely thinking about the once world-dominating ancient society. The sequel to the iconic title is coming out soon, too, if you want to get in on the original before the next game drops.

The Forgotten City

Travel 2,000 years into the past to the final days of a cursed Roman city in The Forgotten City, a “narrative-driven time loop adventure” set in ancient Rome. You’re tasked with uncovering the mystery of who destroyed the open-world city, which features historically authentic art, architecture, costumes, and culture. Along the way, you’ll meet a roster of characters who can assist you on your journey, and face moral quandaries that could impact the fate of the city.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

While yes, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey isn’t set in the Roman Empire by any measure and is decisively localised to Ancient Greece, sometimes you just want to explore a different ancient civilisation as a treat – swap Julius Caesar (who does feature in Assassin’s Creed Origins) for the Argonauts in this open-world jaunt through history, and uncover the secrets of your past along the way. It might even be a nice break for your brain to stop thinking about Roman concrete for a single moment and instead think about Leonidas for a bit, too.

Total War: Rome II

It wouldn’t be a list of games for Legion-pilled gamers without Total War: Rome II. This turn-based strategy game is available in the Emperor Edition, which sees improvements to building chains, rebalanced battles, and improved graphics. If you ever played Rome: Total War, this is the next logical step in your journey. As a bonus, the game also comes with the Imperator Augustus campaign, set in 42BC after Caesar’s murder – and the fate of Rome is in your hands as the members of the Second Triumvirate grapple with the changing face of the empire. 

Now, for science, I need to know – how often do you think about the Roman Empire? Let us know in the comments.

Lead Image Credit: Creative Assembly / SEGA