Yes, a large part of this was all the new content added for the re-release. And I was absolutely thrilled by it, for - coincidentally - the exact same reasons Nate outlined in his review. Just two months ago, Age of Empires 2 came back to life after two whole decades, as a Definitive Edition. Indeed, I’d argue there’s nothing wrong with a bit of reviving here and there. I am the last person, clearly, to argue against the raising of the dead. Because honestly, it should have stayed there.

But beyond that, it is an exacting copy of the Praetorians that was released in 2003.Īnd here we get to the business of burial. Yes, it has been transplanted to the Unreal engine, and has been granted better textures, a higher resolution, and a few minor changes to controls and UI. And as for the remaster which came out last week? Well, it’s exactly the same game.

“But Ghoastus!” you proclaim, from the auditorium of this digital amphitheatre, “why are you using the past tense, o lemur?” Well, citizen: because this is a eulogy for a game that was fairly good, seventeen years ago. And yet, like all Roman justice, it was also fair. Marching troops towards objectives without painstakingly scouting the road ahead for ambushes was, unless you were extremely lucky, a recipe for certain trucidation. What’s more, vulnerable units left open to attack during the mayhem - a druid exposed to horsemen, for example - would not just take a little extra damage before scurrying away, but would be trapped in place by their attackers, and near-instantly sent to join my social circle.Īnd woe betide the player who didn’t thoroughly scout ahead before doing anything. Troops could not withdraw once committed to melee combat, meaning that fights - as in reality - often became almost uncontrollable once the enemy was in range. Because not only did it require relentless and careful planning, if you got any of it wrong, or forgot elements, the game would batter you like a quinquereme’s Celeusta seeing to an idle rower.

In fact, Praetorians could be downright brutal. All this put it far beyond the plebeian masses of the late-90s/early-2000s RTS boom, where winning was all too often a case of lumping together as many units as possible, and steamrollering them across the map. Oh no, citizen: it required constant situational analysis of what unit types to put where, what instructions to give them, and how best to get them to support each other when the stercus hit the flabellum. Praetorians was not one of those RTS games where victory hinged on the ability to work out which unit to spam in each mission. Leave the wrong kind of unit to face an opposing force, and more often than not, it would be wiped out without managing to inflict any casualties of its own. And the “rock paper scissors” principle common to military strategy games, with each unit being strong against some units and weak against others, was masterfully deployed. Its 24 campaign missions were varied and creatively designed, and it had an impressively deep set of tactical considerations. I come to bury Praetorians, not to praise it.īefore the burial, however, since even a ghostly Roman is nothing without their honour, I will begin with at least some praise. I knew some Praetorians in my time, you see, and I was excited to see how their rollicking tactical adventures had been portrayed for this strange digital age.Īlas though, citizens.

When I heard about Praetorians - HD Remaster, I couldn’t wait to enter Nate’s PC via the floppy disc drive and haunt it for the weekend. Ave, citizens! Although October (the month of Ghoastus) is still far off, a game about Romans has been released, which means that, as per the terms of my binding, Nate has been forced to summon me to review it.

Cover praetorians pc game