Right now, Paradox and Colossal Order are celebrating the tenth anniversary of Cities Skylines. The modern metropolitan take on the city building genre is one of the best you can play on PC today, even with CS2 still pulling itself up by its bootstraps. As someone with a love of history, though, I’ve had my eye on Pompeii: The Legacy for some time. This Ancient Roman take on the genre blends fact, fiction, and logistics into an all-new experience, and you can try it now ahead of launch.
In 79 AD Mount Vesuvius erupted, and destroyed the city of Pompeii. You can go and visit what’s left today, with a surprising amount of archaological preservation on show, but the town is forever associated with that disaster. So, what if it wasn’t? What if 20 years after the eruption one Roman family came back and spent generations rebuilding the city. This is what Pompeii: The Legacy is all about.
The city building game puts you at the head of this family, as you need to manage supply and demand, your own political skills, and the social hierarchy of the Roman Empire all at once. You need to research technology and philosophy to thrive, all while catastrophic events like eruptions, earthquakes, and locust swarms impact the daily lives of your people. It’s just like the planning and modern management of Cities Skylines, dialed back 2,000 years.
If you want to learn even more ahead of trying Pompeii: The Legacy yourself, I interviewed solo developer Zeljko Kos last year, and learned exactly why they’re taking us back in time. There are plenty of in-depth mechanics to get excited about, too, if you’re one for getting lost in the details.
Siscia Games has launched the Pompeii: The Legacy playtest now, and insists that there’s no waiting or approval required to play, you just need to hit the “request access” button. You don’t have forever to try it, though, as the playtest only runs until Monday March 31. The full game is slated for 2025, you can find out more here.
We also have all the best strategy games and management games, if Pompeii: The Legacy’s playtest isn’t enough for you.
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