If you can never get enough of the Roman Empire, Songs of Steel: Hispania might be worth a look. The game is available on Steam for only 20 euros.
What kind of game is this? Songs of Steel: Hispania is a turn-based strategy game. In it, you experience the conflict between the expanding Roman Republic and the Celtic-Iberian people of Numantia, who lived in present-day Spain.
You can experience the conflict from both the Roman and Numantian perspectives. On the Roman side, you play as the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus (the Younger), who later became known as the destroyer of Carthage, Rome’s famous arch-enemy. On the side of Numantia, characters like Rhetogenes and Leuco await.
On Steam, Songs of Steel: Hispania is available for just 19.99 euros. There you will also find a free demo if you just want to take a peek. In the official launch trailer, the developers briefly introduce their game and the conflict it covers.
You can watch this trailer here:
What makes Songs of Steel: Hispania recommendable? The Roman campaigns on the Iberian Peninsula are rarely addressed in video games. For this reason alone, Songs of Steel: Hispania already has the advantage of using an unexplored setting.
The player reviews on Steam are 92% positive; however, there are currently only 38 of them. For this reason, we would call it a hidden gem in this case.
Strategic battles with significant decisions
How does Songs of Steel: Hispania play? MeinMMO has already played the demo of the strategy game. It feels like a mix between XCOM and the battles in Civilization. On the battlefield, you control troop formations and heroes on a hexagonal grid. Who wins is often determined by terrain, flanking maneuvers, and troop morale.
With each battle won, your surviving troops gain experience. In the camp, you can equip them with new weapons, thereby improving their combat strength. So you should be careful not to waste the lives of your soldiers unnecessarily.
Between battles, you make decisions that will impact your campaign. How you behave in certain situations, for example, influences the morale of your soldiers or how other characters perceive you. Additionally, you must manage your supply resources wisely.
The battles also play out nicely challenging, so even veterans should have fun with them. However, some reviews criticize that they can sometimes be too restrictive. The game often dictates how many units you can lose in a battle or how quickly you must win. Also, the size of your army is currently limited.
At its core, it is a good strategy game with some solid mechanics – both the positive and most negative reviews agree on that. For this reason, we would recommend trying out the demo first. If you purchase the game and end up not liking it, you can still take advantage of the return option on Steam.
The long and complicated history of the Roman Empire served as inspiration for the developers of Civilization 7 for their biggest new feature. You can read more about it here: Civilization 7 explains why, after 33 years, they are changing a fundamental principle of the series, even though it scares everyone
