Alea Jacta Est

About

"Alea Jacta Est" is a turn-based strategy game set in the ancient Roman Republic and Empire. Players can experience the rise and fall of Rome, commanding armies, managing provinces, and engaging in political intrigue. The game features a detailed simulation of ancient warfare, with a focus on historical accuracy and tactical decision-making. With multiple scenarios and campaigns, "Alea Jacta Est" offers a rich and immersive experience for fans of historical strategy games.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

72%

Audience ScoreBased on 106 reviews

graphics6 positive mentions

optimization4 negative mentions

Alea Jacta Est offers a deep and historically accurate simulation of Roman warfare, focusing heavily on logistics and strategic planning.
The game features a beautiful 2D map of the Mediterranean and Middle East, along with superb unit counters that enhance the gameplay experience.
Despite its steep learning curve, players find the game rewarding and immersive, especially with the help of tutorials and community resources.

The game suffers from performance issues, including slow turn processing and occasional crashes, particularly on Windows 10.
Many players find the user interface confusing and the tutorial insufficient, making it difficult to grasp the complex mechanics.
The AI can be frustratingly slow, taking up to 30 seconds to process turns, which can disrupt the flow of gameplay.

graphics
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
59%
14%
The game's graphics are described as simple and functional, prioritizing clarity over visual flair, which some players appreciate for ease of navigation. While the aesthetic is not elaborate, it effectively supports the game's complex mechanics and historical accuracy. However, there are calls for improvements, particularly in battle graphics, to enhance the overall experience without overwhelming the gameplay.
- “As for the technical aspects, the game features nice graphics (nothing too fancy, but makes the map very easy to read, and this is by far more important than seeing a lot of tiny legionaries and hoplites swinging swords and spears...) and decent score (nothing to be thrilled of, and a bit repetitive on long scenarios); turn processing is a bit slow on low-end computers, even if I play AJE even on a rudimentary Celeron N2840 powered, 2GB RAM netbook.”
- “Good grief... such a simple concept, a simple aesthetic, a simple approach to a complex time period (which tempts us with potentiality), and a simple interface.”
- “The only fault of the game is geography, the region/city names in Gallia Cisalpina are all shifted to the east, between wrong rivers... but the other issues are very beautiful and you forget these weird geographical errors...”
- “If you have the capability to even run this game smoothly, you might as well not even play the damn thing and just go play a Total War title on ultra settings and spiffy graphics mods to boot.”
- “Good grief... such a simple concept, a simple aesthetic, a simple approach to a complex time period (which tempts us with potential), and a simple interface.”
- “It's like they got toward the end of the design and saw the UI looked ugly without artwork, but simultaneously realized they needed two more buttons.”
gameplay
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
50%
21%
The gameplay is complex and challenging, requiring a deep understanding of intricate mechanics, which may be daunting for newcomers. While the historical accuracy and depth are praised, the lack of a clear tutorial and poor explanations of unit stats hinder the overall experience. Additionally, the limited save functionality disrupts the immersive "just one more turn" feeling that many players seek.
- “It has no fancy graphics or UI, and it's very complex to understand and master the game mechanics, but it's profound and very challenging, besides its historical accuracy.”
- “Good game to get you introduced to Ageod's game mechanics.”
- “The historic setting is really well done.”
- “It has no fancy graphics or UI and it's very complex to understand and master the game mechanics, but it's profound and very challenging, besides its historical accuracy.”
- “Currently, I can save the game every 5 turns or so, and in the event of a crash, just reload back in and carry on, but that ruins the gameplay for that 'just one more turn' moment.”
- “It was my first Ageod game, so naturally, I had no previous basic knowledge of the game's mechanics.”
optimization
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
50%
29%
The game's optimization has received significant criticism, with users reporting poor performance across multiple systems and a lack of improvements despite attempts to optimize settings. While some players noted that installing a specific patch can enhance performance, the overall consensus is that the game suffers from severe optimization issues that detract from the experience.
- “I didn't have any technical issues either. It's good to install the 4GB patch if you have a x64 OS; it improves performance a lot. You can find it in a stickied comment here in the Steam community.”
- “As for performance, this game has never crashed for me; it lags if you're really zoomed out on the map.”
- “I will happily change my review to a recommend if they improve the optimization.”
- “This game has no optimization, none.”
- “However, what leads me to caution others about the game is the extremely poor optimization.”
- “You know this game is going to be a time investment to learn, and that poor optimization is going to drag the whole experience down as it aggregates.”
story
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The story aspect of the game revolves around strategic planning and decision-making, where players spend significant time plotting army movements and political actions based on the outcomes recorded in the game's log. This cyclical process of planning, waiting for turn resolutions, and adjusting strategies creates a narrative of tactical warfare and political maneuvering, ultimately leading to victory or defeat.
- “In order to better understand what was going on while you were waiting for the turn to resolve, you always need to check the game's log and see what transpired, then plot army movements, political decisions, and whatnot for the next turn.”
- “So the most game time you spend plotting for the next game turn, then you await the next 30 days to resolve, read the game's log, plot again, go with the next turn, and rinse and repeat until you are victorious or defeated.”
- “You spend most of your time plotting for the next game turn, which makes the overall experience feel tedious and repetitive.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users report significant stability issues, noting that the game frequently freezes after resolving a turn, causing delays before transitioning to battle screens.
- “You resolve a turn, and the game basically freezes until you get to a battle screen.”