Caesar™ 3

About

"Caesar III" is a city-building strategy game set in the Roman Empire, where players must design and manage cities to keep citizens happy and meet imperial demands. The game offers an isometric view, with citizens and resources accurately simulated to create a realistic Roman city experience. Players must balance various aspects of city life, such as housing, food, entertainment, and sanitation, to ensure growth and prosperity.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

93%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,122 reviews

gameplay35 positive mentions

stability13 negative mentions

Caesar III is considered one of the best city-building games of all time, offering a rich and engaging experience.
The game has aged well, with charming visuals and deep gameplay mechanics that keep players engaged.
It provides a nostalgic trip for many players, evoking fond memories of childhood gaming.

The game suffers from technical issues, including sound looping and compatibility problems with modern systems.
The user interface and graphics feel dated, which may deter new players unfamiliar with older games.
Some gameplay mechanics, such as AI pathing and resource management, can be frustrating and lead to challenges in city management.

gameplay
105 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
64%
3%
The gameplay of Caesar III is characterized by its deep and rewarding city-building mechanics, requiring players to balance resource management, population needs, and strategic planning while navigating unique challenges like invasions and natural disasters. Despite its age, the game retains a nostalgic charm with engaging mechanics and charming visuals, though some players note that the learning curve can be steep due to obscure mechanics and dated design elements. Overall, it offers a satisfying blend of strategy and creativity, making it a classic in the city-building genre.
- “Managing your building and path placement is absolutely crucial, because one of the game's most unique mechanics involves 'walkers', which are basically units that travel, deliver, and provide services.”
- “Balancing the needs of your population while managing limited resources and responding to various challenges, such as invasions or natural disasters, keeps the gameplay engaging and rewarding.”
- “The gameplay is easy to get, but hard to master.”
- “The prosperity rating is some sort of psychological torture disguised as a game mechanic.”
- “The biggest issue with the vanilla experience are market priorities, pathing, and the walker mechanic for delivering services.”
- “The nagging I want to nag is a result of the obscure mechanics that one needs to know before city planning evolves from trial and error to actual planning.”
graphics
103 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
65%
9%
The graphics of Caesar III are characterized by charming sprite-based visuals that evoke nostalgia, despite being dated by modern standards. While some players appreciate the game's vibrant colors and detailed animations, others find the graphics limiting and prone to technical issues on contemporary systems. Overall, the art style retains a timeless charm that appeals to fans of classic city-building games, though it may not satisfy those seeking high-end visuals.
- “The game's aesthetic simplicity does not detract from its beauty; instead, it enhances the nostalgic feel, reminding players of an era when gameplay and creativity took precedence over high-end graphics.”
- “The 2D visuals, characterized by their vibrant colors and detailed animations, imbue the game with a timeless charm.”
- “Despite the passage of time, the art style holds up remarkably well.”
- “After playing with compatibility settings, I could run it in windowed mode, but when I try to click to another app, it doesn't redraw graphics correctly and I cannot even navigate to exit from the game.”
- “Limited by its 2D graphics for players seeking more visually advanced games.”
- “Not only does it manage to play worse than the original 00s game, but it's also so buggy that just changing resolution broke the graphics so thoroughly that it rendered the game unplayable.”
story
60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
83%
5%
The story aspect of the game is generally considered weak, with many users noting a lack of engaging narrative despite the presence of a mission-based structure. While the missions provide a variety of challenges and replayability, the overarching storyline does not captivate players, and the focus is more on gameplay mechanics and city-building strategies than on a compelling plot. Overall, the game is appreciated for its mission design and nostalgic value, but it falls short in delivering a rich narrative experience.
- “The game also features a clever mission-based structure, which gradually introduces players to more complex scenarios.”
- “Real rich story as well and good narrator, all kinds of story paths.”
- “The early game of most career missions is characterized by a race to set up export industry & sufficient military, while combating a lack of funds and population.”
- “That being said, it has to be noted that the storyline is not very engaging (though the voice acting is adequate) and the mechanics (especially the logistics) can be hard to master, and the AI of some of the workers don't always make sense, making the game somewhat frustrating at times.”
- “This leads directly to another issue: every single mission past the 2nd one, whether peaceful or warlike, will have nonstop enemy invasions.”
- “Ultimately enduring the game is miserable, as you experience serial arsonist-level fires nonstop no matter how many praefectures you build, pretty much nonstop invasions even on peaceful missions, having to place countless reservoirs and almost as many miles of aqueduct as miles of road, setting down fountains and seeing a house 4 blocks away saying it needs access to water.”
music
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
55%
8%
The music in the game is widely praised for its outstanding quality and immersive orchestral soundtrack, often described as soothing and nostalgic. However, many users report frustrating audio bugs, including looping tracks and repetitive environmental sounds, which detract from the overall experience. Despite these issues, the soundtrack remains a highlight, with players expressing a desire for it to be more accessible, such as on streaming platforms.
- “The soundtrack is a real banger!”
- “The orchestral soundtrack is complex and very immersive.”
- “Musically it's a masterpiece.”
- “Annoying audio bug sometimes causing the music to loop only a few seconds over and over, as well as city sounds usually repeating the last building or NPC you click on, forever until you click on something else.”
- “The only issue I have with it is that the sound is bugged sometimes and it keeps playing 2-3 seconds of the same song in a loop, and on top of that, any other environmental sound as well.”
- “Been playing for roughly 30 minutes and have had to restart the game now three times because of music loop.”
stability
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
81%
The stability of the game is a mixed bag, with many users reporting significant bugs and glitches that can hinder gameplay, particularly on Windows 11. While some players find it runs well on Windows 10 and 7, others experience severe issues, such as resolution problems and unplayable scenarios. Overall, the game shows potential but requires further tweaks to improve its stability.
- “Even better than I remember it, to be honest, and remarkably bug-free on Windows 10 compared to a lot of old games!”
- “Runs great with no bugs.”
- “The game runs great on Windows 7 and 10.”
- “Not only does it manage to play worse than the original 00s game, but it's also so buggy that just changing resolution broke the graphics so thoroughly that it rendered the game unplayable.”
- “The real problem of this game is how buggy it is.”
- “I don't know if the game is buggy or I'm doing something the game doesn't allow, but I can't trade even though I have the granary full and open route, also set to trade over 0. I can't advance this first scenario (the one after the tutorial). I was excited to play once again, but having this problem in the first scenario seems like a bad investment already for such an old game, already buggy.”
replayability
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
38%
23%
Caesar III is praised for its high replayability, thanks to a variety of missions and a sandbox mode that keeps gameplay fresh and engaging. Players appreciate the nostalgic value and the game's ability to remain enjoyable over the years, especially with community mods that enhance its playability on modern systems. Overall, it is considered a timeless classic that offers significant replay value, making it a worthwhile investment for both new and returning players.
- “Funny how this game is as fun (if not more), complex, and replayable as some of the more 'modern' games that cost $60 and come with a plethora of bugs and/or shady marketing.”
- “With numerous missions and a sandbox mode, Caesar III offers significant replay value.”
- “Has never lost its touch and replayability, even after all these years, is still one of the best.”
- “It is always replayable and worth the time and money, curing boredom with all minor details, and a little military actions intervening commerce, trade, and city building and management.”
optimization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
17%
33%
The game's optimization is a mixed bag; while players appreciate the engaging city-building mechanics, they note significant performance issues and recommend the Augustus mod for improvements. Users express disappointment with the game's smoothness and sound performance, suggesting it falls short compared to other city builders. Overall, there is a consensus that better optimization for current PCs is needed.
- “Install the Augustus mod for some important optimizations!”
- “It feels deceptively simple to learn but gets really complex to master, and there's something so appealing about building the perfect city that runs smoothly.”
- “If the background music and random sound effect performance were improved, then this would be the best among all.”
- “-1 star because the game could be more optimized for current PCs.”
- “Although it may be lacking in performance issues or resolution compared to other city builder games, having objectives on building a city seems clearly fresh.”
grinding
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
Players find that grinding is often necessary to progress, as certain scenarios can feel unbalanced, requiring them to revisit earlier levels to gather resources. While this can be tedious, some still regard the game as the best in its genre despite these challenges.
- “Certain scenarios feel unbalanced, making it hard to progress without grinding through earlier levels to build up resources.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “In my opinion, despite some of the annoying and tedious problems the game has, it is still the best city management game I have ever played.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The atmosphere in the game is highly praised for its immersive music, engaging visuals, and historically rich details, particularly reflecting the Roman Empire era. Players appreciate the well-designed missions and maps that enhance the experience without becoming repetitive, contributing to a captivating overall ambiance.
- “It is atmospheric; the mechanics are fun, the visuals have aged remarkably well, and the mission/map design provides just the right amount of challenge and space to keep engaging the player and escalating the scenario without feeling repetitive.”
- “Music is really important when you play a game, not only because of the atmosphere and theme, but because it adds to the experience.”
- “Pharaoh is incredibly historically detailed, has more features, and more atmosphere to it.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of Caesar III is characterized by its immersive gameplay that can be both heartwarming and emotionally taxing, offering players a wholesome yet occasionally heartbreaking experience.
- “Highly immersive and emotionally straining at times, this is Caesar III.”
- “Heartbreaking.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
The humor in the game is widely appreciated, with players finding it genuinely funny and entertaining. The comedic elements, particularly involving humorous characters or scenarios, contribute significantly to the overall enjoyment.
- “This game is hilarious!”
- “The humor in this game is top-notch!”
- “I love the funny characters and their witty dialogue!”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization of the game is perceived as exploitative, with users labeling it a "cash grab." Despite this, some players appreciate the value added by mods like the Augustus mod, which enhances the gameplay experience in an otherwise established city builder.
- “That's when you know this is a cash grab and nothing more.”