Supreme Ruler Ultimate
- October 16, 2014
- BattleGoat Studios
- 322h median play time
Get on Steam"Supreme Ruler Ultimate" is a real-time strategy game that allows players to control any nation in the world and manage its military, economy, and politics. Players can engage in strategic warfare, form alliances, and utilize diplomacy to achieve their goals. The game features a detailed sandbox mode and a variety of historical and modern scenarios, with a focus on deep customization options and realistic military simulations.
Mac OS
PC
Windows
Reviews
- In-depth military and economic simulation with a vast tech tree and numerous unit types.
- High replayability with various scenarios and the ability to play as any nation from 1936 to 2020.
- Active developer support with regular updates and responsiveness to community feedback.
- AI is often incompetent, leading to illogical military actions and poor diplomatic decisions.
- Game performance significantly slows down after several in-game years, making it unplayable for some users.
- The user interface is clunky and overwhelming, making it difficult for new players to navigate and understand.
- gameplay140 mentions
- 26 % positive mentions
- 70 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The gameplay of Supreme Ruler Ultimate is characterized by its complex mechanics and deep strategic elements, offering an immersive experience for players who enjoy micromanagement and tactical planning. However, the steep learning curve, confusing UI, and some underdeveloped mechanics, particularly in diplomacy and AI behavior, can detract from the overall enjoyment. While the game provides extensive modding options and a rich variety of tasks, it may require significant time investment to fully grasp its systems.
“The game's complex mechanics and realistic military simulations create an immersive and challenging experience that never gets old.”
“The game also features extensive modding and customization options, which add even more depth and variety to the gameplay.”
“If you enjoy tactical planning and engagement theory, this game tops anything I've ever played in my life thus far. This game eclipses that level of gameplay by about a million times over, bringing about 1000 manageable tasks to handle on a daily basis to effectively manage a country.”
“What is the point of playing a game that takes hundreds of hours to understand the mechanics?”
“Unfortunately the actual gameplay falls on its face.”
“The game is slower, and some of the mechanics I just don’t like.”
- graphics102 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely regarded as outdated, with many reviewers noting that they resemble those from the late 90s and lack significant improvements since previous iterations. While some players appreciate the unique art style and gameplay mechanics, others criticize the clunky interface and poor visual quality, suggesting that the graphics detract from the overall experience. Despite these shortcomings, many agree that the gameplay itself compensates for the lack of visual appeal, making it more suitable for those focused on strategy rather than aesthetics.
“Ultimate is great for the huge selection of historical and fictional maps, but coming back here does make it clear how much improved SR2030 is in the interface, graphics, and new features.”
“Land features and geography are hex-based and each hex is meticulously modeled and based on real-world geographical data, and the game also includes a dynamic weather simulation that can affect combat.”
“However, it does look better than the older games; it uses the SR1936 engine and graphics, which makes it much prettier than the old games like Cold War and SR2020 and 2010.”
“Don't bother buying it unless you love watching grass grow and playing broken unplayable campaigns and scenarios in a game that has the graphics from the 90s.”
“The graphics are bad, the GUI is terrible to use, and overall the game is poorly done, even for an indie.”
“It's poorly optimized, incredibly slow-paced, graphically ugly, and there's no transparency to how anything works.”
- optimization58 mentions
- 7 % positive mentions
- 72 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received significant criticism, particularly for its poor performance on multi-core processors and noticeable slowdowns in late-game scenarios, even on high-end systems. While some patches have improved performance slightly, many players still experience severe lag and recommend caution before purchasing. Overall, the game's optimization issues detract from an otherwise enjoyable experience, leading to mixed recommendations from users.
“Great game, one of the best grand strategy games out there and it runs smoothly on pretty much any computer.”
“They have continued to patch the game and improve the performance, and while you definitely still see slowdown, it's nowhere near as bad as it was before.”
“Really enjoying having all the Supreme Ruler games wrapped into one so far, and I excitedly await further optimizations and improvements by BattleGoat soon.”
“Massive downside: the game is poorly optimized for multi-core processors and as far as I can tell, only runs on a single core.”
“While this seems like a very fun game, I cannot recommend it due to severe performance issues.”
“It's poorly optimized, incredibly slow-paced (even more slow-paced than Paradox games if you can believe it), graphically ugly, and there's no transparency to how anything works.”
- stability54 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability remains a significant concern, with numerous reports of screen freezes, crashes, and persistent bugs that hinder gameplay. While some users note improvements over the years, many still describe it as a "buggy mess" that can become unplayable after extended sessions. Overall, despite occasional fun moments, the stability issues are a major drawback that detracts from the overall experience.
“The game freezes and crashes; I tried everything to fix it.”
“They keep adding new features, which is great, but they absolutely fail when it comes to fixing these issues that have existed forever. If you continue a game long enough, it devolves into a slow, buggy slog that becomes very difficult to tolerate.”
“The game is still loaded with bugs, glitches, and crashes regardless of your system.”
- replayability32 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 66 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
Supreme Ruler Ultimate is praised for its exceptional replayability, offering a vast array of scenarios, campaigns, and playable nations that enhance its strategic depth. Players can engage in countless hours of gameplay due to the extensive timeline and detailed mechanics, making it a game that invites repeated playthroughs. The combination of historical accuracy, a comprehensive tech tree, and dynamic diplomatic relations further contributes to its high replay value.
“With its impressive depth, replayability, and historical accuracy, it's a game that you can enjoy for hours on end.”
“The huge timespan, combined with the various scenarios, campaigns, and sandboxes seem to promise quite a lot of replay value, especially as diplomatic relations are another important aspect of international relations and not – as in other wargames – an afterthought.”
“The game spans through an extensive timeline with many different countries, scenarios, and campaigns to play allowing for a ton of replayability.”
“The choices are overwhelming, but it offers large replayability.”
- grinding26 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players frequently describe the grinding aspect of the game as tedious, particularly in terms of unit management and economic controls, which can detract from the overall enjoyment. The lack of streamlined options for managing trade requests and troop organization adds to the frustration, making significant actions feel cumbersome. While some players appreciate the ability to delegate tasks to AI, the micromanagement required for various game elements often feels overwhelming and unfulfilling.
“But every time I have the urge to do something big like take the Caucasus oil fields as Germany, I give up after 20 minutes because unit management is so unnecessarily tedious.”
“It’s not a bad game; it’s actually kind of fun. However, it’s disappointing that trade embargos and UN resolutions are not included in the diplomacy section, which makes the game somehow tedious since raising an army takes forever. It would be nice to be able to affect countries economically without having to resort to war.”
“Way too tedious to learn for too little return.”
- story18 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 61 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The story in "Supreme Ruler Ultimate" is described as lacking depth and flavor, with some players noting that it doesn't progress significantly. However, the game combines elements from previous titles and offers engaging scenarios, particularly in its WWII missions, where players can strategize and interact with AI opponents. While the interface may be initially complicated, it becomes manageable, allowing for creative gameplay within the campaign and scenario modes.
“The interface is complicated at first but easy to get used to, and the campaign and scenario modes offer a lot of cool ideas and story.”
“[b]Story:[/b] Supreme Ruler Ultimate combines all previous Supreme Ruler games into one.”
“In the WWII mission, when I play Germany from the beginning and am busy upgrading and preparing for the next invasion, I find myself forced to jump thanks to Italy (AI) jumping the gun and beginning to siege territory (France first) that would have been mine to absorb.”
“This is just fine with me, I usually find the graphics in games look stupid and cartoonish while storylines are hackneyed crap.”
“In the WWII mission, when I play as Germany from the beginning and am busy upgrading and preparing for the next invasion, I find myself forced to jump because Italy (AI) jumps the gun and begins sieging territory (France first) that would have been mine to absorb.”
“Doesn't progress story.”
- humor14 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is highlighted by its absurd scenarios, such as the breakdown of the world economy and the comedic consequences that follow, which players find unexpectedly entertaining. Additionally, the ability to manipulate the market in outrageous ways, like artificially inflating oil prices, adds a layer of dark humor. However, some players also note that the game's technical issues and lengthy playtime contribute to a frustrating yet amusing experience.
“Also, you can meddle in the world market with enough cash: for example, I can buy up oil reserves and make the barrel price skyrocket worldwide (not entirely practical but it's an effective way to piss everyone off at once--and is also pretty funny).”
“Short order being a hilarious concept of this since the game takes forever to play.”
“And all of them were the same result, the world economy breaks down and it's plain funny what happens later.”
- music8 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The music in the game features unique tracks for major countries, which some players find appealing; however, the repetitive nature of the soundtrack, often recycled from previous titles in the series, leads to frustration and annoyance over time.
“Major countries have their own unique music that enhances the gameplay experience.”
“The soundtrack features distinct tunes for each major country, adding depth to the atmosphere.”
“The music is engaging and complements the game's themes, making each session enjoyable.”
“The same music is going to play over and over again and will make you snap.”
“The same music tends to get annoying with the same song over and over.”
“The soundtrack is recycled from other Supreme Ruler games.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy has been criticized as a cash grab, but players find value in mods that enhance the game experience, making it more worthwhile despite the financial concerns.
“The monetization feels like a cash grab, overshadowing the actual gameplay experience.”
“The game's monetization strategy is frustrating and detracts from the overall enjoyment.”
“It seems like the developers prioritize profits over player satisfaction with their aggressive monetization tactics.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is criticized for its lack of depth, as players feel frustrated by the AI's inability to engage in meaningful conflict, leading to a repetitive cycle of ceasefires that diminishes the emotional stakes of warfare.
