Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2016
Caesar™ IV
Developer Tilted Mill Entertainment, Inc.
Caesar IV is a city-building game set in ancient Rome, developed by Tilted Mill Entertainment and published by Sierra Entertainment (Vivendi Universal Games). The game was released on September 26, 2006, in North America. The game features a three-dimensional game engine and individual modeling of game character behaviors. Like the original Caesar in 1992, the game simulates city administration in historical Rome. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
169 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Mastodon) · newest Oct 2, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
74
Fresh
124 positive · 43 negative
95% range 67–80%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 124 | 43 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
2 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
617 of 876 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 169 · most liked firstI love this game and wanted to play it again. I just bought it on Steam and it won't launch, I get an error message. I see there are solutions to launch it but I can't be bothered to fiddle around when I paid the game. It should work directly.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I loved this game and have returned to it several times over the years. It required some workarounds to run on windows 10 and 11 PCs, but unfortunately they no longer seem to work for at least some players (myself included). I suppose I got my money's worth out of it, since I have owned it for years, but I would caution anyone looking to buy it now to reconsider.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you're using Windows 11, I strongly advise against purchasing this game. While there are workarounds, such as disabling UAC or running the game in compatibility mode, these solutions compromise your system's security. UAC exists for a reason, and disabling it isn't worth the risk. I highly recommend keeping it enabled and avoiding games that require such measures. I’ve requested a refund.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game, despite its ripe age (A.D. 2006), still manages to be entertaining and looks quite modern. Some mechanics may look a bit dated if you're used to recent city builders, but it can still provide lots of fun! Generally the difficulty spike is high, and the game doesn't allow you to modify terrain once you're building your city and that creates some "holes" in your city due to uneven terrain. No compatibility issue with Windows 10. If you're looking for a city builder you may want to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →To execute the game without crashing on launch: 1) Navigate to the game's installation directory (steam library's "steamapps\common\Caesar 4" directory. Open the C4 sub-directory. Execute, as Administrator, the RegisterDLL.bat batch file. 2) Might be optional: * Open the Compatibility tab in the properties of CaesarIV.exe. Check the "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" checkbox and select "Windows XP (Service Pack 3)" (SP2 works too). Click OK. This should allow the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For those who have seen the negative reviews stating that the game doesn't run, there is a guide provided that can help get the game to run just fine on Windows 11. Despite how relatively dated it is and its imperfections, this game has maintained my interest for many, many years and I feel it is better made all-around than its predecessors. It's a great city-builder and it's quite fun to build a city a variety of different ways. The few negative points to note: - There is a bug on a few of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I got the game just to see if it runs in Windows 11 due to bad reviews about that. There is a registerdll.bat file in the C4 dir, run it as admin and then load the game. It runs just fine in 4k.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game does work on Windows 11. To get it to work I downloaded and installed the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Service Pack 1 Redistributable Package for both x86 and x64. Then navigate to the installation directory of the game. The default location is under C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Caesar 4\C4. Then find and run the "RegisterDLL.bat" file in this directory as an administrator. Relaunch the game and it should now work.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the game lost his essence on this one, they tried to focus into the graphics and forgot that the simplicity made Caesar 3 so fun.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Don't download it if you're running any version of Windows past 2022. It just won't work.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I actually do recommend you get this game actually, just not on Steam. Do NOT get the STEAM version. DO get from a store for Good Games that are Old, if you get my drift. The Steam version does not run as well as that version. It's a very simple historic city builder from the Vista era. Build a Roman city, balance your resources, defend from barbarians, don't piss off the gods, don't piss off Rome, etc. etc.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →doesnt launch, gives a popup with runtime error
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game was part of my childhood i remember using utorrent an pirate bay to play caesar 3 when i was 11 on a crappy pc that had half a gb of ram. now that i return at 28 the feeling is crazy its such a classic.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not playable on Windows 11
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game will not run! It never has since I purchased it. I get a run time error. Very frustrated
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game does not launch. I could never play it, I never received support, and I was never able to return the purchase.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Loved this game 2 decades ago, and still love this game today. The resource management and objectives keep you on your feet. It is absolutely criminal that this game does not have a sequel with modernized graphics and new challenges
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After days of trying, finally got this to work on linux (bazzite). Here's how for anyone trying to get it working on Linux. Hope this helps someone else. Now time for me to get back into building a tiny part of Rome. GE-Proton Compatibility settings (Run the game once so it creates a fresh prefix) - Get it via ProtonPlus and completely restart Steam. protontricks 517810 vcrun2005 protontricks 517810 d3dx9 protontricks 517810 dotnet20sp1 protontricks 517810 dotnet40 protontricks 517810…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was unable to run the game. It seemed to run in the background while I was unable to play it, so 13,5 hours of playtime were recorded although I never could access the game. Steam refused to refund because of the playtime recorded on my account. Do not buy
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good strategy (city builder) game! 8/10 + Good sequel. + Good visual style. + Good atmosphere of the the Roman Empire era. + Good gameplay. + Good replayability. + Good city building and management. Feel like a real ruler of a Roman city! P.S. How to run "Caesar IV" on Windows 10/11! 1. Browse through Steam "Caesar 4" files. For example: C:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\Caesar 4 2. Open the "C4" folder. 3. Run as administrator file "RegisterDLL.bat". 4. Launch the game (Launcher "Caesar4" or…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →(6/10) I had this game when I was still a child and I was very glad to find it on Steam. It is still a very fun game to play after all these years. If you like strategy and building games, you might wanna catch this one on sale. ---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☐ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☑ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game doesn't launch!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game that got me into PC gaming. It was more intricate than my child brain could comprehend. Nearly 20 years later here is me completing it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unable to load game due to runtime errors, which looks like several other people are experiencing. It's a shame really I Enjoyed the game back in the day! Unfortunately Lazy developers that don't look after their games and wont make a small update to fix this problem. But still have the cheek to list this game for sale on steam.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game made back when Activision was concern about quality instead of sucking the maximum amount of money out of consumers. Doesn't run at first. You have to do little minor tweaks to get it working. People that say the game doesn't run just couldn't be bothered for even 2 min. I guess they don't have google or something.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →game will no longer works. be aware.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played Ceasar 3 over 25 years ago (typing that made me feel quite old) - this version holds a lot of similarities, which was nice. There were obvious upgrades to the graphics and a few improved rules for upgrading city features that I welcomed. But the game held interest as it became more progressively challenging. Like other builder games, this is one that I can come back to periodically, but need to bring a lot of time and patience as I move further along the campaign :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game could have been great, but it is full of bugs and extremely bad design decisions. Fires sometimes spread and even if you have 50 prefectures, your prefects don't extinguish the fires. Armies are impossible to control and follow clunky animations instead. They will charge on sight if they see an enemy, so you can't strategically control the fights. In some scenarios, you need to read online guides to figure out why you are not winning, because you could never guess why yourself.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unable to play Caesar IV on [window 11], i have tried install DirectX 9 and later 11, but it doesn't help, i also checked on you-tube and steam/reddit for a solution, but to no avail, to be honest i like this game haven't played for a longtime, so i want to play it again, but unfortunately i have to give a thumbs down. sorry for my English it is not my first language.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →doesnt work runtime error. and yall knew and still sold it
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Caesar 4 disappoints with its inability to launch, consistently giving a runtime error upon startup, rendering it unplayable. This critical flaw severely undermines any potential enjoyment of the game, leaving players frustrated and unable to experience its content. Despite any merits the game may possess, its fundamental inability to run renders any positive aspects moot. The persistent runtime error at launch represents a significant failure in the game's development and functionality. Caesar…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Cannot get the game to launch tried everything.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →cant play it! getting a error message saying it requested the runtime to terminate...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The best citybuilder ever! I'll never get tired of it!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I find the game relaxing. No pressure. Sometimes I advance a level. Other times, it takes months.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I used to play this back when it was initially released. Eventually I couldn't play it on my computer anymore, but with the fix listed in the community page here, I can finally enjoy Caesar IV again! I've just finished the initial campaign, and really had fun. It challenged me just as much as it always has, and I still can't get over the music.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →All time favourite. Wish they'd come up with a newer version too
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I found and started playing this game as a teenager, and so at this point it is more of a nostalgic choice than anything else. I always found some aspects of the game infuriating just because I was never able to completely "beat" the game or be wildly successful in building my towns, but like I had mentioned, it has a nostalgic draw to it that I simply just cannot deny. The graphics are older, and plays as such, but if you like SimCity or games similar to that, I have no doubt that you'd like…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Won't start. Tried the Run as Admin trick on previous reviews. Get the message that it can't find D£DX(_29.DLL. Waste of money.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I judged this game rashly earlier but now I can say it is one of my top 10 best games ever played in my life.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If the game does not launch navigate to the install folder > C4 > run RegisterDll.bat as admin. Worked for me. If you played this when you were younger, boy do I have news for you. This is that game you played when you were younger.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →had issues starting on W10 but ubutu is ok
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Caesar IV represents both a continuation and reinvention of one of the most respected city-building series in gaming history. Developed by Tilted Mill Entertainment and published by Activision, the game seeks to modernize the Caesar formula while retaining the complexity and charm that defined its predecessors. Set during the height of the Roman Empire, it places the player in the role of a provincial governor tasked with building prosperous cities, managing trade, ensuring the well-being of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have been playing this game for years, can't get enough and unfortunately never found a better one.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game does not launch, i haven't even play the game yet
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The history, the critical thinking, the patience it requires to be able to build your empire from huts to coliseums, to empires makes it one of the most intelligent and entertaining games I had ever seen and played...
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really enjoyed Caesar 3, so thought I would give this a try. If you're running on Windows 10 or later, you'll need some tweaks to get it running (see details in many of the "Most Helpful Reviews"). The graphics are an improvement over the previous titles in the series, but I'd say that while this a good game, and I enjoyed it, I didn't enjoy it as much as the old classic Caesar 3. Caesar 4 is a city building game, where you need homes for people to live in, fields to grow crops, minerals…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Despite it's kinks, it is still the best city builder out there.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →GAMEFAILS TO DOWNLOAD OR START. WARNING THERE IS NO SUPPORT FOR THIS SOFTWARE!!!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →do not buy this game on modern hardware the game lancher opens but the game never does i tryed troblue shooting but it still doesnt work 1/10 dont buy
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Caesar 4 is a great Roman city builder; for me, it's my favorite. The graphics aren't bad for this game being 20 years old; getting the game running is not great, but it's an easy fix. Gameplay itself is your normal city builder, but Roman. The wrath of the gods does add a little jazz to the game, along with the voice lines of the citizens when clicked on. Overall it's a good game if you like city builders and a great game if you enjoy Roman city builders.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Caesar IV is one of those rare games I always end up returning to. It constantly steals hours of my time in the best way possible. Some missions — especially the ones where you have to manage a military force and keep up with Caesar’s demands — can be really challenging, and I’ve had to restart them more times than I can count. But that’s exactly what makes the game brilliant: it forces you to rethink your strategy and adapt. It’s on another level compared to most city-builders I’ve played,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still one of the best city building games!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you don't play this game, you are missing out. Don't miss out. Don't be a loser. Play this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still great almost 20 years later and runs like a champ! The Caesar games were fantastic I wish there were more!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Flashing lights when you are playing which is impossible to resolve.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun game, played it when I was 16, 38 now and still enjoying it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Caesar IV: One of my favorite games of all time. It is beautiful, I find the graphics timeless and I still smile when I load it up. This game really nailed the balance of managing a city from a detailed versus overview perspective in a way that other city-builder games like Cities Skylines and Sim City have never come close to in my opinion. Every little guy you see running around your towm has a home and a job and it just feels like such a great simulation. You get to see a worker go to his…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Never loaded, had to get refund. Tried reinstalling twice & multiple reboots. Sad because I loved the rest of the Caesar series
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →ITs a great game, unfortunately I can no longer get it to run on any of my Win 11 computers.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
Posts are quoted from public profiles with links to the original. Want yours removed? Contact us.