Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game
Game2008
Imperium Romanum Gold Edition
Developer Haemimont Games
The city builder strategy game Imperium Romanum is set in the time-honoured Roman Empire. As governor of a Roman province, you will devise a strategy to build a well organised, prosperous and commanding settlement. Its fortune very much lies in your own hands. From the Steam store page
184 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Sep 10, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
80
LovedLoved
145 positive · 36 negative
95% range 74–85%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 145 | 36 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
3 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
411 of 484 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 184 · most liked firstIt's hard to look at a Roman city-building game and not think of the venerable Caesar series, but I encourage you to put it out of your mind. There are no wandering agents and maze-like roadways to be found here, but there is some solid construction and management. Having more in common with titles like Children of the Nile or Tropico, Imperium Romanum takes a simple system and spreads it across a bewildering array of scenarios and challenges. Each scenario sets you as the praetor of a city…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Although you will NEVER have a positive reputation, this game is still one of the best RTS games I've EVER played. I love this game so much. My only advice? WELLS. TONS AND TONS OF WELLS. If you do not build wells... WELL, just build wells.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pros: ✅ Despite its age, it still looks nice. ✅ City building game with a wide variety of buildings. ✅ Easily understandable economy system. Cons: ❌ Battles are too easy and simplistic.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It shouldn't be much of a surprise that the developer of the last three Tropico games was involved here. This is a solid city builder in the spirit of classics like the Caesar series. Playing through all of the various scenarios could take you hundreds of hours, yet so far they don't feel like simple crapware bloat. While there is a system for military forces, it's not strongly emphasized and feels more like a police force against foreign invaders. But then again, you're playing a city builder.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Childhood memory.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have maybe 100 games in my Steam list. This is one of the few I return to every few months to play again. Addictive city builder with just enough combat to keep it interesting. Should be part of everyone's game inventory.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What a pleasure this game is. Beautiful today, let alone for its age. Buy it on sale, or not. If you can ramp up the settings it looks gorgeous. Charming day and night cycle. Just Do It. And at the $2 price, it's worth it just to play the tutorial.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →We just going to list games till we run of space. Mr. Prepper Lazy Galaxy 2 The Hong Kong Massacre Ashina: The Red Witch Imperium Romanum Gold Edition Call of Juarez Trepang2 Total War: PHARAOH DYNASTIES Griftlands My Little Universe Gravity Circuit Sir Whoopass™: Immortal Death Ynglet
unlabelledView post →Sweet city builder with a bit of combat involved. Easy and very chill, just do your thing and be the boss.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Many years ago i found a disc of this game and i really enjoyed it. After a few years i lost the disc, but wanted to play it. It wasn't easy, since the games title isn't very good to memorize. Anyways i like this game and it gave me hours of fun ---{Graphics}--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☐ Beautiful ☐ Good ☑ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ Paint.exe ---{Gameplay}--- ☐ Addictive like heroin ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ It‘s just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Starring at walls is better ☐ Just don‘t…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Though the graphics aren't top notch, but well done for its age. The gameplay is great. The detail is fantastic. When you give the people jobs you can actually see them doing their jobs (Example.. Butcher cuts meat, wine maker stomps grapes, and this is with every job. You will see them visit the tavern, and the barmaids wipe the tables. You will see them pray). Trees grow back even those you plant which is free. The roads are free. It can be crazy if you follow the campaign and it takes some…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Although this game belongs to more than a decade ago, it still looks and more importantly sounds amazing in 2023. It helps the player to plan a city in Ancient Rome when they listen to well made musical pieces. I recommend this to people who are looking after an old but gold city building game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Old but still good and interesting. Not as dense as Banished of course, but still has its own elements that can drags you to hours of playing. I liked that they also have combat which isn't available in many city-building games, Banished included. Though, I recommend buying it on sale.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I only have 6 hours on steam, however, I bought this game on disk probably ten years ago, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to own it digitally. I have probably a hundred hours in total and I still love it. The level of detail is impressive, and the background music is fantastic. This game is definitely for anyone who is: 1. Looking for a soothing game to relax to. 2. Looking for a stressful game to challenge themselves (yes, the difficultly can rage that much depending on what scenario…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's just not good. People will rebel over not having goods when they're there and some are just too stupid to fetch them. One of the rebels actually complained about a lack of temples when living right next to it. This game is just lackluster.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Well worth the price. Extremely enjoyable.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So... I really wanted to like this game. I liked the tutorial, it was really easy to get, was fun to do, not too long, not confusing. After I started a scene. For a while everything was good, worked well, when I had already a pretty advanced settlement, the game crushed. I tried to load again and it offered me settings to downgrade from ultra to low. Wtf? I tried to load the game with the original ultra settings, as I tried to place something, the game crushed. And after this save never loaded…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My childhood lol.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →-Video Review- https://youtu.be/Wi2AM6l2lFw If you want a written version of the review, I am providing a "normal" written review which will contain more of a standard review review, they will not be exact copies, I'll move more of my humor into my video review, so please do check it out if you have the time! If not, read on! -Quick Review- Imperium Romanum: Gold Edition is a Romen City Builder Simulation game developed by Haemimont Games and released Oct 30, 2008. Haemimont Games published…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Building Roman cities sounds great on paper, but the clunky mechanics and frustrating economy make it a chore. It has its nostalgic moments, but the gameplay gets bogged down by repetitive loops and poor balancing. You're better off looking for a smoother city builder.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've been playing this game for years and it has always been one of my favourite games. You can play with or without combat, depending on the scenario, and there are skill levels to suit beginners and experienced players. If you fancy a lazy game, just city building, you can build on for hours, just adding and improving your city, or you can go out for an all out assault on a nearby barbarian village. The graphics are extremely good considering its age, and attention to detail does make it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An old but still very good city builder. Uses the Anno system of progression in which citizens improve as they attain enough of the required resources per lvl. Still looks decent and surprisingly not only supports 3440x1440 ultrawide but also has a good UI that stands the test of time. Many old RTS are unplayable due to garbage antiquated UIs. Tons of content with many campaigns and scenarios. The inner history nerd in me loves these types of games. They are the perfect way to learn about…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →had this game when they sold it as a CD and they gave you a book to read explaining everything about the game. childhood memories 101
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I definitely do recommend this to anyone who enjoys city building, especially with a Roman flair. However, the combat is so lack lustre I think it ought to have been left out. Perhaps they should have focused combat on defence techniques, like allowing soldiers on walls or something, which could have tied the combat to the city-building. I enjoy the city-building and I think that's the game's strong point, by far. As every mine or farm will require housing, and thus service buildings, you'll…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So, I just played my first scenario. Damn, what a great game! It's kinda like ancient roman Tropico, but more fun. My problem with Tropico games and with many City Builders in general has always been the fact, that you could never relax and enjoy your achievements. You know, there's just usually constant problems in the city and not a moment to reflect on the work you've done and admire it. But in this game there are those moments. All the problems are solvable, the progress feels rewarding,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While not living up to the standard set by the Caesar series, it is a very relaxed city-building/management game. Even as old as it is now, the graphics are quite lovely as the building designs and environment are well crafted. The in-game mechanics are simple enough, and the large number of sandbox scenarios, standard campaign and the Rome campaign will give you hours of enjoyment. I received a copy of the game free as part of Kalypso's 10th anniversary event. Not sure I would have paid for…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the older Roman simulation titles. Plays a bit like a Sim-City game, except for all the barbarians, revolts and firestarters. Though I guess those are in place of the natural catastrophes. Controls are not intuitive. Took me a few minutes to find the building I needed to build. And even then, things can proceed differently than you expect. Still for those who remember this game fondly, it is a decent game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a city building game set in Rome. Obviously. But there's a whole lot going on. While that isn't a bad thing, what's bad about it is everything going on is just plain boring. Worth having to play for an hour every now and again to remind yourself why you don't like it. But if I could get a refund, i would.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Underrated -- just a chill tycoon game where you can do your thing.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I won't cover all of the negative aspects that have been discussed in other reviews, but I will re-iterate the absurdity of the "sausage problem". I say to my citizens, "How many F*****g sausages do you need?"
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game, awful lounge music at frequent intervals (seriously, whoever thought that would go well with a Rome themed city builder should've been fired).
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Some buyers complaining about bad graphics. What do you expect? Battlefront 2(EA) Graphics? Its a game from 2008... ======================================= Great stragegy game with historical informations
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of awesome game in its time.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The best Roman civ builder with combat that I ever played, and its about time someone got it right! I bought this when it first came out (retail) and have played it many times. Consists of a whole bunch of campaigns. A challanging game to say the least. Well worth a play-thru or a hundred. Buy this game. Its a classic. Happy Gaming.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Grand Ages: Rome is the same game but a year later, and more updated. So don't get Imperium.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really good real time strategy, kind of Civ+tw
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Even for free, it's not really worth it. It is pretty tedious to play. Instead of ONE city, you really have to make multple cities beside each other. The reason is simple, limited range of all buildings. Want to build a mine a bit of a distance away? have to build a warehouse first, have to build houses too, then have to make temple, have to make taylor, food, etc etc, it snowballs everytime. Make too many houses in one area, automatically have unemployed that can never get jobs. The tropico…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →+ mainly a management game, and a good one at that; + nice variety of missions and objectives; + you can learn about Rome since almost every mission has a bit information about the time period or life in Rome; + detailed enough graphics with a cute score to accompany them; + isn't too easy or too difficult; - the military part of the game is not ideal, but has its purpose; - some frustrating moments. Overall, a great ancient Rome sim city game thingy. Highly recommended.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is not a bad game, but it certainly is underwhelming for people, who played Caesar or similar games with quite annoying game mechanics. Little to no depth. The most annoying thing for me was the evolvement of houses. In Caesar you had full control over where evolvement takes place, since you were the one chosing which goods and services are provided to the neighbourhood. For example, I had whole quarters dedicated to making wine, pottery, oil and so on. Those quarters were provided with…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the BEST roman city builder games i have if not the best.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's pretty good for such an old title, but the genre has definitely evolved since then.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not my cup of tea
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you enjoyed Stronghold, this is very similar and tons of fun. It also has historical fun facts and real events which are enjoyable to play through.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A true successor to the game CivCity Rome, this simulator carries over many of the familiar features of the classic game with numerous improvements. Most significant is that a lot of the micromanagement has been removed, and game is not bogged down by de-evoling houses who don't get every supply they need, even though for instance they live directly next to a butcher, tailor shop, and fruit store yet cant get meat, tunics or fruit. With that said, warehouse management is a bit *too* easy,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →it pretty good reminds me heavily on its predecessor "Glory of the Roman Empire." love the added on improvement to game mechanics and the new rolls that each gender in-game gets to play. Also the new way You can rush buildings, really awesome. don't need the materials just the cash lol.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Average economy game. Not bad, can be alright for a while if you're into this genre, but fails to hold interest beyond one or two games. I don't recommend it as there are many better city builders, but if you've got it in a bundle or can buy it for around 1€, then give it a try if you want.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Plenty to do and not terribly difficult. Nice relaxing game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is my favorite building/economic development game and a very little known masterpiece. I keep coming back to it through the years. This is why: - Easy to pick up but a lot to master in many missions with unique challenges (at least 40 with the added expansion) + free build challenge maps. - Unique game where you build natural cities around resources which then become natural city quarters expanding back to the center if you want to fill the whole huge maps - Very relaxing, with a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →HIGHLY RECOMMENDED CITY SIMULATOR GEM! (Especially for fans of the Roman civilization) I remember playing this game in the distant summer of 2008. It took me a lot of time to understand all of the mechanics, win my first challenging campaign missions and building a big and functioning metropole in a scenario. In my opinion, even after all of these years, it remains one of the best city-sims out there. Every now and then I reinstalled it from the original CD but now I decided to buy it with the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gets old very fast.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →very good citybuilder
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fun and addicting, but wouldn't recommend buying it unless it's on sale.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I feel like this game starts to seriously lack in replayability value over time, The city building aspect is fine, I like the Upkeep system and so on, but there are many smaller things that literally prevents me in my opinion to use whatever map I deem to my wishes and build freely, Terraforming Is one of them this very feature of not being able to change the ground you wish to build on as far as I know, really keeps this title back... And also the Military aspect of this game, is really…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Correction: The individual who requested Imperium Romanum Gold apparently already had it and exchanged the key for Tropico, so we're still at three games, just swapping one out! - Imperium Romanum Gold Edition -Grand Ages: Rome - Patrician III Both my inboxes are still open for those interested.
unlabelledView post →The games fine if you want a city builder in the setting of the Roman Empire, however there is a lack of QOL features that can make it a bit annoying, and the gameplay loop is very casual, after only 4 hours I feel like I've got everything out of this game. Ultimately you can probably find another, newer game that can do what this game tries to do better. Haven't played the sequel yet, but I imagine it probably improves the experience.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'll be honest, the game kinda sucks. There doesn't appear to be a sandbox mode, everything is mission based and the AI is frustrating af. The layout and sphere of influence of most buildings isn't large enough to do anything other than frustrate. Too many arbitrary things going on, very strange progression with save points vs completing a scenario. I was after a city builder in the Roman era. This had potential, but missed the mark in so many ways.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very basic build game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →GOOOOOOOOOOOOD GAME IF U WANNA LOOSE SO MUCH TIME I LOVE IT THE EBST GAME EVER I WILL RECCOMEND IF YOU WANT TO LOOSE YOUR TIME ON A GOOD STUFF ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU HAVE A SOME KIND OF WORK OR WHENEVER YOU NEED TO WAKE UP EARLY IT IS SO GOOD TO STAY UNTIL 5 AM FOR AT THE END SLAVES TO BURN YOUR CITY I LOVE IT 10/10.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →brings back childhood memories
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an old Roman Empire themed city builder/strategy game. Build a Roman city and look after all the problems, manage your economy and grow, grow, grow. Always a great concept but this hasn't aged well. Switching to 4K resolution, despite it being offered, doesn't work, and causes the game to hang on a black screen. It's just too dated to be recommendable. The developers haven't kept the game up to date but they've kept an unrealistic $10 price tag on it for a game that just won't…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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