Water physics, dams and aqueducts
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“Realistic waterflow mechanics - elevation, degree of slope, and water volume all matter. It's a fun system.”
Steam review · 15.1 h played ↗
Nova Roma
Worth buying? What 243 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 243 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 93%Very Positive · 93%Lion Shield2026City Builder · Strategy · Simulation
$29.99
Open on Steam ↗US Steam price, checked 5 h ago · Lowest we’ve seen since Oct 20, 2026: $19.49
The verdict
A cozy Roman city builder in the Kingdoms and Castles mold, with standout water physics. Early Access: thin endgame, clunky logistics, needy gods. Skip if you want depth or challenge now.
Great for
Kingdoms and Castles fans and relaxed city-builder players who enjoy water engineering and Roman themes
Main risk
Content runs out after roughly 10-20 hours, with clunky logistics and little challenge
What players love
Better successor to Kingdoms and Castles
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“An improvement in everyway on their original effort, Kingdoms and Castles, which was, itself, a very good little city builder.”
Steam review · 49.4 h played ↗
Charming art style and Roman setting
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 positive reviews
“Great game, haven't found any other game that gives the feeling of playing Caesar III again.”
Steam review · 10.7 h played ↗
Relaxing, addictive, cozy city building
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 positive reviews
“Aesthetically pleasing, relaxing, and fun, with an active development team.”
Steam review · 15.6 h played ↗
Active developers with frequent updates
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 positive reviews
“they have put out TEN updates in the first month after release”
Steam review · 29.8 h played ↗
Satisfying logistics and city growth
Mentioned in ~1 in 15 positive reviews
“Organizing logistics is rewarding, building up population is fun.”
Steam review · 16.3 h played ↗
What players complain about
Little content or challenge late game
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews
“once you get to a certain point it feels useless cause theres nothing left to unlock”
Steam review · 10.3 h played ↗
Save failures and game-breaking bugs
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews
“'Save' along with 'Save and Quit' both had no response when clicking.”
Steam review · 9.8 h played ↗
Needy, annoying gods and tech gating
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews
“It is very difficult to focus on the game when a random God (always Vulcan) suddenly tells you.. out of nowhere.. that "you ignore my worship"”
Steam review · 19.6 h played ↗
Buggy water, dams and aqueducts
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews
“Sometimes the game says water should flow, but it simply does not.”
Steam review · 5.1 h played ↗
Clunky logistics and cart routes
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“the logistics system is a mess, id rather play dwarf fortress than manage it here”
Steam review · 11.9 h played ↗
Pointless, weak raids and military
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“They mostly do nothing and leave before you can do anything.”
Steam review · 88.3 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Playable2 GB
Minimum
OSWindows® 10 (64-bit)
ProcessorIntel® Core™ i5-6600K (quad-core) / AMD® Ryzen™ 3 2200G (quad-core)
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 (2 GB) / AMD® Radeon™ R9 285 (2 GB)
Storage2 GB available space
Recommended
OSWindows® 10 (64-bit)
ProcessorIntel® Core™ i7-12700K (octa-core) / AMD® Ryzen™ 7 2700X (octa-core)
Memory8 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 (8 GB) / AMD® Radeon™ RX 7600 (8 GB)
Storage2 GB available space
OSWindows® 10 (64-bit)
ProcessorIntel® Core™ i5-6600K (quad-core) / AMD® Ryzen™ 3 2200G (quad-core)
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsNVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 (2 GB) / AMD® Radeon™ R9 285 (2 GB)
Storage2 GB available space
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