Total War: Rome 2 (Spartan Edition)

Total War: Rome II is a hybrid strategy game split across two very different modes. On the campaign map you manage a sprawling empire turn by turn: constructing buildings, maintaining food and finances, recruiting units via generals in the field, navigating faction politics, and issuing edicts across grouped provinces. Drop into a battle and the game shifts to real-time command of thousands of soldiers across land and sea simultaneously, where unit formations, morale, fatigue, and weather conditions decide who walks away. It is an enormously ambitious package and the Spartan Edition makes it a bigger one, bundling in the Imperator Augustus Campaign Pack, the Wrath of Sparta Campaign Pack, the Greek States Culture Pack, and the Daughters of Mars Unit Pack alongside the base Emperor Edition content. The Wrath of Sparta expansion is the standout addition here. Set in 432 BC around the Peloponnesian Wars, it covers 22 provinces across 78 regions and lets you command four factions: Sparta, Athens, Corinth, and Boiotia. The armies lean hard into hoplite formations with specialist mercenary support, and naval engagements focus on ramming and boarding with Dieres and Trieres hull types. Legendary figures like the Spartan general Lysander and the Athenian statesman Sokrates appear as campaign characters, which is exactly the kind of historical flavour that makes this setting tick. The Greek States Culture Pack adds three more factions to the main Grand Campaign, giving you meaningful reasons to replay with different rosters and starting positions. That said, Rome 2 has a well-documented history of friction. The political systems, particularly internal faction management and the competing family houses, have been criticised since launch for feeling opaque and unrewarding rather than genuinely strategic. The AI still struggles to be a reliable diplomatic partner or a tactically consistent battlefield opponent. Victory conditions span cultural, economic, and military paths, but in practice all three funnel into the same land-grab, which can make the campaign feel structureless once you have momentum. Build slot management was streamlined compared to the original Rome, and while that speeds up turns, it strips out some of the satisfying complexity veterans expect. Where the game genuinely holds up is in the scale and texture of its real-time battles. Commanding Roman legionaries against Celtic berserkers, directing war elephants for Egypt, or orchestrating a combined land-and-sea assault produces moments that few strategy titles can match. Faction variety is substantial: leading a Spartan phalanx plays nothing like commanding a Roman legion or a Barbarian horde, and that distinction carries through both the campaign map bonuses and the battlefield unit rosters. The modding community has also kept the game breathing for over a decade, with overhauls like Divide et Impera dramatically expanding the simulation depth if the vanilla experience starts to feel thin. If you are coming in fresh and have a genuine interest in the ancient Mediterranean, this edition is a reasonable entry point. If you are a Total War veteran expecting the intricate population-level simulation of the original Rome, prepare for a different game with different priorities. The Wrath of Sparta campaign alone gives Greek history fans a focused and distinct reason to stay past the main campaign, even if the Daughters of Mars unit pack is a minor addition by comparison. Monika, Scout Team