Info about Praetorians - HD Remaster:

Official game description:
Feature List
============
*   The celebrated **real-time strategy** classic, re-imagined in **high definition with reworked controls and UI**  
*   Three different armies, each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses: **Gauls, Egyptians and the Roman Legions**  
*   Over **20 campaign missions** set in **Egypt, Gaul and Italy**  
*   Unique sets of **abilities and formations** for different unit types and characters  
*   Make use of **different terrains and landscapes** to plan your battles
About the Game
==============
Relive the **celebrated real-time strategy classic Praetorians**, re-imagined in **high definition**.  
Praetorians is set amidst the political machinations of an emerging **Roman Empire**. Prove your worth on the battlefields of **Egypt**, the combat theaters of **Gaul** and finally the heart of the Empire itself in **Italy**, in the crusade to become Emperor.  
Your quest will not be an easy one, as the Empire is heavily defended by **thousands of different troop types and war machines, all with special skills and individual strengths**. To emerge victorious, you’ll need to learn to combine your units and exploit the weaknesses of your enemies. But beware – the closer you get to the Emperor, the closer you get to facing the **Praetorian Guard** – the most powerful and deadly fighting force in the Empire!

Release date: Jan 24, 2020

Categories: Real-time Strategy, Tactical, Historical Strategy, Campaign, Unit Management, Terrain-based Gameplay


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Nostalgic and enjoyable gameplay (weight 0.97): The game evokes fond memories and provides a pleasant experience for those replaying it. It maintains the key mechanics of the original and offers a unique RTS experience with interesting mechanics and an enjoyable storyline.
- Strategic and tactical depth (weight 0.73): The game focuses on battlefield tactics, unit synergy, and territorial control. It offers a complex strategy with a simple interface, rewarding good positioning of troops and considering strengths and weaknesses of units.
- Extensive and varied campaign (weight 0.3): The campaign is challenging and varied from the start, with many cool scenarios and immersive missions. It allows both newcomers and veterans to experience a classic tactical RTS without technical barriers.
- Terrain plays a significant role (weight 0.19): Terrain plays a surprisingly large role in combat, with units able to move through certain terrains and utilize them to their advantage. This adds a layer of tactical depth to the gameplay.
- Challenging and satisfying gameplay (weight 0.18): The game offers a satisfying gameplay experience with a focus on pure tactic and strategy. The AI is challenging, especially on hard difficulty, providing a respectful nod to the original game.
- Faithful to the original (weight 0.09): The remaster is a faithful preservation of the original game, maintaining its unique mechanics and strategic depth without a transformative overhaul.
- Positive overall experience (weight 0.09): Players report an overall positive experience with no significant performance issues. The game is appreciated for its changes and improvements, particularly in the AI.
- Focused on combat and squad management (weight 0.05): The game is heavily focused on fights and simple combat centered around squad management. This makes for a straightforward yet engaging gameplay experience.
- Accurate and masterful music (weight 0.05): The game features accurate music that enhances the overall experience, contributing to its status as a masterpiece among RTS games.

Common complaints:
- Poor multiplayer experience (weight 0.87): Multiplayer is poorly implemented, with connectivity issues, lack of players, and disappointing gameplay. The multiplayer mode is almost dead and not worth the investment.
- Lack of modding support (weight 0.85): The game lacks modding support and workshop integration, limiting the ability for players to create and share custom content. There is only one feasible mod available.
- Poor graphics and optimization (weight 0.81): The graphics are outdated and lack significant improvements. The remaster quality is below expectations, with minimal graphical enhancements and poor optimization.
- High price for limited content (weight 0.74): The game is considered overpriced for the content offered. Players feel that the price is not justified given the lack of significant improvements and additional content.
- Lack of new content (weight 0.74): The game lacks significant improvements over the original, with no new maps, missions, or civilizations. Players feel there is not enough additional content to justify the price.
- Limited camera and zoom functionality (weight 0.63): The game's camera and zoom features are insufficient, making it difficult to navigate and view the entire map. Players cannot click on the minimap to change positions, and the zoom level is minimally usable.
- Outdated and clunky controls (weight 0.44): The game's controls are outdated, clunky, and sometimes unresponsive. Unit movements are not smooth, and the controls feel stiff and awkward.
- Predictable and poor AI (weight 0.2): The AI behavior is predictable and easy to break. There are very minor improvements in bot intelligence, making the AI feel outdated and unchallenging.
- Lack of customization options (weight 0.16): The game lacks custom keybinds and alternative control schemes. Players cannot re-bind action keys or use skill hotkeys, limiting customization options.
- Game crashes and technical issues (weight 0.15): The game is plagued with technical issues, including frequent crashes and bugs. Players need to save often to recover from errors, and the game may not load at all.
- Difficult campaign mode (weight 0.07): The campaign mode is difficult and lacks improvements. Players find it challenging and not engaging enough to justify the investment.
- Unit limit and recruitment issues (weight 0.07): The unit limit of 500 is insufficient, and the recruitment time for units is too long. Unit icons are also too small and similar, causing confusion.

Gameplay feedback:
- Strategic depth and terrain mechanics (weight 0.8): The game emphasizes strategic depth with a focus on terrain mechanics and battlefield tactics. Players must use terrain effectively, and formations play a crucial role in combat.
- Limited base building (weight 0.71): The game lacks traditional base building. Players can only construct defensive towers and some defensive and assault structures like stone towers and heavy onagers.
- Multiplayer and skirmish modes (weight 0.59): Multiplayer mode allows players to create rooms and choose races and maps. However, multiplayer maps are limited, and skirmish mode revolves around destroying and defending villages.
- Three unique factions (weight 0.52): The game features three playable factions: Romans, Egyptians, and Barbarians. Each faction has unique units and strengths, adding variety to gameplay.
- Historical campaign and immersion (weight 0.39): The game features a historical campaign that recreates moments of Roman history. Video sequences enhance immersion, making the campaign engaging and varied.
- Unit management and differentiation (weight 0.38): Players must manage units carefully, considering their strengths and weaknesses. Units can be differentiated and controlled effectively, with some having unique abilities.
- Resource and population management (weight 0.31): The game features a population management system where the number of inhabitants is the only regenerative resource. Players must manage their population to recruit soldiers and create troops.
- Combat mechanics (weight 0.16): Combat in the game works on a rock-paper-scissors model, and units in melee are locked until either side wins. Some units have unique abilities and can interact with the environment, such as hiding in forests or swimming through lakes.
- Limited zoom and minimap issues (weight 0.12): The game has a minimally usable zoom function, and players cannot zoom out to the entire map. There are also issues with the minimap and skirmish bugs.
- Unit synergy and strategic layers (weight 0.09): Units function as extensions of strategy, and players must consider unit synergy and tactical complexity to succeed.
- AI and difficulty (weight 0.05): The enemy AI is competent, and the game offers a well-adjusted difficulty level, providing a challenging experience.

Performance notes:
- Improved performance and graphics (weight 0.41): Many players report that the game runs smoothly with improved graphics and fewer technical issues compared to the original version. Specific hardware configurations, such as an i5 8300H, GTX 1060 6GB, and 16GB RAM, can run the game at highest settings with a constant 60 FPS at 1920x1080 resolution.
- Game crashes and bugs (weight 0.12): Several players have experienced frequent crashes and bugs. Issues range from the game not loading at all to random crashes during gameplay. Specific mentions include crashes to desktop during missions and persistent multiplayer crashes.
- Unit responsiveness and movement bugs (weight 0.06): Players have noted that unit responsiveness can be sluggish, and there are bugs related to unit movement and commands. These issues affect the overall gameplay experience and need to be addressed.
- Engine reprogramming (weight 0.03): The game has been completely reprogrammed on a new engine (Unreal Engine), which has contributed to its improved performance and modernized interface.
- FPS drops with many units (weight 0.03): Players have noted that the FPS can drop to around 40 when there are many units or fires on the screen, which can affect the smoothness of gameplay.
- Cursor performance issues (weight 0.03): Some players have reported issues with cursor performance, which can impact the user interface and overall control within the game.
- Minimap bug showing enemies (weight 0.03): There is a bug reported where the minimap incorrectly shows enemies, which can affect strategic planning and gameplay.
- Desire for improved cutscenes (weight 0.03): There is a desire among players for improved cutscenes using modern technologies such as neural networks to enhance the visual and storytelling experience.

Recommendations:
- Add more content and mods (weight 0.39): Players request more nations, campaigns, and mod support to enhance the game's longevity and replayability. Additional maps and factions are also desired.
- Recommended for RTS fans (weight 0.38): The game is highly recommended for fans of real-time strategy games, especially those who enjoy classic or old games. It offers a tight, dynamic RTS experience that rewards precision and strategy.
- Buy on sale (weight 0.36): Many players suggest buying the game on sale as it offers better value for money. The game is recommended for purchase during discounts.
- Original game with mods preferred (weight 0.29): Veteran players recommend sticking to the original game with mods for a better experience. Some suggest specific mods like the widescreen mod or the ALLGrey 2.9.0 complex mod.
- Not for new RTS players (weight 0.25): The game is not recommended for new players to the real-time strategy genre. New players should try the free version first before purchasing.
- Worth buying for nostalgia (weight 0.16): The game is worth buying for those who enjoy nostalgia and want to replay the single-player campaign in HD.
- Improve unit icons (weight 0.05): Players suggest making unit icons bigger and restoring the original icons and clothing for better visibility and authenticity.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Nostalgia (weight 0.35): Players are experiencing nostalgia primarily due to replaying a beloved childhood game. The remastered version brings back pleasant memories from over 15-20 years ago, with many reviewers mentioning the emotional connection to their childhood and the joy of seeing a classic game updated.
- Disappointment (weight 0.29): Players feel disappointed due to the lack of significant improvements and new content in the remaster. Many expected more from the remaster, citing issues such as poor graphics updates, lack of new maps, and minimal enhancements to gameplay mechanics.
- Joy (weight 0.12): Players are experiencing joy from the engaging and unique strategy gameplay that the game offers. The enjoyable gameplay mechanics, storyline, and smooth performance contribute to a fun and satisfying experience.
- Frustration (weight 0.09): Players are frustrated with the lack of improvements and the presence of bugs in the game. Issues such as the inability to edit graphical settings, poor mod support, and unit responsiveness problems contribute to this frustration.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.08): Players feel satisfied with the game's strategic depth and challenging gameplay. The well-adjusted difficulty, enjoyable multiplayer experience, and improvements in AI and graphics contribute to a solid and satisfying RTS experience.
- Excitement (weight 0.06): Players are excited about the unique gameplay mechanics and the adrenaline-pumping music during combat. The desire for further expansion and development of the game, as well as the surprise remaster announcement, add to this excitement.
- Hope (weight 0.02): Players are hopeful for future expansions and the development of a sequel. The desire for more civilizations and campaigns in a potential Praetorians 2 contributes to this hope.
- Anger (weight 0.01): Players are angry due to frustration with the game design and tutorial. The lack of improvements and persistent bugs contribute to this anger.
- Hopeful (weight 0.01): Players are hopeful about the potential improvements suggested for the game. The belief that these improvements could significantly enhance the gaming experience contributes to this hopefulness.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Players feel bored due to the repetitive and monotonous gameplay. The lack of variety and engaging content contributes to this boredom.}