Info about Pompeii: The Legacy:

Official game description:
Twenty years after the devastating eruption of **Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD**, **Pompeii** rises from the ashes. As the head of a **Roman family**, you will guide the city's rebirth, shaping its future through politics, trade, and the challenges of life in the Empire.
The city may have been destroyed, but its spirit endures. **Rebuild Pompeii** from the ground up, balancing the needs of patricians, plebeians, and slaves, each with their own ambitions and grudges. Every street, forum, market, and aqueduct shapes not just the city, but the fortunes of your family for centuries to come.
Lead across decades, navigating the shifting tides of **Roman politics**. Shape laws, negotiate trade rights, and form alliances through marriage or contract. Secure favor with emperors, outwit rivals, and expand your family's influence far beyond Pompeii's walls.
Construct housing, temples, arenas, and more to meet your citizens' needs. Establish trade routes across the Empire, monitor shifting markets, and keep your economy strong. Every decision, good or bad, can echo for generations.
The game incorporates active and passive bonuses through Family Bonuses, Research and Development, and Imperial Privileges. There are two main research branches: Technology and Philosophy.
The greatest threats are not always on the battlefield. Earthquakes, fires, famine, plagues, and political sabotage can strike without warning. Some enemies will wear armor, others will smile as they shake your hand, all will test your leadership.  
Co-financed by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre

Release date: Apr 9, 2026

Categories: City Builder, Resource Management, Historical Simulation, Economic Simulation, Colony Simulation, Strategy, Civilization Building

Feature scans:
- Proton/Linux: score 45; verdict: Mixed Performance on Linux; summary: The game experiences significant performance issues on Linux, with reports of low FPS, stuttering, and frame drops. However, there is also positive feedback regarding its performance on Steam Deck, suggesting that the game can run well on certain Linux-based platforms with appropriate hardware.
- Steam Deck: score 50; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: The analysis of user feedback reveals significant performance issues and UI scaling problems on the Steam Deck. Performance issues are particularly severe, with users reporting low FPS and stuttering. Additionally, the lack of sufficient UI scaling options makes it difficult for some users to read the interface, further detracting from the overall experience.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $15.00 - $20.00
  - Reasoning: The reviews indicate that users find the game to be of high quality and worth the price, with specific mentions of good graphics, sounds, and extensive voice acting. The phrase 'at this price point' suggests that the current price is considered fair. Additionally, the mention of the game being a bargain on sale implies that the base price is reasonable but slightly higher than a sale price, which is typically discounted by 20-30%.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 10.0h
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: 4.0h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides several direct references to playtime. The first quote mentions about 10 hours of gameplay, which can be considered a typical session length or progress towards game completion. The second quote indicates 8 hours of play, suggesting a substantial session length or progress in the game. The third quote mentions 4 hours of continuous gameplay, which can be seen as a typical session length. The fourth quote states being 11 hours in, which also supports the idea of extended play sessions or progress towards game completion. There is no specific evidence provided for story completion or endgame playtime, so those fields are marked as null.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game starts with a comprehensive tutorial that introduces players to the mechanics, with the fun anchoring around the deeper city-building and management aspects after the tutorial.
  - Stance: Fun after tutorial
  - Anchor: Completing the tutorial and starting city development
  - Time to anchor: 1h 0m
  - Friction: Long tutorial; Clunky menus; Tedious road and decoration placement
  - Unlock drivers: Completing the tutorial; Familiarity with game mechanics
  - Conditions: Engaging in city development; Sufficient resources; Interest in Roman Empire setting
- Player Archetypes:
  - Old-School City Builder (buy)
    - Motivation: Nostalgia and appreciation for classic city builders.
    - Playstyle: Relaxed and patient, enjoys the building process and the natural gameplay loop.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: city builder fan; old-school player
    - Reference games: CivCity: Rome; Caesar 3; Caesar 4
  - Casual Builder (sale)
    - Motivation: Relaxation and enjoyment of a casual building experience.
    - Playstyle: Casual and relaxed, enjoys the game at a leisurely pace.
    - Experience: newcomer
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: casual gamer; newcomer
    - Reference games: N/A
  - Indie Supporter (buy)
    - Motivation: Support for indie developers and appreciation for their passion projects.
    - Playstyle: Supportive and encouraging, enjoys seeing the development process and progress.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: indie game fan; supporter
    - Reference games: N/A


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:
- Classic Roman city-building experience (weight 0.77): The game offers a classic city-building experience with a Roman theme, reminiscent of old-school city builders. Players enjoy the relaxed yet challenging gameplay focused on developing and managing a city.
- Enjoyable and addictive gameplay (weight 0.64): Players find the game enjoyable and addictive, with a great atmosphere and impressive graphics. The overall experience is highly rated, making it a recommended choice for many.
- High-quality graphics (weight 0.45): The game boasts spot-on, breathtaking graphics that are visually pleasing. The graphical quality is a significant highlight for many players.
- Responsive and passionate developer (weight 0.39): The developer is noted for being responsive, attentive to bugs, and passionate about the game. Prompt and polite communication with players is highlighted.
- Focus on production chains (weight 0.28): The game features a strong emphasis on production chains, which are easy to understand and interact with. This mechanic is well-received by players.
- Well-designed and thought-out (weight 0.28): The game is praised for its well-designed 3D elements and overall thoughtful design. The craftsmanship is noted as beautiful and well-crafted.
- Worth the price (weight 0.27): Players feel that the game is well worth its cost, offering excellent value for the price. The game's quality justifies its full price.
- Unique Pompeii narrative (weight 0.27): The game offers a unique narrative centered around rebuilding Pompeii, providing a different spin on the city-building genre. This historical context is appreciated by players.
- Impressive solo development (weight 0.27): The game is seen as an impressive achievement, especially considering it was developed by a single person. The quality and depth of the game are commended.
- Easy to learn (weight 0.26): The game is intuitive and easy to learn, making it accessible for beginners. The details are easy to read and understand, contributing to a smooth learning curve.
- Entertaining campaign (weight 0.21): The game features an entertaining campaign mode that players enjoy. The campaign is well-received and adds to the overall gameplay experience.
- Focus on city layout (weight 0.21): The game offers a large city map and focuses on city layout and rebuilding. This aspect is appreciated by players who enjoy detailed city planning.
- Detailed building art (weight 0.2): The buildings in the game are detailed and look good, contributing to the overall visual appeal. Players appreciate the effort put into the building designs.
- Good voice acting (weight 0.2): The game features well-done dialogue with real voice actors, adding to the immersion. The voice acting is well-balanced and enhances the storyline.
- Relaxing gameplay (weight 0.19): The game offers a leisurely and relaxing gameplay experience, allowing players to enjoy the game at a comfortable pace.
- Similar to Caesar games (weight 0.19): The game has a style similar to the Caesar series, evoking nostalgia for players familiar with those games. This similarity is noted as a positive aspect.
- Game depth and completeness (weight 0.19): The game is noted for its depth and completeness, offering a rich and fulfilling experience. Players appreciate the thoroughness of the game's content.

Common complaints:
- Frequent crashes and performance issues (weight 0.86): Players experience frequent game crashes and performance problems, especially as the city grows larger.
- Trade system problems (weight 0.61): The trade system is reported to be not functioning well, with issues related to trade routes and trade income visibility.
- Game lacks polish and balance (weight 0.55): The game is reported to be not fully polished and needs balancing, with specific issues related to resource economy and overall game mechanics.
- Unclear warehouse and resource mechanics (weight 0.48): Players have issues with controlling warehouse storage and understanding resource mechanics, which affects gameplay.
- Difficult resource management (weight 0.44): Players find resource management frustrating and difficult, impacting the overall enjoyment of the game.
- Gameplay and progression issues (weight 0.44): Players report issues with the gameplay loop, progression, and overall game mechanics, including problems with the tech tree and research speed.
- UI/UX and control issues (weight 0.43): There are various issues with the user interface, controls, and overall user experience, including camera controls and building mechanics.
- Worker and production issues (weight 0.42): There are issues related to workers and production, including a lack of workers and problems with production mechanics.
- Lack of citizen interaction (weight 0.34): There is a notable lack of interaction with citizens, which affects the immersion and gameplay experience.
- Translation and localization issues (weight 0.28): There are problems with translations in various languages, including Chinese and Korean, affecting non-English speaking players.
- Insufficient maps and events (weight 0.27): The game lacks additional maps and events, making the gameplay feel repetitive and limited.
- Missing or incomplete features (weight 0.27): The game is reported to have missing or incomplete features, including military aspects and certain building functionalities.
- Lack of build shortcuts and hotkeys (weight 0.22): Players find the lack of build shortcuts and hotkeys to be a significant inconvenience, affecting the ease of gameplay.
- Campaign and narrative issues (weight 0.16): There are problems with the campaign and narrative, including bugs and lack of engagement.

Gameplay feedback:
- City-building and management focus (weight 0.69): The game heavily emphasizes city-building and management mechanics, allowing players to construct and manage their own cities.
- Roman-themed city building (weight 0.45): The game is set in a Roman context, allowing players to build and manage Roman cities.
- Story and voice acting (weight 0.34): The game features a compelling story with voice acting, enhancing the narrative experience.
- Resource and trade management (weight 0.28): The game includes resource management and a trading system for players to manage their economy.
- Historical and detailed city creation (weight 0.28): The game allows for the creation of historically detailed cities, including the ability to rebuild Pompeii.
- Multiple game modes available (weight 0.24): Players can enjoy various game modes, including a campaign mode and story-driven gameplay.
- Extensive research trees (weight 0.23): Players can engage with a detailed technology tree and extensive research trees.
- Tutorial and gameplay mechanics (weight 0.22): The tutorial introduces gameplay mechanics slowly, helping players understand the game.
- Production and supply chains (weight 0.17): Players can manage production chains and supply chains within their cities.
- Population management with classes (weight 0.16): Players can manage populations with different classes, including slaves, commoners, and nobles.
- Detailed building art and modeling (weight 0.16): The game features detailed building art and modeling, enhancing the visual experience.

Performance notes:
- Performance issues (weight 0.63): Players experience various performance issues, including low FPS, stuttering, and frame drops, particularly at higher speeds and as the city grows.
- Frequent game crashes (weight 0.56): Multiple players report frequent game crashes, including specific instances such as during gameplay or when deleting buildings.
- Optimization problems (weight 0.17): There are reports of optimization issues, with some players indicating that optimization fixes are needed.
- Long loading times (weight 0.16): Several reviews mention very long loading screens, which can disrupt the gaming experience.
- Black screen and connection loss (weight 0.15): A few players have encountered a black screen issue and connection loss, which can be significant problems.

Recommendations:
- Recommended for city-building fans (weight 0.6): The game is highly recommended for its relaxing and accessible city-building experience. It is particularly suggested for fans of the genre and those who enjoy a relaxed approach to building.
- Recommended for specific player types (weight 0.32): The game is recommended for players who enjoy resource balancing challenges and those who like the Roman setting. It is also suggested as an alternative to Nova Roma.
- Good value for money (weight 0.28): The game is considered a bargain, especially on sale, and is worth the full price. It offers good value for its cost.
- Worth supporting and watching (weight 0.21): The game is recommended for supporting further development and is worth keeping an eye on. It shows promise in the city-building genre.

Other player notes:
- Camera tilt option needed (weight 0.1): Players are requesting an option to tilt the camera independently of the zoom function to improve gameplay experience.
- Hopes for timely completion (weight 0.09): Players express hope that the game will be completed within a reasonable timeframe, indicating concern about the development timeline.
- Custom mouse cursor requested (weight 0.09): There is a suggestion from players to include an option for a custom mouse cursor, which could enhance user interface customization.
- Game in Early Access (weight 0.08): Players note that the game is currently in Early Access, which may affect their expectations and feedback regarding the game's completeness and polish.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.13): Players are frustrated primarily due to resource management issues, including constant fires, money loss, and warehouse management problems. Additionally, game difficulty, AI limitations, performance issues, and various bugs contribute to the frustration.
- Excitement (weight 0.1): Players are excited about the game's addictive nature and its potential for future updates and content. The historical setting, story, graphics, and the anticipation of building structures like the Colosseum in Pompeii also contribute to this excitement.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.09): Players enjoy the game's relaxing and leisurely nature, along with its graphics and interesting gameplay. The strategic planning required, the addictive gameplay loop, and the overall positive experience contribute to their enjoyment.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.09): Players are satisfied with the game's well-designed and well-balanced mechanics, smooth gameplay, and responsive developer. The freedom to act as desired, high-quality gameplay, and the game's worth despite some issues also contribute to their satisfaction.
- Disappointment (weight 0.06): Players are disappointed due to game crashes, lack of depth, and monotonous tasks. Issues with AI, voice acting, bugs, translation, and the lack of trade functionality also contribute to their disappointment.
- Hopeful (weight 0.05): Players are hopeful about the developer's future plans and the potential for future updates and improvements. They believe the game has a great start and can become a relaxing option with further development.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.05): Players feel nostalgic as the game reminds them of older classics like Stronghold, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Grand Ages: Rome, and Caesar IV. The game brings back memories of childhood strategy games and classic city builders.
- Hope (weight 0.04): Players have hope for the game's potential and future improvements. They are hoping for more maps and praying for the game's success.
- Anticipation (weight 0.03): Players are anticipating future updates, the full release, and new features like combat and sandbox mode.
- Positive (weight 0.03): Players are positive about the game style, trading mechanics, freedom, and technology tree. They enjoy the graphics, mechanics, and overall experience, finding it superior to other similar games.
- Negative (weight 0.03): Players have a negative experience due to frustration with gameplay mechanics, game crashes, cursor issues, lack of music, and long loading times.
- Frustrated (weight 0.03): Players are frustrated with resource management, building placement, game crashes, and connection issues. Difficulty reading small font and excessive complexity also contribute to their frustration.
- Admiration (weight 0.03): Players admire the developer's dedication and the level of detail in the game. They appreciate the modern gameplay, extensive research trees, historical authenticity, and emotional storytelling.
- 满意 (weight 0.03): Players are satisfied with the overall performance of the game and recommend trying it. They enjoy the game and appreciate the developer's efforts, wishing success for future DLCs.
- Excited (weight 0.02): Players are excited about finding a game similar to Anno 1800 and looking forward to the full release. They anticipate the game becoming one of their favorites.
- Appreciation (weight 0.02): Players appreciate the developer's receptiveness to feedback and detailed updates. They recognize the love and effort put into the game and the developer's dedication.
- Joy (weight 0.02): Players find joy in the positive aspects of the game, including enjoyable building mechanics and atmosphere. The accessible and enjoyable gameplay contributes to their joy.
- 兴奋 (weight 0.02): Players are excited about the game's further development and its overall performance, even in the early access stage. They give high ratings and look forward to its progress.
- Hopefulness (weight 0.02): Players are hopeful about future updates and improvements to the game.
- Disappointed (weight 0.01): Players are disappointed due to performance issues and the game falling short of their expectations.}