When comparing Ryse: Son of Rome vs Total War: Rome II, the Slant community recommends Total War: Rome II for most people. In the question“What are the best games on Steam set in Rome?” Total War: Rome II is ranked 2nd while Ryse: Son of Rome is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose Total War: Rome II is:
Streamlined from previous titles the player focuses more on generals and admirals over regions, which makes moving around the map easier as well as gearing up attacks
Specs
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Pros
Pro Superb graphics
Ryse: Son of Rome has fantastic, realistic looking graphics. It was ahead of the curve in 2013 and still is up there with the best today.
Pro Freeflow brawler combat
The combat system in Ryse: Son of Rome is very familiar to people who have played Arkham games, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor or Mad Max. Usually, the player is outnumbered by enemies who take turns attacking. So the player has a basic attack, a parry/block move, a defense/shield breaking move and a combat roll that serves as a universal evade. Successful hits are counted in a hit chain, that after a certain number allows the player to reach an enraged buff state called "burning eagle". This freeflow brawler combat system, also often referred to as Arkham combat, makes it very suitable to play with a controller.
Pro Easy army management
Streamlined from previous titles the player focuses more on generals and admirals over regions, which makes moving around the map easier as well as gearing up attacks
Pro Depth through specilization
Due to the limited number of buildings that can be used in a town the player must weight their options smartly of what to build up in these slots in order to succeed.
Cons
Con Repetitive
Make sure you love the combat system, because that's pretty much all you'll be doing throughout the game. It's a linear game with nice cinematic sequences, but in the end, you just move from place to place slashing up a bunch of copy paste mobs. The variety in this game consists of things like throwing pilums at archers, operating a ballista, advancing in formation with troops (including quick time button presses for blocking arrows and throwing pilums) or trying not to walk on traps etcetera.
Con PC port is not well optimized
Even people who have a powerful gaming PC to today's standards experience some stuttering in the framerate at some points.
Con Lacking explanation in areas
The decisions in the game sometimes have little context even though they may result in large consequences, which makes the decisions difficult as there is no way to know the reason to make them or how they will end up.