Expeditions: Rome – Death or Glory (DLC) – Review

Earlier this year, we took an in-depth look at THQ Nordic and Logic Artists’ latest Expeditions title, Expeditions: Rome. While we did have a few minor gripes concerning historical accuracy, we were still impressed with what the game had to offer overall. It seemed like developer Logic Artists thought that the game could be improved upon, however, as they have expanded what Expeditions: Rome already had to offer with the new Death or Glory DLC. Can Death or Glory prove its worth in the arena, or should we feed this one to the lions?

There weren’t any noticeable changes to the audiovisual presentation of Expeditions: Rome with this DLC, so we’re not going to delve into the graphics or sound again, for this DLC review. Instead, we’ll be focusing on what the DLC has to offer in terms of new content, how good and fun the gameplay is, and whether or not you’re getting enough bang for your buck here. Of course, a key question that also needs answering is whether or not the new content is balanced. While Expeditions: Rome isn’t a PVP-focused title, we’ve seen plenty of instances where the addition of new content breaks the balance of the game. Given that we were fans of the sheer amount of content present in the base game and that there was plenty of replayability because of the viability of pretty much every class, it would be a shame if Expeditions: Rome threw this out the window by introducing a severely overpowered class.

The main focus of Death or Glory is on gladiator-themed content, an aspect that could indeed use some fleshing out compared to what was present in the original. This comes in the form of an all-new gladiator class, both for your own character as well as specific companions, gladiatorial arena combat in the main story campaign, and a separate gladiator mode that allows you to jump straight into the new content. Of note here is that you don’t need to start a new save file if you want to use Death or Glory content in the campaign. Instead, when you load an existing save, the unlocked skills for your characters are refunded, allowing you to rebuild them as a gladiator or in any other configuration you wish. This is great if you also regret some earlier decisions or simply feel like trying out a new build for one of your heroes.

The gladiator class itself is interesting because it didn’t quite turn out like what most people would think of when they hear the word ‘gladiator’. You’d expect this to be a combat-oriented class, with high damage output, and while gladiators are actually rather good at tanking damage, their strength lies in providing support to other warriors rather than dishing out damage themselves. The class combines elements from the pre-existing classes triarchus and veles, while still retaining some uniqueness and it ultimately proves to be a welcome addition to Expeditions: Rome’s already expansive roster of classes. While there are three subclasses available to any budding gladiators (as with any other class in the game), as well as a total of 24 abilities, we’d recommend sticking to a single gladiator in your warband, tailored to cover any weaknesses elsewhere, rather than opting to have all three subclasses present. We’re happy to say that we felt that the gladiator class felt balanced and useful without making other classes obsolete.

The gladiator’s place to shine is in the arena, of course, and this is where gladiatorial combat comes in. This is where Expeditions: Rome introduces the majority of its new gameplay, in the form of arenas. The aim here is to keep an audience entertained by fighting enemies -including lions- in a specific manner. The top-right corner of the screen tells you what the crowd wants to see, and by carrying out their demands, you’ll earn their favor. This is easier said than done though, as you’ll find you won’t always have the right tools for the job at your disposal. Overall, the arena battles are a nice variant on Expeditions: Rome’s pre-existing combat, and they feel well-balanced, providing plenty of challenge without feeling overwhelming. Our only problem with them was that Death or Glory didn’t fix our main gripe with the original game, being that enemy AI still feels very sluggish to complete a turn. It’s not as much of an issue here as the arenas themselves are significantly smaller than the battlefields in the main campaign, but it’s still something that was noticeable enough to warrant a mention.

The arenas are integrated into the main campaign, but if you’d rather play through them as a separate entity, you can do so in Gladiator Mode, a mini-campaign of sorts that provides you with roughly three hours’ worth of arena combat. This is probably the way to go if you feel like revisiting Expeditions: Rome without having to restart the campaign, as what’s present here is fun but it doesn’t add enough to completely shake up the experience. Not that we’re complaining here, as the base game was great, and it’s fantastic that a mode was added that lets you enjoy Death or Glory even if you don’t feel like replaying Expeditions: Rome after having completed it recently.

Rounding things out are a handful of new items, the Acid Pot and the Hunting Trap, which add new tactical options, a class-specific new weapon for the gladiator in the form of the Scissor, as well as new cosmetic options for your party. Getting more stuff in a DLC is always fun, although minor additions like this feel irrelevant when looking at Death or Glory as a whole and determining whether or not you’re getting value for money here. Rest assured that we’re giving this DLC our thumbs up, as it comes in at a very reasonable €9.99.

Conclusion

Death or Glory adds fun and meaningful new content to Expeditions: Rome without messing up the game’s balance or overwhelming players with new content. The integration of the new content is handled beautifully, allowing new players to enjoy it from the start, while also allowing returning veterans to jump in without being forced to start all over again. We wouldn’t say that Death or Glory is an *essential* pickup for Expeditions: Rome, as it doesn’t change a whole lot, but what it does do, it does well enough that you should at least look into picking this one up if you enjoyed the base game.

SebastiaanRaats

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