Sega’s Creative Assembly reveals Total War: Rome Remastered coming April 29

It’s a new day for the Roman empire. Sega Europe and Creative Assembly said that Total War: Rome Remastered is coming on April 29.

The remaster of the original 2004 game (known as Rome: Total War before the company got its branding right) will be developed in a collaboration with Feral Interactive. The remaster will debut on Windows, Linux, and MacOS.

Total War: Rome Remastered is part of a favorite series of mine that combines high-level regional strategy with tactical real-time strategy (RTS) battles when armies meet in the field. The remaster will have a number of visual and gameplay improvements that enable you to expand the Roman empire to its zenith. In Rome, you march your armies around a map of Europe on a strategic map and then fight on 3D battlegrounds in the field. I spent hundreds of hours with the Rome: Total War, Total War: Rome II, and Total War: Attila games over the years. To date, the Total War series has sold 34.3 million copies.

Players will get a modern gaming experience based on the original Total War formula which has been around for two decades. It will have 4K resolution support, an expanded faction roster, and improved accessibility. The devs will overhaul the environment, battlefield, and character models.

“What better excuse than the 20th year of Total War to revisit a grand master?” said Rob Bartholomew, the chief product officer at London-based Creative Assembly, in a statement. “The original release of Rome marks a special time for us as our first major break-out title; it’s amazing to get the opportunity to Remaster it with our friends at Feral.”

You will be able to wage war across new fronts with 16 previously unplayable factions to play on top of the original 22, and send the new merchant agents on missions to establish lucrative trade networks across the map, buy out rival merchants, and assert your empire’s economic power.

The game will have a tactical map during battles, plus heat maps and icon overlays in campaign mode. Existing mechanics have also been improved, including an overhauled diplomacy system, wider camera zoom levels throughout the game, and camera rotation on the campaign map.

For help, the game will be more accessible with a redesigned tutorial, a new in-game Wiki, expansive advice and tooltips, and improved accessibility for colorblind players.

Players can also engage in cross-platform player-versus-player multiplayer between Windows, macOS, and Linux — a first for the Total War franchise.

The game also includes the Barbarian Invasion and Alexander expansions in glorious new detail, and players will also gain access to the original Rome: Total War Collection (only playable on Windows). Founded in 1996, Feral has worked on four Total War games to date, including Thrones of Britannia: A Total War Saga, Total War: Medieval II, Total War: Three Kingdoms, and Total War: Warhammer II.