Never Second in Rome

Never Second in Rome

Steam Deck Playable

Alessandro Roberti · Rome · May 5, 2026

Likely worth it. Reviews lean strongly positive.

At $12.99. It has been as low as $11.04.

81%
Very Positive
616 player reviews
Medium confidence
Buy it if you like
  • Story and characters: 113 reviews raised it, mostly praise
  • Gameplay: 81 reviews raised it, mostly praise
  • Graphics: 9 reviews raised it, mostly praise
Think twice if you dislike
  • Combat: 104 reviews raised it, mostly criticism

Based on 616 player reviews · updated 3 days ago

What players think

The recurring themes across 300 analysed reviews: what players praise, what divides them, and what to know.

Why players love itThings to know
50% of themes are praise33% are divided17% are caveats
Story and characters
Players who bring up Story and characters mostly praise it.
This is espescially annoying because the game is incredibly complex in terms of how many stats, factors and effects the player has to keep track of and when much of them are affected in esoteric ways or otherwise things the player may invest into because they are interested in crafting their century or centurion in that way can be so insanely sub optimal that it will make the playing experience like pulling out your finger nails while you sit watching your soldiers or characters get stomped turn after turn.
113 of 300 sampled reviews raised it
Gameplay
Players who bring up Gameplay mostly praise it.
I'm not sure if dev is aware that he actually created a new game genre that people love and want more of, and one of the cornerstones of that new genre is meta progression, which is sorely lacking here.
81 of 300 sampled reviews raised it
Graphics
Players who bring up Graphics mostly praise it.
Finally, the visuals in this game are a huge step down from the dev's previous game.
9 of 300 sampled reviews raised it

Theme by theme

Every theme is scored by what reviewers actually said about it, not just whether they recommended the game.

LovedMixedComplained about
Players love3 themes
Story and characters113 reviews
Gameplay81 reviews
Graphics9 reviews
Divided opinion% still recommend
Difficulty22 reviews
86%
Interface7 reviews
71%
Players complain% still recommend
Combat104 reviews
75%

Ranked by how many sampled reviews mention each topic. A topic sits in a column by what reviewers said about that topic; the percentage beside it is how many of them recommended the game anyway. One more theme was raised by fewer than 6 sampled reviews and is not shown.

Should you buy it now?

Crit’s read on the price, from Steam price history.

Prices have been lower

Currently $12.99. The lowest we've tracked is $11.04.

3 points recordedtoday · $12.99

The data behind the verdict

For the players who want the receipts.

Player review score
81%
Very Positive
Playing right now
Achievements
45
total to unlock
Rarest-achievement stats coming soon
Average playtime
Not tracked yet

We’ll surface hours-played once playtime ingestion ships.