Romance of The Three Kingdoms XIV Reviews
An underwhelming strategic take on the Three Kingdoms, especially compared to Total War.
There's a satisfying strategy experience to be had here though one that comes with quite the learning curve. Even once you have a grip on the basics, tangling with ROTK's new grid-based system and overall pacing can often put a few awkward steps between you executing your next cunning plan.
A verbose strategic one, with a farraginosa interface, offering a solid, complex and articulated game structure, but also very "hard" to tame: only for fans.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Eschewing role-playing aspects, depth, and fan-favorite features in favor of simplified pause-and-play automation, ridiculous map-painting mechanics, and lackluster strategic options, Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV is one of the most disappointing offerings from Koei Tecmo's popular franchise. It's the Liu Shan, not the Zhuge Liang, of the series.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV represents a marked improvement on recent outings from the franchise, offering great strategic gameplay and strong characterisation. All of this is done with a strong focus on ease of access, made easier by a clean UI that allows people to pick it up easy.
The fourteenth version of the strategic series signed by Tecmo Koei, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, arrives in our shores on the occasion of the thirty-five years of the franchise.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The latest instalment in a long-running strategy series, Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV feels like a full-priced budget title. It's functional and at times entertaining, but lacks the depth or variety of other games in the genre.
There is some fun to be had here, but for me at least it quickly became tedious.
The grand historical strategy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms has had a rocky history. At its best, it is a dramatic, frantic, and tense strategy game that can compete with the best. At its worst, it focuses on dull mechanics and banal world conquering. So, where does the fourteenth instalment sit? Grand strategy or dull micro-managing?
If you like games like Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia then you will most likely enjoy Romance of the Three Kingdoms, if you are a fan of the previous versions then this may well tickle your fancy.
Under all of the clunkiness and bad habits picked up over 13 games and 35 years, you will find a surprisingly addictive strategy game unlike anything else on the market - if you can put up with it long enough to get to that stage.
This will never be a title that I to return to it in the way I do with Civilization V or Rome: Total War, but it was a solid experience nonetheless.
It would not be fair to harp on a series for sticking to a formula that works; however Romance of Three Kingdoms XIV seems to eschew innovations in its own series for stagnant and cumbersome gameplay effectively for no reason other than to remain needlessly dated. While the improved focus on politics is certainly a positive which may elevate the title for some, it will likely hold little more than niche appeal for others who hold little interest in in the personal engagements of the Three Kingdoms period.
The best word to describe this? Lacking.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms 14 is accessible to casual players, but it sneakily removes the depth Rot3K veterans might expect.
Romance of the Three Kigdoms XIV has interesting and fun elements that provide a few moments of enjoyment, even if it can be a bit daunting at first and, in the long run, suffers with issues that limit its qualities.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV is the perfect choice for the fans of this epic historical event, but it's not a perfect choice for the fans of turn based strategies. Gameplay flaws are here and there, and some mechanics are not deep enough, making it not a very strong contender in the genre. However, console players can still enjoy it given the fact that there are not many options available on the consoles in this genre.
Review in Persian | Read full review
If you love your historical strategy for the history that they depict, then Romance of the Three Kingdoms delivers. Everything about it is a perfect reflection on what that book was on about.
A grand turn-based strategy that seeks to find the Goldilocks zone but misses the mark
The developers have implemented the feedback from loyal fans as they were requesting easier to manage UI rather than specific and detailed controls, due to their decay of reflexes. This had also welcomed some new gamers to this game as a great introductory title of tactical simulation genre. The downside was the constant 'dice roll' features in the game, which may scare away the core fans of simulation games.
Review in Korean | Read full review