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Rome: Total War gets a remaster next month

The remaster brings overhauled visuals, improved and new gameplay features, and more

Can you believe Rome: Total War came out a whopping 17 years ago this September? Despite approaching nearly two decades old, the classic strategy game still has legions of loyal fans, and it’s about to get even more. That’s because there’s a Rome: Total War remaster on the way with overhauled visuals, new content, and more – and it drops late next month.

Called Total War: Rome Remastered, the upcoming PC game is developed in collaboration with Feral Interactive and described by SEGA in a press release as a “comprehensive remaster” which will feature a “suite of visual and gameplay improvements”. Sadly, the trailer – included below – doesn’t actually give us a look at this overhaul in action, but we’ve included several screenshots further down to give you a flavour of the changes. As you can see, it’s a pretty stark departure from the 2004 original, with whooshing catapult fire and the Roman soldiers’ helmets gleaming like never before.

The remaster’s new features include full 4K visuals and environments, battlefields, and character models that have been given total overhauls. It also adds native support for ultra-high-definition resolution so you can crank the visuals right up.

There’s new gameplay content included, too, such as 16 previously unplayable factions (that’s in addition to the existing 22). The remaster also adds new Merchant agents to the game, which you can send on missions to “establish lucrative trade networks” across Rome: Total War’s map, “buy out rival Merchants” to gain key advantages, and make sure everyone knows your empire is boss.

As for modernised features, the remaster brings improvements to existing aspects – such as a diplomacy system overhaul, campaign map camera rotation, and wider camera zoom options. Don’t fret, though, as there are some new goodies, too. Total War: Rome Remastered gets a brand-new tactical map during battles, as well as “heat maps and icon overlays” for its campaign turn-based strategy game mode. Additionally, there are improved help systems such as a redesigned tutorial and PC-MacOS-Linux cross-platform PvP multiplayer for the first time in Total War’s history.

The remaster includes “the Barbarian Invasion and Alexander expansions in glorious new detail,” Sega adds, and Windows players are getting access to the original Rome: Total War Collection, too. Here’s the FAQ for any questions you might be pondering.

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If you’re keen to pick it up, you don’t have to wait long. Total War: Rome Remastered launches on April 29, and you can pre-order it from Steam, Creative Assembly’s store, or Feral’s store at those links (it won’t replace the original version – it’s a new game in itself). If you already own the original on Steam, you can pick up a hefty loyalty discount of 50% off until June 1, too.