In just about 10 days from now, Rome Total War Remastered will be released on Steam. It’s a fairly old game in the Total War series, but this time around the Remaster is not some half-assed effort just to adapt the UI and resolution to modern hardware: they have actually decided to refresh several aspects of this older title at the same time. Here’s an overview of what is being updated:

VISUALS

• UHD resolution, Widescreen and ultrawide monitor support
• Updated 3D unit models and textures
• Enhanced battlefield environments, campaign map and visual effects

GAMEPLAY

• 16 additional playable factions (38 in total) with new faction summary screen
• Enhanced camera and controls
• New quick lists
• Cross-platform multiplayer (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• Steam Workshop mod support
• New agent: the merchant
• New summary screen: the agent hub
• Improved diplomacy features

USER INTERFACE

• Redesigned UI and tooltips
• Added UI scaling
• Improved support for colour blindness

HELP SYSTEM

• Fully integrated game manual
• Enhanced advisor messages
• New first-time player advice and redesigned campaign tutorial

The Mac and Linux port is handled by Feral (as expected since they worked on numerous titles from the Total War series) - it’s very nice to see that cross-platform multiplayer is baked in - it will make it much easier for Linux gamers to find partners to play with. The Steam workshop integration is also going to make the game expandable long after it is released.

Content-wise it’s still going to be very similar to the older title in 2004. I have not played it in years now, but I remember having lots of fun with it on the old Windows version. It will be released at a budget price at 30 USD, with 50% off if you own the original on Steam until June 1st. Note that the older version will disappear from Steam at the same time the remaster is released.