Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV

An underwhelming strategic take on the Three Kingdoms, especially compared to Total War.

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.

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 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?

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 Kingdoms XIV has very few faults, fundamentally it’s an incredibly polished game that has years of experience and a strong fan base attached to it. The flaws I found were all nitpicky and biased, which I hold against myself and not the game (as this was my first experience playing the franchise, having been a fan of similar titles for years). The historical accuracies, customisation, and freedom to achieve your goals in any way you see fit, creates replayability that’ll last for a while to come. I can always rely on the fact that in Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV, where there’s a will, there’s a Wei.

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.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms always had a big issue with its convoluted interface, but XIV – instead of improving it – strips almost every aspect that made both XI, XII and XIII such gems. What is left is a soulless corpse with very few noteworthy aspects. It’s surely a good base to build upon, but not something worth playing right now.

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.

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.