Screenshots & trailers
What players say
Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 300 sampled Steam reviews (276 positive / 24 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.
What positive reviews talk about
Positive reviews don't converge on specific aspects.
What negative reviews complain about
- Bugs & crashes13% mention it
- Controls & UI13% mention it
Satisfaction by hours played
Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.
Under 5h
64%
28 reviews
5-15h
92%
53 reviews
15-40h
97%
33 reviews
40-100h
97%
60 reviews
100h+
94%
126 reviews
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (Metacritic) | – | – | 0 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 88% | 81 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | 76 | 6 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 93% | 87 | 105 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 300 reviews sampled · 295 total reviews in window · weighted 224 up / 17.6 down · computed 10h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (2)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 89
“The technical part remains somewhat problematic, but the rest of the game is of outstanding quality. In terms of grand strategy, it's one of the best games and it can deservedly stand next to its ancestors in the same series. Too bad that, as it seems, the publishers did not give the appropriate time frame to the developers. The potential was there, only more time was needed. ”
read full review ↗ - 90
“Emperor Edition really shows how much the title from The Creative Assembly has evolved since it was originally delivered and the way the entire experience has been updated based on the needs of the community and the cool ideas of the development team.”
read full review ↗
Patch history
- Total War: ROME 2 Game UpdateJun 22, 2023significant · resets scoring window
- Total War: ROME II Mod Community Fixes PatchDec 10, 2018
- How the Family Tree worksJul 18, 2018
- Total War: ROME II - The Ancestral Update BetaJul 12, 2018
- Desert Kingdoms Hotfix 27.03.18Mar 27, 2018
- Desert Kingdoms Hotfix 27.03.18Mar 27, 2018
- Desert Kingdoms UpdateMar 20, 2018
- Desert Kingdoms UpdateMar 20, 2018
- Desert Kingdoms - Out Now!Mar 8, 2018
- Desert Kingdoms - Out Now!Mar 8, 2018
- Total War: ROME II - FREE Content UpdateDec 7, 2017significant · resets scoring window
- Total War: ROME II - FREE Content UpdateDec 7, 2017significant · resets scoring window
