Romestead has an easy to understand pitch: what if you smashed Stardew Valley, Valheim, and the Roman Empire together? The Stardew Valley aspect is more about how this game looks than anything else, and although there is farming, there’s no dating in Romestead, which is at least half of that game. In terms of Valheim, it just feels like the closest and most well-known of the survival games to compare to. You’re building up a settlement, finding people to live in it, then venturing out to take on bosses.
The concept isn’t original, but the setting does manage to feel pretty fresh. It’s a little odd we’ve not had one before – or maybe we have and I just haven’t heard of it. Things don’t start off with any real hint at the combat, and while you do end up throwing down with some rats, you’re not going to be fighting off ancient evils for a while. Instead, the game opens with a tutorial, which is essential because there’s a lot to learn.
You’ll need to build buildings, and by carrying the heavier materials over before succeeding in a little rhythm game to do so, find and rescue people for your town, and set up resource management and whatnot. The building feels pretty good, and while it’s a little slow, it’s not bad. Actually, the early game does just feel pretty grindy at the moment, with each new thing taking a bit of time to wrap your head around. I do like how it streamlines weapons, mining, and chopping all down to one button that just affects everything it needs to though, that’s really good.
There’s also a heavy focus on the gods, which isn’t surprising given how obsessed the Romans were with them. You need to make offerings to them in order to keep them happy and gain different bonuses too. It’s a fun way to do things, and then you’ve also got skill trees on top of all of that to manage too. You can theoretically play this game in a lot of different ways, but only if you’ve got someone at the base doing all of the building for you. That’s why the co-op really shines here.
All of this stuff is enjoyable enough on your own, but with other people it’s just a blast. Forming a little raiding party just makes combat feel more dynamic, but also a lot safer. It feels as though Romestead was really designed with multiple people in mind, and if you do have a friend who loves to build, then they’re going to be very happy doing so. I do wish there were more ways to edit what you’d already built, as placements can go wrong if you’re not planning ahead, but that can come through later updates and quality of life improvements.
Romestead is only in Early Access for now, but it’s already an interesting new survival game, and the vibes are immaculate. I just hope it keeps getting new bits and bobs, and I’d love to have ways to move buildings more efficiently, as well as more loot to find and play with too. There’s a lot of potential here, I just hope it ends up delivering.
