Longbow games just released an improved version of Hegemony. Basically, the original game, two additional campaigns featuring the peloponesian war and some improvements to the game mechanism.

I had bought the original game for a couple of euros during the winter sales on Steam. The steam install did not work but I could register the game on Longbow's site and download a newer version. All in one a very enjoyable tower defense game, but not a strategy game at all. I went tthough half of the map before running out of patience for the main shortcomings of the game : no diplomacy, no way to reduce the ability of ennemies to regenerate their fallen armies even if you control their sources of food.

Has anyone here tried the betas of Hegemony gold ? Is the improved game somehow managing a better balance between the "tower defense" aspect and the strategic possibilities one would expect when reading the specs of that game ?

I must admit that it is only because I have a huge interest in Ancient World history that I got attracted by that game.

A puzzling game though. Longbow obviously invested quite a lot of time doing some research on the situation of the Kingdom of Macedon in the 1st half of the IVth century BC. This subject could have made a good background for a 4X game or for a total war mod.

That's why I'm curious about the gold version. I guess that if I really want to know I should just get the upgrade pack...

Whenever I get a new game I usually try to get the completest edition that there is so that I have all expansions from the start.

So this is a good game then?

I tend to do that too, but this being an indie game, I actually got it "just to give it a try".
They have a demo on their website by the way.

I'm playing the gold demo now. It's a bit different from the first but not that much.

The problem being that in the first game I actually found it very good until I got face to face with the powerful ennemies you face when entering southern Greece. That's where the "tower defense" model made it painful, as it kept respawning elite units although the objective was to destroy 8 of these units. Well, we will see if the diplomacy module and the supply management they introduced maks it a bit more "possible" to get past the Theban phalanxes...

Getting the demo right now. This looks pretty sweet!