Strategy

Nine days into Early Access and Nova Roma is sitting at 97% positive across 834 reviews on Steam. For a city builder from a three-person studio, those are remarkable numbers — the kind that suggest something genuinely clicked, not just with genre diehards but with a broader audience willing to take a bet on an unfinished game. Who’s behind it Lion Shield is the studio, and if the name doesn’t ring a bell, their previous game probably does: Kingdoms and Castles, the medieval city builder that launched in 2017 and quietly became one of Steam’s most beloved indie strategy titles. It’s the same core team — Pete Angstadt as Creative Director, with a tiny crew that somehow punches well above its weight. ...