Intriguing, despite its issues
SPQR: The Empire's Darkest Hour is a 1997 adventure game that will put the player in some intriguing situations. Your main purposes are to unravel a conspiracy that stays behind the Empire, while trying to reveal some secrets and to unfold some events based on your discoveries. SPQR is also a historical game, whose action is set in Ancient Rome. Calamitus is responsible for the destruction suffered by Rome. Throughout the game, you will use a map useful for you to keep track of your quest. Most of the time spent will require you to find some journals, solving crimes, finding clues.The first thing that proves the high quality of this game is the general design: the visuals are absolutely captivating and breathtaking when you admire them. The educational nature stays in the looong historical events you have to read. The documents dominate this game, and they replace the cutscenes. Some of you will find this unfair, especially those that don't want to read endless stories. But, the progress depends on skimming over these massive documents. Another thing that will surely bother you is the impossibility to interact with the stunning environment. You will always be tempted to have a direct connection with the realistic and beautiful scenes, so, this is one of the aspects that will stop you from enjoying the experience as you wish. You are allowed to only interact with some of the objects and your cursor will show if this action can be performed. Nonetheless, if you are patient, you will eventually find pleasant surprises in this game, so, try it!
