March 26, 2026 - Hooded Horse and Lion Shield are excited to announce that their Roman-themed city-building game Nova Roma is out now in early access for PC via Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, and the Microsoft Store. It’s also available on PC Game Pass.
Starting with a humble village, lead a small band of citizens fleeing the decaying empire and build a society that will be the envy of the world for millennia to come, provided the Gods are kept happy and the Barbarians at bay. Develop complex supply chains to meet the citizens’ needs, from fish and grain to pottery and ironworking. Sculpt the land and build mighty aqueducts to bring water wherever it’s needed, and raise armies to defend the people.
Nova Roma’s initial early access build includes:
- Small, Medium, and Large maps, varying between single landmasses and multiple island setups
- Standard and creative/sandbox game modes
- 85+ buildings that can be unlocked via the tech tree
- Three pre-set difficulty levels, as well as customizable difficulty settings
- Extreme weather effects
- Five gods to placate and do quests for
- Terrain editing and complex water simulation
- Other mechanics such as transportation, settling new islands, selecting governors, and more!
- Combat mechanics - raise militias and armies to fight back against invading enemies
Plans during the early access period include adding more gods, mechanics, and technologies, expanding war, politics, and culture mechanics, and responding to player feedback.
The game is localized from English into German, French, Spanish (Spain and Latin America), Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Russian, Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.
Nova Roma is available now in early access for PC via Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, and the Microsoft Store for $29.99 / £24.99 / €29.99 / ¥2,980. A 20% launch discount is active from now until April 9, 2026. It’s also available via PC Game Pass.
A press kit is available.
Press inquiries: press@hoodedhorse.com
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About Hooded Horse™
Hooded Horse is a publisher of deep strategic and tactical games, including Manor Lords, Against the Storm, ENDLESS™ Legend 2, Old World, Norland, Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, and 9 Kings. With people and partners around the world, our goal is to empower and support developers in doing what they do best: creating world-class experiences for their audiences.
You can find out more about us on our Steam publisher page or website, as well as our social channels: Twitter, Bluesky, Facebook, YouTube, and Discord.
About Lion Shield™
Lion Shield is an American studio founded in 2016 by Peter Angstadt and Michael Peddicord, two high school friends with a mutual interest in creating and playing games. Their mission is to create experiences with three core values: players' creative expression, strategic decisions, and beauty. The studio’s debut title was Kingdoms and Castles, and it is currently working on Nova Roma, a new city-building game themed on ancient Rome.
You can find out more via the studio’s official website and YouTube channel, as well as Twitter, Facebook, and Discord.