Age of Gladiators II: Death League

A good game ruined by a tacked on combat system. The original Age of gladiators was an incredible gladiator management system. Everything was very immerse and thematic. This game has a tacked on 3D combat system that is too easy to exploit. At the start you'll be slaughtered, but once you learn how it works you'll be building level 1s that can one-shot enemies before they can move. It takes all the fun out of the game to let us min-max the battles like this. The gladiators no longer have any identity. They are just carriers of your min-maxing. Shame to see the series go this direction.

It's a fun game for killing time, yes it gets kinda easy once you figure out a system. But if you play it to have fun n really get in to building your fighters n just not cry over missed shots or swings or like half the bad reviews i've read that want some mind blowing gladitorial life sim out this... it's fun... enjoy it... oh if you want to win, fight the fights urself, if you want to cry n write a shitty review sim ur fights.

Bought all three games and pretty happy with them. Very impressed that this is a single dev game too.

Here's the bad up front. There isn't a huge amount of depth to the game. You have fighters, guilds, a few weapons, and arena combat. There's not really a story line, and Death League doesn't have the random events of that AOG: Rome 2 has to keep you on your toes. Oh... and the RNG is suspect (but RNGs are REALLY hard to do well, so that is a bit forgivable). Also, the AI makes some really odd choices for match ups and load outs, but it is what it is.

Okay... not a lot of depth. Got it? Good. What AOG: DL sets out to do, i.e. plant you in a galactic fight league, let you struggle A LOT in the early game, and then rack up a fortune in credits after you build your stable of fighters, it does very well. In other words, it is GM-mode for whatever EA sports game you fire up when you are totally bored. And... it does a pretty decent job too.

There is enough nuance to the game to make your stats matter to the outcome of your matches. Want to build a slow axe-wielding tank that will soak up damage? You can do that. Need a speedy twerp with a vibroblade to tickle the other gladiators to death? You can do that too. Prefer to take on the enemy at range? Go for it.

You may find that in the early game melee >>> ranged almost every match. But keeping your guys with your trainers lets you train your shooters so that the phrase "never bring a knife to a plasma carbine fight" has some real meaning.

Also, make sure that you train more that three dudes... why? Playoffs. Don't worry, you'll find out.

So, after buying this on sale, I've had a good time with it. Not sure how much replayability there is yet due to the depth, but it is a solid game for what the dev set out to do with with it. I'll buy the next one as a result.

So at first this game was interesting but it stops being interesting when there is a bug that skips your characters for no reason and on top of this bug there is another that allows the AI to hit you square on better then you no matter what. It gets so bad you got to pray that your attack gets a critical thats the sad thing. This game has a wonderful idea but its execution just didn't happen as well. This game could of continued to spread by including more races and removing some of the stat system.

At $3 on sale, the game is obviously worth it if you have the slightest interest in the genre, and even if you plan to just "check it out" for more than a couple of hours.

At $15, I cannot recommend it, but no need - just wait for a sale.

I'd say go for it at 50% off. You will need some patience with the interface, but the game instills a desire to succeed and keep at it. Also note that CheatEngine works well with the game values if you need extra help. You may, as the competition is tough at the beginning, and by the time you reach mid-game you've gotten more than your money's worth.

Keep in mind the scroll bars on some screens to see all the screen data, such as selecting gladiators, etc. Maybe I am slow, but this initially threw me. In general, you cannot whip through the UI and need to pay some attention. The tutorial is of limited value.

Even if you cheat yourself one billion dollars, it will still take some time for you to build the many structures required to really get your "business" going. So there is strong motivation to get the better weapons, armors, buffs, recruits, trainers, buildings, etc.

The combat is simple but often tough to win. I have not moved far enough to see how my gladiators' specs works out in the arena, but there are lots of stats to consider. Yes there is RNG, but it seems quite fair and can "burn" both you and the AI.

Overall, for the price, this one is worth checking out. I am now going to buy the newest AoG II: Rome game for 79% off to get more of a good thing. If sci-fi theme bothers you, this would be the way to go to get the most "realistic" game feel. Have fun and contact me if you need more info!

This game is a heck of a lot of fun if the concept of a combat sports sim sounds appealing to you and is a large upgrade on the first in the series. Clearly, the developer is making some good strides and I'm eager to see what they come up with next. So sure, the game is flawed in many ways: you can start outsmarting the AI in combat almost immediately and win most of your fights, there isn't a lot of variety in equipment or combat, the scheduling is wildly erratic, and the developer clearly shouldn't have released two nearly identical games as the sequel to Age of Gladiators. None of that ultimately matters because the game is a kick, particularly once you start hitting your stride and developing upgrades. Grab it on sale.

Not as good as the first in general, although graphics of course are better. I think the sci-fi settings was the main issue as is the lack of automation choices, there really should be either full auto battles, or the choice of wich ever you choose. I think they kinda gave up on this one as it wasn't a hit and moved on to AOG Rome. They could still however make this one more polished and contonue to flesh it out and perfect. Still it can be quite fun according to your ability to find your immersion and imagination, plus this genre is quite bare so you don't have a huge selection to choose from. I think a Sims 3 inspired gladiator/Ludus would be a dream for most who love this genre...live out those Spartacus mini-series shows in a game..lmao. But it's certainly worth having if you are into this genre and I hope they continue to perfect their games in this genre.

AoG:DL provides an interesting concept with a relatively shallow amount of content. The core chunk of the game is the battlle system, which operates with enough complexity to be interesting. Flanking and attacking ranged enemies in melee is how you win.; but it's otherwise incomplete.

The core problem with the games design is it's reliance on arbitrary limits to how much equipment and personell you can hire. This just incentivises restarting until you figure out how to get a "perfect start" and just dominate the sport day one. But once you start rolling the actual content you unlock is just little bonuses that eventually combine together to make you virtually unstoppable. Yes, you will lose every now and then and the game can be set to really challenge you; but my arguement is there's just not enough variety to keep somebody playing this longer than 14 hours.

It's a solid sports simulator game and it ill have you forming stories and experiences. For instance I lost my hall of famer during the chmpionship so I cloned them and entered them in the next year where they were turned into a megastar and won the blood championship. But once you win that final match of the year, you have basically done everything in the game. I was really hoping that the game would play more with it's setting introducing monsters, traps, or much of anything more than 2-6 man combat. There is effectivly three types of weapons and three types of armour, the only real variety is in alien abilities.

Buy it on sale, and consider getting the next game as it looks like it will have slightly more content. It's a refreshing take on the genre.

People like to complain without really getting into the game. Most of the negative reviews are from people who didn't play it very long. I wouldn't say it is better than the original in every way, but it definitely improves on the original a lot. I'm more interested in the Roman version that is in development, but this game has been worth the money. Honestly, if you want your hand held the entire way, it doesn't do that. If you like to discover how a game works and learn as you go, this game will provide you with that opportunity.

Age of Gladiators 2 is an attempt to up the scope of its predecessor, featuring full 3D and controllable battles along with a variety of other maintenance side objectives. Unfortunately, I often found myself wishing the battles were automated as from the first game, as the combat feels very clunky. The transition to 3D also lost out on the some of the wonderful hand drawn art of the first game, sitting somewhere inside the uncanny valley. The game is a valiant attempt on expanding the original game, but it simply does not meet the marks. I really hope the developer gives the scifi gladiator theme another shot, as it is criminally underused.

This review is a shame, because AoG II came off as a really good title for the first 90 minutes.

It's not "Football Manager" level deep, but it's deeper than most of the more casual management sims that you see out there. Characters had a lot of attributes and stats, you had different staff members to hire, and there were lots of ways to upgrade your base. The graphics were professional looking. All around looking good.

It wasn't perfect. It looked like you could only sim one day at a time. The league schedule was a bit odd, sometimes clumping several matches together over 2-3 days then nothing for 2 weeks after that (this matters because of healing time and fighter fatigue). The interface required a few more mouse clicks than I'd have liked. But I hadn't seen anything I couldn't live with.

Then I was playing my second match, close to winning against an AI team that outlevelled me 3-1. I'd bet a lot of money on the outcome and I was about to clear up my financial issues. It was time for the last surviving AI player to move... and he wouldn't take his turn. Just stood there, sort of swaying back and forth and adjusting his belt.

Let's be clear - the game hadn't crashed. This wasn't a thing with my PC. The game AI just decided to say, "F this match and F you. I'm not going to take my turn until you quit the game. I'm an AI with no concept of time, so even though I can't beat you on the field, I know I can outwait you. Your move, player."

I waited a little over 5 minutes, then looked at my time in game to see if I could refund. 116 minutes! Hell yeah! I quit just as fast as I could and sent my refund request to Steam.

This isn't an Early Access title. If I can't get through 2 hours without a bug ruining my game, then that's not something I want to bother with. The fact that this game had been 40% off for a long time hints at something, too.

Reading through the forum, apparently people have been complaining about this bug (among others) for months, but the dev seems to have abandoned this game to work on their next title.

This is just another example of a good-looking game that got screwed up by inadequate play testing and bug-fixing. Why do devs do things like this? Put in 98% of the work, and then not bother to finish the job? Do they think all this is good advertising for the game they're working on now? I just don't get the logic.

I have the original Age of Gladiators and looked forward to the sequel when hearing of it. Wasn't too hyped for the space setting from the start but figured as good as AOG1 was it wouldn't hurt to give it ago for $17.99.

Played through 1st save and only lost 4 matches in 1st season that being due to forfeits (not having enough fighters on hand for fight) game was massively unbalanced. Developer worked that out so I started a new game. Twenty hours or so into this save the auto save screen pops up and stays there. I tried to save the game manually with no luck. I exit out and try a new game to see if last one was bugged same with this one and couldn't load original.

So 40 hours game time and Im back at the beginning. I will wait till game gets massively patched before I get into another.

Developer is active with regular updates but I think the release was way too early. Game isn't labled Early Access but should be. Will change to positive when game is at least stable.

Age of Gladiators 2 is a management game with a turn based twist

• A huge step up from the first game with the introduction of the turn based battle system
  
• Graphics are improved from the very simple images
  
• Construction is a bit like X-Com where you excavate your asteroid in order to get more space, it works.
  
• Lots of different races and some background lore
  
• I like the draft system for gladiators
  
• The Devs work to improve the game fairly consistently which is why i support him/them
  
• Brutal in its simplicity and its damn fun to run a gladiator school!
  

It needs some help, but it's getting there. The game largely floats between "too hard because lack of knowledge of how the game works" to "Okay, now I know how to cheese the shit out of the AI and never lose a match."

One of the better "Gladiator Sim" options out there, though, by and large because you can actually control the combat (if you want, or just sim), and fighs are not just text boxes of scrolling numbers and descriptors.

Despite the negative review, I want to commend the developer for both his commitment to game (like 4/5 patches already) and also for producing a title in a field (strategy/management) that I really, really love.

However, with that said, I'm going to have to (reluctantly) give this game a thumbs down, on one single point alone: the absoloutely atrocious balancing.

In a nutshell the game is either embarrasingly easy (if you directly control all the fights whilst spamming an AP build, even more cheesy with a shield generator in your loadout = win genuinely everything: I was 42-3 when I stopped playing and those 3 were all 'forfeits' because I was bored, endless money from winning ALL bets, and no injuries sustatined from fights so squad always fully powered) or barbarically hard (dont use a 'cheese' build/auto-resolve fights = lose everything, no money because you arent winning anything, all your guys are either critically injured or dead).

In all honesty, I dont think using a 'cheese' build would be all that bad, if the AI did the same - but it doesnt. They usually use pretty suspect tactics, never seem to employ the AP boosting adrenal stims or shields and, on a worryingly regular basis, waste 3AP of their turn using a completely irrelevant stim (ie. a melee character using a stim to buff their ranged aim) instead of attacking you.

Theres a few other minor details, but I feel bad enough with what I've said already, given that i do actually really really *really* want to like this game... if some of the above points are rectified in later patches, I'll happily change my review, but at the minute I can't really recommend the game beyond a couple of hours worth of fun whilst the novelty is still there.

TL:DR - If you enjoyed the first game, you can't go wrong with this sequel as long you're OK with the Sci-Fi setting instead of the Rome setting. (Though the Rome setting is coming soon per the Devs)

If you like a detailed opinion of the game, read on! :)

Well,

I'm not much for writing reviews on the steam website, but felt perhaps this one was a good time for that cause I've been enjoying the dedication the Devs have given to this game post release so far. Overall if you played the first game, called Age of Gladiators, then you will encounter features very similar to that with this one.

However, this sequel expands upon the first game pretty much ten fold by adding a lot new interesting things to do, but in fairness perhaps still needs fine tuning like the way you invest in properties and such for this one.

The big change from the first one to the 2nd, is naturally the setting is totally different now, we're in the future now (however, the Devs have promised a Age of Gladiators 2: Rome version a few months from now..) and the set-up of the gladiators is more league/season based akin to the usual sports management games out there or unlike the first one which is more ladder based on the 3 owners you were competing with in a particular region before moving on.

Overall, this change is a good change since I've always been a fan of the sports theme of these kind of games, so to include league standings, and than a playoff each and every season, makes the replay-ability pretty great since there is also record keeping like the first game which is probably my biggest complaint on the first game, since once you got the Rome, and beat the first 3 owners, well what now?, this way the League/Playoff structure keeps things a bit more fresh as time goes on. Speaking of Balance, if you do pick it up you may find yourself struggling for the first few games, than all of sudden get yourself on a great wining streak in which you feel unstoppable and there's a good chance you could even win the championship during your very first season as some other plays have done. (currently 24-6 myself in my first season)

Some may enjoy this, but some may not, however, it should be noted that the balance of this is constantly be tuned by the devs, and the game certainly seems much harder now from the first season onward that it was when initially released. (perhaps some may thing it's too hard now, but it's going to be a process that will be continued to be refined as time goes on by them..)

Which brings me the next good point, the Devs seem to really care about this game as new updates are constantly being put out there based on all the bugs that the player base has reported. Hell, even minor suggestions are being implemented now if it's easy to do for them... For example, I suggested that when you upgrade the buildings you buy, you should see the cost of it (initially it was just the upgrade button, but you didn't know how much it cost to upgrade, and certain building prices vary by a lot..).. 3 hours later, that suggested feature was in the game with a new update.

Yea, I know, it feels like it's a common sense kind of thing to do, and why shouldn't it have been included in the first place? But the fact their taking suggestions and try to implement them into the game if it's feasible and within the Dev's vision is a nice treat to see.

As for the combat itself, instead of just the one simulate mode that the first game had, we now get to choose from 3 modes instead. Simulate, Spectate, or actually take part in the battle. In my personal experience I've only taken part in the battles, I haven't simulated or spectated any of the games. The battles themselves are as the screenshots and video trailers shown above, tactical based, top down...

Is it as good as X-Com 2? of course not, but in general it serves the purpose of what it needs to do. Naturally the downside to this, is unlike the first game, when you start going to stuff that's tactic base, the player base can easily find ways to beat the AI, no matter how buffed the AI can be. So that is something to keep in mind, and perhaps why the victories in the early seasons are so common for most players, especially if you are a veteran of these tactic types games, and learn what key stats are good for those types of battles you participate in. (Some say it's all about Action Points)

However, that's why the other 2 modes are there if you feel you wish to handicap yourself somewhat and just focus more on the managing aspect of your gladiators like the way it was in the first game.

And I think that all I gotta say about the game for now, so yea, long winded I know, but as long you're a fan of the first game, you can't go wrong with this sequel. However, if the sci-fi theme is not your thing, than just wait for Age of Gladiators 2: Rome which should be released in a few months by these devs as well.

Still needs polishing, but so far it is constantly improving.
As far as I am concerned definitly some nice management game where I will pass a couple of hours.

Very enjoyable game with some cool mechanics. Really enjoying it but it needs to be harder. AP is way overpowered at the moment and I became the richest owner in the inaugural season, without much of a challenge. Really enjoying it though so hope some tweaks can be made for balance/challenge.

I really liked the first AoG game, so i was pretty excited about the new theme and the announcment of more depth and decisionmaking/progressing.
But sadly, i cant recommend it in its actual state of development.
Yes, there are more functions and building/Customizing options than before, but to me it seems a great part of them are just unnecessary, or, even worse, useless.
I feel the need to Review this game for the players thinking about buying it, because they liked the first title and were drawn into its, lets say, "databased progression".
But now, there isnt even a fightingsummary if you simulate a fight, you just know if you won or lost, but why did you lose? (you'll never know). Thats simply bad for a game based on stats.
Furthermore, there is absolutely no difficulty in winning the bloodleague in your rookie year, and if you do so, you will start your second year with the goal to defend your title...thats what the gameprogression literally is, playing the same league over and over again.
Even though i do like playing this game, i dont feel any motivation to go deeper into building or Gladiator-Optimizing mechanics, because there seems to be nothing you could use them for (except winning the bloodleague :P).

There are more things looking unfinished, like the missing playoff schedule, the openly accessable slavemarket (which is forbidden to use, you will be fined by the "league", but that you get told AFTER you went there and purchased a slave), the interaction possibilities with other Owners, with whom you can do, right, you got it, NOTHING except trading fighters (you cant even use money to purchase them, or get into a rivalry or stuff like that). I could name more (more or less) important issues, but i think you understand my point :).

I really wish to recommend this game some day, for i think it has a lot of potential and i really liked the first one (First and only game i ever played until unlocking all steam achievements), but right now, even though the beginning was funny because it SEEMED like AoG with just more possibilities (it isnt, dont get fooled by those colourfull gameoverlay), it is a contentless grinder.
In Fact, this game should have focused on the series Strenghts and improve them, instead of cutting them down (stats and storyprogression are the two main issues here) and adding useless functions which just look better and more "2017" as before.
So Overall, I can recommend it only for those players who loved the first game and thought "oh yes, i like that gladiatormanagementgame, but i wish it would be more futuristic and with an undercomplex possibility of playing the fights by myself".

A couple of hours in it now, won my first 3 fights (so i write now in a good mood, before i get my
ass handed, what will happen for sure when my luck is over^^).

The game is a huge step forward from AOG 1, i wasn't completly sure if the Dev is able to do such
a complex game all alone (<- i suppose so at least) but he did.

Its working, its fun and i was lucky enough to don't run in any bugs so far.
(And i love the space-atmosphere.)

I am sure there is still a bunch of work to do and there will be balance-issues for sure, but i am not worried about that, everything looks surprisingly well, considering the indie-benchmark and the not-so-long amount of development.

I am looking forward to get deeper into this and now excuse me please, i have three injured Kathaarn after the last fight, and a 2vs2 fight upon me tomorrow.
I will have to fight that with a complete new Skeel Gladiator and *gulp* a slave i have to buy for this.

So i got shit to do, but i recommed everyone to join me in this nice and new galaxie.

regards
RAHVEEN
former kathaarnian Gladiator
Owner of the Bloodpack Space Ludus

It is still early, but it is clearly an upgrade from the previous installment. The developer has been very responsive to the community.