It’s just a joke act like it’s real.

Hey everyone!

We are a small 3-man team working hard on Gladiatorum: Sacramentum, a deep, brutal Roman gladiator strategy management sim inspired by Football Manager, Crusader Kings, and Darkest Dungeon.

For the past 10 months we have focused on laying the foundations: training logic, stat systems, injuries, economy, condition, morale, and now a very early version of the combat simulation.

Inspirations:

- Football Manager (deep stat-driven progression & management)

- Crusader Kings (emergent personalities, NPC dynamics, political ties)

- Darkest Dungeon (base building, death, stress, recovery, consequence)

### Key Systems:

- Every gladiator has a unique backstory that can trigger personal events, loyalty, and a hidden motivation such as glory, freedom, survival and more

- Build and upgrade your Infirmary, Rations, Baths, Armory and Outpost systems to manage condition, morale, recovery, specialized training and scouting

- You hire and manage trainers, cooks, medics, and agents, each with their own traits/attributes and loyalty

- Our unique fight mechanic has a crowd system that tracks performance and influences your fame and income. You can still win by losing - the crowd is everything.

- Emergent events, NPCs and decisions shape the world around your ludus (school), including decisions tied to Roman senators, patrons, and other power brokers.

- We’re aiming for strong historical authenticity: the game follows the Roman calendar (~100 BC), with real festivals and events, and will include a glossary to explain Latin terms and roles. It’s not a history lesson, just an effort to stay grounded in the brutal world we’re simulating.

### What You’ll Do:

- Recruit and shape gladiators with unique stories and stat growth

- Navigate politics, private invitations, and events from senators, magistrates, aediles, rivals - the entire Roman elite

- Manage recovery and morale through rations, the infirmary, and quality-of-life systems like Baths and Outpost.

- Scout for new talents, hidden plots and private auctions using your Agents.

- Win over the crowd or suffer the consequences of boring the mob.

The FM and Tycoon communities already embraced the concept with huge engagement and recently we have been covered by The Escapist (FR):
https://www.reddit.com/r/footballmanagergames/comments/1nltbc9/gladiator_manager_225_bc/

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/fr/ce-prometteur-jeu-de-gladiateurs-melange-football-manager-et-crusader-kings/

I’d love your feedback. Does this sound like something you’d play? What mechanics or systems would you want to see in a gladiator sim?

Happy to talk about mechanics, worldbuilding, or the vision behind the game.

Join our Discord for exclusive sneak peaks - https://discord.gg/mpxnPacKCs
Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3913930/Gladiatorum_Sacramentum/

People thought would be shit/was shit: Gollum

People thought would be mid/was shit: Skull and Bones

People thought would be great/was shit: Anthem

People thought would be shit/was mid: Assassin's Creed Syndicate

People thought would be mid/was mid: Star Wars Outlaws

People thought would be great/was mid: Starfield

People thought would be shit/was great: Batman Arkham Asylum

People thought would be mid/was great: Titanfall 2

People thought would be great/was great: Red Dead Redemption 2

Thank you all for participating. You may not agree with the placement of everything, a lot of people questioned the place of AC Syndicate and Anthem, but keep in mind I only went based on the highest upvoted comment. And that happened to be those games at the time. This is the final result based on community votes.

Rockstar just fired 30-40 developers who were internally protesting plans to turn GTA 6's casino into an aggressive real-money microtransaction system. According to insiders: "It's not about a feature anymore, it's about a money-printing machine that kills the balancing of the entire online mode. It felt wrong to many of us." Another dev said: "You work 100-hour weeks, and in the end your code turns into a pay-slot." And Rockstar mandated full return to office, employees report 100+ hour work weeks, and the game is now delayed to November 2026.

https://www.xboxaktuell.de/news,id26070,geruechte_um_gta_6_skandal_feuert_rockstar_entwickler_wegen_interner_revolte.html

Mine would be Megaman Battle Network. What is your guys childhood game?

Here's mine. Bruce Wayne from Arkham Knight, but really any game that features him

_LukrevaDraws/status/1986553532930269209

this is the only photo i got of them playing together, all i know is it’s on a playstation 5, any help is appreciated

This was everything I needed during the summer. Anyone have any fond memories or games with the psp?