As Heatwave Interactive gears up for the June 21 launch of Gods & Heroes, we sat down with CEO Anthony Castoro to find out how they breathed new life into this once abandoned game.

Speaking of direction, Castoro is quite passionate about Heatwave's vision. “There are a lot of MMOs out there with the mentality of ‘we’re going to add so much content that you can’t play through it,’ and I think that’s wrong,” he argues. “While it’s obviously important to have that systemic gameplay that gets players motivated through loot and progression, there are people out there who really like the deeper mythology of Ancient Rome; the gladiators, the political intrigue and the territorial wars. For us, that’s way more compelling than walking through a theme park with gorgon heads.”

Of course, it’s certainly one thing to have a strong vision, and it’s an entirely different one to act on that vision, but on discussing Gods & Heroes' future developments, it seems they have a fairly solid path ahead of them. In developing their crafting and auction systems, Castoro refers to games like Star Wars Galaxies and Ultima Online in creating a true community where players can “master their roles and differentiate themselves from everyone else. It should be that if you really want to get into that role, and you invest your time and money into that role, you should be unbeatable.” Estates will also tie in closely with crafting, in that players will be able to really specialize their estates to give them that extra edge they need. 

In the end, Castoro is surprisingly candid about the experience of acquiring Gods & Heroes and making it their own, likening it to archaeology where “you look at what’s there and try to figure out why it’s there, or why it doesn’t work and how you can improve it.” On that point, however, Castoro says that he’s proud that the developers at Heatwave are doing some great work with what they have, and that “it’s an honor to take something that so many people worked on, and then to bring it to launch. We’re really happy with this opportunity, and while there are aspects of this game that I’d like to do from the ground up, it’s basically about saying ‘this is what we’ve got, and we’re making it as cool as we can.’” After seeing what has gone into Gods & Heroes so far and hearing of what is to come, I can agree with that sentiment.

Christopher "Pwyff" Tom, Senior Staff Writer

Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising is currently in its pre-order head start program. The game officially launches on June 21 in North America and June 24 in Europe. For details on where you can pick up the game, check out Heatwave Interactive's purchasing FAQ. You can still pre-order Gods & Heroes to receive exclusive items and gain early access to the game.