game revolution's joe dodson scored the game a c, arguing the mixing of gameplay styles was poorly executed; "most games include stealth and action mechanics so that the player can choose how to approach a situation, but in "shadow of rome", octavianus cannot fight at all and agrippa is about as stealthy as a hippo on pcp." he also found the combat system shallow; "agrippa's gameplay heavily relies on the x button. there are all sorts of special names for the crazy stuff he can do, but most of it requires one button press." he concluded, "despite its grandiose subject matter, "shadow of rome" is merely a bad stealth game chained to a limited action game."