Ludus

Along the years there have been countless recreations and games inspired by Space Invaders, so why not have one set in the time of the Roman empire. Well, here’s is one and it’s called Ludus.

One man and his trusty siege weapon against several Roman armies

The gameplay in Ludus is pretty straightforward. Just like in Space Invaders, you have to eliminate the incoming force by using ranged attacks. In this case you are a lone soldier who shoots javelins at the incoming forces.
You have only one default attack to use and after you manage to kill a number of enemy soldiers your siege weapon becomes available. With it, you can kill a decent number of enemies but there are three types machines to use and each one has a different way of doing damage.

It’s an easy to play game but it’s tough to beat

Ludus is a top-down shooter in which you use just four keys to move from left to right, fire and set off the siege weapon. Gameplay is easy to pick up but it’s a tough little game. Your fire rate depends on how well you aim, there is a shield for protection but if you take one two many direct hits, it gets destroyed and after that, you're pretty much a sitting duck.
There are however a few power ups to collect, one of which restores some health to your soldier. Ludus challenges you to beat eight levels, it’s not a lot but even at level 2 things get sufficiently complicated.

A really nice game to play on a casual day

To sum things up, Ludus is well crafted. It has a familiar gameplay or at least one that’s easy to pick up, the challenge is real and it’s actually fun to play, that is, if you’re into this type of arcade game.