Total War developer Creative Assembly has already partnered with Games Workshop to create Warhammer-themed entries in its long-running RTS series, with the latest being 2022's Total War: Warhammer 3. Now, it's been claimed it will be doing the same for Star Wars.

According to a DualShockers report, Creative Assembly allegedly has three unannounced Total War projects in development; one of which is an officially licensed Star Wars game. That's all the info DualShockers had to say about it, but VGC's Andy Robinson did suggest on Twitter last year that a new Star Wars RTS was in development at a "big name developer." In the wake of DualShockers' report, he's since twe??eted, "You can stop asking now."

Star Wars would be perfect for the Total War formula. I can easily see such a game taking place in any era of the franchise, allowing you to command troops across a variety of planets or partake in space battles between huge fleets of ships. The franchise is no stranger to the genre either, with 2006's Star Wars: Empire at War still fondly remembered by fans.

Not to mention, Bit Reactor is meant to be working on its own Star Wars RTS in conjunction with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor developer Respawn. Publisher EA did cancel another Star Wars project Respawn was working on earlier this year amid layoffs, but Bit Reactor assured in a Twitter post its game had been unaffected.

Hopefully, if this report is accurate, fans won't need to wait too long for Creative Assembly to make a formal announcement. The Total War games are typically annual releases so we are due for a new entry to be confirmed for 2024. Publisher Sega will also be part of Summer Game Fest in June; perhaps a new Total War will be revealed next month? However, there's nothing to indicate how far along this supposed Star Wars game is in development, and since Creative Assembly allegedly has two other Total War games in the pipeline, we may not see it for a?nother few years.

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A before the O

Sega has announced the next game in Creative Assembly’s expansive Total War series, Total War: Pharaoh. The announcement comes alongsi??de a teaser trailer and some details about the upcoming title.

Total War: Pharaoh brings the strategy back to history and presents the earliest time period yet depicted by the property. Set during the “cataclysmic�collapse of the bronze age, it places your faction in a race ?for the throne of Egypt. There are eight faction leaders scattered across Egypt, Canaan, and the Hittite empire.

//youtu.be/lLlD650ZBFQ

One of the new features of the series is weather effects that shift during the battle, including sandstorms and rain. Fire will also spread, allowing you to flush enemies out of forests or set villages ablaze. The campaign will also be fully customizable, al?lowing you to randomize faction starting points or toy with the? weather systems.

I’m not sure it’s even possible to pry me from Total War: Warhammer 3, but those who love the more historical Total War games should appreciate Total War: Pharaoh. I’ll be honest when I say that I don’t know much about ancient Egypt, and Total War: Shogun 2 was an excellent jumping-off poin?t to learn more about Japanese history. The weather systems sound fantastic, and I look forward to seeing how it affects battles.

Thankfully, it looks like the cooperative campaign mode will return. I put well over 200 hours into Total War: Shogun 2, and a lot of that is due to playi?ng with a friend.? Those were swell times.

Total War: Pharaoh is targeting a release of October 2023 on PC. Deluxe and Dynasty ??editions? have been announced, which include some of the upcoming DLC. If you pre-order now you’ll get to take part in an early access weekend.

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Odyssey across the Aegean

It took some time (about a hundred turns, give or take), but the mighty walls of Troy finally fell. Embarrassingly, they didn't fall by the hand of mighty Achilles and his giants (he got some giants on an island after convinci??ng its king to join his faction), or the siege towers the other Greeks were working on. Instead, Troy's walls succumbed to the ire of the god Poseidon, crumbling from a devastating earthquake. 

After that, poor Paris -- the bloodied victor of a power struggle with his brother Hector over the throne of Troy -- was ground up under the wheels ?of Achilles' war chariot as the Greek armies under Achilles poured through the gaps torn by the quake. All that was left to do to claim the jewe??l of the Mediterranean was to stand on the control point for a couple of minutes while the flag changed hands. 

A Total War Saga: Troy (PC)
Developer: Creative Assembly Sofia
Publisher: Sega
Released: August 13, 2020 (PC via Epic Games Store)
MSRP: $49.99

A Total War Saga: Troy makes some interesting changes to the Total War formula -- you can read about most of them in my initial impressions -- but by the end of a campaign or two, it's a bit hard to tell exactly why Creative Assembly chose to stick the Saga branding on the game when, barring those explicit new features, the game hews closely to Total War convention. So closely, in fact, that at a fundamental level the game feels more like a Total War title from the days of Shogun 2 or Rome 2 than one that followed Three Kingdoms. 

For one, agents are back, and there are tons of them now. Factions can upgrade their settlements to increase their unit cap for various agents, and then acquire "epic" one??s based on mythological creatures. The Gorgon I mentioned from before -- an independent, snake-wearing woman who can empty out a settlement's entire garrison with a glare -- is the highlight of the bunch, while the other two feel a bit like juiced-up versions of the more mundane agents.

This would be impressive, otherwise, but there's a reason Three Kingdoms got rid of the agent system in the first place: It slows the game down immensely. Even fast-forwarding through the computer's turn, by the late? campaign my?? turns were extended greatly as the game showed me agent action after agent action, with little to gain from it.

The late game was also where I began to run into issues with Troy's hybrid approach to the l??egendary nature of the Trojan War story. The Mythic combat units one can recruit -- including Minotaurs, Centaurs, Sirens, and Cyclopses -- function basically as elite fighters, but their impact is a little muted for my tastes. On the one hand, I applaud Creative Assembly for trying to find a novel way to take on one of the best-known historical topics in western civilization; but, on the other, I came away a bit disappointed when my Minotaur troops turned out to be just big guys wearing skull hats. This sense of "grounded" realism was also undermined by the fact that the hero and general units could quickly be as strong as they were portrayed in myth.

For example, a late-game Achilles who's equipped with the unique equipment and skills gained from taking on his Epic Quests (the more story-driven objective pop-ups that loosely follow the narrative of the Iliad and other popular Trojan War accounts) is practically invincible. In one instance, I managed to drive off both Hector and Paris and their respective armies equipped with nothing more than a squad of elite bodyguards and a small garrison's worth of low-grade militia. It was quite a lot of fun to see, but underscores the sense of identity crisis in Troy's approach.

Nevertheless, despite the issues, A Total War Saga: Troy's fundamentals are? as solid as one could ask for. The game is also beautiful, ??sporting a sparkling Mediterranean map and gorgeous environments to do mass killing in.

Its innovations are nothing to scoff at, either. The barter-based multi-resource system makes negotiations actually fun to engage in, as you wheel and deal with your neighbors and everyone short of your enemies to find a good bargain on resources you need. T??he leader-based unique mechanics also provide a fascinating strategic flavor for each playable faction. 

A Total War Saga: Troy plays it safe in some slightly disappointing ways, but brings enough new to the table that I would appreciate seeing its ideas make their way over to the next mainline Total War game.

[_{This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher prior to release.}]

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Can anyone provide me with a decent challenge?!

I'm not sure there is a better time period for video game adaptations than the Han dynasty period of ancient China. Filled to the brim with heroic individuals, grand battles, and personal drama, that historical setting is most famous for being adapted into the 14th century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It has everything that make?s for a?? good story and is based on real-life events: it's a win-win!

With the Total War series being a staple in large-scale strategy games for over a decade now, it only makes sense that the Three Kingdoms period would eventually find a home here. There isn't much you need to change to provide a Total War version of this story and it also pe??rfectly encapsulates what makes Creative Assembly's series so wonderfu??l. It practically makes too much sense.

While not everything in Total War: Three Kingdoms clicks, one cannot deny that Creative Assembly has knocked it out of?? the park with regards to capturing this era of legends.

Total War: Three Kingdoms (PC)
Developer: Creative Assembly
Publisher: Sega
Released: May 23, 2019
MSRP: $59.99

Booting up Total War: Three Kingdoms for the first time can be daunting. One look at the Campaign menu will show you 11 different leaders you can start your journey with. Each has a specific trait that makes them a viable option to become emperor of China and each has unique units that give them a leg up in specific battles. It's hard to parse everything if you're completely blind about what the Three Kingdoms period is all about. In possibly the only failure of this game, Total War: Three Kingdoms?? does nothing to ??get you up to speed about who would be a good choice for you.

That being said, starting a campaign prompts you with the question of whether or not you're new to the Total War series. Selecting no will actually reduce the number of hints you're given with a further option to shut them off outright. Selecting?? yes will practically guide you by the hand to figuring out how the campaign map works and how unfavorable battles can have the odds shifted through smart strategic thinking. While you may be jumping around from ruler to ruler trying to find one that gels with you, at least you'll understand how the game plays.

To that end, it's quite an accomplishment how well Creative Assembly has adopted the Three Kingdoms story for each of this title's generals. In Luo Gaunzhong's novel, infamous leader Cao Cao was a total jerk that used manipulative tactics to create an advantage for himself in times of need. Playing Cao Cao in Three Kingdoms, you're given the unique ability to diplomatically influence other nations into starting proxy wars with each other or negatively influencing the opinion of one another. That attention to detail creates a sensation that you're living in an actual, factual world, something that past Total War games haven't quite captured as thoughtfully.

This feeds into the overhauled diplomacy system Three Kingdoms exhibits. While past Total War games shared similarities to the Civilization series, Three Kingdoms goes full in on recreating what works so well about Firaxis' popular franchise. You now have total control over what you can trade, what you can request, how you can reject offers, and even a points system to see if a deal will be accepted before you even request it. It's a real treat to have an enemy officer request a piece of land from you only to turn aroun?d and offer more gold and shift the deal in your favor. It may be a little video gamey, but it makes dealing with dipl??omacy a lot more engaging than any strategy title I've played before.

In fact, I could talk more about the campaign structure than the battles because Three Kingdoms has overhauled this so much that I feel it is the standout feature here. In past Total War games, the campaign map felt like a means to an end for recreating historical settings. It was a necessary evil so to speak since you couldn't simply have constant battles without context. In Three Kingdoms, I became much more interested in upgrading my settlements a??n?d plotting the paths of my armies because the campaign map doesn't feel like an afterthought.

It also helps that if you just plain detest the sometimes hard-to-follow battles, you can automate them and stay glued to the campaign map. I wouldn't overly rely on that function (the RNG used to determine success is often a gamble), but Creative Assembly has injected some very interesting mechanics into this often overlooked aspect of Total War that makes it hard to put down. During a few of my campaign ru??ns, once I gathered enough money I often skipped battles entirely so that I could stay involved here.

That isn't to say the battles are bad, but they are the one aspect of Three Kingdoms that doesn't feel different from the past. I haven't played all of the latest entries, but the same tactics I've been utilizing since Rome: Total War released work just as well in Three Kingdoms. The enemy AI in battle isn't that intelligent on difficulties below Hard and will often fail to adjust to a flank coming their way. You can typic?ally bum-rush the opposition, take out their generals, and win skirmishes that? are overwhelmingly against you. The sense of scale is still a sight to behold, but the battle system could use an overhaul.

That said, I think the thing that really sells Three Kingdoms is the majestic art style. Forgoing pure realism, Three Kingdoms embraces the larger-than-life personas of its cast and creates a vivid and colorful presentation. Characters are drawn in a painterly manner and battle animations look like they are ripped straight from Hong Kong cinema. Apart from something like the Dynasty Warriors series, these historical characters have never looked be??tter before. The very sparse cutscenes bring this all home with a sense of scale that is appropriate for the epic saga of the original novel.

If this is all sounding a bit too fantastical for you, though, you'll be happy to know that Creative Assembly has not forgone historical accuracy for the sake of a cool game. When you begin a campaign or random battle in Three Kingdoms, you're given the option to play in a Romance mode or Records mode. For Romance, think along the lines of Dynasty Warriors with regards to your generals. They'll be able to ride into battle and take on hundreds of soldiers with little problem. ?They'll even have a wide array of special moves and can be equipped with armor for tactical advantages in certain situations.

For Records mode, your generals will be reduced to the quality of mere mortals. Fatigue will plague them if they battle for too long and they'll need to be smart about their movements on the battlefield so as not to get flanked and killed. Even movements o?n the campaign map will tire out your troops, which can make ambushes all the more deadly when you're caught unaware. There's a stark contrast between the two options that cater to different crowds, but I appreciate the choice.

In another solid move, b??oth options will alter the story that your general progresses through. In Romance, for instance, tyrannical ruler Dong Zhuo has the option of marrying the concubine Diaochan and infuriating warlord Lu Bu. In turn, Lu Bu can then murder Dong Zhuo and assume control of the faction, much like how the novel played out. In Records mode, though, Diaochan doesn't exist because she wasn't a historical figure (no actual record of her exists). The whole plotline with Lu Bu betraying Dong Zhuo plays out more like how it did in history, which gives players two totally separate options for experiencing each ruler.

I'm not sure I have the fortitude to go through two storylines, but only because a single campaign playthrough can take you up to 20 hours to finish. With Total War's campaign map being the literal map of China?, you can imagine how insanely large your army will become. When you're at hour 14 and you need to check in on 120 different villages, the micromanagement starts to wear you down. I wish there was an option to automate the upgrading process for your buildings because it would be immensely helpful f?or those late-game sessions when you're closing in on a victory and just want to be finished.

Still, that's a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things. It can be tedious, but watching the map slowly shift to your faction's color is a rush of adrenaline Total War hasn't had in quite some time. That desire for one more turn is strong and the knowledge that you'll have yet another sliver of the map to call your own pushes you to keep going beyond your limits. I'll readily admit I played Three Kingdoms for eight-hour stretches without realizing simply beca?use of how well I was progress?ing in the campaign.

Once you're all squared away with the campaign, Three Kingdoms doesn't have a whole lot else going on. There are historical battles you can play through, but these are quick battles that are over before they even really start. Going through certain critical moments of generals' lives, these battles are more unique than what you'll find in the campaign but don't really expand on the stories of the novels in any fashion. This is the only place you'll find real cutscenes, but even those aren't capped off with a grand speech or sense of completion. The menu doesn't even tick off if? you've finished a certain scenario. It can be deflating to overcome a huge army and then have the game not acknowledge your feat.

Multiplayer, at least, isn't limited to just the battle mode. If you want to drag a friend along for a multi-day campaign, you're free to do so. Setting up a co-op session is also more fluid than how Total War accom??plished the task in the past. You won't launch a campaign specifically as a cooperative match, but can form a military coalition with your friend and then proceed to conquer China together without much fuss. Since you won't have to worry ??about accruing treachery points when backstabbing your buddy, you can also treat them like mere cogs of war, which is sure to go over well when you meet up again.

The stability of internet matches is perfectly apt for this, too. I wouldn't call the netcode flawless (some pauses can occur when you're doing battle), but the slower nature of Total War lends itself well to network play. The few matches I could find were mostly lag-free and I was able to dominate my opposition with tactics they couldn't anticipate. I'd call that a win as far as connectivity is con?cerned.

Overall, Total War: Three Kingdoms can be summed up as yet another great entry in the long-running series. While it may not be the absolute pinnacle of what Creative Assembly can achieve, it has become my favorite entry simply because of the setting used. We've reached a point where your personal favorite Total War will be determined more by the property being adapted than any worry about quality or gameplay factors. Since everything is fine in Three Kingdoms, what else do I really need to say?

Go and pursue Lu Bu, if you dare.

_{[This review is based on a ret??ail build of the game provid??ed by the publisher.]}

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It's a bit cheaper than normal

If you've somehow had your fill of Lizardmen and Dark Elves, Creative Assembly's next Total War game is more grounded -- and it's not far off. Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia, which revolv??es around the Anglo-Saxons, Gaelic clans, Welsh tribes, and Viking settlers in 878 AD, releases April 19 on PC.

It's a more focused game that hones in on a "critical moment in history" (hence the new "Total War Saga" titling), and that means a reduced price compared to the full-fledged installments. Thrones of Britannia will run $40. Pre-ordering will knock 10 percent off that price and Creative Assembly has pledged to donate 25 percent of its profits from pre-sales to the charity War Child UK.

As shown in this de??veloper interview, the stylized 2D intro movies for the factions look great.

The studio is also planning a physical limited edition and has shared the system specs.

Minimum

• OS: Windows 7 64Bit
• Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo 3.0Ghz
• Memory: 5 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 460 1GB | AMD Radeon HD 5770 1GB | Intel HD4000 @720p
• Storage: 30 GB available space

Recommended

• OS: Windows 7 / 8 (8.1)/ 10 64Bit
• Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-4570 3.20GHz
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 4GB | AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB @1080p
• Storage: 30 GB available space

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Campaign pack and free update on the way

Four years later, Creative Assembly is revisiting Total War: Rome II with a major DLC release.

When it launches this Thursday, November 30, Empire Divided wi?ll add a new campaign set in 270 AD along with ten different playable factions and disruptive f??orces like banditry, plagues, and cults.

As it now stands, thing??s aren't looking too? great for Rome.

"The once-glorious legions are forced to assume a defensive posture as their strength wanes; time is not on Rome's side. However, there is yet hope. Aurelian stand??s ready to take the reins in Rome, though the task he faces seems insurmountable... Will you unite an Empire Divided, and return Rome to its former glory? Or will you become the arbiter of its final downfall?"

The team put out a cinematic trailer today:

According to the developers, the game still attracts "hundreds of thousands" of active players each month, hence this support. It was a "perfect opportunity for us to go back and address some of the areas we felt we could still improve, like we have with the Power a?nd Politics update."

Even if you're skipping Empire Divided, you'll be able to benefit from this free Politics update. It's launching on November 30 as well and it will rework the politics system so that you're gaining influence and support through missions out on the battlefield. The motivation for the overhaul was to provide "far greater meaning to how you deal with other politics parties and government types" in Rome II.

Now this might not be my usual beat, but the ide??a of developers touching up older games in ongoing series with large-scale updates or DLC? That's cool. Something I'd love to see more of, certainly.

Also worth mentioning: Rome II is on sale this week to coincide with the new content.

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Longboats and Cutthroats

Sega and Creative Assembly have unveiled the first game in the Total War Saga series, a spin-off brand from the popular Total War epic strategy titles.

Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia will see players engage in feudal combat in Britain circa 878AD. Among the ten playable factions fighting for dominance will be Gaelic warriors, Nordic vikings and th??e Anglo-Saxons, all thirsty to put an axe in their fellow mans fo'hea?d.

The Saga brand is being reserved for games that contain more than enough content to justify being standalone releases, but won't quite span fulltime eras or feature the depth of Total War's mainline titles, such as Rome or Atilla, instead choo?sing to focus on "distinct moments".

Thrones of Britannia is currently only scheduled for PC release. The first game in this interesting looking spin-off series is yet to be priced, or receive a release date other than "2??018", so it looks like strategy fans have plenty of time to get that battle-axe sharpened.

Thrones of Britannia coming in 2018 [Official Blog]

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In the Grim Darkness of the Fantasy Battle Setting...

As much as I've enjoyed and admired the games of The Creative Assembly, I can't help but admit that I'm something of a fair-weather Total War fan. With the exception of Shogun 2, the sheer scale of a typical Total War game tends to keep me from committing to any single one, or even starting despite my initial interest in titles like Atilla, Napoleon, or Empire.

In defense of my seeming negligence, however, it's not like Total War games are the kind of title you're supposed to play every single entry of (much as that would delight the p??eople making them). Between installments, the games don't change all that much in their basic approach to play, and players are usually best advised to take the plunge when a new installment touch??es on a setting they enjoy.

Usually.

After I spent time with Total War: Warhammer 2, though, I immediately rushed out to get the first game, cursing my ignorance and wondering why I'd let such an accomplished Total War game pass me by.

Total War: Warhammer 2 (PC)
Developer: The Creative Assembly
Publisher: Sega
Released: September 28, 2017
MSRP: $59.99

Indeed, despite relatively little changing about its basic formula of turn-based, Civilization-esque empire-management married to real-time tactical battles, much is different about Total War: Warhammer 2 compared to the franchise's more realistic outings, though players of the first installment will find it quite familiar. For one, it's a direct sequel to the first game, expanding the narrative and setting to encompass the "New World" portion of Warhammer's Fantasy setting and ensnaring its four new playable factions in a crisis rel??ated to the troubles that plagued last year's "Old World" environs.

Warhammer 2 trades in the previous game's quasi-European geography for steamy jungles, sweltering deserts, and mystic archipelagos as it brings on board four more major factions: The courtly High Elves, sinister Dark Elves, reptilian Lizardmen, and the fan-favorite Skaven, who are all gross rat-people that the traumatized players of Vermintide know all too well. At first glance their differences from each other don't seem as dramatic as, say, the Greenskins or Vampire Lords of Warhammer 1. They all wield a mix of magic, cavalry, air, ranged, and mele?e units in their respective armies.

Thankfully, that seeming homogeneity lies just at the surface level. For example, High Elves play somewhat typically, almost like a historical Total War faction (plus dragons), but have far reach, both in terms of their powerful ranged units and overall strategy, as they can see through the eyes of their trade partners, allowing them to explore huge swathes of the map without ever leaving home. They also trade in "Influence," a special faction resource, using it to directly alter diplomatic relations (u??seful when dealing with the somewhat daft AI leaders) or h??ire high-quality heroes and generals.

Dark Elves, on the other hand, can use their Black Arks, traveling, seaborne settlements, to bolster land invasions and provide fire support to any tactical engagement in range. They also take slaves, and can use those slaves to su??percharge their economies or fuel powerful rituals - at the risk of inciting uprisings and other unpleasantness.

If the Lizardmen were just a bunch of dinosaurs riding other dinosaurs (they have those), I'd be satisfied, but they've also got some really cool strategic?? perks, like the Geomantic Web, a magical network linking up their provinces and boosting the power of "Commandments" (faction-wide stances that confer bonuses to things like construction speed or trade income). Some of their units also fight at risk of going berserk??, trading frenzied combat power for the complete loss of control.

Skaven? are even more underground an empire than the Dwarfs, and their settlements can't even be properly seen by their surface-dwelling rivals, appearing only as "ruins," a new type of explorable location. This makes Skaven hard to spot when they're the enemy. In battle, they rely on hordes of cheap, hilariously weak infantry that rout quickly (they even get an army-wide speed bonus when fleeing!) but can rally on short notice, creating a swarming style not unlike the Zerg (but furrier). On the campaign map they can expand like n?o one's business, but need a constant supply of food provided by raiding and conquest to keep it up.

All of these factions (and a ton more NPC-driven powers) compete in a narrative campaign centered around a map feature called the Great Vortex, an elf-created storm that drains away unw??anted magic and prevents incursions from the forces of Chaos. Eac??h faction has its own goal for the Vortex, whether to reinforce it, destroy it, or bend its potential to their own use. Such goals require collection of a special currency, gathered by completing missions, or performing special rituals in key areas.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, any tampering with the Vortex weakens its anti-Chaos enchantment, triggering a map-wide Chaos invasion whenever a faction gains ground in the struggle for control of the Vortex. This rhythm isn't that different from the periodic?? northern Chaos incu??rsions from the first game, but the triggering element allows for a greater level of control and agency than before. Rather than building up to an inevitable confrontation, players can delay an invasion by holding off on progress, or even start one early if they feel they can deal with the blowback. Similarly, rival factions making progress can mess with one's priorities, introducing a sense of urgency that might not otherwise exist under simpler, more domination-based win conditions.

Also altering the calculus of rule is a new "climate" system, where different factions exert control best over territories in their environmental comfort zone. For example, the cold-blooded Lizardmen have the easiest time ruling hot, tropical zones, and have more trouble stabilizing colder regions. It's a sensible change from the more arbitrary conquest restrictions that held sway in Warhammer 1. 

It's also worth pointing out at this point that while this review is late, it also coincides with the recent release of Warhammer 2's new "Mortal Empires" add-on. It's free to owners of both games, and adds an all-new grand campaign option that outright combines both the Old and New Worlds into a single, massive map. All the playable factions in both games are playable here, though unlike the core campaign, the narrative thrust is replaced by more simple twists on a standard win condition. For example, ??Empire players who start a Mortal Empires c??ampaign must establish a New World colony, in addition to the standard conditions, to claim victory.

It's a huge amount of content to add to an already sizable game, and a cool service for players who choose to stick with the series in the long run, especially considering how diff?erently a camp??aign can play based on faction choice.

Then again, while Warhammer 2 amplifies the best aspects of the Total War formula, its vivid adaptation of the Warhammer Fantasy license can't quite save it from the quirks and foibles that by now seem endemic to the franchise. The battle AI is still wonky and easily exploited by clever players, neutral or rogue armies tend to display overly player-centric targeting, and diplomacy?? is outright weird, with both rival and ally factions making sometimes absurd, repeated demands seemingly without provocation. Creative Assembly has attempted to remedy some of these faults with more transparent UI design and exposing some of the numbers for players to mull over in an attempt to parse what's actually happening, but that that has to happen at all remains a black spot on the franchise's record.

The game is also something of a resource hog, regularly sucking up large amounts of time and CPU po??wer processing AI turns and requiring relatively serious hardware to perform well. Then again, the animations and quality on the character models have never looked more vibrant, so perhaps that's a price? to pay for that kind of scale.

All the same, Total War: Warhammer 2's inability to solve some longstanding franchise-wide issues don't really dampen the sense that this is the biggest, and one of the best, executions on the same formula. Adding that this is only the second game in a planned trilogy ends up only making me more excited to see what's in store for Total War: Warhammer 3.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Rat Race

The final playable race for Total War: Warhammer II has been revealed as the rodent based Skaven. Fans speculated this from the ?initial trailer, which showed a rat biting at the corpse of a fallen warrior, but now the cat is offi?cially out of the bag. Or, rat, perhaps.

As Sega so delicately puts it, "Their motives obscured, the devious Skaven are a highly numerous species who inhabit vast s?ubterranean lairs. ?Now, their time of prophecy is upon us, and this verminous Race have emerged to spread pestilence and mayhem across the face of the New World." Sounds disease ridden.

Creative Assembly also unleashed a cinematic trailer for the Skaven, which is honestly pretty cool looking. It doesn't show much actual gameplay, but you can ?took a look at a couple of screenshots t?o see in-game models.

I haven't played a Total War game since the original Rome, so I'm a bit surprised at how hectic this looks. It seems almost like a traditional RTS instead of the massive scale wars that typify Total War. Seeing as how Warhammer II has a combined campaign map, maybe I should jus??t jump in here.

Total War: Warhammer 2 confirms the Skaven as fourth race [PC Gamer]

The post Total War: Warhammer II’s final race is the Skaven appeared first on Destructoid.

Seek the nightmares

Time certainly flies on the internet. It already feels like a week between Creative Assembly's announcement that Total War: Warhammer II's pre-order DLC would be for the first game and this reveal. When I went to c??heck on my original post, I see it was only two days ago! The hell happened?!

Anyway, fans of barbarians and Norse mythology will be happy to hear that the Norsca are joining the fray. The reveal trailer doesn't really show off much of what the race looks like in-game, but you do get to listen to a narrator? who sounds a lot like Chris Hemsworth and see a mammoth. There could be worse ways to introduce new playable characters.

The Norscan army will be available to download first in Warhammer I, starting on August 10, 2017, before later coming to Warhammer II. You can nab it for free by pre-ordering Warhammer II or buying it within the first week of release, after which it will be $10. This DLC will include two playable factions, new Lo??rd and Hero type units, a "massive" roster of new units and?? the ability to play as them on combined campaign map in the upcoming sequel. Sounds nifty.

A new Total War: Warhammer trailer introduces the barbaric Norscans [PC Gamer]

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The saga continues

Fans of the Total War series will be happy to learn that developer Creative Assembly is looking to branch out into more standalone expansion style games similar to Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai. This comes as part of a new initiative called "Total War Sagas." These games will focus on, "table-flip moments in history, where events are in the balance and could go any number of interesting and unique ways," reads a blog post from the official website.

The only mentioned title, so far, will be a follow-up to Total War: Rome II in the vein of Total War: Atilla. "To help show the kind of scale we’re talking about," game director Jack Lusted says, "the game that I’m currently working on has a map that is comparable in gameplay size to Total War: Attila, but focused on a smaller geographic area, and the campaign will take as long to complete as any other Total War title does. Focusing on a single geographic location in this way allows us to go into ??greater detail with the period and setting.”

I thought that was a full game, but I guess the "Sagas" moniker allows the Creative Assembly more freedom to make shorter form titles instead of trying to bloat out each entry with needless padding. Seeing as how a lot of the more recent Total War games have launched with a plethora of issues, stripping the scale back might?? help with releasing games that actually function without numerous patches.

Even if it doesn't, more Total War isn't necessarily a bad thing. I do think they should offer some of these "Sagas" titles as DLC for main games, since it would be silly to create such a large game and then cut out chunks of i??t for standalone purposes. Maybe offer reduced pricing for customers with the main game, a??s a show of good faith.

A Total War Saga – Announce Blog [Total War]

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The first one barely just came out

We're barely a year removed from the first Total War: Warhammer, which is said to be part of a "trilogy" of strategy games, and the second entry, Total War: Warhammer II has a release date.

Just today during? the PC Gaming Show developer Creative Assembly showed off a new battle with the Lizard Men, which will be playable at E3. For new races are in for the sequel -- the High Elves, Lizard Men, Dark Elves, and a fourth mystery race. A giant update is planned that will unit both games with a "full campaign," that allows players to pick any race and go th??rough the entire campaign.

I mean really, even if this is more of the same, that's cool - I just hope it doesn't feel like an expansion pack given that they're charging full price for this. Total War: Warhammer 2 will be released on September 28 this year.

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Hope you're caught up

When I saw an announcement for Total War: Warhammer II, I thought some websites were doing April Fool's a bit early. I could swear the first title came out just last ??year and?? I was right! I suppose instead of letting the hype die down from the first game, Creative Assembly thought it was better to just go all in on a sequel.

The game was announced at EGX Rezzed along with a cinematic trailer. Since I don't really know much about Warhammer (preferring the 40K variant), I'll have to let the official FAQ explain what this sequel includes.

"There are four playable races each with two Legendary lords, for ?a total of 8 individual start positions.

High Elves, Dark Elves, Lizardmen and a fo??urth race, yet to b??e revealed, will all feature.

As the twin-tailed comet of Sotek made its recent journey across the skies, it caused the Vortex to become dangerously unstable. Each of the four races has its own objective regarding this: some wish to heal the Great Vortex and prevent calamity. Others see opportunity in disrupting it. That said, no two races ha?ve precisely the same objectives and they’ll need to accomplish them in their own way."

According to that FAQ, owning the previous game isn't required but will unlock a new "combined" map campaign for ?players. I'm curious if that means you'll be able to experience the ??old missions with this sequels improvements or if it will simply amount to extra side-quests.

The game is set to release sometime later this year and will be the second chapter of a trilogy. I guess I should have seen that coming (?since every??thing is a damn trilogy now a days).

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Bring on the Green Knight

Next up for Total Warhammer players is the game's biggest free update yet.

On Tuesday, February 28, the sprawling strategy title gets the Bretonnia Race Pack DLC, which grants access to the group in the Grand Campaign and expands its roster for custom skirmishes.

I hope you didn't watch this trailer in a dark room, because if so, the toxic-green knight may have melted your eyeballs. If your vision is still in working order, the DLC's Steam listing is packed with details.

Fun fact: Bretonnia isn't just the name of a faction -- it's also what I'm going to start calling Brett. If you don't hear f?rom me again in the next 24 hours, assume that he did not take this goof very well.

Total War: Warhammer - Bretonnia [Steam]

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Waaagh!

I first got into Warhammer around 2001. I had briefly heard of the Games Workshop-led Fantasy property from some of my friends as the inspiration for the Warcraft series, but never really connected with it until I started to play the 40K edition of the tabletop game. Along with my Chaos Space Marine, Dark Eldar, Blood Angel, and Ork armies, I began to investigate the less sci-fi oriented Fantasy arm, much to the chagrin of my gaming group.

Yep, no one wanted to "downgrade" to a less popular, slightly older version without Space Marines. Thankfully, the Fantasy line lives on with games like Total War: Warhammer.

Total War: Warhammer (PC)
Developer: Creative Assembly
Publisher: Sega
Released: May 24, 2016
MSRP: $59.99

You've seen humans, orcs, dwarves, and vampires duke it out many times before, but Warhammer has been around for so long (since 1983) that it's actually influenced many post-Tolkien fantasy realms. It's a bastion of lore -- a well so deep that you could throw a coin in it and never ?hear the bottom. Loading screens are chocked full of quotes from various codices, novels, and apocryphas, without feeling too daunting or esoteric for newcomers.

True to form, the Total War-style campaign is the draw here, which meshes well with the already existing universe. But it's important to note that unlike every other Total title, which draws upon real events, there were a number of liberties that Creative Assembly could take to create a more interesting experience that doesn't feel like a knockoff of their other efforts. Warcraft III-esque heroes change the landscape of battle for one, as do magical spells and flying units. It has a more cinematic feel to it both in terms of the bombastic cutscenes? and gameplay.

All of these elements don't negate the tactical depth of the engine though. Players will still have to carefully plot out each unit's movement on a giant open map, taking calculated risks to ensure that their economy doesn't implode or an enemy doesn't take a key stronghold. I wouldn't say the engine is quite as stunning as Shogun 2 (it's a bit more grounded in grimdarkness, lacking the beautiful artistic feel of its predecessor), b?ut on a higher-end rig you can really see the individual detail in every single unit, even when zoomed in.

Tactical prowess?? is still paramount despite the flair, so don't think this is a neutered version of the game. This still includes speccing into, and choosing individual technology trees (which offer reprieves like cheaper recruitment costs), maintaining your army's upke?ep costs and income, and maintaining alliances through diplomacy or trade. The campaign itself is really open-ended, as you can basically amass an entire army and rule through sheer force of will, or opt for a more cautious route.

What's really cool about the particular factions in Warhammer is that each one feels wholly different from one another. You don't need to be a historian (what makes Parthia differnet from Carthage in a previous game for example) to?? be able to discern the differences between certain factions or armor types -- no, the nuances are incredibly obvious and gamey, in a good way.

Humans are relatively middle of the road, but Dwarves have superior artillery and access to rune wares instead of magic, Greeskins (Orks) thrive in pure numbers with very little technology and not trade? options, and the Vampire Counts excel with magic use and have more elite, centralized units. Dwarves and Greenskins can also access underground tunnels called the "Underway."

The more I played the more depth I uncovered though beyond these nominal changes. Humans can't capture territory unless it's from rival humans or Vampire Counts, which forces players to pick and choose their ba??ttles. Greeskins on the other hand are subject to the "Waaagh!" mechanic that grants bonuses for attacking rapidly. If sieged, Dwarves will have to respond in turn due to the "grudge" modifier, and Vampire Counts can plague areas they claim. Despite the fact that there's only four armies at launch, all of them are fun to play and lead to completely different campaigns.

At the heart of Total War is the actual... war, and the tried and true real-time combat still works well in tandem with the turn-based overworld. For the uninitiated, the Total War games tend to focus on more intimate battles rather than the sprawling base-building affairs in titles like StarCraft, which often come down to the wire if you aren't fully prepared going into a skirmish. Manipulating units with control groups or a good old fashioned mouse click is still a cinch, and your job is to mostly move units where they need to go rather than micromanage their abilities. The overhead tactical camera and power to pause a battle to get ??your bearings offer more than eno??ugh control.

Even after playing through every campaign, I'm still good for months on end when it comes to stuff to do. There are 37 quest missions to complete, and roughly 50 maps available for custom matches, where you can experiment with whatever units or army you wish at any given time. Skir??mish mode is also hefty, complete with multiplayer that actually has access to a server list and an option for LAN play on top of the usual matchmaking mechanic.

There is a caveat however. The build I was given wasn't the most stable, and while it hasn't been as buggy as Rome II on my end, it's not nearly as reliable as Attila was at launch. The developer has a day-one patch planned which we'll continue to cover and investigate, but for now, I did encounter the occasional crash (usually when fiddling with the UI outside of a battle) or hiccup. And while it's not factored into this review, more content, both free and paid is coming. After relenting due to fan outcry the entire Chaos army (complete with its own campaign) wil?l be added as a free update after launch, and more factions (Skaven, please) will be available as DLC.

Outside of Shogun 2, Total War: Warhammer is my favorite Total game to date. Developing this project must have been a massive undertaking, because it somehow manages to not sacrifice the core tenets of the series while staying true to the ever-expanding source material of the Warhammer universe. After nearly two decades of historical battles, having the chance to c??ommand a magical undead army is a br?eath of fresh air.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher. Our review was originally published on May 19, 2016.]}

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Dwarves use runes instead

It feels like forever ago that Total War: Warhammer was announced (nearly four years), but it's nearly here, and set to release ?next week. For those of you who have been following along, here's a great detailed overview of how magic works in the game, which is one of the newest mechanics for the series alongside of heroes.

Some spells are pretty standard (fire and brimstone type stuff), and others are really out there, drawing upon the strong lore of the Warhammer Fantasy line. Expect our review before launch.

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As seen in this Empire campaign

Creative Assembly is giving us another glimpse at the particulars of Total War: Warhammer. Just like the Greenskins walkthrough before it, this video drops us partway into a campaign, albeit with the Empire. It's seven minutes lon??g, but that feels like no time at all for a game of this scope.

Aside from the Legendary Lords, who are taken directly from lore, you'll have the option to?? rename all of your characters. You totally should. The more ridiculous, the better.

Assuming they keep?? it up with these clips, I ?hope the Vampire Counts are next.

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Heigh-ho! It's off to war we go

Back at E3 2015, I got a special sneak peek at the upcoming Total War: Warhammer. The pre-alpha footage we were shown featured an intense battle between the Empire and Greenskins, and each side brought their largest weapons and fiercest foes to the brawl. From griffon riders to the shaman's summon giant arachnids, Total War is taking advantage of the new setting. With decades of lore to pull from, Creative Assembly aims to move away from the series' historical settings to the ridiculously epic high-fantasy genre. But that doesn't mean the tried-and-true gameplay that focuses on empire creation and intense battles has faltered. In many ways, Warhammer is looking to become the most refined and detailed Total War yet.

In order to give people an idea of the scope they have in mind for their upcoming title, the developers invited Destructoid out to go hands-on with Total War: Warhammer, in addition to experiencing the first gameplay with the Dwarven faction. Working closely with Game Workshops, the developers had countless texts and data to work fro??m in order to make a title worthy of both brands.

The developers have been keeping things pretty close to the vest when it comes Warhammer. While we've already seen the Empire and Greenskin armies i?n action, they've been very hesitant to share any details about the Dwarf and Vampire factions. As each army will have its own unique settings, politics, and overall feel from one another, Creative Assembly wanted to make sure it nailed its approach before showing it off to the world.

Our session focused primarily on one of the earlier skirmishes in the Dwarven campaign. During the Ambush at the Thunderfalls Pass, the faction's underground networks have been breached by the Greenskins, and it must drive them out in order to keep its most secure and valuable asset in Dwarf hands. Unlike the other Total War titles, Warhammer has deeper ties to a general narrative during the campaigns. While you'll still have plenty of leeway into how you build the factions up, there will be several moments in the faction's plot that will affects several key characters from Warhammer lore, but will also change the course o??f your campaign.

For the Dwarven faction, a great empire lies underground and they've built a ??network of tunnels to travel vast distances, t??ransport supplies, and surprise enemies forces from beneath the earth. From underground skirmishes, to using the tunnels for trade during nation-building, the burly and stout faction will use the subterranean realm to strengthen its empire and debilitate foes. But given how valuable of a resource these tunnels have been to the Dwarfs, it's no surprise the other factions would want to take it for themselves.

The Ambush at Thunderfalls Pass served as a great opener to not only the new field of war, but also to see how Warhammer made the transition to Total War. Despite the tonal shift and massive change in setting, battles should be quite familiar to those who've sunk hundreds of hours into the RTS series. Players control various types of ranged and melee units to engage the enemy and complete objectives. Along with a brand new mechanic called the Grudge system, which adds dynamic challenges based on how effective your attacks and strategies are against the opposition, the battle mechanics have evolved in this entry. With the fantasy aesthetic in full swing, the developers have gotten creative in implementing the classic Warhammer archetypes and lore into the Total War gameplay.

Each faction possesses its own unique Hero classes, who are not only important to the faction's narrative, but also provide special skills and abilities to battles -- and many hardcore Warhammer fans will undoubtedly recognize a few of them. During this battle, the Dwarven units were acco??mpanied by High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer, the ruler of the Dwarven capital city, who wielded a enchanted tome that allowed him to buff nearby units. Another Hero character with the army was Thane, a melee champion that was at his best when rushing into the thick of it. In addition to the large number of units, the hero characters add a lot of nuance to battles, as their special skills can seriously make or break a battle at critical moments.

During one moment, a remote melee unit of Slayers was getting pummeled by Greenskins, but moving Thane close enough to their position allowed the Slayers to become imbued with his special melee buff which boosted their abilities and slaughtered their foes. It's important to remember that each faction always has ways to deal with the opposition, but you'll have to stay on your toes in order to keep one step ahead of the enemy. I was fortunate enough to test out the same map o?n two separate difficulty modes, Normal and Hard, and each skirmish field will have varying difficulties to spice things up. Hard mode makes your opposition far more aggressive and cunning, which will be a welcome option for those who want their battle knowledge to be put to the test.

But of course, the thing that interests Warhammer fans the most are the faction characters. During this skirmish, we were given access to a number of unique classes from the Dwarven faction, with many more yet to be unveiled. Just as you would expect, each unit has its own special strengths and weaknesses, and they're at their best when combining efforts with different classes. From Dwarf Warriors, Longbeards with Great Weapons, Slayers, Iron Drakes (flamethrower units), Quarrelers and Thunderers (both ranged),? Siege Weapons, and even Gyrocopters -- the Dwarfs' knowledge of tech and terrain are their greatest asset, and it totally comes out in the combat style and strategies they employ.

I was impressed with the rich detail and visuals during the battle. With the awe-inspiring setting, and the detailed characters and animations, I had a lot of fun just watching the action unfold. Just like in previous titles, you can change camera and get much closer to the action with cinematic camera angles and wide-shots of the battlefield. It can't be stated enough at how much of a looker this game is. I spent a good amount of time just staring at the detail of Thorgrim's character model, which showed his throne being carried Dwarf servants. The developers nailed the visual aesthetic, and when Warhammer fan??s aren't winning ?battles, they'll be geeking out over the details of the world and its characters in-game.

As the members of Creative Assembly stated during our session, Total War: Warhammer still has a ways to go during its development, but it's looking sharp at this point. The action was fluid, and the visuals were very impressive. The high-fantasy setting shines within the Total War brand, and with the core gameplay of the nation building still yet to be seen, more of the Warhammer universe?? will become unveiled in the coming months. I'm still looking forward to the day they reveal the Vampire fact??ion, which the devs claim are very different from the others, but until then, the Dwarfs have got plenty of firepower and brute force to stand up against whatever comes their way.

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Attention to fluff

As a general rule, I've enjoyed most of the Total War games over the years, and Warhammer looks like it's going to be great. As a fan of the tabletop game (mostly 40K though) it seems like a lot of the fluff has been incorporated into the upcoming title, which you can see above in the "Axe an?d Hammer" video, focusing on the dwarf army.

Developer Creative Assembly is teasing ??an upcoming trailer focusing on the dwarves "soon" if you're keen on checking out more gameplay.

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Or just watch this grand battle

Alongside this non-gameplay video for Total War: Warhammer, Creative Assembly has exp??lained how it's going to label promotional materials for th??e strategy game going forward. I was happy to see the studio talk about this stuff and wanted to highlight it as a good practice worth emulating.

Today'?s release is an "in-engine cinematic trailer." It sports some custom animations "to help [Creative Assembly] explain what's going on," as well as post-processing effects like motion blur and enhanced depth of field. "Not features you'll see in the game, but in these cinematic trailers we're trying to create atmosphere and tell a story. These techniques help us do that."

The studio intends to label all footage of Total War: Warhammer as either gameplay, in-engine cinematic, in-game cinematic, cinematic trailer, or livestream. Read up on that here.

Looking ahead, there's going to be a developer walkthrough video, "The Battle of Black Fire Pass," on July 30, ??2015. Until then, join me in marveling at Karl Franz' e??laborate armor.

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Creative Assembly changes the scenery

The Total War series is known for its focus on intense real-time combat and simulation-based nation-building gameplay. As one of the more historical games, the series has garnered a lot of respect from fans and many critics alike. But now, the folks at Creative Assembly are set to try something brand new for the series. I attended a Total War event last year where they showed off the first teaser for Total War: Warhammer. But plans changed, and they decided to hold off the announcement till the Spring. And here we are --we've now got a brand new Total War title in the works, and it's set to ??become ??a unique entry in the series.

The developers see this as a big departure for the series, as it will allow them to offer some more creative additions to the tried-and-true gameplay the series is known for, and I came away pretty blown away by their brief taste of what Warhammer is like with the Total War treatment. With its rich fantasy setting, and decades of lore to draw from, TW: Warhammer is set to be the most ambitious entry of the s?eries.

Moving away from the historical settings of Rome and Attila, the Warhammer lore opens things up considerably for some intense and incredibly over t?he top action. Set in the high-fantasy universe, players will be able to choose one o?f four factions (Empire, Greenskins, Dwarves, and Vampyre) and build their nations, either through diplomacy, economics, or the raw might of their military forces. When things come to blows, each faction possesses its own unique style of combat and tactics that the opposing armies will have to deal with.

The combat mechanics during battles have been greatly expanded. Units can utilize more moves and abilities from close range attacks to long-range tactics through magic or muskets. Along with the Hero characters, which can be leveled up and imbued with new skills to boost their unit?s, players will be able to summon monsters and other creations to help their armies in a pinch. During one battle between t??he Empire and Greenskins, one of summoned a massive spider known as Arcanarok, which spawned mini-spiders that mowed down enemy units. I was very impressed with the sense of scale and the pace. I'm interested in seeing more of what the units can do once developed further.

Rest assured, the nation-building gameplay from past titles is still present in Warhammer. But naturally, how each of the factions will go about expanding its civilization will vary. As each faction possesses its own unique culture, traditional diplomacy and negotiation may not be a??s effective as the swing of an ax, and some factions will be more focused on engagements than others. For the Empire, it'll have the traditional and more civilized routes for expansion with politics, trade, and economics as its biggest tools. But when it comes to showing off military might, the Empire will utilize its siege cannons and Demi-grifs ?to lay waste to invaders.

For the Greenskins (Orcs), players will have to use brute force and cunning to expand their own empire. As Orcs don't really have much interest for diplomacy and the political aspects of nation-building, they choose the more direct approach to get what t?hey want. While they possess the standard warrior and ??shaman classes, the latter who can utilize spells to summon giant constructs to stomp their foes, they also make use of kamikaze goblins that use leather wings to fly into enemy units. Launching catapults, they can be manually aimed while in flight for precision targeting.

While the title is in pre-alpha, and the build we saw was hands-off, I was incredibly impressed with what I saw. The new visual aesthetic and a rich setting offers so much potential for what the Total War series can do within the fantasy genre. As you can spend countless hours with just one faction, building them up and taking down opposing forces, I'm very interested in seeing how? much lore they ?can fit into this title. Though Creative Assembly was very hesitant to share any details about the Dwarf and Vampyre factions, it was very clear in stating that all of the factions will be very developed and possess their own unique cultures that will alter how they function on the world stage.

It's still a ways off, but the folks at Creative Assembly are on track with developing something unique. Obviously, it's quite a departure for what the series has done before, but it's still very much a Total War title through and through.

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Three copies up for grabs

Our friends at Titan Books have given us three copies of The Art of Total War to hand out to lucky Dtoiders! Clocking in at just under 200 pages, this hardcover art book features development and concept art, plus developer ?commentary throughout. Sweet!

To enter to win??, just leave a comment in this thread! Limit one entry per person, and you have until thi?s Sunday, March 15 at 11:59pm Pacific to enter. Contest open to anyone with a U.S. mailing address.

Good luck! And remember, our Huge Members get automatic entry into all contests (and double entries if you enter one manually), exclusive beta code giveaways for upcoming games, newsletters direct from the staff, ad-free browsing, and more! And most of all, your $3 a month helps directly support the site you love. Try us out!

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Be the barbarian

The horn sounds. Again and again. It's kind of annoying really, these vuvuzela m'fers blowing wind all through my dramatic victory on the fields north of Constantinopolis. Still, it does feel good. I am sacking the center of European civilization after all. I never liked those Romans anyway. Blow those horns, you barbar?ian bastards!

Total War: Attila (PC)
Developer: The Creative Assembly
Publisher: Sega
Released: February 17, 2015
MSRP: $44.99 

In Total War: Attila, you can play as the Hunnic hordes, one of the various Germanic tribes, the entrenched Persians, or the Romans if you're a masochist split between your Eastern and Western halves. It is nearly 400 A.D., and the world is ending for the classical European empire. Creative Assembly has done a decent job translating this era to its well-trod mix of turn-based strategy and real-time battles, but the ruts feel a bit worn. If you've played any Total War game, you'll probably enjoy the slight wrinkles Attila provides in the new horde mechanic or the change in tone from empire-building to empire-smashing. But if the Total War ??series never clicked for you, there??'s little here that will suddenly make you a believer.

The prologue campaign offers a bit of structure to learn the ins-and-outs. You're the Ostrogoths, embroiled in a civil war with those dang Visigoths and beset in the northeast by the Huns. The talking head advisor in the upper-left grumbles out some important concepts such as how to monitor taxes, trade and diplomacy. It's not as intrusive as some tutorials, but the voiceover does tend to be a bit long-winded. The basics of Total War are that your faction controls provinces and armies (or navies) on the strategic map of Europe, and vie against other entities to c?ontrol more. When there's nothing left to do, you end the turn and the season turns from, say, spring to summer. When you get into conflicts and two armies clash, the game switches to a real-time battle mode in which you control squads broken up into units of about a hundred or so men on a realistically gener?ated battlefield.

These real-time battles are the true show-piece of Total War games, and Attila is no different. It is absolutely exhilarating to be a general, moving units across the map like a virtuoso. To lure your enemy into an ill-fated charge, only to ambush their flanks and force a rout really makes you feel like a badass strategist. Unit facing, stance, morale and fatigue all must be monitored to be successful. It's not enough to smash your army against the other. To win battles, especially if you are up against a force with greater numbers, you must play with finesse. In Attila, t??here's a certain joy to be had playing with the storied cavalry of the Huns; played well, an army of veteran Hunnic horsemen can destroy most anything those silly Romans can put on the field.

The improvements in siege warfare made in Total War: Rome II are on display again, along with the ability to use your navy to support the army on the same batt?lefield. Settlements can now be set on fire using various means -- fire arrows are my favorite incendiary (What's yours? Call me!) -- but in practic??e this doesn't change your tactics much. In truth, beside some graphical upgrades and a slightly improved AI, the battle system doesn't feel largely different than its predecessor. That's not to say it's bad, just familiar.

On the strategic level, there are a few new toys. One of the hallmarks of strategy games is that once you conquer new territory, you can then improve that settlement by building new structures to make the province more valuable. In Attila, some of the starting factions (Huns, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Vandals and Alans) don't have any provinces to call their own. Instead, their armies are their settlements (did I blow your mind there?), and if you set up camp for a few turns, you can build specific structures there to unlock new units or buff your economy or whatever. The horde is? an interesting change to the static strategy of occupying what you conquer -- these nomads don't want to rule, just to plunder and move on. That's even more satisfying now that you can raze whole settlements to the ground after you capture them??. The animation of an entire province being burned is appropriately dramatic and supports the theme of desolation over dynasty.

Speaking of dynasty, instead of the inter-faction politicking of Rome II, there is the return to a single family tree of characters to control. Your family can be your greatest asset, or your downfall. And, even though some fans might welcome this part of the simulation, it's bothersome to have to keep track of who might backstab you next. There are some randomly generated moments of  storytelling (similar to Crusader Kings II), but in general, it's just distracting busywork. The attempt at random quests would be laughable if they weren't so annoying. No, I don't care about your silly flyting ceremony, man. I've got the Visigoths brea??thing do??wn my neck!

Then there's the un??responsive AI in diplomacy and trade. In theory, you should be able to broker some deals with the factions around your little nation, but they ne??ver seem to trust you. Nearly everything proposed -- from non-aggression pacts to trade agreements -- seems to be shut down. It's frustrating, but it's to be expected from playing previous games in the series.

In short, Creative Assembly still hasn't been able to crack the nut of making the strategic layer of Total War as wonderfully engaging as the real-time battles are. At this point, instead of mucking about with boring systems, the series should just be about, you know, Total War.

That said, the production value of Total War: Attila is top-notch. Entertaining cinematics tailored to the faction you're playing tell the story of the birth and rise of the titular Hun. While the sound designer should have used a different effect than the clanky clash when you click on updates each turn, the music evokes the period well. The map of Europe is a joy to explore, and the amount of fluid animation in the tactical battles is impressive. The animation is one of those elements you forget is so difficult to pull-off. We all remember the janky battle animations of yore, but the flow is never broken in Attila -- at least in the present state o??f the review code played on a mid-to-high level gaming PC.

It's impossible to forget the disappointing glitches many experienced with the release of Rome II. So far, the only thing that's still in evidence in Attila is the interminably long computing time between turns. Even early on in the ga??me and on a recently upgraded PC, you will experience wait times of 40-60 seconds where you're just doing nothing. It's usually acceptable to grab a drink or take a bio break, but when you're pressing end turn multiple times in a row to recruit units, or build siege units while you're getting ready to sack a major city, the endless waiting is the worst.

I guess Rome wasn't burned in a day.

There's a lot to like in Total War: Attila. It offers a beautiful glimpse into a part of history that doesn't get often explored, at least in strategy games. Pax Romana ends. The classic era fails and the peoples of the world are tumbled into a dark age. A long-sung series like Total War doesn't need to reinvent its formula each time it c?harges fifty dollars; but, setting even a well-made sequel in the crumbling legacy of the once-mighty may not have been a good choice.

_{[This review ??is based on a retail build of the game provided by the pub?lisher.]}

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Pre-order or buy the game at retail for access

We haven't heard much about Total War: Attila since Creative Assembly announced the strategy game back in September but it's coming along. To catch you up to speed: the year is 395 AD, family trees are back, and you can burn whole cities to the ground. The studio has returned with a worldwide release date of February 17, 2015 and some, groan, pre-order details.

By putting money down early (or buying a retail copy of Attila, which comes with an Attila the Hun biography by Nic Fields and a reference guide poster), you'll receive the Viking Forefathers Culture Pack. This DLC adds the Danes, Jutes, and G?eats as playable factions.

Those who pass on pre-ordering will have the opti??on to pay $7.99 for this content at launch on February 17, though I can't imagine why anyone would want to do that. Here's the?? trailer:

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Warning: CGI trailer

I didn't throw out any guesses for what the next Total War would be, but if I had, wow, I would've been way off. Creative Assembly's next installment, Total War: Attila, will follow none ot??her than Attila the Hun when it releases? for PC and Mac next year. He's coming for Rome!

"We're reintroducing some features that fans have been asking for, such as family trees and skill trees, and improving many of the core aspects of Total War we know are important to them," said project lead Janos Gaspar i??n a statement.

"But to really bring the period to life, we're building on these foundations with many new strategic features for them to consider, such as advanced street-fighting, civilians, complete settlement destruction and dynamic fire?? that can rage across a city as armies clash."

Catch a glimpse of that fire tech in the s?creenshot?s below.

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Is it that time already?

Later this month at EGX London (formerly Eurogamer Expo), Total War stud??io Creative Assembly will "reveal" the next i??nstallment in its popular strategy franchise.

The announcement will be a part of a developer session scheduled for 8:00am Pacific on Thursday, September 25. It will be streamed on Twitch, thankfully.

I'm not one to normally keep tabs on EGX, but I'll have to make an exception for this and the session before it, a new project from OlliOlli and Not a Hero developer Roll7.

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Featuring the likes of Alpha Protocol, Typing of the Dead, and Binary Domain

Over the next seven days you'll be able to save on a wide array of Sega-published PC games in a Humble Weekly Sale. A nice mix of new and?? old titles, the deal is broken down into three tiers.

You can name your price for a bundle containing Alpha Protocol, Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit, Company of Heroes, and Rome: Total War. The next step up, reachable by paying at least $6, adds The Typing of the Dead: Overkill, Renegade Ops, Medieval II: Total War, and 10 Sega Genesis titles, including Vectorman, Comix Zone, and Shinobi III.

Lastly, at $15, you'll receive everything above and Total War: Shogun 2. The games speak for themselves here, so I'll just s??ay that I highly recommend going for at least the second tier.

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Et tu, Brute?

Total War: Rome II will be getting an expansion, called Caesar in Gaul. This new campaign will focus aro??und Caesar and the Gallic War, and the campaign will feature ??seasons with weather effects. New units will be added to the game, as well as the Nervii, Boii, and the Galatian factions.

This expansion will be out soon, on December 12th, for $14.99. Usually the expansions for Total War games have the best campaigns -- at least that's how it always seems to me -- ?so I am pleased to hear this.

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It's just a flesh wound

Less than a week after its release, Total War: Rome II is getting its first patch on Friday. This will be aimed at fixing ??bugs and crashes, as well as some gameplay balancing tweaks.

Patch notes aren't currently available, but Creative Assembly has said the patch will be aimed at fixing issues that have come up ??from the wide range of hardware people play the game with. The studio is also tracking gameplay results and will be making small adjustments to game balance.

If you are having any weird issues or crashes, there is a lot of helpful information and fixes over on the Total War forums. I'm really excited to jump into this soon, as I'v?e been hearing lots of awesome things about the game.

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The Battle of the Nile

In Total War: Rome II's take on the Battle of the Nile, you can either play as the Egyptians or the Romans. The latter is at a distinct disadvantage in terms of positioning and troop numbers, which means, yep, let's go with them for the walkthrough video. It's clearly the more entertaining of the two. Enjoy approximately 12 minutes of footage as we wait for ??September to get here.

Having tried and failed miserably at this mission myself, it's nice to see how things are supposed to be done. Even in failure, Rome II is a blast to watch unfold.

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