If last week's chat about Total War Saga: Troy has got you itching to dip into The Creative Assembly's back catalogue of Total War games, you're in luck, as Humble are holding an entire week of Total War deals right now. With savings of up to 75% in some cases (plus a very tasty 25% off last year's excellent Total War: Three Kingdoms), there's plenty to get excited about. So let's sharpen those deals swords and dive on in, shall we?
]]>According to an ancient Sussex proverb, there are as many factions in the 20-year-old Total War series as there are sand grains on a beach, as there are angels dancing upon the head of a pin, as there are grenadiers in the armies of his Imperial Majesty Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Co-Prince of Andorra. This is providing, of course, the answer in each case is “between 100 and 200, depending on whether you include the DLC and think Sicily is a real country.”
From stinky hill tribes through trim Teutonic phalanxes to bawling rivers of undead, Total Warring has certainly come in all shapes and sizes. At a recent hands-on event for Total War: Three Kingdoms, a heinous idea occurred to me: why not confuse and upset all the developers in attendance (plus a couple more over email) by asking them to pick a favourite faction? The results, which involved surprisingly few headbutts, are below.
]]>It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. That's a useful motto, a pick-me-up for the smaller among us, but the truth is right now, I am a very small dog with very little fight left in it.
I'm the boss of Mide, a province in the middle of Ireland. The 9th century is drawing to a close and everything is in disarray. The coasts are saturated with Danes, there is no unification among my own people, and at the horizon's edge, England is burning. Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia has a cumbersome name but it might be the leanest and meanest game in Creative Assembly's long-running strategy series. It's a little dog with a whole lot of beautiful fight in it.
]]>Total War has been enjoying its time among the greenskins and the undead, but we've been waiting to see exactly which period it'd land in when it returns to its historical roots for its next major installment. Now the answer is here. Total War: Three Kingdoms.
The year is 190CE. China is in turmoil. The Han Dynasty crumbles before the child-emperor. He is but a figurehead; a mere puppet for the tyrant warlord Dong Zhuo. It is a brutal and oppressive regime, and as Dong Zhuo’s power grows, the empire slips further into the cauldron of anarchy... Only one thing is certain: the very future of China will be shaped by its champions. Total War: Three Kingdoms is the next major historical strategy game in the award-winning Total War series.
This is both unexpected and precisely the kind of setting I was hoping for. A mostly self-contained conflict with a clear end-goal and set of factions. The trailer follows.
]]>Total War might have been away in the land of elves and orcs for a while now, but it hasn't forgotten its historical roots. In fact, Creative Assembly are working on three historical Total War games: one is an expansion to an older title, one is a spin-off of sorts called a Saga, and the biggest of the lot is set in an entirely new era. New to Total War, that is. Being historical it will definitely be something old. A big blog post today gives some hints as to what we can expect and I'm just going to come right out and say one word: Vikings.
]]>A new branch of Total War games, going under the badge of 'A Total War Saga', will focus the historical strategy action on more specific times and places. Total War devs The Creative Assembly announced the new line today, which will kick off with "another spiritual follow-up" to Total War: Rome II. Total War Sagas will drill down into pivotal moments connected to eras the series has already covered, see, much like 2012's Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai did. They'll play the same but have a tighter focus.
]]>Since its release this time last year, Total War: Attila [offical site] has received no less than eight separate paid expansions. The Slavic Nations Culture Pack is the latest add-on to that list, which welcomes three new factions onto its battlefields. Also, a coinciding patch means owners of the base game will get the new Garamantians faction for free.
]]>At its best, the Total War series casts a spell over you. Your empire rises from nothing, surrounded by enemies who are poised to trample it into the dust. Each decision on the strategic level is a gamble on the immediate future, where "one more turn" isn't just a stepping-stone to a new upgrade, but a perilous step onto thin ice. Each time you take to the battlefield is another do-or-die moment, a possible Hastings or Austerlitz that can open the road to conquest or plunge you into a desperate fight for survival.
But the Total War series has also been defined by massive, abrupt swings in quality. While the series has been on a linear trajectory in terms of graphics, the quality of the games underlying those vivid battlefield vistas has varied wildly. Total War at its best is interactive Kurosawa and Kubrick. At its worst, it's a middle-school history textbook as told by Drunk History and filmed by the cast and crew of The Patriot.
So before the series (temporarily) leaves history behind for the grimdark faux-history of Warhammer fantasy, let's put into order the times that Total War was at its best… and why sometimes its lows were so very low. We'll save the worst for last, because if there's one thing that every Total War fan loves, it's an argument over which games were the biggest disappointments.
]]>The Age of Charlemagne is the latest expansion for Attila: Total War [official site] and I've had a splendid time with it over the last few days. I'd go so far as to say that the entire package, Charlemagne and Attila, has been my favourite Total War experience since Shogun 2, but that's partly due to my love of this period. Caught mid-stride between the remnants of the Roman Empire and the dawn of the medieval period, Charlemagne provides a concise campaign that gains a great deal from its concentrated focus.
]]>The wait for Total War: Hammer [official site] is far from over. Creative Assembly's strategic take on the Warhammer Fantasy world will be with us on April 28th but, as is traditional, the preorder incentives and collector's edition malarkey has already begun. Below, you'll find a video showcasing the Chaos Warriors, growly-voiced corruptions intent on spreading their unholy powers across the world. They'll make up the first DLC for the game but if you're willing to put down the money before release, they'll be included with your copy of the game. Details of that and a preposterous special edition (it includes a drinking horn and functional whetstone) below.
]]>War! Huah! What is it good for? Well, lately I find the song that mass bloodshed inspired gives me a fun creative exercise as I open post after post quoting those lyrics then need to somehow make it work. This is the one where I go a bit meta, yeah? Kicking the fourth wall square in its cobbles, huh?
What's Total War [official site] good for? A lark! The Creative Assembly have worked for over fifteen years on the series combining turn-based strategy with real-time tactics, and you can pick up a fair chunk of it on the cheap in the latest Humble Bundle.
]]>I know, I know, we shouldn't play ball with this kind of tease me, tease me, aha now you have to wait some more marketing, but c'mon, it's Total War: Warhammer [official site]. The world's greatest tabletop setting being recreated at immense scale. I want it bad, despite not being all that much of a Total War guy. The scant but Griffony footage appears right at the end of a two minute video showboating about all the Total Wars to date, and a soundtrack doing to Everybody Wants To Rule The World what Gary Jules did to Mad World. Poor old Tears For Fears. I think the TWW clip is in-engine, though it's hard to say when it's that short. There's a hint of greenskin in there too.
]]>What are the best Steam Summer Sale deals? Each day for the duration of the sale, we'll be offering our picks - based on price, what we like, and what we think more people should play. Read on for the five best deals from day 6 of the sale.
]]>Let's play a guessing game: what sort of mods will we see for Total War: Attila [official site] now its official mod tools are out? Game of Thrones, that seems an obvious world to bosh into a medieval strategy game. Probably Warhammer Fantasy, I'd imagine, even though Total War: Total Warhammer - War Tote is now official. All sorts of rebalancing and tweaking and prettifying and historical doodads too, I'm sure.
Total War devs The Creative Assembly released Attila's Assembly Kit yesterday, which can make all sorts of mods and comes with Steam Workshop support.
]]>This is a good trailer. It's a good trailer even though it doesn't contain even a picosecond of in-game footage. This first 'cinematic' trailer for the Creative Assembly's RTS adaptation of Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy Battles is a good trailer because it's got a big old dust-up between the Orcs (on boars!) and the Empire (on Griffons!) with a side-helping of Zombie Dragons, dwarfs fighting Arachnarok spiders and what looks an awful lot like mother-lovin' Tzeentch. I might be wrong in that, but lord I hope not, because Tzeentch has always been my Chaos god, and sadly he's gotten a raw deal in videogames to date
Anyway, you'll want to watch this.
]]>If you're going to charge someone £2 to see blood, gore, and vom, make it visceral. Historical strategy series Total War splits its gore off into separate DLC, officially so the games get a lower rating. The gore DLC for Total War: Attila [official site], mind, fell far short of the orgy of violence you'd expect from something named 'Blood & Burning'.
Recognising that, developers The Creative Assembly have bloodied up the gore DLC, resulting in patch notes like the adorably violent contents of a child's notebook planning their dream game. Look out for "spurts last longer"! Don't miss "decapitations are now more frequent"! Let's not forget "Units with seasickness on transport ships will now vomit"! That's the kind of gore I'd want for £2.
]]>It's easy to be cynical about promotional material for games. Usually that cynicism is justifiable: marketing is what it is and we all know it. Still, my initial reaction to the narration in this Total War: Attila trailer 'The Black Horse' was a bit unfair. "To lead," it begins, "a man must understand that there are forces in this world that he cannot change."
"That's a bit pompous for a game," I thought. Then: "No. Wait. This is a game about one of history's more violent and terrible periods, replete with war and the disease and hunger and suffering that inevitably follows. That's the sort of thing that drives one toward philosophical statements."
]]>The last time I wrote a preview of a Total War game - excluding spin-offs - I was excitable. I wanted nothing more than to go Roamin' with the Romans across enormous, epic campaigns, and the small slice of the game I played filled me with confidence that the short portion I'd enjoyed was a fitting representation of the eventual end product. I was wrong.
Playing Attila it's easy to see evidence of a franchise revived, not only by technical fixes but through the insertion of new mechanics that reflect a strong central theme. The early signs are good and there's a great deal of promise, but this is a game about the end times, and until the full scope of its campaigns can be seen a cautious approach is advisable.
]]>"Warr! Huah! Yeah. What is she good for?" I like to think Philippa would open this post with. "Being furious about pencils," she might say next, "but also writing this post about the release date of Total War: Attila." My Pip fanfic - Pipfic, I call it - has yet to capture her tone, cadence, diction, humour, or any other aspect of her writing or personality, but I like to think I'm improving.
Sadly, we're stuck with me writing about this. Sorry. Attila: Total War is scheduled for release on February 17th, 2015, publishers Sega announced today. Also they revealed stuff about pre-order DLC with proto-Vikings and the game's Special Edition. Pip would do this far better.
]]>Creative Assembly's next entry in its long-running strategy series will be Attila: Total War. The press release proclaims that the game will take "players to the brink of the apocalypse", which brings all manner of remarks to mind regarding the direction Rome II took the series itself in, but there's reason to believe that Attila will be a move toward more fertile ground. A tighter focus in the campaign should allow for improvement of the core systems and an emphasis on the end of an era could make for a tidier thematic approach. Attila will introduce new features, however, including "advanced street-fighting, civilians, complete settlement destruction and dynamic fire that can rage across a city". CGI trailer below.
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