Over the Christmas break, I took a brief hiatus from reporting on every time a Total War developer breathes or spills tea on their shirt. The year ended, the world did not, and no Thanquol DLC was announced, but I did miss what I reckon is the strongest hint they’ve yet freely given that strategy game Total War: Warhammer 40,000 is both real and due an announcement very soon. Here’s the skinny.
]]>Sonic Dream Team developer Hardlight and Total War studio Creative Assembly have been hit with a round of layoffs by publisher SEGA Europe, affecting around 240 roles across Creative Assembly, SEGA Europe, and Hardlight, via IGN.
Staff were notified by an email sent around this morning from SEGA Europe’s managing director Jurgen Post, alongside the news that Relic Entertainment, makers of Company of Heroes and Dawn of War, would be sold. As IGN point out, SEGA Europe studios Sports Interactive and Two Point Studios, makers of Football Manager and Two Point Hospital respectively, were not mentioned in the email.
]]>There’s a long-standing theory among the Warhammer community that the chaos wastes at the globe’s south pole house a peculiar breed of beastmen in the form of evil, monstrous penguins. The theory is based on a world with similar geography to our own, and the tendency of the ruinous powers to morph local fauna into mockeries of their previous forms. No ping-gors show themselves as I trawl the southern wastes as stealthy chameleon-skink Oxyotl, but I find myself thinking about them all the same. Noot for the noot god, the blasted crags seem to whisper. Fish for the fish throne.
Evil penguins or not, all things seem possible with Immortal Empires, the combined landmass of the Total War: Warhammer trilogy into a single sandbox map, vast and varied in its climates, landmarks, and inhabitants. Creative Assembly have already dug deep into dusty stacks of White Dwarf to flesh out footnotes into full factions, and as the list of obvious additions dwindle, things can only get wilder and more creative. For now, we have one very big map stuffed with each faction and lord from three massive strategy games, creaking and occasionally buckling under the weight of its own promise. But it works. There’s a breadth of technical and balance issues still to solve, but the Immortal Empires beta is substantially more stable, playable, and enjoyable than I dared to hope it would be for at least another six months.
]]>This week's big free game on the Epic Games Store might have two sequels by now, but it's still a good'un: it's Total War: Warhammer. You have one week to claim the start of Creative Assembly's strategy trilogy set in Games Workshop's fantasy world of WH0K. Epic have also brought back a previous freebie, the first-person stabber City Of Brass. A tidy haul for the small price of using the Epic Games Store.
]]>In the end, the finals of the 2021 Total War: Warhammer World Championship come down to an overextension. French finalist Alfredino’s Archmage of Fire, leading his High Elves from the back of a giant eagle, pushes past the safety provided by ranks of elite archers. His Russian opponent Evenstar's Wood Elf caster drops a Tempest spell. The arcane whirlwind plays havoc with Alfredino’s Archmage, leaving the elf caster wounded and near immobilised. It’s then the Wood Elves’ deadly arrows come, sealing the Archmage’s fate.
Losing a general is always a morale hit, but for players this practised, it isn’t always a death sentence. In this case it’s a disadvantage Alfredino, despite some excellent cavalry plays, never quite manages to recover from. The finals wrap, and Evenstar takes the lion’s share of the $4,200 prize pool. A relatively humble figure, as far as organised e-sports go, but this isn’t some sponsored, glitzy event.
]]>There’s not a lot about Total War: Warhammer 3 that couldn’t have been worked out by reasonable deduction, in the three-and-a-bit years since its predecessor launched in 2017. Given the Twarhammer trilogy’s long-stated aim of reproducing pretty much every faction and scrap of land in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle setting, there were only so many places it could go.
True to expectations, then, after Twarhammer 2 spread the map westwards to the lizards-’n’-elves carnage of pretend South America, this time we’re going to be headed East, to the region of Warhammer’s Old World setting centred around pretend China, aka Cathay, and pretend Russia, aka Kislev.
]]>The hordes of Chaos will finally hit the battlefield this year with Total War: Warhammer 3, announced today by Creative Assembly and Sega. Along with the four main flavours of Chaos (Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh, and Tzeentch), the third game in the strategy series will add the polar bear-riding Kislev and China analogue Cathay. Here, come watch a Kislev ice witch give a daemon a kicking in the cinematic trailer.
]]>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?
]]>If mega-scale fantasy violence is your thing, Total War: Warhammer 2 (Total Warhammer to its friends) is a grand old time, and an affordable alternative to wasting your savings on miniatures. Earlier Total War games arguably needed mods to shine, but Creative Assembly's recent output hasn't had to lean so hard on user-made expansions and refinements. Not that this has stopped players from trying. While newer Total War games don't lend themselves to wild total conversions as Medieval 2 did, Warhammer fans are an exacting bunch. Here's a look at some mod essentials for new players and a deeper dive on the two largest mods available to date.
]]>Hello, and welcome to RPS's weekly round-up of the top selling games on Steam for the last weeeeee...
WHAT?
]]>Today's The Prophet And The Warlock DLC for Total War: Warhammer 2 may be relatively small, adding just two new Legendary Lords, but the 'Doomsayer' update accompanying it is massive. Creative Assembly have overhauled campaign AI, added new AI factions, new regions and a new system of underground expansion for those sneaky Skaven. There's even a chunk of free DLC, adding a new Lizardman Legendary Lord for everyone, complete with his own quest chain. Check out the DLC trailer below, as the rats and reptiles recreate a scene from Predator.
]]>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.
]]>QUICKLY! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, QUICKLY! I've written the charts and there are some jokes and you have to read it!
One of the jokes is quite good!
]]>The next expansion to Total War: Warhammer 2 is to set our spines and timbers shivering alike, as it will add the undead pirates of the Vampire Coast. Creative Assembly today announced Curse Of The Vampire Coast, due to launch on November 8th. It'll add the damned pirates of that cursed coast, who are all fighting to gain control of a giant terrible sea monster. I'm interested. Apparently their quests include finding pirate treasure and learning a magical shanty. I'm very interested. And one of their units is... some kind of mech built from shipwrecks and piloted by a ball of drowned corpses? Oh I am IN.
]]>We've just passed the half-way point of 2018, so Ian Gatekeeper and all his fabulously wealthy chums over at Valve have revealed which hundred games have sold best on Steam over the past six months. It's a list dominated by pre-2018 names, to be frank, a great many of which you'll be expected, but there are a few surprises in there.
2018 releases Jurassic World Evolution, Far Cry 5 Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Warhammer: Vermintide II are wearing some spectacular money-hats, for example, while the relatively lesser-known likes of Raft, Eco and Deep Rock Galactic have made themselves heard above the din of triple-A marketing budgets.
]]>It's a big and fighty day for Total War: Warhammer II, with extra factions, units, and lords flooding in from all over. The first Total Warhammer's Norsca DLC race have become playable in Twarhammer 2's cross-game Mortal Empires campaign, the new 'The Queen & The Crone Lords Pack' paid DLC is out now, new free DLC adds a brooding new High Elf for everyone, various races have received powerful buffs, and elite units from the first game are now in the sequel too. As I said, a big and fighty day, whether you're buying anything new or not.
]]>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.
]]>I can sympathise, at least a little, with the ancient Egyptian-themed undead known as the Tomb Kings, and who are Total War: Warhammer 2’s newest faction. A decade ago, I was trapped underneath the Great Pyramid of Giza for a mere 20 minutes while another tourist had a claustrophobia-induced panic attack. Waking up inside a pyramid and discovering that your innards are full of embalming fluid and you have only rags to hide your desiccated shame would, I imagine, be a little bit more unpleasant. No wonder they want to murder all the living.
With a chip on their bony shoulders and an appetite for power and conquest, the Tomb Kings are comfortable fit for Total War, even more so than their multitude of warlike adversaries. They’re an unceasing military machine that has yet to discover a problem that it can’t fling an infinite number of disposable animated corpses at, over and over again. This new faction is, however, something of an acquired taste, with some uneven integration into the campaign - but nonetheless the Tomb Kings are a surprisingly forgiving starting point for newcomers.
]]>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.
]]>If you've ever come back from holiday to find that your flatmates/children/parents have flooded the kitchen/dyed the cat blue/thrown out all your original Jethro Tull LPs, then spare a thought for the Tomb Kings, Total War: Warhammer II's first all-new DLC faction. Once upon a time, they ruled a pseudo-Ancient Egyptian empire in which scholars quested for the secret to eternal youth and tyrants went merrily to the grave, confident of resurrection in paradise. Several millennia and a couple of necromancy wars later, the mummified Kings stumble from their pyramids to find their bodies reduced to KFC leftovers, their southern homeland of Nehekhara trashed, and the continent awash with bearded barbarians, talking rats and stupid sexy dinosaurs.
Unfortunately for all the younger races, the Tomb Kings are far stronger in death than they were in life. I spent half an hour getting to grips with their quirks, including a series-first crafting system. Here are my thoughts.
]]>Another year over, a new one just begun, which means, impossibly, even more games. But what about last year? Which were the games that most people were buying and, more importantly, playing? As is now something of a tradition, Valve have let slip a big ol' breakdown of the most successful titles released on Steam over the past twelve months.
Below is the full, hundred-strong roster, complete with links to our coverage if you want to find out more about any of the games, or simply to marvel at how much seemed to happen in the space of 52 short weeks.
]]>Creative Assembly is still working on Total War: Warhammer 2 and the Mortal Empires post-launch updates, but things are going slower than anticipated. In a blog post published yesterday, the team explains, candidly, what the issues are and when we can expect new campaign packs, like the Tomb Kings, as well as the addition of Norsca to Mortal Empires.
]]>This is The Mechanic, where Alex Wiltshire invites developers to discuss the difficult journeys they underwent to make the best bits of their games. This time, Total War: Warhammer’s Mortal Empires campaign [official site].
Mortal Empires is the logical conclusion of Total War: Warhammer. It asks this: what happens if all the races, factions, legendary lords and terrain of both Total War: Warhammer and its sequel were folded together into a single giant campaign? The answer was released in October as a free addition to owners of the two games, and it is, as game director Ian Roxborough tells me, “By far the biggest, most content-rich campaign that we’ve ever done in Total War.”
But how do you make games that are designed to be played both in discrete and distinctive smaller chunks, and also in huge and unified ones? How do you balance Warhammer’s strongly asymmetric races against each other while continually adding more? And how do you make a game as big as Mortal Empires comprehensible and playable at all?
]]>Mortal Empires is Total War’s grandest of grand campaigns: a stunningly huge global war with over 100 factions and 35 leaders duking it out over multiple continents. In terms of scale, it’s the series at its most ambitious, and its most daunting. It took me an hour of second-guessing and two false starts before I finally settled on a faction and leader. It’s excessive, really. I love it.
]]>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.
]]>Total War: Warhammer’s Old World and New World are finally colliding in Mortal Empires today. If you own both Total War: Warhammer and Total War: Warhammer 2, you’ll be able to download the DLC for free, smooshing together an edited version of the landmasses from each game. That means you’ll be duking it out on a huge map with 35 leaders, 25 starting positions, 117 factions and 295 settlements. Crikey. These turn times are going to be long.
Also launching today is yer now traditional Total War blood pack, adding lots of gore to the game. It will be free if you already own the blood pack for the first Warhammer, but everyone else will need to purchase the DLC.
]]>Total War: Warhammer is a big game, and the recently released Total War: Warhammer II [official site] is even bigger. But in the eyes of the Creative Assembly, that still isn't big enough. To remedy this, they've come up with the Mortal Empires DLC, a free download that will essentially merge the two games' campaigns together in one huge map, letting players assume command of any of the eight races available in the series so far.
To find out why this is happening and how the Creative Assembly are going about it, we spoke to Game Director Ian Roxburgh and Lead Designer Jim Whitson.
]]>When Total War: Warhammer launched last year, it was a marked departure for the series - though not, perhaps, quite as dramatic as 2005’s Spartan: Total Warrior - and contained no dearth of experiments and new ideas. It was exciting to see all of those changes to the formula, but it wasn’t until the addition of key pieces of DLC, introducing new campaigns and mechanics, that it really came into its own. So with Total War: Warhammer 2 [official site] arriving today, you might be wondering if you should hold off. But you shouldn’t worry; this sequel is an entirely different animal.
]]>In three more turns, the ritual will be complete, and I’ll be one step closer to controlling the Vortex that holds the forces of Chaos at bay. In two more turns, Skaven and Chaos armies will be at the gates. I’m surrounded. By land and sea they arrive, this howling mass of warped warriors and chittering rat-men. Army, after army, after army, all attempting to stop the ritual. Total War: Warhammer 2 [official site] is a race, and it's an utterly savage one.
From the safety of the other side of that campaign I can tell you that I survived. Just. Reinforcements made it in time, slaughtering the rats and warriors by their hundreds. It was touch and go for a bit, though, which is fairly typical of Creative Assembly’s bloodthirsty sequel.
]]>From the unpleasantly chilly northern edge of Total War: Warhammer’s [official site] Old World comes its final DLC faction: Norsca. These mammoth-loving Viking analogues, despite being a minor faction that don’t quite have the star power of the Orcs or Empire, manage to encapsulate and then build on all that's great about Creative Assembly’s post-release armies. They’re aggressive, experimental and blessed with an exotic and intimidating roster of warriors and monsters.
]]>Total War: Warhammer 2 is almost here, taking the hammerwar to new warlands with new warbands on September 28th, but what of the Old World? As new races and units have arrived in the hamwarworld over the past year, power creep has left some of the original residents of Total Warhammer [official site] a little weak and bland in comparison. Thankfully, developers The Creative Assembly are now addressing this problem with a big balance patch fixing old Old Worlders. Launching tomorrow, the Foundation Update will boost their power and also make them a little more interesting.
]]>As part of their their thirtieth birthday celebrations, The Creative Assembly are about to whack thirty extra 'Regiment of Renown' into Total War: Warhammer [official site]. Sadly, the celebratory additions are simply famed units from the world of Warhammer [that's 'the Hamwarworld' to fans -tabletop ed.] rather than folks from Creative Assembly's history. There's no Garrius from Accountington, no Great Minstrel Jeff van Dyck, no General Ian dos Fifa, not even Pip's Beyoncé elf. No, instead we're getting the likes of Khorok's Manrippers, Knights of the Lionhearted, Wyrd Spawn, and Loec's Tricksters. Pssh, fine, you have your 'lore'. Here, meet some of them in this video:
]]>My partner is literally playing Warhammer in the living room with a friend right now. That means I've probably got enough ambient Warhammer to write an entire post about Warhammer. "Age of Sigmar" is a Warhammer phrase. So is 40K. I also remember that guy with all the eyes. The Chancellor of Eyes we call him. Hangs out with the Lord Relictor and Sir Doots And His Trumpet in the Silver Tower. OH. He is called the Gaunt Summoner.
Anyway, if you pre-order Total War: Warhammer II [official site] or buy it on the first week of release you get the Norsca Race Pack for the first game free of charge when that particular DLC comes out on 10 August.
As the famous saying goes, "In the far future when someone turns the lights out and it's scary there's a war. Only war. In the dark."
]]>More beasties, less mini-campaigns. In response to fan feedback and to avoid some of the criticism that the Chaos Warriors stirred up, Creative Assembly have outlined some changes to their pre- and post-release plans for Total War: Warhammer 2 [official site]. Brand director Rob Bartholomew has written a blog post explaining all (except what the actual preorder bonus will be, natch). Acknowledging the negative response that the Chaos Warriors DLC stirred up in some quarters, Bartholomew goes into detail about the reasoning behind "Early Adopter Bonuses", both in terms of delivery and content. He also says that there are "more historical releases planned in the next twelve months than fantasy".
]]>Since launching last year, Total War: Warhammer’s [official site] digital facsimile of Games Workshop’s weird fantasy universe has grown considerably. The Old World’s become nice and fat with new factions, campaigns, units and mechanics, and now it’s finished. So this is a pretty good time to jump in, especially if you’ve been holding out for every piece of DLC. But oh no! There’s so much of it! If you get the wrong one, you might never forgive yourself. That’s why you’d best stick with me to find out which ones are crackers and which are stinkers.
]]>We're already in the long run-up to the launch of Total Warhammer 2 later this year but hey! Wait! Hold on! The portpeeps at Feral Interactive today tidied up a loose end of the first Total Warhammer [official site], releasing a Mac version. That means users of Windows, Mac OS, and Linux-based personal cogitators can now totally get hammered and get their war on in some kind of fantasy.
]]>With their business in The Old World concluded, The Creative Assembly have announced Total War: Warhammer II [official site] during EGX Rezzed. The strategy sequel is off to visit the Lizardmen, High Elves, Dark Elves, and another faction being kept secret for now. Interestingly, it'll introduce the risk of enemies beating you not just into the ground but to the final goal too. Get a look at the coming rumble and one delighted froglord (that's Mazdamundi ↑ up there) in this here announcement trailer:
]]>Alec is away this week. I fear that if he can't find a wifi signal on his travels he might resort to haruspicy to try and find the truths contained within the weekly Steam charts. These round-ups of the ten games with the most cumulative sales over the past week are his obsession and his curse.
This week: while the cat's away...
]]>As the fantasy Frenchman of Bretonnia arrive in Total War: Warhammer [official site] today with a free update, The Creative Assembly have announced they're done with this instalment of the Twarhammer trilogy. The plan all along has been for one core game followed by two stacking standalone expansions, and the devs say they're stuck well into the second part. While they don't say quite where or who this will add, it will be leaving the Old World.
Speaking of new places, The Creative Assembly also teased that they're working on a new game set in an era they've not visited before.
]]>Total War: Warhammer is good at presenting complex information in battles. Your unit of spearmen will tell you when they’re attacked from behind and their banner will flash when they’re about to retreat. Your general glows, and he or she is often comically large compared to regular soldiers. Arrows, cannonballs and spells have brightly coloured trails so you can tell what’s about to hit you.
Outside of battles though, TW: Warhammer has trouble presenting basic information. In particular, the game’s campaign map is a mess which is difficult to parse and frustrating to use. In battles, Creative Assembly make good use of visual shorthand so can you extract relevant information at a glance. The campaign map, meanwhile, is so visually busy that basic information like where your armies are and how far they can move is obscure.
]]>In case you'd forgotten, Total Warhammer [official site] will add an extra playable faction to the Grand Campaign in a free update next week - Bretonnia. While they are already in Total Warhammer, this is their full and grand arrival. But what are these fantasy Frenchmen into? Fairytale castles, chivalry, Arthurian legend, and hippogryphs, going by a new trailer Sega have popped out. Have a watch:
]]>Make War Not Love [official site] - Sega's cross-game point collection event which aims to stick it to Valentine's Day while also raising awareness of their games/rewarding fans - has returned for a fourth outing. This year it technically started on Valentine's Day but the real meat of the event kicks off yesterday and involves Company of Heroes 2, Endless Legend, Dawn of War 2 and Total War: Warhammer.
]]>The White Dwarf is not a euphemism. One does not pay a visit to The White Dwarf, pump him, poke him, sit on him, drain him, slurp him, or shake him, unless one wishes to lose an eye, then an arm, another eye, a rib, another rib, yet another rib etc. No, The White Dwarf is Grombrindal, a legendary (and possibly mystical) Warhammer warrior, and he's now arrived in Total Warhammer [official site] as a Legendary Hero free for everyone. He was previously given to folks who popped into Games Workshop shops for vouchers but DON'T DO THAT, THAT'S HOW THEY GET YOU.
]]>Valve capped off 2016 by revealing the year's 100 highest-grossing games on Steam, which is a pretty interesting list. If you've been following Alec's prolonged breakdown over the weekly charts you'll not be shocked by revelations that Grand Theft Auto V and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive are near the top, but you might not expect them to be joined by the likes of No Man's Sky or the free-to-play Dota 2.
When I asked Alec if he fancied writing up this chart too, he began hissing "The Venga Bus is coming the Venga Bus IS coming the Venga Bus is coming to take me away ho-ho hee-hee ha-haaa" so you get me and my GIFs instead.
]]>From the forum threads full of arguments to the constant tweaking and occasional overhauls via patches – balance has long been one of the pillars of strategy games. It means fairness, a level playing field, and in competition it means that victory comes purely from player skill. But balance, and the quest to reach it, can easily become the enemy of surprise and of the joy that comes from succeeding against the odds.
Balance’s lofty position implies that nobody wants to be the underdog, that conquest is only satisfying if you have the exact same or at least equally effective advantages as your opponents. Sure, when actual money and trophies are involved, this sort of balance is necessary, but when you’re playing for fun? When you’re playing on your own? Give me the imbalanced every time.
]]>Alec is away this week, following the Vengaboys around on tour. Or, if they're not currently touring, just visiting places they've been, taking photos and placing them inside his scrapbook alongside some brief reflections. That means it falls to me to tell you which ten games were the best selling on Steam in the past week, and there are some pleasant games inside.
]]>Time Commanders, the BBC game show where contestants order around someone playing Total War, returns to British screens tonight. Imagine a blind Let's Play of Rome: Total War directed by teams who didn't know what Total War was but did between them share a Desmond in classics, a Duke of Edinburgh's Award, experience leading their university rugger society, and four awful haircuts. After eleven years away, Time Commanders is back tonight with Gregg Wallace off Masterchef pitting board gamers against wrestlers in a recreation of 202 BC's Battle of Zama. Have a butcher's at this:
]]>One of my favourite bits of British folklore is the concept of the Elfshot. There’s a theory that Anglo-Saxons believed invisible Elves shot people with arrows, and that these attacks were the source of various maladies. Imagine it: a wee creature that just hangs around, waiting to give you arthritis or a weird rash at the end of an arrow. They were sneaky pests and pointy-eared irritants.
After playing through Total War: Warhammer’s [official site] Realm of the Wood Elves expansion, I reckon that sounds pretty accurate.
]]>I'm sure wood elves are lovely folks but I know if I ever see one, there's no way I'm not ending up mulched around a sapling. If that sounds a lark to you, hey, the Wood Elves have arrived in Total Warhammer [official site] with today's launch of its latest expansion. 'Realm of the Wood Elves' adds the murderous hippy army with their own units, their own story campaign, and a few twists that make them different to play. Read what we made of them when we played a preview version.
]]>Let me summarise my highs and lows as a Wood Elf general in one phrase: I'm very much a Dwarf guy. You know where you are with Dwarves. Or rather, you know where they are - all the way over there on that ridge, Ironbreakers in front, Quarrellers behind, Hammerers poised to waddle down the flank like a glacier performing a legal U-turn. Dwarves don't do manoeuvres, they do gunpowder and big helmets and spurning alliances because somebody's ancestor forgot to return the lawnmower. Micro? Well, I dare say some of those fancy northern Dawi tribes can find a use for it, but I've always set my watch by a good, solid shield-wall.
Wood Elves, it turns out, really, really do micro. When they aren't doing micro, they also do getting knocked flat by a gentle breeze. A big round of applause, please, for Total War: Warhammer's definitive glass cannons. They're being added to the game via the Realm Of The Wood Elves DLC and I've had an early play with them.
]]>Civilization VI romped out last night with its own alternate histories but for folks who know that history and the world were actually shaped by the Old Ones, Total War: Warhammer [official site] is still kicking. Last night brought the release of two new DLC bits, one free and one paid. Everyone will get to play with Wurrzag Da Great Green Prophet, while folks who slap down £6 can play as the Night Goblin warlord Skarsnik or the Dwarven king Belegar Ironhammer. I'd like to see Ghandi deal with a herd of Squigs.
]]>New community-created Warhammer Fantasy robes and wizard hats have arrived in Dota 2 [official site] to give thirteen heroes sillygrim makeovers, and I am displeased. No, I do think Disruptor riding a Squig looks awesome. Yeah, Pudge's Nurgle outfit with teeth in his guts is gnarly. No, I don't even massively object (any more than usual) to Dota's random crate way of selling 'em. What's riled me is Valve overlooking one amazing set I desperately want. I long for the submitted set turning cute faerie dragon Puck into a Tzeentchian horror bristling with tendrils, teeth, and tongues - the way my Puck must have seemed to cheery RPS fanzine PC Gamer as he devoured them.
]]>The Grim and the Grave is not a sitcom. It is not the weekly antics of Robert Smith, Andrew Eldritch, Morrissey, Siouxsie Sioux, and the disinterred corpse of Bela Lugosi sharing a flat in Penge. There is no running gag with Smith head-over-heels for Siouxsie's pal Patricia Morrison. You will not see the famous season-closing spit-take freeze-frame after everyone realises how weird it is Moz just served them spag bol with actual meat... and Eldritch finds a shred of Lugosi's cape caught in his teeth.
No, The Grim and the Grave is only new DLC released today for Total Warhammer [official site]. Disappointing.
]]>Even though Sega have been publishing PC strategy and simulation games for years now, I still can't see the company logo or hear the word without thinking back to hours spent at schoolfriends' houses, trying to work out if Sonic was too fast or I was too slow. The acquisition of Amplitude was the point that I decided that I needed to ask Sega a very simple question: "Do you want to marry PC strategy games?"
At Gamescom, I sat down with Jurgen Post, COO of Sega of Europe.
]]>If there's any sort of game you should expect DLC from, it's Games Workshop. It wouldn't feel right - wouldn't feel authentic - if you didn't, every few weeks, find yourself muttering "Oh for! Yes I do want that fancy unit but I just bought... for crying out loud, you flipping rotters. Fine. Fine, I'll buy your ruddy ghost-drawn boneshrine!"
Want to field a Mortis Engine in Total War: Warhammer [official site]? You'll need to buy the next add-on, The Grim & The Grave, which boosts both the Empire and Vampire Counts, see. But, in a very un-Games Workshop way, more freebies are coming too.
]]>Those boisterous Beastmen are now stomping around in Total Warhammer [official site], thanks to today's release of the 'Call of the Beastmen' expansion. It'll cost you £14 to play as that horny rabble yourself but, even if not, they can now appear as opponents in the Grand Campaign. A fairly big free update has launched alongside the expansion, also bringing oodles of fixes and tweaks, drafting the Amber Wizard hero unit for the Empire, adding new multiplayer maps, and more. But back to the Beastmen: here, you can watch a bit of them in action.
]]>Tomorrow Total War: Warhammer [official site] will be getting a new expansion that lets you answer the Call of the Beastmen to try and conquer your neighboring kingdoms. But the good news is that, along with a smattering of other freebies, you won't need to purchase the expansion in order to fight against them as AI opponents.
]]>Phew, finally we get some new names in the Steam top 10 (previous weeks here'n'that), after the chokehold of the Steam Summer Sale is loosened. I did not expect that number 1, but I really did not expect that number 10.
]]>Wedding season is upon us and The Creative Assembly are celebrating with great gusto. Today they announced the first Total Warhammer [official site] campaign expansion will introduce the Bestmen, a new faction who come to get wicked hammered and fornicate then rampage across the continent roaring. Look out, Bruges!
"Alice," you say in that certain tone. "Is this another ha-ha-hilarious intentional misunderstanding?" It's a fair cop, guv. It's actually the Beastmen coming in 'Call of the Beastmen' on July 28th. The rest of that is mostly true, though.
]]>Not much moving, not much shaking in last week's top ten best-sellers, as the after-effects of the Steam sale are still felt and, without many major new releases or breakout hits, there's that creeping sense of PC games in 2016 returning to business as usual. HERE COMETH THE BRANDS. We do get one new entry though, and it's a pretty one.
]]>When a giant plucks a man from the battlefield and bites off his head, should there not be great gouts of blood spurting from the neck-stump? Should a troll not reasonably expect a spattering of the red stuff when tearing an Imperial knight into funsize pieces? The Blood for the Blood God DLC for Total War: Warhammer [official site] has just arrived, and as in Total Wars past, it adds blood to the battlefield. It also adds new campaign events that "serve to encourage slaughter across the world, all to the laughter and delight of The Blood God".
]]>The vampiric Blood Knights will be sinking their teeth into Total Warhammer [official site] tomorrow, arriving as part of the strategy game's first big update. Also expect stability improvements, balance tweaks, bug fixes, and more-ticklish goblins.
Oh, and if you like to live on the bleeding edge of technology - watch out! That'll surely attract vampires. Jokes. But if you like new and fancy things, you might want to have a crack at the DirectX 12 version launching into beta tomorrow.
]]>With its deep and engaging turn-based strategy, sprawling armies and epic battles, The Creative Assembly’s Total War series is known for stealing days, weeks and months at a time from its players - such is the breadth and depth offered by these types of games. Add user-made mods to this hearty post-release mix and that stretch can easily extend to years.
The latest entry, Total War: Warhammer [official site], marks a distinguished departure from the norm. Gone are the historically accurate campaigns the series is best known for, and in their place are the fantastical wargrounds and combatants of Games Workshop’s best known dystopian fantasy world. It's the perfect platform for expanding in wild and inventive ways. As such we’ve taken the liberty of rounding up some of the best Total War: Warhammer mods available right now.
]]>Like a man dancing to Belle & Sebastian, last week's best-selling Steam games saw some shaking at the top but not a lot of movement below. IS YOUR FAVOURITE GAME HERE AND WHAT DOES IT SAY ABOUT YOU AS A PERSON IF IT'S NOT?
]]>It's yer regular round-up of what shifted the most copies on Steam over the previous week. Last week, Total Warhammer was dark master of all it surveyed, but a bug-eyed old friend has displaced it after just one week...
]]>Alice is still on holiday, not back till Monday, which means it falls to me to do the terrible duty this week of asking and telling: what are we all playing this weekend? Read on for the optimistic lies we tell ourselves.
]]>Raze, sack, slaughter, burn, maraud. The life of a Total War: Warhammer [official site] Chaos Warrior is simple, with few diplomatic interruptions and little in the way of urban planning. There are buildings to construct, but they're part of the caravan of carnage that makes up your nomadic horde, and when you lay waste to a settlement, occupation isn't on the cards. The Old World map becomes a chain of battles and the core of any Chaos strategy is to build and maintain forward momentum as you carve your way through the factions.
Playing as Chaos, the game really is Total War, with no distractions. I've spent some time campaigning with Khorne and co to figure out if this barebones approach to the game is effective.
]]>We're not even at the halfway point and 2016 is already one of the best years for PC gaming that I can remember. XCOM 2 and Darkest Dungeon already seem like distant memories, and this month alone we've had Kathy Rain, Stellaris, DOOM, Salt and Sanctuary, Overwatch and Total War: Warhammer. Today there's another Hitman episode incoming and after the joy of Sapienza, I can't wait to get stuck into Marrakesh. I've been starved of games for half of the month thanks to holidays and press trips so I've undoubtedly missed some splendid releases, so I put it to you, dear readers: what was May's best game?
]]>Here's yer weekly top ten Steam best-sellers. That being what most tore up the charts last week. Is DOOM still king? What happens to Total Warhammer now it's actually released? And what in the name of all that's holy is YouTubers Life?
]]>Total War: Warhammer [official site] developers The Creative Assembly have hurried out a little hotfix to fix those launch day problems. This is what happens when you invite orcs to your launch party: they'll keep on coming and coming and screaming "Waaagh!" until your house is bursting at the seams and some folks end up trapped in a corner with no hope of reaching the fridge. That's a highly technical explanation of why some folks have struggled to play Total Warhammer today. In theory, that should now be fixed. You may now fetch yourself a warbeer.
]]>Unless you'be been living under a rock for the past year and a bit, I'm sure you're aware that Total War: Warhammer [official site] is A Thing That Exists. Yup, The Creative Assembly’s adaptation of Games Workshop’s warworld has grabbed the headlines via its multitude of trailers, DLC controversy, and is by all means is a pretty good game and faithful crossover. That is, if you're able to play it.
It launched today, see, yet hundreds of players have been unable to take to its orc-infested battlegrounds as a result of crashes and server issues. Sega have since responded with a statement and suggestions on how to get it sorted.
]]>Phew: we have nine different names in the top ten sellers on Steam last week, rather than the recent trend for various pre-orders and season passes splitting the vote excessively. Question is, has Joe/Jo Public responded as rapturously to DOOM as Ian/Iana Critic has?
]]>The launch trailer for War of the Hammers: Hammer War - Total Warhammer [official site] has arrived ahead of its release tomorrow. By the power of dark chaos magicks, it's a 360° "interactive" sort of a doodad, which means you can spin the view around to admire different bits of the war: the hammers etc. It'll tell you far less about the game than reading Rob Zacny's review [smooth plug -#content ed.] but hey, haven't you always wanted to stick your head inside a Total Hammer War? Here, have a go:
]]>Watching the Greenskins approach from a dusty brown hilltop with the remnants of the High King's great Dwarven army, I knew I was probably going to lose this battle and, with it, the entire Blood River Valley that I'd spent most of my game trying to conquer. I'd already defeated three other Orc armies in the last two turns, but this made one unstoppable horde too many. Hours of effort and progress were about to be erased as my greatest army was swamped by the seemingly endless tide of Greenskins.
I was thrilled: this kind of heroic, doomed slaughter is what I signed up for with Total War: Warhammer.
]]>I say top ten, but there are actually only seven different games in the past week's Steam charts, once pre-orders and deluxe editions are filtered out. It seems like a lifetime ago that Stardew Valley and Factorio were doing a little indie rampage around the charts, as Steam's best-sellers have now very much reverted to big-brand type. Also: pre-ordering sure doesn't seem to be going away any time soon, no matter how unwise it might seem.
]]>Well, more accurately it's The Souls Your Destination, but Dark Souls III being a chart-topper is old news now. This week's Steam shaker-upper is Paradox's intergalactic grand strategy title Stellaris - but one of PC gaming's oldest men takes up residence in the top ten too.
]]>Total War: Warhammer [official site] is so close now that I didn't expect any more announcements that would catch my attention before release, but developers Creative Assembly have just announced that they'll be including robust modding support for their fantasy battler.
Though it was announced previously that the title would not benefit from official mod and Workshop support, CA and Games Workshop have been working away on the paperwork to make this much-demanded fan feature a reality.
At launch, there'll be full Steam Workshop support for browsing and managing mods, as access to the Assembly Kit used in previous Total War titles and "the Database Editor and BOB for modifying and exporting database tables and campaign start positions". Further support, including battle map editing, is planned for later in the year.
]]>"These charts are supposed to be weekly, Meer." "I know, but I keep having to go away for unhappy reasons." "Oh OK, but you'd damn well better tell me what were the top ten best-stelling Steam games last week, or I'm going to spraypaint pictures of bottoms onto your house." "Alright, alright, here you go."
]]>News reaches us that Total War: Warhammer's [official site] Chaos faction will be available for free during the first week post-launch. Previously, the faction were only offered for free to those who pre-ordered, a policy which we grumbled about. Now you'll at least be able to read reviews and reactions before making a decision to spend your hard-earned without missing out on the free faction offer. There's more footage of Chaos in action below, featuring the biggest hammer I've ever seen.
]]>Sega confirmed today that the chivalric knights of Bretonnia will be represented in Total War: Warhammer [official site] at launch. Although the faction won't be playable in the campaign, you'll be able to use Bretonnian armies in one-off battles, against either the AI or a human friend/foe. Those armies will include fearsome cavalry, including flying cavalry in the form of pegasus knights, as well as powerful artillery support in the form of trebuchets. Below, you'll find a full length video of a Bretonnian city besieged by an undead army.
]]>I have been tasked with writing another article about the Total Warcraft: Hammers [official site] expansion.
I'm not really sure of the franchise what with not playing it myself but I'm prepared to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in. Like Winnie the Pooh in Rabbit's doorway.
]]>Until today, the only Total War: Warhammer [official site] DLC we knew about was the Chaos race. They'll be in the core game as an AI opponent but can only be played by those who either buy them or preorder. Now, developers The Creative Assembly have released details of their post-release plans and that includes loads of free add-ons. There will be new Lords with their own quest chains, items and campaign bonuses, new magic, and, most intriguing of all, an entire new playable race. Full details are on the dev blog, with some highlights below.
]]>The latest Total War: Warhammer [official site] video shows a Chaos army in battle for the first time. They're cutting, gouging, biting and burning their way through an army led by Emperor Karl Franz, controlled by a member of the development team who provides commentary throughout. The first few minutes of the video are a guided tour of the two armies, with some lovely close-ups of horrible units. The Chaos Giant is a grotesque delight but the bulbous flesh sacs hanging off the back of the Hellcannon are the real highlight. I won't spoil the ending, as you can watch the fight in full below.
]]>Look, I'm not going to even try to pretend I know anything about Warhammer but I know people are Interested and thus I am bringing you videos about "Vargheists" and "Terrorgheists" from the upcoming Total War: Warhammer [official site] game. Think of me as a friendly postwoman, arriving with a package of winged terrors that someone else wanted to send you.
Sign here please.
]]>Total War: Warhammer [official site] is creeping closer to release like a stealth Nosferatu. May 24th is launch day and today we've got latest in a series of campaign videos that show how the different factions will approach the game's strategic layer. This time up, it's the Vampire Counts and their undead minions. I've dabbled in vampiric arithmetic leadership myself and now you can see how an official dev commentary walkthrough compares to my write-up.
Bleached white bone is the new black, undead immortality is the new 30 and death is the life of the party. Playing as Total War: Warhammer's undead faction, the Vampire Counts, injects some fresh mechanics into the long-running strategy series' blood and provides plenty of evidence that this will be far more than a fantasy paintjob applied to well-worn rules and mechanics.
There are two main reasons for my newfound faith: the ability to resurrect the fallen and the existence of giant flying monstrosities that eat archers for breakfast. Welcome to Sylvania, the rotten heart of the Old World.
]]>Warhammer understands how to do vampires: not with glittering skin, conditioned hair and smart high street dress sense, but with unwieldy jagged armour, sharp weapons and general all-round evilness. The latest Total War: Warhammer [official site] in-engine cinematic unveils the Vampire Counts, the final and as-yet unseen playable race in The Creative Assembly's adaptation of Games Workshop's war-a-thon, which is due for release in May.
]]>Creative Assembly and Sega have announced a delay to Total War: Warhammer [official site]. It's not a very long delay - from April 28th to May 24th - and the reasoning behind the extra development time makes sense. Mike Simpson, Total War Creative Director, says the studio doesn't want to "rush" toward release:
“This could be the best Total War game we’ve ever made. We don’t want to rush it. It’s an enormous game and we also want to make absolutely sure reviewers have enough time to play it thoroughly before launch.”
Giving us reviewers time for a thorough analysis is hopefully a sign of confidence in the game's intricacies. It's not unheard of for strategy games to start well but to stumble as the end-game approaches, and Warhammer has the further complication of factions with wildly different goals and playstyles.
]]>The latest Total War: Warhammer [official site] campaign video shines a light on the proud, stubborn and vengeful Dwarves. Unlike the previous trailer, which examined how best to set up shop on the battlefield, this one kicks off 29 turns in and explores the minutiae of maintaining a war that's well underway, not to mention why it's important to keep the dwarf's Great Book of Grudges in check.
]]>Total War: Warhammer [official site], The Creative Assembly's adaptation of Games Workshop's warworld, will be storming a virtual battlefield near you in less than two months' time. Until then, below is an almost-13-minute look at some of the key battle mechanics you'll want to get to grips in your quest to conquer the war zone.
]]>The more I see of Total Warhammer [official site], the more I know that I'm going to struggle to resist its charms even if it's an imperfect creation. The latest dev walkthrough shows an Empire campaign walkthrough, picking up at the 71st turn and giving an overview of various features, and a tour of the current worldstate. There are Vampires on the borders and Chaos is encroaching from the north.
]]>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 Total War: Warhammer [official site] campaign map is lovely. Creative Assembly have released a 16 minute long "Greenskins Campaign Walkthrough" that shows the strategic side of the game in detail for the first time. Auto-resolving battles as he goes, the narrator takes us on a quick tour of the portions of the Warhammer Fantasy world that will be included in the initial release (the game is the first part in a trilogy that will combine to make one enormous map). I'm particularly taken by the mighty bridges that dwarven engineers have built to span mountain ranges, as well as the concept of 'fightiness'.
]]>I've yet to watch any of the Total War: Warhammer trailers, because I know nowt about Warhammer and so normally leave that kind of thing to Adam. I do like a good map though, and the latest trailer shows the game's campaign map for the first time in between scenes of battle.
]]>Total War: Warhammer's [official site] latest reveal shows Night Goblins in action. In this case, 'in action' translates as 'standing around like static models until one of their own kind starts wailing on them with a giant ball and chain'. The culprit is a Night Goblin Fanatic and for today's confession, I declare that the uncontrollable random paths of destruction that those wee fungi-filled blighters tore across battlefields made them my favourite Warhammer units. It was between them and the Doom Divers at any rate. We received confirmation they'd be in the game way back when.
]]>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.
]]>The first time we got a good look at the game inexplicably not named Total Warhammer [official site], the Greenskins and Empire were throwing down. With the latest gameplay trailer, we get to see fifteen minutes of Dwarves cracking Greenskin skulls after being ambushed underground. I bet High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer will be listing this in his Burn Book.
]]>If you'll cast your mind back about a week you will remember that the Total War: Warhammer [official site] devs promised an in-engine cinematic regarding dwarfs "soon" when they debuted their dwarfs. "Soon" has become "now" and has also brought lore-based infotainment.
]]>The last time I had anything to do with dwarfs I was playing a card-based drinking game called Iron & Ale for Shut Up & Sit Down. This happened. As a result, the dwarf unit video for Total War: Warhammer [official site] is one I watched with one hand cupped protectively over my arm.
]]>Here it is then - the first footage of an actual war in Total War: Warhammer [official site]. It looks more or less how I'd imagine Total War with fantasy units would look and that is a good thing. The developer commentary does a good job explaining how certain aspects will work. Flying units, giant units and spells in particular. Speaking of spells, the Foot of Gork stomps down onto the battlefield in the video. I remember the cardboard template for it being my favourite Warhammer Fantasy accessory.
Word of warning: there's a horrid giant spider.
]]>
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