Earlier this month, we asked you to vote for your favourite strategy games of all time to celebrate the launch (and glorious return) of several strategy classics this month, including Relic's WW2 RTS Company Of Heroes 3, Blue Byte's The Settlers: New Allies and Cyanide's fantasy Warhamball Blood Bowl 3. And cor, I've never seen such love for individual expansions and total conversion mods among mainline RTS games and 4Xs. As with all strategy games, however, there can only be one victor - and you can find out what that single strategy game to rule them all is right here. Here are your 50 favourite strategy games of all time, as voted for by you, the RPS readership.
]]>Amazon are close to signing a deal with Games Workshop to bring Warhammer 40,000 and its grimdark futuristic universe to TV streaming. Hollywood Reporter say that Henry Cavill, recently-dropped Superman and former Geralt Of Rivia, is involved as an executive producer and potential series lead. The rights to Warhammer 40K are reportedly hotly contested among the rival streaming services, with Amazon spending months negotiating the possible deal with Games Workshop.
]]>Alright, someone has to apologise to the neighbours and round up the dogs of war, because Total War: Warhammer 3 has been delayed. Previously expected late this year, the trilogy-concluding strategy game based on Games Workshop's fantasy plastic world is now due in 2022. The developers, Creative Assembly say they want to make sure it's good, yeah?
]]>“Right then,” I can imagine the Creative Assembly’s Richard Aldridge saying, as he commenced the brainstorming session for The Silence And The Fury, the latest and last DLC pack for Total War: Warhammer 2. “We’ve got Taurox. Giant metal bull geezer. He needs a special campaign mechanic. Any ideas?” The rest of the team look at each other uncertainly. “Maybe give him some sort of anger meter?” suggests one poor soul, plaintively. “What if he’s got to assemble enough oxo cubes to make a big castle?” offers another, through a trembling cringe of fear.
“Nah!” roars Aldridge, smashing his fist into a platter of raw sausages for emphasis. “I’ll tell you what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna give him the ability to press a button which gives him an extra turn on the campaign map. So he can have a second fight. And if he wins the fight, he gets even stronger. And then he can press the button again”. There is a brief silence. “Sounds quite overpowered,” mumbles the oxo-suggester. “What’s the drawback?” But Aldridge has stopped listening; he is simply roaring the word “BEASTMEN!” over and over again, and proceeds to end the meeting by hoofing a telly through the boardroom window.
]]>As the 40K fellowship are known to say, "you'll have my hammer" and also my hammer and that hammer and anything vaguely hammer-shaped hidden in the kitchen cabinet. That's right, Games Workshop hosted their yearly Warhammering announcement event and there was an entire hammer parade. They announced upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters, the final DLC for Total War: Warhammer 2, a closed beta for Blood Bowl 3, and a whole hammerful of other things.
]]>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 you need more Total Warhammering in your life, well don't despair, you'll certainly get more. Creative Assembly have posted a new teaser video today indicating that something Total War is coming, though exactly what it is remains a debate. More Total War: Warhammer 2 DLC? Or a cryptic teaser for Total Warhammer 3?
]]>The clock's reset and the blood cleaned off the stage, which means it's time for another Total War: Warhammer 2 grudge match. This time, it's fashionable forest-dwellers versus a nasty old rat in The Twisted & The Twilight, with today's latest DLC for Creative Assembly's bloody high fantasy strategy throwing down a colourful gauntlet of neon pinks, sickly greens, and a familiar coating of bloody red paint.
]]>Strategy games is an enormous genre in PC gaming, with real-time, turn-based, 4X and tactics games all flying the same flag to stake their claim as the one true best strategy game. Our list of the best strategy games on PC covers the lot of them. We like to take a broad view here at RPS, and every game listed below is something we firmly believe that you could love and play today. You'll find 30-year-old classics nestled right up against recent favourites here, so whether you're to the genre or want to dig deep for some hidden gems, we've got you covered. Here are our 50 best strategy games for 2023.
]]>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?
]]>When he's not playing everyone's favourite Rivia man in Netflix's The Witcher, Henry Cavill likes to chill out with some Total War: Warhammer 2. It's a fact that hasn't gone unnoticed by Creative Assembly, either. They've only gone and put a nod to him in the game's upcoming DLC, The Warden & The Paunch. And there's even a Witcher reference thrown in there for good measure.
]]>Somehow, against all odds, Total War: Warhammer 2 has found more fantasy heroes and villains to stuff into its gargantuan roster. The next Legendary Lords DLC grudge match, The Warden & The Paunch, pits ill-tempered High Elf Eltharion The Grim against Grom, a warmongering greenskin who's looking for a light snack. It's out on May 21st, and you can catch it in action with a new trailer, posted today.
]]>There are a hell of a lot of Warhammer games out there. But while we've got grimdark trash and genre-defining classics, there have been very few games set in Games Workshop's newest setting. The Old World's been dead a long time - and with few exceptions, nobody's taken a real crack at Warhammer: Age Of Sigmar's multi-dimensional mythos. Until this week, when Elite Dangerous and Planet Coaster devs Frontier revealed plans to release a Mortal Realms real-time strategy within the next few years.
]]>Total War: Warhammer 2 has had its share of updates and DLCs over the last several years. Creative Assembly say that each new pack of Lords and other content make it increasingly challenging to change balance between units without upending the entire house of cards. Instead of slowly rolling out more conservative changes, Creative Assembly are going a bit more radical. They've invited players to take part in an experimental beta branch called the Proving Grounds where bigger, "extreme" balance changes can be vetted.
]]>Total War: Warhammer 2 seems terrifyingly vast already, but Creative Assembly keep adding to it. The latest of their smaller Legendary Lords DLC packs is out as of today, adding two new factions with unique leaders: Deathmaster Snikch of the Skaven's Clan Eshin and Malus Darkblade of the Dark Elf faction Hag Graef. It'll cost you seven of your pounds and there's an introductory trailer below.
]]>A demon-possessed Dark Elf and a legendary Skaven assassin will face off in the next Total War: Warhammer II DLC in December, developers Creative Assembly announced today. The Shadow & The Blade is one of their smaller 'Legendary Lords Pack' DLCs, adding two new factions with unique leaders, options, and units. Being possessed by a demon brings the possibility of great power, at a cost, while master assassins know people with some especially dirty tricks. Twarhammer 2 players who don't buy this will still get shiny newness, with new units and shorter waits during enemy turns due in the patch coming alongside it.
]]>People, I face a dilemma. (Great cars, them Dilemmas. - Ed) This week Destiny 2 takes up an astonishing five out of ten spaces on the Charts. So what's a professional games journalist of 20 years experience to do? Write ten octopus facts in less detail but with more jokes, or six more involved entries perhaps better celebrating our cephalopod friends? I've opted for the latter, and I hope you'll endorse me in this decision rather than join the inevitable social media backlash.
]]>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.
]]>We've had a few people asking how to get these stupid annoying articles out of the news feed for their favourite games on Steam. Read on to learn more...
]]>A chonky crocman today rises from the jungles of Total War: Warhammer II in new DLC as a new Legendary Lord leading a new faction, opposed by the Empire's Hunstmarshal. Nakai the Wanderer and Markus Wulfhart come with their own goals, tricks, and units. Those two are paid DLC but developers Creative Assembly today also launched a big ol' free update for their fantasy strat 'em up. This brings an overhaul for Empire factions in the Mortal Empires campaign, buffs for the Slann, a new Lizardlord, and bug fixes. Mostly I'm here for dinosaurs.
]]>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.
]]>John had the presence of mind to take today off, after flying back from San Francisco on Sunday. Young Matt and I got a red eye that took off on Friday night and landed on Saturday afternoon. I didn’t sleep for 30 hours, then slept for 12, was wired for the next 16, and then slept for another four. Which brings us to today, when I am writing these charts, unsure which meal I should be having next and shaking off a lingering dose of The Fear, which I get from long haul flying more than I ever did from hangovers.
With that in mind, it’s me, back once again with the ill behaviour, to fill in doing the Steam Charts. I’m very much flying by the seat of my pants here, so let’s see what I come up with, shall we?
]]>Oh hello! John is away in San Francisco gobbling up gum left on the underside of chairs at the Game Developers Conference, so I'm filling in for our regular rundown of last week's top-selling games on Steam. As is customary for weeks where I need to take over, the charts are full of the surprises he grumbles they never have. What can I say, John - video games must make more of an effort for me. And for goodness' sake, leave that gum. I don't care if Sid Meier himself stuck it there.
]]>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.
]]>Beep boop. I am the SteamChartBot, and welcome to the CYBERCHARTS. They're like the regular charts, but they have the word "CYBER" shouted at the start, and that makes them really bloody cool.
]]>Official Mac and Linux ports of Total War: Warhammer II are out now, and folks who already got it for Windows have those now for free too. As is the way with Total War, the ports are handled by long-running portpeeps Feral Interactive. While running Windows games on Macs and Linux b0x0rs is easier than it once was, especially with Valve working on Steam's new built-in Linux trickery, it's still nice to have formal support.
]]>Consider your timbers shivered, quivered, spooked, and skeeved, as Total War: Warhammer II has set sail for the Vampire Coast. Crews of undead pirates fielding drowned zombies, giant crabs, seabeasts, shipwreck golems, and other such nautical horrors are the focus of the new expansion released today, Curse Of The Vampire Coast. Accompanying the paid expansion is a free update, revitalising the Vampire Counts faction, kinda sorta adding battles for when armies meet at sea (but not naval battles), and adding a new Dark Elf subfaction led by a salty fella called the 'Krakenlord'.
]]>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.
]]>An army of ten thousand makes camp for the winter, preparing to unite China as the snows thaw - Creative Assembly's Total War: Three Kingdoms finally has a release date: March 7th, 2019. Below, a new trailer introducing us to the Yellow Turban Rebellion, expendable early-game enemies in many a Dynasty Warriors game, now turned fully playable DLC faction. The Yellow Turban pack will be free for those who pre-order or buy within a week of launch.
]]>Last week, after much hype and excitement, Nvidia's GeForce RTX 2080 graphics card was finally unleashed on the world. Today, it's the turn of its beefed-up big brother, the RTX 2080Ti, whose release was delayed by a week for reasons lost to the bowels of Nvidia's marketing department. As you can see from my Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080Ti review, this is hands down the best graphics card for 4K I've ever seen, and that's all down to the monstrous power of Nvidia's new Turing GPU. But how much of a leap does it represent over its immediate predecessor, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1080Ti? To the graphs!
]]>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.
]]>As much fun as I've been getting out of the Total War: Warhammer games recently, I keep wishing that The Creative Assembly would branch out into other genres again. To this day, Alien: Isolation is one of the most mechanically and thematically exciting survival horror games ever made, and proof that they're a flexible studio. Someone at CA agrees, as a slew of job postings on their careers site include repeated mention of a 'brand-new and exciting First Person Tactical Shooter IP' being produced at their primary studio in Horsham, UK.
]]>Thank goodness you're here! If you weren't to read the Steam Charts today, you would DIE.
]]>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.
]]>The High Elven Everqueen Alarielle the Radiant wants to make everything pretty nice and nice, while the Dark Elven Crone Hellebron wants to raze everything pretty in celebrations of chaos and death. Talk about a recipe for high school drama! Can these settle their differences? Which will be crowned prom queen? Might they even become friends? Or more? We'll get to find out in Total War: Warhammer II's The Queen And The Crone, the upcoming second paid DLC for The Creative Assembly's strategy game and its first Legendary Lords pack. My money's on them discovering they have more in common than they thought and becoming firm friends.
]]>There will be no "major" expansion content for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III and the studio has turned to other projects, Relic confirmed to us today, despite intentions to the contrary discussed last year. The Games Workshop-themed strategy game was met with a divisive response due to its abandonment of real-time strategy mainstays in favour of more of a hero unit approach, in addition to an overly-formulaic singleplayer campaign.
DOW's active players have slumped in the ten months since release - to the point that there were, over the past 30 days, twice as many people playing the original, 2004 Dawn of War and its expansions as there were last Spring's Dawn of War III.
]]>I've been playing the closed beta of Conqueror's Blade, a lavish medieval warfare MMO from a team led by assorted Halo alumni. It arrives with eerily similar timing to that other big-scale medieval game Kingdom Come: Deliverance, but entirely multiplayer rather than singleplayer, and is all about bundling together hacky-slashy third-person tropes with a massed-army siege mentality.
Total War has made its own attempt to provide a boots-on-the-ground view of its enormous historical skirmishes, but 2005's Spartan: Total Warrior wasn't exactly a crowd-pleaser. Here's a fresh take on playing as a general who gets their hands oh-so-dirty.
]]>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 know I can't be the first to say this, but this is the first chance I've had to moan about it and you can't stop me. Why oh why is Total War: Warhammer 2 not just called 'Total Warhammer 2'? As far as I'm concerned, consistent branding can get in the bin when there's an opportunity that good.
Oh yes, the news: Total Warhammer 2's first expansion is out today. As Fraser Brown will tell you in his Rise of the Tomb Kings review, those disgusting mummies form a new playable faction that's into early aggression and raising disposable zombie armies, just like an old flatmate of mine. There's also a patch for the base game, which includes a revamp for the poor old Bretonnians as well as some new legendary buildings.
]]>The big news on the Total War: Warhammer II scene next week is the launch of its first expansion, Rise of the Tomb Kings (read our review of it), but there's good news for an older faction too. Recognising that Bretonnia were a little left out when others were powered up for Twarhammer 2, developers Creative Assembly are buffing the fantasy Frenglishmen in the update launching alongside Tomb Kings. They'll receive new tech and abilities, including tools to better combat the sequel's new factions.
]]>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.
]]>We've already seen which games sold best on Steam last year, but a perhaps more meaningful insight into movin' and a-shakin' in PC-land is the games that people feel warmest and snuggliest about. To that end, Valve have announced the winners of the 2017 Steam Awards, a fully community-voted affair which names the most-loved games across categories including best post-launch support, most player agency, exceeding pre-release expectations and most head-messing-with. Vintage cartoon-themed reflex-tester Cuphead leads the charge with two gongs, but ol' Plunkbat and The Witcher series also do rather well - as do a host of other games from 2017's great and good.
Full winners and runners-up below, with links to our previous coverage of each game if you're so-minded. Plus: I reveal which game I'd have gone for in each category.
]]>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.
]]>We asked a handful of our contributors to put together a list of their three favourite games from 2017. Their picks are running across the week while the rest of RPS slumbers.
I think I would have lost my mind if it wasn’t for the many incredible digital holidays I’ve taken in 2017. It’s been a bit overwhelming to play so many great but also massive games in a single year, however. New Year’s resolution: squeeze more brief games into my life.
]]>The Tomb Kings are not a crust punk gang who meet in the vaults of Greyfriars Kirkyard. No, they're a Warhammer rabble riffing on Ancient Egyptian beliefs, a faction of ancients pharaohs and their servants, risen to rebuild their empire. We've known for a while that these sandy sorts are headed to Total War: Warhammer II in paid DLC, and now we know when: January 23rd. Alongside this news, the developers today released a cinematic trailer giving a peek at the Tomb Kings, them with their skeletal warriors, animal-headed giants, scorpions of stone and bone, serpentine sentinels, bonebirds, Necrosphinxes, and oh my god is that a giant statue shooting zapbeams out its eyes?
]]>Imagine a skaven so powerful it can punch a dragon hard enough to knock it off its feet. Then imagine that the pull of gravity has been weakened so much that the dragon is sent cartwheeling into the sky. If you have a copy of Total War: Warhammer 2, you won't need to imagine such scenes for much longer because you'll be able to make them happen on your computer.
Today, Sega announced a new, free DLC called The Laboratory. It's coming on Thursday the 14th of December and it looks very silly indeed.
]]>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.
]]>Wotcha gang. Your old chum Alice here for this week's charts, as everyone else has been fired. Out of a cannon. Blown into a jillion little pieces. Hence the Apocalyptic yellow tone to the skies today. Hold your breath when outside, and hold your breath while we count down last week's top ten of the top-selling games on Steam.
]]>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.
]]>You're already busy enough with war preparations, I'm sure.
☑ Sharpen blade ☑ Scrape blood off boots ☑ Polish helmet ☑ Learn words to latest warchants ☐ Pack lunch ☐ Download mods ☐ Install mods ☐ Ask Rat Mother for sick note to skip parade
So much to do, so very much to do. You can now streamline some of this process, as Total War: Warhammer 2 [official site] launched its Steam Workshop the other day to simplify finding, downloading, and installing mods.
]]>Are you strong enough to read the Steam Charts? Do you have what it takes to read all the way to the end? Can you defeat the Plunkbat final boss? NO! NO YOU ARE TOO WEAK!
]]>Some have doubted the power of the Steam Charts to change people's lives. Those people are dead now. Belief in Steam Charts, RPS's greatest, longest-running, and most industry-revered column, is literally the only thing keeping you alive right now. Don't be a dead one. Love us. LOVE US.
]]>Oh no, you've tripped the alarm. Now the terrifying RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, knows you're here. It's going to hunt you down and force you to listen to it. Quick! Think of a way out of this, before you hear all about Adam becoming an accidental mass murderer in Dishonored, or John obsessively re-loading his way out of a bad situation. If you don't escape, I'll have to tell you about the time I threw a gun at someone's head in Heat Signature, to absolutely no effect. This week, you see, we're talking about Things Going Wrong.
]]>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.
]]>Today ratmen rise from the bowels of the earth, lizardfolk stop sunning themselves, high elves pause their posturing, and dark elves drop their edgy posturing, then the whole lot get to kicking seven shades of hell out of each other because Total War: Warhammer 2 [official site] is now out. Fraser Brown's Total War: Warhammer 2 review said this might be the best game in the strategy series, which is high praise. Total Warhammer 2 actually launched at 8am, so I assume several of you reading this have called in sick with your best fake coughs.
]]>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.
]]>A funny old week in the charts, which is to say, H1Z1 and The Witcher 3 have been shoved out by the hatrick of appearances from Stellaris. Also it's worth noting that Dishonored: Death Of The Outsider has disappeared after just one week, which seems a bit of a shame.
Oh, and as correctly predicted last week, absolutely no sign of XCOM 2 making nearly as much money now it's back to £34.99 for both the base game and the War of the Chosen expansion. Shocking!
]]>Ever been alone in a box with someone who knows an unusual amount about anthropomorphic rats? I have. The creators of fantasy strategy crossover Total War: Warhammer II [official site] were at Gamescom last week, showing off their endlessly quibbling goblins and skeleton men. So I sat down for a chat with lead writer Andy Hall, a man who’s spent 18 years scribbling fine detail into the Warhammer universe. I’m a bit out of my depth, knowing little about it, but he’s amiable and enthusiastic throughout. He tells me about how he bends the rules of this dark world, ponders the reasons everyone loves the ratty Skaven, and reveals his dream Warhammer crossover.
]]>With Total War: Warhammer 2 [official site] now only four weeks away, launching on September 28th, developers The Creative Assembly have settled and announced the fantasy wargame's PC system requirements. They are, unsurprisingly, about the same as the first Twarham's requirements but very slightly raised so folks with sluggish PCs will want to check 'em out. And for folks with silicon-snorting framecrushers, beefy boxes bulging with ribs and oozing sauce, or chip-crunching cybermaws crammed with Datadeglovers™, they've detailed the sort of rig you'll need to slam 60fps.
]]>You want to know which are the top ten selling games on Steam this week, but you also still don't know the capital city of Turkmenistan. What is a person to do? Well worry not, because here at Steam Charts HQ, we've got you covered! All the games that are in the top ten games in the Steam top ten games chart, and all the facts you need for that surprise government test!
Join us today as we laugh and learn.
]]>When Great Warlord Queek Headtaker fell in battle, it wasn’t a particularly heroic end. Nor was it especially brave; he was fleeing from the battlefield when an enraged dinosaur trampled him. But the Skaven, Total War: Warhammer 2’s [official site] long-teased and recently revealed fourth race, don’t have much use for bravery or heroism. They’re sneaky, untrustworthy rodents, and for 30 turns of the campaign, I led them to several unchivalrous victories and one devastating defeat.
]]>The Skaven ratmen are seen as rumour, hearsay, or heresy in the world of Warhammer. Who'd believe that an empire of giant pestilent rats lies beneath our feet? Similarly, Sega have tried to play it cool with the Skaven in Total War: Warhammer 2 [official site]. After five months of teasing a mysterious fourth faction -- which has clearly been the Skaven, clear since the chuffing announcement trailer -- today they finally confirmed that yup, that ratty rabble will round out Total Warhammer 2. You never really know they're real until they're rolling towards you with doom-blasting hamster wheels and vast abominations, as the other factions experience in this new trailer:
]]>The Steam Charts is the only place on the internet to find out the most up-to-date information about the games you care about the most, the latest rumours of upcoming changes to early access hits, and secrets that can see your way to coming top of the gaming high score tables!
]]>Hello person reading this on the Steam update page for their favourite game! You can only read this paragraph introducing the Steam Charts right now, but I promise if you only click through to the full article you will read insights into this game of the sorts you could never believe! People, it's the mother-stuffing Steam Charts.
]]>Children, gather round, for I have a tale to tell. A tale of wonder, intrigue, mystery and astonishment! Are we ready? Let me begin.
"Once upon a time there was a week when the Steam charts were slightly different to every other week since the dawn of time..."
]]>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".
]]>Imagine being a PR today. "HELLO PLEASE STOP LOOKING AT BEYONCE RESPLENDENT IN MANY FABRICS AND COVERED IN BABIES AND PLEASE LISTEN TO THINGS ABOUT THE DARK ELVES BEING IN TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER II."
I thought I could pay attention to both but then I realised I was about to report that Sir Carter and Rumi were secret extra new factions in the game. Their special powers would be "being swaddled" and "enjoying what might be decorated hedge mazes". I would play far more Warhammer if there were hedge mazes and tulle netting and Beyonce. I suppose I will now tell you about the Warhammer stuff even though ALL ELVES ARE THE WORST otherwise Alice will be all "Why is there no mention of a videogame in your videogame news post?" Let us look at a video of the newcomers to Total War: Warhammer II [official site]
]]>A new gameplay video for Total War: Warhammer II [official site] focuses on the High Elves, or 'pricks' as everyone else calls them. The 11-minute narrated gameplay video shows off units including the Dragon Princes of Caledor (pricks), Phoenix (prick), Frostheart Phoenix (icy prick), and the Phoenix Guard (heaving sack of pricks). If you want to watch a band of wanks in big hats beating up some ace lizards because they're jealous of the lads' bodypaint and topless japery, 1) this is the video for you 2) what does that say about you?
]]>Lizards riding dinosaurs. Almighty spells crackling through the sky. A dragon swoops down from above and collides with a stegadon as elves are torn apart and consumed by carnosaurs at its feet. Total War: Warhammer 2 [official site] brings even more spectacle to the battlefield, particularly with its lizardmen armies, but the campaign is looking like the most exciting part of the game.
Strategy games have a habit of petering out as you move toward the endgame. Anyone who's played Civ (including Civ V designer Jon Shafer) knows the tedium of pushing end turn to watch the numbers grow, as your inevitable crawl toward victory or defeat plays out in turn-based slow motion. That's partly because so many victory conditions involve watching the correct resource pile up in sufficient quantity, or painting the entire map in a certain colour. Discovery is a thing of the past, diplomacy has run its course, and there is nothing new under the sun. Creative Assembly are looking to change that.
]]>Each year E3 rolls around like a giant evil worm, crushing all that's good and pure. BUT that worm also announces lots of exciting gaming news as it wreaks its carnage upon the Earth. Here we have gathered every announcement, reveal, and exciting new trailer that emerged from the barrage of screamed press conferences over the last few days. And lots of it looks rather spiffy.
A rather enormous 47 PC games were either announced, revealed, or updated upon, with new trailers, information, and released dates that will all be missed by at least three months. We've collected the lot, with trailers, in alphabetical order, into one neat place, just for you.
]]>September 28th is when Total War: Warhammer II [official site] will continue the fantasy battling in new lands. Publishers Sega announced the release date today, also announcing a couple of fancy special editions for folks who have a few extra pennies spare, and an extra Twarhammer 1 race coming free to people who buy the sequel early. Twarhammer 2 will continue bringing Games Workshop's fantasy world into the Total War formula, this time visiting new lands, adding four new races, and working towards interesting new victory conditions.
]]>I’m watching a lizard, riding a gargantuan dinosaur, beating the snot out of a dragon. A lizard, riding a lizard, fighting a lizard. And they’re surrounded by countless High Elves and Lizardmen, duking it out over an ancient ruin. A dinosaur carrying a solar cannon shoots the dragon and then goes berserk, trampling the pointy-eared archers who haven’t been flung aside. Total War: Warhammer 2 [official site] revels in the absurdity of it all.
The Lizardmen don’t seem like a faction that could have existed in the first game. They’re bolder and weirder – far away from the armies of the historical Total Wars. Warhammer 2, in general, feels like a significant departure from the tried and tested formula of the series.
]]>What's going on in Total War: Warhammer 2 [official site]? Watch the "first in-engine trailer" released today and you'll learn that it's a vicious retelling of James Cameron's Avatar with lizards and elves replacing humans and smurfs. You'll also get a sense of how cute those lizards are, which is: very. Have a look below!
]]>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:
]]>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.
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