Total War: Warhammer - Campaign Preview

There's no denying that The Creative Assembly's Total War is one of gaming's flagship strategy series. It's been running for well over a decade, it's covered some of history's most famous eras and battles, starred iconic generals and world-changing rulers, and it has grown and grown to a point where the turn-based campaign and the real-time battles are so significant that each could easily be an individual game in their own right. The evolution and growth of the series has been impressive, but with new features layering on top of each other over time, it's our opinion that perhaps this strategy behemoth has become a little too busy. While that might be a criticism, it's one made constructively and with affection; we regularly dip into the series and nearly always enjoy our time spent playing, no matter the era, or the faction.

But despite our enjoyment of the series, the criticism stands. Although Rome II dazzled us with its sense of scale before Attila added urgency and an antagonist to the mix, lately we've been thinking that the series could do with a little shakeup. Now, having spent a morning with CA looking at the upcoming Total War: Warhammer, specifically the campaign part of the game, we have to say that our enthusiasm for the series has been revitalised, and we're absolutely delighted with the direction that they're taking their upcoming fantasy trilogy.

Our issues with the game are mainly centred around the turn-based campaign, and that's where many of the most significant improvements are coming. First and foremost will be the differences between the four races available at launch (plus there'll be different factions within the races), and these differences are going to throw up some unique gameplay possibilities. The Orcs, for example, are all about attacking their opponents and staying on the front foot, but without an enemy to beat and defeat the armies will over time become less potent and they'll squabble internally. On the other hand, give them someone to smash and they'll be more happy, until eventually their "fightiness" rating is high enough that a Waaagh is called at which point a full-stack AI-controlled army will join you in battle and help you continue to stomp your way through a region.

The Empire will be the most natural starting point for people wanting a stepping stone from existing Total War games, thanks to the similarities between them and various medieval European factions from CA's previous games. That's not to say that they're the same, far from it, but it'll make for a more natural transition than any of the others. Also launching with the game in April are Vampires and Dwarfs, and each of the four will be completely different from the others, ensuring genuine replayability over time thanks to what sounds like carefully balanced asymmetry. There's also the small matter of the Chaos armies to the north, and in drawing from the successful Attila mechanic whereby an antagonist is thrown in to shake things up part way through a campaign, at some point Chaotic forces will make their move and march south.

The new campaign map is worth a mention, because it looks absolutely stunning. The fantasy element has allowed CA to really go to town on its design, and thus it's more detailed and more characterful than ever before. There's more emphasis on verticality than we've seen previously, and that extends upwards in terms of the mountain ranges fought over by the Dwarfs and the Orcs in the early game, and downwards to the Underway that runs beneath the map that plays host to underground battles and allows for extended movement on the campaign map for those that can access it. Weather is now geographical rather than seasonal, but one thing that does fluctuate is the Winds of Magic (simply put, the stronger these winds, the more magic you'll be able to use in battle).

One feature that is markedly different is the introduction of legendary lords, characters that form the nucleus of an army and that can be levelled up over the duration of a campaign. These characters have optional quest lines that end in bespoke battles, and once unlocked and completed, players earn buffs and items that increase the effectiveness of the characters in battle (they can't die, but if they fall when fighting it can take several turns for them to recover). They can even unlock and ride mounts. Levelling up these characters - and navigating the tech trees in general - seems clearer and more concise than before; it's obvious that CA has been spending a lot of time updating and refreshing the UI to make it work with the new setting.

It's not just legendary characters that can be upgraded, generals can also level up (in historical TW the level cap is 10, here it's 30), and there's plenty of upgrade options in terms of equipping them with items. Heroes - previously agents or assassins - can now be linked to an army and thus appear in battle, which should make them feel much more important to your overall progress through the campaign. It feels more characterful than ever before, and these important units once upgraded over time will add personality to armies, and they'll be sorely missed should they come to a grizzly end during battle (so expect some occasional save scumming should the worst happen).

There's much more. Armies earn loot after a victory. There's customisable magic banners that can be given to units ahead of battle. There's no regional governors and instead you can now assign characters to various positions that buff the overall effectiveness of your leader (similar to the system employed in games like Crusader Kings 2). The changes are plentiful and significant, and when you mix them altogether the turn-based side of the game starts looking like a completely different kettle of fish. And we've not even touched on all the new units that we'll be taking with us into battle.

The campaign map for the first game is one of three, and by the end, once the two subsequent "expandalones" have been released, there should be a huge interlocking map that hopefully players will be able to battle across (that's the plan at least). With a selection of asymmetrical races, all of which look like they'll be truly unique, CA are building their most ambitious game to date. Add to that the revised focus of the campaign, which includes an emphasis on both character and questing, and Total War: Warhammer is shaping up to be the change of direction needed to refresh and replenish the series. If you haven't guessed by now we came away from our demo impressed by what we were shown, and we're very much looking forward to getting our grubby mitts on the finished version of the game when it lands in April.