DLC Review code given by Creative Assembly
You can guess I'm somewhat of a strategy fan if you’ve read some of my writing on GameTyrant. I play a bit of RTS, Turn-Based, Grand Strategy, you name it. However, no series has captivated me like the Total War series. From Rome all the way up to its latest iteration, Warhammer 3, I’ve put hundreds of hours into making armies run around a map and crushing my foes underfoot. My review for the release of Total War: Warhammer 3 placed it at 9.5, and I called it “the best Total War game in the last decade.”
With the release of the upcoming Champions of Chaos DLC and the Immortal Empire’s expansion, I can confidently say I remain incredibly pleased and awed by this franchise, and I fear how many hours of gameplay I will put into this behemoth in the months and years to come.
Gameplay
Champions of Chaos brings 4 new legendary lords to the Warriors of Chaos, while completely revamping the playstyle of all of the previously playable lords of that race. Warband recruitment allows instantaneous creation of basic units, and high-level regions will be able to instantaneously recruit higher-tier units. To balance this seemingly broken mechanic, individual basic units will be eligible for promotions as they rank up and gain experience. In a style that is very brutal and Chaotic, only the strongest may survive to be ranked up to the higher tier units.
Hurling armies of Chaos Marauders at your problems may mean some of them are destroyed, but the survivors will be that much closer to another level of glory (and new recruits are easy to find). The Marks of Chaos mechanic means that similar to the marauder units, Chaos Heroes will also be given power based upon ranking up and accomplishing feats in battle, while devoting themselves to specific Chaos gods for certain buffs and enhancements. Since each of the Champions of Chaos are devoted to vastly different gods, each one feels fresh and plays differently from the rest. Seeing an army of Chaos that is decidedly color coordinated to their specific brand of Chaos is brilliantly fun, and I had a blast with each of the 4 new lords.
In the same mood, the original Warriors of Chaos from Warhammer 1 feel completely revamped and exciting to play. As one of the community’s least favorite factions due to weird horde mechanics and a gameplay style fraught with risk, it is so great to see them getting this much love on a revamp and I see them becoming a mainstay group for players to enjoy.
Of course, with the release of Champions of Chaos also comes the release of the beta for Immortal Empires, the multi-game spanning giga-campaign that will ruin every other attempted game of Warhammer 3 for me. Bringing in all the factions in the trilogy into one massive map and letting them beat the stuffing out of each other has been something that was promised upon release, and no one was quite sure how well it would play or feel. With so many factions and so many changes from Warhammer 2’s Mortal Empires campaign, how would this feel with the Warhammer 3 mechanical changes and new graphical fidelity? Wonderfully amazing.
While the Immortal Empires’ current release is still in beta and only available to owners of all 3 games (though multiplayer campaigns need only the host to have the complete set), I am happy to say that it is just as epic and insane as expected. Some changes to start placements for factions and the inclusion of Sea Lanes to travel across the map brings so much diversity and excitement with every start. No one campaign feels the same, and the dynamic emergent gameplay that comes out in each player’s story is so refreshing. In the 50 or so hours I’ve put into the development release, I haven’t even scratched the surface of all of the factions available. Some campaigns fail before they really begin, some go so well you feel like it’s a joke, and none of them go the same way twice. While there remains plenty of balancing issues to resolve in the weeks to come, the base that Creative Assembly has put in place is so solid I have no doubt this will become the peak of a series that will go down in gaming history.
Audio and Visuals
With the updated graphical fidelity of Warhammer 3, Champions of Chaos and Immortal Empires look gorgeous. Changes to the world map cause the mountains to stand out wonderfully, and the care and detail put into each area of the map means it never gets old to pan over. Comparing the same areas to previous games in the series puts them to shame, as the updated vistas in the overworld map, as well as the battle maps, are wonderful places to wage war in the Warhammer universe. While I noticed some issues with snow and shadow sometimes causing weird lighting issues, it didn’t detract from the experience unless I really paid attention to it.
Audio remains as a solid background to gameplay, and the battle noises still get the player involved as they pan the camera closer or further from the action on the field. The sounds of a cavalry charge or the firing of cannons still work as intended, even if I would sometimes grow tired of the voice acting for the units when selected. Definitely not a huge issue, and the variety seems to have improved since Warhammer 2.
Replayability
I think I covered this already, but I think this is going to be the most replayable iteration of Total War to ever come out. With a huge assortment of races, lords, start locations, campaign objectives, and even end-game events, I haven’t found myself burnt out in the slightest. Even when only playing 10 turns before having your campaign ruined by an ill-placed Skaven den, jumping right back into a new campaign is simple and I can happily say I’ve played about 100 turns for at least 6 different factions. With the sandbox-style feeling of Immortal Empires, there is really no limit to the amount of shenanigans player’s can be involved in, especially if they are veterans of the series and have the previous games and some/all of the DLC released to those games.
On the other hand, Champions of Chaos introduces a new campaign style, the Road To Zanbaijin within the Realms of Chaos campaign, which is much shorter and acutely objective based compared to the sprawling sandbox of Immortal Empires. I only played through it once before I felt like I had done it enough, but I blame that solely on my excitement to get into Immortal Empires. Other players, especially those who don’t have Warhammer 1 and 2, will probably appreciate the much less enormous campaign. Utilizing this campaign as a way to familiarize oneself with the intricacies of the new Champions of Chaos will probably be the move that most players find themselves doing.
What It Could Have Done Better
With the absolutely staggering amount of factions, I thought for sure my biggest complaint would be turn time. Shockingly, with 275 factions on turn one, I didn’t find myself waiting too long for each passing turn. What would have taken minutes in Warhammer 2 takes between 30 seconds and a minute in Warhammer 3. Instead, my biggest complaint and something I hope will be rectified is the balance between factions. Obviously, Immortal Empires is in beta and much tweaking is sure to be done, but there were a few times a campaign was ground to a halt due to what felt like completely unfair balancing between factions. When my singular army of elves was completely crushed by 4 full armies of zombies on turn 10 (due to the cost of my units versus the ridiculous cheapness of zombies) I was a bit miffed. That sort of balancing problem was apparent, especially between factions that came about in Warhammer 3 versus some of the older factions, like the Lizardmen versus the Daemons of Chaos.
However, there are so many factions and ways of playing Immortal Empires, it bothered me for a little before I got back into a different campaign on a completely different area of the map. The understanding that this campaign is a massive undertaking and still in beta is clear with a launch message clarifying the beta status, and with promises to utilize community input for balancing and tweaking the factions as time goes on.
A minor complaint for me but one that the community at large has talked about is the brokenness of sieges. Many offenses found themselves ground to a halt due to the ridiculous amount of energy that needs to be put into even minor siege battles, and the unit pathing within settlements does not help with the grueling nature of that problem. As patches and changes have kept coming and the pathing has improved, I still find myself having a total blast when I’m able to catch an enemy in the field for a pitched open field battle. This is in stark contrast to the slog of siege battles I end up having, especially as the game continues into the later stages. Early campaign losses also come from AI strategies of stacking in a settlement, and limited resources early on make it nigh impossible to build an army that can successfully storm the settlement without heavy losses. This causes stagnation and elongated sieges that mean some factions rapidly expand while others sit recovering casualties or waiting for attrition to give them enough advantage to attack a city.
Verdict
This update, DLC, and new campaign are some of the best Total War has seen since I started playing it all those years ago. For the Total War: Warhammer series, this is the culmination of years of work and effort by the team over at Creative Assembly. In my mind, this is a singular triumph for strategy gaming and something that will be incredibly difficult to top anytime soon. With the wonderful changes from Champions of Chaos, and the epic scale of the sandbox Immortal Empires campaign, I will be playing this game long into the future. While some things need to be polished out and the balance must be found, playing this campaign with a group of friends will be an incredible experience that I believe will change the way gamers see strategy games for years to come.
Expect to see more news on Total War: Warhammer 3 as time goes on, and make sure to pick up Champions of Chaos today.
Total War: Warhammer 3 and Champions of Chaos are available on Steam, EGS, and the Microsoft store as well as PC Game Pass. Let us know what you think in the comments!
