Creative Assembly and Sega have confirmed that the long-awaited Total War: Warhammer III will be available later this year.
This is the fifteenth game in the Total War series and the third game in the Warhammer subseries, following on from Total War: Warhammer (2016) and the unsurprisingly-named Total War: Warhammer II (2017). The long gap in release was due to the studio refocusing on their historical games for several years, resulting in Thrones of Britannia: A Total War Saga (2018), Total War: Three Kingdoms (2019) and Troy: A Total War Saga (2020).
Warhammer III focuses on the icy arctic wastes, featuring four Chaos factions (one each for the minions of Khorne, Nurgle, Slaanesh and Tzeentch), the noble kingdom of Kislev and at least part of the great Empire of Grand Cathay. These faction can engage in battle with one another for supremacy for their part of the Old World. Additional factions will, inevitably, be added in post-release DLC.
Warhammer III can also merge its campaign map with that of Warhammer I and II in the Mortal Empires campaign, which will now become a near globe-spanning megagame including all or most of the factions from the first two games.
A release date has not yet been set apart from "late" 2021, but the game will launch on PC simultaneously on Steam and Epic Game Store (no split release strategy as with Troy). CA do advise that at the moment it will only be possible to merge the three games into one on the same platform, so owners will need all three games on either Steam or Epic, not split between them.
They may be release synergy (gags) between Total Warhammer III and a new miniatures game from Games Workshop, Warhammer: The Old World, which is also set for a late 2021 release.
The annual paen to shiny graphics and explosions, E3, is underway in Los Angeles at the moment. It's the year's biggest video game expo, a time for companies to make big announcements and grandiose promises that occasionally pan out but mostly don't. There is oddly little to get that excited about this year, but a few things stood out.
Metro: Exodus
The Metro video game series (comprising Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light) has been one of the most satisfying first-person shooter series of the last decade, going for Russian bleakness and evoking a sparse atmosphere of building tension and horror rather than going for bombast and lots of explosions. Metro: Exodus will apparently expand away from the Moscow metro (the setting for most of the first two games) and feature larger, less linear levels. Although highly promising (the red star steam engine looks cool), the concern remains that the first two games executed a single story brilliantly and ended at just the right moment. Here's hoping this third game enhances, rather than degrades, that legacy.
Total Warhammer 2
Or that would be the game's real title in a world that made sense, rather than the brain-numbingly silly Total War: Warhammer 2 (I'd take Total Waaagh!: Warhammer 2 at this point). Still, this sequel to the Creative Assembly/Games Workshop collaboration takes the war across the western ocean to Lustria, Ulthuan, Naggaroth and the Southlands. High Elves, Dark Elves, Lizardmen and a "secret" race (who are totally not the Skaven) will join the roster. The sequel will have a stand-alone campaign but will also bolt onto the original Total Warhammer to unleash a massive, world-spanning conflict.
XCOM2: War of the Chosen
This is a comprehensive expansion for the splendid XCOM 2 which will add ruined, post-apocalyptic cities, complete with zombie-like mutants, as well as adding rival rebel factions you will be competing (and maybe fighting) against, but can also ally with against the alien threat. The game will also add new special alien bounty hunters who have been sent to take out your forces. Riffing off the Nemesis System from Shadows of Mordor, they will gain experience and level up as the game continues, becoming constant thorns in your side until you can finally take them out.
Anthem
A brand-new BioWare IP - their first in a decade - was always going to be a headline-grabbing moment. Unfortunately, the reception to Anthem didn't quite go the way BioWare were expecting. This is an action shooter which borrows - quite significantly - from the anime series Attack on Titan in its worldbuilding and setup, from Titanfall for its mechs (albeit much smaller than in that game) and from Destiny for its focus on co-op gameplay. Those hoping for a big, deep BioWare RPG like of old, or even another action/RPG hybrid like the Mass Effect series, were bitterly disappointed. Possibly prematurely, as the game actually looks pretty good.
Perhaps more notable were the games that didn't appear. Bethesda's science fiction mega-epic Starfield didn't make an appearance, despite heavy rumours, suggesting it's still a way off. Likewise CDPR held fire on Cyberpunk 2077, lending weight to the rumours it's now looking more like a 2019 release. Other games that looked reasonably interesting included Far Cry 5 and Bastard's Wound, an expansion for the excellent RPG Tyranny.
Creative Assembly and Sega have released a new trailer for Total War: Warhammer (sadly, still not Total Warhammer or Warhammer: Total Waaagh!), this time featuring actual in-engine battle footage.
The trailer depicts Emperor Karl Franz leading the forces of the Empire of Man into battle against various enemies. The trailer shows both magic and flying units in action, both new additions for the Total War engine.
News of a new game set in the Warhammer Fantasy world came as a surprise. Earlier this year, Games Workshop officially retired the setting after thirty-three years of supporting it. Sales of the game and models had fallen to an all-time low, so the Old World of the Warhammer setting was obliterated in a game and novel crossover event known as End Times. A new fantasy game called Warhammer: Age of Sigmar has been introduced to replace it, although its reception has been lukewarm so far. Retiring the fantasy setting before the video game's release may have been a premature decision; the Dawn of War video games (starting in 2004) are credited with helping build the brand, success and sales of the Warhammer 40,000 SF sister-game, especially aiding the growth in the franchise's success in the United States. The Total War game could have done something similar for the fantasy setting, but clearly not if it no longer exists.
Sega, Games Workshop and Creative Assembly have officially announcedTotal War: Warhammer, their new wargame which takes the Total War franchise into the fantasy arena for the first time.
The new game will depict a battle for control of the Old World between the forces of the Empire, Dwarves, Orcs and Undead, although if armies of Chaos don't show up halfway through the game, I'll be surprised. Creative Assembly have already said they are planning two major post-release expansions, so Bretonnian, Elf, Skaven and Lizardman fans can keep hoping.
No release date has been set, but I'd be surprised if we saw it before 2016.
Creative Assembly have inadvertently confirmed that their next PC strategy game will be based on the Warhammer fantasy property by Games Workshop.
Expect the game to be set on a variant of this campaign map.
Strong rumours had been supporting this for a while, but the news was confirmed in CA's own Total War artbook, due out next week. Early review copies went out with the spoiling text still included, rather daftly. CA are owned by Sega who recently secured a Warhammer licence from Games Workshop. The licence is also expected to allow Sega's other strategy studio, Relic, to resume work on their Dawn of War IIIWarhammer 40,000 project which was put on hold several years ago when the previous licence-holders, THQ, went bust.
It is unclear if the new game will be called Total Warhammer, Total War: Warhammer or Total Hammer: War, which would clearly be best (apart from Total Waaagh!, of course). The game will probably involve men and possibly elves and dwarves smacking orks and rat-men and daemons in the face with metal objects, possibly magic. It's a bit of a departure for the Total War series, which through seven major titles in fourteen years has always been based firmly on real historical events. The move may have been inspired by Call of Warhammer, a very popular mod available for Medieval II: Total War.
War: Total Hammer Warhammer will likely be released in late 2016, based on the release and development times of the previous games in the series.
