Magic-infused winds sweep over ghastly plains of molten rock and sand as armored boots stomp over the lifeless bodies of fallen comrades and foes alike. My army has come a long way and paid a huge price in blood, but it finally has its target in sight: the Brass Citadel of Khorne, whose champion’s soul we are here claim. Bloodied, but relentless, the Cathayan host marches towards the citadel in good order, having already taken the approaches and secured them with defensive structures. Rockets whistle as they fly overhead, and the booming of cannon fire is heard from the Sky-Junk above the column. We narrowly beat out the Kislevites from the other side of the world for an opportunity to kill this daemon prince of Khorne – we’re not about to leave empty handed, no matter how many monstrosities and berserkers in spiky armor are sent against us.
Total War: Warhammer III is everything you expect from a Total War: Warhammer game at this point, but the stakes are higher than ever – what the winner may claim is nothing less than the power of a dying god, whose roars of pain sweep over the world like a shockwave from a meteorite, opening portals between the realms of Chaos and the mortal world.
A record number of eight playable factions (Day 1 DLC’s Ogre Kingdoms included) search for a way to reach this dying god, Ursun, though their motivations for doing so vary. Kislev looks to rescue its bear god, hoping to end an eternal winter. The celestial dragon lords of Grand Cathay seek his power to track down one of their sisters, who was lost on an expedition into the Chaos Wastes. Five Chaos factions also vie for control of Ursun’s might, playing the great game of their gods: Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle, Slaanesh, and the so-called Daemon Prince, who has the potential to unite all Chaos factions, are in it for their own glory, of course.
Previous base games in Creative Assembly’s trilogy offered fewer playable factions, and they were far less mechanically complex than factions are here. The Empire’s ability in Warhammer I was to place each lord on a seat on the imperial council, which gave them passive bonuses on the campaign map and in battle. At the time, this was viewed as new and bold.
Compare this to Grand Cathay in the final installment: The eastern powerhouse has the Harmony mechanic, the ability to send out trade caravans, and the powerful Wu Xing compass. On top of that looms the ever-rising threat towards the Great Bastion, culminating in waves of Norscans throwing themselves against the majestic fortifications. It’s similar for all the other factions: There’s a plethora of unique and quite powerful options here for you to utilize, which clearly differentiate the factions – and you’ll need to use these tools wisely, if you are to survive the merciless world of Warhammer and win the deadly race towards Ursun. This competition is Total War’s most narrative-focused campaign yet, but you can still win a domination victory by conquering enough territories if rescuing gods isn’t your thing.
Let’s stay with Grand Cathay and Miao Ying, the Dragon Emperor’s favored daughter – she’ll emphasize that every other time you click on her, so better believe it. In fact, everyone in Cathay seems to have a huge daddy-complex towards their immortal emperor. Anyways, things look grim when you start a game with her in command: The Storm Dragon must deal with rebel lords, a breach in the Great Bastion, and a Tzeentchian incursion at the same time. Luckily, she also has a few things going for herself: Her capital city of Nan-Gau is nigh unassailable as well as an economic powerhouse. Sending a caravan west, directing the Wu Xing compass towards the Celestial Lake, and restoring Harmony to the realm will further boost her finances – and as one astute observer from our own universe once stated: Money is the sinews of war.
Caravans will not only yield profits once they reach their destination after traveling a few turns, but they’ll also collect legendary items for you. The Ivory Road is fraught with both dangers and opportunities, of course, so success is not guaranteed: Waylaying Ogres must be fought or bought off, exotic hero units can be brought into your employ, and daemonic ambushes must be thwarted for the cargo to reach its destination – otherwise your investment was for naught. If there is one missed opportunity here, it’s that raiding caravans doesn’t yield any different results from defeating regular armies.
As Cathay, establishing harmony between Yin and Yang on the campaign map through buildings, characters, and technology, which each lean towards one side, is essential for success as well as a continuous challenge. Having to decide between keeping the realm harmonious or getting that critical tech on the other side of the tech tree will be tough in some situations. The Daemon Prince faces similar dilemmas when he must decide which Chaos gods to dedicate his victories to – and from which of them he will gather rewards in return. These mechanics not only add more strategic depth to everything you do on the campaign map, but also the other big part of Total War: the tactical real-time battles.
Melee units of Cathay are Yin-focused, while ranged units are Yang-focused. Form them up in close order and they will receive substantial bonuses to some of their stats – this influences how you form up armies and it’s advisable to keep at least some of your ranged units close to the battle line, where they will be more exposed, but provide Harmony buffs to your front troops. Sky Lanterns are fantastic for this, as they can bring Harmony to melee troops from the air. Warhammer III offers some new battle types alongside the tried and tested field battles, including the survival battles you can play once you enter a realm of Chaos and face its daemon prince – they almost turn a fight into a small real time strategy game on its own with on-battlefield recruitment and building construction. A nice change of pace! And again, if that’s not your thing, you can auto-resolve these battles just as well.
Overall, every army feels unique and powerful. I was worried about having five daemonic factions in the game, but CA has done a grand job at differentiating their playstyles not only through their campaign map mechanics but also on the battlefield, staying true to the deep lore of the setting. The Daemon Prince, who can pick and choose from each of the four Chaos factions, is the versatile cherry on top. This uniqueness is supported by the stellar unit animations – you may lose a battle or two while being zoomed in and enjoying them, but that’s a price worth paying. Slaanesh’s units are graceful and precise, whereas Khorne’s charge into battle with brutal strength, and Nurglings are just happy playful little gremlins riddled with deadly diseases.
Perhaps most exciting are the changes made to sieges – one of the weakest points of previous entries into the trilogy. You can now defend minor settlements on actual city maps again, which are designed for a defense-in-depth approach and allow the attacker to start an assault from several angles at once. Utilizing the supply point system from survival battles, the defender can construct towers and barricades in the streets as the battle rages to create fallback points as well as hindrances for the enemy – the AI is also quite competent at using these advantages when defending. Cities and the gates of the Great Bastion profit from this new design approach and the supply points as well – as someone who almost always skipped siege battles in the previous two games, I find myself happy to play them out manually now. They can provide quite a challenging, hectic experience, as you must manage several skirmishes in different parts of the city at the same time. Luckily, you can always slow the action down or pause it entirely. A bit more variety when it comes to siege maps would still be nice, but the fantastic Total War modding community will sort that out in time.
Creative Assembly went all out on quality of life and transparency improvements here, which really helps accessibility as well – that, and the well-made Prologue, which not only provides context for the campaign’s story, but doubles as a comprehensive tutorial. Some highlights: Flying units can now be ordered to land and take off into the air, and the battlefield action slows automatically when you aim a spell. Useless magic items can either be sold or fused together into one item of the next rarity level. Curtains veiling previously arcane systems such as unit experience and diplomacy have finally been lifted: You can now see the stat bonuses on experienced troops and will know exactly what it takes to negotiate a trade deal – no more “balanced” offers that always get rejected, no matter how much gold you’re willing to put in to sweeten the deal.
Diplomacy is also helped by the much-requested options to trade cities, warn trespassing armies – you’re no longer going to be internationally despised for declaring war on neutral raiders ravaging your territory – and the introduction of a new diplomatic resource: Allegiance is accumulated automatically over time and more directly from accomplishing missions for your allies. It acts as currency for the new outpost system, which allows you to construct a building in a friendly city. An outpost will provide that location with additional forces in the event of an attack, while giving you the opportunity to recruit local units – which is a breath of fresh air, because that really gives you a chance to build wildly mixed armies from several factions. Keep in mind, these units disband if your alliance is broken, so that gives you a good reason to assist your allies.
Friends are a good asset to have once Ursun roars and portals to the Chaos realms open across the world: These rifts spew forth Chaos corruption and daemonic armies into your lands, but they give you the opportunity to advance in the race towards the dying bear god. Once you enter a rift, you can use it to teleport your army to a far-away place in the mortal world or visit one of the four planes of Chaos, where you must claim the soul of a daemon prince. To do that, you must survive the trials laid upon you by the Chaos gods – if you travel to Khorne’s realm, for example, you’ll need to take part in his eternal gladiatorial games and shed enough blood to be allowed to fight at the Brass Citadel. Slaanesh, on the other hand, tries to lure you away with some seductive offers of riches and other bonuses. If you can collect a soul from each of the four realms, you open the way to the Forge of Souls, where Ursun is kept by Be’lakor – defeat the first of the daemon princes to claim your prize.
I’d be surprised if Total War: Warhammer III is what the developers originally envisioned all these years ago when they started down this path. It feels like instead of adhering to a strict vision set down many years past, this game has truly been shaped by experiences made and feedback gained over the course of four full releases (both Three Kingdoms and Troy are visible influences!) and who knows how many DLC packs – Total War: Warhammer III is both a pinnacle and a foundation: It’s the most complete and fun a Total War base game has ever been and it offers the promise of an even greater future with the Mortal Empires game mode combining the entire trilogy into what is going to become the definitive Total War and Warhammer experience for many years to come. Let’s hope this is not a ploy wrought by Tzeentch!
Written by Marco Wutz on behalf of GLHF.
