While superficially Total War: Three Kingdoms might look a lot like other titles of the series, combat dynamics can change a lot based on which one of the two available modes you choose to play in. They also have their own stats, personalities, ambitions and relationships, and their willingness to serve you might change according to those factors. You can also equip them with things called “Ancillaries ”, which consist of weapons, armor, mounts, followers, and accessories that give specific bonuses to those characters, improving their performance on the battlefield and outside of it.

Generals and other court members can gain experience and increase their levels, opening up new skills for you to purchase. Battles can also be auto resolved if you want to focus more on the overmap strategy aspects of the game, but only by joining the fray and commanding your troops in the field can you turn the odds of a battle in your favor. Duels cannot happen, and all troops are more prone to fatigue.īoth modes have their merits it depends largely on your own preferences, but I feel it is a good thing that players are given the choice. Generals are more vulnerable and ride into battle accompanied by their bodyguards. Records Mode feels more like a traditional Total War experience. They also exchange verbal threats and tease each other, and their rivalries can carry on throughout encounters. They are a force to be reckoned with in the field and can duel enemy Generals as well, making for some cool moments.

Your Generals(which you can only have three of in each army) are single unit heroes with special abilities who can face entire battalions of troops by themselves. Romance Mode makes battles feel like an epic action movie. Regardless of which ruler you choose, though, your final objective will be the same: the reunification of the Three Kingdoms, by any means necessary. Sun Jian, on the other hand, is known as the Tiger of Jiangdong, and possess Heroism, which decreases unit recruitment and upkeep costs and increases the satisfaction of characters under him. His specialization is called Credibility and allows the player to incite proxy wars and influence diplomatic relations between factions. The character Cao Cao, for example, is a Strategic Mastermind that focuses on diplomatic manipulation. You have to choose between 11 possible starting characters, each with their court of family members and noteworthy characters, as well as beginning difficulties and unique mechanics. Instead of the abstract representation of a nation, you play as a single character who acts as the ruler of a chunk of land and the leader of a faction, and this helps to keep things personal. The game feels like an epic tale that unwraps itself as you play, with your decisions and battles being the center of the narrative. The 800,000 words novel has now found its way into the Total War franchise, bringing along its blend of authentic history and legendary myth. It might not be that known in the West, but it is among the most beloved works of literature in East Asia, and it spanned countless adaptations in different formats over the years, the most famous in gaming perhaps being the Dynasty Warriors series. And it still feels good doing it here, in Three Kingdoms, even though so much has changed.Īs any teenager with internet access can tell you, Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a 14th-century Chinese historical novel that dramatizes the almost century-long conflict between the forces struggling for power in feudal China. It felt good to rule, to conquer, and to command troops in battle. I knew some troops were better than others at certain things, and this-along with creative usage of formations and big numbers-seemed to work in my favor most of the time. Back then, I didn’t have exact knowledge about how all the mechanics worked, but that did not stop me from having plenty of fun. I spent at least a couple hundred hours playing Medieval II over the years, and I remember it fondly. And you should, because much like good whiskey, anything under 20 shouldn’t even be considered when talking about Total War. Total War: Three Kingdoms is the first Total War game I have played in almost a decade if you ignore my seventeen hours in Napoleon and fourteen in Shogun 2.

Total war three kingdoms review