Total War: Warhammer Review

I’m watching a line of human spearmen, dressed in finery and splendid livery, hoist their halberds in readiness at what is about to burst through the gates of their city. Above them hordes of bats dodge deadly missile fire from the walls, which are themselves swarming with combat. At last the gates burst open and a towering Varghulf - a 12 foot chunk of angry vampire muscle and sinew, surges through the gap. Just as the soldiers of the Empire brace themselves for impact a sea of rotting hands shoot through the ground beneath their feet, as a necromancer summons a swarm of zombies from the grave to attack them from behind.

Such spectacles are a common occurrence when playing Creative Assembly’s newest title in their sweeping strategy series Total War. A game that has been long in the making (and still is, with extra expansions planned), Total War: Warhammer feels in many ways like a lovingly-written apology letter to the studio’s fans, even more so than an homage to the Warhammer universe.

The game aims to take the well-established and - frankly - bottomless lore of the Warhammer tabletop game and mesh it into an experience that brings the figurines to life. As a former wargamer, the idea of seeing these figurines that I spent many hours carefully (read: poorly) painting and assembling as living, breathing characters is an exciting one.

Most Games Workshop fans will be happy to hear that the game is not set in the post-apocalyptic Age of Sigmar version of the Warhammer Fantasy Battles game, but in the favourite, well-known Old World. It seems that the End Times are nigh, though, as forces of Chaos assemble in the great northern wastes ready to swoop down onto the continent. The player can (at this stage) take control of four distinct races (five with DLC) and duke it out for control and victory.

I want to get this massive elephant out of the room first before we dive in. Total War: Rome II had some very well-documented performance and bug issues on release, so many a fan has been waiting to see what will happen with Total War: Warhammer. Creative Assembly took a whole extra month to polish the game off - so is it bug free? For the most part, yes. On my not-too-shabby GTX 970 and i7 4790k, the game runs flawlessly on Ultra settings. I’ve had no crashes or massive frame losses at all. There was one issue, where the UI would flicker if V-Sync was turned on, that meant I had to keep that option unchecked. There are a few extra quibbles but I’ll get into those later.

Gameplay in Total War: Warhammer is split, like all of its predecessors, into two game modes: the campaign map and the battlefield. The former is a beautiful rendition of the Warhammer world, and Creative Assembly must take the plaudits for soaking up the lore and history of the setting and bringing it to life. Volcanos spew red lava, spiders weave webs through dark forests and the swirling forces of chaos create jagged, unnatural mountains and edifices. You find yourself at times simply exploring every nook and cranny of the map, forgetting that there are wars to be won.

Campaign gameplay is simpler than ever, though that is not necessarily a bad thing. Gone are complex building chains and city options - Total War: Warhammer streamlines the city management process so that the player knows exactly what they need to do to build a certain unit or research a certain technology. Most of the best features of the previous Total War games are here, and it seems that Creative Assembly are really getting a solid mechanic foundation built for the future. Each race (except Chaos) will start out with one city to build from and plenty of prospects for expansion, aided by a helpful advisor who, unlike previous Total War games, is actually helpful, lore-friendly and well-acted.

Expansion in Total War: Warhammer is done through diplomacy or conquest. The Empire and the Dwarfs can confederate with fellow factions to grow their respective territories, though you might find yourself fighting them more than chatting with them. Diplomacy has been tweaked in the game, though the AI can often decline offers that are incredibly generous and offer strange deals in exchange for exorbitant amounts of cash. Income in the game has also been shifted, with the Vampire Lords and Chaos having their own treasury replacement: dead souls for the former and Chaos worship for the latter. Essentially they operate under the same principles and enable the player to recruit units for battle or agents on the map. Under the new “Hero” monikers, agents can now operate on the campaign map and in battle, and have skill trees to reflect this - meaning a player can embed a warrior into his army or have a schemer spying on enemies on the map (more on hero units later).

Gone are the days of painting the map your faction’s colour, too. Now certain factions can only occupy specific types of province. The Empire and Vampire Counts can take each other’s lands, while the Dwarfs and the Orcs are restricted to the mountains and southern lands. It means that more strategic choices have to be made when you take control of an incompatible city - do you raze it to the ground to create a buffer zone for a few turns or sack it for some quick cash? Those wanting to conquer the world though, don’t despair, the developers are releasing a day one mod to allow all factions to take all settlements.

Battle is the meat and bones of Total War games and Creative Assembly hasn’t been shy in showing it off in the weeks leading up to release. The studio has made a lot of what it believes is an improvement to battle AI and enemy deviousness in general. On the harder difficulties it certainly feels like the AI is making better tactical decisions - multiple times I had to react to it sneaking troops around my flanks or isolating vulnerable missile units. That being said it still makes decisions that are by now a familiar sight to Total War veterans: charging cavalry into spears or allowing the player to wipe out its missile units unopposed. On more than one occasion I watched groups of enemy units milling about and getting caught up on one another, especially in siege battles.

Creative Assembly has scrapped the battle system from Total War: Rome II and Total War: Attila, which was designed to have as many one-on-one duels as possible in a melee. What that system actually did was create huge mosh-pits of men that don’t get anywhere near the combat. Now units swing away at each other without a system of blocking and parrying, meaning that whole units can duke it out properly. A new HP system defines how many soldiers the unit loses, too. It does mean that the drama in the battle is lost somewhat, as four sets of soldiers stab at another with no effect, only for him to fall over a few seconds later without anyone touching him.

A newcomer to the Total War battlefield is the use of magic. Charged via the “Winds of Magic” that blow around the Warhammer world in various strength, magic can be used by the player’s wizards and heroes to fire off lightning, fire and a myriad of other powerful attacks. While not overpowered, a well-placed spell can turn the tide of a battle. There are certainly a number of spells to learn how to use, as well as differing types for offence, defense and buffing your own units. Sometimes it can get a little bit too much, the micromanagement combination of moving units and firing off spells often left me pausing to try and figure out what was going on.

Hero units bring a unique twist to the battlefield, too. In the early game even the lowest-level hero is able to tie down a unit or two, meaning that often you’ll wonder why your troops aren't moving under your command to see them bogged down by a single hero unit. Apart from a few legendary lords, they’re not incredible damage-dealers but when used right can also be the difference between victory and defeat. Legendary lords, whom you select at the start of each campaign, also have unique quest battles that put you into a certain scenario in order to earn them better gear, RPG-style.

Graphically the game looks incredible on higher settings. Crucially, the game is optimised well enough that players won’t have to take a quality hit in order to keep their frame rate high. On the battle map trees, grass and clouds in the sky move with the wind, while units have a fantastic amount of attention to detail, especially when it comes to the aforementioned heros. What is so unique about Total War: Warhammer, however, is the sheer range of unit types. Gone are the copy-and-paste human models from earlier games, replaced by withered skeletons and zombies, muscular orcs and stunted dwarfs. The range of character models is impressive, especially when it comes to the monstrous units in the game like trolls, ogres and chaos spawn. The variety really brings the battlefield to life and will make you want to pause the game just to get a look at two units duking it out.

If you’re a follower of Total War then you’ll recognise the voice actors in this game, and that’s because (with the exception of the Orcs) Creative Assembly seems to have brought its entire cast from previous games over. It does a fine job, but it’s certainly strange to hear a voice you’ve associated for so long with Roman legionaries suddenly being the singular voice of a celestial wizard. The game's soundtrack, too, is functional if not exceptional, and perhaps there will be more tracks and ambiances added to the game with upcoming expansions.

There are, of course, a few niggles here and there to remind the player that they are, in fact, playing a Total War game. Armies will disappear on the campaign map and ambush you, even after your spies have spotted that they’re there. On the battlefield, units’ line of sight appears to have been dramatically reduced as you have to literally stumble into an enemy force in a forest to know where they are. On some playthroughs quest battles failed to appear on the campaign map and my character was just given the equipment straight away. Most of the problems I encountered weren’t game-breaking and were more akin to an odd poke in the shoulder here and there, as opposed to a CTD-based slap in the face.

I wrote earlier that Total War: Warhammer seems like a love letter to Creative Assembly’s fans, and nothing typifies this more than the fact that the studio is releasing a modding kit for the game. There were numerous worries that it would be locked so that Games Workshop’s precious IP wouldn’t be messed with but those fears have been swept away (leading to more than a few cries for a Lord of the Rings mod).

The game is also not just a one-and-done project for the developers, who plan a hefty schedule of DLC, free-LC and extra content over the coming months. Not just that, there are more expansions along the way, with each adding to the existing campaign map new cities, factions and areas. Creative Assembly has also stated its intention to represent every single faction with an army book in Warhammer universe (so fans of Elves, Lizardmen and Skaven keep your eyes peeled).

Total War: Warhammer is the perfect response from the developers to its recent criticisms. The game has been handled almost flawlessly from start to finish by a team that has been open and supportive with their community. The finished product is a lovingly-crafted representation of the Warhammer world that is ripe for players to forge their stories in. It’s a must-buy for every Warhammer fan and Total War aficionado and is potentially the best release from the studio since the original Rome: Total War. From the spires of Bretonnia to the desert Badlands and the World’s Edge mountains, Total War is back and better than ever.