The Total War games has always been a name that I still hold close to my heart to this day. As a sucker for RTS games, I couldn’t get enough of the high that can only be experienced when you successfully steamroll your enemies with an overwhelming force combined with your endless wit.
Total War has created battlefields that has spanned over different countries. From the age of the samurai in feudal Japan taking on their adversaries with steels swords and muskets to ancient Rome (in which I did not like at all.), none of them had me sucked in more than the Warhammer series that has introduced me to the brutal high fantasy and sci-fi universe.
Total War: Warhammer III is an overall improvement than the previous games and has some of the most fun experiences that you can have when you are both playing through the story campaign and together with your friends and waging war against them or together with others. The story is one that has been the best in the Total War series and gameplay and quality of life changes that is friendly to all players who have never touched an RTS game before and those who are looking to get back into the genre. Creative Interactive has definitely knocked this Warhammer experience right out of the park with this one!
Warhammer is a story that is incredibly deep with complex worldbuilding and lore that requires a week’s worth of studying in order to fully appreciate the full scope of the world. And the storytelling and the narrative that is told in Total War: Warhammer III is probably the best possible way of introducing the players the cruel and unforgiving, yet fascinating world of Warhammer. I won’t spoil too much of the story and I highly encourage you to experience it yourself.
The story of Total War: Warhammer III begin with the legendary Kislev faction traversing the frozen wastelands on a quest to save their God, Ursun. And they must either ally themselves with other factions to save him, or become deadly and genocidal warmongers to bend Ursun to their will and fuel their own selfish desires depending on how you wish to play the game.
Like I have mentioned many times up until this point now, it’s incredibly difficult for me to write an extremely condensed version of the game’s story without telling the lore behind it and I highly recommend you to pick up some material to immerse yourself in this universe. However, I feel that this is one of, if not, the best pieces of media that you can play to really dig yourself deeper into this expansive and wide world of Warhammer. And by the time you halfway through the lore, you’ll be screaming, “BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!”
I had plenty of fun playing this new entry of the Total War series that further expands the story of the Warhammer franchise. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the game tells you the rich story of the Warhammer world while also balancing itself out to teach you the basic fundamentals of the game to get you up and running to operate your own army.
Another surprise that I encountered very early on was the appearance of the Chaos Realm. But since my fighting force was practically new, I Leeroy Jenkinsed my way through the portal and pushed back any other rival forces that are in the same area as I am. And when I succeeded in securing it, I got an incredibly useful boost in my army that helped me blast through the early game in record time!
Multiplayer was no slouch either. I gathered 3 of my pals to play a few rounds and I selected the Daemon faction every time. And when we got close to the end game, I completely obliterated every single one of them with my Daemon Prince decked out with the strongest items known to mankind and completely erased their units from the world with the overwhelming power of Bunny McRainbowSprinkles (Yes, you can name your Daemon Prince!)
But by far, the most fun experience we ever had was when the 3 of us were still playing and one left to hit the hay early, we decided to team up and take on the hardest possible enemy difficulty to truly push our tactical prowess to the limit. It took us many hours to learn the cheese tactics and unfair plays by the AI, but we celebrated in joy and tears in our eyes when we finally brought down the lusty Slaneesh faction to its knees.
Total War: Warhammer III is a RTS game that hits so many things right for new players and RTS fans who care about the story. The beginning hours of tutorial gameplay is forgiving enough for newer players who want to dip their toes in the world of RTS games of the Total War variety, but still punishing enough to give them a challenge to really push their critical thinking ability to the limit, and RTS veterans who can instantly order units quickly at will can rest easy and enjoy the storytelling aspect of the game instead and take up as much of the rich lore and story of the Warhammer universe. And the experience is enhanced even further if you have a couple of friends looking to settle their grudges on who the best girl of the Warhammer universe is by duking it out in their faction of choice across the virtual plain.
Credits
Author: Ryan L.
Game: Total War: Warhammer III
Developer: Creative Assembly, Feral Interactive
Release Date: February 17, 2022