Total War: Three Kingdoms

Total War: Three Kingdoms is a turn-based strategy real-time tactics video game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega. As the 12th mainline entry (the 13th entry) in the Total War series, the game was released for Windows on May 23, 2019.

Real Time Strategy (RTS)StrategyTurn-based strategy (TBS)

Time to beat: about 45.1 hours

Overview

Like its predecessors, Total War: Three Kingdoms is a turn-based strategy real-time tactics game. Set during the End of the Han dynasty (189-220) and into the Three Kingdoms era (220 to 280), the player controls one of the factions, who must eliminate or vassalize other factions, gaining enough prestige to declare themselves Emperor. The player must also defeat the other two Emperors which are the two most powerful factions, unify China and become its ultimate ruler. These factions are led by warlords, such as Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan. In siege battles, the player commands both infantry and cavalry units.

Taking place in 190 AD, the once glorious Han dynasty is on the verge of collapse. The new emperor, Emperor Xian, enthroned at the age of eight, was manipulated by the warlord Dong Zhuo, whose oppressive rule leads to chaos. New warlords rise and form alliances to start the campaign against Dong Zhuo. With each warlord having personal ambitions and allegiances constantly shifting, the champions that emerge from the everlasting wars will shape the future of China.

The game was developed by Creative Assembly. Creative Assembly had refined many elements of the game, bringing changes to both the artificial intelligence and the user interface. The team introduced the system of "guanxi" in order to make the characters and generals more important in the game, as Records and Romances, two of the team's most prominent source materials, have a huge focus on characters. The sinologist Rafe de Crespigny, an expert on the era, acted as a consultant for the game.

Total War: Three Kingdoms received positive reviews from critics, with many specifically praising the character-driven gameplay mechanics and storytelling elements. Chris Wray of wccftech describes the game is "as close to flawless, with a fantastic balance of 4X strategy and character-focused development and emergent storytelling." IGN's TJ Hafer stated that Three Kingdoms should serve as the example for all games of its genre going forward. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell of The Guardian stated the game "...is a wonderfully torrid period epic that understands the greatest stories are written about people, not empires."