Announced on January 27, 2021, almost a year ago, Total War Warhammer 3 is rather discreet before its official release set for February 17. On our side we had the chance to try the game for a few hours during a preview organized by SEGA and Creative Assembly. We are going to share with you our opinion on what this 3rd installment of the Total War saga can hold for you under the theme of the Warhammer license.
Total Chaos
Total War Warhammer, for those who have no idea what kind of game it is, is a turn-based tactical and strategic management game where the player controls lords and different armies in the gargantuan universe of the license Warhammer. Said like that one may have the impression that it is simple, but in fact it is not at all, at least for neophytes. The game takes place on a world map where the different factions or races fight over the smallest plot of land, city or resource and it is worth noting that each protagonist has his own objective. Which will basically bring very good replayability from one lord or one race to another, but this point will not be a surprise for fans and regular players, because it is a trademark of the license for two opuses now.
To go into a little more detail, this 3rd episode transforms the Total War Warhammer license into a trilogy and brings a good little batch of new features and significant improvements that will certainly delight players and Warhammer fans. For the moment the developers of Creative Assembly have mentioned 8 playable races among which are confirmed Kislev, Ogres, Cathay, the 4 Chaos Gods represented by Nurgle, Slaanesh, Khorne and Tzeench. One of the new races was also presented to us during this preview and it’s about the Daemons of Chaos (embodied by the Daemon Prince) who joins the cast of Total War Warhammer. Note that the Demon Prince was playable during our preview session, as well as the Cathay faction.
Total War Warhammer 3 does not reinvent the genre, but refines and sublimates it through additions that swell a little more an already well-stocked range of possibilities. In this 3rd opus we therefore find everything that made the strength of the 2 in terms of the management of an army, its lords and its cities with in particular a real deepening for each of the key points of the game.. Nevertheless, the fear was about the somewhat cumbersome assimilation of all the information that is available to players in this type of game and from what we saw during our test, Creative Assembly has densified its help tools to support players discovering the license as best as possible, in particular with well-explained advice bubbles, illustrated and subtitled in French to break with the text already enormously present to explain all the specificities in the game.
Pledge your allegiance to the Chaos of your choice!
Among the novelties put forward by the developers during the presentation, the Demon Prince was the main attraction. The latter was presented to us as a hero / a unique race to play since it has a very particular gameplay based on the fact of swearing allegiance to the different Gods of Chaos. To explain this simply, when you control the Demon Prince, each of your actions (missions to complete, fights, political or commercial exchanges) will allow you to serve one or more Chaos Gods (Nurlge, Slaanesh, Tzeench or Khorne) in exchange for bonuses (from the Gifts of Chaos) which will be specific to each of them. This is of more than major interest since the points you will collect by serving Nurgle or Khorne (for example) will be used to improve your Demon Prince by personalizing it from head to toe as you can see in the screenshot below.
According to the developers, there would be thousands or even millions of possibilities to personalize your Demon Prince thanks to the different allegiances to the Chaos Gods which will vary from game to game. It is quite possible to be able to play a game by focusing on a single God to draw all its advantages or to balance the favors of two or four gods at the same time in order to have extreme versatility during combat and the different phases of management. Note that each servitude to a Chaos God will bring very specific bonuses related to the attraction of the chosen God, for example serving Khorne will allow your Demon Prince to increase his melee attack where when the one serves Nurgle, it is the armor and the points of life of the Prince which happen to be improved. A hero who will undoubtedly delight build optimization enthusiasts of all kinds who will test absolutely everything possible in order to find the best possible version of the Prince.
A confirmed and improved recipe
Secondly, and in a more classic style, we had the opportunity to play the Cathay faction, which is more oriented towards a style of play where trade and diplomacy are important. Indeed, Total War Warhammer 3 offers a more advanced diplomatic system compared to the second episode which will allow players to try to achieve victory in many ways by trying to achieve faction-related objectives without necessarily going through brute force. Good… even if at some point you will have to take up arms and break some jaws to conquer all the kingdoms because some lords or other factions may be more hermetic to diplomacy. Cathay also has a real advantage related to trade, since you will be able to set up trade routes throughout the territory to glean resources and set up alliances in order to overthrow enemies that are a little too dangerous.
Finally, we quickly go over all the features and options present in the game such as city improvements which are always there with dozens of things to build in order to recruit units, gain resources or bonuses. The technology tree is always well fleshed out, it will also be essential for the advancement and evolution of your faction in order to take the advantage over the others, because yes it is well known but knowledge is the most powerful weapons !