Where to get it

2016 · Creative Assembly · Grand strategy · Grand strategy wargame

Total War: Warhammer

A unique combination of colossal real-time battles and an addictive turn-based sandbox campaign game of statecraft, politics and empire building, Total War: WARHAMMER will deliver hundreds of hours of absorbing gameplay.

Released: 28 April 2016
Platforms: Linux Windows macOS
Genres: Grand strategy Grand strategy wargame Real-time strategy Real-time tactics Role-playing Strategy Turn-based strategy
Developers: Creative Assembly
Publishers: Feral Interactive
Series: Total War Total War: Warhammer
Modes: Co-op Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Action Fantasy Warfare
Country: United Kingdom
Age ratings: ESRB T ACB M USK 12 GRAC ALL PEGI 16
Languages: Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish (Spain) and 1 more
Time to beat: 34hmain story185hcompletionist

About

Total War: Warhammer is a 2016 turn-based strategy and real-time tactics video game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega for Windows via the Steam gaming platform. The game was brought to macOS and Linux by Feral Interactive. The game features the gameplay of the Total War series with factions of Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy series; it is the first Total War game not to portray a historical setting. It is the tenth title in the Total War series and the first title to be released in the Total War: Warhammer trilogy.

Like previous titles in the Total War series, gameplay unfolds both on a scale of kingdoms in a turn-based strategy campaign, managing cities and the movement of armies, and on a smaller scale in real-time tactics skirmishes and sieges, managing the movement and actions of individual units and characters within an army during a battle. The player controls one of several fantasy factions, each with their own units, characters and abilities. These include Dwarfs, Human factions, Greenskins and Vampire Counts at launch, with more added as paid downloadable content.

›Story

It is an age of endless conquest, thousands of warriors clash in titanic battles as entire races wage war on one another, each led by a formidable hero seeking dominion over the world.

All at your command.

The valiant Karl Franz marshals the men of the Empire, seeking to unite the fractured elector counts under a banner of strength against their common enemies.

Hungry for the vicious brutality of combat, the Greenskins flock to the tribe of Grimgor Ironhide; Orcs and Goblins alike filled with an insatiable thirst for carnage.

High King Thorgrim orders the stoic Dwarfs forth from their mountain strongholds, marching to vengefully right the grave injustices dealt to them over the millennia.

Yet the motives of the Vampire Counts under Mannfred von Carstien are shrouded in murderous secrecy, his armies raised from the rotting ranks of the dead.

And while the Old World becomes torn by betrayal, war and the unleashing of unfathomable power, a greater threat still whispers in the winds from the north. The fabric of reality itself begins to rend and buckle…

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Total War: Warhammer is a turn-based strategy game with real-time tactical battles between armies. While previous Total War games feature historical settings, Warhammer introduces the fantasy setting as well as characters from the Warhammer universe. These characters, which include monsters, warriors, and heroes, are controlled by the player or computer.

The game begins with the ascension of Karl Franz as the newly elected Emperor of the Empire and the recent turmoil that has occurred with a civil war uprising and the counts of the empire resenting his rule. His task is to unite his fractured kingdom and assert his dominion before challenging the other realms surrounding them and bring peace to the Old World. This peace is challenged by the eternal grudge of the Dwarfs towards the savage Greenskins, and the Vampires ruled by the Von Carsteins in far-flung Sylvania attempting to lead an undead army west and seize the Imperial throne. Yet in the north the Chaos horde rides and seeks to destroy everything in its path corrupting all that stands in its way of domination.

Development

In December 2012, publisher Sega announced a partnership with Games Workshop to develop multiple titles for the Warhammer series. Sega tasked The Creative Assembly, the creator of the Total War series, to develop the titles. The first game in the series was set to be released "beyond 2013". At the time of the announcement, Creative Assembly had five titles in development, which included 2013's Total War: Rome II and 2014's Alien: Isolation.

On January 13, 2015, the game was leaked through an artbook called The Art of Total War. The game was teased in a video released by The Creative Assembly to celebrate its 15th anniversary. However, the game was not officially announced until April 22, 2015, in which Sega released a cinematic debut trailer for the game. Total War: Warhammer is set to be the first title in a trilogy, with expansions and standalone titles to be released in the future.

Reception

Total War: Warhammer had generally favourable reviews from critics. It has a score of 87/100 on Metacritic. 6 out of 10, saying: "Total War: Warhammer brims with exciting ideas, awesome characters, and delightful units and faction mechanics." 0 out of 10, saying: "It's a triumph of real-time strategy design, and the best the Total War series has ever been."

PC Gamer awarded it a score of 86%, saying: "If you find real history a bit bland compared to glorious nonsense made up by strange British people then Warhammer is the Total War for you." Total War: Warhammer is one of the best Total War games I've ever played." The Guardian awarded it a score of four out of five stars, saying: "Total War: Warhammer has done the best it can do with the legacy Total War engine, and is also a loving tribute to Warhammer."