LifeisXbox’s Total War: Warhammer III review | 4,5 years have passed since the release of Total War: Warhammer II but now the final part of the epic turn-based strategy game is here. Say hello to Total War: Warhammer III. In this new addition by CREATIVE ASSEMBLY, you will travel to the Realm of Chaos where you will have to fight fearsome new races and well-known armies from the past. Of course, things aren’t as easy as they first seem, and even when you think you are on the safest path to victory, danger lies around every corner. So let’s see what Total War: Warhammer III has to offer.
Most Memorable Moment
When I played the solo campaign for the first time I was exploring and developing at a really slow pace since it was the first time I was playing Total War: Warhammer III. Unfortunately, I totally neglected every army I had except one which I was using to conquer new settlements to expand my kingdom. So, I think you can already guess what happened next. The enemy factions went behind my back taking back their lost settlements and destroying everything that I had built up until that point. From that moment I never neglected my armies again and luckily for me I was able to turn around the game again and got everything back.
ℹ️ Reviewed on PC | Review code provided by PR/publisher, this review is the personal opinion from the writer.
What we Liked!
- Prologue | This new feature is a very good experience if you are new to the game or want to get a bit of more information about what is going on in Warhammer III. It almost explains every aspect of the game, even I, who played both Warhammer I and Warhammer II, found it helpful to get a short refreshment course about what was what and I even learned a couple of new things that I didn’t know before. Of course, I’m not going to spoil anything about the story but it’s also a good entry point that teaches you what is the goal of the game. If you dive straight into the main campaign you will manage, but you will miss a little bit of information story wise.
- Graphics & sound | Graphically, CREATIVE ASSEMBLY put another amazing game out there. From the previous Warhammer games we already learned that they have a good understanding on how to design a fantasy based Total War game and now they have done it again. The map where you play on for the most part looks beautiful as well. It’s detailed with lovely mountains, forests, seas and a lot more. But that’s not all! Another thing that I really enjoyed was the battle experience. When you fight out those hard battles to destroy opponent armies or settlements everything looks just spot on. From the design of the new playable units to the surroundings everything is just spot on.
Soundwise the game also the delivers once again. The story gets told by the same person we saw in the last 2 games and even throughout the game, Warhammer III makes use of voice-actors. But that’s not all! The game is filled with somewell known sound-effects that all benefit and contribute to the vibe that the game is giving off!
- Micromanaging at its finest | The most important thing in the Total War: Warhammer fanchise is micromanaging and with this new addition in the trilogy it’s once again on-point. It’s not wise to only focus on your income in order to build and keep a nice army. In this game you also have to deal with spreading corruption, and the control in your settlements. Even a little height difference in combat is a big deal in this game. You will always have to plan out your moves carefully and take wise decisions regarding what to do next and how your settlements can get better and your armies grow stronger. Once you master all of that (which is going to take a long time, trust me) you will still get suprised by sudden changes in the campaign. This manages to keep the gameplay fresh and exciting, even if you’ve put in many hours already.
- Multiplayer | A fantastic option which I really liked in the precious Warhammer games has been improved and is now even better! First of all the Warhammer III offers 3 different campaign options for multiplayer, each one with its own objectives to complete. But that’s not even the good thing. In former games when you were playing with a friends you always had to wait until they finished their turn and then you could go ahead and do your thing while they are waiting. Most of your multiplayer save was actually waiting until you could play. But not anymore! Now you can play your turn at the same time and the only time you will have to wait is when one of your friends engages into combat. And even here you can assign some unites to another player so everyone can stay active and help each other. I really like this since now you not only progress faster, the game actually does feel faster and multiplayer is even more enjoyable.
- Improvements | As with all new games, Warhammer III offers some new features that make the game more enjoyable than Warhammer I & II. First of all, there are new playable factions! It’s always nice to have a new feeling and with new factions also come new responsibilities and ways that you need to manage your kingdom. There are also some changes in the diplomacy screen where first you weren’t able to see how close you were to an agreement but now there are numbers shown and how they effect the state of the negotiatons. Further, there are some changes to battles which for example now let you save the game right in front of one so you can try again if you lose. All this in combination with some quality of life upgrades will make for an even more enjoyable gameplay.
Mixed Feelings
- Time based campaign | The campaign in Total War: Warhammer III can be finished in 2 different ways which now also gives you a big pressure of time. You can go for the option of eliminating certain factions and occupying a set number of settlements, which has also been the way in the previous 2 titles. But sitting back for a relaxed long campaign isn’t there anymore sinces there is a new way to finish a save. Once in a set amount of turns, portals will open to a different realm. Once you enter one of these you will have to survive a certain amount of battles and in the end kill the boss. Once you have then defeated the 4 different bosses that hide in the realms you can go for the final battle and finish the game. Sounds nice, which it is. But the AI (your opponents) can also do this and where first they might now really rush for it, you not paying enough attention you can easily result in losing the game. I personally don’t really know how I should feel about this since I really liked the long campaigns where you had total control, and now you have to hurry a bit because once you are behind on the AI’s it isn’t that easy to come back.
What we Disliked
- Nothing | There is nothing that I disliked about Total War: Warhammer III.
How long to beat the story | You can finish a campaign in 30 hours
How long to achieve 100% achievements | 100+hours
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