Total War: Warhammer 3

Total War: Warhammer 3 builds on the epic strategy series with new factions, while making a concerted effort to make it less daunting for newcomers. As a Total War newbie, I had a good time playing the upcoming strategy game, although it could arguably still do with more guidance for those who have yet to dip their toe in the series.

Introduction

Total War: Warhammer 3 is the latest game in the long line of Total War games, and I’ve been able to go hands-on with the upcoming strategy epic ahead of launch.

I’m a complete newcomer to the series, so experienced veterans of the Total War and Warhammer series may want to look elsewhere for a detailed breakdown of the improvements made compared to Warhammer 2.

But if you’ve been thinking about jumping into the Total War: Warhammer series for the very first time in 2022, then you’re in the right place. I played the first couple of hours of Warhammer 3 from a newcomer’s perspective to see how welcoming the latest entry is to those with little experience in the genre. Here’s how I got on.

Factions and characters

• Multiple factions with different skill sets
• A wide varirty of characters to choose from
• Specific skills and traits aren’t intutive if you haven’t played before

For those unfamiliar with the Total War: Warhammer series, this is an epic strategy game that sees a huge range of factions – from elves and dwarves to oversized lizards – battle it out to conquer the world.

Total War: Warhammer 3 features a roster of eight new factions to choose from. There is Kislev, Grand Cathay, Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch, Slaanesh, Daemons of Chaos and Orge Kingdom, the latter of which is only available via DLC.

Each faction runs differently, with different strengths and weaknesses, with the overall aims altered to fit your chosen side.

For example, when playing as the Ice Queen of Kislev, your main goal is to amass devotion to the gods, which you can do by gathering more supporters and building up your army. Meanwhile, the Daemons of Chaos were more interested in conquering the land and raising an army big enough to find the bounty in the Chaos Realms.

Of course, no matter which faction you pick, each path will offer similar gameplay and overall narrative, as you seek to conquer enough land as possible. But the different characters and contrasting scenery made the game a lot more entertaining, and will no doubt make each playthrough feel distinctive and unique.

When swapping between the Daemons of Chaos and Kislev factions, I also noticed how significant the differences between the two stories are, to such an extent that the cutscenes will vary depending on your chosen faction.

I managed to pick up some of the lore here and there throughout the playthrough, however, if you’re like me and don’t really understand any of it, you’ll be pleased to know that you don’t have to learn it in order to have a good time – the story isn’t the main focus here.

It would probably be accurate to say that a better understanding of the lore and the storyline would help service the game, but you don’t need to know the long and detailed history of the Nurgling people if you want to experience a fun RTS.

Planning your next move

• Turn-based gameplay
• Organise and plan your next move on the map

Once you’ve committed to a faction and you’ve run through the cutscenes, you are introduced to the Warhammer world with a bird’s-eye-view perspective, allowing you to move your character around as you would in a board game.

You start off with a Lord, which is a single character with set stats. Your Lord can be equipped with various items and Followers, and you use them to traverse the map at the beginning. My first playthrough started me off with Miao Zing, a Legendary Lord from the Cathay faction.

You have the choice between starting a battle right away, or you can check out the lay of the land and end your turn to see what the AI will do. Since I played on Easy mode, I can’t claim that the AI was too stressful to handle, but depending on where your enemies are based and what area of the map is hostile, the difficulty of each new game can vary significantly.

The number of choices at the beginning can admittedly be overwhelming for newcomers, making it difficult to know what steps you should take next. In the tutorial segment of the game, there are missions to complete designed to set you on the right path, with easier tasks like ‘Find a Hero’ and ‘Recruit more Units’ on my to-do list.

However, even with all of the guidance and the expansive amount of text, it’s still easy to get confused by all of the features here, unless you’re familiar with the series. I did get to grips with it eventually, but it was not the most user-friendly experience for those without another Total War game under their belts.

But after a couple more hours I developed a better understanding of the mechanics, and I started to figure out what I could do on the maps. Dropdown menus offer you the chance to make peace treaties with neighbouring areas, you can trade items with neutral groups and scavenge vacated areas for supplies.

With this newfound knowledge, I was able to slowly carve my way around the map, battling enemies and creating alliances with others. It was interesting and enjoyable gameplay, I just could have done with a little more guidance at the very start.

Combat

• You battle your enemies on an expansive map
• Real-time tactics battle style
• Easiest part of the game to pick up

Unlike the turn-based format you’ll see with the likes of diplomacy, trade and exploration, the combat in Total War: Warhammer 3 plays out in real-time instead. It doesn’t take place on the same board that you plan your moves either, as you’re taken to another expansive map with the battles playing out with 3D animations.

I would say the reason I had so much fun was solely down to the battles. They were the easiest part of the game to pick up and understand and in my opinion, the most fun.

Once you trigger a battle encounter, you will be told what the likely outcome is, and if it says ‘Decisive failure’, you may want to change your mind and flee instead.

I chose to fight all my battles instead, with the faction you choose having an impact on how you can fight. When I played as the Daemons, I had a lot more troops flying in the sky that could attack overhead, while the Ice Queen had many more archers at her disposal.

Your army will generally be made up of different unit types, including the likes of cavalry, archers, spear-wielding infantry and swordsmen. Each unit has its own strengths and weaknesses, with the likes of cavalry being able to move at high speeds and flank opponents from the rear, but are highly vulnerable to spearmen.

Depending on how much you’ve grown your army, you should have a wide variety of units and different abilities to take advantage of. For example, when I played as the Daemons of Chaos, I had Haargroth as my Legendary Lord, and in battle he would fly overhead, shooting down at enemies before flying down to finish the job.

Each unit will have stats that give you an idea of how strong, fast or defensive they are. And while the stats definitely shouldn’t be ignored, victory is still largely dependent on your battle tactics.

You control each unit with simple controls, dragging them either individually or in groups to attack or to move across the map. You can also give certain units special commands, such as telling archers to hold their fire or start firing arrows at will.

You can lure out an enemy unit and attack them from behind, or use archers to shoot at unsuspecting swordsmen from a great distance. Moving quickly around the map and getting your army to work as a unit is enthralling, even more so when the enemy runs away and you can chase them down.

I played multiple battles and after each one, my strategy and understanding of the gameplay improved. The tutorials for the battles were also coherent and easily understood; I think anyone could enjoy this part of the game, even if you’re a newcomer like me.

Latest deals