Total War: Three Kingdoms

Three Kingdoms is an absolutely massive game, but it has a very clear thematic focus on the Three Kingdoms period - specifically the Romance of the Three Kingdoms - and a very clear mechanical focus on individual heroes. The shift bears an obvious resemblance to Crusader Kings II, which uses the lives of individual characters to liven up a game which might otherwise be stuffy. Indeed, Three Kingdoms defuses the impersonal, often boring expansion of empire which has plagued previous games in the series like Rome II with a riveting web of friendships, rivalries and grudge matches. Despite the re...

Total War: Three Kingdoms begins in the year 190 CE, in war-ravaged China, and the Han Empire is in ruins. The Tyrant, Dong Zhuo, has taken the child-emperor captive, and in doing so holds the fate of millions in his cruel grasp.

Total War: Three Kingdoms should serve as the example for all games of its breed going forward. The campaign design is brilliant, full of character, and tells a cohesive, historical-feeling story with satisfying act breaks and unexpected turns of fortune. The improvements to performance and optimization over its predecessors almost make me want to just lean back in my chair and hum contentedly while I watch hundreds of peasant militia hack each other to pieces. Its relentless ability to constantly provide challenging battles can almost seem like too much of a good thing sometimes, but it’s sti...

A hugely enjoyable mix of historical realism and exaggerated action that is both surprisingly accessible and filled with an impressive depth of tactical options.

You were a bandit queen, young and sweet, only eighteen.

With an ever increasing amount of games getting console releases, the PC gamer can typically only point to having the best version of a title. Total War has always been a hold out and is one of the few AAA quality PC exclusive series left. While Total War veterans might be justified for feeling a bit of fatigue with the battle system, there's still plenty fresh in Total War: Three Kingdoms to enjoy. This is a game that brings an amount of depth that would be frightening if there wasn't also systems in place to help guide a new player. It's dripping with a beautiful style that evokes the era wh...

Overall, Total War: Three Kingdoms can be summed up as yet another great entry in the long-running series. While it may not be the absolute pinnacle of what Creative Assembly can achieve, it has become my favorite entry simply because of the setting used. We’ve reached a point where your personal favorite Total War will be determined more by the property being adapted than any worry about quality or gameplay factors. Since everything is fine in Three Kingdoms, what else do I really need to say?

While I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve never been a big fan of the series, I found a lot to like in Three Kingdoms. I did tend to shy away from the real time battles and found them to be tough to manage, but the campaign section of the game were a highlight. I appreciated the option to delegate battles when possible and attempting to play the diplomacy game was often rewarding. The overall presentation from Creative Assembly is superb. Loading screen art and cutscenes are consistently stellar. For a person who had no real knowledge or interest in Chinese history, the art was a real eye cat...

Three Kingdoms' diplomacy system is a real step forward for the series, but what about the rest of the game?

Three Kingdoms is another solid instalment in the Total War franchise, but lacks a certain wow factor. Creative Assembly has made some clever refinements around the edges of that enduringly addictive strategic core, allowing fans to steep themselves in yet another historic saga. However, there’s a chance that some won’t gel with this new setting or the way Guanzhong’s epic has been adapted. It’s another fun and rewarding take on the series, though we’d struggle to call it a must-buy.

Changes on the battlefield don't make for a Total War experience to match historical and Warhammer entrants, but there's still a deeply involving strategic layer in Three Kingdoms that sits well with its licence.

I love the idea of placing myself into the distant past, of believing that I’m immersed in the problems and opportunities of ancient warlords. Three Kingdoms delivers, in the sense that it gives me the gift of a genuinely absorbing historical fantasy. It’s out now on Windows PC, Mac, and Linux.