Demons flooding in through portals, infernal fires everywhere, shit tons of ice magic, setting traps on the battlefield. It took Creative Assembly a while to give us a proper look at how Total War: Warhammer 3 is coming along, but oh boy is it looking good.
The finale in the Total Warhammer franchise, which is still targeted for release this year, has been teasing gameplay reveals all week. The first in-engine cinematic was shown off yesterday, and overnight we got the first look at some of the in-engine changes for the trilogy’s finale.
A new introduction for Total Warhammer 3 is a Survival Battle mode, where you’ll capture multiple points before taking on what’s best described as a big boss fight. In the official gameplay reveal, we got t o check out a fight between ice wielders Kislev and Khorne, the latter being one of the four Chaos factions in Warhammer 3.
This fight in question takes places at the doorsteps of the Khorne’s Brass Citadel. It’s an enormous stage, and departing from Total War tradition, the player will be able to reinforce their army mid-battle (although the army you take into the fight will be what you bring with you from the campaign map, as per usual).
Those reinforcements are paid for with resources you gain as you capture each control point. You’ll be able to lay down barricades and other traps to help you along the way, and the video showcased streams of demons flooding in from portals nearby. The barricades look like they can only be placed in fixed positions, which is kind of fitting for Total War: the series has always been about creating tactical advantages, chokepoints and certain engagements, and having set zones where you can funnel enemies into (or out of) makes total sense. Those control points also give you income over time, and the AI can always recapture them if left undefended.
There’s an enormous amount of foes on screen at any given time, so much so that I’d be surprised if this didn’t end up being part of the official Total Warhammer 3 benchmark when the game officially launches.
As you’d expect, a string of previews dropped this morning to coincide with the release of the gameplay footage. A key note is that the mega-map — Creative Assembly’s announced plans to join every Total Warhammer campaign map into a single, enormous world — is still coming, but it won’t ship with Total Warhammer 3 at launch according to Eurogamer. (All previews were conducted over remote streaming software, which is probably why there’s not much coverage from Australian websites, where tech like Parsec or GeForce Now isn’t available or doesn’t work as well.) Minor settlement battles, however, will be a thing this time around, and Domination Battles are being introduced as a new online multiplayer mode.
Total War: Warhammer 3 is launching for PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store in 2021, although we’ll keep you posted if that date shifts.
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