If there’s one Total War game that keeps me coming back late into the night, craving the series’ much-loved tactical management game, it’s Total War: Three Kingdoms. It delves into a romanticized account of China’s great past, a time when acts of heroism placed generals and tacticians in the pantheon alongside the gods. A great revolution thwarted, betrayals and alliances legendary, a nation engulfed in flames. It’s one of my favorite games – a great stress diluter – and today it’s a pariah to be slaughtered. A game whose life was cut short and ultimately forgotten by history.
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But how did this happen? Back in 2022, the Creative Assembly team behind Three Kingdoms announced that it would stop developing post-launch DLC for the game and instead develop some kind of sequel.
This new project, set in the Three Kingdoms, was met with some skepticism. Many people loved their existing Three Kingdoms and weren’t ready to play the new game two years after its release. Others, myself included, were excited at the time about what a sequel could bring. In my opinion, the team has proven themselves, and while I’m frustrated that there’s no DLC for games I love, I’m fine with that as long as there’s an exciting new game.
The sequel never came. According to reports shared with the media and select influencers, the game had been cancelled (Belluar News has a great overview of the situation). The sequel clearly didn’t live up to expectations, and concerns about the Chinese market (where a large number of Three Kingdoms players reside) led to the door being closed on a sequel. This effectively left Total War: Three Kingdoms as an unfinished black sheep.
That’s a real shame. Capturing the Three Kingdoms era in a video game is a tricky business. Many have tried, most gravitating towards big characters wandering around on battlefields, but only Total War: Three Kingdoms brings these heroes to life on both a micro and macro level.
Take Lü Bu, for example. Everyone loves Lü Bu. In combat, he’s a monster – a 1v1 powerhouse who can rush in and take out almost any enemy general with ease. He’s an aggressive character who encourages an aggressive playstyle, so you’ll often find yourself pulling out units that can rush in and take advantage of him hitting the enemy’s health and morale. However, rush in too deep, and Lü Bu will be surrounded. Enemies on all sides, fighting for his life.
This is cleverly modelled on the world map. In the base game’s campaign, he’s the tip of your spear, charging into enemy territory and taking most of the damage, while Dong Zhuo sits back and does the light work. Wait, you might be thinking. If Lü Bu is doing all the work, why isn’t he my faction leader? That’s a great question – one Lü Bu might have asked before he stabbed that guy and set his body on fire. Total War: Three Kingdoms manages to cleverly reflect character in every aspect of the game. The composition of your armies, the architecture of your settlements, your approach to diplomacy and so on. All characters get the same treatment as Lü Bu – it’s a story told on the battlefield and on the territory screen.
There’s a lot of good in Total War: WARHAMMER III – you can detect the DNA of Total War: WARHAMMER III everywhere in the game. But the definitive version of Total War: WARHAMMER III will never be. I can only wonder what was left on the cutting room floor, what beast was left unfinished while the team turned to the doomed sequel we’ll never see. More importantly, it must have been sad for those who worked on the project. To see your baby left out in the cold like this, while your cool new baby as a backup is shipped off to never be touched. I can only hope that one day, the story of what could have been will be told.
Still, I’ll boot this game up from time to time. Even in this state, it still has a real charm. Objectively, I’d hardly call it Total War’s best work, but damn, this is Total War at its most serious. A real curveball into a new environment that gets knocked to the ground. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to play Yellow Turban and I’m going to lose my hair over this.
