Total War Warhammer 3: release date, factions, gameplay… Our point

February is shaping up to be a diabolical month for fans of the Warhammer Fantasy universe. Creative Assembly is back for a third Total War Warhammer, an ultimate Chaos-themed installment. Release date, gameplay, factions… We explain everything to you.

[Mis à jour le 08 février 2021 à 12h10] Fans of the Warhammer Fantasy universe will have plenty to spend their long winter nights in this month of February. Total War Warhammer 3, the third and final installment in the strategy game trilogy is coming in a few days, once again released from Creative Assembly studios. The British studio gratifies us with a release addressing in depth the antagonistic factions of the Warhammer Fantasy universe, with a big focus on the demons of Chaos. There will also be fan-favorite nations, as well as the great empire of Cathay, brought to light for the first time in Warhammer history. Between epic cinematics, innovative gameplay and large-scale tactical battles, the marriage between the Total War formula and the Warhammer universe intends to prove to us once again that it is extremely solid.

A small number relatively speaking, Total War Warhammer 1 and 2, it is nearly 700 million cumulative hours played on Steam. A figure that is enough to make you dizzy and which above all shows the success that the series has had in recent years. A success that has made Creative Assembly the leading video game development studio across the Channel, thanks to a dedicated community of players, whether they are fans of strategy games, Total War games, or the Warhammer universe. Unfortunately, we learned in September that the release of Total War Warhammer 3 has been pushed back to February 17, 2022. A decision due in part to the health crisis and its impact on the development of the game. Creative Assembly explains: “We know it’s disappointing, but this extra time will allow us to accomplish more than if we had rushed to release the game this year..”

As the typical sayings of the Warhammer world go: blood for the Blood God, skulls for the throne of skulls. To describe the universe of Warhammer Fantasy would take hours, but to make it shorter, we could speak of a heroic-fantasy version of our medieval empires, with a little Lord of the Rings side on steroids. Everything is bigger, stronger, nicer, meaner in short, Warhammer Fantasy is a world where the life expectancy of ordinary mortals probably does not exceed 30 years. It is for these same reasons that this universe fascinates, and this since 1983.

After a first opus devoted to the factions of the old world, with the very popular Empire of Men in particular (and its little brother Bretonnia, inspired by the Kingdom of France – cocorico!) and a second title rather devoted to the empires of the Elves, the Ratmen and Lizardmen, Total War Warhammer 3 focuses on the main antagonists of the Warhammer world: The Daemons of Chaos. Divided into four factions, these horrors from a parallel universe regularly enter the mortal world to reduce it to ashes. Players will therefore be able to control the four factions of Chaos: the violent armies of Khorne led by Skarbrandthe magicians of Tzeentch, the resilient demons of Nurgle and the rather peculiar demons of Slaanesh.

Any self-respecting fantasy story also needs its heroes, and Total War Warhammer 3 seems to be setting the bar pretty high, introducing at launch two factions that had been absent from the first two games until then. Kislev (Warhammer Russians) led by the Tsarina Katarina the Ice Queen and Kostaltyn, and Cathay (inspired by the great Chinese empires) two nations on the front line during the invasions of Chaos. Something to delight Warhammer Fantasy fans who see two extremely popular and very mysterious factions come to life. There is also a seventh faction which will be the traditional pre-order bonus for Total War Warhammer 3: the Kingdom of Ogres. Already introduced as mercenaries in Total War Warhammer 2, these bloodthirsty, insatiably hungry brutes stand halfway between good and evil. These giants can keep the armies of the chaos gods at bay, but also turn any man, dwarf or elf into a snack. Finally, the eighth and last faction of this Total War Warhammer 3 will be none other than Chaos Unified. This faction brings together the four Chaos Gods under one banner, behind a Demon Prince who will be for the first time in a fully customizable Total War. You can choose its attributes to modify its characteristics but also its appearance:

In order to make players wait before an official release date, Creative Assembly has already published a gameplay extract of its next title. In addition to the revelation of the new units of the armies of Kislev and Khorne, we could see a brand new game mode: survival battles. Multi-stage battles where the forces of good must resist the onslaught of demonic armies in order to triumph, introducing a system of building fortifications, recruiting reinforcements and upgrading troops in real-time. An aspect very close to traditional strategy games that will delight fans of the genre. On the magic side, ice joins the different winds of magic, with new spells and buffs. And by going into more detail, we have seen the appearance of a new status in combat reserved for heroes, the “Wounded” status which reduces their performance in combat. A relatively welcome rebalancing of the heroes given that they could all too often win a battle alone. We also know that Total War Warhammer 3 will combine the contents of the two previous games. As a reminder, this kind of integration had already been carried out a few months after the release of Total War Warhammer 2, with the introduction of the Mortal Empires campaign. A similar integration should take place in Total War Warhammer 3.

The siege system will also be quite different from that of Total War Warhammer 1 and 2. Long criticized for their weaknesses, lack of flavor and balance, these city battles are going to be greatly improved in Total War Warhammer 3. Creative Assembly say it themselves: they have introduced more variety to the different battlegrounds in town. The capitals of the nations are represented, as well as some major cities, and all the maps will be larger and more complex than in the previous games. Players will also have the opportunity to reinforce defenses in the streets thanks to the new supply system, by building guard towers, traps and barricades.

Of course, Total War Warhammer 3 is already available for pre-order on Steam and Epic Games, for the sum of 59.99 euros. We already know that the pre-order bonus will include another faction when the game is released. Regarding its identity, rumors are rife, but if we look a little closer, it is very likely that this faction is the Ogre Kingdoms. Indeed their models have been added as free content alongside the latest update of Total War Warhammer 2. It is possible that a more complete version of this voracious nation will join the six factions already present in this third installment.