But that’s not all as FIFA 22 arrives on consoles and PC on June 23rd via EA Play. Martial arts battle royale Naraka: Bladepoint goes live on the same day for cloud, consoles and PC. On July 1st, Ubisoft’s Far Cry 5 becomes available for Xbox consoles, PC and the cloud. This follows other titles like Assassin’s Creed Origins, which was updated for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S and added to Game Pass.

As usual, a select number of titles will be leaving the Xbox Game Pass library so either finish them quickly or use the 20 percent discount with the subscription to purchase the same. Check out all of the games leaving the service on June 30th:

• FIFA 20 (Console and PC)
• Jurassic World Evolution (Console and Cloud)
• Last Stop (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• MotoGP 20 (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Regardless of its age, The Creative Assembly’s Total War series continues to be one of the most popular strategy franchises. In a recent announcement for the company’s new UK studio and motion capture facility, which grew by more than 20 percent in the last year, it was revealed that over 36 million standalone titles have been sold. Furthermore, the series sees over 1.5 million players each month.

The Total War series has seen a number of big releases over the past few years. Total War: Three Kingdoms was in the Platinum tier for Steam’s top new releases and best-selling titles for 2019. A Total War Saga: Troy launched exclusively for the Epic Games Store last year and saw 7.5 million players claim it for free within the first 24 hours.

Even more titles are coming soon with Total War: Rome Remastered launching on April 29th for PC. It offers 16 additional factions, 4K support and improved visuals while retailing for $29.99. Total War: Warhammer 3 is also in development with The Realm of Chaos and the Ruinous Powers being the key focus. It’s currently slated for late 2021 release on PC.

A lot was talked about with the latest Total War game, A Total War Saga: Troy, especially its incredible amount of claims when it was given away for free in its first 24 hours of launch on the Epic Games Store. But it’s time to return to ancient China with an expansion to title before that, Total War: Three Kingdoms. That title changed up the formula to the beloved RTS formula, to strong results, and now it’s time to get a little wild.

As announced by Creative Assembly, next month will see the expansion for the game titled The Furious Wild. It will fill out the southern part of the map with the Nanman tribes. With the expansion comes four new playable factions to via over control of China with, lead by Meng Huo, King Mulu, Lady Zhurong and King Shamoke. They will come with 25 new units, new artwork and new tech trees specific to the Nanman. The developer released both an announcement and gameplay trailer, both of which you can check out below.

Total War: Three Kingdoms is available now on PC with The Furious Wild set to release on September 3rd.

Not long after it received the large Mandate of Heaven DLC, Total War: Three Kingdoms is receiving a new chapter pack. A World Betrayed takes place at a new historical point with the Han Empire decimated. The tyrant Dong Zhuo has been killed by Lu Bu in the North while Sun Ce has lost his father in the South.

There are 13 factions to play as, some being very familiar but having new stories and starting positions. Some of the new units include the Handmaid Guard, Flying Riders and Tiger Guard. Yan Baihu is a new warlord and will be available to all players along with new buildings and other units in a free patch.

It remains to be seen what other changes will be added with A World Betrayed but it releases on March 19th for PC and costs only $8.99. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks. In the meantime, you can check out our review of Mandate of Heaven here.

"Don’t be surprised if Dong Zhuo suddenly shows up to declare war on you or if Zheng Ziang of the Bandits starts causing trouble years down the line."

Story-wise, Mandate of Heaven takes place several years before the events of the base game. China is falling apart, suffering from food shortages. Meanwhile, the Han Empire has multiple parties in The Imperial Court demanding their respective pound of flesh. Emperor Liu Hong struggles to keep things in check while also managing the nation. If that weren’t enough, three brothers – Zhang Jue, Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao – band together and start the Yellow Turban Rebellion to dismantle the Han Empire. Several other major players are making their move, including the soon-to-reviled Dong Zhuo. Who will emerge victorious and establish the one true ruling dynasty?

Much like the base game, Mandate of Heaven is about expansion, diplomacy, resource management and, when, necessary warfare. Throughout the course of the game, in-game events may influence your fortunes or affect your course – such as stopping to aid a village suffering from famine at the cost of losing movement points. Alliances are made and broken; even among close relations that will follow you to the end, some manner of compensation – financial or otherwise – is a given. Other interesting events may occur under specific conditions as you slowly segue into the base game’s time period. So don’t be surprised if Dong Zhuo suddenly shows up to declare war on you or if Zheng Ziang of the Bandits starts causing trouble years down the line.

One of the more promising features of the expansion is offering new ways to play. When playing as the Han Empire, you can choose Liu Hong and prioritize administration and diplomatic relations to maintain your hold while building the Imperial Palace to receive strong bonuses. Alternatively, you can go with Liu Chong to get into the thick of things, receiving Fortitude in battles to boost troops or unlocking Trophies by accomplishing different tasks for additional buffs. While these are appealing enough, arguably the most interesting mechanic belongs to the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

"Considering how much work other regions have to do to maintain public order, it feels like the trade-offs for the Yellow Turban Rebellion aren’t nearly as bad when weighed against the benefits."

Along with having new reform trees, each Yellow Turban Rebellion member utilizes Zeal and Fervour. Zeal is attained by warring and capturing towns, mines, farms, anything that is occupied by another faction. As Zeal grows, the rebellion will gain momentum and cause other neighboring regions to destabilized. This is Fervour and will result in public order disruption for different factions going. Then you have the different abilities of the Zhang brothers – Zhang Zue specializes in healing, Zhang Bao has a tendency to lead the charge in battles and Zhang Liang favours defensive measures.

So if you’re someone who believes in conquering neighboring territories and constantly expanding through conquest (without burning everything to the ground), Zeal and Fervour create the feeling of a snowballing movement. As you conquer more, so will other regions look to join your cause while rival factions struggle to maintain order. It’s a fairly interesting feeling to see China plunged into such a chaotic state as Yellow Turban-controlled regions pop up everywhere.

Of course, there are some drawbacks. Pretty much everyone is your enemy and if you slow down in your conquest and warring, then other regions may be inspired to join the Han Empire as Zeal diminishes. Then again, sometimes it felt like Zeal and Fervour were a little too good. Considering how much work other regions have to do to maintain public order, it feels like the trade-offs for the Yellow Turban Rebellion aren’t nearly as bad when weighed against the benefits.

"While being able to play as different warlords in different points of history, exploring their backstories in the midst of the Han Empire’s imminent fall, is good, the landscape just ends up feeling too familiar."

Otherwise, in the combat department, this is more less the same Total War: Three Kingdoms that you’ve been playing till now. Some new units like the Tyrant Slayers and Messengers of Heaven put a few wrinkles into the mix with the former having bonuses against heroes while the latter are good at taking down archers and the like. The new units don’t feel particularly ground-breaking overall – you’d be hard-pressed to see too much difference from the base game’s units and their effectiveness, especially when a massive skirmish breaks out. But the nuance and variety is appreciated all the same.

Duels are still a thing and feel a lot more polished than at launch but will likely attract your attention for a few moments before you move on to more pressing matters. One of the new features, Deployables, sounds good in theory as you lay down sharp stakes, set up towers for your archers and even place oil to light unsuspecting units ablaze. Unfortunately, along with requiring hefty investment, you’ll get along just fine without them.

It’s also worth noting that this DLC reflects some of the drawbacks of the Chapter Pack approach that The Creative Assembly has taken. The map is more or less the same as the base game. While being able to play as different warlords in different points of history, exploring their backstories in the midst of the Han Empire’s imminent fall, is good, the landscape just ends up feeling too familiar. I can only imagine how strong that feeling of deja vu will be for hardcore players who have stuck around since launch.

"Overall, Mandate of Heaven is a solid expansion, offering a significant amount of new ways to play while sticking to that core combat loop."

Then again, there is quite a lot to like and the production values are as on point as ever. The soft visuals still look impressive and the gentle atmosphere during the expansion stage is an excellent contrast to the collision of massive armies during battles. The animation quality for each unit is still incredibly polished and distinct even when things descend into chaos. Some of the new heroes are pretty cool in terms of their unique units and overall playstyle. The variety of different playstyles for each hero and faction is also nice even if the Yellow Turbans need some balancing.

Overall, Mandate of Heaven is a solid expansion, offering a significant amount of new ways to play while sticking to that core combat loop. For all intents and purposes, it’s worth diving back into the Three Kingdoms era, whether it’s to fight against all hope to keep an empire afloat or to be the catalyst to watch it all fall. But one has to wonder if bigger, more sweeping developments are in the works.

This game was reviewed on PC.

While Koei Tecmo has had something of a monopoly on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story, it was last year’s Total War take on the Chinese epic that was well received and sold well. The game took a lot of twists to the classic strategy series. The game has gotten expansions and updates, with a massive free one on the way alongside the latest one.

A video released by the game’s developer breaks down the large amount of additions it’ll bring. Not only will it have lots of quality of life fixes, it’ll also add the ability to play as Tao Qian in both the main game and the expansion timeline (which you can read more about through here). They will have their own unique faction ability where those displaced by the rebellion can come together and reduce building and recruitment costs. There’s also upgrades to characters as well as new units. You can see all the details in the video below.

Total War: Three Kingdoms and the Mandate of Heaven expansion are available now on PC with the free update coming January 16th.

Total War: Three Kingdoms was a big shakeup for the long running strategy series. Not only did it radically change the setting to one the series had never seen before with The Romance of the Three Kingdoms era Chinese setting, it changed some core fundamentals about the franchise. And now more is coming, with something that will be familiar to history buffs.

As detailed in the video below, the new DLC, Mandate of Heaven, will introduce the Yellow Turban faction. Three sub-factions of Zhang Jue, Zhang Liang, and Zhang Bao will be added, which with their own unique play styles and stance. Check it out below.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion was a peasant uprising that occurred in 184 AD. While the rebellion was ultimately surpressed, it was used in the opening to The Romance of the Three Kingdoms epic that Total War is based primarily on. You can relive it in game form with the DLC, which is live now.

Steam recently released its Best of 2019 Charts which highlight the top new releases of 2019, the best-sellers of the year, games with the most simultaneous players and much more. To the surprise of no one, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Total War: Three Kingdoms factor in the Platinum tier for both the top new releases charts and the best-sellers charts. They also appeared in the chart for most simultaneous players in Platinum tier.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was noted for having the biggest launch on Steam earlier this year with peak concurrent player counts hitting almost 125,000 at the time. Total War: Three Kingdoms would surpass that with its launch, hitting a peak concurrent player count of nearly 192,000 players at launch. Of course among the top sellers of 2019 were several titles like Warframe, Dota 2, Grand Theft Auto 5 and so on.

Each category for the charts is divided into tiers with Platinum being the highest and Bronze being the lowest. Steam doesn’t outright reveal which games ranked higher than others in terms of sales but this does provide a window into the biggest games on the platform in 2019. What does 2020 hold in that regard? Stay tuned as the new year is upon us.

The latest entry in the Total War series, Total War: Three Kingdoms, took the series in a new direction, and it’s one that was pretty well received. The game has seen several updates since then, but unsurprisingly more is coming. In fact, it seems a lot is coming for the franchise.

In a blog post from developer Creative Assembly, it was confirmed that Total War: Three Kingdoms will get more expansions down the line. No details were given about them outside they will “encompass a whole timeline of events, conflicts and characters throughout the period.”

Beside that they also confirm that Total War: Warhammer 3 is “deep” in development. The Warhammer subset of the series was announced as a trilogy, and this will round that up. Not only that, but apparently a brand new Total War game is also in development that is “A tale of heroism and legendary events that has echoed down the ages.” Perhaps something mythology based is in the works? Either way, it’s a good time to be a fan of Total War.

Total War: Three Kingdoms is available now on PC, and we’ll keep you updated on the status of the other titles.

The Creative Assembly’s first Chapter Pack for Total War: Three Kingdoms is now live on Steam with Eight Princes. Taking place a century after the period began, it adds a new campaign and eight new princes with their own play-styles. These include figures like Sima Jong, Sima Jiong, and Sima Yue, with five different classes between all eight princes.

Other interesting features include new Cataphract elite units, unique buildings, assignments, and new court options. You can also choose four new alignments – Wealth, Mind, Might, and Spirit – to develop your faction. Given that it takes place in the same period, don’t be surprised if familiar faces and names are referenced.

Total War: Three Kingdoms has been available since May – check out our official review for the game here. It became Steam’s biggest launch of 2019 in a matter of days, with peak concurrent player counts averaging over 150,000 at launch. Stay tuned for more details on additional Chapter Packs as they arrive.