Romance of the Three Kingdoms is one of the great works of Chinese literature, and one of the great literary classics of world history, and for many years Koei-Tecmo seemed like they had a monopoly on the story in game form with their long running Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Dynasty Warriors series. Sega and developer The Creative Assembly are changing that this year with Total War: Three Kingdoms, the next instalment in their long running series that’s covered various points in ancient history (as well as dipping into fantasy). Today, they released a lengthy trailer detailing the 12 warlord leaders to choose from.
In the near five minute trailer you can check out below, we see all the faces that’ll be familiar to those who know the Three Kingdoms story (or played through Koei-Tecmo’s versions). Each comes with their own positives and negatives- for instance Liu Biao takes a slower methodical approach, which is good for planning and being strategic, but can come at a negative when up against more aggressive factions that are keen on rushing their opponents. The full list is Sun Jian, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Zheng Jiang, Dong Zhuot, Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shu, Kong Rong, Liu Biao, Zhang Yan, Ma Teng, and Yuan Shao.
Total War: Three Kingdoms suffered a bit of delay, but is slated now for release exclusively on PC May 23rd.