The Creative Assembly will be returning to the grand strategy gaming fold with Total War: Warhammer 2. Like its predecessor, Total War: Warhammer 2 promises a huge world to explore with the ability to expand, conquer and war with your neighbours. Of course, this being a sequel, there are new stories, new races and so much more to look forward to. If you’re intrigued by Warhammer, grand strategy titles or enjoyed the previous game, then let’s talk about the five things you should know before buying Total War: Warhammer 2.
More Narrative-Focused
Though the previous game had a decent narrative to it, Total War: Warhammer was more about forging your own story in a huge sandbox environment. Total War: Warhammer 2, by comparison, will have a much tighter story. It focuses on the Great Vortex, a powerful sinkhole of magic created by the High Elves to fight back against the Daemons several thousands of years ago. The current races – the Lizardmen, High Elves, Dark Elves and Skaven – are either working to stop the now out-of-control Vortex or to use it for their own desires.
So while Prince Tyrion and the High Elves are looking to stabilize it, the Witch King Malekith and his Dark Elves are looking to destroy it. Meanwhile, the Skaven and their Queen Headtaker are growing in power and looking to strike when the time is right. There are several different routes to take but there’s now a more heavy-handed narrative for each race.
Gameplay, Changes and Victory Conditions
If you’ve played a Total War game, much less Total War: Warhammer, you know what to expect this time around. You have a race and set about expanding your empire, creating your armies and engaging in all manner of diplomacy, exploration and alliance building to advance. A neat new addition this time around is the ability to capture pretty much every city and make it your own, even if others are more advantageous for certain races.
While you’ll still have Legendary Lords with their own abilities and thousands of soldiers including several new units battling it out, there will be one significant end goal for everyone. That’s the Great Vortex. It’s been stated that even if you control half the map, losing is possible if the other side manages to harness the Great Vortex – or destroy it, whatever the case may be.
What’s interesting is that even in the campaign when competing with AI races over the Vortex, players will see their progress with it. This will presumably culminate in one huge battle over the Vortex. Of course, in the meantime, you’ll also have to deal with Rogue Armies consisting of soldiers from multiple races, which leads to even more variety in battles. For the most part, the flow of the game has changed significantly thanks to the big world-ending swirly.
Legendary Lords
We’d be remiss talking about Total War: Warhammer 2 without mentioning the Legendary Lords. They’re essentially unique, powerful individuals from the series that can be recruited to fight on your behalf. Their ability to use Legendary Items, each with its own skill tree, makes up for the ability to only have one Lord at a time.
Total War: Warhammer 2‘s Steam page has already pointed out several Lords that are (or could be) present like Prince Tyrion, Slann Mage-Priest Mazdamundi, the Witch King Malekith and Queen Headtaker of the Skaven. However, each side has two Lords to choose from and depending on who you choose, your starting position will differ.
So if you opt for Prince Tyrion, the campaign could start in Ulthuan but choosing Telcis, Tyrion’s brother, will start you somewhere else. This allows for a vastly different playthrough full of different goals, units to command and enemies to face. It also creates even more diversity to Total War: Warhammer 2‘s narrative campaign. If that weren’t enough, 2 player co-op is possible with each player controlling a Legendary Lord for one faction.
Total War: Warhammer 1 Races in Multiplayer
What became of the Old World Races from the first game? The Empire, the Greenskins, Dwarfs and Vampire Counts are still kicking but their role in Total War: Warhammer 2 will be a little different. They’re not seeking control of the Great Vortex but interaction is still possible. What really changes is the fact that players who own the previous game can access them in the multiplayer.
This opens up more variety from a competitive PvP standpoint and allows you to determine just how the Vampire Counts would fare against, say, the Skaven. Overall, it’s a neat little addition for fans who already purchased the previous game. Thankfully, that’s not all the Creative Assembly has in mind.
Grand Campaign
After Total War: Warhammer 2 launches, The Creative Assembly will be trying something ambitious. Owners of the first and second Total War: Warhammer will have access to a Grand Campaign which links the maps of the Old and New World together. This massive “third” campaign can be played with any race you own from either title. When you factor in all of the big new continents to explore like Naggaroth, the Southlands and more along with the base game’s world, that’s a lot of content for one single campaign.
The developer has described the Grand Campaign as being “100 percent sandbox”. Some of the smaller factions may be removed and the developer has stated that this won’t just be a case of two giant landmasses being connected together. Every race may not have a brand new narrative but there will still be tons of different things to do and challenges to overcome en route to victory.