There’s an undisputed trinity of strategy gaming franchises in the world. Ask anyone- any gamer, any non-gamer- and chances are, they all have heard about one of these: Age of Empires, Civilization, and Total War.
Now, for the first time in the franchise’s history, an enhanced version of a game was announced, and it’s none other than Total War: SHOGUN 2, the most beloved game in the series, with a new “Complete Edition”. Set to have improved visuals, updated lighting, shadows, and textures. Add to that modernized controls, 4K UI scaling, and 50 newly playable minor factions!
Like many of you, I was introduced to Total War very early on in the series history, and have since played all existing entries. Some more, some less, some even way too much, but I have played them all. I thought it was an interesting idea and a good time to go look at this iconic franchise and rate them from worst to best, based on my own personal experience with each individual game. I expect some of the placements here to be rather controversial, but remember what I just said: I have played some games a lot more than others, and a couple of them I barely played at all, so naturally, those will be ranking lower. If your favorite Total War title isn’t standing amongst my favorites, fear not, because it doesn’t make it any less great or enjoyable. Do let me know in the comments down below what your top 3 Total War games of all time are.
What about you, dear reader? What’s your favorite Total War game, and why? Is it because it’s the one with the most in-depth mechanics? Because it’s set in your favorite historical era? Or just because, like me, you have very fond memories of it?
Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia
I have never played Thrones of Britannia, and I have absolutely no intention of touching this game. Whoever thought this game was a good idea must have been out of his or her mind. Do you want to make a SAGA game that’s at least interesting? Create Total War SAGA: Reconquista. There you have Creative Assembly. No need to thank me for that one.
Medieval: Total War
My first memory of a Total War game doesn’t come from playing one, actually. I was but a wee lad when, during the Christmas season, I saw a TV commercial for a strategy game that seemed way too good to be true, especially for someone whose strategy gaming experience at the time consisted exclusively of Age of Empires II with its 200-unit limit. I saw that commercial time and time again. I never asked my parents for it. I figured it had to be a trick of the trailer, and the real game wasn’t anything like it. So I forgot about it.
It wouldn’t be until much later that I would eventually realize that the trailer was for Medieval: Total War. By that time, I had already played a substantial portion of the series catalogue, so playing this one for the first time in what I think was around 2015 or 2016 didn’t do it any favors, so it places a lot lower down the list. However, I do wish I had asked my parents for that Christmas.
Shogun: Total War
It has been so long since I have played Shogun: Total War that my memory has borderline erased it from existence. In fact, had I not decided to write this article, I would be under the impression I had never played it; alas, that was not the case, and I have indeed put some hours into Shogun: Total War, but those were long after the game had come out, and long after I had played much more advanced Total War games, including Shogun 2. With that being said, it’s important to recognize the genre-defining innovation this game was! For the first time ever, strategy games were no longer split between turn-based tile maps or real-time troop combat. Shogun revolutionized strategy by making a hybrid that brought the best of both worlds together. Not only that, but the combat mechanics were surprisingly deep for the time, with morale routs, elevation taken into account, and even fatigue and weather having an impact.
Of course, I’m looking at this article through the lenses of games I play today, and going back to the first Shogun is a hard sell. First and foremost, it can be quite tricky to make it work, and the basic campaign gameplay wasn’t winning any awards back then, and it certainly won’t be winning them now.
Total War: PHARAOH
I do have strong opinions on most Total War titles in this article; even the ones that annoyed me have left some impression on me, even if I haven’t played them, like Britannia! Total War: Pharaoh gets the distinction of being the only Total War game that I booted up, played for a couple of hours, and came out of it completely numb. Not a single emotion. No satisfaction, happiness, or even anger, for that matter. The whole thing was so dull, so boring, that it felt like I had entered a black void and was time-lapsed a couple of hours into the future. The game’s setting might be historically fascinating, but it just doesn’t translate itself very well into an interesting gameplay experience, especially on the battlefield, because there’s only so much you can do with Bronze Age tactics and weapons, which mostly boils down to infantry, a couple of ranged units, and some chariots. I don’t even think that a bigger geographical scope would have helped a whole lot, because in the end, warfare technology just wasn’t there to turn this into an engaging combat experience.
Like TROY, Pharaoh has also suffered somewhat of a turnaround with the release of its Dynasties version that added Mesopotamia and the Aegean Sea, making the game feel like a proper Bronze Age sandbox. Despite improvements to the Family Trees and Dynasties system, the same problem of limited variety in real-time combat remains.
A Total War Saga: Troy
Total War: TROY is, for lack of a better expression, an underwhelming experience. A game that’s set in one of the most interesting periods of Human History, with epic poems, myths, and legends to make it company, but still managed to feel… Boring. I don’t think TROY is a bad game; I have played a campaign of it, but that’s because the game was given for free for 24 hours when it first launched in 2020. Were it not for that, I probably would have never played it.
The whole “Truth behind the myth” thing that tried to strike a middle ground between historical realism and fantasy myth just ended up removing the most interesting aspects of both, and even made some things look rather silly, like the Minotaur unit being a burly man wearing a bull costume. Really?
I remember that the game came out during a time when people were accusing Total War of being in a sort of identity crisis, with their historical game lacking the development time and effort the team was putting into Warhammer, but this idea of striking a middle ground just ended up making everything oh so much worse by alienating both the historical and fantasy fanbases at the same time.
The game eventually went on to release the Mythos DLC, but I haven’t touched it since, so I cannot opine on that.
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