With the advent of Total War: Warhammer 3, the Warhammer franchise has a near-complete digital representation, especially when one considers the pending Mortal Empires DLC. One can even consider Warhammer 3 as the most important game out of all the trilogy. That’s a lot of pressure to put on the third game and suffice to say, the game has quite a polarizing launch.
While it’s one of the most popular games on Steam right now, the reviews tell a different story. It currently sits at a “Mixed” with only 63 percent of the reviews which is low for a AAA title. There’s plenty to dislike in Total War: Warhammer 3 but at the same time, one can’t deny how much of a good game it is especially with the new features.
10 Loved: Fleshed-out Chaos Factions
The last two games didn’t exactly give Chaos the justice it deserves. As each of the four Chaos gods has its own faction worthy of individual recognition. Total War: Warhammer 3 does just that and even includes a scion or right-hand man of each of the Chaos gods to lead their faction.
This added a lot more depth to the Chaos lore as well as plenty of variety. The roleplaying opportunities are thus more generous as each of the four (five, counting Chaos Undivided) factions have their own playstyle and theme both in the campaign and battle map.
9 Didn’t: Redundant Chaos Units
With that said, the implementation of the four separate Chaos factions wasn’t done as beautifully as possible. In fact, it left plenty of players wanting as the unit roster was notably redundant. There’s lots of overlap for some units among the four unique Chaos factions.
This does open up some theories that more varied Chaos units might get added in the future as either paid or free DLCs. Because at the moment, the unit rosters of the four unique Chaos factions feel rather bare and makes the unit overlap too apparent.
8 Loved: Three Kingdoms Diplomacy System
One of the oldest complaints about Total War games has always been the lackluster or even useless diplomacy system. This extended to the first two Warhammer titles. The rusty chain was only broken by Three Kingdoms which is a historical title as it introduced a functioning and organic diplomacy system.
Campaign map enthusiasts will then be pleased to know that that diplomacy system has been carried over to Warhammer 3. Gone are the days when AI factions are block heads with ridiculous demands or offers. Now, nearly everything is negotiable and it’s easier to play underhanded strategies or initiate proxy wars.
7 Didn’t: Incompetent Battle AI
Despite the significant improvement in the diplomacy and campaign AI, the battle AI remains around the same as other Total War titles. There’s a slight improvement here and there, especially in faction-specific tactics but for the most part, they’re still very easy to abuse and bug out.
This happens a lot in sieges where AI pathfinding issues can render certain cohorts useless as they’ll just run around in circles trying to squeeze into narrow paths. Other times, two dueling army lords will just star at each other or units will suddenly stop mid-charge for no reason.
6 Loved: Survival Battles
Total War: Warhammer 3 did bring something new to the battle map table and that would be the Survival Battles. These are Chaos Realm last stands where players have to endure and manage wave after wave of Chaos armies which is specific to the flavor of the Realm (depending on the Chaos God).
These nerve-wracking defensive battles force players to be resourceful and creative when conserving their armies. These Survival Battles can also change themes or enemies depending on which Chaos God owns the particular Realm. All in all, it’s a good way to spice up the usual field battle formula.
5 Didn’t: Settlement Battles
Sadly, the major innovations seem to have stopped at diplomacy and didn’t trickle down to the settlement battles or sieges as those mostly remained the same. They still are a slog to play through and most of the time, the AI can be unpleasant both for the enemy and for the player army.
Because as mentioned earlier, the AI still has the old pathfinding issues leftover from the older games. Making them navigate narrow spots can often be frustrating. Towers also respawn or regenerate too much, leading to fights that are too drawn out to be enjoyable.
4 Loved: Customizable Chaos Daemon Prince
The cherry on top of the unique Chaos factions cake is the Chaos Undivided faction. One would think that its faction leader would pale in comparison to the scions of the Chaos Gods but that’s not the case. Because players get their own customizable self-insert Daemon Prince.
This is by far, the most modular legendary lord in the game. Players can even change their Daemon Prince’s body parts and appearance and these changes will also affect their Daemon Prince’s stats. Of course, they can also name their Daemon Prince for more personalized gameplay.
3 Didn’t: Chaos Rifts
While Chaos is finally getting its much-deserved spotlight in the Total War franchise, some of the mechanics that reflect their strength and tenacity don’t necessarily translate into enjoyable or even fair gameplay. Chaos rifts stand out in this regard. These are portals that appear on the map (sometimes randomly) if players conquer too many provinces.
They also spill out Chaos armies, forcing players to babysit Chaos rifts with armies of their own. This only serves to slow down player progress and at times, can be utterly annoying especially when the AI doesn’t seem to have problems dealing with them.
2 Loved: New Offbeat Factions
Generic isn’t a word that one can use to describe Total War: Warhammer 3 as compared to its two predecessors, it explores the less obvious side of the Warhammer lore. The main campaign doesn’t feature Elves, Undead, or knights as playable factions.
Instead, players get Vladimir Putin’s elite a.k.a. Kislev, Discord mod club a.k.a. Ogre Kingdoms, Three Kingdoms imports a.k.a. Grand Cathay, and of course the four bickering Chaos divas. They’re certainly more interesting than the standard edgy factions of the previous games.
1 Didn’t: Lack Of Polish
Sadly, all that grand and ambitious premise is hampered by the game possibly being released too early. The consensus is that it needs more time in the oven. Right now, there are too many bugs and glitches some of which can even cause some loss of progress, particularly if the game crashes during loading.
Moreover, certain functions that should have been included by default for PC games (such as the alt + tab) are absent upon the game’s release. That is on top of the performance issues which affect certain PC configurations randomly. In time, these will be addressed and the game will be more accessible.
Total War: Warhammer 3 is available on PC.
