Total War: Warhammer

My batteries of cannons and mortars rain a torrent of fire on the squadrons of enemy knights crowded behind the doors, devastating men and horses. An acrid smoke smell spreads in the air. What realism, I tell myself, only to notice a moment after I had burnt the pepperoni.

At this point I decide that it is not a thing. I pause, go out and return with five or six family packs of chips and snacks. Thereafter, I vowed to eat only those until every single Marauder is chased away from imperial soil. Now, I'm a Total War fan and a Warhammer fan, so some "addiction" was a foregone conclusion. But the new CA title took me back fifteen years, to the time of the first Shogun, when the saga seemed an extraordinary novelty, to stay awake at night. After that, excellent games, even great games, but variations on the same formula. The war, says the old adage of Fallout, never changes, whether it is fought with swords and spears or with muzzle-loading muskets.

For it to really change, giant spiders and scythe-armed skeletons were needed. Warhammer troops are not just pawns to be used on the tactical chessboard, or reproductions of this or that other historical army. They are phantasmagorical miniatures closed inside a box, colored plastic toy dragons, monsters made of lead: the fun thing is to place them all on the carpet to see how bizarre and surprising they look. In short, the new CA title has a sense of wonder to sell. Although it focuses on a portion limited by the wide universe of Warhammer, leaving (for now) the most exotic places off the screen.

A radical novelty for a sandbox-oriented saga, the quests consist of a story narrated through texts and a series of assignments: reach this region, conquer three cities, and so on. In the end there is a predetermined battle (they are battles inspired by the lore of Warhammer, but to be honest not even I knew them all). Winning you get very powerful items and gold chests. The old historical battles, in short, but woven directly into the countryside. The idea is brilliant, especially because it is possible to choose whether to face them early, with a weak army, to maximize the benefits, or wait until the late stages of the campaign. Of course, the quests do not fit perfectly into the flow of the game: they tell parallel stories, which rarely reflect what is happening on the strategic map, but still guarantee a generic personality injection to the factions.

You will have noticed, however, that I have spoken of objects. Each character, in fact, be it a lord or a hero (the old agents, enhanced for the occasion) can be fully equipped with armor, weapons, flags and even mounts. A clear RPG-style mechanism that reflects the importance of characters in Warhammer. The variety of objects is wide and several of them, in addition to improving the statistics, also guarantee some special skills to be activated in battle. The only problem is that acting as a cloakroom for a dozen tapes can become tedious and, if you have an easy joke like me, at some point you will begin to distribute the objects at random. Then, if we want to be really demanding, there is the fact that the models do not change according to the equipment (but with the mounts yes): it would have been a nice thing, even if, perhaps, a little beyond the realm of feasibility.

Total War: Warhammer is a game that couldn't go wrong. The combination of one of the most popular fantasy universes with the mechanics of the recognized strategic series is so natural that it has been at your fingertips for many years - after all, a lot of fan modifications were created that transferred subsequent Total Wary to the dark Old World. The creators from the Creative Assembly studio knew it well, and by introducing a lot of new products to the latest installment of the series, they decided to use safe solutions in many cases. So they used the proven engine and the well-known empire management mechanisms. This resulted in a very solid production, but left me feeling unsatisfied. A topic like Warhammer was asking for a revolution. There is no such thing - but it is one of the best Total War games in the history of the series. Not perfect, but atmospheric, effective and serving dozens of hours of pure fun. In a word - great.

The world is doomed

Warhammer is one of the older and most famous dark fantasy universes. What gives it a specific, gloomy atmosphere is the vision of final destruction hanging over the world - from time to time people and their allies manage to prevent a catastrophe, but in the end the fight will be lost. The forces of Chaos, led by the mighty Archaon, will crush and crush the Old World once and for all. This is where the game begins - the last leader of the Empire, Karl Franz, has just been appointed emperor, and Chaos is getting ready for a decisive invasion. In Total War: Warhammer, we take part in the events leading up to the end of time foretold in many prophecies.

As a Warhammer fan, I am glad that the creators from Creative Assembly have managed to transfer this difficult atmosphere to a strategy game. This is mainly due to the high level of difficulty - there is basically no point where we would not be in serious danger; Initially, we struggle with other factions or rebels, and several dozen turns later, a storm of powerful Chaos forces and its corrupted subordinates from Norsca fall on the Old World. The atmosphere is enhanced not only by effective introductory videos for each of the four campaigns, but also by such small details as, for example, the setting of the strategic map, music or unit designs. Even a refined interface and quotes appearing while loading battles and saves (though sometimes incomprehensible to laymen) successfully introduce us to the world of Warhammer .

There are, unfortunately, situations when the mechanics of the Total War game dominate the atmosphere of Warhammer . Lord of vampires giving a speech to his ... uncomfortable undead or the possibility of releasing captured ... skeletons during the battle - I regret that the creators did not avoid these minor mishaps. They do not destroy the climate, you do not have to worry about it, but the fans of the universe can irritate you a bit.

Old World and Old Engine

Warhammer is a full-fledged installment of the Total War series. The Creative Assembly studio, which began its adventure with "Total War" sixteen years ago, could not have found a better way to celebrate the round, tenth part of the series than by reaching for the world of Warhammer . It is a pity that the developers decided to stay with the same engine - Warscape has been driving subsequent items in the series since 2009 and today ... it is already noticeable. Honestly, I expected a more effective visuals from Warhammer . I am not saying that it is bad - because it is not - but it has weaker moments. On the other hand, it is probably why the game runs smoothly and does not have excessively high hardware requirements, it has also been optimized correctly.

The engine's weakness is, for example, the appearance of soil or grass, which do not look too beautiful, or the classic attack of clones for Total War . Engine, however, is not only a graphic design. The use of Warscape makes it easy for anyone who has had a glimpse of the previous installments of the series. Cavalry (now not only on horses, but also on spiders or wolves) continues to stab at infantry units. Artillery and archers work similarly. Creative Assembly decided not to change what is good, which in the end is hardly a minus - even if you want more.

The use of an old engine does not mean that the game has not been new - and it has not significantly changed the basic mechanics. Some simplifications covered the economy. On the strategic map, we continue to manage provinces in the way known from previous installments (e.g. one region consists of several settlements or cities), but we can no longer set the amount of taxes collected - at most we stop demanding them in a given province, thus increasing it stability. There are also no seasons or the problem of dirt in the cities. In the long run, these are good solutions that allow you to focus more on what is the essence of the game, i.e. war and battles. The latter have also been simplified in some respects. In Warhammer , we can no longer change the troop density (which came in handy when firing). What's even more surprising - the troops do not have special formations such as phalanx or turtle. Fortunately, in return, the developers enriched the battle mechanics with powerful units, magic and flying units. In this way, the clashes gained a lot of tactical depth.

The color of magic

Heroes and Lords aren't the only powerful units on the battlefield. Each faction has different types of extremely strong formations at its disposal: in the orcish hordes they are, for example, great spiders or giants, and in the Chaos hosts or the armies of vampire lords - monsters. Some of them have several units per squad, but the strongest are single. However, disregarding them for this reason is a serious mistake - if left free on the battlefield, they will easily wipe out a few other units. During the clashes, I usually focused on these powerful enemy units and this approach seems quite profitable to me. An opponent without a lord or a giant troll was much easier to defeat.

Magic plays a difficult role in battles - the strongest spells can influence the course of the battle. Relying on them entirely, however, can turn out to be risky - the amount of mana depends on the strength of the magic winds, and these vary in intensity on the strategic map. It is worth adding that spells on the battlefield look just great - they are effective and boost the atmosphere . Flying units bring an equally big change. For the first time in the history of the series, the squad can easily slip over the heads of the most reliable defense and fall on unsuspecting archers. The above-mentioned Mannfred von Carstein, who rides a great dragon on the battlefield, is perfect for this role.

Live like a dwarf with a goblin

There are four factions in Total War: Warhammer . The fifth is Chaos - only those who decide to pre-order the game or within a week of the release date will be able to direct its forces (the latter option was forced by the strong reaction of the community). The sixth party, offered in the first free DLC, will most likely be Brittany based on medieval France - its units are now available in skirmish and multiplayer modes. Subsequent factions are to be paid, as probably many other elements that expand the game. Such a policy, which looks like cutting out fragments from the finished production, which are then sold separately, has never aroused sympathy and must be assessed negatively. For now, the title offers four campaigns, each focused on a different faction and at the same time a different race.

Dwarves with the capital in Karaz-a-Karak are distinguished by an army composed mainly of free, armored infantry - although it does a great job in combat, after winning the escaping enemies it is quite a challenge ... until gyrocopters are built. In addition, the dwarves, apart from the usual tasks, receive new entries in the "Book of Injuries" - not erasing them increases the anxiety in our country. During the campaign, the bearded men aim to take control (directly or via the alliance system) over all dwarven strongholds, as well as destroy a faction of their deadly greenskin enemies. Orcs and goblins are distinguished by the so-called fighting. This is a trait that describes the military commitment of an army - when it runs out, its savage soldiers start fighting among themselves. And when it reaches its maximum level, our troops receive the support of additional AI-controlled units - which fits nicely with the history of the universe, and also levels the playing field, as orcs and goblins do not have such strong units as their enemies: dwarves.

Vampires, the main enemies of the Empire, on the other hand, do not have a typical tax system. Instead, undead lords collect points of dark magic. Their army lacks archers, but in return they have strong flying units and can resurrect their soldiers during battles. Otherwise, they maintain order in their dark country - through vampiric corruption, spreading to subsequent provinces like the plague in medieval Europe. A rather classic faction is the Empire with the newly appointed Emperor Karl Franz, one of the uniquely well-recognized characters in the Warhammer universe . The new leader's first task is to defeat secessionists and discipline recalcitrant vassals. The Empire has the most universal army of all available factions, as well as a system of officials, referring to the solutions from previous installments of the series.

It remains to be said that in fact the races in Warhammer are highly individual, for example in terms of provincial management, army composition or the capabilities of the heroes. Some of the differences turn out to be superficial (e.g. vampiric dark magic points are just ordinary currency), but the basic mechanics are different. In my opinion, this compensates for the potential weakness that could have been the small number of playable factions that Total War: Warhammer offers at the start.

A tablespoon of tar in dwarven honey

The least pleasant part of any review is when you have to go to the cons. In the case of Warhammer , they mainly come down to various types of flaws. Nothing that would disqualify the game - Warhammer's flaws are like little splinters: they don't kill, but they irritate. The aforementioned dominance of mechanics over the climate causes that sometimes for a second we have the impression that we are dealing with a modification, not a full game. For example, our dwarves - whoever they fight - often shout the same thing: "Death to the orcs!" - it sounds strange when we face the Empire once again. Sometimes the system of trauma also irritates bearded men. For example, there is an entry in the book ordering us to defeat a specific enemy general. The problem is that he doesn't want to fight us and for a few turns - like in the lead of Benny Hill - we chase him around the map. There are also strange tasks that cannot be completed (e.g. defeat the enemy's army within a few turns - the problem is that we are separated by several neutral countries).

The illogical decisions of artificial intelligence on the strategic map are also noticeable. It happened regularly that a faction declared war on me, a few, although there were rags of foreign lands between us, and it was clear that there would be no fighting. It also happened that a few turns later, the enemies offered peace, additionally offering a generous reward ... You will also admit that it is difficult to call a "definite defeat" a situation when we were the only ones who dealt, and by no means small, damage in battle.