Creative Assembly’s Total War: Warhammer II was first on the agenda for strategy fans at E3 2017, and the hands-on experience did not disappoint. At Sega’s booth in the LA Convention Center’s West Hall, attendees were treated to a 30 minute gameplay session consisting of an introductory cut-scene and a full-scale combat scenario.
The introductory sequence spanned a large portion of the campaign map, touching on the history and politics of many (but not all) of the game’s playable races, and rapidly acquainting newcomers with key points of the game’s plot.
More than anything else, this served to show off the fantastic work that Creative Assembly have done in making TW:WII‘s campaign map much more diverse and imaginative than its’ predecessor. In what segment of the map we saw, terrain varied from rainforest to wetlands, to hills and forests, in stark contrast to the first game’s bare plains and mountains. The game’s four ‘continents’ are separated by vast expanses of water, the crossing of which marks a dangerous but necessary step in your campaign.
The races on display were the three that had been announced previously; Lizardmen, High Elves and Dark Elves. While nothing is confirmed, the fourth is expected to be the Skaven; a race of humanoid rat-men which has not yet featured in a Total War game. Also eluded to was the presence of Old World’ races, most likely to include the majority of the races in Total War: Warhammer.
As already announced, owners of the previous game will receive a free DLC map which covers the entirety of both games’ campaign maps. With access to the last game’s races, as well as an additional race coming with the pre-order of Total War: Warhamer 2, there is a staggering amount of content coming for hardcore fans of the series.
The combat scenario was a brief but encouraging taste of small-scale warfare in Total War: Warhamer 2. Playing as a pre-constructed Lizardmen army at The Battle of the Fallen Gates, players were tasked with capturing a bridge from a High Elven army, and killing a group of powerful Elven Mages to complete the scenario.
Beside some minor tweaks, not a great deal has changed with regards to the combat system. This didn’t matter, as the sight of a Feral Stegadon/Bastiladon Combo plowing into a squad of lightly armoured Elven archers was hugely entertaining, and bodes well for the playability of the newly designed races.
Less was shown of the High Elven roster, except for a high powered Dragon unit (Sun, possibly), capable of putting a serious dent in an unguarded back line. Thankfully, crossbow-wielding Lizardmen riding ancient dinosaurs came to the rescue and provided a hard counter to the Elven aerial superiority.
In the chaos, there was little time to examine the battle map. However, what could be seen was highly detailed, and accompanied by fantastic ambient sound design which bring suitable atmosphere to the quieter moments before and during an encounter.
With the combat scenario complete, there was nothing else to see of Total War: Warhammer II for now. What was on offer has left me with huge excitement for the game’s. September 28 release date.
Check out the trailer for The Battle of the Fallen Gates below:
https://youtu.be/-k_bYv8mphs
