Total War: Warhammer II

Total War: Warhammer II
Developer(s) Creative Assembly
Publisher(s) Sega
Director(s) Ian Roxburgh[1]
Series Total War
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release 28 September 2017
Genre(s) Turn-based strategy, real-time tactics
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Total War: Warhammer II is a turn-based strategy and real-time tactics video game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega. It is part of the Total War series and the sequel to 2016's Total War: Warhammer. The game is set in Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy fictional universe. The game was released for Microsoft Windows-based PCs on 28 September 2017. Feral Interactive have announced that the game will be released on macOS and Linux in 2018.[2]

Gameplay

Total War: Warhammer II is set in Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy fictional universe.[1] The game takes place across five continents—Ulthuan, Naggaroth, The Southlands, Lustria and Nehekhara.[3] The game will center around control of the Great Vortex in Ulthuan. The Vortex campaign features a narrative storyline for each of the five races as they cast rituals to either stabilize or control the Great Vortex.

Total War: Warhammer II features turn-based strategy and real-time tactics gameplay similar to other games in the Total War series.[4] The game's announced races in the campaign include the Lizardmen, High Elves, Dark Elves, Skaven. The Tomb Kings and Vampire Coast debuted later as Paid DLC factions. Those who own races from the first game will have the same races unlocked for multiplayer in the second and a grand campaign map spanning the first and second games' campaign maps will be released in a patch after launch. The game's campaign will be more narrative oriented than the sandbox campaign of the first game with each race battling to save or destroy the Great Vortex over Ulthuan.

Plot

Battle for the Vortex

The Old Ones, powerful godlike beings, created races in the Warhammer world to fight the forces of Chaos. The stellar gates which the Old Ones used to enter the world collapsed, leading to a flood of Chaos that was held at bay by the Lizardmen. Two High Elf heroes in Ulthuan responded to this threat. Aenarion "the Defender" mustered armies whilst Caledor Dragontamer planned to drain magical energy from the world, thus stopping the Chaos invasion. This manifested itself as the Great Vortex, accomplished with the help of the Lizardmen leaders, the Slann. It drained Chaos energy at the expense of locking Caledor and his mages in time, eternally casting spells to maintain the vortex.

Millennia later, in the time when the game is set, a Skaven rocket disguised as a twin-tailed comet disrupts the Great Vortex. The four main playable factions respond to this in different ways. The High Elves and Lizardmen seek to stablize the Vortex, whist the Skaven and Dark Elves seek to use its power for world conquest. The Skaven launched this rocket to provoke rituals from these four major factions. The Skaven could then harness this ritual energy to allow the Skaven god, the Great Horned Rat, to enter the world and thus conquer it. When the player completes the fifth ritual, their race fights a 'final battle' in the Isle of the Dead to determine the fate of the Vortex and thus the world. Winning the 'final battle' results in winning the race's objectives. The High Elves and Lizardmen stabilize the Vortex. The Dark Elves use the Vortex's power to transform their leader Malekith into a god. The Skaven summon the Horned Rat and conquer the world.

Rise of the Tomb Kings

Several millennia ago, the desert kingdom of Nehekhara was once the greatest human civilization in the Old World. However, Nehekhara saw it's destruction at the hands of Nagash (the first necromancer). Through the power of his Black Pyramid, Nagash enacted a great spell that would kill all that lived in Nehekhara and raise them as his undead servants. Before the spell could be completed, Nagash was slain by the last Nehekharan King Alcadizaar with the aid of the Skaven (who had initially allied with the Great Necromancer, but betrayed him after they realized how great a threat Nagash was). The Nehekharan dead returned as the Tomb Kings, but because Nagashs' ritual was incomplete, many of the Tomb Kings retained their free will and intellect.

In the current day, the false twin-tailed comet has stirred the Black Pyramid from it's slumber and courses with power. It is discovered that 5 of the 9 books of Nagash are needed to control the Black Pyramid. Four Tomb King factions battle to control it: Settra the Imperishable, first and greatest king of Nehekhara, seeks the pyramid's power to regain control over all of Nehekhara and begin global conquest. The exiled Grand Hierophant Khatep seeks to use the pyramid to fulfill his promise to Settra to transform him and the Nehekharan nobility into immortal golden beings. Queen Khalida seeks the pyramid's power to destroy all vampires in the world and to take revenge on her cousin, Neferata (the first vampire). Arkhan the Black, the Liche King and Nagash's second-in-command, seeks to control the Black Pyramid and use it's power to resurrect his master.

Development

Total War: Warhammer II was developed by UK-based video game studio Creative Assembly.[5]

Release

Total War: Warhammer II was announced by developer Creative Assembly in March 2017 at EGX Rezzed.[6] It is the second instalment in a planned trilogy of Total War: Warhammer games.[1] The game was released for Microsoft Windows-based PCs on 28 September 2017,[7] with Sega publishing.[1] On 26 October 2017 Creative Assembly plans to release a free update for players who own both the game and its predecessor, which adds a combined campaign map that is composed of regions from both games.[4]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic87%[8]
Review scores
PublicationScore
GameSpot9/10[9]
IGN9.1/10[10]
PC Gamer (US)92/100[11]

Total War: Warhammer II received "generally favorable" reviews upon release, according to review aggregator Metacritic.


Eurogamer ranked the game tenth on their list of the "Top 50 Games of 2017".[12] It won the award for "Best Strategy Game" in PC Gamer's 2017 Game of the Year Awards,[13] and was nominated for "Game of the Year".[14] It was also nominated for "Best PC Game" and "Best Strategy Game" in IGN's Best of 2017 Awards.[15][16]

Awards

YearAwardCategoryResultRef
2017 Game Critics Awards Best PC Game Nominated [17]
Best Strategy Game Nominated
Gamescom 2017 Best Booth Award Nominated [18]
Best PC Game Nominated
Best Strategy Game Nominated
Golden Joystick Awards PC Game of the Year Nominated [19]
Hollywood Music in Media Awards Original Score - Video Game Nominated [20]
The Game Awards 2017 Best Strategy Game Nominated [21]
2018 D.I.C.E. Awards Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year Nominated [22]
National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards Game, Strategy Nominated [23][24]
14th British Academy Games Awards British Game Nominated [25][26]
Develop Awards Animation Nominated [27]
Music Design Nominated

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Macy, Seth G. (31 March 2017). "Total War: Warhammer 2 Coming Later This Year". IGN. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  2. ↑ "Total War: WARHAMMER II comes to macOS and Linux this year". Feral Interactive. Feral Interactive. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  3. ↑ Donnelly, Joe (31 March 2017). "Total War: Warhammer 2 announced with epic three-way battle trailer". PC Gamer. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  4. 1 2 Pereira, Chris (31 March 2017). "Total War: Warhammer 2 Announced, Offers A "New Style" Of Campaign". GameSpot. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  5. ↑ Bratt, Chris (31 March 2017). "Total War: Warhammer 2 - Creative Assembly answers the big questions". Eurogamer. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  6. ↑ Bratt, Chris (31 March 2017). "Total War: Warhammer 2 announced". Eurogamer. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  7. ↑ Higham, Michael (12 June 2017). "E3 2017: Total War Warhammer 2 Gets An Official Release Date". GameSpot. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  8. ↑ Metacritic Staff (17 February 2018). "Total War: Warhammer II". Metacritic. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  9. ↑ Gamespot staff (17 February 2018). "Total War: Warhammer II". Gamespot. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  10. ↑ TJ Hafer (25 September 2017). "Total War: Warhammer 2 Review". IGN. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  11. ↑ Jody Macgregor (25 September 2017). "Total War: Warhammer 2 Review". PC Gamer US. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  12. ↑ Eurogamer staff (30 December 2017). "Eurogamer's Top 50 Games of 2017: 10-1". Eurogamer. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  13. ↑ PC Gamer staff (16 December 2017). "Best Strategy Game 2017: Total War: Warhammer 2". PC Gamer. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  14. ↑ PC Gamer staff (8 December 2017). "Games of the Year 2017: The nominees". PC Gamer. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  15. ↑ "Best of 2017 Awards: Best PC Game". IGN. 20 December 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  16. ↑ "Best of 2017 Awards: Best Strategy Game". IGN. 20 December 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  17. ↑ "Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 2017 (2017 Nominees)". Game Critics Awards. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  18. ↑ Khan, Zubi (21 August 2017). "Gamescom 2017 Award Nominees". CGM. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  19. ↑ Gaito, Eri (13 November 2017). "Golden Joystick Awards 2017 Nominees". Best In Slot. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  20. ↑ "Hollywood Music in Media Awards: Full Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. 17 November 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  21. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (8 December 2017). "The Game Awards 2017 Winners Headlined By Zelda: Breath Of The Wild's Game Of The Year". GameSpot. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  22. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (14 January 2018). "Game Of The Year Nominees Announced For DICE Awards". GameSpot. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  23. ↑ "Nominee List for 2017". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. 9 February 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  24. ↑ "Horizon wins 7; Mario GOTY". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. 13 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
  25. ↑ deAlessandri, Marie (15 March 2018). "Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice at forefront of BAFTA Games Awards nominations". The Market for Computer & Video Games. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  26. ↑ Makedonski, Brett (12 April 2018). "BAFTA names What Remains of Edith Finch its best game of 2017". Destructoid. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  27. ↑ MCV staff (21 May 2018). "Announcing the Develop Awards 2018 nominations shortlist". The Market for Computer & Video Games. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
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