Total War: Warhammer’s latest installment is already easily one of the best Total War games of all time. With personalized Daemon Princes taking on kung fu statues and cartwheeling Nurgling hordes taking on the bear riding warriors of Kislev, there is a lot to like in this excellent sequel.
Despite that, there are plenty of issues beyond bugs that Creative Assembly may want to address before the much anticipated “Immortal Empires” mode puts the trilogy to a close. Some things are minor but oddly missing features that help define older Total War games, while others are massive improvements to the quality of life. These fixes would help an otherwise great strategy game really transcend.
Treat The Map Like A Globe
Even if it is true that Warhammer has its roots in tabletop, it is time the game Total War: Warhammer III treats its world less like a table and more like a globe that can be traversed from either side. In the current iteration, some factions in the corner can turtle up quite nicely. Also, who wants to wait for hundreds of turns for Lizardmen of Lustria to face off against Cathay in Immortal Empires? This could be fixed with new bodies of water and traversal times at the edge of the map to keep things fair but much more interesting.
Players should be able to get their Marco Polo on and traverse the Warhammer world in interesting and less linear ways, even if it means your expedition is destined to end up as doomed as Yuri Barkov's was in the game's shockingly good tutorial.
Buff The Chaos Undivided Daemon Prince
Giving players a custom Daemon Prince, like a Mr. Potato Head of The Ruinous Powers, is easily the coolest addition to the Total War: Warhammer formula. It is one of many features so good it is shocking Warhammer III was not one of the most anticipated PC games of the year.
So, it is a shame that even maxed out, one's Daemon Prince feels a little underwhelming in battle as a melee specialist or spellcaster. It makes sense starting out they may not be on equal footing with the terrifying Skarbrand, but a maxed-out custom Daemon Prince should feel like more than just a cool kitbash of evil.
Make Confederating Less Frustrating
Confederating is a great way to combine all the factions of a race into a super empire, but it is also done entirely through diplomacy and is extremely hard to convince one's allies to do. It is mostly calculated by one's strength and the strength of their allies. This means sometimes it is easier to deliberately sabotage a friendly army using the new alliance mechanics.
For example, a player could take control of an allied army and send them on a mission doomed to fail, which is all done in the service of forcing a devastated friend back to the negotiation table. It is a fun bit of intrigue but maybe not quite what Creative Assembly intended.
Better Mechanics For Vassals
There is still a lot of wonkiness with vassals in Warhammer III. The most frustrating is that sometimes-potential allies love to declare war on them regardless of one's feelings or faction strength. It creates diplomatic headaches that also break some of that Total War immersion.
Also, the Slaanesh faction is dependent on vassals, but if any non-chaos “order factions” become one's demonic servants, all the chaos factions will refuse any diplomacy with them at all. This makes a difficult campaign much harder than it needs to be. It is true that on-release, Total War games are usually the types of games that are beloved but a little buggy, but things that ruin immersion should take priority.
Expand The Undivided Chaos Daemon's Roster
Total War: Warhammer features some excellent daemons that really bring the tabletop models alive. The only problem is the dedicated powers have tiny, albeit very thematic, rosters to pick from. It makes sense that Khorne may not be interested in any artillery that is not launching skulls, but after a while, a Khorne player can get sick of looking at the same Bloodletters and Berzerkers battle after battle.
This is made worse by the absence of “Regiments of Renown,” which did a lot to add flavor to faction rosters. Surely, Creative Assembly can find some more daemons to fill out the non-“undivided” factions, other than re-skinned forsaken?
Put The Blood Back In…This Time For Free
Another infamous blood DLC is inevitably coming, but it is odd to release this particular game without it. Warhammer III's world is so grimdark that it is easily one of the most dystopian worlds depicted in a game. That is why it is a little odd watching Khornate Bloodletters keeping it PG while going berserk in a formation of Cathay spearmen.
Also, there is a sneaking suspicion with fans that the lack of blood is causing animations to not play out correctly. Players are looking forward to the real Total War: Warhammer III experience, but maybe this time Creative Assembly can add it as an optional free add-on instead of making players pay the "blood tax."
Bring Back Proper Mercenaries
The new outpost system does a good job diversifying faction rosters, allowing players to recruit a wide array of units from other factions if they have a good diplomatic standing. But one feature that lets players add exotic units to their faction in other Total War games is conspicuously missing: traditional mercenaries.
It feels odd playing a Total War game that does not have a robust selection of mercenaries, besides the always hungry Ogres, that players can pick up on the fly for a hefty price. After all, classic Warhammer had an entire faction dedicated to mercenaries called "Dogs of War." Why shouldn’t a Kislev warlord be able to pick up some dwarf slayers with just a little gold?