New Total War Title Already in Development
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Creative Assembly have already begun work on their next title in the Total War series, but which era will they conquer now?
Yesterday Creative Assembly confirmed that work has begun on the next Total War title. It seems that even before the finishing touches were added to Shogun 2: Total War, they team were already dreaming up the next game to follow the unique Total War formula of turn-based campaigning and RTS battles.
Despite talking animatedly about the success of Shogun 2 Total War, (click for the full review) studio director Tim Heaton was entirely tight-lipped about which time period the latest title would be set in.
While interviewed by Eurogamer, Heaton wouldn’t even drop a hint by letting us know whether the series would cover an era further back in time the Shogun 2, or further forward. Therefore, without any hard facts, I say let the speculation begin!
Will Creative Assembly march forward in time, or jump further back? Do they revisit a previously covered historical era, or tackle completely unmapped territory? What follows is my wish list of ideas that I would love to see made into a Total War game:
Rome Total War 2
While it wouldn’t be the most radical of moves, remaking the hugely popular Rome: Total War in the same vein as the Shogun 2 reimagining would be a sure fire hit.
Pros: The history of Ancient Rome offers a wonderfully rich tapestry of war, political intrigue and betrayal that made it such a perfect backdrop for the first game. Now, armed with the knowledge gleaned from developing Shogun 2, Creative Assembly could do an even more spectacular job of allowing you to build the Roman Empire up from nothing, or bring it to its knees.
Cons: None. Can’t think why this would be a bad idea. However, Creative Assembly may want to experiment with a totally different time period this time around.
Verdict: A solid possibility and an awesome prospect.
Tribal Total War
Essentially set in a pre-historical era, this title would allow you to take control of a tribe our brutish, caveman ancestors and build them up from a group of stone axe and spear wielders to a civilization that stands at the breaking dawn of recorded history.
Pros: The Creative Assembly would be able to try something very different with this setting. It could be an exciting to see their vision of humans just learning how to band together into groups in order to protect themselves or conquer other large groups.
Cons: There’s nothing neat and tidy about this setting. There are no natural geographical boundaries involved, no neatly contained time period to set it in. The lack of historical information could be as much a limitation as a liberating factor.
Plus, the range of units involved could be quite limiting. With humans only just learning to kill each other with primitive spears and clubs, there might not be enough different types of units available to allow for the sophisticated Total War battle experience that we’re used to.
Verdict: A cool prospect, but not very practical. Unlikely to happen.
Greece Total War
Much like the rise of Rome, the empire building ways of Ancient Greece’s city states would provide a workable setting for a Total War game. Take on the role of leading mighty cities like Athens, Sparta, Corinth and Thebes to crush your rivals and rule Greece.
Pros: Ancient Greece’s style of warfare pits the Total War gameplay perfectly. Much of the work put into Rome Total War with its Greek armies would be easily transferable. Each city state has an incredibly rich history that could translate into uniquely different playable factions.
The massive invasions of the Persians (300 style) could provide an interesting dynamic where the warring Greeks have to unite in order to survive, but still maneuvre in order to be in the best position after the invasion has been halted.
Cons: It’s not massively dissimilar in concept to Rome: Total War. Creative Assembly might want to try something a little different with their next title.
Verdict: Fits the formula well, solid possibility.
Total World War 2
If Creative Assembly wanted to march further into the future than Empire: Total War, I think they would do well to avoid World War 1 and jump straight to World War 2. WWI has never been an easy war to make a video game about since it’s mostly static trench warfare doesn’t lend itself well to fast-flowing combat. WW2 on the other hand, was defined by man’s ability to prosecute war on a scale and with a speed that was previously unthinkable.
Pros: This would give Total War fans something they’ve never seen before. It introduces the possibility of a host of weaponry that would revolutionize the Total War formula: tanks, airstrikes, mines, and so on.
The strategic campaign element of Total War fits WW2 very neatly since balancing economic and military priorities has one of the fundamental principles of these games, just as it was in reality.
Cons: I’m not entirely convinced that modern warfare would fit the style of Total War’s RTS battles. Infantry units no longer line up in neat ranks and march forward to conveniently shoot each other. In this era, they are much more loosely formed and their cohesion tends to get shattered once the bullets and shells start flying.
Doing WW2 battles any justice would most likely need a complete reimagining of the way the Total War combat works. As it is now, that style of combat is very smooth and completely iconic. It’s also something that Creative Assembly may not want to tinker with much more.
Plus, this particular title would be very confusing, people would think it’s a sequel and that they missed the first game!
Verdict: Very cool in theory, but in practice the scale of WW2 is maybe too… well… total for a Total War game.
Warhammer Total War
I can’t express how much I would love to see a Total War game set in the world of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. It is, in my mind, a perfect fit and it would fulfil the very geekiest of my dreams! It’s also a dream shared by untold hordes of Warhammer fans, some of whom have been kind enough to make Warhammer mods of Medieval Total War 2 in order to give us a glimpse of what might be.
Pros: The Old World makes for a natural strategic turn based map, perhaps with the High Elf homelands of Ulthuan added too. The regimental system of Warhammer is a natural fit for the combat style of Total War, perhaps spiced up with the addition of some of Warhammer’s monstrous creatures.
The levelling system of agents and generals introduced in Shogun 2 Total War could be employed once again here to let you level up your chosen race’s wizards, generals and other types of cool characters.
Cons: I imagine this would be a total nightmare to put together in terms of intellectual property issues, shared revenue and all kinds of other legalese tar pits!
Verdict: Possibly the coolest game splicing imaginable, but it will probably never happen.
On to the Next Battlefield
These ideas merely scratch the surface of what is possible. Rest assured though, if Creative Assembly keeps up its current form, we can expect something very special.
Shogun 2 Total War is a masterpiece, the best yet in the series in my opinion. One of the reasons I find it so captivating is because it managed to capture the very best elements of the previous Total War titles, add in some great innovations of its own, and blend it all together to make an incredibly enjoyable and smooth gaming experience.
Each core element of the Total War formula was almost perfectly presented with just the right balance. Unlike the sometimes ponderous Empire: Total War that went before it, Shogun 2 got the division of labour between combat, diplomacy and territory management just about right. When you play the game, you aren’t forever switching your attention back and forth across an endless empire in order to bring your armies to bear. It’s swift, it’s sharp, it’s Total War as it was meant to be played.
Now with so many potential eras to explore, what remains to be seen is whether Creative Assembly will take this winning formula and apply it to a new time period, or for now just concentrate on developing one they’ve already conquered.
How about the Renaissance and 17th century? There would be lots of cool wars, like wars between France, England and the HRE, or then the Wars of Religion. Another good choice would be the 19th century. This would include the US Civil War, the Crimean War, the Franco-Prussian War and European colonial expansion.
Maybe one about ancient china? I know it was wartorn and TW hasnt covered it yet, I think it be pretty cool to have to worry about the huns and the building of the great wall an all that.
Warring States total war!
I agree with Robert above; The US Civil War or The Hundred Years War would fit in nicely. With the US Civil War, CA can use modified units already present in Empire TW (cannon, musket, cav, etc) along with new modernizations that were brought forth by the Industrial Revolution (railroads, iron-clads, etc).
For the Hundred Years War, CA could make a modified hybrid of Medival TW and Empire TW technology. Knights and archers were still present, but early muskets and cannon were very common as well. Also, the alliances at that time would make for some interesting tactical scenerios.
A total war game that is set in specific time period, and along with playing as a historical faction such as the romans or greek city state, also having the option to create or customize a minor faction and build them from the ground up and a nice touch would be the ability to choose what style of armor for your army and the ability to choose which units your nation will use, style of names for dignitaries and general from a list of existing styles in the game and the ability to mix a first name of persian origin and last name of celtic, style of buildings, what relegion they follow, and also being able to choose the colors and banners, and maybe even adding a brand new set of cultures to choose from. Even though it takes away from historical accurracy it would add a completly new element and brand new concept, in short lots of room for imagination,strategy, and hours of gameplay.
This is the best idea I’ve ever heard, and it would be even cooler to start it in the Medieval time period and end it in the empire. So you are creating a nation from a clan and then conquering other nations and creating history.
Like if you choose an area like scily you would get to choose your unit types from muslim and roman. and your ship types also** (important the naval battles were the best part of empire) and let units types evolve according to the evolution in technology and let history play out. So its almost like a great summation of all the total wars. Also an ability to create mass mercenary contracts with other nations would be cool. Like scily could hire a small muslim nation’s army or the normans. Oh and allowing certain naval units to travel on rivers. The AI would have to tend to do what history does so certain things should happen in untouched areas. Like england taken by celts and other other historic dominations. like the persian empire arabian empire, roman empire, and before that alexander and his empire. It should just follow history real well and ***then it would be real exciting commanding your own clan/nation through all of history and it would create a completely different experience.
The key to these games is following history. So the warhammer idea sucks *ss
Dark ages would be cool 600-1000. Rise of islam. Pagans vs christianity. Maygars vs HRE. Or Lord of the Rings Total War.
They already have a mod on the LOTR Total War.Just get Medival,then go to www.moddb.com,then look up’total war medival’then go to mods,then find Third Age Total War and download that!
Civil War: Total war with a bunch of different civil wars. English Civil War, French Wars of Religion, Thirty Years War, American Civil War, Spanish Civil War, and the Libyan Uprising.
US civil war would be boring, only 2 sides, comeon! CA can do better than that. Redoing Rome and the Alexander expansion pack would be great as Alexander could have been way better. Customizing a faction would be cool, maybe lead a revolt and take control of a faction, in the process customizing troops. This could be fitted into a historical context, as this is what happened with Cromwell’s new model army and the Marian reforms, so it could be intergrated quite nicely, with minimal distortion of history.
GEORGE,
There are no 2 factions in the civil war but many:
Confederacy-Union (civil war)
Texas-Mexico (Texas war of independence)
And indians (there where actually indians in that time era)
And almoste every nations has his own Culture and soldier stile.
But my idea:
Maybe we could make an game like medieval 2 kingdom Americas but it would be from 500 to 1800
To be first the maya, aztecs and inca and fight against spain and other indians or the apache or sioux. And later the war in Canada between France and England. Then the road of independence an the civil war,
A lot of options and it will be cool to put that all in a game.
World war 1 all the way.. it would be rather similar to Empire Total War except machine guns, artillery and a better dig-in system.
I would think that a WW2 Total War would be nice!
I think the most possible next total war game would be in the 1850s because the fall of the samurai will have alot of weapons that are from that time frame.
How about the possibility to play on the whole globe and even make your own cities from nothing?
There’s already a game that does that, it’s called Civilization.
Rtw 2 would be à dream. TW is perfect for this classic period.
What about china’s classic 3 kingdoms?
But the true next evolution would be TW in a fantasy setting. Sure warhammer and LOTR would be the big names. But TW dont need them.
I suggest reading Raymond E feist novels like Mmagician. It has it all. Elves, evil elves, dwarfs, goblins, orcs and some added spice with the the storylines of his book as an script. Different kingdoms and cultures.
Consider tsuruannuani invasion in the rift war like the Mongol invasion. Samurai like warriors attacking like the Mongols.
And attack of the demon queen like a timer conting down. In an another continent(similar to the new world in medieval) a new power slowly rises. Unless you are able to conquer it…after the timer ends you will get mega invasion from a demon army. Possibilities are endless.
Would love to see how mages would work out. Guess similar to canons or war engines. But more mushy.
Anyway a winner for both TW and the author. Will be cheaper to get the rights for TW. The books are so extensive now…like a virtual history book.
Author would make big bucks and opens new avenues for his books and fans.
For tw fans…we are waiting for tw to enter the fantasy scenes and it doesn’t have to be a major franchise.
the midkemia chronicles would add a new fantasy element to the constantly reused and over voiced lotr and warhammer series we need a new element to this genre some more competition and also a refreshed fantasy version for us geeks to pick to shreds. also it does have good settings to go into the tw series with the fact of interplanetary gateways, magic, mythical creatures, etc. so you could say that you could conquer dozens of different worlds with different races/nations of your pick with different campaigns such as dimesion conquering, hall of worlds conquering of the world campaign for midkemia so I wont go any further into it because I could explain for hours.
How about the late 19th century and the “scramble for africa”?
How about a Total War based on the most ancient of times? Such as with Sumeria, the Egyptian Empire, Assyria, Babylon, and the devided kingdam of Isreal (Judah and Israel)?
Maybe they make a total world war 1
The game under developement is called Shogun 2: The Fall of the Samurai. It is an expansion, not a new game as such.
However, the game has modern things like gatling guns, steamships, rifles and so on. Given the concept of European industrialisation, Colonies and modern tech, it is very likely the next Total War game after FOTS will be set in 1850-1900. It will most likely be about the Scramble of Africa, American Civil war (with European grand campaigns) or about Imperialism in general.
We need South Asian Total war.
India has a great long history and it’s a great plot for next total war game.
Rtw2 or MTW3 would be cool. When CA made Napoleon they got very close to the ceiling of how far they could go. Total wars main concepts just wouldn’t fit Modern Warfare (1914-Today) First you would have to revamp the entire game engine, Soldiers no longer approach in organized formations to attack the enemy and the troops would normally need cover to hide behind. Second the system of government would be changed to a very complicated system where everthing would be unfamiliar and you would not have total rule. Third, I just think Making a game for WW1 is so hard since it’s very static warfare and WWII was too fast paced. So in my opinion Rome 2 Or Medieval 3 would be sound Ideas. Perhaps the era following napoleon would be good too. Because the imperialzation of Britan and France and soo on. The renisance would be an execlent mini-campaign to, It could include The English Civil War,Itailian Wars,America and more. There are many eras to visit but they simply wouldn’t be worth the time CA put into it.
In my opinion, Chinese history as well as that of the surrounding regions offers a great number of periods, which could be elaborated on in the next Total War titles, among them being the Warring States period, Mongol/Timurid conquests and possibly late Manchu era.
Game of Thrones Total War…..Starks, vs Lannisters vs Baratheons vs Targaryean etc…..lends itself well to the TW series.
I don’t know if it would be possible to buy the Kingmaker franchise, but I think that a remake of the Kingmaker game (based on the Avalon Hill board game) with the total war battle engine would be awesome.
Im shocked I have seen nothing on the idea of just before and during the colonisation of the US, envolving the Inca’s Aztecs and Mayans, and the European colonial factions. There is a large array of possible troops, architecture and technology, scenery and landscapes. Would be very exciting.