Expanding the Total War sandbox

Hello there! This is the first-ever entry in Campaign Mode, and it only seemed appropriate to start off by talking about what I want to see from a couple of particularly exciting upcoming strategy games.

I'm talking of course about Total War: Warhammer 40,000 and Total War: Medieval 3, the next entries in Creative Assembly's long-running series. The former is particularly intriguing, as it's set to hit a large number of important "firsts" for the franchise. It's the first science-fiction game. It's the first title built on the studio's new Warcore engine. It's the first time a Total War game will launch on consoles.

Meanwhile, Medieval 3 is explicitly further out, with the development team sharing regular updates throughout pre-production to help garner community feedback for what is being self-described as "our Half-Life 3" by the developers.

I'm a longtime Total War fan, so I'm sharing a couple of things I'd like to see both of these games feature while keeping everything that has made the series so special thus far.

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Bigger scale, bigger guns

Total War, as befits the name, already has a significant focus on maintaining a grand scope, with impressive scale across the campaign map and individual battles alike.

The leap to planet-wide conflicts in a Warhammer 40,000-themed game with gargantuan vehicles and starships will be challenging, but so far, the developers are saying all the right things, and that includes possibly addressing one of my longstanding, series-wide complaints.

Any longtime Total War fan knows the slog that can unfold when repeatedly tasked with taking back a particular territory over and over again. What starts as a fun tug-of-war sinks into an uninteresting muck as you go back and forth painting the map, but this new game might allow players to avoid that, at least somewhat.

The official description for Total War: Warhammer 40,000 mentions "unleashing apocalyptic weaponry" that can obliterate entire planets. Planets being scourged of life or removed outright is a staple of Warhammer 40,000, and I love the idea of being able to change the flow of a campaign by taking out an entire world.

Obviously different factions will play in different ways, but that kind of major shake-up will be vital to keep the strategic layer of gameplay fresh. Imagine having to choose to abandon a planet due to an Ork onslaught and wiping it out as a last-ditch effort to cover a fleet's retreat, or even luring an opponent into taking a world as a trap.

There is no release date right now, but I'm hoping to have my speculation confirmed sooner rather than later. I'm not expecting Total War: Warhammer 40,000 to launch this year, but early into 2027 certainly seems reasonable.

Making the small details matter more

When looking at the significantly further-out Total War: Medieval 3, I'm hoping for Creative Assembly to take the complete opposite approach compared to Warhammer 40,000. Rather than maximizing the grand scale to ludicrous levels, I'm hoping instead that the developers take a careful look at the far smaller details.

This will be the first time the studio has worked on the third entry in a non-fantasy series, and as much as I've adored Medieval 2, there are innumerable facets to improve. The most rewarding of these potential refinements will come from going deeper into the sandbox, not wider.

Medieval 3 is confirmed to cover the period of history from around 1140 to 1440 Anno Domini, and I'd love to see progression reflect that particular piece of history. Marshalling levies should just feel different after two hundred years have passed, not just based on the kinds of buildings that are constructed in a town.

I'd also love to see a huge increase in the usefulness of agents, that is, any characters not directly used for leading armies. In Medieval 2, things were fairly constrained, limited to options like marriage alliances and papal manipulation.

Let me play conspiracies and treacherous plots straight out of A Song of Ice and Fire, double-crossing and ambushing others with political schemes and set-ups. I understand the name of the game is "Total War," but having the options would be rewarding. It'll be challenging, but I have faith it's doable.

Housekeeping

Doing an experiment here and giving a preview of everything I'm currently working on that isn't embargoed or secret for other reasons.

Looking ahead, I'm finishing up some thoughts on Marathon, Bungie's extraction shooter and revival (soft reboot?) of its old franchise. There is a lot to say about exactly what chord it's struck with me.

I'm also keeping my eye on some other strategy games, including one that's still slated to launch later this year. Star Wars: Zero Company seems to be a promising take on XCOM-like turn-based strategy, and a recent preview from PC Gamer has me extra-intrigued.

Finally, with console price hikes galore and Grand Theft Auto 6 still coming at the end of the year, there are some interesting things for me to go over.