Total War Warhammer II

Introduction

As someone that barely knows about the Warhammer universe and has only played the original Total War Warhammer from the Total War franchise reviewing this game is a daunting task. With many mechanics, lore and eccentricities to keep track and criticize you can write a small book just explaining generally what does what… and believe it or not, that book exists, is inside the game in the “help!” section… so yeah… Please note that in this review I will be only covering the things that I feel will help you to learn what this game is generally about (spoilers is about a war) and if it is worth your money.

Total War Warhammer 2 (TTW2) is a game about a grand scale conflict, how you choose to manage it and deal with everything that means growing, maintaining and defending your empire. From politics, to micromanaging battles with thousands of units and stealing resources from your enemies, TTW2 has it all. Fair warning, this game is hard and if you are not prepared or well versed in Total war or Warhammer stuff you will need a lot of reading and practicing to be “decent” at it.

Questions you might have if you're interested in playing it

What is it exactly that you do in the game?

This is a 4X game, so it is all about you conquering the world of Warhammer with your favorite race and hero. Each race and hero has their own strengths and weaknesses so you will have to learn how to play around them. But once you master the game, you can do all kinds of crazy and weird strategies.

I would like to mention that you have 2 modes:

-Battle mode: this is the amazing part of the game where you engage on huge and epic battles with your armies.

-Overworld mode: where you do politics, explore, place armies around the map and manage buildings.

Both are essential to learn to thrive in your campaign.

Long story short, this is a slow-paced game about being an emperor/general in the Warhammer universe with all the sweet glory and the bitter shame that it means to carry that responsibility over your shoulders.

Will it make my eyes bleed?

Hell no! This game is amazing in this aspect. In comparison to TWW1, the textures and models on this game are meticulously well done. Also every unit type has their own custom animations, in the epic real time battles you can see how they react to being stabbed, burned, poisoned and cursed. This is one of the most detailed games that I have ever seen, even over the original TWW1.

The only two things that I wish they implemented are better lighting, because for modern standards it feels bland and better cinematics. There is nothing wrong with still images with narration and slight edits to make them feel more dynamic, but I really wish for more elaborated cut scenes.

Does it have a good story?

No, it has multiple good stories. I had not finished all the campaigns for all the races and heroes, but for what I had experienced I think they are good enough. I know that most of the “plot” of this game are just settings for you to create your own adventures, but I’m a sucker for the epic narrations that you get every time that you achieve a major goal of your race/hero.

It's simplistic but good.

Does it have a good soundtrack?

It’s good. I won’t say that is even better than TTW1. But it does helps you immerse yourself into the mind set for each race and campaign.

It does what it’s supposed to do.

Does it have replay value?

The base game has 2 campaigns and around 4 to 7 races with 4 different heroes for you to play with. On top of that, thanks to the awesome flexibility of the design philosophy of the Total War games, every match is different because of the AI and, if you are into multiplayer, human opponents will react differently to your moves. And if you needed even more, you can tweak your gaming experience with the in-game settings or with the extensive list of awesome mods for you to play.

Does it run well?

The only thing that I want to point out as something that you should need to consider if you want to buy this game is that you will need an SSD to install it. Without one you can get loading screens of 3-5 minutes depending on your hardware. Beyond that this game ran amazingly on my rig. Not a single frame drop, crash or bug in 50-ish hours.

I should mention that I had an issue in which for some weird reason I could not unlock any achievements on steam.

Is it fun?

Like I said in my TWW1 review:

“If you are a fan of 4X games, this will keep you engaged for dozens of hours. If you are a newcomer to this genre, just be aware that you have to put some work learning the mechanics of the game before you can start enjoying yourself. For me it was a steep 20 hours of learning before I knew what I was doing.”

TTW2 now is a bit more accessible, you have more room to experiment and less walls of text to read, although you will still need to read more than your average AAA game.

TLDR; I had more fun in this game than in the original only because now I have all the knowledge of the previous game to help me keep going. So make of it what you will.

So what is Total War Warhammer 2?

It’s the natural evolution of TWW1. Everything that you got from the previous game: sieges, politics, stealth, complex skill trees, excellent AI and much... much more... has been improved and refined. An example of this are the maps, it is leagues better than the map from TTW1, I can’t express how detailed and beautiful it is.

Like in the first game, each race is different and requires you to learn their logic. I would like to mention that all races have been tweaked and improved, but I think the Skaven are the ones that got the most love of them all. They are the most unique faction that I have ever played in any strategy game. From their play style of “throw everything at your enemies” style in battles, to the crazy tech tree full of amazing weapons and not forgetting their “underground mechanic” that lets you hide inside hostile cities. They are for me worth the asking price of TWW2.

Another race that is new in TWW2 are the Lizardmen that have all kinds of weird units like T-rex and some kind of robots! From what I have read online they are a fan favorite and I can see why. They are not as amazing as the Skaven but still fun to play and brutal. The only thing that I disliked is how “generic they feel” when you are outside of battle, but nothing necessarily bad.

Graphics and Sound

What you see on screenshots is what you get. Everything is clean and icons presenting objects are nice and it is easy to see what all the objects are even when they are at the bottom stripe without the text. I found out that music in this game is a good mix of songs for such game as they enhance the gameplay without taking the spotlight away from it.

Pros

It’s an almost bug free experience. This game is so polished!
You can play the factions of the first game in the multiplayer if you own TWW1
The maps are so detailed and stunning!
The animations are amazing.
The difficulty curve is perfect (once you learn the mechanics of the game).
The tech trees and heroes are fun to use and they affect gameplay in meaningful ways.
One of the most entertaining games that I have ever played. This is not hyperbole, it truly is.
A decent amount of free DLC.

Cons

Most of the really unique and fun stuff is locked behind DLC. Yes, I’m talking about the Skaven DLC among others.
Even if this game was more accessible for me it is still a hard game to get into if you are a newcomer. This is something that is not necessarily bad but is something that you should have in mind if you are interested in this game.

Conclusion - Is it worth the money?

If you loved the original game: Yes.

If you are curious about the series and what to pick up this one because it is the newer and shiny one and looks amazing: Yes.

If you love to kick ass as the best faction, the all mighty Skaven: Yes

This game is basically flawless, a true gem that everyone at least should try out. Like the first one it will require a lot of study from you to even get out of the starting area, but once you do that you are up for hundreds of hours of amazing war simulation.

Rating: 9/10