Recent reviews by Super Sheriff of The Sun Goddess

Edit: I realized I never updated this. I wrote this review when the game came out in Summer of 2022, and have played it a metric ton since then. I'm leaving it as NOT recommended for one reason only... I came to the realization that without TWW1 or TWW2, this game again borders on unplayable. This is made infinitely worse by the DLC wars that have been waged on this trilogy of games, though it's hardly surprising. I'm a sucker who always bites, but you don't have to be. That said... it IS fun. Just weigh the monetary investment heavily, there are better games with a metric ton of DLC for 200+ dollars.

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Alright, so... yikes. Total War: Warhammer II is one of my favorite games of all time. I got started with Warhammer Fantasy (tabletop) when I was young, so this is a universe I love. Seeing Daemons, Cathay, and Kislev brought to life in this game was something I wanted so badly, and when they announced Ogres as a DLC? I was giddy with excitement.

My first play through was met with a "Wait, what" as I started to realize JUST what had happened. Now, Immortal Empires was never going to be part of the base game, but I was kind of hoping that maybe you could play SOME other factions. Instead, we got "Oops, all Daemons." To say this seems like an oversight would be an understatement, and I'm not sure why at least the Empire and a few other factions weren't updated to be playable if you own the other games.

Now, this game is buried under an avalanche of other issues (I think most of those are minor) everyone else here definitely mentioned, but the biggest one to me was the realization that 5 out of 8 of the playable factions are currently Daemons- a faction that definitely wouldn't believe in diplomacy, one of the linchpin elements of Total War games. Most of the changes made from TW:W2 are good ones (like not having to leave encamp status to move).

So, the reason I have 30 hours in this game is because I love Greasus, and playing Cathay felt nice. It was worth dealing with the campaign, which I think is... alright. Daemons being everything and everywhere, as well as basically being teased with other factions existing and not being playable, ultimately makes this a game that makes me sad. I'm sure the time that went into this was GARGANTUAN, but I feel like this was released early. The difference between this and Cyberpunk is that, despite Cyberpunk having colossal glitches, it was still pretty fun. While the glitches are at a minimum in this game, to suck this much fun out of a game that everyone was collectively anxious for borders on impressive.

Now, when Immortal Empires comes out and makes this game a freaking masterpiece, I'll probably try to erase this comment. But for now, it's just something that makes me sad though. Buy TW:W2 and play that, and like me, wait for Immortal Empires before you look into this game again.