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Game cover of the Total War: Three Kingdoms

Total War: Three Kingdoms, stylized as Total War: THREE KINGDOMS, is the 13th installment in the Total War series, developed by The Creative Assembly. It was announced on January 10, 2018, and released on May 23, 2019. The game is set in China during Three Kingdoms era.[1]

The game features two game modes. The first mode, "Romance", is based on the highly romanticized account of the era, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in which generals are gifted with nearly superhuman strength. Another mode, "Records", based on Records of the Three Kingdoms, presents a more historically accurate version. In Classic, the generals have their powers removed and they can no longer be commanded separately.

Story[]

The game begins in 190 CE, in which the once glorious Han dynasty is on the verge of collapse. The enthroned child Emperor, Xian, was manipulated by the warlord Dong Zhuo, at the age of eight. Dong Zhuo's oppressive rule leads to chaos. New warlords rise and form the coalition to start the campaign against Dong Zhuo. However, with each warlord having personal ambitions and constantly shifting allegiances, players need to utilize strategy and tactics to unify China and write their own history.

Features[]

Characters system[]

  • Character system has been revamped. Characters in the game are now unique entities with different backgrounds and traits. There are no dedicated Generals, Spies, or Diplomats in the Three Kingdoms, all characters can perform all roles. So all of the player's characters can be a spy one day, a general on the battlefield next, and a governor in the court after. The game features a cast of hundreds of historical characters with some of them being famous figure with unique design.

Guanxi system[]

  • The Guanxi System (Friendship and Loyalty) is modeled after Guanxi, the Chinese concept of dynamic inter-relationships, The Creative Assembly claims that the game has taken a paradigm-shifting approach to character agency. Each of these characters is brought to life with their own unique personalities, motivations, and likes/dislikes. They also form their deep relationships with each other, both positive and negative, that shape how your story plays out.

Ancillaries[]

  • Ancillary are now items that can be equipped on characters to provide bonuses for your character's attributes. A character's portrait will also change according to the ancillary equipped.

Campaign mechanics[]

Diplomacy[]

  • Diplomacy is completely revamped from previous titles. The developer rewrites the diplomacy model and AI from scratch to support these new aims and features. The new Diplomacy revolutionizes a host of traditional features and systems from previous titles in the franchise. These include haggling deals and trade territory and ancillaries, and how AI values your offer, which affects state relationships and attitudes between different leaderships. It also adds new diplomacy options such as coalition and guaranteeing vassal autonomy.

Court[]

  • Court system revamped. It now features various new court positions, family tree, and character relationship web. New faction council provides bonus and generate missions for the player to improve the national industry, military, and commerce. The player can give out Administrator position for your characters, ensuring their effective and satisfied employment in your court. People with low satisfaction and unpleasant guanxi within your court will automatically leave your faction to seek employment elsewhere and bring their own retinues and territories with them.

Reforms[]

  • Reforms system, which is Three Kingdoms' unique take on tech tree, is refined and redesigned.

Espionage[]

  • Undercover Network returns to replace the old Agent system and plays vastly different from assassination and espionage system in previous titles.

Story progression[]

  • The game now features story events and diverted paths. Events and Initial dilemma are new features introduced for the player to create their own war stories during game progression. After fulfilling certain prerequisite actions, Each faction will face dilemmas to choose from, marking a pivotal moment in that warlord's story. One of the options available to players is a choice reflecting what happened in history, and the outcomes will follow the events of the period. The others let players forge an alternative history of what might have been.

Battle mechanics[]

  • Extreme unit size with 240 infantry/archers or 60 horses per unit. General's bodyguard unit in Records mode can be upgraded even more horses in one unit.

Heroes[]

  • Hero mechanic returns in Total War: Three Kingdoms. heroes in the game are unique characters that act as single unit on the battlefield. Heroes are divided into different classes that provide benefits in both the grand campaign and on the battlefield. Some heroes are better at buffing allies while others are duelists whom are able to hunt down other heroes. Some heroes carry their unique armors, weapons, and equipment.

Duels[]

  • Dueling returns with new improvements. Through dueling, the player could choose a certain class of heroes to engage in a one-on-one battle in front of their army. The victorious side will gain morale boost on the battlefield, which can often turn the tide of the battle.

Wu xing system[]

  • Wu Xing (Elemental Phases) is a new gameplay mechanic. The system is based on ancient Chinese philosophy that describes the interrelationships of the five elements to view the workings of the world. Wu Xing's mechanic summarizes the rock-paper-scissor balance approach from previous titles, streamlining them into a closed-circuit system that affects every aspect of gameplay.

Miscellaneous[]

  • New art style, user interface, and graphic design inspired by traditional Chinese cultures.
  • Move Capital returns, a feature last seen in Medieval II: Total War.
  • Campaign AI rewritten.
  • Customization of user interface and unit cards.
  • The game has over 700 historical characters.


Factions and leaders[]

TW3K warlords

Portraits of the faction leaders in the base game

The game features 12 playable factions at launch, without counting DLC and FLC characters. The total faction count is 36 including vassal and NPC factions. Each faction is led by a warlord.

The Three Kingdoms[]

The Han Dynasty[]

Warlords[]

Governors[]

Bandits[]

Yellow Turbans[]

Nanman (Requires Furious Wild Expansion Pack)[]

Eight Princes (Requires Eight Princes DLC)[]

Development[]

TW3K LE

When The Creative Assembly start to develop the next historical title for the Total War series, they were very keen to create something based heavily on characters. The Creative Assembly ultimately decided on the Three Kingdoms period, which many records on specific people from the time, as well as potential larger than life characters available for each faction.

Sources used in The Creative Assembly's research for the game were the famous pieces of Chinese literature Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Records of the Three Kingdoms. The Creative Assembly then created several characters with names and unique personality traits, as well as 38 characters with unique art at launch. By the end of the DLC cycle, Three Kingdoms had more than 1000 historical characters, of which 113 features unique artworks.

Despite the Warhammer-inspired gameplay and dramatization of historical events, Total War: Three Kingdoms is historically authentic. The Creative Assembly consulted Rafe de Crespigny, a prominte sinologist and historian on the Three Kingdoms period. The factual context surrounding Han China displayed in-game, including government systems, character biography, ancient geogrpahy and culture, were based on authentic records. The Records mode also particularly extends the historical accuracy on the gameplay side, which removes anachronistic clothing, weapons, characters, events, and hero systems in the game.[2][3]

According to Pawel Wojs, Project Art Director at The Creative Assembly, the team created Total War: Three Kingdoms as a game that will break the status quo. The team didn't specifically plan for the Chinese audience for the game but believed that Three Kingdoms needs to be done "differently" to be successful in the Western market, and if The Creative Assembly "do[es] it right, it will definitely resonate in the East."[4]

The Total War: Three Kingdoms was announced by publisher SEGA on the 11th of January 2018, with a cinematic trailer. The release date was slated for the 7th of March 2019 but was later pushed back to the 23rd of May in the same year for further gameplay optimization. Pre-order or purchasing the game within the first week of release granted the player Yellow Turban Rebellion Warlord Pack.

The game featured three versions at launch, the Digital Edition, the Limited Edition, and the Collection's Edition. The Limited Edition was distributed to selected retailers and it featured a special disk case and a double-sided poster featuring the grand campaign map and Warlords. The Collector's Edition included everything in the Limited Edition, but also contained an exclusive artbook and a 24-centimeter tall Guan Yu statue, wrapped around in a red-colored gift box.[5]

Upon release, the Three Kingdoms was the most pre-ordered Total War title[6] with one million copies of the game sold within a week. The game broke Guinness World Records and series records for the most concurrently played strategy game on Steam, topping 192,298 players in the first weekend after the release.[7][8]

On the 24th of September, 2020, the fourth edition of the game, the Royal Edition, was announced by The Creative Assembly. The Royal Edition included a new box art and Eight Princes Chapter Pack.[9]

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Reference[]

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The Total War series
Shogun (The Mongol Invasion) Medieval (Viking Invasion) Rome (Barbarian Invasion Alexander Remastered) Spartan Medieval II (Kingdoms) Empire Napoleon Total War: Shogun 2 (Fall of the Samurai) Total War: Rome II Total War: Attila Total War: Warhammer Total War: Arena Total War: Warhammer II Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia Total War: Three Kingdoms Total War Saga: Troy Total War: Warhammer III Total War: Pharaoh
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