Total War: Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires review: a sandbox masterpiece

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is listening, does it still make a sound? The developers at Creative Assembly seem to think so.

immortal empireDLC for Total War: Warhammer 3 Released in beta today is an exercise in creative abandonment. It consists of a giant fantasy map filled with dinosaurs, mammoths, vampires, and sentient terracotta statues, with players playing small roles in a much grander plan. So many video games play out all around you, existing only in what you can observe. but, immortal empirewe can only guess what trees are falling on the other side of this vast world—until we suddenly stare into a sea of ​​fallen forest.

For those who haven’t spent much of this year perusing all the new announcements, immortal empire Accumulation, not expansion. Combines each of his three maps in the trilogy, and all of its 86 playable factions, into one digital his facsimile of Warhammer’s “Old World” setting. It’s basically a parody of Earth.

Like the rest of the Total War series, immortal empire A civilization-inspired game of city building and economic management, on a turn-based campaign map.However, when your armies clash with those of opposing factions, you engage in real-time strategic combat between hundreds and sometimes thousands of armies. warhammer 3‘s base campaign offered a more scripted experience in which specific challenges must be completed in parallel with the normal empire-building process. immortal empire Focuses only on 278 faction clashes in one sandbox map.

Image: Creative Assembly/Sega via Polygon

What does the term ‘sandbox’ mean in 2022? It’s used to describe everything from open worlds to management simulations. hitman 3 It’s a sandbox game, for playing static levels in a rotating suite of toys. far cry 6 It’s a sandbox game because you can equip a physics system to generate a series of domino-like explosions. fortnite I think it’s a sandbox game. Because you can aim for John Cena’s face. Like most video game labels, it’s also amorphous. But essentially, it means a certain level of agency for the player: the game is about you first and foremost, so you can try it as much as you like.

call immortal empire However, it’s a sandbox game for exactly the opposite reason. This is a world where you can spend a dozen hours improving your cities, negotiating with your neighbors, and expanding your borders across the continent, while two, three, or four other AI factions can spend your time. Same for another hemisphere spent. It reminds me of playing games literally in a sandbox with my childhood friends. I realized that while each of us was happy with the machinations of our own fictional world, we were all playing by different rules. It didn’t matter that the size difference was unfair when my friend manipulated his G.I. We were playing in the same sandbox. My only hope is that his 3rd friend of mine brought in Bionicle to save the day, or his 4th friend of mine was an isolationist and kept quiet in the corner was to seize the chance of new territories and attack the invaders’ flanks with megablocks. dragon.

Image: Creative Assembly/Sega via Polygon

Like a thrilling episode of youthful imagination, immortal empire is an emergent narrative factory, driven by similar asymmetries.In the two weeks I had beta access to the DLC, I played as six different factions. Dark Elf Pirate King Lokir His first experience as Felheart was in a series of raids along the coast of Cathay (the Chinese equivalent of Warhammer). His first 30 or so turns were a leisurely battle against a meager city garrison. Known for their prowess with ranged weapons and hideous monsters of all kinds, my Dark Elven army tore apart the peasants of the country’s eastern borders.

Soon, however, a sub-faction of the Kasaya Empire diverted forces from the Great Bastion (a fantasy version of the Great Wall built to keep demons out of the mortal realm) and battled the marauding nuisances on the flanks. They eventually coalesced into his one giant army of riflemen, artillery, rocket batteries, floating artillery and shape-shifting dragons, and threw me up and down the coast. my big mistake? Unlike Cathay, I didn’t bother making friends.

Now, let’s think about my second campaign as Lizardman leader Okyotoru. The intelligent, bipedal Chameleon was once sucked into the Kingdom of Chaos and forced to flee, so the purpose of his campaign is to prevent the same thing from happening again. but by using an army of dinosaurs and mace-wielding crocodiles (yes i’m serious) I’m teleported to a random location in the Old World, battling Khorne’s demonic hordes, Nurgle’s plague hordes, and Sylvanian bloodthirsty vampires. My neighbors trust me because I have no interest in expanding my empire. We trade resources and recruit each other’s units. Occasionally build temples in their cities that can be teleported to repel invaders. By the time the evil sorcerer Nagash summoned the resurrected Egyptian Pharaoh’s army to the Southland desert, I helped form a coalition capable of combating the undead menace.

Lokhir and Oxyotl immortal empireThere are 86 of them.made by some fans A wheel to help players select the starting leader Because, well, that’s a lot.

Image: Creative Assembly/Sega via Polygon

I’ve been doing my best these last few weeks. immortal empire‘Grandeur distracts me from its flaws. For all of the AI’s clever manipulations on the campaign map, it still doesn’t seem to have a consistent grasp of how the streets work during a siege. In fact, the aforementioned fight is always a headache. As Waypoint editor Rob Zacny points out in his reviewnot only are they riddled with broken pathfinding and easily exploitable bugs, but their frequency also hinders the overall pace of many faction campaigns. Faces can also wreak havoc on a bird’s eye camera.

Still, I can’t help but marvel at the scope and imagination with which Creative Assembly brought Warhammer’s Old World to life.and maybe i can forgive immortal empire There are a lot of factions that intentionally bend the rules, so sometimes it doesn’t work properly. There are leaders with military buffs I haven’t touched and parts of the world I haven’t set foot in yet. Makes a lot of noise.

immortal empire Beta released on August 23rd on Windows PC. The game was reviewed on PC using a pre-release download code provided by Sega. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not affect editorial content, but Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased via affiliate links.discoverable Additional information on Polygon’s Ethics Policy can be found here.