Ready your armies and prepare to strike in Total War: Warhammer II. Those who loved last year’s original title will be thoroughly please to see the sequel takes all that was loved from the past Total War: Warhammer title and infuses some new campaigns and gameplay tweaks. Now with several races to choose from, Total War: Warhammer II offers players tons of replayability and various difficulty settings depending on the race chosen. With improved visuals, more fluid gameplay and a brand-new story for each race, Total War: Warhammer II is a sequel that adds more than even the previous title offered players. If you love the RTS—real time strategy—genre then you’re going to love Total War: Warhammer II from developer Creative Assembly.

Those who have played the previous Total War: Warhammer title from developer Creative Assembly should know what to expect in this sequel. Players lead their armies across various maps as they try to gain total dominance over an area. When a player’s character reaches an enemy, a battle ensues where players must then guide their troops via simple commands to defeat various foes and armies. Total War: Warhammer II fuses real time tactics and turn based gameplay to create an experience unlike most typical RTS titles out there in the gaming landscape. Smart tactics, clever use of resources and knowing what to attack and defend will be the name of the game in Total War: Warhammer II.

Long ago, a mysterious race known simply as the Old Ones went to the Warhammer planet. With an intent to fight against an evil force known as the Forces of Chaos, the Old Ones created several races who could help them. Though their plan ultimately failed and the Old Ones vanished leaving their creations to fight alone against the Forces of Evil. As time passed, the Forces of Chaos began to run amok but a sign of hope arose in the form of heroes who would stop the evil forces for good. A war is beginning and it will take the combined power of various kings and leaders to bring down a force much stronger than them.

Total War: Warhammer II might seem like just another typical RTS title in the gaming sea at first glance. However, we here at Honey’s Anime are here to tell you that Total War: Warhammer II isn’t just your run of the mill RTS title. After having played for some time, we feel comfortable giving you RTS fans out there a honest review of developer Creative Assembly’s Total War: Warhammer II. Will Total War: Warhammer II be a worthwhile purchase? Find out now in our review of Total War: Warhammer II.

First and foremost, when you boot up Total War: Warhammer II you’re going to notice an absolutely gorgeous cutscene play out. This is just the beginning of how detailed Total War: Warhammer II is. Everything from the graphics to the soundtrack in Total War: Warhammer II aims to immerse the gamer in this rich world of Warhammer. Though, while it may look good, the question most will care about is does Total War: Warhammer II play well. The short answer to that is a resounding yes.

The first choice you have to make in Total War: Warhammer II is what race you’re going to play as. There are 8 characters to choose from with each having different settings and difficulties settings. For example, players who might be new to RTS games might want to choose Tyrion as his skill set is simple and also is easy to manipulate. Though if you want a challenge you can choose Clan Mors whose skill set gives players a wide berth of freedom at the cost of having to be more hands on than with Tyrion. The story also changes with each character choice and that is how you’ll go into one of the several campaigns.

Now why difficulty matters comes in the form of the actual RTS gameplay. When you begin a campaign, players are tossed into a world where there are a slew of things to understand and it can be a bit daunting at first. However, we here at Honey’s Anime assure you that it doesn’t take long to get the hang of Total War: Warhammer II thanks to easy to understand tutorials that accompany the beginning of the campaign. Your goal is essentially to dominate the map by capturing different cities and defeating enemies. The city concepts are simple enough where players just manage resources and city buildings to gain more money and other resources such as units for battle or means of defending an area. Things get more complex when you enter a skirmish.

When a player’s character touches an enemy unit, the player is brought to large map where Total War: Warhammer II becomes a true RTS. Players will take their units and lead them to defeat all the enemies. It’s a simple gameplay style of dragging a mouse over the units you want and dictating whether to move somewhere or attack something though there is a few neat themes to Total War: Warhammer II. As we mentioned earlier, each leader character has different skills that can be used in battle. Some are simple skills that buff other units or give them strength in the form of morale, while other skills can be a means of summoning creatures. While in most RTS games, battles can become tedious or repetitive but Total War: Warhammer II does a great job of keeping battles constantly fresh and exciting.

Finally, let us discuss the multiplayer aspect of Total War: Warhammer II. In multiplayer, players have some choices of how to play. Players can either play co-op or can engage 3 vs 3 battles. There is a mind blowing amount of settings you can manipulate before battles to make them feel like mini campaigns against real opponents. Whichever you choose, Total War: Warhammer II plays incredibly well with minimal lag as far as we could tell. We would have liked more cooperative means of play aside from the 2 player co-op but what we get is perfectly fine.

The RTS gaming scene has been done for now decades however developer Creative Assembly’s Total War: Warhammer II is one of the more impressive titles. With beautiful graphics, a rich story and several campaigns to choose from, Total War: Warhammer II gives RTS fans plenty of game to enjoy. As with most RTS titles Total War: Warhammer II can become tedious if you’re one for quicker paced titles. However, for most players the idea of leading an army of several units in smart and tactical ways leaves a nice satisfying feeling when you win a skirmish. Total War: Warhammer II is an excellent game that truly shows how an RTS should be done and will be a real treat for fans of the genre.

Here at Honey’s Anime, we like to step back from hack and slash titles and or FPS games and enjoy more strategic titles. That’s why being fans of Total War: Warhammer we were hoping the sequel would appeal to us. Luckily, not only did Total War: Warhammer II do an excellent job of enhancing the game we loved so much last year but with some gameplay tweaks and more story to enjoy, Total War: Warhammer II is easily one of the better RTS games on the market. That’s why we fully recommend picking up Total War: Warhammer II as soon as you can. Now that our review has come to a closure we would love to hear some feedback from you beautiful gamers out there. Are you excited even more for Total War: Warhammer II or are you going to pass on it? Let us know in the comments below and remember to check out website here at Honey’s Anime for more great reviews and gaming articles!