Total War: THREE KINGDOMS

the last good game CA will ever make. and the pathetic studio gave up on it.

Been playing TW for 15 years. This is the best TW i've played since Shogun 2. I never thought I'd say it, but one of the best things about this game are the diplomacy and spy systems.

One of the best in total war franchise if not the best , very difficult in the start but once understood its an amazing title much more to do after the campaign too.

With Total War: THREE KINGDOMS, Creative Assembly didn’t just take a beloved period of Chinese history and turn it into a game—they gave it life, drama, and elegance. Released in 2019, it marked a major turning point for the Total War franchise: a deeper narrative focus, enhanced diplomacy, and refined systems brought a new level of sophistication to the series. It’s not just about conquest anymore—it’s about legacy, loyalty, and the chaos of ambition. Set during the fall of the Han Dynasty in 190 CE, Three Kingdoms immerses players in one of the most romanticized and politically complex eras in Chinese history. You take the role of a warlord—perhaps the noble Liu Bei, the scheming Cao Cao, or the brutal Dong Zhuo—and fight to unite a fractured empire under your banner. Where the game shines is how it balances historical authenticity with the drama of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. You can choose to play in Romance Mode, where generals are nearly mythic warriors able to solo armies, or Records Mode, which sticks closer to realism and grounded tactics. This duality makes the game uniquely flexible and appealing to both fantasy-leaning and history-loving players. The core gameplay remains classic Total War: a blend of real-time battles and turn-based empire management. But Three Kingdoms elevates both. On the campaign map, diplomacy is vastly improved. Factions now operate with motives, trust levels, and deal-making depth. Alliances, coalitions, betrayals—it’s all dynamic, and it forces you to think beyond brute force. The new guanxi system also tracks personal relationships between generals, which can impact everything from army loyalty to court politics. In battle, unit variety and general abilities make for dynamic engagements. Duels between generals add flair and narrative weight to encounters, though they can sometimes feel like flashy interruptions rather than strategic necessities. Three Kingdoms is arguably the most character-driven Total War game ever made. Each general has a rich background, personality, and set of relationships that evolve over time. Generals can defect, grow jealous, or become lifelong allies. This gives the game a near-RPG layer that turns conquests into personal sagas rather than just map-painting. The voice acting, art design, and UI presentation all reinforce this emphasis on drama and honor. Every decision feels weightier when it affects people, not just provinces. The aesthetic of Three Kingdoms is gorgeous—vibrant colors, elegant Chinese calligraphy, and a painterly style that brings menus, maps, and battlefields to life. Units are well-designed and animated, and battles play out like cinematic clashes straight out of a wuxia film. Performance-wise, the game is demanding on larger campaigns, especially in the late game. Still, the visual identity is one of the most unique and beautiful in the franchise. With multiple starting factions, branching character arcs, and two campaign modes (Romance and Records), Three Kingdoms offers immense replay value. The DLCs, like Mandate of Heaven and Eight Princes, expand on the timeline and characters, though not all have been equally well-received. Sadly, Creative Assembly ended support for the game earlier than many expected, leaving some fans feeling shortchanged despite the game’s solid foundation. Total War: THREE KINGDOMS is not just a high point for the franchise—it’s a bold reimagining of what a historical strategy game can be. It weaves narrative, personality, and politics into its systems in a way that feels natural and deeply rewarding. It’s not flawless—AI can be inconsistent, and late-game management can drag—but its ambition is undeniable. Whether you’re a veteran of the Total War series or a newcomer drawn to ancient China’s drama, Three Kingdoms offers one of the most complete, character-rich strategy experiences out there. A kingdom may rise or fall—but this game’s legacy is already secure. Rating: 8/10

easily the worst game in the total war franchise so far technology tree has little to no effect on economy, population, generals, or pretty much anything other than buildings and recruitment/supply (which still experiences minimal effects from upgrades) movement is also RNG at best, enabling armies to move a certain distance once, but not allowing it afterwards, should you load game from a save of the exact same turn. battles and sieges are about as enjoyable as wiping with a swab of sandpaper, especially the part where you line up a cavalry charge at practically point-black range only for the unit you are charging to disappear, causing your cavalry to park in the middle of bumfuck nowhere with their thumbs up their asses. Apparently garrison towers also come equipped with browning M2HB HMGs, too, which is phenomenal. political aspect of the game is primitively developed, particularly in terms of trading with neighbors; "sharing a border" does NOT mean sharing a border, and infact means your capital needs to be directly connected to theirs with a border (this is purely hypothetical but the only rational explanation to probably the dumbest trade system in a Total War game) also if you have task manager up for some reason the launcher closes it which is fantastic! since steam asked me to revise: also the first Total War game that has crashed on me before 200 hours (70hrs at time of writing and 3 crashes already)

The furious wild dlc made this enjoyable for me, Followers of the flame charging in after tigers and elephants is always cool to watch. 10/10

If you like historical TW or strategy games, buy it. Far and away my favorite Total War of those I've played. It separates itself from other titles with its unique style, interesting and memorable characters, an interesting historical setting, and above all an incredible and complex diplomacy system that allows you to manipulate friend and foe alike in ways completely unimaginable in previous entries. Graphically it holds up very nicely, and I really enjoy the battles and the implementation of heroes (if you play Romance mode - you also have the option to play Records which is more reminiscent of other TW games). They also made a real effort to create at least a few unique playstyles for different factions and leaders, if some feel a bit lazy. Unfortunately the late game is lacking, especially once all of the unique characters die off and you are left with a sea of default face cards reminiscent of older titles. Fortunately this is remedied through mods or by turning off death by old age, an option included in vanilla. Some people complain about a lack of unit diversity, which I guess is fair, but this has never been a problem for me. Some have also complained about bugs, but I've never really had any issues and this is also easily remedied by mods. Some also dislike the heavy cavalry focus, which I get because it can require a lot of micromanaging, but it also adds interesting strategies and possibilities that I personally enjoy. The game can have a bit of a learning curve, as there are some very important mechanics and stats (such as rice vs. wheat for Cao Cao or other faction/leader traits) that are not made immediately obvious, are only shown briefly, or are buried in menus, but you can mostly get by without getting bogged down in numbers. Basically it has almost all of the good stuff from previous games and a few areas where it is far superior. Criminally underrated and for my money easily the best Total War game out there. I think it is very difficult to make any serious argument against it as the best historical TW title. If it's on sale it should be a no-brainer.

Let's see a +A propah diplomacy system +character relationships,freinds,rivalries +interesting period especially if you ever played dynasty warriors +no faction truly plays the same,the variety is really there with all sorts of mechanics +a spy system -crashes,the game will crash for the stupidest fucking reason,i crashed when i closed a notification,i crashed when i changed my graphic setting,i crashed when i had a battle with 3v3 fight and played perfectly fine in a 40v40 fight Really good game as long as you come to terms with the fact that it will occasionally crash,the bugfix mod helps a LOT

Fantastic strategy and battle. Highly recommend

NOT ONLY One of the best total wars but one of my favourite games ever. The map is awesome, the theme and tone is awesome. The EVER SO slightly arcadey feel to it is AWESOME. battles are the fun. just LOVE this game, but I have a bias because I love this time period.

I picked this up a while back and bounced off it at first, owing to it being a lot more stylised than previous historical titles. On coming back to it I've really changed my mind on this though, and I've found that a lot of the things I was previously unsure are actually really quite fun. The intrigue and diplomacy system are far and above the best they've been in any TW game, the general's retinues lend loads of individuality and personality to your armies, and the battles themselves are great in Records or Romance modes. That being said there are still some annoyances, such as the difficulty in understanding what the effects of all the various income modifiers are and whether the Treasury screen accurately reflects them or not but all in all this is a really great entry in the historical TW franchise as well as being a smoother transition into it from the more character focused WH series. It's a shame the rest of the orignially planned DLC were never made, but that ship has now well and truly saved and hopefully the lessons from this game will be incorporated into wherever CA takes the franchise next.

This is one of the best Total War games, the best diplomacy system, and a wonder for newcomers and veterans alike. If you love Dynasty Warriors and aren't afraid of generals getting whacked by a random cannonball like in other TW games, this is the one for you. Between being small bandits, Yellow Turbans, passive governors, or raging barbarians there's a playstyle to fit every player. Do you like peace, diplomacy and trade? Be Kong Rong or Shi Xie. Do you want to fight non-stop and suffer every turn? Be Lu Bu or Yuan Shu. Do you just LOVE cavalry and fighting? Be Gongsun Zan or Ma Teng. The intricate relationship system of keeping generals happy, and managing their relationships is wonderful, this is a must own for any Dynasty Warriors or Three Kingdoms fan. Every faction is unique with their resource, special units, abilities, and capabilities. The 194 AD and 200 AD add-ons are must owns, while the Eight Princes DLC is sort of lackluster. The 182 Yellow Turban Rebellion can be fun but seems the Yellow Turbans always seem to win. The AI is better than usual for TW games, and much better than Empire or Napoleon. While not the most brilliant, it can be a challenge with certain factions that start in hard/difficult positions. The general roster is impressive, and I enjoy customizing their special skillsets, items, and abilities. The game mechanics are simple to learn but difficult to master sometimes, so you may be restarting alot with some of the tougher factions. But the learning curve is nowhere near Hearts of Iron. Game is a solid 9/10 and I hope they release similar titles in the future. Stop reading and BUY THIS GAME!

not personally for me but it has good features but it just felt too much like warhammer

It is really complicated as someone who played 3 total war games before I hardly understand it, even now I don't know most of the things. Yet I enjoy a lot. Good game.

Seriously one of my favorite Total Wars. I love the cinematic battles, the choice between the romance or realism. I love the retainer system as it feels realistic that an army wouldn't be comprised of a single lord's retinue. The map is large despite the setting being in one country. Obviously, it has its cons like limited unit variety, limited map, and so on... But overall I really like it.

I currently have 4 hours of gameplay, I may rewrite this after playing more, as a Total War collector this game got my attention into Chinese Culture. I started reading books about ancient China, history and culture after getting the game but... I had it in my library for more than 6 months without touching.... The battles are easy, but as a western people I am very unfamiliar with the map and I am still unfamiliar after playing. It is one of the difficulties of this game... The other difficulty is that I have no idea who is who... I even get confused with my own faction and leader because of similar flags, colors and names... So until now I just attack to anyone that is not my ally, I get some lands, I don't even see the benefits of different cities and lands, so it is hard to approach strategically... It could be great if I knew what I am doing and what should I do and why should I do... I can't read chinese, some factions have the same colored flags like yellows and blues... and I try to recognize them based on chinese character or the slight differences (Yellow background white character, yellow background black character, yellow background black corners.... etc.... The gameplay is slow, people say diplomacy has improved but I only have 2 options so far... War or Peace, maybe in the furher I may get more options.... But, overall it is okayish. I see all the efforts in doing this game, but it is a different map, hard to remember the names, and not being good at the region, culture and the history makes the game even more difficult, especially if you're frrom the Western World... I see this game as a very nitche Total War game, you may play with ease only if you have special interest in Asia, especially in China... But since no one teach anything more than generic stuff about China in western schools and if you never did your own investigation, you're very limited and not familiar with anything at all... I probably know about 4 or 6 cities in China in real life... That's all about it... Gameplay feels nice, the attention in detail is awesome, musics are nice, it's just hard to play. You're in the middle of a landlocked part of China, you have enemies in north, south, east and west.... Thanks to this game I started learning new things.

Why Three Kingdom is The best Total War game: - Best character designs out of all games. This is non negotiable. Each character in this game holds a similar aesthetic however the designers were able to slip in personality not just through their dialogue but through their visual designs. This is a very important as the characters in this game is based off of real people from Chinese history. And sure, they might not be brutish ogres or fancy elves but just one look at any of these characters and I can tell who they are and what they value. - Ability to play commander focused (romantic) or more troop focused battles (records). Each of these are entertaining with both being stimulating in their own way. I've personally had alot of fun playing romantic. In this mode, Commanders hold more sway in combat with them being able to fling and swing enemies around. There is another reason I like Romantic and that's due to the ability to use an incredible cool feature, duelling. Duels can be set up by either your army or your enemies, if accepted your commanders will fight, sometimes to the death. I don't know who choreographed these fights but whoever it is needs an award. Each duel is exiting and gritty, I've seen my commanders cleave Significant Chinese figures in half without breaking a sweat. Just a warning though, just because your commander is double the level of an enemy doesn't mean he will win, each commander has a set of passive abilities and skills that can turn a sticky situation sweet. Also you will get more exp from starting a duel compared to accepting one. - Diplomacy in this game is incredible. You can send your men as spies into other factions and silently take over their land and resources. Incite rebellions by decreasing satisfaction or public order. Influence factions to fight each other or make peace.drain a factions resources such as food, gold or spice in order to make them pay you more for trade agreements or in basic diplomatic decisions. And the best part is, their are sooo many different ways you can achieve all of these, each method holding their own advantages and disadvantages and i haven't even mentions faction specific abilities. - Did I mention how visually attractive this game is? The artstyle of the game is the best i have every seen. I am personally a big fan of games like Kenshi and Cyberpunk, games which are renowned for their unique aesthetic. This game however, takes it to another level, the entire game feels like a masterclass in both character design, colour theory and even UI layout. The design team behind this quite clearly loved working on this and poured their heart and soul into this game. - The Gameplay. the soul reason I've decided to review this game is because I decided to purchase another game. Total War: Warhammer. I'd seen a ton of content surrounding the game and believed it to be a better total war than Three Kingdoms. I was wrong. After playing a bit I found that Everything: from the UI, the combat, the progressionary system and Especially the Commanders were a million times better than Warhammer only without the added excitement from seeing big spooky monsters. - Settlement management is a core aspect of this game. I like how you can set commanders as administrators of settlements, allowing them to add buffs to certain streams of your economy. The way money works within this game. Depending on what buildings you place, you will either get a flat increase to money made from peasantry, commerce or industry. Or you can get a percentage increase to any or these mentioned categories. So Whats holding this game back? This game is old and I believe the won't be any more content added to it. Building on this is the popularity of other Total War games, I mean who wouldn't rather play as a Buff Aztec Lizard? Focusing more on my gripes about this game, I have to say that I find the combat is a little strange . I say this as I believe their is more of a focus on forcing the enemy to flee rather then defeating them outright. Sure this is more realistic but it just allows for the enemy to regroup and then fight with advantage. this can make difficult battles tedious as I'm often forced to have my men chase down already incapacitated enemies, so that they may not come back and flank me, rather than having them assist the rest of the army. Secondly, this game was not made with multiplayer in mind. You can do battles but good luck if you want to figure out how to play a match with others. A personal issue I faced when playing this game stems from its monotomy, i can't tell if it's just me not meshing well with the intended playstyle but, after a while, I feel as if I've finished regardless of what my objectives are and henceforth get bored. To counter this however, I plan to play a tougher more difficult campaign next, one with more aggression and action. Issue number 4, its a total war game. Their are many DLC's and lets be honest, most of them are shit. If you were thinking about getting this game, I'd advise that you forget about DLC's altogether and instead just focus on the base game. There is plenty of content. Personally I advise that you start with Cao Cao and play as him until you are an emperor, from their you could branch out and try all the other factions or just stick with him and unite China. This game doesn't restrict you and you can do what you want so long as their isn't someone in your way.

⭐ Review: The Grand Strategy Crown Jewel ⭐ As a longtime fan of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Total War, I came into this game with high expectations—and left with 1,000+ hours of unforgettable immersion. This is grand strategy at its finest, crafted by the undisputed masters of the genre. I paid full price, picked up all the DLC, and still went deep into the community mods just to keep the experience fresh. Every campaign felt like crafting my own legend, with enough intrigue, diplomacy, and tactical nuance to rival ancient war councils. When Three Kingdoms II drops, they won’t even need to ask—I’m already sold. This isn’t just a game; it’s a sandbox for warlords, dreamers, and fans of historical epics. Take my money and my free time. I’m ready for round two.

I only played older Total WAR titles because my PC couldn't handle the newer ones. I was surprised this runs smoothly. I am amazed the mechanics in the game. This is really a next gen Total WAR game comparing to the older ones. The diplomacy is where the game shines for me. I like I can control where my allies or vassals should attack. I never really interested about the Romance of the 3 kingdoms. I was more interested in the Japanese sengoku period. But I was wrong. This is pure gold too.

Picked this up during steam summer sale (75% off). As a veteran of Shogun, Three Kingdoms is great.

Pretty good, still fuck CA, they abandoned this game and they charge 3$ for blood in the game, absurd

This is my first RTS game, only bought because of Romance of Three Kingdoms Lore. Worth my $20 I spent. Very good game.

it's a good game, but it has some major issues and bugs especially a sync bug with steam cloud that could cost you hours of gameplay, and chances are slim that SEGA will ever come back and fix the problem on a 6 year old game, but if you look past all that, it's a decent game.

>be me >don't know shit, pick Gongsun zan randomly for fun and shit >building villages, feeling strategic >turn 15, Cao Cao declares war >spawns waves of doomstack out of nowhere >like litteral 5000 elite cavalry, where tf did they come from >my spearmen get thrashed into the Yellow River >litteraly just buy him into becoming my vassal >game over by turn 50, i get the mandate of heaven >10/10, Would unify china again

a really good total war game. absolutely worth the money even 6y after its release. i really love the diplomacy

This game is different from the traditional TW games of the past, but in a very good way. The Hero's can change the tide of battle, just like in the legends or you can set it up to be exactly like the old TW games where Hero's don't have as much of an effect. I have played every TW game since the original Shogun. They have had good ones (ROME/SHOGUN/MEDIVAL/NAPOLEAN) and they have bad ones... (TROY,THRONES,PHAROAH)... this one is on the better side. Its worth playing and they really put a lot of money into DLC content. I just wish the TW Team would give us an American Civil War Era like they did with EMPIRE, where the global conflicts of the time can affect the American Civil War and lead into a Global Fight with the obvious factions like European Countries and the United States. Could you imagine conquering the US and then going on to dominate South America and maybe even Europe as the United Confederate States of America?

theres too many negatives for me to even recommend this game just to give a few quick examples cause im not going into detail -lack of campaigns -lack of game actually following story quest for you and other factions -game crashes way too much you need mods for stability buy the game on sale(get it from a diff site its not worth the 15$ for how much it crashes) get TROM mod or MTU two mods ive played and made my experience better

Having played many thousands of hours on all the Total War series I found I couldn't manage 20 hours on this one. While all the reviews praise it I found it flat tiresome and tedious. I found It simply has no flavour to it other than a congested mess.

Plays great and seems like it would be a very enjoyable game, but the font size is too small and with no way to increase it, I have no choice but to refund, which is a shame. Even tried mods but none that i added worked.

Really wanted to like this game.. got it off recommendation from someone else.. but holy gods. I like leading wars, building strategies, winning over the world, or in this case China. I told myself if it was enjoyable I'd just get all the DLCs while it's on sale but- It's so.. boring. It feels easy to understand and yet the mechanics don't make sense when applied. Having so many people run from battles I'm winning is insane.. the formations are tiresome. And don't get me wrong, I researched a bit, Read some articles. It's related to morale and whether their general has fled. BUT HOLY F- what about honor?? Is it really historically accurate to say that people would turn tail and run as soon as ONLY their retinue started to wane in numbers. It makes ZERO SENSE. ZERO- that one section (for example, archers) might run simply because they are down in # versus considering that the rest of the army's retinue is fully winning the battle. This in turn deprives the army of backup because one section cut tail and run EVEN WHEN 75%+ of the enemy is fleeing and most of the little red checkpoints have turned green. Be so serious. This game is not logical at all. Seeing that happen killed my enthusiasm for the game, because it's a game but where's the realism?? I've read plenty of stories of honorable Chinese based battle where they fight or die trying. And you're telling me sections will just FLEE without regard to the main general (me) just because the section general dips? Be so serious. I literally fall asleep playing it, but not because it's fun. Because it feels tiresome to even try to play. I've played multiple war games, time management, city builders, etc etc. and I'm going to try to commit to learning the game a bit more and seeing if that changes anything but.. it says I have 39.4 hrs on the game but 3/4ths of that is spent falling asleep while playing it. So lame. And I really adore learning about Chinese culture too- so I am very disappointed. Can't stay awake long enough to immerse myself in another culture's game. Sigh. The dynamics of the game just feel so underwhelming when it comes to one thing vs the other. Maybe I'm stupid, but it's totally not enjoyable to not even be able to tell if getting new things like.. upgrading village, stats, gear, even MAKE a difference. It doesn't feel like anything does. So lame and disappointing. OH AND LET'S TALK ABOUT: Obstacles on the battlefield if i am giving the signal for all men to go attack one point, but the game thinks "ah this is too small place" some of my army will start to split and go left or right to circle around. ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? You make stamina part of the game and allow the computer to CHANGE MY ARMY'S ROUTE? Why is the computer allowed to do this ?? Make the decision to send my army left or right or circle around when I direct them all to the go forward. It makes sense for them to fight, push forward, and follow behind. Do not piss me off. Especially when STAMINA is an impactful thing during battle?????????? And regarding night battles. In what world has fighting at night EVER 100% prevented reinforcement calls. Especially when my reinforcement army is RIGHT NEXT TO ME.?

This and Shogun 2 were the best games that CA created. After these two it went down hill

Wont launch, freezes on first loading screen. Tried everything, run as admin, turn off firewall, offline mode, verify integrity, reinstall, nothing.

this game is simple and easy to learn and aton of fun

Unlike all previous total war games wich have been great, this one is total trash. Constant high pitched screaming by commanders, nonstop. Forced to quit in under 30 minutes.

Does not let you select any menu options with mouse and mouse buttons

sad that they dropped the game but it's still fun tbh

One of the best Total War game, just need more sync combat animation and boom

sent a spy into neighbour faction. rank up the court. make the faction heir dissatisfied. hire him as my spy. assassinate faction leader. he becomes faction leader. trigger civil war in said faction. my very own puppet state. 10/10 great game

Very good strategy game, one of the most unique and innovative in the total war series. Very character based and story driven, probably my second favorite total war game after Warhammer

Sun Jian and Liu Biao minor disagreement, 700 million dead, 200 million civilians cannibalised

The ai cheating is so bad it's just laughable

Still one of the best TWs, despite CA abandoning it

Even in the historical mode it feels like a fantasy game.

very good, please update vietnamese

Interface is very slow. Game is not intuitive

Personally my favorite Total War game

It's fun the play good diplomacy system

I like the Total War, I dont like the chinese men

UI sucks like hell, still the best TW release so far.

One of the best game from Total War series.