Shogun: Total War is 25 years old this year, and Creative Assembly are holding a multi-month long celebration kicking off in August with livestreams, interviews, sales, and multiplayer tournaments, all culminating with a showcase in early December. This will be the first showcase of its type they’ve done, and it’s billed to feature announcements for “new games” in the strategy series. That’s more than one, as the discerning pluralisation understanders among you have no doubt sagely clocked.
“Whether you’re a fantasy or history fan, there will be plenty to enjoy,” writes CA’s Roger Collum. “Warhammer 40K and Medieval 3!” The crowds bay in frothing anticipation. “Star Wars and World War 1!”, we scream like shrill goats perched on single planks of driftwood floating upon stone-gray oceans, kept from madness only by the knowledge that we can adequately explain what a hammer and anvil maneuver is, in lieu of having formed any meaningful human relationships in a decade.
“Lord Of The Rings and Empire 2!”, reads the scrawled note sellotaped to the goat-rescuing submariner’s periscope lens, resulting in the tragic water deaths of both the goat and then the entire crew somehow. This madness has gone too far. Please, control yourselves.
For what it’s worth: yes, I think at least one of these games is going to be Warhammer 40,000. On to the hefty pile of circumstantial evidence, you can add the seeming absence of Warhammer 3 game director Rich Aldridge from the latest Tides Of Torment showcase. This said, it’s also equally possible Aldridge is hard at work on the massive End Times expansion I’m sure is coming to Twarhammer sooner rather than later. “Tides of Torment DLC will reveal its final playable faction in July,” writes Collum, “and some long-awaited content will be unveiled at the anniversary showcase”. As long as I get Thanquol before the trilogy wraps up, I’m a happy little ratman. Well, Thanquol and Toddy.
