Recent reviews by Knightly

Empire Total War is a game that I keep coming back to. For someone interested in the history of the 18th century, there aren't a ton of games that explore this time period. Why that is, I'm not sure. There's plenty of interesting events and historical figures taking place during this time. If you're like me and are interested in that time period, this game will not disappoint you.

If you're familiar with the other total war games, you will be more than at home playing this game. But for those that are new, I'll explain the objective of the game. In Empire, you take the seat leading one of the major countries of the world (predominantly Europe) at the time. The map includes much of the Americas, India, North Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Your goal is to build up your military, economy and cities so that you can attack your neighbors and then take their cities to maximize your profits in your treasury, and to make sure most of the world has your color on the map. You will be responsible for choosing which buildings to build at your cities and where, and for recruiting units to bolster your armies. Most of your expenditure will come from military spending, but to have enough money to cover this you need to increase your economy via trade, tradeships, and buildings that produce income.

Where this game really excels at are the battles (this is true for most total war games) they are very enjoyable. The gunpowder era fits the total war model so well, I sincerely hope they make more games in the gunpowder timeframe. There's something very appealing about seeing your columns of line infantry advance over a field while being blasted at by artillery fire. Strategy plays a key role in battles, but often a battle is decided through planning before the battle has even started. By this, I mean that you want to go after weaker opponents first, and make sure you have stronger armies than the country you're going after.

Naval battles are actually a thing here too, and they're very good. Wind and sails and all that play a role, but let's not forget the words of British Admiral Horatio Nelson: "Never mind maneuvers, always go at them." This is very true when you have superior firepower.

Diplomacy is a thing, but is hit and miss. This is standard for most total wars. Mainly you'll be getting alliances and trade. The AI usually makes outrageous demands in other situations during my experience, but this is a minor nitpick compared to what the game excels at.

Agents are very useful. You'll need your gentlemen to help you research technology quicker and duel the other factions gentlemen. Priests or their equivalent will convert the masses to your state religion. Spies or rakes will gather intel for you and sabotage your enemies buildings.

And I don't think this would be a proper review without at least mentioning mods. Don't get me wrong, the base Empire is amazing by itself. But you add mods to the game, and it becomes even better. There are a number of great mods for this total war game that you can find on mod hosting sites, but a couple of my favorites are: 1600 AD Colonialism, Darthmod Empire, and The American Revolution Mod. Definitely check those and others out if you are looking to add something to the game.

I should also mention there are bugs present in the game (as with any game) but nothing too crazy. The most common one I encounter is dead soldiers kind of hovering off the ground. There are other minor bugs, but they have never effected me much.

To summarize, this game is for anyone who loves total war games, the history of the 18th century, or strategy games in general.

Like maybe some other people, I was at first a bit skeptical about Three Kingdoms. Duels and hero characters that could take on swathes of enemies on their own seemed more on the lines of fantasy. However, the game has Romance mode (referring to larger-than-life heroes I just mentioned) and Records mode (a more traditional take on Total War games). Believe it or not I had also never heard about the Three Kingdoms era of China (gasp), so it was at first hard to really get immersed and behind the game. Let me just say that any doubts I had about the game have been silenced, and that it surpassed my highest expectations. I thought it would be fitting to put out a review for anyone who may have been (or is) on the verge of getting the game like I was.

This game is based on the characters and events from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms books which I highly recommend reading to gain additional information and become more immersed in the time frame (I'm still on book three). The 'Romance' in the name refers to romanticism, a more romantic view of history inspired by these books, where heroic officers and individuals can do superhuman feats (touched on that earlier). The game really does a good job showing the strength of these characters in that respect, and they don't feel any more overpowered than they should be. Battles themselves are a delight to watch, the scale of which can be increased with the additional unit sizes able to be increased even higher in this game. The colors in the campaign battles are beautiful, like a painting brought to life, and the campaign map itself is the probably the nicest looking one in any Total War to date.

Character satisfaction and the court system are done quite well and are fun to play with. Harmony and disharmony is a thing in this game, essentially you want to put characters together that actually like each other, be it in government offices or army retinues. An army is made up of 3 retinues, each with an officer who leads six units (for a total of 21 units making an army). Officers should be grouped with their color of unit predominantly, but you can still play around with it a bit.

Diplomacy is vastly improved from previous Total War titles, with plenty more options available to you. For example, you can diplomatically annex your vassal states and incorporate them into part of your greater empire, or the more benevolent ruler could guarantee their autonomy (as long as they pay tribute, of course). Diplomatic ultimatums are also a thing, where you make a demand, and if said demand isn't accepted by the other faction, war is declared. Suffice to say, there are plenty more options available to you that I haven't mentioned.

I'm gonna stop the review here. I brushed over a lot of stuff, but I want to keep the review relatively succinct and compact. In short, it's my personal view that this game improves on the Total War formula and would be an enjoyable addition to any other Total War fan. As always though, it's best to make your own decision and see for yourself whether you like the game or not.

Oh yeah, and mods can change up various aspects of the game if there's something you don't like.

Recommended mods: Units Remaster
Vassal Treachery Fix
Tiger Knight Units
Heroes Join You