News A Total War Saga: TROY - coming to Steam on September 2, alogside Mythos DLC

[prudis]

Home - Total War

Publisher Sega and developer Creative Assembly have announced TROY: A Total War Saga, the latest entry in the Total War Saga strategy game series for PC. It will launch in 2020.

In this legendary age, heroes walk the earth. Yet it takes only a single impulsive act to spark a conflict that will shake the world. Audacious Paris, prince of Troy, takes beautiful Helen from her palace in Sparta. As they sail away, Helen’s husband, king Menelaus, curses her name. He will bring his errant wife home – whatever the cost!

King Agamemnon, wide-ruling lord of finely-walled Mycenae, hears his brother’s call. He summons Achaean heroes from far and wide, among them swift-footed Achilles and Odysseus of the silver tongue. The Greeks set course for Troy, towards inevitable war and slaughter. For there, on the battlefield before the great city, legends will be born…

TROY is the latest Total War Saga title; inspired by Homer’s Iliad, it focuses on the historical flashpoint of the Trojan War, evolving the series with new period-inspired features.

Through Total War’s unique blend of grand, turn-based empire management and spectacular real-time battles, Troy explores this epic conflict from both the Greek and Trojan perspectives – peeling back the layers of myth and legend to reveal the realities that may have inspired them.

Experience the events surrounding the era-defining Trojan War, brought to life as never before. Realize your legend as one of eight iconic heroes. Dive into a character-led narrative drama and overcome your antagonists. Build your empire through strategy, statecraft, diplomacy and all-out war, as you conquer this vast and striking recreation of the Bronze Age Mediterranean.

 

[Jav]

I'm interested in this one. I was getting kinda tired of all the viking stuff by the time Thrones of Britannia came out but I find the Troy setting much more interesting.

 

[ISee]

Need to learn more about gameplay improvements first.

 

[prudis]

---

Burn away the shroud to reveal the truth behind the myth in A Total War Saga: TROY. From the mythical heights of Mount Olympus to the arid deserts of Lemnos, the lands are yours to conquer as the fate of Aegean civilisation hangs in the balance.

Forge your legend.

---

---

---

---

 

[prudis]

---

---

found some details about the engine

Lead game designer Todor Nikolov confirms that Troy will run on a modified version of the Warhammer 2 engine, and my word, it looks wonderful. Colours are warm and bright, the Mediterranean is clear and sapphire-hued (trivia side-bar: Homer, writer of the most famous chronicle of the Trojan War, The Iliad, calls it the “wine-dark sea” and doesn’t appear to have had a word for the colour blue).

about resources

In a first for the Total War series, you’ll be trading for five resources rather than one universal currency. Troy is set in the late Bronze Age - the furthest back in time Total War has ever been - and the very concept of money was still catching on. There are two basic resources (wood and food), two advanced ones (stone and bronze) and one rare, special resource (gold).

about interpretation of myths

That speaks to the game’s approach to the mythology – which, thanks to Homer, is practically inseparable from popular understanding of the Trojan War. CA says it’s considering what may have occurred in reality to inspire the wonderful, fantastical stories of the period. The Minotaur, for instance, might’ve been a big, dangerous warrior who wore a mask shaped like a bull’s head to intimidate his enemies. Therefore, that’s how he will appear in Troy.

Nowhere is this approach more clear than in the game’s interpretations of the gods. Yes, they will ‘exist’ – specifically, Ares, Athena, Apollo, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Hera, and Zeus – and you’ll gain or lose their approval through your actions, but they won’t have a material impact on the game. Instead, they will affect people, like your troops and other faction leaders. If you’re favoured by Ares, for instance, your units will gain morale, believing that the god of war himself is on their side. It’s an entirely credible representation of phenomena which didn’t physically exist, yet had a very real impact, and will do in the game.

about factions

The home of the gods itself, Mount Olympus, is on the campaign map, as are other sites of mythological significance. Nikolov says you’ll receive certain gameplay bonuses – some varying according to your faction leader – if you can hold these sites. “If you manage to, for example, capture the region which holds the tomb of Hercules, Aeneas can claim that he can commune with Hercules, and bestow his wisdom upon his troops.”

Aeneas was a Trojan hero and star of the Aeneid, a Homer-imitating epic poem written by Virgil in one of many examples of Romans ripping off Greek culture. He’ll be one of the Trojan faction leaders along with Hector, son of Troy’s King Priam, and two others. They’ll be opposed by four Greeks (or, in Homeric parlance, Achaeans): the self-styled ‘king of kings’ Agamemnon, who claims leadership over all the Greeks; his brother Menelaus, king of Sparta and cuckolded husband of Helen; cunning Odysseus, who had the idea that the Trojans needed a giant wooden horse and just, like, the worst journey home; and, of course, Achilles.

While these are the most essential characters to the story, The Iliad has a cast of dozens of kings and heroes. Notable omissions from the game include Patroclus, Diomedes, Ajax, and Nestor on the Greek side – asked about their possible arrival as future DLC, Nikolov says “it could be something we are discussing.”


I hope the world won’t feel too empty with only eight playable factions at launch – CA says the beautiful map is “on par” with some of the largest games in the series in terms of pure size. Troy is at its dead centre, with the overall theatre encompassing mainland Greece, Crete, and most of modern Turkey.

about characters

These characters were essential to the drama in The Iliad, which is basically a soap opera in a bronze age war. If that sounds familiar, it was one of the points CA emphasised about Total War: Three Kingdoms, which is just one of many reasons why Troy makes so much damn sense as the studio’s next project. Nikolov says a number of innovations from Three Kingdoms will be carried over to Troy: “for example, we have recreated some diplomacy-related features which the players really liked. Some quality-of-life stuff.”

But leave diplomacy to megalomaniac wimps like Agamemnon, as Achilles might say. For most of those characters, their reason for being is to fight. In more elegant extensions of sensibilities developed in Three Kingdoms, expect these legendary heroes to have unique units, battlefield abilities, and wide-ranging campaign mechanics.

Achilles, for instance, can recruit the widest variety of elite attacking units, including his uniques: the Myrmidons. His thirst for glory grants character loyalty, cheaper units, and greater diplomatic influence as he slays other characters who might challenge his supremacy, while his ‘hot blooded’ mechanic mechanises his infamous mood swings: if he’s ever insulted, expect penalties in diplomacy and trade while he sulks.

But you shouldn’t assume too much from The Iliad about how the war shakes out. The game begins with Hector’s brother Paris taking Helen from Menelaus, and relationships are as polarised as you’d expect, but they’re not immutable, nor need they lead to a single outcome. Achilles and Agamemnon quite famously don’t get along, for example, and you might find that one turns on the other long before they make it to Troy.

Hector represents the faction of Troy, but doesn’t gain control of the city until he proves himself to his father, King Priam, by completing a series of tasks. And yet, Nikolov says you can betray your people and take the city by force. “It’ll be extremely difficult to pull off, because there are many factions near the city that are friendly to it. But it could happen. You get to tell the story of the Trojan War, or you get to make your own Trojan War.”

Total War Saga: Troy is resplendent in the Warhammer 2 engine

 

[prudis]

The battle for Troy cannot be waged by man alone. In this big, bold Expansion Pack, recruit monsters and creatures of myth to fight at your side, turning the tide of war on new fantastical battlefields and a refreshed campaign map. Find the Cerberus – a vicious beast guarding the abyss – the Griffin – a winged master of the skies – and the Hydra – a nine-headed serpent spreading poison and madness. Harness their power and experience true myth to decide the fate of Troy once and for all.

Embark on grand expeditions in search of the Cerberus, Hydra or Griffin! Harness their powers in war, take them into Campaign and recruit their unique monstrous units.

Conquer your enemies with the help of mythical creatures such as swift Centaurs, fiendish Harpies and the earth-shaking Cyclops.

Marvel at the beautiful environments of the Mediterranean, now steeped in myth.

Please the Gods and gain fantastical new battle abilities, such as Zeus’ Thunderbolt.

The battle for Troy cannot be waged by man alone. A winged behemoth, a slithering serpent with many heads and a beast prowling the abyss — track them, harness them and turn the tide of war in the MYTHOS DLC.

Mythos DLC releasing September 2 alongside Steam launch

---

The Lernean Hydra – a mighty water snake with poisonous attacks and virulent blood. Find out how Hector plans on taming this slithering serpent and unleash its fury into battle in our MYTHOS gameplay reveal.

---

Campaign modes after DLC