Total War: Rome II is a strategy game that builds on much of the Total War franchise’s success, while attempting to modernize one of their oldest titles, Rome: Total War. Firstly, the launch version of this game was abysmal. Numerous bugs, lack of content, and performance issues plagued the game. Over time it was updated to make it an okay game, eventually becoming a great game near the end of its post-launch development.
Thanks to both paid and free dlc, the game has vastly improved. Bugs were progressively ironed out, as well as many of the performance issues, making the game much more playable. Content-wise, many new factions were added to play as. The paid dlc focuses on unrepresented faction types, like pirates, Greeks, nomads, Africans, etc. This helps to give more variety to the player, as many factions play very similarly if they are within the same cultural or geographic group. The free dlc focuses on factions that either constitute their own unique cultural group and deserve a solo dlc, or factions that easily fit into an existing group but didn’t make it into the launch version for whatever reason.
Gameplay is standard Total War fare. Playing Rome: Total War should give you a pretty good idea of what you are getting into with the sequel. There are many quality of life features, but overall it is a pretty solid sequel. Nice blend of turn-based macrostrategy on the world map and real-time microstrategy on the battlefield.
The final piece that takes TWR2 and makes it one of my favorite Total War games is the modding community. Specifically, Divide Et Impera. It is a very comprehensive mod, overhauling every unit roster in the game, adding dozens of new mechanics, and even going so far as to create new campaign settings. For me, Divide Et Impera is a required mod. It adds so many fantastic features and has no negative impact on the game.
While TWR2 struggled on release, it has become a great game with the help of a large and active modding community. Just make sure not to buy it full price, it frequently goes on sale.
*rating is based off of a modded version of Total War: Rome II
