Total War: Warhammer 2 Review Roundup

The next installment in the Total War series, Total War: Warhammer II, is now available for PC, and reviews for the real-time strategy game have begun appearing online. Judging by its early reception, it looks like Creative Assembly's newest title is yet another worthwhile game in a year filled with acclaimed releases.

With Warhammer II, Creative Assembly has made a wide range of improvements to the series, all of which help elevate it above its predecessor. "Battles are bigger and more expressively animated, and scores of soldiers of all different types--be they ghastly undead or blood-thirsty dinosaurs--sound impeccable, but the improvements run well beyond the aesthetic and into the fineries of tactical and strategic play," said critic Daniel Starkey in GameSpot's Total War: Warhammer II review.

We've collected a sample of other reviews and their scores below. For a broader look at what critics think of Total War: Warhammer II, be sure to check out GameSpot sister site Metacritic. If you're planning on jumping into the game, we've rounded up everything you need to know about Total War: Warhammer II.

• Game: Total War: Warhammer II
• Developer: Creative Assembly
• Platform: PC
• Release Date: September 28
• Price: $60/£40

GameSpot -- 9/10

"With Warhammer II, Total War doesn't reinvent anything so much as it iterates on the ideas that made the first so special. At its heart there's still the marriage of Total War's big-scale strategy and Warhammer's precise tactical play. But, through a thousand tiny tweaks, they've refined the experience into one of the most intriguing and exciting strategy games ever." -- Daniel Starkey [Full review]

Polygon -- 8/10

"Pairing the tactical brilliance of the Total War series with the rich lore of the Warhammer universe is a natural fit, and Total War: Warhammer 2 fulfills the promise of that combination. It is a deep and challenging experience with an epic story to tell. It is also one of the most overwrought games of the year, a game where complexity seems to be piled on for complexity's sake. That is a feature, however, and not a bug. The tone and pace of Total War: Warhammer 2 matches its lore. The density of the whole package can make it all feel like a chore at times, but that’s also what makes it such a satisfying strategy experience." -- Charlie Hall [Full review]

IGN -- 9.1/10

"I feel like a broken record saying this is the best Total War game so far, since I've felt that way about each major release since Attila. But it really is true: Creative Assembly's designers are honing their campaign and faction design consistently from game to game, and that progression is clearly on display in Total War Warhammer 2. There's not as much progress as I'd have liked to see in the politics and diplomacy systems, which show only modest improvements. But each of the four factions is a distinct and fun-to-play addition to the growing roster. The story and objective-driven campaign is a league above anything we’ve seen in the entire Total War series before in both design and presentation. I'm anxious to see how it all fits together when the combined Moral Empires campaign is released to owners of both games later this year." -- TJ Hafer [Full review]

Eurogamer -- Recommended

"Warhammer 2 may be Total War evolved to near perfection, but for now the epic PC translation of Warhammer Fantasy Battle is incomplete. Like the halflings from a parallel universe being lead away from Osgiliath towards Mordor, much about the future is uncertain and the final Warhammer episode could just as easily be a fitting climax as a painfully over-extended epilogue. Maybe it doesn't really matter, because right here, right now - and, yes, even without upgrade or add-on--Total War has never looked or played better." -- Richie Shoemaker [Full review]

PC Gamer -- 9.2/10

"There are so many tiny improvements in Warhammer 2 it's hard to list them all. The notifications when you press end turn without doing something the computer expects you to do aren't as obnoxious; heroes are less essential and the AI relies on them less; the map seamlessly zooms up into the tactical level (though I'll have to wait for an equivalent of the mod that let me zoom in for close-ups in the first game); rogue armies made of mixes of different factions roam around to add variety to battles. Instead of constructing buildings that unlock another building's ability to produce a specific elite troop, you are often constructing buildings that unlock parts of the tech tree. These are all individually small tweaks but definite improvements nonetheless." -- Joey Macgregor [Full review]

Trusted Reviews -- 4/5

"Think of it less as a sequel to Total War: Warhammer, more a second chapter with a different pace and style. This one makes even more of the hybrid gameplay that made the original so exciting, with new races and additional mechanics that freshen up the campaign even for those who played through the first campaign with several different factions. Despite more work on accessibility, this is a dauntingly vast and complex strategy game, but it's one with an equally huge sense of fun." -- Stuart Andrews [Full review]