So, let's be real for a second. When Total War: Warhammer III first launched back in early 2022, it was kind of a mess. I remember sitting there looking at the Realm of Chaos campaign and thinking, "Wait, is this actually it?" It felt restrictive. It felt like the developers at Creative Assembly had tried too hard to force a narrative on a series that thrives on sandbox chaos. But things have changed. A lot.
If you haven't touched the game since the rough launch or if you’re just now looking at that massive price tag for the "complete" experience, you're probably wondering if it’s worth the hard drive space. It is. But with some big caveats. This isn't just a strategy game anymore; it’s basically a digital museum of everything Games Workshop has created over the last forty years. It’s huge. It's bloated. It's beautiful.
The Immortal Empires Elephant in the Room
The real game isn't the base campaign. Most veterans will tell you that the narrative-driven "Realms of Chaos" is something you play once and then never touch again. The soul of Total War: Warhammer III is Immortal Empires. This is the massive, world-spanning map that stitches together the landmasses from the first two games with the new East (Cathay and Kislev).
Initially, you had to own all three games to play this. It was a massive barrier to entry. Mercifully, Creative Assembly realized that was a bad move and opened it up to everyone who owns the third game. Now, you just get the map. You still have to buy the older games or DLC to play as specific factions like the Empire or the High Elves, but the sandbox is there for everyone.
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This map is absurdly large. We’re talking about 270-plus starting positions. You can spend 40 hours on a single campaign as Skarbrand, the exiled Bloodthirster, just trying to burn down half of the world, and you still won't have seen the other side of the planet where Grand Cathay is fighting off bird-demons. The scale is unprecedented in strategy gaming.
Why the AI struggles with the scale
Honestly, the AI is where the cracks show. When you have a map this big, the computer players sometimes get confused. You’ll see them force-marching their armies back and forth across a river while you pelt them with arrows. It’s not perfect. It’s "janky" in that specific way Total War fans have just learned to accept over the last two decades. But when the battle lines meet and you see 4,000 skeletons clashing with a line of armored polar bears, the jank kinda fades into the background.
The Faction Design is Lightyears Ahead
Remember the first game? The Empire was just "guys with swords and some cannons." In Total War: Warhammer III, the mechanical depth of the new factions is on another level.
Take the Chaos Dwarfs (the Astragoth Ironhand era). They don't just build buildings with gold. They have a complex tiered economy involving raw materials, labor (don't call them slaves, the game uses "laborers"), and armaments. You have to balance your industrial output against your military needs. If you over-expand, your economy collapses. It’s a mini-management sim tucked inside a wargame.
Then you have Tzeentch. Changing of the Ways is basically a "cheat code" menu built into the lore. You can force a settlement to transfer from one faction to another without even fighting a battle. It’s frustrating when it happens to you, but playing as the puppet master feels exactly like the lore says it should.
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The Kislev and Cathay Problem
Not every faction is a home run. Kislev feels a bit "stuck." Their mechanics involve a race for devotion and political supporters that feels tedious by turn 50. Grand Cathay, while visually stunning with their Great Bastion (basically a giant Great Wall of China), can feel a bit passive. You’re often just sitting there waiting for the next wave of invaders. It’s a different pace, sure, but after the high-octane aggression of the Khorne factions, it can feel a bit sluggish.
Technical Debt and the "Shadows of Change" Drama
We have to talk about the community relationship. In 2023, the game hit a massive wall. The Shadows of Change DLC was released with a high price point and, frankly, not enough content. The community revolted. Review bombing on Steam was rampant.
But, to give credit where it's due, Creative Assembly actually listened. They delayed the next DLC (Thrones of Decay), went back, and added more units and mechanics to the previous one for free. It was a rare "we messed up" moment in the AAA gaming space. Since then, the game has been on a much better trajectory. The Thrones of Decay release brought much-needed reworks to the Empire and Dwarfs, making them feel competitive against the power-creep of the newer demon factions.
- The Empire: Finally got a legitimate rework to the Elector Count system.
- Dwarfs: Got a "Great Book of Grudges" mechanic that actually makes you feel like a vengeful short-statured warrior king.
- Nurgle: Actually became playable. For a long time, the Plague Father's faction was too slow to be fun. Now, they are a grinding, inevitable force of nature.
Graphics, Performance, and Your Poor GPU
Total War: Warhammer III is a beast. If you’re running it on an older GTX 10-series card, you’re going to have a bad time. Even on modern hardware, the campaign map can be a frame-rate hog. The level of detail on the individual models is insane—you can zoom in and see the pustules on a Great Unclean One—but you pay for that in hardware heat.
The loading times are the real killer. If you aren't running this on an M.2 SSD, you might as well go make a sandwich every time you load into a battle. Seriously. It’s that bad. The game is roughly 120GB, and it uses every bit of that to store the thousands of unique animations and assets.
What Most People Get Wrong About the DLC
There is a misconception that you need to spend $500 to enjoy this game. You don't.
Think of the DLC as "expansion packs" for the factions you actually like. If you have no interest in playing as space-faring lizards, don't buy the Lizardmen DLC. They will still show up on the map as enemies or allies. You get the full world regardless of what you own; you just pay for the "keys" to drive specific cars.
Actionable Insights for New and Returning Players
If you're jumping in now, the landscape is much better than it was at launch. Here is how to actually approach the game without getting overwhelmed or going broke.
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Start with the Prologue. Usually, tutorials in strategy games are boring. This one isn't. It’s a self-contained narrative that actually tells a decent story about a Kislevite prince falling to Chaos. It teaches you the mechanics without being condescending.
Pick your first "real" campaign wisely. Don't start with the Chaos Dwarfs or Tzeentch; they have too many moving parts. Start with Miao Ying (Grand Cathay) if you like defensive play, or Skarbrand (Khorne) if you just want to click on enemies and watch them explode. Khorne is great because he doesn't care about diplomacy or complex trade. You just kill things to get more blood, which lets you kill more things.
Mod it until it breaks. The Steam Workshop for Total War: Warhammer III is one of the best in gaming.
- "Better Camera Mod" is essential. The default zoom is too restrictive.
- "Mixu's Legendary Lords" adds flavor to factions that feel a bit generic.
- "Community Bug Fix Mod" is a must-have because, let's face it, CA leaves a lot of small bugs in the game for months.
Manage your expectations on diplomacy. The AI is better than it was in Warhammer II, but it's still a "Total War" game. Alliances are often fleeting. Don't expect a deep diplomatic simulation. Expect a game where you eventually have to fight everyone.
The game is currently in its "redemption" era. With the upcoming updates focusing on the remaining factions like the Ogre Kingdoms and potentially more Khorne or Slaanesh content, the "end" of the trilogy is looking much brighter than the beginning did. It’s a massive, flawed, brilliant achievement in the strategy genre. Just make sure you have the SSD space for it.