Cancer-stricken fan immortalised in Total War: Rome 2

A heart-warming, yet sad story has come to light regarding a hardcore Total War fan and Cancer patient, James, who has been immortalised in the upcoming Rome sequel.

James was a huge fan of the Total War series, and was given the chance to visit developers Creative Assembly during the development of Total War: Rome 2. The visit was part of an effort by the Willow Foundation.

James was able to tour the studio last year, and got to play some alpha code of the game, even adding in his own input and advice to the developers.

Sadly, shortly after the visit, James lost his battle to cancer.

“When I recently learned that James had died, it was devastating,” said Total War community manager Craig Laycock. “Even though I had only spent a few hours in his company, it was absolutely devastating, because he was able to show us all here in the studio how passionate he was for our games.”

Laycock said that the studio was “moved and humbled” to have had the opportunity to meet James.

The team at Creative Assembly took it upon themselves to make James as a Roman soldier in the game, and his digital likeness was recreated for the Siege of Carthage.

“And although he won’t get the chance to see Rome 2 released,” he added, “he will live on in some small way in our game – and every time I see him I’ll be reminded of what a great guy he was.

Total War: Rome II is scheduled for October 2013.