Total War: Shogun 2 – Fall of the Samurai review

I should probably put this review into perspective by saying up front that I was a massive fan of the original Total War: Shogun 2. In fact, I was a pretty big fan of the original Total War: Shogun, which was the very first game in the now esteemed Total War series.

When I reviewed Shogun 2 just over a year ago, I awarded it 87/100, praising its streamlined user interface and immense tactical depth. The game walks the tight rope between complexity and approachability with elegance, and offers a dynamic and addictive strategic gameplay experience. The good news is that since that review, the game has become even better thanks to patches, and now with additional content to play through, there has never been a better time to dive into the Shogun 2 experience.

Fall of the Samurai is the largest expansion for a Total War game ever, and it does not require the original game to play. It costs $29.99 (R230) on Steam, and therefore is priced somewhere between a full priced AAA release, and a traditional expansion pack.

Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai

It is set 300 years after the events of the original Shogun 2, and showcases the clash of traditional samurai culture with modern technology. It represents the most recent historical period ever in a Total War game, and new features such as railways, heavily armoured steam boats, and of course a variety of guns and cannons completely evolve much of the gameplay. Railways in particular make a difference to the campaign map, allowing players to move armies around faster than ever.

At its core, Fall of the Samurai retains much of what made the original game so great, while improving on a number of its shortcomings. One of the biggest changes from a broader tactical and political perspective, is that players will now find themselves generally aligned to either the emperor or Shogun. In the original Shogun 2, it was pretty much you against everyone else, but in Fall of the Samurai you feel more like you are part of a bigger war. That’s not to say you can’t declare war on whoever you want, whenever you want. It just means that you will spend the game mostly playing for one of two teams. As a result of this, diplomacy is a lot simpler, and while some will lament this, it does make things easier to manage and in many ways more exciting.

Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai

One of the biggest and most obvious improvements made in Fall of the Samurai, is the naval combat, which is now actually a viable component of the game. Ships pack heavy cannons, which makes for more riveting combat situations, although there is less of a focus on boarding ships, which I always liked. Ships also move faster and the battles generally feel more exciting as a result. Naval combat also forms a more important tactical component in Fall of the Samurai, due to the fact that fleets can now bombard land based buildings within range, and even lend support fire to land battles.

Something I really like about Fall of the Samurai is that despite the introduction of new weapons, simple bows, spears and swords are by no means rendered obsolete. Even late game battles can be won with armies formed predominantly of units wielding older technology, although the new unit types obviously represent various exciting new tactical prospects for Shogun 2 veterans.

Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai

While the game feels a lot smoother than the last time I played it, there are still a few annoying shortcomings that I would like to have seen ironed out. The AI is still solid for the most part, but various quirks and kinks remain in place. Things do feel a lot easier on the Normal difficulty setting, and I find myself easily winning battles in which armies are quite evenly matched, and that’s without reverting to any fancy tactics. Therefore, for a decent challenge, I highly recommend upping the difficulty just a touch.

All in all, Shogun 2 – Fall of the Samurai is a very welcome addition to the franchise, and is highly recommended to its fans, as well as newcomers looking to get into the grand strategy genre.