Total War: Three Kingdoms is getting a new, free mode alongside the Eight Princes Chapter Pack DLC on August 8. Dynasty Mode pits up to three heroes against huge waves of enemies. How huge are we talking? Creative Assembly is letting us increase enemy unit sizes by up to 600% – if your PC can handle it.
Here’s the trailer.
Well, that showed absolutely nothing.
Dynasty Mode can be played solo or in co-op with up to three people. But how will the gameplay work? Total War isn’t exactly known for its moment-to-moment melee combat. This isn’t Dynasty Warriors.
While the trailer does little to show the gameplay changes, a FAQ from Creative Assembly dives into more detail. Characters in Dynasty Mode are much more powerful compared to Romance Mode, and the enemy troops rushing them are much weaker. Regular troops can be cut down in a single blow. But the devs know that’s not enough. New abilities are also coming. Some will heal, others can take out scores of soldiers at a time.
The horde-style mode will play out like similar modes. You’ll spend upgrades in between rounds for more abilities. And each successive round gets tougher with more enemy soldiers to cut your way through. Every third round, enemy heroes will enter the battlefield.
So Dynasty Warriors in Total War. That’s… interesting.
While Total War has made significant strides in hero gameplay over the past few games, there needs to be a whole bunch of new abilities in Dynasty Mode. The more over-the-top, the better. No one wants to sit around right-clicking on enemies. If they’re going to do it, go all the way and give us an action RPG like Diablo or Path of Exile. Better yet, give us loot drops that carry over to Romance campaigns.
The more I think about it, the more a horde-mode could be the start of something awesome. It’s a big ‘could,’ but we’ll see what Creative Assembly delivers next week.