A Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia

Being a die-hard historical total war fan since Rome 1 back in the early 2000s with next to no love for the Warhammer series, I have been disappointed for a long time since Attila Total War. That said, this one is a nice refresh to the series that I actually enjoyed and felt like I had returned to the nostalgic days of decent historical total war. Music, graphics, interesting story concept and game-play are all done right with this one. Only real down side is that once finished - there is little reason to return. It's a short total war with little room to explore other game-play styles as after the playtime mentioned in this review, I was pretty much finished.
+ Historical Total War days!
+ Music and game-play are refreshing!
+ The Last Kingdom anyone!?
- Repetitive campaigns
- Could not find Uhtred of Bebbanburg

This game is incredibly underrated, i cant grasp why reviewers have given this a bad wrap. I can only assume everyone was expecting some grand huge map like previous titles, but that is not what this game is meant to be. The map is smaller, there is less abundance of units and the replayability is lacking when compared tot he previous titles, but .....
Perfectly suited to Coop with a friend, extremely stable, never once had a desync, and considering the newest title, warhammer III is literally unplayable in multiplayer, i found this very refreshing. The building options in towns are wonderfully fleshed out, tons of options. Diplomacy seemed a lot more realistic, for the first time ever in a total war game, the losing side actually offers to become a vassal, rather than be obliterated. They got rid of the forced march stance, which always seemed dumb to me as it always leads to a 'gotchya' moment eventually. No more super overpowered solo warriors or kings, which i found so unrealistic in previous titles. No more overabundance of spells and abilities, becuase lets face it once you have 20 abilities or spells to use in battle, timing the usage of them becomes a chore.
I much prefer the path this game took compared to 3 kingdoms, warhammer, troy and rome. I do hope they bring out a remake of medieval with the entire map of Europe, using this system, because its much more fun and realistic. Graphics were nice and realistic, and the combat crisp and responsive, definatly worth getting, and a joy to play with a friend. Dont let this one sneak past you just becuase of the reviewers.

Your own saga...

I was playing as Alfred and his Wessex when the king of neighboring Mercia suddenly died. The game gave me two options: either stay out of the succession dispute or stake my somewhat dubious claim to the royal crown. I took a risk, clicked on the second option, and prepared for an unpleasant war with a powerful kingdom, albeit one king poorer. Instead, nothing seemed to happen, the game didn't react to my choice, and it was only later that I noticed that Mercia had become my vassal state.
In another situation, as a Viking king from Dublin, I sent a raiding expedition to the French shores. After a few rounds, a series of choices opened up before me as if cut out of a gamebook or text adventure game. Should my ships go by river or by sea? Should they attack Orleans, or continue on? Should they sack the city, or occupy it? Interesting dilemmas, but undermined by one fundamental problem: the game gave me no information to work with at the time. How big is Orleans' garrison? How many men do we have? What can we gain and lose by attacking? My decisions relied more on guesses about what the game probably thinks than on actual strategic thinking.
Other choices cause some regions to break away from their masters, and many kingdoms can use story (or perhaps more accurately, historical) events to expand their territory. For example, the Welsh Gwined can unite all its tribesmen into a large state unit and set off on an expedition against the advancing Anglo-Saxons. At other times, Vikings from East Anglia and Northumbria will fight for the title of the harshest bearded conqueror.

Very nice Britain, very bad user interface. The historical events system sometimes hits the mark, sometimes goes completely wrong. And you won't find any great originality here either. Good fun for Viking lovers. 60%

Playing in 2024 and its my favorite Total War since Shogun 2. Great art direction, awesome and massive siege battles and captivating historical period.

i understand why people say that smaller scale total war games get stale quickly, and thats true, but also (im not trying to advertize) this game has a mod you might know called sheildwall reforged or smth that just makes it better in every way, (makes a year 12 turns, makes more units maybe i think, reskins units, redoes tech tree, and changes the different cultures thing about them that i forgot whats called) and it makes it so you can play as every faction in the game which adds a HUGE amount of variety and replayablity

Fantastic game. If you like the period, Vkings, Last Kingdom etc you should buy, don't listen to the haters.

it is a pretty good total war game. Definitely way slower than most total war games i have played which honestly is refreshing because a lot of the total war games like warhammer are fast paced. This one feels a bit more realistic and you cant build a full army and afford attack other settlements out the gate without bigger consequences and affording.