A Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia

If you're looking through the game reviews of a 5+ year old and poorly received game, then this review is for you.
- By now most if not all graphical issues have been resolved
^ It ran on my 8yr old 780ti/Gen4 i7 last week without issue
- The game and its unique mechanics have been fixed
^ Specifically the character loyalty and estates system
- The game is "Balanced" in a way that makes it feel historically accurate
^ Vassals and disloyal family members WILL cause problems
^ Settlements are done in such a way that forces a "War band" style of play
^ Minor settlements have no garrison and Major settlements are hit or miss with many only being good as forts to
maintain control of a region
So those have been the main three complaints made about the game and they have all been resolved. At this point the game experience is an enjoyable window into the chaotic war bands of the viking era. This is not Warhammer there will not be massive armies smashing each other. Expect simple shield walls, archers, and cav battles, as most of the game is just navigating your royal household through Bloody feudal politics.
I Love the game and think its very enjoyable if you just understand the unique dynamics of this Total War.
** BUY ON SALE** -- Its not worth more than $25-30

This game is great. And looking through the negative reviews, we realize that most of them have not gone beyond the hour of play.
Really try it and you will realize the potential.
The positive points:
- The game is beautiful. The textures, the play of light, and the general design. It's very immersive, and I find it prettier than other titles released after this one. The Map is big, really big, and well built.
- The battles are epic. It's the right balance, between titles with battles that are either too long or too short. This one is a good compromise. The seats are so immersive, with very well designed strongholds.
- Internal diplomacy in the kingdom, at least for the English, is very well thought out. There are elements of micromanagement, with the notion of dynasty and alliance through marriage. The game does not yet compete with any other title that we will not name here, but it comes very close. We spend a lot of time managing the internal structure of our kingdom, otherwise we can quickly find ourselves with a new pretender to the throne!
- The new territory system is just great. FINALLY! villages represent a major challenge in the overall strategy. The loss of some of them can be very, very detrimental to your economy, and your army. If you release a medieval 3, please take up this wonderful provincial system, which gives interest to ALL CONSTRUCTIONS.
- The technological research system can be confusing at first. It is through practice that we unlock and improve technologies. It's innovative. I understand that this could be disturbing. I agree.
- The theme... England at the time of the Viking invasions, the internal quarrels, the cultural struggles with the other clans of this beautiful and large island. A historical period conducive to this type of game, even if I find the historical side not exploited enough. Despite historical clues scattered here and there, and a wiki on the units also well supplied.
The negative points:
- Lack of variety of combat units. But the opinion is not objective. When we played TW Warhammer, we can only be disappointed with the number of units offered after that.
- Limited replayability. There are many clans, but there is some redundancy. The interest will be focused on the Vikings, the English and the Irish, as far as I am concerned.
- A handling that can be difficult for a beginner of the genre, and even for a regular, because of a lot of change, and the addition of "micro-management". I think this is what has scared away some who prefer battles, and who prefer a more superficial campaign. (For me, this title is excellent from this aspect).
Conclusion:
- A title that deserves to be played. Beautiful, effective, immersive, innovative, and risk-taking. The warhammer totals have upset the established order, relegating historical titles to the background. We see this after the successive failures of Troy and Pharaoh, which certainly also deserve to be explored in greater depth.
Total war Britannia is a good game. If you like Paradox-style management, if you like epic medieval battles, the history of Great Britain. GO FOR IT!

This game has to be my favorite total war for a few reasons:
- Amazing setting. Destiny is all.
- Recruitment system that puts cooldowns on recruiting units, which get worse the better the unit is. This means that you can't just spam praetorian guards or whatever, you actually have to use the entirety of your unit roster. Also, it takes a couple turns for units to be fully reinforced after training, which reduces enemy doomstacks that they immediately raise after you wipe an army. For context, their army would start at like 1/4 strength. This means that you'll have to plan to raise your armies beforehand.
- Supply system: units consume supply when moving through enemy territory. This gives more incentive to raiding, as it increases supply and no supply = attrition.
- Some of the best looking battles in my opinion. Blood & Gore mod highly recommended. It is a beautiful game with beautiful units. Love watching the battles with max unit size.
- Stylized UI and Unit cards are great. Some may not like the portraits here but I love them.
- Small scale doesn't feel small when playing the game
Some cons or things you should know:
- Campaign map AI is pretty dumb. I had wessex, who was stronger than me, declare war on me with their northlode and westernas vassals. Wessex proceeded to do absolutely nothing as I (scotland) crushed both vassals and became much stronger. They even paid me for peace and still let their vassals get railed. A lot of times a weak enemy army will do something dumb like move and capture a village right next to two of your armies so you can just crush them next turn.
- No-garrison minor settlements: This is a change I both love and hate. I love not having to lose men or autoresolve minor settlement battles. It also means if you attack an army in a minor settlement, there isn't a siege to play, you just get a normal field battle. Neat. Saves time. Although it can be infuriating when the AI has an army-less general running around your territory stealing villages while you chase him around like a rat. This isn't so fun, especially when they have like 20 troops. in their bodyguard.
- Governors/Generals are hard to please. It can be annoying keeping their loyalty up and they'll rebel when you really don't need them to. Negative events also seem to fire like 4 times as much as positive events. So enjoy pissing off every one of your governors.
- I know that babies died a lot back then and it was hard to have kids, but god, it is actually impossible to get more than 1 kid, and then to have them be a boy, and then to have them live to adulthood. Enjoy adopting.

Overall, this game is great and I highly recommend it. It has great moments and if you like making your own story- conquering Britannia is so very fun.

Launch and year 1 issues aside.
Thrones of Britannia in its current state, is fully functioning and has had numerous quality-of-life overhauls which resulted in another strong entry in the Total War Historical Saga games, albeit one of smaller scale.
The new campaign politics aiming to have players manage their feudal society is a bit intimidating at first, almost like Crusader Kings. You are King, with heirs and vassals to manage; this comes with a whole host of new ways to approach diplomacy and managing your kingdom as you are responsible for who governs your territories and even choosing who you grant, or strip estates/land/roles from. This is AWESOME!
The ui is not initially intuitive and can be confusing to navigate at first which is the reason I believe, many were turned off by the game early on. It can be quite satisfying later on, as the art-style and design choices that reflect the period with slightly modern touches actually helps create an immersive experience.
Battles mechanics feel great, especially sieges. This is the most personal depiction of siege combat I have felt in any Total War and found ordering my troops through what is clearly a MESSY battle (as sieges would be) and fighting at the gates, walls, streets - it truly felt cinematic and intense.
If you wanted to play the grand strategy, total war version of Assassins Creed: Valhalla - this is basically it.
As a Total War Veteran, you could probably finish a campaign in a weekend.
Your biggest barrier to entry would be if the time-period even interests you, and if you can get past the smaller-scale territorial conquests, limited unit roster (levies and retinues are the bulk of your troops), and smaller but more detailed political management.
As a Total War Newbie, this is a great place to start if the time-period fascinates you but may not be as accessible for its dense political gameplay and kingdom management. If you're coming from Crusader Kings though, you needn't worry.

I passed up on this game because of the negative reviews. That was my loss.
If you like your Total War game to have:
Over-powered agents
One man army single entity commanders
Over-powered unit special abilities
Absurd composition of AI armies
Repetitive battles because the AI is able to spawn new armies turn after turn
Battles, the outcome of which is primarily dependent on the rate you can point and click a mouse button

Then this is NOT the game for you.

If, on the other hand, you are looking for a historic Total War title, that has none of the features above, has probably the best siege battles in the series, has a recruitment mechanic that results in diverse and balanced AI armies. Then this may be the game you are looking for. Pick it up in the sale for the price of two coffees.

Thrones of Britannia is a neat title in the massive list of Total War games available. Let me get this out of the way first: I’d only get the game if you’re a fan of the time period, and furthermore I’d only get it on sale. For casual fans of the series, or someone not interested in the time period, get a different Total War game. With that out of the way, let me continue.
I’ll get the battles out of the way first. Most of my time in the game has been spent using the “medium unit size” setting, to accurately depict battles in this period. Even though the battles are smaller because of it, I loved how tactical they felt! Units all feel very nice, and I have to say, cavalry collision is wonderful in this game! The sieges of ToB are probably the best in the series, especially with all the cool mechanics, such as burning down settlements! Very immersive. Sea battles are also fun, very Viking-esque, though probably not everyone’s cup of tea.
Now onto the campaign. I have been loving the campaign. For one, the family tree is a lot of fun to manage, I love all the indepth RPG systems. Same thing goes for the government and political systems. Diplomacy and politics are very important in ToB, endless wars and expansion is a good way to lose. You have to be mindful of loyalty, as well as food. Not to mention recruitment, mustering up an army can take many turns, and you really won’t field too many armies. Once you defeat a large army, you’ve pretty much won the war. It all plays very nicely!
So yeah, if you like the period, and all that I’ve said, and wait for a sale, definitely pick this game up! Lotsa cool mods as well. I recommend the Shield Wall mod :)

Strongly recommend
It's total war but with anglo-saxons and vikings.
The recruitment system is the best of any TW. When you raise a unit of troops they take a few turns to fully raise, with elite units taking a long time to get up to fighting condition. Minor settlements also don't have garrisons or fortifications, so the game doesn't descend into grinding through sieges and knocking down endless doomstacks. Settlements change hands easily.
It really captures the time period.