Total War: Three Kingdoms – A World Betrayed

Historically speaking, wars might end, but that doesn't mean fighting won't linger. That's the case with Total War: Three Kingdoms – A World Betrayed, which serves as an expansion to Total War: Three Kingdoms' gameplay and a final epilogue to the Three Kingdoms story. The content here doesn't pick up until well after the events of the main campaign. Considering that the previous expansion was a prequel, allowing players to take their early progress through the main campaign, there's a little disappointment that this expansion is pretty much self-contained and limited to the events of a post-Three Kingdoms China. It's understandable, since time travel wasn't exactly available during the first century. Having said that, the expansion does still offer up a fair amount of content to tie up some of the loose ends from the campaign while still bringing something fresh to the overall experience.

The new units introduced here for both Lü Bu and Sun Ce genuinely feel unique. For example, Lü Bu's Camp Crushers look and feel powerful, carving a large swath through enemies with their massive swords. The new abilities are also interesting. Sun Ce's Reckless Luck is particularly fun, encouraging players to take a much more aggressive stance in gameplay. Existing warlords have also gotten some tweaks and such, but nothing dramatically different from what players are already used to. Finally, the additional story campaign is engaging and fun, but not terribly lengthy. The previous Mandate of Heaven expansion gave players a reason to revisit the entirety of the Total War: Three Kingdoms game. By comparison, A World Betrayed winds up feeling less like a complete package and more like the encore performance, although a good one, after the main concert is over.