Total War: Three Kingdoms

Total War: Three Kingdoms uses excellent pacing and strong character mechanics to create a consistently exciting and challenging historical strategy campaign.

Three Kingdoms is the most ambitious that Total War has ever been, featuring an impressive variety of experiences thanks to its hefty source material.

Ambitious and sometimes overwhelming, Three Kingdoms does a great job of capturing the complexity of China's vivid past.

Not the best Total War game but not the worst by a long shot.

Three Kingdoms delivers, in the sense that it gives me the gift of a genuinely absorbing historical fantasy.

Three Kingdoms is a striking addition to the Total War series with plenty to love, though it takes a slight dip in on-the-field tactical choice

The battles are as gripping as ever but it's the character-driven melodrama that truly enlivens this first-rate strategy game

It’s the best Total War game, the best historical strategy game released so far this year, and its stories are so compelling I’m as excited to read about other people’s anecdotes as I am to create more of my own.

Overall, Total War: Three Kingdoms can be summed up as yet another great entry in the long-running series. While it may not be the absolute pinnacle of what Creative Assembly can achieve, it has become my favorite entry simply because of the setting used. We've reached a point where your personal favorite Total War will be determined more by the property being adapted than any worry about quality or gameplay factors. Since everything is fine in Three Kingdoms, what else do I really need to say?

For those new or interested in the series, this is absolutely the best place to start, as it’ll ease you in and communicate its complexities better than any other Total War. And if you’re experienced, you’ll just love how this is a smoother, smarter ride. Three Kingdoms isn’t a perfect Total War game, but it’s the closest the series has come in a long time.