Creative Assembly announced Total War: Warhammer III today with an eye-popping and demon-busting cinematic trailer, and it promises an "epic culmination" to the trilogy in this next title.
Total War: Warhammer II, released in 2017, had a rather explosive finale so I'll bring you back up to speed. Millennia ago, the Old Ones visited the world of Warhammer and created a number of races with the intention that they would control the Forces of Chaos. Unfortunately, the gates that the Old Ones used to enter this world collapsed, facilitating the invasion of the daemonic legions of Chaos. The Old Ones disappeared, leaving the Lizardmen to pick up the pieces. The Great Vortex was created, acting as a plughole for the Forces of Chaos to drain from the world and ensure peace and longevity.
In the present day, a "comet" passes the world and destabilises the Great Vortex. The six playable factions in Total Warhammer II have different investments in rectifying the situation. The Lizardmen and High Elves want to bind the Vortex once again, but the Dark Elves and Skaven want to manipulate its power for their own gain, and the Tomb Kings want to use the Vortex to open the Black Pyramid of Nagash. One might think that the Vampire Coast aren't interested in the Vortex, but they are actually on the hunt for a weapon which would kill Amanar, the guardian beast of the High Elf city of Lothern, and turn it to their side. It's a lot to handle, in short, and whoever is successful in the Vortex storyline alters the fate of the world forever.
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Creative Assembly have been dropping a trail of breadcrumbs for the announcement of Total War: Warhammer III, with a quartet of animated shorts following a man observing the night sky. Each constellation he discovers is coincidentally connected to a Chaos God: Khorne, Tzeentch, Slaanesh, and Nurgle. And, one last teaser revealed the constellation Sign of Ursun, which relates to the God of Kislev. Those who banked on the Kislev appearing in the next game are big winners today, as a battle between their army and demonic forces played out in the cinematic trailer. Katarin the Ice Queen, one of the most capable Ice Witches in history, faces down a ginormous beastie with her frozen sword and magic. My money's on Katarin, to be honest.
"The craft, dedication and authenticity to the Warhammer world that Creative Assembly has poured into the celebrated Total War Warhammer franchise over the years has been a delight to us at Games Workshop and fans worldwide," said global head of licensing Jon Gillard in the press release. "Creating and developing the armies of Cathay and Kislev for this project has been a lot of fun for our designers and we're looking forward to seeing them take to the field in this huge third game in the series." Oh yeah, Cathay is featured for a moment towards the end of the trailer. I'm guessing they'll get their own trailer in the near future.
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At the moment, the game has a vague release window of 2021, and will be available on Epic Games Store and Steam.
Featured Image Credit: Creative Assembly, Sega