There’s not as much progress as I’d have liked to see in the politics and diplomacy systems, which show only modest improvements. But it really is true: Creative Assembly’s designers are honing their campaign and faction design consistently from game to game, and that progression is clearly on display in Total War Warhammer 2. I feel like a broken record saying this is the best Total War game so far, since I’ve felt that way about each major release since Attila. Currently, you can't even play as any of the Warhammer 1 and 2 races in skirmish battles, though they do appear on the campaign map as enemies to be vanquished. And while Warhammer 3 will eventually get its own version of that, Creative Assembly has said we might be waiting a while for it.

Having completed it three times now, I don't think it has the endlessly replayable sandbox potential of the Mortal Empires campaign available to owners of the first two games. And that can be both a good and bad thing. The main campaign in Warhammer 3 is very story-driven, even more so than Warhammer 2's Eye of the Vortex. And a collection of little quality-of-life changes carried over from other recent Total War games tie the single-player campaign up with a nice little bloodsoaked bow. With interesting campaign mechanics that build up rivalries between its memorable main cast and several new armies that don't play like anything we've seen in Total War before, it excels on just about every level, strategic and tactical. We've finally come to the end of the sweeping dark fantasy trilogy that began six years ago, and Total War: Warhammer 3 is a worthy capstone.

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