by Joseph Luster

The Creative Assembly’s Total War series now has a legacy spanning nearly 15 years of computer strategy. What started in 2000 with Shogun: Total War gradually expanded to include a variety of eras—as well as a variety of spin-offs and player-created mods—each putting players in the role of history’s greatest commanders.

This past April, we took a look at Total War: Alexander, which introduced 50 new units into their Rome title—including the Persian Immortal Infantry, Indian War Elephants, and Macedonian Companion Cavalry—and the playable armies of Macedon, Persia, India, and Dahae.

Up until now, their most recent release was September 2013’s Total War: Rome II. However, the next entry was announced this fall, and it’s looking to throw an apocalyptic atmosphere into the mix with Total War: ATTILA.

As one would expect, Total War: ATTILA concerns the Scourge of God, Attila the Hun. With the Dark Ages approaching, ATTILA shines the spotlight on the warrior king with the introduction of new gameplay mechanics and features that fans have been requesting for a while. Among those features are family trees and skill trees, as well as improvements to a bunch of the core aspects of the Total War series. There will be new strategic aspects to consider, like advanced street-fighting, civilians, complete settlement destruction, and dynamic fire that can put an entire city in danger during battle.

We’ll see how well Total War: ATTILA builds atop an already strong foundation when it hits PC and Mac in 2015.

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