Total War: Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires review: a sandbox masterpiece

If a tree falls in a forest, and there’s no one around to hear it, does it still make a sound? Creative Assembly seems to agree.

Immortal EmpiresFor more information, see the DLC. Total War: Warhammer 3 It is a creative exercise in abandonment, which was launched today in beta. The game features a huge fantasy map with vampires and dinosaurs. You also have the opportunity to play a part in an even larger plan. Many video games are all around you and only what you see is possible. However, In Immortal Empires, you can only guess at the trees falling on the other side of this massive world — until you’re suddenly staring at a sea of toppled forests.

For those who haven’t spent the better part of the year poring over every new reveal, Immortal EmpiresThis is less about expansion than it is accumulation. It combines each of the trilogy’s three maps, and all 86 of its playable factions, into one digital facsimile of Warhammer’s “Old World” setting. It’s basically a parody of Earth:

Image: Creative Assembly/Sega

You play the other half, just like in the Total War Series. Immortal EmpiresYou will be able to play a Civilization-like game of economic management and city construction on the turn-based Campaign Map. Once your armies clash with those of an opposing faction, however, you’re dropped into real-time strategy battles between hundreds, sometimes thousands of troops. Instead of Warhammer 3’s base campaign, which offered a more scripted experience wherein you had to complete specific challenges alongside the usual process of empire-building, Immortal EmpiresThis article focuses solely on collisions between 278 factions within a single Sandbox Map.

Image: Creative Assembly/Sega via Polygon

In 2022, what does the term “sandbox” even mean? It’s used to describe everything from open worlds to management sims. Hitman 3 Sandbox: You replay static levels using a rotating set of toys. Far Cry 6 You can manipulate the physics to create a domino-like series of explosions. Fortnite It is probably a sandbox title, as you can shoot John Cena in his face. This one, like most other video games labels is vague. It does, however, suggest a level of player agency. You are free to experiment, as the game is primarily about you.

You can call Immortal EmpiresA sandbox is, in fact, a game for exactly the opposite purpose. You can easily spend 12 hours building your cities and negotiating with neighbors. Then you’ll find out that there are at least three or four AI factions who have been doing the exact same thing in another hemisphere. It’s a startling reminder of playing games with my childhood friends in literal sandboxes, each of us content with the machinations of our own make-believe worlds, only to discover that we were all playing by different rules. As my friend tried to maneuver his G.I. scouts, he was unsuccessful. Joes to confront my army of Lego minifigs, it didn’t matter that the size difference was unfair; we were playing in the same sandbox. My only hope was that my third friend could bring his Bionicles in to save the day, or that my fourth friend, an isolationist who had been quiet in the corner, might seize the chance for new territory and attack the aggressor’s flank with her Mega Bloks dragons.

Image: Creative Assembly/Sega via Polygon

As thrilling as the episodes of young imagination. Immortal Empires is a factory for emergent stories, and it’s driven by a similar asymmetry. In the two weeks I’ve had access to the DLC’s beta, I’ve played as six different factions. I was Lokhir Fellheart Dark Elf Pirate Lord and I launched a series on the Cathay Coast (Warhammer’s equivalent to China). The first 30 turns or so were leisurely battles against meager city garrisons, in which my Dark Elf armies, known for their prowess with ranged weapons and all sorts of gruesome monsters, tore through the peasants on the nation’s eastern borders.

However, soon enough the Cathayan Empire sub-factions diverted forces from Great Bastion, a fantasy version the Great Wall that was built to protect daemons in the mortal realms, to fight the nuisance of pillaging their flank. The sub-factions of the Cathayan Empire eventually confederated to form one large force consisting of cannons and rocket batteries as well as riflemen and shape-shifting Dragons. They battered me along the coast. My crucial mistake? My crucial mistake?

Let’s now consider my second campaign. This time, I am Oxyotl the Lizardmen leader. This intelligent bipedal chameleon, who was previously sucked into Chaos’ Realms and had to fight for his freedom, is now a campaign leader of the Lizardmen. His campaigns objectives aim to prevent the Realms from ever repeating themselves. By using his magical abilities, as well as his army of dinosaurs and mace-wielding crocodiles (yes, I’m serious) I teleport to random spots around the Old World, fighting the daemonic hordes of Khorne, the pestilent swarms of Nurgle, and the bloodthirsty vampires of Sylvania. Because I’m not concerned with expanding my empire, my neighbors trust me. We trade resources and recruit each other’s units. Occasionally, I’ll build a temple in their cities that allows me to teleport in to repel invaders. By the time the evil sorcerer Nagash has summoned several armies of resurrected Egyptian pharaohs in the deserts of the Southlands, I’ve helped form a coalition that can battle the undead threat.

Lokhir, Oxyotl and other playable factions are two examples of only two. Immortal Empires. They are 86. Because there are so many, some fans made wheels in order to assist the players selecting their first leaders.

Image: Creative Assembly/Sega via Polygon

I’ve done my best, these past couple of weeks, to not let Immortal Empires’ grandeur distract me from its flaws. For all of the AI’s clever maneuvers on the campaign map, it still can’t seem to consistently figure out how streets work during siege battles. In reality, these battles cause headaches. As Waypoint editor Rob Zacny points out in his review, they’re not only a source of broken pathfinding and easily exploitable bugs, but their frequency is also a hindrance to the overall pacing of many factions’ entire campaigns. Their high towers and jagged cliff faces can also play havoc with the bird’s-eye-view camera.

Even so: I can’t help but marvel at the scope and imagination with which Creative Assembly has brought Warhammer’s Old World to life. Maybe I’m able to forgive. Immortal Empires for occasionally not working properly because it’s so packed with factions that already bend the rules by design. There are leaders whose army buffs I haven’t even touched, and parts of the world I haven’t yet set foot in. But if my past few campaigns have taught me anything, it’s that there are trees falling everywhere, and they’re making quite a lot of noise.

Immortal Empires The beta release was made available on Windows PC on 23 August. Sega provided a prerelease download code for PC review. Vox Media also has affiliate relationships. Although these partnerships do not impact editorial content, Vox Media could earn commissions for products sold via affiliate links. Here are some links to help you find. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.