In that case, successor Napoleon: Total War is a strong pick, too. At its best, Empire is only let down by mediocre AI, and the scale may be overwhelming for those that prefer a tighter, more focused experience. Post-release work on Creative Assembly’s part ironed out many of the initial bugs and complaints. The real achievement of Total War: Empire was interweaving its massive scale, historical setting, globe-straddling theaters, and campaigns into a cohesive whole that felt accessible yet strategically deep, replayable, and extremely rewarding. Grand in scale and content with its expansive campaigns, an array of factions, sprawling naval and land battles, and impactful technology trees, along with the enjoyable specifics of empire management through trade, religion, army training and recruitment, and diplomacy, Empire largely weathered the series’ shift away from familiar ground.
With thunderous artillery soundtracking epic pitched battles and lumbering warships trading blows on the open seas, Empire offered a whole new way to approach Total War’s stories of conquest and fickle diplomacy. Total War: Empire was the first in series to trade melee weapon-wielding units for musket-era gunfire and artillery, stoic line battles, and real-time maritime warfare. To that end, our list is by no means exhaustive but instead strives to highlight the games that stand out for competently capturing the tone and flavor of their chosen setting despite commonality in their grand scale strategy gameplay. Some players have more affinity with a particular historical period or figure, while others favor a different title because it saw them through many a late night in years past. The subjectivity inherent in the notion of ‘best’ means penning a definitive list is nigh on impossible. In the spirit of highlighting Total War at its best, we’ve focused on the fourteen mainline entries. Over 20 years later, with stints at three major publishers and 21 games under the belt, including a handful of ill-fated mobile spin-offs, the series is still going strong, having released Total War Saga: Troy just last year and with Total War: Warhammer III on the way.
A key player in popularizing the strategy genre, Total War is now a little long in the tooth, first bursting onto the scene in 2000 with the acclaimed Shogun: Total War. Spanning the very best in warfare eras from the Napoleonic Wars to, er, Warhammer, the Total War series holds a place of honor in the history of PC gaming.
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