After it’s initial release on the 23rd of May, Total War: Three Kingdoms has met with resounding success from fans and critics alike. What better time could there be to announce future expansions?
But get this—the folks over at Creative Assembly were so confident in their new game, they dropped hints about upcoming downloadable content and mod tools post-release. (Their confidence wasn’t baseless—Three Kingdoms is the most pre-ordered game in the Total War series, ever.) James High, Creative Assembly’s Associate Community Manager, dropped some information in an article posted on the Total War website on May 20th, which was three days before the official release of the game.
The first DLC released for the game is the Yellow Turbans’ Rebellion add-on, first given out to early adopters of the game, the additional content can now be purchased for $8.99 on Steam. Yellow Turbans comes with a whole new culture, three playable Warlord characters (Huang Shao, He Yi, as well as Gong Du), and three new classes (Healer, Veteran, and Scholar). The Yellow Turbans are based on a historical faction of poor peasants and laborers that rebelled against the Han Dynasty. Their movement was heavily influenced by early Taoism, and this is true in the game as well; in Three Kingdoms, the Yellow Turbans will combine Taoist philosophy with shamanism.
The Yellow Turbans DLC has followed in the footsteps of earlier DLC for Total War‘s previous titles, such as the well-received Total War: Warhammer I and II. Fans can expect similar content and accouterments for future releases.
More specifically, James High said fans of the game will find new culture packs, campaigns, characters, classes, and tweaked gameplay favoring alternative campaign styles.
But don’t be surprised if some of the future add-ons stand out from the typical DLC of the past. High also said Creative Assembly was going to take a “slightly different approach” for new content in Three Kingdoms. Based on the highly variable and expansive source material, the Chinese-classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Creative Assembly intends to create (what they call) “chapter packs,” which will take create entirely new campaigns featuring both the original cultures, factions, and characters as well as new ones.
High said such chapter packs will feature “a selection of new heroes and villains” in addition to “familiar faces from the main game. However, they’ll be at a different point in their life.” Players can expect factions to be found on different parts of the map with new goals and possibly even with new playstyles.
High also added that Creative Assembly plans to release an Assembly Kit for the game shortly after its initial launch. This will allow the game to be modded by players, ensuring fresh content even for folks who won’t get in for the DLC offered by the developers.
No information yet on when future DLC is set to drop. But it’s safe to say fans of the series will be waiting with anticipation.
