You might think crumbly old Emperor Augustus could be expected to turn up in the month of his own name. Imperator Septemberus, more like. If there were a Jeremarch, you can be sure I’d make a public appearance or two. But we shouldn’t grumble: a new civil war campaign for Total War: Rome II is due in a little over a week, and it’ll come as a free update on Steam.
The expansion will be released alongside Rome II’s Emperor Edition for PC and Mac on September 16.
Existing Rome owners will be upgraded on the same date. They’ll enjoy overhauled building chains, a more impactful politics system and better battle lighting.
The campaign takes in a brand new map, which reflects the geopolitics of the Second Triumvirate War. That was a biggie: the brawl between Octavian, Lepidus and Marc Antony which eventually saw off Rome’s republicanism and ushered in the Empire.
“We wanted to recreate the vast civil war which erupted after Julius Caesar’s murder,” said lead designer Jack Lusted last week. “You can tackle the campaign as various Roman and non-Roman factions, including Armenia for the first time.
“Our aim was to represent the titanic power struggle that led to Octavian becoming the first Emperor of Rome. It’s a pretty epic campaign, and it’s great that we can offer this to existing Rome II players for free as a thanks for their support.”
Have Creative Assembly’s stream of post-release patches for Rome II helped ease its issues, do you think?