It’s been quite the wait for Total War: Warhammer 3’s hotly anticipated Immortal Empires mode, which is set to stitch together the landmasses of all three Total Warhammer strategy games into one giant sandbox. Now Creative Assembly has drawn back the veil on the complete map, and it’s large enough to require the addition of new sea lanes that allow armies to sail back and forth between its eastern- and westernmost edges.
Stretching from the Ironfrost Glacier in the northwest corner down to the Jade Sea in the southeast, the Immortal Empires sandbox map includes a whopping 554 settlements and 278 starting factions. Creative Assembly says it’s the biggest map that any Total War game has ever had, weighing in at nearly twice the size of the Mortal Empires map that combined the areas of Total War: Warhammer and Total War: Warhammer II.
It’s large enough to cover all of the known Old World, and you’ll be able to use its new sea lanes to travel around the globe when you reach the eastern and western edges of the map. “Any Lord of Hero will be able to move into the Sea Lane markers, allowing them to set sail and reach their destination after being at sea for a few turns,” Creative Assembly explains.
Some areas won’t be traversable at launch, it’s worth pointing out. Immortal Empires will include the landmasses of Kuresh and Ind, but they won’t initially be accessible. You also won’t be contending with the individual campaign maps’ unique mechanics, like the Eye of the Vortex from Warhammer II or Warhammer III’s Realms of Chaos invasion.
The Total War: Warhammer III Immortal Empires open beta begins in August, and you’ll need to own all three of the Total War: Warhammer games on a single storefront (Steam or Epic) in order to play it.