It’s been a tough year for Total War Warhammer 3, but it looks like we might have reached the light at the end of the tunnel. The latest TWW3 DLC Thrones of Decay has just launched on Steam, with a new pricing model offering you more ways to buy the expansion content, and the initial response has been incredibly positive, with the game’s Steam player count leaping to its highest in more than a year and early reviews praising developer Creative Assembly for all three packs in the bundle.
Total War Warhammer 3 has been struggling over the past 12 months – while its Chaos Dwarves expansion in April 2023 was largely very well regarded, ever since then the player count has fallen, and its controversial Shadows of Change expansion in April was heavily criticized for an increased price point despite a perceived dearth of content. Now, however, the once-beloved strategy game has begun to reclaim player opinion, with the huge Total War Warhammer 4.2 update expanding Shadows of Change and offering a new model that allows you to buy all three pieces of the latest expansion either independently or together in one bundle.
Total War Warhammer 3 Thrones of Decay introduces three new legendary lords to the fold. Tamurkhan the Maggot Lord, an iconic champion of Chaos Lord Nurgle, is a mighty warrior of rot who rides into battle atop a Toad Dragon called Bubebolos. Imperial Lord Elspeth Von Draken is a powerful counterpart to that, soaring over the battlefield on her Carmine Dragon and unleashing a mixture of magic and gunpowder-fueled units upon her foes. Finally, Dwarven Lord Malakai Makaisson is a furious Slayer that brings powerful ranged weapons and artillery to bear as he seeks to overcome odds most might consider unwinnable.
With the launch of the new update and expansion, Total War Warhammer 3 Steam reviews look much more upbeat. While the lifetime score sits at 63% following the recent months of controversy, reviews from the past 30 days boast a ‘very positive’ 85% score. The three new Lords, meanwhile, sit at 92%, 89%, and 90% respectively. Meanwhile, the concurrent player count has reached a high of 66,613; that’s almost double the highest it’s seen in a full year, with the game last topping 50,000 concurrents back in April 2023 with the launch of the Chaos Dwarves.
“Being able to buy the characters separately is amazing,” one Steam user review reads. “The content is great, and before this they even supported the last DLC. [They’ve] also taken a lot of community feedback and made changes – all in all 10/10, Creative Assembly is making a creative comeback, baby.” Another writes, “I’m actually glad to pay money for quality content like this. The reworks, the units added, and the legendary lords all look and play great.”
Those sentiments are echoed across the reviews for all three lords, with numerous players calling the new campaigns best-in-class offerings for their respective factions. One final review sums it up best: “Thrones of Decay looks set to be the redemption we all wanted it to be. The consistent hotfixing helped restore goodwill. Shadows of Change 2.0 helped set the foundations for a redemption and showed that CA was serious. ToD serves as the redemption arc in full swing. There’s much yet to do, but today is a good day and I am cautiously optimistic for the future. Well done, CA, you did good.”
It’s certainly always nice to see games find their footing after heavy stumbles – after all, when it really boils down to it, we’re all just looking to play good games. Watching the fall of Total War Warhammer 3, a game that was extremely well-liked at launch and brought us the fantastically ambitious Immortal Empires campaign mode, was a very sad moment. Thankfully, it looks like CA has righted the ship and is in the process of bailing out any remaining water.
Looking to jump back in yourself? Here’s our guide to the best Total War Warhammer 3 DLC, along with more of the best Warhammer games to play in 2024.
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