Total War Saga Thrones of Britannia is the first of Total War series' spin-offs, developed by the Creative Assembly. The game takes the player to the British Isles from the 9th century. Anglo-Saxons, Gaelic clans and Vikings are fighting with each other in a war for total domination of the Isles. The player has to choose one of the warring factions and conquer Britain.

Storyline

The action of Thrones of Britanniatakes the player back to 878 A.D. The story begins when the army under command of King Alfred the Great has pushed back the attack of Danish Vikings commanded by King Guthrum in the Battle of Edington. Finally, thanks to the victory of King Alfred Britannia could relish relative peace after 80 years of feud and instability. However, the state of peace was too fragile to persist. The kings of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales could not get to an agreement who should rule over the united British Isles which resulted in fierce competition. To make matters worse, Nordic warlords have put themselves together after the defeat and joined the quarrel over The Isles.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Total War Saga: Thrones of Britanniadoes not deviate from mechanics know from the Total War series. It is an RTS game in which the gameplay is divided into 2 stages: actions concerning diplomacy, economy or conquest are performed in a turn-based system. While spectacular battles are played out in real-time where the player has full control over his armies. The developers from Creative Assembly have put a lot of effort to diversify the 5 main factions, forcing players to use different strategies depending on the chosen faction.

For example one of Gaelic war chiefs' goals is to find the legendary Stone of Destiny, while the Viking's armies have to take care of the satisfaction of the invaders but also the satisfaction of the invaded Anglo-Saxons to prevent rebellions. In addition, Total War: Thrones of Britannia has introduced many improvements to the core mechanics such as dilemmas, politics, provinces, new technologies and many more.

Reception

Thrones of Britannia have successfully erased any doubts that players might have before the game's release. Reviews showed that the developers managed to meet high expectations and have delivered another satisfactory Total War game. Interesting history setting, spectacular battles, and new mechanics attracted a huge number of players for long hours giving them a whole lot of fun and satisfaction. Excellent optimization of Thrones of Britannia makes the game playable even on older machines which deserve a decent dose of gratitude to the developers.