Review for Total War: Warhammer. PC game, the video game came out on 24/05/2016
Guided by the will of the four gods, they set sail for the flourishing ports of the kingdom of men, dedicated to plunder and pillage. Alongside them march unspeakable horrors, gargantuan creatures, pernicious powers. All this is Total War: Warhammer, Norsca the latest Dlc developed by Creative Assembly and published by Saw.
Chieftain Wulfrik the wanderer leads the swarm of barbarians and packs of mastiffs to the ruin of the old world, adorning himself with the skulls of the fallen. The monstrous Throgg, mighty king of the trolls, has placed the crown of Winterfang on his head and is ready to lead the monstrosities of the North into the fray to check the whole world.
“There is no escape from the terrifying flying langeskip known as Seafang; once sighted, the only possible destination is an atrocious and merciless death ”.
The Norsmanni debut as the last Dlc race of the first chapter of Total War: Warhammer, just over a month after the release of the second chapter. This is a courageous choice, given that the shaggy warriors of the North have not enjoyed a dedicated representation in the board game of the same name since the 80s.
From the front of the main campaign, the Norsmanni do not enjoy a dedicated adventure as happened previously for the Beastmen and the Wood Elves, going to integrate into the main campaign structure as neighbors of the ruthless warriors of Chaos, making a little life in those parts is more lively, up to now easily dominated by the zealous Archaon (who likes to call himself the ruler of the end times).
We will not have the opportunity to take advantage of the horde mode so dear to beasts and chaotic, but we will have to resort to the conquest of settlements and evolve the latter in order to have better units available to smash the skulls of our enemies. However, the low yield of earning buildings and the high reward of looting inevitably pushes us to behave like a horde; loot as much as possible and then return to the sea.
The most significant novelty in the Norsca Dlc is undoubtedly represented by the Monstrous Arcanum, a book of hunting missions for the most fearsome beasts of the old world, easily unlocked by the branch of technological research dedicated to it. By carrying out the tasks inscribed in the cursed tome, we will soon be able to recruit the subdued and defeated creatures to our service.
"Some individuals just wish to place themselves in the heart of the battle and annihilate their enemies"
The beating heart of Total War: Warhammer is the battles. The roster presented by Norsca has obvious strengths and disastrous shortcomings. If you are used to crushing the ranks of your opponents with cannon or trebuchet shots, you will be left with a dry mouth: the Norsmanni cannot count on any war machine, their shooting is light, based on arrows and javelins (although hunters can rely on penetrating bullets).
The infantry is entirely composed of the cheapest and least performing unit of the warriors of the case: the Marauders. These naturally offer themselves in different versions, designed to face most of the common enemies, sadly even the "Marauders Champions" far more expensive than the warriors of chaos, will hardly be able to win in a melee against the favorites of the gods, even if they can exploit their faction skill: "anger".
The magical side is well supplied, we can count on sorcerers of shadow, fire, metal and death. A well-placed Hokkam mental razor and those marauders will struggle to believe in their own renewed power.
The true triumph of Norsca is represented by the vastness of monsters and beasts offered by the Roster presented: Mammoths, Giants, Wyrms, Fimir warriors, hounds of war, Wolfhide, Troll and Manticore. Although monsters offer strategic approaches that are the opposite of each other, the high cost of recruiting will force us to make well-informed choices in the construction phase of the army, never allowing a real multiplicity of monsters in the field. Better to start appreciating the raiders, between one Mammoth charge and another.
The Norsca DLC closes the life cycle of the first chapter of Total War: Warhammer without missing a beat, demonstrating that it can continue to offer a variety of gameplay and strategic choices that are always fresh, without upsetting the already well-established formula, giving once again decides and dozens of hours of gameplay.
► Total War: Warhammer is an RPG-Tactical game developed by Sega and published by Creative Assembly for PC, the video game was released on 24/05/2016
