As someone who pre-ordered, originally, I could not have recommended the game, as I essentially paid for a Beta in terms of bugs and polish. This still galls to this day and I would not pre-order a Total War game again.

After many patches and post-polishing, I can cautiously recommend this as a decent addition to the Total War franchise. Its overall mechanics aren't super, such as the nerf to culture change, where you now have default culture that cannot be converted, leaving permanent unhappiness in conquered territories of a foreign culture.

The battle mechanics are solid, although there are some clear carry-overs from Shogun 2. They never did families or the in-depth politics as promised. Despite that, the game is still fun, although it can get a bit stale when you get to a big empire stage against other similarly big empires. The AI does not always function as intended still, although the related game-breaking bugs have at least been eliminated.

A lot more time was spent with attention to history this time around, no ancient Egyptians, you now get proper diadochi. Some factions rosters are a bit sparse, and non-playable powers aren't worked into the system of buffs/tradeoffs you get choosing a faction or family for the playable ones.

Many of the faults and gripes can be fixed with mods, but it shouldn't be on the shoulder of the modwright to carry a game.

Ultimately, get this on sale in a bundle, there's many hours of game to explore, but it's not worth full price, in my opinion. And the DLCs are some of the better and more fun content.

As someone who pre-ordered, originally, I could not have recommended the game, as I essentially paid for a Beta in terms of bugs and polish. This still galls to this day and I would not pre-order a Total War game again. After many patches and post-polishing, I can cautiously recommend this as a decent addition to the Total War franchise. Its overall mechanics aren't super, such as the nerf to culture change, where you now have default culture that cannot be converted, leaving permanent unhappiness in conquered territories of a foreign culture. The battle mechanics are solid, although there are some clear carry-overs from Shogun 2. They never did families or the in-depth politics as promised. Despite that, the game is still fun, although it can get a bit stale when you get to a big empire stage against other similarly big empires. The AI does not always function as intended still, although the related game-breaking bugs have at least been eliminated. A lot more time was spent with attention to history this time around, no ancient Egyptians, you now get proper diadochi. Some factions rosters are a bit sparse, and non-playable powers aren't worked into the system of buffs/tradeoffs you get choosing a faction or family for the playable ones. Many of the faults and gripes can be fixed with mods, but it shouldn't be on the shoulder of the modwright to carry a game. Ultimately, get this on sale in a bundle, there's many hours of game to explore, but it's not worth full price, in my opinion. And the DLCs are some of the better and more fun content.