- Intel i9-10850K @ 3.60GHz
- RTX 3080
- 32GB Ram
- Win10
- 2560x1440 @ 144hz

*Long review. TL;DR at the end.*

The game offers great visuals. It runs smooth at max settings on my PC. So far I got one random crash; but some people with older hardware report more. Using ALT+TAB does crash the game often (annoying, but no big deal). I notice no major framerate drops; only a tiny drop if there's four full armies in battle (normalizes after some units die).

The prologue presentation is well done, except you are forced to press buttons or watch ingame cutscenes where the camera moves all over the place before you can progress. It distracts from an otherwise speckless prologue.

In terms of UI, the Demonic/Khorne red menu layout reminds me of a mobile game menu. Ultimately, it works/looks OK and you'll find Total War elements where you'd expect them to be.

The model quality is great, but what did catch my eye is that some units have odd animations. For example, Kislev Streltsi units will shoot an enemy and then crouch or stand still instead of reloading their gun. You will hardly notice this, though. Most animations are great.

The game offers great graphics, style and performance (for my hardware); but it lacks some polish for perfection.

>> Factions
I will not go in depth on each faction, but we have: Kislev, Chaos Demons, the four main Chaos factions, Ogre Kindoms and Cathay.

Considering that we are used to in Mortal Empires, this feels like a meagre quantity, but Mortal Empires was also added to TW:WH2 at a later time. To see Chaos collide with <insert faction>, we will have to wait for Immortal Empires.

For now we can finish the campaign/quest line for these factions. For Kislev, it means taking relics of the primary four Chaos factions to free Ursun, while politically stabilising your faction. Really, Kislev is an alternative Russian-themed Empire.

>> Campaign Summary
You can use Chaos rifts that appear from events every X turns to move. Of course, other factions can travel to you. If you want to be safe, you must close them (they can also spawn Chaos rebels). It's always a surprise if something heads your way. Rifts appear all across the map, so you need to be ready to use both defensive and offensive armies; you will find yourself at war on multiple fronts, while you struggle between building faction mechanic or economic buildings.

This time, you can't make random demands in diplomacy (this was prone to cheese in older TW games). You make deals based on faction approval. Without the approval, you need to balance the approval gap (for example, with gold) before you can make a deal. There are some deals where you can try to threaten the target faction (risking approval drops) if you cannot make a balanced offer. Factions generally accept a deal as long as you have the required approval and/or a balanced offer.
Also, you can trade settlements. If you take settlements you don't need or don't want to defend, you can give them to your proxy/buffer allies; perhaps even get one of theirs. There are many fires to put out at once at the start of a campaign, so having a Defensive ally act as a proxy/buffer will help.

Other than that, it has the usual campaign elements of a TW:WH game that don't warrant further review.

>> Combat
Combat mechanics are largely unchanged. Ranged, magic and Lord/Hero units still dictate the course of battle. The offensive power of Frost and Tzeentch magic impressed me, but the way in which it's used isn't new. Winds of Magic regeneration is improved, though.

Cavalry is still only useful for cycle charging or running down enemies. They can still get stuck in multiple units in melee. Their speed is meaningless if they can't pull their own weight in damage and utility. I only use cavalry as bait or to run down routing enemies.

Melee units are good to hold the line, but you'll never encounter any enemy for which the answer is not ranged, magic or both. Instead you can still use fast units/heroes as bait.

The AI is not improved. The AI fails to deal with cheese like corner camping, ammo wasting and luring enemy units.
Sieges changed a bit: defenders can build ramps (a la Atilla) and towers. However, on most maps attackers can still exploit blindspots. The AI is never in control of a defensive siege.

TW:WH3 hasn't taken steps up or down from TW:WH2. However, the formula can get old.

1. There are mechanics that give penalties to your faction.
2. You build to counter penalties while fighting off enemy attackers.
3. Your army bonuses become so good that the the AI's only strategy of attacking you cannot work anymore. That's the part where you start mopping up and stop caring.

I still enjoy it, but there's room for improvement. Humanity developed Chess tournament winning AI, yet we can't develop Strategy game AI that can do more than "spam armies and send them at the player, but lose every battle to cheese"?

There is a lack of polish and waiting for Immortal Empires makes the game currently feel like a teaser for itself. Mechanically it brings little new things to the table as a Warhammer or TW game. However, I just want to see all Fantasy Warhammer factions in their full glory. That, this game does well. I expect the same for Immortal Empires.

This game is not the second coming of something holy, but it's one of the best PC games I played in recent years.

I didn't recommend TW:WH1 for a full price pre-order because I did not approve of pre-order schemes and an incomplete Chaos faction. I did not like all the TW:WH2 DLC. However, TW:WH3 is definitely worth my €60,- because they get it thematically right and it's a functional, ejoyable Total War game.

From what I understand this is about keys being handed out some time before the official release to Chinese streamers who are not Warhammer/TW fans. They spoiled the game for the Chinese audience while long-term Chinese fans had no opportunity to play it.
I can see it wasn't a great move by CA so I can sympathize, but this means a lot of negative reviews are not submitted for an opinion on the game itself. I don't think review bombing helps the community.

The opinion on a game or developer/publisher can vary by localization and this isn't the first time. Maybe the positivity rating should be something you can filter by region so users can get more context on public reception.
That said, I do not think someone else receiving a key to play a game before you do makes for much of a negative review or should really affect your experience/criticism of a game.

The game is not the second coming of anything. It does not revolutionize anything. But it's a great PC Strategy game and a great addition to the TW:WH series. Chaos is, thematically, done really well and that alone is a reason (for me) to play this. If you have doubts, wait until the release of Immortal Empires.

If you are Chinese and are outraged by the streamer key situation; write Creative Assembly an email, but FFS: review the game for the game.