A Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia

 PC
User Score
5.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 170 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 60 out of 170
  2. Mixed: 48 out of 170
  3. Negative: 62 out of 170

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  1. juliiouse
    May 3, 2018
    3
    I'm not one to give kneejerk reviews to any products: I feel it's a little insulting given the amount of time a developer puts into a new release. I normally spend a few weeks formulating an opinion on something before finally publishing my opinion, but Thrones of Britannia has left an extremely sour taste in my mouth, not least because I am an avid Total War fan and booked the day offI'm not one to give kneejerk reviews to any products: I feel it's a little insulting given the amount of time a developer puts into a new release. I normally spend a few weeks formulating an opinion on something before finally publishing my opinion, but Thrones of Britannia has left an extremely sour taste in my mouth, not least because I am an avid Total War fan and booked the day off work to play this. So here we are, seven hours later.

    The central issue here is that the Total War series is one of incremental steps: as the games are released, certain aspects of the campaign and battle mechanics get modified, removed, dummied out etc. The problem with Thrones of Britannia is that it removes many previous features without bringing anything new or interesting to the table to replace them.

    This is especially irritating following my gripe with Warhammer I & II's campaigns being a little shallow: the justification in that case is that the races and factions featured in the game are so diverse and different from each other that many of the usual Total War campaign features wouldn't really work for many of them, and to develop specialised campaign mechanics that have the depth of Atilla for each faction would be a massive ask. Thrones of Britannia does not have this justification. The narrow lack of breadth in the game (focusing solely on the British Isles in the latter half of the 9th Century AD) should have allowed for an immense amount of mechanical depth the likes of which Total War has never seen, but there is none of this here. Many features are either directly copied or dummied out versions of what we saw in Atilla.

    The closest the game gets to true innovation is to feature historically accurate settlements and structures on the map, such as churches, farming communities and towns in the state they were back in the period. The issue with this is that it removes much of the variety the previous games afforded in building settlements. A market town will always be a market town and a church settlement will always be a church settlement. The closest comparison to this game is either Medieval I's Viking Invasion or the base game version of Shogun II Total War-- Viking invasion because it focuses on the same area a few centuries before, and Shogun II because it focuses on a race to the throne on a single island: in both cases, these games took advantage of their narrow scope and allowed for a great deal of depth and strategic planning to settlements. In Viking Invasion, you can opt to not even build a settlement at all and leave the region for farming or defence, and in Shogun II you can manage your food to have bustling economic centres at the heart of your clan's territories and strong troop production centres at the edges. Thrones of Britannia offers none of this, which is especially frustrating when a faction you know is going to attack you decides to and you're forced to concede land to them because that's how the settlements are set up.

    Character development and faction management feels worse: the skills tree has been replaced with a far messier looking retinue system and characters feel significantly less personal for it. For a game about roleplaying your own early medieval British dynasty, I felt extremely disconnected with my faction and it's characters: ignore the usual issue of forgetting who your heirs are, most the time I couldn't even remember my faction name without mousing over a settlement. Even in lategame Shogun II, I could remember the name of my finest generals, the towns they'd defended and the members of my increasingly messed up clan, but there is none of this here. It wouldn't be too strong to say that the characters feel like those pointless figures that show up in Rome II's politics tab.

    Battles are pretty much the same as they were in Atilla. Things feel a little faster paced in places but the game does little to capture the precise point in time that the game is aiming to portray. The shield wall is interesting enough, but given that it can't move, it's basically just a version of the one in Atilla but more restrictive. The AI is also extremely suicidal. It's happy to rush the heaviest part of my line with light cavalry and it has no the consideration for the safety of ranged/artillery units.

    Ultimately, the game is functional other than the odd bug, so how can I justify not just aiming for a middle of the road 5? Because the game abjectly fails to achieve any of it's objectives or justify it's existence in the series. It doesn't utilise the era very well, doesn't feel distinct from Atilla and doesn't feel any deeper than the fantasy games.

    Ultimately, this is a very sad outing for Total War and a pretty terrible showcase for their new "Saga" project, which I a shame because I was interested in narrow focus games.

    My only hope to the game in it's current state is that Steam will waive their usual two hours refund clause for me.    … Expand
  2. rustyfeeder
    May 3, 2018
    2
    This is the worst TW game released EVER. Could this be the fall of CA? Or maybe it is time for CA to wake up and start making changes? It is cheap, it is bland, it is just BAD. Trust me, I played every TW game starting from Shogun 1.
  3. Tornan
    May 4, 2018
    0
    I have played more extensive mods of total war games.Instead of releasing mod tools that would allow community to make better ones, they are trying to sell the same game again and again.From what I see CA has lost its touch and turned into a company of ultimate greed.

    Whatever you do don't buy it for the sake of future TWs. Note: Some reviewers said that this was a review bomb and    I have played more extensive mods of total war games.Instead of releasing mod tools that would allow community to make better ones, they are trying to sell the same game again and again.From what I see CA has lost its touch and turned into a company of ultimate greed.

    Whatever you do don't buy it for the sake of future TWs.

    Note: Some reviewers said that this was a review bomb and people voting 0 didn't even play the game and game was not a rip and had very different mechanics.I feel like these comments are coming from PR or Sales departments of CA.First why would anybody try to "review bomb" something unless they see something bad is going on? Secondly I played the game.Last, Mechanics in game doesn't need much work and is just adjustment of some numbers and UI's.What is in this game that a 4 membered mod team wouldn't accomplish with the tools CA has?    … Expand
  4. Madgad
    May 2, 2018
    0
    Nothing special. Tha AI is still poor, diplomacy is useless... Forget about cool mechanic things from WH and be prepared for tons of garbage from Attila.
  5. northernlad
    May 8, 2018
    4
    after hours of trying to like this total war saga game i come to the final conclusion it's a stripped down shallow heartless mess i wrote a proper review on steam worst total war to date and i love the series
  6. JMGBORO
    May 28, 2018
    4
    Boring and bland. This game looks great graphically but that is about it. I have played 3 hours and have found my self unable to continue because I am so bored with it. I am reinstalling Empire total war atm, the last total war game that had me properly immersed in the time period.
  7. marcantoineg
    May 13, 2018
    3
    The engine is dated. No optimization improvement over attila. A game that is still not fixed 3 years later. Bland units.
  8. Redrusty66
    May 7, 2018
    4
    As usual, "Critics" are idiots who know nothing about the genre they review...same with movies most of the time. This game is horrible, bare, simplified to appeal to the simpletons of this day and age it seems. CA is still milking this game engine and franchise for all they can, as with most other companies that turn into greedy sharks as opposed to actual game developers who care aboutAs usual, "Critics" are idiots who know nothing about the genre they review...same with movies most of the time. This game is horrible, bare, simplified to appeal to the simpletons of this day and age it seems. CA is still milking this game engine and franchise for all they can, as with most other companies that turn into greedy sharks as opposed to actual game developers who care about their games. As of now, with TWW and TWW2 barely being pretty enjoyable, it looks as though you may as well go back from TWW2 and never buy another of CA/Sega's games. Add to that the fact they included that SCAM called "Denuvo" and you've got a super stick bomb as it deserves.… Expand
  9. Tarakuda
    May 10, 2018
    0
    The worst game in the series, which in fact is an addition to Attila, to simplify everything to impossibility, all factions are the same, removed the destruction of settlements, removed agents, removed the march mode. The worst game in the series. Dumb artificial intelligence is also attached to the aggravated schedule.
  10. Vasot
    May 10, 2018
    4
    You can call it "Attila Total War re-skinned" it's almost the same game with the same gtaphic engine nothing really new also has the worse clunky animations from all Total War games this is probably the most boring game of the series with the most uninteresting factions and with a horrible stupid enemy AI. The game is a scam for me it feels like a bad DLC made for Attila Total War. I amYou can call it "Attila Total War re-skinned" it's almost the same game with the same gtaphic engine nothing really new also has the worse clunky animations from all Total War games this is probably the most boring game of the series with the most uninteresting factions and with a horrible stupid enemy AI. The game is a scam for me it feels like a bad DLC made for Attila Total War. I am going back to play Warhammer 2 TW it's a much better game… Expand
  11. TreborYelam
    May 2, 2018
    0
    it seems like the AI gets worse with ever installment of Total War, somehow.

    It wouldn't be such a big deal if you could play a campaign with other humans... but alas, Total War is once again limited to 2 player. Even with that, Creative Assembly has failed to allow the players to take their turns simultaneously while not at war (like Civilization allows). Either fix the AI or    it seems like the AI gets worse with ever installment of Total War, somehow.

    It wouldn't be such a big deal if you could play a campaign with other humans... but alas, Total War is once again limited to 2 player. Even with that, Creative Assembly has failed to allow the players to take their turns simultaneously while not at war (like Civilization allows).

    Either fix the AI or implement a system that lets me replace it with humans. As it stands the game is a choice between playing the AI with the intelligence of a raising or sitting through a drawn out snooze fest with one other player (and a whole bunch of dumb AI).    … Expand
  12. Quatra
    May 3, 2018
    0
    Wow, who would have thought cutting features, recycling units,maps, and graphics from a 3 year old game and just **** on the AI would make for a bad game... not to mention those ridiculous unit cards; "Historically based" or not. Diplomacy is gone and dumbed down, AI doesnt defend or prepare for it's minor settlements. Also cutting features found in games for the last 5 or so years andWow, who would have thought cutting features, recycling units,maps, and graphics from a 3 year old game and just **** on the AI would make for a bad game... not to mention those ridiculous unit cards; "Historically based" or not. Diplomacy is gone and dumbed down, AI doesnt defend or prepare for it's minor settlements. Also cutting features found in games for the last 5 or so years and calling it a "saga" is just a cop out.… Expand
  13. alex_dragon
    Jun 3, 2018
    0
    It's a complete RIP off of Attila

    They banned ppl and youtubers like Legend of Total War becuase he gave honest opinion and critics about the game. He was now banned out of early access They removed Force march, one of the best mechanics of latest total war, the campaign is dumb down and if you are one of the major factions you can literally win the whole campaign in few turns    It's a complete RIP off of Attila

    They banned ppl and youtubers like Legend of Total War becuase he gave honest opinion and critics about the game. He was now banned out of early access

    They removed Force march, one of the best mechanics of latest total war,

    the campaign is dumb down and if you are one of the major factions you can literally win the whole campaign in few turns once you have full stack. and settlements are so easy to take, u can do this with just 1 general, no units required if they had no one defending. (No garrison for minor settlements)

    they got rid of agents, trades, scouts, and dumb a lot of things down. Each campaign last only like 7 hours or so

    this should be an expansion for Attila, and Attila already have expansions and mods similar to this one

    they will charge you for Blood Pack after a month

    all the good reviews you see from Game critics are pointless since they all get paid to do it. and they don't show the truth    … Expand
  14. zaxes1234
    May 2, 2018
    2
    none of the great features WH I and II added and some of the worst of Attila
  15. GJA
    Jan 30, 2020
    4
    Could have been a great time-period but the developers decided to be lazy *****. There isn't really anything special about this game.

    What it should have been: Bigger campaign map so you can raid France and England as the Vikings. Focus on religion and longboat superiority (even ability to sail up rivers). What we got: quick cashgrab by lazy developers. Nothing innovative and playing    Could have been a great time-period but the developers decided to be lazy *****. There isn't really anything special about this game.

    What it should have been: Bigger campaign map so you can raid France and England as the Vikings. Focus on religion and longboat superiority (even ability to sail up rivers).

    What we got: quick cashgrab by lazy developers. Nothing innovative and playing as the vikings is not that different than playing as the english...    … Expand
  16. Adi321
    Sep 20, 2020
    0
    Without doubt the worst game of all Total War games. The game has no deep, the interface and graphic design is horrible and 40€ for this trash is a joke!
  17. Yaav13
    May 9, 2022
    4
    My truthful honorable incorruptible conclusive rating of this considered game: 4.

Awards & Rankings

73
#73 Most Discussed PC Game of 2018
12
#12 Most Shared PC Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 51 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 51
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 51
  3. Negative: 0 out of 51
  1. CD-Action
    Sep 27, 2018
    80
    Even though the AI is unable to learn from its failures and crack the player’s tactics, which makes later battles too easy, Thrones of Britannia is a game no strategy fan should overlook. [08/2018, p.74]
  2. PLAY! Zine
    Jul 18, 2018
    70
    Thrones of Britannia shifts usual pattern where storytelling is weakest part of Total War games to situation where it is it's best part in ToB. If AI and factions get upgrades, it might even turn out quite good.
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  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jul 13, 2018
    60
    The trip to the time of Alfred the Great is rather disappointing, though the game does not do anything horribly wrong. It's good, but the theme could have been grasped much better. [Issue#286]
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