Total War Troy: An under-rated Saga Title of the Total War Franchise set in the Aegaen that you need to check out!
Total War Troy is a fascinating game set in the Trojan War, one of the most famous periods of Greek Mythology. With its Mythos update, it’s a really fun game if you want to relive the glory days of the Illiad!
Troy A Total War Saga embarks on one of the most ambitious updates ever done for a Total War Game to date. When Troy was initially released, there was mixed reception over the Truth Behind The Myth Approach, as it did not fully embrace the mythological nature of the game. Now the Mythos Update bringing massive changes to the game, with three new campaign modes (Historical, The Truth Behind the Myth, and the Mythological Campaign) and three new legendary beasts to hunt down and recruit in your armies in the Mythological Campaign. They have reworked the three new campaigns in ways that make sure that each campaign mode is distinct. In this review, we’ll cover the three campaign modes in-depth.
Note: I am a content creator for CA and I received early access. All thoughts are my opinions only. I really enjoyed this game tbh, and I didn’t find much to criticise about. I honestly enjoyed it. I’ve tried to be as critical as I can, but at the end of the day, my review is my opinion only. How you will find Troy, is up to you. I think it’s def worth trying out at the end of the day.
Historical Mode
Historical Mode initially strips away all mythology, instead of introducing a grey muted colour for their battles, including battles being more infantry based combat and less reliance on missile infantry even though they can still turn the tide of battle. Your heroes do not fight like absolute machines on the battlefield and they retreat like normal generals. The diplomacy feels that it could do with some improvements and the diplomacy could act more historical in some ways. The diplomatic AI offers good deals for bronze and wood, and food. But it often does it to be unhistorical. Essentially, Troy Total War is a sandbox game. So what may have happened in the Iliad is rarely needed to happen in this game?
Battles are where I’ll certainly give credit to CA for taking community feedback and improving upon it. In one of my battles, I fought as Agamemnon and besieged a city. An epic battle ensured where rain poured down upon this miserable day as the city walls looked intimidating to my troops. The enemy had brought forward slingers. Slingers! A majority of their army comprised that only. With that in mind, I sent forward my shielded warriors, and we fought a tough battle. Not one side gave up their ground.
The enemy’s missiles kept on peppering my troops with their deadly rocks. It was a tug of war, for the enemy had been wiped out. Only their slingers remained while mine kept retreating. Exhausted, my troops retreated. They erected a historical landmark at the city gates on the campaign map. Troy can create these epic stories from your battles. That said, I disliked the grey-coloured outlook of battles and in the campaign mode. An option to have a colourful mode and a non-colourful mode would have been much better to do between switching colours in the campaign mode. In the battle mode, if you go to the menu, you can select Photo Mode, which means you can switch and adjust the lighting of battles that persists in the campaign map.
Some criticism that I would add is that slingers felt too powerful in battles and sometimes entire battles can be decided on that outcome. Garrisons are sometimes too strong even if you have an army that’s got elite units for historical mode. An improvement that was welcome to see was that during this battle, when the enemy slingers attacked my heavy shield infantry, the shield infantry didn’t break. That said, I prefer this. There was a time when slingers can wipe out entire units in the previous version of Troy before the Mythos Update. It is a definite improvement and one which I welcome. Chariots needed more of a presence on the battlefield and need to have a more devastating impact on the battlefield.
They are powerful but can be easily defeated too quickly. Since Chariots were the battle tanks of the Bronze Age, some changes to their stats would be welcome. From an overall view, the technology tree didn’t change throughout the three campaign modes, and I feel they could have improved upon this aspect. Making each technology tree distinct from the other would have added more replayability. Historical Mode definitely achieves a gritty grounded feeling and is a recommended campaign experience to try first. Before you start the Mythological Mode, getting acquainted with the Historical Mode allows you to understand how to fight battles, and how you will play in the Mythological Mode.
The Truth Behind the Myth Approach
The Truth Behind the Myth approach has been revamped, giving the campaign map a more colourful mode to play with. In terms of preference, from the start, I had always wanted Troy to expand out of the Bronze Age and add different factions. I can say with no doubt that it has been improved. Mythical units have been revamped and re-skinned to make them appear Mythical as much as possible. The Gods give passive abilities within battles, and heroes are your typical one entity that charges into battle. The best comparison would be to compare this to Three Kingdoms, which period is renowned for Generals charging into armies alone many times. Mythological units are mostly humans wearing animal skins, but that’s a wonderful concept. The way the three campaigns works is this: Once you’ve had your share of the Historical Bronze Age, it may tempt you to try out the units that were mythical in legend but having a more human approach. After that, it might tempt you out to try out the Mythological Mode in its full glory. In this mode, you are witnessing the truth of what was really behind the Mythological steroid filled fest of the Iliad. It’s a campaign that improves upon certain mechanics in Historical and introduces other elements that you might not have been aware of previously. Overall, it’s worth trying out.
The Mythological Mode
Troy has definitely embraced the realm of Greek Mythology for its Mythological Campaign mode and battle wise. This was my favourite campaign out of all the three modes, and it would be nice if CA made a full scale Bronze Age total war!
I will keep on championing this cause until the day I see CA does a full-scale Bronze Age Total War, or hopefully decide to make this Saga Title and expand it further. It is where Troy excels at. This mode adds three new legendary mythological creatures most famously known in the Ancient Greek World: Cerebus, the dog of Hades and Persephone that guards the Gates of the Underworld, the Mythical Hydra that guards the entrance to the Underworld, and the Griffin of Greek Mythology.
For an overall conclusion, this game is totally worth it in my opinion and I give it a 9/10. It’s fun, solid and it really excels with the Mythos update.
