Total War: Warhammer release date & system requirements released

If after watching the recent battle showcase you thought that Total War: Warhammer was a bit rough around the edges, and that it might not have enough time to iron out all the kinks by April, I have some excellent news for you.

According to a press release sent out today, Total War: Warhammer is being delayed until May 24th in order to ensure that the classic Total War launch disaster doesn't strike once again. Here's the short message announcing the delay and a detailed list of the PC system requirements:

"This could be the best Total War game we’ve ever made. We don’t want to rush it. It’s an enormous game and we also want to make absolutely sure reviewers have enough time to play it thoroughly before launch.

Many thanks to the huge number of people who have pre-ordered and are eagerly awaiting release day. We’re pulling out all the stops for you.”

And here's the extremely detailed list of recommended system specs and what sort of performance you can expect from each one:

PC Minimum Specifications (12-25 FPS on campaign map and in a 1v1, 20 units vs 20 units battle, default graphics preset set to “Low”):

Operating System: Windows 7 64Bit 

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo 3.0Ghz

RAM: 3GB*

Hard Drive: 35 GB

Video Card: (DirectX 11) AMD Radeon HD 5770 1024MB | NVIDIA GTS 450 1024MB | Intel HD4000 @720P

*PC integrated graphics chipsets require 4GB ram, e.g. Intel HD series

PC Recommended Specifications (45-55 FPS on campaign map and in a 1v1, 20 units vs 20 units battle, default graphics preset set to “High”):

Operating System: Windows 7/8.1/10 64Bit

Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-4570 3.20GHz

RAM: 8 GB 

Hard Drive: 35 GB

Video Card: (DirectX 11) AMD Radeon R9 270X 2048MB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 2048MB @1080P

PC 60fps+ Specifications (Expected 60 FPS+ on campaign map and in a 1v1, 20 units vs 20 units battle, default graphics preset set to “Ultra”):

Operating System: Windows 7/8.1/10 64Bit

Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-4790K 4.0 GHz

RAM: 8 GB 

Hard Drive: 35 GB

Video Card: (DirectX 11) AMD Fury X or Nvidia GTX 980 @1080P

Total War: Warhammer will be releasing on May 24th and if you decide to preorder you will also receive the Chaos faction, which has seemingly been cut from the game in order to eek out a few more preorders. I generally don't mind small or cosmetic preorder bonuses, but when the incentive is the most important faction in the entire Warhammer universe then it starts becoming annoying.

Hopefully, with the extra month provided by the delay Creative Assembly will be able to fight off whatever corruption assails them and release a faction that is clearly fully developed and complete as a part of the base game rather than as a piece of DLC.