Unlike the usual Total War game that span large stretches of land and equally gigantic time periods, the newly released Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia offers a much more detailed look at the events and battles that took place shortly after the English king Alfred the Great halted the Viking invasion in 878 AD. In gameplay terms this means you can expect to see the most intricate map the series has seen so far, a variety of factions that borrow heavily from real history, as well as a plethora of improvements to the politics & intrigue system in order to better emulate the time period.

Since trying to explain all of this through words alone is a bit of a pointless task, allow me to share with you one of the recent developer previews starring the Kingdom of Mierce. In my campaign the poor buggers survived only 10 turns, but thankfully the ones in the video will be alive for long enough to show you what Thrones of Britannia is all about. Have a look:

If all goes well I'll have a full review up in a day or two, but right now I think Thrones of Britannia is best described with: two steps forward, one step back. It brings up a plethora of interesting new systems, some of which I would love to see more of in future Total War games, but it also removes some highly useful things like the Forced March stance and the ability to ambush enemies. Despite its shortcomings I'm still having a great deal of fun with Thrones of Britannia, but I would highly recommend you do your research before diving in as I can already sense this one being quite divisive among fans.

You can learn more about Thrones of Britannia, as well as check out a variety of rather useful tutorials, by visiting the official website. As for the macOS and Linux versions, you can expect to see them "shortly", though no exact release date has been given just yet. Have fun slaying vikings!