14 DAY TRIAL // The Creative Assembly took a step outside its comfort zone with the launch of the surprisingly good Alien: Isolation last year and it seems that its survival horror experience has also influenced the way it is approaching the future of its core strategy franchise, Total War.
With the upcoming Attila title, the studio is aiming to introduce a new take on the genre, which one developer is describing as a survival strategy game, where players need to first worry about the very existence of their faction before they can try and expand into enemy territory.
Janos Gasper, the leading developer working on the experience, tells Eurogamer that “Most of the new features are focused on this breakdown, with dynamic fire and destruction and the Huns at the very centre of this mix. We're also focusing on emergent story-telling, which is very important to us and the unpredictability of the new elements lends itself well to this type of campaign.”
The Huns, which have been confirmed as playable, are the biggest danger to other factions, because of their inherent superiority in mounted warfare and their ability to be ruthless when they need to.
At the same time, gamers will have to deal with the effects of climate change, which affect economies and population growth, and disease, which can quickly spiral out of control given the conditions.
Attila will not be affected by the issues of Rome II
The previous title in the Total War series, Rome II, suffered from problems on launch, but the studio wants to assure players that nothing similar will happen in Attila.
Gasper adds, “Attila is built on the basis of Rome 2, so all of the upgrades sit atop a stable base. We were very ambitious with Rome 2 and we wanted to change a lot of things and add a lot of new things. With Attila being built on this strong foundation, it's allowed us to make some major leaps by sharing the technology and experience between teams.”
Gamers can look forward to the return of the family tree, to more depth for the political system and an Artificial Intelligence that’s better on both the tactical and the strategic level.
Total War: Attila will be out on the PC on February 17 and gamers who pre-order will get an extra pack with three factions.
