Shogun: Total War
2000
- real time strategy (rts)
- strategy
- turn-based strategy (tbs)
- tactical
- historical
- warfare
- single player
- multiplayer
The story
Set against the backdrop of the Sengoku Jidai (Warring States) period from the 15th to the beginning of the 17th century, Shogun: Total War is a real-time tactics and turn-based strategy game with a strong focus on historical authenticity. Players assume control of a daimyo (leader) of a contemporary Japanese clan and attempt to conquer the nation and claim the title of supreme Shogun, the undisputed military ruler of Japan. The gameplay consist of two parts – a turn-based Risk-style mode on a 2D campaign map of Japan where the player must recruit, manage and move their armies, conduct diplomacy, trade, espionage, sabotage and assassinations. This 2D map however ultimately serves to provide context for the 3D real-time battles that make up the main part of the game and occur whenever your army crosses into enemy territory or two opposing forces meet on the campaign map.
What it’s like
Sweeping, painterly campaign maps of feudal Japan, rendered in muted ink-and-parchment tones, give way to large 3D battles of thousands of tiny figures moving across misty fields, hills and rain-soaked villages. The score leans on taiko drums and sparse, flute-like melodies, so the battles feel stately rather than frantic, and long pauses between orders let the lines of archers and cavalry settle into view. The mood is patient and weighty, a slow-burning tension of rivalry and calculation, best suited to a quiet evening or a long unhurried session when you want to plan a campaign and watch it unfold. Pacing is deliberate: turns on the map are contemplative, and battles build through positioning, morale shifts and a sudden collapse of a flank rather than constant action. Violence is present throughout as mass combat, with arrows, clashing blades and routing soldiers, but it stays at the scale of armies rather than close, lingering gore; assassinations and sabotage happen off-screen in plain text and icons. The tone is cool and strategic rather than cruel. It suits players who enjoy history, careful micromanagement and the satisfaction of a well-timed maneuver, and who are happy with a game that rewards thinking over reflexes.
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