Total War: Three Kingdoms launches mod support
Don't expect whole new games
Official mod support launched for Total War: Three Kingdoms this week, letting players create new units, add new battle maps, tweak balance, pretty it up, and more. Who knows what else we might see over time? And can someone add a proper dating sim to meet hot new kingdoms in my area? The tools do have some big limitations, mind, so don't expect mods with things like new campaign maps.
The Three Kingdoms Assembly Kit went through beta testing with modders earlier this year, so a fair few mods are already live for all to try.
Popular mods include Hooveric Reskin adding more variety amongst generic troops, the bug-busting Community Bug Fix: 3K, Enhanced Battle Camera for more control of the view, and skipping the startup videos. One that caught my eye was Enhanced Dust Particles, which makes units kick up loads more dust as they charge around. Nice bit of drama, that (as you can see in that ↑ screenshot).
Head on over to the Total War: Three Kingdoms Steam Workshop to see and download mods. You might also want to keep an eye on Nexus Mods for ones that don't meet Creative Assembly's moral/legal standards.
If you fancy making your own and have Three Kingdoms, you should see the Assembly Kit in your Steam Library. Creative Assembly note that it'll be familiar if you've used any of their Kits from Rome II onwards, now with some handy new features.
The tools don't let modders touch a lot of the game, mind. They can't change campaign maps or game code, add audio files or prefabs... a fair few things needed to make Three Kingdoms into a substantially different game. These are tools to mod Three Kingdoms, not make a new game within the Three Kingdoms engine. Ah, at least the base game's a good'un.
"Three Kingdoms is the best historical strategy game in a very long series," Denis Ryan said in our Total War: Three Kingdoms review, "and certainly the most dramatic and personal."