Total War: Warhammer 2 totally released

Today ratmen rise from the bowels of the earth, lizardfolk stop sunning themselves, high elves pause their posturing, and dark elves drop their edgy posturing, then the whole lot get to kicking seven shades of hell out of each other because Total War: Warhammer 2 [official site] is now out. Fraser Brown's Total War: Warhammer 2 review said this might be the best game in the strategy series, which is high praise. Total Warhammer 2 actually launched at 8am, so I assume several of you reading this have called in sick with your best fake coughs.

Twarhammer 2 swans off to a new continent with new factions, all of whom have interests in the The Great Vortex, a source of great and terrible power at the heart of the vortex. Campaign goals ultimately lead to that big swirly thing, and players can actually lose if their NPC completes their Vortex plan first.

Here's a big lump of Wot Fraser Thought:

"When Warhammer 2 disappoints, it's almost always when it shies away from change, letting some of Total War's weaker limbs languish in mediocrity. There's surprisingly little that hasn't been reconsidered, however, and what isn't entirely new has, more often than not, been expanded or tweaked, usually with positive results.

"There's a confidence to this game. It doesn't need a comfortingly familiar grand campaign or a traditional structure because it has an identity separate from that of Total War; an identity where a scripted narrative can work, or where starkly different factions are more important than balance. It's an exceedingly strong beginning to this chapter of the Warhammer trilogy and is a strong contender for the best game in the series."

Now that Twarham 2 is out, it's almost time for the free content machine to start rolling. A huge campaign map combining all factions and areas from both games, named Mortal Empires, is due to arrive soon-ish for people who own the two (no date confirmed yet, though the devs do say the Norsca will be added to the map late). Also coming are new Legendary Lords and something The Creative Assembly curiously call simply "an experiment."

Total War: Warhammer 2 is out on Steam for £39.99/€59.99/$59.99. Folks who buy it within the next week also get the Norsca DLC faction free for the first game.