Total War: Attila - Age of Charlemagne

Age of Charlemagne is the second big expansion for Total War: Attila, a strategy game developed by Creative Assembly, and another installment in the Total War series, launched back in 2000. The add-on for PC is the biggest one so far, offering a completely new, lengthy story campaign as well as a whole bunch of novelties and changes.

Story

The action of Age of Charlemagne begins in 768, long after the reign of the legendary Attila ended. When the old empires crumbled and the inhabitants of Europe, decimated by the long-lasting wars, were trying to restore light, knowledge, and civilization to the Old Continent, an ambitious ruler, Charlemagne, appeared on the horizon. He was supposed to share the throne of Franks with his brother. When the situation between the siblings became tense, Charlemagne followed the footsteps of his grandfather, Charles Martel. The deeds of the great ruler and visionary led to the creation of the first grand empire since the fall of the Roman Empire. Wishing to unite Europe under his reign and restore order within it, Charles the Great brings an entirely new era of education, religion, and war upon his people.

Gameplay

A completely new story campaign lets the player assume the role of a great medieval ruler whose task is to unite Europe and repair its destroyed civilization. In the game, there are 52 provinces to conquer, all of which are inhabited by both already known and new factions. Each of those have their own unique features, buildings and so on. With the new era, over 300 new units make an appearance alongside characteristic war technologies and military formations of the period.

Apart from that, Age of Charlemagne for PC introduces a whole bunch of significant changes in the gameplay mechanics. Establishing your own kingdom requires you to meet specific conditions, different for every faction. Aside from common events that happen to all nations, the game also offers unique ones, the so-called Kingdom Events, which are based on historical facts. At the same time, peaceful solutions are now more important than ever. Our popularity with our people is now impacted by an entirely new factor called the War Weariness, which determines the population’s exhaustion with constant wars and forces us to adapt a more placid foreign policy.

The novelties are complemented by numerous changes introduced in the unit management. Armies and fleets received new Legacies, while the generals have additional skill trees. The developers also decided to implement specializations for agents, which allow Assassins, Spies, and Priests to master new, powerful skills, but reduce their versatility. However, should we decide to take the peaceful approach in pursuing our goals, there's also a set of less aggressive victory conditions, depending on, for example, technology development or bonuses given by some buildings (that also have a positive impact on surrounding provinces).

Technology

As far as the technical side of the game is concerned, Age of Charlemagne for PC does not introduce any changes to the original product. However, the new, refurbished user interface, inspired by medieval art and decorated with stylish manuscripts and stained-glass windows, is definitely noteworthy.

Last updated on December 8, 2015