Earlier today, Creative Assembly announced the Dynasty Mode for Total War: Three Kingdoms, which is a “new horde-style arcade mode” where players can “test their prowess against waves of enemies with ever-increasing difficulty levels.” The kicker? Players only control armies comprised of three “legendarily powerful” hero units. In other words, Dynasty Mode is essentially Total War: Dynasty Warriors.
Dynasty Mode is designed to make players feel like veritable gods of (total) war from the start. Playable hero units can devastate enemy troops with a single blow, self-heal, and obtain even more ludicrous powers through upgrades.
However, survival is the name of the game in Dynasty Mode, as the gap in power between players and enemies shrinks as play sessions progress. Each new wave spawns larger and stronger troops, and every third wave produces enemy heroes. Players need to create teams of heroes with complementary abilities and skills, otherwise they will understand the meaning of the phrase, “You won the battle but lost the war.”
As an arcade-styled horde mode, Dynasty Mode features a scoring system that rewards players for damaging enemy units, killing them or forcing them to retreat, and clearing waves. Moreover, players who finish off waves quickly receive a hefty bonus.
Since Total War: Three Kingdoms’ Dynasty Mode is designed to challenge players by overwhelming them with sheer numbers, you may wonder if your PC is even capable of rendering the mode’s incalculable legions. Lucky for you, Creative Assembly worked with Intel to ensure the game mode doesn’t set your computer on fire.
Dynasty Mode will utilize multi-core CPUs and multithreading technology to render as many troops on screen as possible without slowing down, and I do mean as many as possible. Players have the option to increase enemy unit sizes (and the difficulty) up to 600%. However, only the most herculean of gaming PCs are capable of running the game with the graphical settings —including enemy unit size— at max and at a playable framerate.
Now, you probably want to know how much Dynasty Mode will cost. The answer is a surprising $0.00. Dynasty Mode is completely free and will automatically download onto all PC copies of Total War: Three Kingdoms on August 8th. This date coincides with the release of the Eight Princes DLC.
If Dynasty Mode proves popular, we might see similar modes included in future Total War games.
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