In the latest entry of Creative Assembly’s ongoing Total War: Three Kingdoms ‘Let’s Play’ series, the studio has offered fans a more in-depth look at the game’s ‘Records Mode’; the more historical counterpart to the standard ‘Romance Mode’. Until now, the studio has only shown footage of the Romance Mode; the mode inspired by the Chinese classic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the legendary portrayal of the Three Kingdoms period. Players will, however, be able to play the game in an alternative mode which features more historical realism. This particular video also shows off gameplay for Gongsun Zan, one of the twelve playable faction leaders.
The Total War: Three Kingdoms Records Mode
This is the first time which Creative Assembly have shown off gameplay from the Total War: Three Kingdoms Records Mode. The video primarily focuses on a single large battle. As such, there are likely out-of-battle differences between the two modes which weren’t shown. However, fans did get to see some of the core differences between Romance and Records mode. The biggest of these is the portrayal of heroes. In Romance mode, hero characters are individuals who function more like the characters in the Total War: Warhammer games. However, in Records mode, these heroes are given a more realistic portrayal. They appear alongside a retinue of soldiers, forming a unit as leaders have done in previous Total War games.
Heroes still have the personal items and upgrades found in the Romance mode. However, these will presumably have less impact, or perhaps apply bonuses to the hero’s retinue too. It’s unknown whether heroes will still be able to engage in duels in Records mode, as no duels appear in the video. They will continue to have mid-battle interactions through dialogue, however.
Among the other changes in Records mode is a more realistic portrayal for units. For instance, it is mentioned during the video that units will tire more quickly in Records mode than they do in Romance mode. Given that Creative Assembly now have over two months before the game’s release, due to a recent launch delay, fans can likely expect more Let’s Play videos like this in the near future. Indeed, following on from this video, they may get to see a Records Mode video focusing on the out-of-battle gameplay differences.