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Sega and Creative Assembly’s Total War franchise is getting a brand-new standalone spin-off series under the banner ‘A Total War Saga’, the publisher announced today.
There’s no new game to announce just yet, said Sega, but initial plans for this "new class of historical Total War game" are now underway, with the new spin-off series due to arrive just before the next major historical release in the series (so any hopes of it appearing before Total War: Warhammer II have been sorely dashed).
More details can be found on Total War blog, but game director Jack Lusted has said the new title in the Saga series will still focus on a key historical flashpoints, such as civil wars, conquests and political upheavels and will build on what’s come before in previous Total War titles.
Indeed, it will be similar in scope and focus to Fall of the Samurai, said Lusted, which is the follow-up title to Shogun II. The first Total War Saga game will also continue on from Rome II and Attila, he said, in order to present "a thrilling new challenge in a focused geographical area."
He added: "Total War Saga games will be the same mix of turn-based campaign strategy, real-time battle tactics and hundreds if not thousands of hours of gameplay as a regular Total War game, but focussed down on a distinct moment.
"Sagas won’t be revolutionary new titles or introduce brand-new eras; they’ll follow-on from previous Total War games and inhabit the same time-period, or at the very least relate to it. But these are certainly Total War games.
"We’ve got more games in production than we’ve ever had before, and historical games form the majority of our forthcoming releases. We thought that badging these ‘A Total War Saga’ would help players understand that they are a spin-off and not the next major title. We’ll announce it properly in the next few months."
