A Total War Saga: TROY Review Summary

Visually Stunning and Atmospheric: The game is praised for its beautiful graphics, atmospheric soundtrack, and visually appealing design. The campaign map, unit designs, and overall art style contribute to an immersive and aesthetically pleasing experience.

Diverse and Unique Factions: The game features a variety of factions, each with unique mechanics, abilities, and playstyles. This diversity adds replay value and allows players to experiment with different strategies and approaches.

Engaging Mythological and Historical Blend: The game successfully blends historical and mythological elements, offering a unique experience for fans of Greek mythology and history. It features mythical creatures, heroes, and a narrative inspired by Homer's Iliad, providing a rich and immersive setting.

Innovative Resource Management: The game introduces a unique multi-resource system that adds depth to settlement planning and economy management. This system includes resources like food, wood, stone, bronze, and gold, making strategic decisions more complex and engaging.

Mythical Creatures and Heroes: The inclusion of mythical creatures and heroes adds a fantasy element to the game. Players can hunt and tame legendary beasts, and the mythical units add color and variety to the gameplay.

AI and Diplomacy Issues: The AI in the game is frequently criticized for being overly aggressive, breaking treaties, and declaring war without reason. Diplomacy is often described as shallow, broken, and meaningless, with AI factions being unresponsive to negotiations and alliances frequently breaking.

Combat and Unit Problems: Combat is criticized for being basic, unfluid, and lacking in tactics or strategy. Units are often described as bland, repetitive, and lacking variety. Additionally, there are issues with unit formations, animations, and pathfinding during battles.

Lack of Content and Depth: The game is often criticized for lacking content, depth, and variety. Players find the game to be repetitive, boring, and lacking in long-term planning and satisfaction. The lack of cavalry and naval battles is also frequently mentioned.

Game Balance and Difficulty: The game is often seen as unbalanced, with minor factions being overpowered and declaring war too frequently. The difficulty is also criticized for being unbalanced, with strong garrisons and constant wars making the game frustrating and less enjoyable.

Graphics and Visual Style: The graphics and visual style of the game are criticized for being too cartoonish, outdated, and simplistic. The animations are often described as poorly executed and unnatural, detracting from the overall gaming experience.

Historical and mythological setting: The game is set in Ancient Greece and Troy, focusing on the conflict between these historical factions. It includes elements of Greek mythology, providing a rich and immersive setting.

AI behavior issues: The AI in the game has been noted for its nonsensical and repetitive behavior, particularly in battles and diplomacy. This affects the overall gameplay experience and can lead to frustration.

Multiple game modes available: The game offers various modes including Historical, Mythical, and Truth Behind the Myth, providing diverse gameplay experiences. These modes cater to different player preferences, from fully historical to mythological fantasy.

Diplomacy and trade systems: The game features diplomacy and trade mechanics, allowing players to manage relations and resources. However, some players find the trading system lacking or nonexistent.

Unit variety and combat: The game offers a wide variety of units and combat mechanics, including different unit types and battle tactics. However, some unit animations are considered outdated.

Optimization and performance: The game is generally well-optimized and runs smoothly on various systems, including older machines. However, there are occasional reports of crashes, FPS issues, and graphical bugs.

Crashes and freezes: Some players experience frequent crashes and freezes, particularly after short play times. This can significantly disrupt the gaming experience.

Pathfinding and AI issues: Players report significant problems with pathfinding and AI behavior. Units sometimes slide through each other, stay still when ordered to move, and the AI takes an unusually long time to conduct turns.

Long turn times: Players report that ending turns and AI turns take an unusually long time, which can be frustrating during gameplay.

Frame rate drops: There are notable frame rate drops, particularly on the global map and during large battles. This issue is more pronounced in the late-game campaign map.

Mythos DLC enhances experience: Several reviews mention that the Mythos DLC significantly improves the gameplay experience. Some reviewers even suggest that the game is only worth playing with this DLC.

Worth buying on sale: Many reviewers suggest that the game is worth purchasing, especially when it is on sale. They recommend it for fans of Greek mythology, historical strategies, and the Total War series.

Consider older or other titles: Some reviewers suggest playing older versions of the game or other titles like Warhammer 3 for a better experience. Recommendations include Odyssey, Wooden Horse Siege, and Rome 2.

Recommended for specific audiences: The game is recommended for fans of historical strategies, Greek mythology, and the Total War series. It is also suggested for historians of tactical RTS and those interested in Ancient Greece.

Not recommended at full price: Many reviews state that the game is not worth the full price and should only be purchased during a sale. Some reviewers find the gameplay tedious and repetitive.

Monetization: The game is heavily criticized for its aggressive monetization practices, including Day-1 DLCs, excessive and overpriced DLCs, and essential content locked behind paywalls. Players feel that significant portions of the game are stripped out and sold separately, making the base game feel incomplete. The constant promotion of DLCs and the necessity to purchase them for a full experience further exacerbates the frustration among users.