The 10 best Total War games to play today ahead of Medieval 3

Blending real-time strategy and a strategic world map, the best Total War games have become a deeply iconic strategy format. Starting as little more than wargames, they now incorporate more political and economic angles—but always in the pursuit of that golden standard described in the series title: Total War.

However, they all vary wildly in quality and size, from the shorter and now defunct Total War Sagas to the sprawling decade of development that has given us the runaway success Total War: Warhammer (aka one of the best strategy games of all time). They've also undergone a huge evolution in gameplay, and in the future I'm expecting even more changes to happen thanks to the announcement that the new games, Total War: Warhammer 40,000 and Medieval 3, are now on the way.

But before those fresh releases turn the tables, it is time to examine all the active troops on the battlefield. Without further ado, let's take a look at the top 10 Total War games… so far.

The best Total War games to play right now, starting with...

10. Total War: Pharaoh

Here's what will probably be the most controversial entry on this list, because some people loved it and others hated it. I'm going to plop it at the top, spot 10, as a great introduction to what makes the Total War series interesting and fun. It was a historical return to form for Creative Assembly while still incorporating the interesting gamified elements that the series has worked on over the course of the era of Total War: Warhammer.

It's a pleasantly tactical game, forcing you to emphasize your positioning and use of terrain to get the most out of your army rather than just making a ton of top-of-the-line units—especially during its cool weather events, where some strategies might fail you entirely. Top that off with a varied economy emphasizing five different resources and a few unique mechanics for each faction—like the Egyptian royal court—and you're off to the races.

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Steam

9. Total War: Napoleon

Tightly focused gunpowder campaigns are the real selling point of Napoleon. While somewhat controversial at the time, it provides a great counterpoint to Empire in that it really focuses on tactics in combat and army strategy rather than the grandiose conquests that let you build a vast empire. You really care about putting soldiers in column and learn where to place your cannons. It also works magic with teaching you the utility of some of the Napoleonic era's weirdo units: When you should use Cuirassiers versus Dragoons, or the profound effect that hooking your cannons up to horses has on their mobility.

The real draw for many are the historical campaigns, which let you play the predictable Grand Campaign across all of Europe as one of six factions, but also the more focused Italian and Egyptian campaigns that put you in Napoleon's shoes, as well as the Peninsular War campaign as the British, French, or Spanish. You can learn more about this one by reading our Napoleon: Total War review.

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8. Total War: Empire

The most ambitiously-scaled Total War game before the later Warhammer series got huge, Empire has you take the reins of 18th-century armies of muskets, cannons, and cavalry charges. You can also play as a huge variety of groups, from the marquee British Empire to the Marathas of India. Empire also includes a controversial naval battles component that people will either tell you is awful or good or fine once you load up a few mods—but which most can agree are a bit slow.

The real standout for many (as we point out in our Empire: Total War review) is how much more complex and interesting the economy, trade, espionage, and religious aspects of Empire are. You've got to produce goods your people need, then produce excess for trade—then establish and protect your trade routes with other nations for them to really produce income. Provinces have an interesting abstract measure: Their overall wealth, rather than purely their taxable population, is what generates income. It's the first time that a Total War world map felt like it had a properly grand scale in not just warfare, but the economy too.

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Steam

7. Total War: Rome

The most franchise-defining game on this list. You can firmly divide Total War games into an era before Rome and the era after. Its dozens of unit types stretched the boundaries of what people expected from a Total War game, even if they did at times stretch well past the boundaries of historical accuracy. The leather-clad Roman Arcani ninjas? Hordes of war dogs? The weirdly time-displaced ancient Egyptian factions?

But despite my historical misgivings, Total War: Rome stands out because of the interesting granularity of its simulation—like settlement population being depleted as you recruit troops from there—and the breadth of its campaign factions, sweeping from Iberia to Britain to Persia and all points in between. Plus, it's available in conveniently remastered form if you're chronically allergic to old graphics. And, if you are still unconvinced about this entry, check out our glowing Total War: Rome review for more details!

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Steam

6. Total War: Attila

The most interesting and experimental game in the Total War series, Attila is an apocalyptic game in every sense of the word. You fight not just wars against your enemies, but also the general sense that the world is in chaos and societies are collapsing left and right. The Roman Empire is doomed, clearly, and people are migrating in search of new homes or new wealth.

There are relentless hordes of barbarians at the gates for Roman players to fend off, and limitless riches to take for newcoming peoples in Europe… if you can survive very long after taking it. The mechanics for large empires and economies collapsing in the face of a chaotic world is really good stuff, something that later Total War games—let alone other strategy games—have yet to iterate on. For more, read our Total War: Attila review next.

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Steam

5. Total War: Medieval 2

Medieval 2 has the heavy clash of battle lines, brutal cavalry tactics, and the fickle morale of the era it covers so well-mapped that it has become the definitive historical Total War game for many, many players. While it lacks some of the greater sophistication that emerged from Empire, Medieval 2 iterates so satisfyingly on the gameplay established by Rome just a few years earlier that it became the definitive modding platform for Total War.

Owning Medieval 2 lets you play mods that have been a decade or more in development for worlds like The Lord of the Rings, The Elder Scrolls, A Song of Ice and Fire, and many more historical periods than just the Middle Ages. Those modders have also refined the core experience, retroactively adding the kind of detail you'd find in later Total War games like Empire, Shogun 2, and Rome 2.

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4. Total War: Shogun 2

Perhaps the most refined and reliable Total War game at its launch—and the tightest one ever for a reliable gameplay experience (according to our Total War: Shogun 2 review)—Shogun 2 takes a much smaller-scale look at one island nation during one period of history. The smaller roster of soldiers with more obvious jobs in combat makes this one particularly accessible to series newcomers, while the AI is actually fairly competent in both politics and warfare.

Top that off with the spectacular setpiece sieges of beautiful, unique Japanese castles, and you've got a Total War that's pretty hard to hate. Plus, its expansion pack, Fall of the Samurai, is extremely cool, if a bit uneven compared to the base Shogun 2. Why? It covers a rarely-seen historical period that includes both ironclad warships and gatling guns alongside sword-wielding cavalry and peasant levies with spears.

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Steam

3. Total War: Rome 2

I'll freely admit that, like many others, I panned this game when it came out. It had a suite of weird technical problems, ran very poorly for many, and was mired in mechanics that were alternately confusing and frustrating. In the years since its release, however, Rome 2 has taken on a powerful identity of its own that really makes the most of its campaign map and ancient setting.

The battle maps are a high watermark for the series, both field, town, city, and siege maps, letting you really understand how ancient generals found uses for the huge variety of soldiers they fielded. The quality of the maps really encourages you to play to your faction's strengths: Gauls want to hit their enemies hard and break morale at close range, while Romans want to stand fast against all odds until the enemy breaks against them, and the Parthians want to tire out their enemies at range before smashing them in a cavalry charge. For more, check out our Total War: Rome 2 review!

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Steam

2. Total War: Three Kingdoms

Three Kingdoms is far and away the most mechanically interesting game Creative Assembly has ever made. It shows what the future of these games, if they continue, will likely be: character-driven politics, relationships, and army composition. These historical factions aren't faceless; instead represented by individuals who form alliances and rivalries with each other, switch sides, and fight epic martial arts duels when they meet on the battlefield. There's strategic depth in Three Kingdoms that you can't find elsewhere in the series, too, pushing you to form real alliances and husband your resources rather than just mindlessly conquer the next location on the map.

It also has a UI more lovely than any Total War release before or since. Sadly, compared to its contemporary Warhammer series, development on Three Kingdoms was cut short. As such, elements like the campaign AI and starting scenarios never reached the level you'd hope for or expect. Despite those shortcomings, it's solidly one of the best Total War games ever made… and a hopeful template for the series in the future.

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Steam

1. Total War: Warhammer games

Am I combining all three Total War: Warhammer games into one entry? Games and myriad expansions developed over what is now nearly a decade, and with DLC still releasing? Yes. Yes, I am. The proper way to enjoy these is as one sprawling entry that took seven years to develop—and you can enjoy them that way, to be clear, since they're more often than not on sale in a bundle of Total Warhammers 1-3 for less than any single one of them costs new.

Set in the sprawling dark fantasy of Warhammer's Old World, TWW has an at this point comedically huge game map to battle on and a slew of epic fantasy tropes incorporated. There are literally dozens of factions: from its uniquely interesting elves and dwarves to its human gunpowder empires and knights to goofy greenskin orcs. There's even the much more bizarre: Fleets of undead pirates, geometry-worshipping lizard people, hordes of extraplanar daemons, and an underground rat-thing empire. There's something here for everyone, as long as the something they want is fantasy. If you wanted history, well, maybe back up a few entries.

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Steam

For more recommendations, check out our lists of the best 4X games and the best PC games as well.