Anglo-Saxons, Gaelic clans and Viking settlers battle for Brittania and the glory of forging a great empire. A change from the usual Total War games but a potential gateway to newcomers.

I am almost completely satisfied with the new and revised functions of the strategy card - and spend most of the game here.

An interesting start to the new sub-series that will serve as a good way to pass the time until the next "big" Total War.

Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia is a more streamlined, sleeker and quicker Total War than those before it. However, the changes to make it like this offer new opportunities and one of the more tactical campaign maps than ever before. While it still suffers from some issues, like boring end game and being altogether too easy, there's still a whole lot to gain from playing Thrones of Britannia.

A brilliant early game and bold experiments almost make up for the AI niggles and the boring march to the final battle.

While the sameness of the factions began to bother me after a time, and will keep me from revisiting this one as much as I have the previous games, Thrones of Britannia does a fine job of shaking things up a bit. Not every change was welcome, but certain things, like army recruitment and siege battles, clearly came out better because of it. While my eyes are firmly set on the DLC releases to TW:W2, which are coming out at a steady pace, I did enjoy this diversion to the British Isles, and look forward to more Sagas when Creative Assembly wants to shake the tree up a bit.

If Total War wants to be able to compete again, it needs to not only take inspiration from its greatest competitors, but seriously needs to look back to its own glory days: Rome and Medieval II.