Total War: Warhammer 3 will join its predecessors in Mortal Empires in the long run. We have all the info so far on release, versions and co.
This is going to be big. Total War: Warhammer 3 is a gigantic game in its own right, but with the conclusion of the Warhammer trilogy, a much larger whole is coming together that has been maturing for five years now: Mortal Empires, the mega-campaign that brings together all Warhammer Total Wars, including DLCs, into one huge project. And you are guaranteed to need well over 2,000 hours of play to explore every gameplay angle of this epic campaign.
But there are many question marks hanging over Warhammer 3’s Mortal Empires campaign. When is the release of Mortal Empires? Which Warhammer versions do I need to make the campaign work? And for all those unfamiliar with the subject: What is it anyway?
Unfortunately, not all questions can be answered definitively yet, but we will at least provide you with the current state of knowledge here and of course add to the information as soon as developer Creative Assembly delivers news. Now then, let’s get started.
What is Mortal Empires?
Every Total War: Warhammer of the last five years has been based on the same principle: lead a nation of your choice into battle with army and fanfare to conquer the world. The only difference is that not every part covered the entire world, but only specific regions:
- Total War: Warhammer 1 concentrated on the western part of the Old World, i.e. the Empire, Bretonia as far south as Tilea and the Badlands. In the east, it stopped at the World’s Edge Mountains.
- Total War: Warhammer 2 is set mainly in the New World, the Warhammer equivalent of both North and South America. It also covers the Southlands including Araby, i.e. Africa.
- Total War: Warhammer 3 focuses on the rest of the Warhammer world, i.e. the far east of the Old World: Cathay (China), Kislev (the Steppes), the Ogre Kingdoms and the hinterland of Khuresh (Indochina).
In the regular campaign of Warhammer 3, you are limited to the new game world and thus to the fight of Cathay, Kislev and Co. against the hordes of Chaos (more on this in our overview of all playable races in Warhammer 3). The Mortal Empires, on the other hand, span much, much further: if you own all three parts of Total War: Warhammer, you can lead your faction across the entire Warhammer world. For example, invade Cathay with the Lizardmen of Lustria or conquer the New World as a vampire lord.All factions in Total War Warhammer 3: strengths, weaknesses, units
When is the release of Mortal Empires?
This is probably the question you are most interested in, but unfortunately we don’t have a clear answer here: Creative Assembly has not yet commented on the release date of Mortal Empires. But we can at least speculate that Warhammer 3 is likely to stick to the successful formula of its predecessor. Back then, Mortal Empires was released almost exactly one month after the release of Warhammer 2, so if it’s the same this time, you won’t have to wait too long.
Which versions do I need for Mortal Empires?
And here’s the kicker: Total War: Warhammer 3 is available on many different platforms – Steam, Epic, Game Pass. If you want to compete in multiplayer, Steam players can also compete with Epic army leaders, for example, but this compatibility does not apply to older games, and thus Mortal Empires!
In concrete terms, this means that anyone who has bought Total War: Warhammer 1 and 2 for Steam and has purchased rows of DLCs there over the years will also have to buy Warhammer 3 on Valve’s platform. The Game Pass version is not compatible. All three parts must have been purchased on the same platform.
Warhammer 3 will be released on multiple launchers. In multiplayer, your version does not matter. And this is quite a sticking point, because Warhammer 1 and 2 are not even available in the Windows Store yet, with Epic only offering the first part. Creative Assembly has already communicated in a (Blogpost) that this should change soon.
Of course, it is possible that the developers will also break down barriers between the platforms in the long term, so that Steam DLCs will also be compatible with the Epic version, for example, but currently you are on the safe side to concentrate on Steam.
After all, all content for Warhammer 3 should be released on all platforms at the same time. So the Epic Store won’t get DLCs earlier than Steam or anything.
One last little tip
If you want to unlock DLC races from previous Warhammer games for a future Mortal Empires, it’s not worth waiting for a special Warhammer 3 version of those races. For example, the Khemri DLC from Warhammer 2 will not be available again in a separate Warhammer 3 variant. The DLCs for Warhammer 1 and 2 are reduced in almost every big Steam Sale.
