Total War: Attila is your chance to save an empire - or end it

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It's the year 395 and Rome is in trouble. The great power that stretched from the Middle East to the fringes of Scotland is now collapsing. Theodosius, the last man to rule both the eastern and western halves, has died, dividing control between his sons. Their empires are not only surrounded by would-be invaders just waiting for their chance, but now even more vulnerable to the power plays of their own people. They lack the armies they needs to defend their territories and the years ahead will bring disease, famine and ruinous invasions. In time, Attila will be coming and to the newly Christianised people of Rome, he may as well be the apocalypse incarnate.
"It's a very apocalyptic game," says senior battle designer Simon Mann, describing how even the eternal city of Rome itself is at threat. "Rome is beset on all sides, even from the inside. Historically, you've got this idea of the Seven Seals being opened, you've got the four horsemen personified by Attila and his hunt. These were things that people were writing about at the time. Contemporary Christian authors were seeing disease, were seeing climate change, were seeing Attila coming down on them, and they thought 'This is it. This is the End of Days for us.' Attila was the scourge of God, the punishment for Christian sin and decadence."
It's a merry way to introduce the latest in the Total War series, but developer Creative Assembly seems rather keen on the idea of tearing everything down. Lead artist Pawel Wojs describes it as "Fitting. We've had Rome 2, with its glorious celebration of this great empire, now this is a wonderful way to close that chapter, with the dawn of the Dark Ages." The setting will likely remind fans of the Barbarian Invasion expansion for Rome: Total War, with its great hordes migrating across the map, but Creative Assembly is trying to emphasise how different Total War: Attila is to its predecessor. They're keen to frame it as both an evolution of the imperfect Total War: Rome 2, as well as a grimmer and potentially more difficult prospect.
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