SEGA lately invited us to Cologne, Germany where they hosted an exclusive event on the occasion of the global presentation of the latest instalment of the Total War franchise, Total War: ARENA. In case you haven’t heard of this title yet, the game takes an extremely tactical and strategic approach to the ever popular MOBA genre. In contrast to previous titles of the Total War franchise, Total War: ARENA will adopt a free-to-play business model and primarily focus on 10v10 PvP matches. With the game in closed alpha at the moment (although seemingly being in a close-to-launch state already), we were granted the opportunity to put our hands on it to see just what was on offer.
Having arrived at the ESL office, we got to explore the location where two sets had been prepared in order to broadcast multiple matches via live stream and were also shown the offices including a room where the invited would get the chance to check out the game for the very first time. As soon as all press and community members had arrived, the event started with a quick presentation of Total War: ARENA during which a new trailer was shown as well.
Upon the conclusion of the presentation, press and community members alike were allowed to ask questions that were answered by multiple team members, including Lead Programmer Alex DeRosee, Game Designers Elliot Lock and David Petry, as well as Project Lead Gabor Beressy. When the Q&A session was over, we finally were able to check out the game and interview the developing team, which we were impatiently looking forward to, since anyone among us had ever been allowed to play-test it before. So we kind of kidnapped David Petry to be our guide as we prepared ourselves for stepping into Total War: Arena.
Our initial feeling about the game upon entering was that it seemed actually pretty advanced for an alpha version, followed by the impression that there were plenty of options available to us. David started with the explanation of the game’s fundamental mechanic: each battle sees a total of 20 players divided into two opposing teams take control of three individual military units (which results in 60 units in total per match) from the period of Ancient Rome and Greece, with each unit being made up of round about 100 troops and every contingent being led by a general.
When it came to choosing our general, we had the choice between the famous Roman military leaders Scipio Africanus, Germanicus and Julius Cesar, as well as their Greek counterparts Miltiades, Alexander the Great and Leonidas. As far as we could see, whilst not among the possible choices for the closed alpha, Arminius and Vercingetorix will be available for play at a later state as well. All generals have their personal abilities and will gain EP when being used for play, which enables players to enhance their skills or even gain new ones. Furthermore, generals fall into a specific role (e.g. support/engineer, defence/heavy or assault/cavalry) making them more efficient in specific circumstances or with specific types of units. Alexander the Great, for instance, is skilful in leading cavalry units and attacking opponents, since he’s able to perform high damage charges and temporarily increase his units’ acceleration, speed and manoeuvrability. Julius Cesar is a great support and inspiration for other players’ troops and particularly proficient in leading ranged troops whereas Germanicus excels in leading heavy infantry troops, as he has skills such as Raise Shields or Charge at his disposal to protect his troops from hails of arrows.
Due to the fact that we didn’t know much about this game, it wasn’t all that simple to decide for a general and we finally went with Leonidas, as he seemed to fit our style of play with his defensive role. The general who was supposed to lead our combat units chosen, we then had to pick the three units under his command from four different types of troops that initially were available to us: Swordsmen, Spearmen, Javelin Throwers and Archers. We were informed that Total War: ARENA features about ten distinct types of units, including Light and Heavy Infantry, Artillery and Cavalry amongst others, which would individually gain EXP when used in play, which allows players to equip them with various pieces of gear to make them more resistant, deadlier or faster. With a sufficient amount of EXP gained, players are able to gain access to more advanced types of troops.
The game designer then introduced us to the game’s pretty extensive tech tree that incorporated a huge array of different military units, each with their own functions, attributes and skills. You will, for instance, find different types of archer units, some of which have more morale, more reach but are also more vulnerable, have less reach but inflict more damage or are faster. While looking over the available units in order to make our choice, we were told about the specific fundamental battle mechanics that make long-ranged units pretty proficient against all types of opponents while also being particularly vulnerable, swordsmen proficient against lancers, cavalry units a good choice against swordsmen and lancers excel in combat against cavalry. Since cavalry units only become available at a later stage, we decided for archer units and two swordsman units.
Our general and units chosen, there were still a few more decisions to be made for the different types of troops can also be improved with two enhancements/ “skills” that grant buffs to make them even more efficient in battle; e.g. Militiamen, which are the most basic infantry unit, can be equipped with sharpening stones to increase their ability to penetrate amour or with rations in order to augment the damage output. Having decided for a defensive general, we provided our close-quarter units with a skill that enhanced their armour as well as with another one that increased the damage their swords would inflict. Our archers were additionally provided with a specific type of arrows that had less reach but would do inflict increased damage and other arrows that would inflict less damage but had more reach.
Done with all the decisions and customisation, we eventually felt prepared for battle and clicked the Play button, but had to be patient for quite an amount of time, since the game, as already mentioned, is still in closed alpha testing, meaning there aren’t that many players around. David used the meantime to introduce us to the basics of gameplay, explaining that in each match the objective is to take over the opponents’ base or to take out the entirety of the opposing team’s units within a time limit of 15 minutes (when neither of these goals is reached after the time is up, the victor will be determine based on the points earned by both teams); however, a typical match can also be over in about 6 minutes.
At the moment, there are three maps available to play on: Salernum, a town surrounded by forests and multiple smaller settlements, Thermopylae, which allows players to relive the legendary battle of Leonidas and the 300 Spartans, and Marathon, a map perfectly suited for the preparation of ambushes due to its wooded areas and a variety of crags. The environment of each map strongly influences all player actions, e.g. when navigating a forest area, the troops’ movement is slower, but they are protected against being seen from enemies outside of the wood, when crossing a river, movement speed drastically decreases and units will become an easy target for enemy attacks, when archers attack from a vantage point such as a cliff, they will receive a considerable bonus, and a charge launched from atop of a hill will turn out much more deadly.
Players have to consider plenty of aspects during combat, from the area they’re fighting in, to the position of their units to ensure their flanks aren’t left open for attacks, to making sure that their own close-quarter units are protected from friendly fire of allied ranged weapons. We honestly felt a little bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of useful advice and information we were given while checking out the game; nonetheless we were determined to defend the glory of Greece with all our might.
After a couple of minutes had passed, the match finally began. We were able to independently control each of our three units while our general was assigned to one of them. Each unit’s abilities could be triggered with a specific key whenever we felt we needed them the most. Upon taking the command, we didn’t wasted any time to get an overview of the battle map but immediately marched forward on our own, which turned out to be a fatal error, as a cliff in the vicinity hid multiple archer units and two infantry units from our view, which started their ambush as soon as we had taken just a few steps. We initially even managed to defend our position (thanks to Leonidas being an extremely tough general); however, it didn’t take long until additional units entered the fight, flanking our troops and ruthlessly obliterating us when as soon as we tried to escape. Merely two minutes into the match and we were already defeated.
At this moment, we had the choice to either stay in the match or leave to take part in another one; however we wouldn’t be able to use Leonidas until the first match we participated in would be over. We therefore chose to watch the others, in the hopes to be able to learn from them (although they weren’t much higher in level than we were due to the matchmaking system that only matches players of similar levels, but seemingly way more skilful). We noted that players are able to draws symbols or arrows directly onto the map in order to give orders and also witnessed someone who was drawing penises… we’re still not sure about the strategy he was pursuing. Combat was absolutely brutal with combatants continuously fallen and littering the entire battlefield with corpses (when zooming in to have a closer look at the soldiers, we realised the pretty intriguing detail of them being randomly generated so that each soldier differs from the rest of his troop although all of them were wearing the same uniform). In the end, our team was humiliatingly defeated by the opponents as they take control of our base. We then also received a detailed battle report at the end of the match, which displayed our achievements, the EXP our troops and general had won and the opponent troops they had killed (nearly none in our particularly case).
We decided to participate in some other matches, not willing to let this initial defeat take us down, and soon found out that we had to work together with others, act carefully and follow the orders proposed at the beginning of the match so that the battles would be more thrilling and intriguing. We have to admit that it’s quite a feeling of accomplishment when you’re able to lure your enemy into a trap and quickly take them out, and in all honesty with three different and independent units under your command, there’s a multitude of strategic options, which may even grow much more intricate when you prepare then in cooperation with others.
All in all, having played a couple of matches, we still had the feeling of only having scratched the surface; however, Total War: ARENA left a pretty positive impression with us nonetheless. We then took a break from playing and had a conversation with David, in which he informed us that the company was still balancing a lot of things as well as preparing new game modes and maps although the title already looked quite advanced. We also got to know that the community is closely involved in the development and shaping process of the game in order to deliver the best gaming experience possible; all changes made first have to be approved by the player base and it’s actually the players whom a lot of proposals for enhancements and changes come from. The game designer moreover confirmed that Total War: Arena would be entirely free to play with an integrated cash shop that would only sell aesthetical customisation options for troops and generals, such as additional colours and skins , as well as EXP boosts, which would just allow for a faster levelling process.
Afterwards, we got invited to a German barbecue they had prepared in the office courtyard with a lot of meat, skewers, sausages, and so on. After the meal and a bit of relaxing, we met with Alex DeRosee and Gabor Beressy for an interview during which we were able to ask everything we wanted to find out about the game and its development.
In the afternoon, we were taken to the sets to sit down and watch an eSports styled tournament (like in League of Legends or similar games) between the most popular and important community members where a Germanicus and a Leonidas team of veteran players were pitted against each other and their 10v10 battles were broadcasted live via Twitch. It was pretty interesting to witness them plan each single movement and their whole strategy they wanted to apply in order to defeat their opponents before each match. Combat was bloody and although there isn’t any spectator mode implemented yet (we’ve learned that this feature is already on the developers’ list of things to do), it was plain to see that Total War: ARENA has a lot of potential to become an eSport. For the time being, however, the developing team’s goal is to make their game the greatest one possible.
After six hours of fierce battles, the Leonidas team took a 7-3 victory over team Germanicus and earned a golden medal while a silver one was given to the defeated.
This was how the event came to an end, but the devs still served us with dinner (even more bratwursts and pizza) and a little later they took us to explore the nightlife of Cologne and provided us with free drinks; in the morning there were only a few of us who didn’t have a hangover!
In conclusion, Total War: Arena is a game with a lot of potential, it’s pretty interesting and extremely addictive. Although for the moment, we can only get a vague idea of how the game will be when it will be officially released, as there are still a lot of things that can be added or improved to make it even better, and the task to balance the different types of troops and generals can be daunting. Despite its complexity the fact remains that Total War: Arena is unique in the market and so we have a hunch that the game will be a great success if the developers continue making improvements and they continue to listen to the community feedback.
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