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New Total War campaign draws on obscure history and impresses Chinese fans
Creative Assembly is using the sensitive Eight Princes era in its Three Kingdoms strategy game and Chinese fans are thrilled
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This article originally appeared on ABACUS
A new campaign for Total War: Three Kingdoms portrays China at its most corrupt and vulnerable… and Chinese gamers are thrilled.
The Eight Princes campaign, now available as downloadable content (DLC), is based on the War of the Eight Princes period. The prolonged period of disorder ultimately weakened the Jin dynasty, making it vulnerable to neighboring barbarian kingdoms.
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This period of history in China is not remembered fondly, at least among those who remember it at all. The excitement in China seems to stem from the fact that a British game developer has paid such close attention to a period that doesn’t receive a lot of recognition elsewhere.
“This is impressive. The developers can even make out the rebellions of all the different clans. They really know Chinese history. I am waiting for the next DLC to be about the Uprising of the Five Barbarians,” one person commented online, referencing a period that follows the War of the Eight Princes and sees China fractured into more than a dozen small nations.
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Another popular online comment gave Creative Assembly even more credit, saying the game developer was able to see the charm in an otherwise chaotic time in Chinese history.
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