I blink and I’ve one way or the other spent one other 30 hours in Shogun 2. Undoubtedly my favourite of the older Complete Struggle video games—and I do not say that flippantly as somebody who additionally has massive hour counts in Rome and Medieval 2—there’s simply one thing so easy in regards to the second Shogun; a chic simplicity complimented by a interval the place the Artistic Meeting was clearly having enjoyable experimenting with all kinds of concepts.
It is no marvel it chose to remaster the game regardless of the actual fact it is arguably the best aged Total War there may be. I would fortunately return and play Shogun 2 over Rome 2, and even Attila, which I believe speaks to how nicely it holds up. It is positively good to play Shogun 2 with improved visuals (in the event you like the brand new fashion), fashionable unit controls, and full Japanese voice performing, however I believe Artistic Meeting missed the mark by way of the remaster’s different additions.
To offer it a good shot, I began with one of many newly launched island-bound minor factions, Honma. I at all times love conquering this island in campaigns as a result of they’ve a gold mine, plus beginning on an island within the north provides a great deal of potentialities. The very first thing I observed, although, is that not one of the 50 new minor factions in Shogun 2’s campaigns get distinctive bonuses, which might’ve gone a lengthy manner to distinguishing them from the minor faction unlocker mods Shogun 2 already had.
Without any passive bonuses to define playstyle, or tweaks to every faction starting with the same units, location is the only differential for these clans. I also discovered that the trade system hasn’t been updated to account for single-region island factions, meaning my beloved Honma was only able to trade with one faction for the entirety of the campaign. Again, a QoL tweak would have made sense there.
In terms of the additions you’ll actually feel in your campaigns, the new “Realm Divide” difficulty options for the endgame, improved visuals and terrain, and reworked unit controls are really the standout features—I went back to the original Shogun 2 afterwards, and the battlefield visual differences are notable. But the bird’s eye battle view? The region overlay? I didn’t use either of these once. The diplomatic quick deal is another somewhat useless addition. You don’t form alliances or trade agreements anywhere near often enough in Shogun 2 to necessitate quick deal (as with Total War: Warhammer’s 100s of factions), but the feature also doesn’t include “arrange marriage”.
A way to easily find out which factions had spousal candidates is the one diplomatic QoL change I genuinely would’ve found useful. While I did enjoy my campaign as Honma, I kept running into new QoL problems the original had that the remaster could have solved. No ability to merge units, for example, which would’ve been great in a game as attritional as Shogun 2, where unit upkeep isn’t affected by remaining soldiers. Perhaps a numerical indicator for units in your army, which would save you counting them each time?
Shogun 2 still plays well, but that’s not contingent on this remaster
What about agents accompanying armies getting left behind in settlements or on ships? Or how enlisted generals always appear back at your capital? I could go on, but there are so many QoL improvements this remaster could have made to Shogun 2 without infringing on the identity of the game. Even wider issues like siege pathfinding, which can still be dreadful, or problems with enemy AI.
I had one battle in the remaster where the besieging enemy general ran up to my wall, and then sat there for 40 minutes as I fast forwarded (a known bug I never even experienced in the original game). Or how about fixing the overly defensive naval AI, which sees you having to cross the entire map every battle just to engage enemy ships. You can see a full list of bug fixes for Shogun 2 – Full Version and it isn’t significantly in depth contemplating gamers have had 15 years to doc each busted factor, and I have not even talked about multiplayer bugs just like the desync subject.
Sure, Shogun 2 nonetheless performs nicely, and I completely advocate it to Complete Struggle or technique followers, however that is not contingent on this remaster. All of the issues that had been nice earlier than are nonetheless nice, whether or not it is battling with samurai to grow to be shogun, or unloading a line of rifle infantry and cannon into enemy armies in Fall of the Samurai If something, I imagine Shogun 2’s high quality as a recreation deserved a greater and extra in depth transforming than it has been given.
No less than Shogun 2’s DLC factions, who at the moment are free, just like the Christian Otomo, non secular insurgent Ikko-Ikki, or cannon-toting Saga in Fall of the Samurai, are a number of the spiciest campaigns in the event you’ve by no means performed them, and a complete bunch of individuals will get to attempt them for the primary time (in the event that they missed when these had been beforehand free).
Any motive to return to Shogun 2 in 2026 is one thing to be celebrated, however I simply want Full Version felt extra in depth and important versus leaving a lot undone. In case you personal Shogun 2 already, you will get a month-long 75% low cost when the sport launches on Steam on October 13, whereas house owners of the unique will get all of the legacy faction DLC without spending a dime, as talked about.