Total War: WARHAMMER III - Omens of Destruction Review

Total War: WARHAMMER III has come a long way since the first game. Now, with over a hundred Legendary Lords and the Immortal Empires Campaign, the game has really reached a new point of being amazing. It effectively revived Warhammer Fantasy Battles and stands as one of the best Total War games as well as one of the best Strategy games out there. It is also one of the best games in the Warhammer franchise.

The game has also had long-standing support in terms of DLCs and updates. Some of these DLCs have been amazing, while others have not. Creative Assembly, on their part, did an excellent job of improving from player feedback and criticisms, and their recent DLCs have mostly been amazing.

The new model, where the Lordpacks can be bought separately, also makes things nicer for players, as they can get the specific pack they want. This review will, however, look at the Total War: WARHAMMER III - Omens of Destruction DLC as a whole.

Each new faction comes with a few new toys—one Legendary Lord and one Legendary Hero, as well as generic versions of those lords and heroes. Then, there are 5 units and 3 Regiment of Renown versions of those units. RoR units are effectively special versions of existing or new units that have different abilities and, normally, better stats.

The Total War: WARHAMMER III - Omens of Destruction DLC effectively prefaces it as three factions going out on a spree of destruction, hence the name. However, there are barely any story or lore threads to accompany it. Instead, the game primarily focuses on the factions themselves. This DLC gives new content to the Ogre Kingdoms, Greeksins, and Khorne. It also adds content in the form of a rework to many of the race's mechanics and a feature specific to the faction's campaign.

Firstly, looking at Gorbad Ironclaw, he adds some very thematic units, such as the Colossal Squig and the Goblin Bolt Throwa. The new additions are very welcome and fun to play around with, and generally, you'll find a use for them. Naturally, some of them are variants of existing units, so they aren't that special; however, the big poster units like the Colossal Squig more than makeup for it.

His campaign feature, "Da' Plan", provides a very interesting way of playing Orks. You have a plan for yourself and must utilize different units in your roster to unlock bonuses for synergies. You do this by completing various challenges. Overall, the feature is fun to play around with and isn't very lackluster. It also doesn't dominate the campaign, so you can still go about not paying it too much attention.

Overall, Gorbad Ironclaw is a fine addition and makes things very fun for the Greenskins. It isn't completely a necessity, but you get a good value for things, and almost everything is worth it. The Total War: WARHAMMER III - Omens of Destruction DLC pack also does Gorbad justice with the mechanic, as he is one of the most prominent orcs known for his battle intelligence.

Moving onto the Ogre Kingdoms, we get Golgfag Maneater. A mercenary brigand is a horde faction that runs around and basically acts as a Dogs of War faction. His campaign feature is amazing, and it's basically what many have wanted as a Dogs of War mechanic for a while now. He basically signs contracts with other factions and then earns points by fighting the enemy of said faction. This naturally has to happen within a specified time limit, and doing so earns him a fair number of rewards. This includes payment, banners, and ancillaries.

The units coming with him, however, are a different matter. They are, of course, very funny units, especially when you take a closer look at the Pigback Riders or Eshin Ogres. However, they are very inconsistent with the Ogre race as a whole. However, most of the units aren't really something the Ogre rosters needed.

Instead, the rework was much more appreciated. If anything, the DLC is worth it for the rework to the ogres. Other than the many minor changes that basically make the race mechanics very enjoyable, the big changes to how the race works also change things for the better.

As for Khorne, well, it is clear who was the favorite in this Total War: WARHAMMER III - Omens of Destruction DLC. Khorne gets the legendary Skulltaker. He is the champion of Khorne and basically seeks out and defeats enemies around the World. His skull also happens to be made up of the skulls of defeated enemies. 

This plays into his faction mechanic. Each skull he gets earns him 'Champions Essence,' which allows him to unlock new bonuses or upgrade them, making him and his faction even stronger.

As for units, you get two new legendary heroes instead of legendary and one generic. You also get very useful units, with some of the more beloved units from the tabletop making an appearance. This naturally includes the big Bloodbeast and, of course, Khorngors. Has anyone ever told Khorne that all his units could be the names of rock bands?

Most of the units added are lovely, and almost all of them are useful. They are also fun to play around with. However, in terms of gameplay, there are a number of problems. For starters, there is a lack of content in a few different things. The most obvious is that there is no more Realm of Chaos content, which was actually a bit of news announced a while back. This, of course, seems very bad for many, especially for those who only play the RoC campaign.

It also seems to be for the best that CA mostly focuses on the Immortal Empires Campaign. Another thing missed is the lack of a general storyline and narrator. Effectively, you are playing something akin to a sandbox. The game also doesn't really tie the three together, so you'll not exactly be fighting them. This, of course, feels like a natural consequence of the new DLC model, which is somewhat fine, but the lack of story elements is still missing.

The game also does something brave by having all the factions be either chaos or destruction, basically non-order factions. It does a good job with this as well and makes playing them very fun. DLC power creep also makes it so that most of the new factions are very powerful, and the game gets very easy, especially on lower difficulties. 

This leads to some absurd situations, such as the Skulltaker's Turn 1 world conquest. Despite this, the DLC mechanics are still very enjoyable, and the reworkers do a good job of fixing things for the races.

In the realm of art, the Total War: WARHAMMER III - Omens of Destruction looks brilliant and keeps up with the style and theme of Total War: Warhammer well. It doesn't really do anything new with it; rather, it keeps what it already is. All the new units look good, but again, a lack of narratives also harms this, as there are no real thematic reasons for those units existing here and now.

Overall, Creative Assembly has genuinely made another great DLC, which is worth its price. While Total War: WARHAMMER III - Omens of Destruction might not have the flashy draw of the last one, it still delivers some amazing new Lords, mechanics, and units for you to play around with.