Total War: Shogun 2 standalone expansion Fall of the Samurai announced

By Robert Purchese Published 28 November, 2011

New military powers threaten the old ways.

Standalone expansion Fall of the Samurai has been announced for Total War: Shogun 2.

It will be released in March 2012. As mentioned, you won't need the original Shogun 2 game to play it.

Fall of the Samurai tells of an approaching industrial age, as British, American and French military muscle is coveted to the detriment of classical samurai warfare.

Sounds a bit like that Tom Cruise film Last of the Samurai. I liked that.

Fall of the Samurai offers six new clans, including modernists Satsuma and classicists Nagaoka. You'll be asked to negotiate with America, Britain and France.

The campaign map has "expanded" and "improved" to new far north provinces. There are "all-new" technology trees, railways and naval bombardments - a first for a Total War game - to make use of.

There are 39 new land-based military units, including the devastating Gatling gun. The US Marines and presumably moustached British Royal Marines make an appearance.

In keeping with the age, 1863, navy has become of crucial importance. There are 10 new ship types that include steamers, torpedo boats and ironclad battleships. And while you may be able to shell coasts, the coasts - via coastal batteries - can also shell back. Be careful.

On top of that are three new agent types, four new historical scenarios, new siege-battle mechanics and a "huge" but unspecified upgrade to multiplayer.

Eurogamer awarded a hefty 9/10 in its Total War: Shogun 2 review.

"Those after a sumptuous, weekend-whittling strategy epic heaving with flavour and challenge can reach for their uchi-bukuro with confidence," concluded reviewer Tim Stone.

"This is a corker."

The first Fall of the Samurai trailer.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 6 months ago

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  • Rajin #1 6 months ago

    ''in keeping with the age, 1863, navy has become of crucial importance. There are 10 new ship types that include steamers, torpedo boats and ironclad battleships. And while you may be able to shell coasts, the coasts - via coastal batteries - can also shell back. Be careful''

    I sure hope it won't be wooden ships with archers VS steamers and torpedo's? I pray they give the clans acces to some models from Napoleon total war or such(even if such a thing defies realism, something which total war games often do(cannonball elephants anyone?)

    Anything else that's written seems great!:)

  • glottis0 #2 6 months ago

    I loved Shogun 2 more than any previous Total War, but I think a lot of the appeal was the ditching of all the cannons and guns for good old-fashioned swords, spears, cavalry, archers... not sure if this will make everything messy again :S

  • HerrQwerty #3 6 months ago

    Erm, so how are the Samurai meant to win this one? Hire Tom Cruise?

  • Toothball #4 6 months ago

    I just got through my first co-op game over the weekend. Was playing with a friend who is much more well versed in this strategy sort of game, something I lacked experience of from growing up a console gamer. Having co-op helped a lot, as previously I tended to just lose at Civ. Only just got Rise of the Samurai, so I'll eventually catch up with their downfall.

  • Dagdriver #5 6 months ago

    @HerrQwerty:
    Hire Tom Cruise? na, as far as I recall from the movie, that didn't help :)
    Edited by Dagdriver at 28/11/11 @ 16:04

  • KujiGhost #6 6 months ago

    Sounds good. The Bakumatsu Period had a lot of classic battles in real life so it'll be interesting to see how they are played out.

  • Zamn10210 #7 6 months ago

    The Tom Cruise movie was called "The Last Samurai".

  • HerrQwerty #8 6 months ago

    @Dagdriver
    YOU MEAN NOT EVEN TOM CRUISE COULD SAVE THE SAMURAI?!!?!?!

  • window #9 6 months ago

    Awesome!

  • HisDudness #10 6 months ago

    Nice to see the Dawn of War-style standalone expansion making its way into other franchises. Always seemed like a good business decision to me.

  • hiddenranbir #11 6 months ago

    Rise of the Samurai now the fall of the Samurai.

    I hope for the Return of the Samurai too. Like in the future..

  • hiddenranbir #12 6 months ago

    @HisDudness Except for the DoW expansion being uber expensive.

  • Zaiz #13 6 months ago

    A standalone expansion is what would normally be an expansion pack but is released on its own two legs for less, generally. But Relic's "standalones" have always had -tons- of play value, frequently more than the original game.

    Also, this gives me a reason to play multiple clans, something the original really didn't.

  • SaintDaveUK #14 6 months ago

    @gotyourmoney Standalone expansion means you can play it without needing the original game. It's kind of self explanatory.

  • Trafford #15 6 months ago

    / gives money

  • Drygore #16 6 months ago

    @hiddenranbir
    Uber expensive my ass..
    Plus, it was more of a whole new game content-wise. Only thing i missed was the excellent storydriven campaigns from DoW2 and Chaos Rising.

  • uninspiredcup #17 6 months ago

    Fantasic game. Rise Of The Samuria was awsome.
    Still waiting on a review. It seems to have went un-noticed. If this was console DLC people would be all over it.

  • hiddenranbir #18 6 months ago

    @Drygore Retribution was utter tripe with rehashed content to expand their multiple story campaigns. It was horrible.

    Their best thing has been Last Stand from 2 and DC from 1, not Soulstorm.

  • Bluetooth #19 6 months ago

    The Samurai are already back. Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima - both samurai.