Future Creative Assembly games may “require blood thematically”, which sure sounds like a Total War: Warhammer 40,000 teaser

Over the Christmas break, I took a brief hiatus from reporting on every time a Total War developer breathes or spills tea on their shirt. The year ended, the world did not, and no Thanquol DLC was announced, but I did miss what I reckon is the strongest hint they’ve yet freely given that strategy game Total War: Warhammer 40,000 is both real and due an announcement very soon. Here’s the skinny.

(I want to use the phrase “here’s the skinny” more. I also want one of those little hats with the band for the card that says ‘press’ on it. These aren’t the same as ‘pressman’s hats’, which were made out of folded newspaper to protect print workers from detritus. Here’s some instructions on how to make one. I wonder what the online media equivalent is? Tinfoil lined with redundancy letters, probably. Speaking of tinfoil…)

If a future Total War game, thematically, requires blood then we will include it within the base game without the need for a separate purchase. This might mean an increase in our age ratings for future titles and how we potentially market our games, but we want the franchise to be as thrilling, immersive and authentic as possible.

For context, Total War games have long shipped without blood effects, dismemberment, and other such violences, instead selling optional DLC ‘blood packs’ for a few pounds or dollars. The company line on this has always been that it’s to ensure a lower age rating, although much of the community has maintained it’s a case of squeezing out some extra revenue. Personally, I’ve always been torn. Extra animation work is naturally development work, but the line between what development work counts as ‘extra’ enough to merit charging separately seems mainly a matter of good faith: a case of ‘we’ll know where the line is when someone crosses it’.

Anyway, the blog statement feels to me about as close as you can get to saying “We’re making 40k” without actually saying it, although I understand how that might sound spurious if you don’t follow the company closely. The first thing I’d point to is that if CA have made the decision to potentially lose customers or otherwise limit sales by accepting a higher age rating, then they’ve likely got a game on their hands they’re confident will sell gangbusters regardless. Between the comparatively mainstream success of Space Marine 2, and Henry Cavill’s 40k project with Amazon, 40k currently feels like a safer, more culturally relevant bet, more so than even Lord Of The Rings or Star Wars – settings largely coasting on nostalgia rather than recent successes, outliers like Andor aside.

To me, CA dangling the prospect of bloodier Total War games that are marketed to an older audience is about as close as you can get to saying “We’re making 40k” without actually saying it. Historical Total Wars can reasonably exist in a sort of sterile quasi-documentary framing, suitable for hogging good, Christian CPUs and basing old British game shows around. But the idea of a game thematically requiring blood feels like a strong hint. It doesn’t rule out Total Star Wars as the next fantasy offering, but I don’t think it’s referring to Star Wars either, a setting largely able to get by on laser burns and characters dramatically falling off things. Lord Of The Rings gets by on characters dramatically climbing up things, and also needs a good dose of gore if they go with Peter Jackson’s lingering splatter tendencies. But I’d say the only setting that is both a likely contender for an entry at all, and absolutely requires gore to even be recognisable, is 40k.

Not that the blog would be enough to go on in isolation, but it does feel significant in the context of CA’s increasingly collaborative relationship with Games Workshop. The Khorne section of the latest Total War: Warhammer 3 DLC marked the first appearance of units from Warhammer Fantasy’s End Times period in the series, but even as far back as the the Vampire Coast DLC, we got an original character – not to mention Kislev and Grand Cathay. I think it’s fair to say that GW view CA’s work as not just an interpretation of their own worlds, but an extension, and that they’d trust this developer with the keys to the 41st Millennium – not that they’ve been incredibly picky in the past.

Also, Total Warhammer 40k will make all the money in the world. I’m not a business analyst but I did get out a tenner from the cash machine several months ago for emergencies and it’s still in my wallet, so I think I know a thing or two about finance. After Hyenas, I reckon Creative Assembly would quite like all the money in the world.

So that’s the making of the thing, how about the timeline? Well, it does sound like we’ll see a couple of bigger announcements this year. “We hope to unveil some new projects too – we’ll share more when we’re ready at the tail-end of next year,” reads the blog.

So, there’s my reasoning, pick it apart at your leisure. Elsewhere in the blog, vice president of Total War (banger title) Roger Collum also announces that Shadows Of Change will be getting divided into three parts to match the subsequent expansions, and that Total War will be ditching the launcher. This last point sounds superfluous or maybe even just a bad idea, since it works well as a mod manager, but this does follow the trend of companies like Ubisoft no longer pushing their own storefronts and such in favour of offering a seamless, Steam-ful experience. Oh, and there’s a bloody Kislev rework coming too. Huzzah!