The 10 Best Total War Games Ranked

By combining real-time battles with strategic world maps, the Total War series has established one of gaming’s most recognizable strategy formats. What began primarily as a collection of wargames has gradually expanded to include deeper political and economic systems, all while remaining focused on the large-scale conflict promised by the series title.

The games vary considerably in scope and quality, ranging from the shorter, now-discontinued Total War Saga releases to the decade-spanning success of Total War: Warhammer, widely regarded as one of the greatest strategy game series ever created. The franchise has also evolved dramatically, and further changes are expected with Total War: Warhammer 40,000 and Medieval 3 now in development.

Before those new installments reshape the battlefield, here is a ranking of the 10 best Total War games so far.

10. Total War: Pharaoh

• Release date: October 11, 2023
• Platform: PC

Total War: Pharaoh may be the most divisive entry on this list, but it remains an excellent introduction to the qualities that make the series engaging. It marked a return to historical warfare for Creative Assembly while retaining some of the more game-oriented ideas developed during the Total War: Warhammer era.

The tactical battles place considerable emphasis on positioning and terrain, encouraging players to use their armies carefully instead of simply producing large numbers of elite units. Dynamic weather events add another layer of complexity, as changing conditions can render otherwise dependable strategies ineffective.

The campaign also features an economy built around five distinct resources, alongside faction-specific systems such as the Egyptian royal court. Together, these mechanics give each campaign a strong strategic identity.

9. Napoleon: Total War

• Release date: February 23, 2010
• Platform: PC

The focused gunpowder campaigns are the central strength of Napoleon: Total War. Although the game was somewhat controversial at launch, it provides an effective contrast to Empire by emphasizing battlefield tactics and army management rather than vast imperial expansion.

Unit formations, cannon placement, and troop mobility all matter. The game also demonstrates the specialized roles of unusual Napoleonic units, including the differences between Cuirassiers and Dragoons and the significant mobility advantage gained by attaching artillery to horses.

Its historical campaigns are another major attraction. In addition to a Grand Campaign spanning Europe and featuring six playable factions, the game offers focused campaigns in Italy and Egypt from Napoleon’s perspective. The Peninsular War campaign can also be played as Britain, France, or Spain.

8. Empire: Total War

• Release date: March 3, 2009
• Platform: PC

Before the Warhammer games dramatically expanded the scale of the series, Empire: Total War was its most ambitious installment. It places players in command of 18th-century armies built around muskets, cannons, and cavalry charges, with playable powers ranging from the British Empire to India’s Maratha Confederacy.

Empire also introduced naval battles, although this feature remains divisive. Some players consider the naval combat poor, while others find it enjoyable with modifications. Most agree, however, that the battles can be slow.

The game’s greatest achievement is the added complexity of its economy, trade, espionage, and religious systems. Players must produce essential goods, generate surpluses for trade, and establish secure trade routes to earn meaningful income. Provincial wealth, rather than taxable population alone, determines revenue. As a result, Empire was the first Total War game whose campaign map felt truly grand in both warfare and economics.

7. Rome: Total War

• Release date: September 22, 2004
• Platform: PC

Rome: Total War is arguably the most influential game in the franchise. The series can be clearly divided into the period before Rome and the era that followed it. Its extensive collection of unit types expanded expectations for Total War, even when historical accuracy was stretched by additions such as leather-clad Roman Arcani, war-dog units, and anachronistic Egyptian forces.

Despite those historical liberties, Rome remains notable for the detail of its simulation. Recruiting troops directly reduces a settlement’s population, while the campaign’s broad selection of factions stretches from Iberia and Britain to Persia and the surrounding regions.

A remastered edition also makes this landmark entry more accessible to players who prefer updated visuals.

6. Total War: Attila

• Release date: February 17, 2015
• Platform: PC

Total War: Attila is one of the franchise’s most experimental games, presenting an apocalyptic world defined by war, migration, and social collapse. Players must confront not only hostile armies but also the broader instability of civilizations falling apart across the campaign map.

Roman factions face relentless barbarian incursions while attempting to preserve an empire that appears destined to fail. Migrating peoples, meanwhile, can seize Europe’s immense riches—provided they survive long enough to claim and retain them.

The systems depicting the collapse of large empires and economies under constant pressure remain especially impressive. Later Total War installments, and even many other strategy games, have rarely developed these ideas to the same extent.

5. Medieval II: Total War

• Release date: November 10, 2006
• Platform: PC

Medieval II: Total War captures the heavy collision of battle lines, devastating cavalry tactics, and unstable morale of medieval warfare so effectively that many players still regard it as the definitive historical Total War game.

Although it lacks some of the complexity introduced by Empire, Medieval II successfully refined the foundations established by Rome. It also became the franchise’s leading platform for community-created modifications.

Some of these projects have been in development for more than a decade, adapting settings such as The Lord of the Rings, The Elder Scrolls, and A Song of Ice and Fire, as well as numerous historical eras beyond the Middle Ages. Modders have also enhanced the original experience with levels of detail comparable to later games such as Empire, Shogun 2, and Rome II.

4. Total War: Shogun 2

• Release date: March 15, 2011
• Platform: PC

Total War: Shogun 2 was among the most polished and dependable entries in the series at launch. Its tightly focused setting examines a single island nation during one historical period, resulting in a smaller unit roster with clearly defined battlefield roles.

This streamlined design makes Shogun 2 especially accessible to newcomers. Its artificial intelligence is also relatively capable in both politics and warfare, while its large-scale sieges take place across striking and distinctive Japanese castles.

The Fall of the Samurai expansion is another highlight, despite being somewhat less consistent than the base game. It explores a rarely depicted historical period in which ironclad warships and Gatling guns exist alongside sword-wielding cavalry and spear-armed peasant levies.

3. Total War: Rome II

• Release date: September 3, 2013
• Platform: PC

Total War: Rome II launched with numerous technical issues, poor performance for many players, and mechanics that could be confusing or frustrating. Over the years, however, extensive improvements allowed it to develop a much stronger identity and make better use of its ancient setting and expansive campaign map.

Its battlefields remain a high point for the franchise. Field, town, city, and siege maps all help demonstrate how ancient commanders could employ a wide range of specialized soldiers.

The quality of these maps also encourages factions to fight according to their strengths. Gallic armies excel at aggressive close-range attacks designed to break enemy morale. Roman forces are built to hold their ground until opponents collapse against them, while Parthian armies can exhaust enemies from a distance before delivering decisive cavalry charges.

2. Total War: Three Kingdoms

• Release date: May 23, 2019
• Platform: PC

Total War: Three Kingdoms is one of Creative Assembly’s most mechanically sophisticated games. Its character-driven politics, personal relationships, and approach to army composition offer a compelling possible direction for the future of the franchise.

Rather than presenting historical factions as faceless powers, Three Kingdoms represents them through individual characters who form alliances and rivalries, change allegiances, and engage in dramatic martial-arts duels on the battlefield.

The campaign also contains exceptional strategic depth, encouraging players to establish meaningful alliances and carefully manage resources instead of simply conquering each neighboring territory. Its elegant user interface is arguably the finest in the series.

Unfortunately, development ended earlier than many players expected, particularly when compared with the support given to the contemporary Warhammer games. Consequently, features such as campaign artificial intelligence and starting scenarios never reached their full potential. Even with those limitations, Three Kingdoms remains one of the strongest Total War games and an encouraging model for the series’ future.

1. Total War: Warhammer Trilogy

• Release years: 2016, 2017, and 2022
• Platform: PC

The three Total War: Warhammer games belong together as a single, enormous strategy experience. Developed across seven years and expanded through nearly a decade of additional content, the trilogy is best enjoyed as one interconnected entry rather than as three entirely separate games.

Set in the dark-fantasy world of Warhammer’s Old World, the trilogy features an exceptionally large campaign map and incorporates a vast range of fantasy concepts. Its dozens of factions include distinctive elves and dwarves, human gunpowder empires, armored knights, and unruly greenskin orcs.

The roster becomes even stranger with undead pirate fleets, geometry-worshipping lizard people, hordes of extraplanar daemons, and an underground empire of rat-like creatures. Its extraordinary breadth gives fantasy strategy fans an enormous variety of factions and play styles, making the trilogy the most expansive and successful expression of the Total War formula to date.