Total War Saga: Troy is a 2020 turn-based strategy video game created by Creative Assembly Sofia and released by Sega. It was made available for Windows and MacOS on August 13, 2020. This game is the second title in the Total War Saga series, following Thrones of Britannia from 2018. When it was first released, it received mostly positive feedback from players and critics.

Gameplay

Total War Saga: Troy is a turn-based strategy game that includes real-time action during battles. The game is set in the Bronze Age, during the Trojan War, and also includes other nearby civilizations in the Aegean region. Battles happen in large open areas, and players can control infantry, hero characters, and mystical creatures as they fight enemy forces. There are eight heroes from two groups, the Trojans and the Achaeans, and each hero has two special abilities that can be used in battles. As players advance in the game, they can improve their relationships with the Greek gods. If players earn high favor with the gods, they receive advantages in the game. Outside of battles, players must gather resources like wood, bronze, and food to support their army. Agents, such as priests and spies, return in the game, allowing players to send them to enemy cities to gather information. Multiplayer mode, which allows up to eight players, was added on November 26, 2020.

Development

Total War Saga: Troy is the second game in the Total War Saga series, following Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia from 2018. Troy was designed to be shorter and more focused than its predecessor, covering a specific time period in history rather than spanning multiple eras. The lead developer is Creative Assembly Sofia, located in Bulgaria, which took about two years and nine months to create the game. Maya Georgieva, the game's director, explained that the Bronze Age was challenging to develop because there were few detailed historical records. To address this, the team used the Iliad, an ancient Greek poem, to add historical details. Despite including mythical elements, the team aimed to keep the game as historically accurate as possible. Georgieva described this approach as "truth behind the myth," where the team created the most likely explanations for myths and legends. For example, the Trojan horse was portrayed as an earthquake, a siege tower, or a large wooden structure instead of a horse. A second "Historical Mode" was added as a free downloadable content (DLC) with the "Mythos" Pack. This mode makes the game more historically accurate by adding bodyguards to leaders, removing passive buffs from gods, and giving only small bonuses for supporting them.

Total War Saga: Troy was announced by publisher Sega on September 19, 2019. It was released on August 13, 2020, for Windows through the Epic Games Store, where it was available exclusively for one year. Creative Assembly stated this was a one-time deal with Epic Games and confirmed no future Total War games would be exclusive to a single store. To grow the game's audience, the developers made the game free to claim for the first 24 hours after release. Over 7.5 million people claimed the game for free, exceeding the developers' expectations. Creative Assembly plans to add mod support with the game's release. A downloadable content pack based on the Amazons was released on September 24, 2020. A Linux version was planned by Feral Interactive but later canceled due to lower demand, as Proton provided similar functionality.

Reception

The game got mostly good reviews when it was first released, as reported by Metacritic, a website that collects game reviews. The game was offered for free on the Epic Games Store. This led to 7.5 million people claiming to have downloaded the game in one day.

Downloadable content

After the game was released, the company Creative Assembly added special add-ons called DLC packs. These add-ons included new factions, leaders, and groups of missions.