• Publisher: Sega
  • Release Date: Mar 23, 2012
User Score
8.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 219 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 17 out of 219

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  1. May 12, 2013
    10
    This is a great addition to the Shogun series! This totally makes me stick to my laptop playing this for more than hundreds of hours!!! Really great soundtracks,animations,combat sequence,text,voice overs,arts,units and online.Great work on the clans units animations guns and facial expressions!!! LOVE THIS AND RECOMMEND TO ALL STRATEGY GAME PLAYERS!!!
  2. Apr 27, 2013
    6
    Creative Assembly have done a great job in the areas of research and presentation. This game boasts great graphics, great maps, great units, great factions, and a decent sense of historical friction of Japan in a state of transition from medievel society to modernity. Sadly however the elements of game design are not so strong in the single player campaign. As in all CA games this game has an overly mechanical feel about it. War is a process of steady expansion, and it lacks any sense of narrative, identity politics, indeed any sense of politics, diplomacy or political economy. The game (on hardest setting) see saws from TOO HARD at the start to TOO EASY once your faction reaches the point of sufficient mass. Also lots of little things are unbalanced. Agents in particular are WAY OVERPOWERED. A single Geisha can convert all the generals in a rival faction to your army. A single Ninja can kill ever NPC in a faction and so on. This game was never truly play tested. For Multiplayer Fall of the Samurai was a great expansion. But the single player experience is, like all CA games, not very well designed. CA needs to get beyond mechanical expansion and into campaigns based on real diplomacy and real political economy. GROW UP CA! Learn something from Paradox Interactive! Expand
  3. Jan 16, 2013
    6
    Think Shogun and Empire Total War combined and you have it. A great improvement to the mechanics compared to Empire, however RESEARCH aspect of the entire Shogun series is dissatisfying compared to Empire. Also the Ishin ShiShi and the Shinsengumi played a much larger role in the Meiji Restoration having them act as in the manner of spies and assassins gives them great injustice. Definitely worth playing, for both newcomers and veterans, Shogun is the best series to date. Expand
  4. Sep 13, 2012
    6
    Look, unless you liked empire at war, you probably wont like fall of the samurai. But even then, why get fall of the samurai when you can just play empire? Empire is much more indepth and ecompasses more territory than japan.

    I strongly prefer Rise of the Samurai as mobilising Samurai armies is much more satisfying than musket-wielding noobs.
  5. Aug 4, 2012
    0
    o jg e totalmente injuativo e lento simplismente e mais um jg inutil no mercado!!! o estilo do jg e totalmente idiota n a dinamica no jg de estrategia!!
  6. Jul 4, 2012
    10
    Great game excellent for all view perspectives, brilliant, epic and giant battles, Perfect graphics a serius game and nothing cant change that console reviews cant change the real score
  7. Jun 14, 2012
    8
    I'll get out of the way the fact that I have no interest at all in this late, industrialized period of Japanese history, and move on to how much I still absolutely love this game. The technological advances not only add more units and building options, but actually create a wonderfully immersing backdrop for an already heady, atmospheric campaign. Choose to side with the Emperor or Shogun in a time of political and martial upheaval, and decide to try and maintain the traditional approach to warfare or embrace the new. The added units make ranged combat the order of the day, and with the addition of powerful artillery and naval support create a very engrossing battlefield experience. The campaign map is much bigger than Shogun 2, and looks more detailed with the railroads and surging industry of towns as they grow. The AI is good (although still able to be outwitted fairly easily) and for the most part it runs well without errors. Ignoring Sega's absolutely criminal approach to DLC (which does not affect the quality of the game in itself), I recommend it highly to strategy fans, irregardless of previous Total War experience. Expand
  8. Jun 11, 2012
    9
    Definitely enjoyable, a very good expansion to the original game. I personally enjoy the setting of a civil war situation in the campaign, and the choice between modernising and traditionalism, the latter, ironically being the more challenging play style. I did think, however, that because of the setting, unlike any other total war game i've played, you often get squeezed for choice of enemies since everyone fights either for the shogunate or for the emperor, narrowing your choice of enemies, conquests and your prospects of success. It doesn't quite seem like the domination-style gameplay of other total war campaigns, rather it feels co-operative and coalition-style. Particularly true in this instance is the idea that having more allies (which you inevitably will have) will not actually improve the game's progress, rather it seems that it hinders your progress and interest since you have less to fight and take over.
    I did, however, particularly like the modernisation system. I like the choice between becoming an advanced, europe-esque clan, and fighting against modernism across your campaign in an effort to remain traditional; I love the feel of the old japanese order colliding with the new.
    Then there's battles; Graphics don't have to be on highest settings to thoroughly enjoy this aspect. My fairly low-Spec PC runs Shogun 2 on low settings with an excellent performance and it doesn't look at all bad; i found this runs better than Napoleon TW on my PC
    Definitely worth the money , i'd say, i mark this highly for its in-depth coverage of the boshin war period and the conflict between old and new, and would mark this down purely because of the restriction of the number of opponents faced in campaign. Ultimately, excellent game.
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  9. Jun 4, 2012
    10
    I'm a little disappointed by the use of steam, while I love steam, this is not a game that belongs on steam. DLC is a cool thing in some cases but a blood pack for about 1.99USD? WUT? The other major thing that putting it on steam does is disallows the use of cheat codes. I loved cheating in Medieval total war 2. It was so much fun.

    Anyways enough of my ramblings, I suppose my major compl
    aint with the game is that the use of steam ruins aspects of the game for me. However, more importantly this is still a total war game, through and through. I can lose hours and hours playing these games and this is no exception. Expand
  10. May 28, 2012
    5
    After having played nearly all of the Total war titles I got to say I don't care for these kind of total war games. I just don't like having guns in Total War at all Empire/Napoleon/FoTS. The Campaign is decent especially compared to the original Shogun 2 campaign. Also I noticed someone else said something about a Total War title of WW1 or WW2 which in my opinion is something I wouldn't buy for more than $10. (I would rate this lower, but this is more of my opinion of guns and the Total War series) I am also highly unsure whether the traditional style of playing Total War games (aka Troop Grouping/movement) would work well at all for anything passed the 1800s. Expand
  11. May 26, 2012
    4
    While a fun addition to the Totalwar series Fall of the samurai is missing key features like bayonets and a patch system to seperate the changes from the base shogun 2 title.The game does not require shogun 2 but massively changes the graphics to shogun 2 anyways and removes loved graphical features such as gloss and breaking the view distance so users are plagued with faceless troops.Depth of field has also been bugged by this system along with many missing textures and other graphical errors like extreme color saturation and buggy shaders.

    The expansion seems to massively downgrade the graphics engine for the old shogun 2 users and as such without a way to stop steam from updating users have to put up with the changes to thier game even though it is not advertised nor is there any prior warning.The creative assembly team have reported that some of these errors apart from gloss would get looked at but so far after 2 months and many patches the only thing they fixed was the broken blood pack dlc which again was broken by fall of the samurai.So they actively ignore patch requests and bug reports in favour of making money spinning faction DLC packs and map creators!

    This company seem to like to advertise thier games with features they like to remove later on and refuse to patch or correct so i do not see how i can give this title above a 4 rating which should of been an 8 if they would of corrected the errors and been more humble to what the consumer is sold and afterwards denied access too.
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  12. May 20, 2012
    10
    One of the best Total War title, further improving the graphics and gameplay of the series. The game is, perhaps, one of the best RTS games ever made even though I'm sure there will be many more TW games to take his place and raise the realism standard. Great multiplayer, superb single player!
  13. May 17, 2012
    9
    Total War: Shogun 2 fall of the samurai, is a great game. the campaign is good, and the battles too... but the multiplayer campaign is broken; most of the time it crashes, and the load time is too long. but Total War: Shogun is still a good game. i recommend it.
  14. May 16, 2012
    9
    One of the greatest expansions of the Total War series, in my opinion. It fixes a lot of the 'faults' of Shogun 2 with the two different unit-compositions (modern vs traditional), which makes the armies feel diverse and interesting. Also brings up a lot of new tactics if you want to be successful (especially with the modern armies). The navy aspect has gotten a new and improved aspect with the bombardment. This is great as it makes navies important as never before. The navy battles are also improved compared to Shogun 2, but that might just be the guns.. There are now multiple ways to win the game, as everybody does not turn on you in the end (if you choose to support the common cause), but you can also go the total war-style (war with everyone) if you like. The expansion supports (multiplayer)battles with the original Shogun 2 armies and that is also great fun. I think they have balanced the games pretty well against each other. The only complaint I have is the tendency of the modern units to bug when they shuffle into lines after getting shot. This makes the unit unable to fire in the meantime and while under fire, even more troops will die which equals to even more shuffling.. Oh well, still love this expansion and you should go buy and game it! Expand
  15. May 16, 2012
    10
    Excellent title that strikes a good balance between the modern ranged and melee-based units. Off-map naval artillery is my favourite new ability, and when the foreign marines rank up they become brutal killing machines with suppression and kneel fire enabled. Nice touch with the addition of rail networks to quickly transport troops along the length of Japan. Oh, and Shinsengumi are devastating: from assassinations to quelling dissent and provoking insurrections, truly they are most valuable agent! Expand
  16. May 4, 2012
    9
    Awesome game, best of the total war series. I didn't like the setting in the samurai era, but the game is still great. Only bad thing i've found is that now years are dived in many turns (due to the setting) and because of this it's difficult to have a long "dinasty" like in other total war games. The last bad thing is that on a high end pc WITHOUT a SSD the loadings screen takes long (better than Shogun 2 anyway) Expand
  17. May 2, 2012
    10
    Great game, like a cross between WW1 and the American Civil War with added samurai. The multiplayer especially is worth mentioning for adding new avatars and a new avatar conquest campaign, as well as new unlockables.
  18. Apr 27, 2012
    9
    Speaking as someone who only plays TW games in single-player, this is one of the best of the series and far better than the original Shogun2. Briefly, this is for the following reasons:

    * No realm divide issues: although there is a similar concept (where all shogunate and imperial han are forced into active conflict), they've gotten rid of Shogun 2's completely ahistorical and game-kil
    ling "Colonization 2" style AI dogpile. All the other side's han declare war on you, but they don't spawn huge armies instantly.

    * Less monotony: one obvious issue with all the Shogun titles, including the original, is the relative monotony of setting and unit types. Battles tend to be maximising your archers' window while the enemy closes, and then generic melee attrition. In comparison, although FotS is arguably not as good at distinguishing each faction as Shogun 2, with its clan-specific movies and big bonuses, you can now choose to build your armies with anything from spear ashigaru hordes to Empire Total War style line regiments complete with a light infantry skirmish line and carbine-equipped cavalry screen. With modern field guns and naval fire support thrown in - and the potential to be genuinely devastating - combat has a lot more depth than Shogun's slogging matches.

    * Better naval combat compared to Shogun 2: the AI is strangely worse on low levels, but it's a very cool take on a very neglected period (1850-1902 - the evolution of pre-Dreadnought battleships) of naval warfare, with centre-battery ironclads (l'ocean and Warrior), turret ironclads (Roanoak) steam paddle frigates, ironclad rams (Stonewall / Kotetsu) and torpedo boats all making an appearance. RBLs versus wooden hulls equals general devastation! * Tech tree and special units: modernisation effects on unrest, awesome tech and some great special units - especially the Shinsengumi / Ishin Shishi. Although each clan gets its own bonuses and sometimes their own units (e.g. Tosa get special rifleman unites), it is true that you're likely to end up with either a generic Shogunate or Imperial army rather than one dictated by specific clan bonuses - i.e. you will either have a samurai unit core or a line infantry core with modern artillery support in either case. So it's slightly more generic in that sense. However, this doesn't stop the player taking the game in a particular direction to suit the clan or just to see what happens. All in all, for me only a fully DLC'd copy of Empire beats this, and that's mostly for the greater scope of Empire.
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  19. Apr 25, 2012
    9
    This game will give you hundreds of hours of fun, complete one campaign then just start another one as another clan. Multi-player also lets you test your skills online and so far I have been in some epic battles, the tutorials on this game are also brilliant for beginners and the animations in the game out brilliant.
  20. Apr 24, 2012
    9
    Apart from some stability issues (especially on HD 7xxx cards) and the bugged AA, it's a great add-on and definitely worth the money. For the low price it's a highly recommended buy.
  21. Apr 23, 2012
    10
    The original one was awesome, this one is the best. It adds so much to the original game. I've played the original but this is an entirely new experience. Absolutely recommended. Go get it!!
  22. Apr 22, 2012
    9
    fall of the samurai is for this price a great deal, especially the naval battles are great, love the new elements, just worth buying if u liked shogun 2!
  23. Apr 19, 2012
    10
    It is difficult to overstate how pleased I am with this expansion. The shogun/emperor divide even at the start adds some much needed diversity in units. Bombardment from navies is a great addition. The only complaint I could have is the scope still only encompasses Japan, albeit with some new territories. If you've ever enjoyed a total war game, this will undoubtedly provide you with many hours of entertainment, Expand
  24. Apr 12, 2012
    10
    Dear Creative Assembly:

    I want to start by saying that the Total War series is the best strategy series that I'm aware exists. Shogun 2 and S2: Fall of the Samurai are really, really impressive. I'm especially happy with S2: FotS. The improvements are so that it ALMOST feels like a whole new game. I just have one request -not a complaint mind you, but a request: please stop re-releasing n
    ewer, better versions of old games. I absolutely loved Rome Total War, but please do not release a newer better version of it. Please keep it moving forward. Please make your next game about the fall of the old empires, i.e. World War 1. You could even set the technology to be turn-of-the-last-century at the beginning of a campaign mode, then have it developable (is that a word?) into WW1 tech, then maxing out at technology equal to what would've been available circa 1950. From bolt action rifles and bi-planes to early fighter jets and the atomic bomb.

    That. Would. Be. Awesome. And I can't imagine a scenario where I WOULDN'T be playing that game, job and wife be damned.

    I'm probably just kidding about that last bit.
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  25. Apr 7, 2012
    10
    One of the best total war games in fact expansion i have ever played. That modern era and the benefits that are coming from that era in terms of economy,warfare and weapons can glue you to your chairs for so many hours. Once again total war has managed to deliver an excellent game which is near perfect in terms of strategy, battles, graphics and sound. Recommended to die hard total war fans and even for new entrants. Expand
  26. Apr 3, 2012
    10
    Another fantastic addition to the series with every little bit changing the gameplay dramatically. Still offers many different effective strategies for every play style.
  27. Mar 30, 2012
    10
    More annual shovelware from Creative Assembly. Full of bugs, low level of support from the appalling developers and no mod tools. No mod tools means no longevity. You will be bored of this game after 2 months but that is part of the plan so you buy their next dumbed down piece of crap which releases in about a years time. The only Total War games you need are Rome and Medieval 2. The rest are **** and the developers are morons. I hope and pray for the day when someone brings a decent Total War competitor. Either that or when Creative Assembly crashes and burns. Expand
  28. Mar 29, 2012
    9
    An excellent expansion.Diplomacy and Naval elements are much improved.The new,modern era is a good setting.The campaign map,though more realistic,is a major downfall for me. I really,really prefer the original.However,if you loved the original,you'll love this as much as I do.
  29. Mar 27, 2012
    10
    Creative Assembly pulls it off a again with an awesome expansion. Yes there are some bugs and gattling guns are kinda of overpowered but with all the new units and the new way's to attack and move make this excellent. This also the most beautiful Strategy Game I have ever played from the unit details to the city battles. The railroad system is very nice as it's very expensive to make but almost invaluable once it is complete. offshore naval bombardment makes your navy extremely dangerous during sieges and can also pester troops. there are a lot of changes to many to list (like 80 unit battles). This is a must have for any total war fan scratch that any strategy fan. Expand
  30. Mar 27, 2012
    9
    Total War: Shogun 2 best strategy. DLC Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai very interested and new story me love. I play in Total War: Shogun 2 for 80 hours and i going play in Total War: Shogun 2 many many hours.
  31. Mar 25, 2012
    10
    Fantastic game. Excellent value for money. Proper pc game. Lots of depth, amazing graphics. Excellent multiplayer. Buy this and not some crappy console ported game. This is a proper pc game.
  32. Mar 25, 2012
    10
    AMAZING!

    This is a perfect Expansion for shogun 2 and it does so many things so much better!
    Many that i knew thought it would be like empire Total war but in E:TW the line infantry was very very boring and the fights were not fun to watch because of the mega slow reload time and boring melee...
    But this is so much more fast paced the shoot way faster and can really cut down the enemy if
    you handle them right! But i just have to tell you that it's not like i first thought it would be... i thought it would be Samurai VS "the modern era armies" (with guns and stuff) but no, you choose a clan that either supports the shogun or the emperor and both sides have the modern technology but i guess that makes it more fair.
    I really have nothing to complain about.
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  33. Mar 25, 2012
    10
    TW just gets better and better. If you've played the earlier titles like Rome and Empire, you will be shocked by how far this series has come. The new units and mechanics comepletely change the feeling of the game. Infantry is so fragile now that you really need to change your tactics - if you don't like wasting soldiers that is.
    With a game this complex you normally have to wait for a cou
    ple of patches, but I had a smooth ride so far. Only the download took forever.
    My only real complaint is that morally I feel inclined to prevent the western culture and technology from spreading through Japan, while those new influences are actually the most fun and powerful part of the game. I'm playing the battles thinking "I order to defeat it, I need to become it first". Anyone else feel like that?
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  34. Mar 25, 2012
    10
    Although released with some bugs, just like every other game in the series, it's still a lot of fun. The visuals are stunning and the game-play is improved once again. Total War seems to be a series that constantly improves.
  35. Mar 24, 2012
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is the best TW title since Medieval II. The previous line infantry warfare titles weren't that exciting because of an extremely small number of different unit types and viable strategies. Shogun 2 had an increase in viable unit types and strategies, but it still paled in comparison to Medieval II. Fall of the Samurai is the sweet spot, they've managed to find the one period in history where sword and spear infantry, cavalry, and both archers and musketmen are balanced just well enough to all be viable and provide just enough tactical consideration based on what you're going against. Definitely a worthy buy. Expand
  36. Mar 24, 2012
    9
    This is what an expansion should be like. Fall of the Samurai is set in the middle of the 19th century, and has new and interesting tech trees, building chains, and units. Even the map has been remade and feels much larger. One of the new features is the ability to call in off-map artillery support from nearby ships - they're finally good for something besides protecting your trade lanes. The conflict between new ideas and traditional values, briefly touched upon in the previous games, is genuinely interesting and is central to the game. The only complaint I can really acknowledge is that if you found the line combat of Empire or Napoleon sort of boring, you might feel the same way about FotS... though you have the option of using samurai to chop up the foreign devils. Expand
  37. Mar 23, 2012
    5
    Singleplayer is unrivaled. Multiplayer is a prototype that probably won't be good enough until the next completely new TW game.
    The potential of the multiplayer is huge, though. The developers have some neat ideas and they are willing to experiment. Sadly that potential is lost in The Creative Assembly's inability to effectively patch and balance the experience. Replay's have been broken f
    or almost 6 months, and nothing is done about it. The problem was apparently even carried over to this "stand alone expansion".
    Since I play this series for nothing but the multiplayer, I guess I should rate this very, very low. It has nothing like the balance from NTW or ETW, and lacks the cultural variety from RTW and MTW. In those games every faction felt unique and fun to play. Picking the Ottomans required a different play style altogether compared to when one controlled a French army. But all the Japanese factions are the same, sadly.
    So, no. This game is not for me. Give me RTW2 or ETW2 and I will be more than interested. But Japan is just to small and culturally monotonous to feel interesting after some hours have been spent with it.
    However, since I do have to acknowledge that the single player is extremely immersive and well made, I won't claim that Fall of the Samurai is pure and utter garbage. It is bi-polar. Half is really, really good. Brilliant, almost. But the other half is in its current state garbage.
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  38. Mar 23, 2012
    6
    Nice game but it seems very much like the 1st one but with some flashy weapons/units.
    It really should have been an DLC pack.
    Sadly I'm already bored of Japan (No offence to the country), Total War needs a fresh feel, maybe WW1 or 2.
    Game play is fun, graphics are great, but overall it's "more of the same".
  39. Mar 23, 2012
    10
    You Like Shogun 2 ? You Thought Empire/Napoleon sucked? Try Fall of the Samurai!
    Total War at it's Best! 10/10! Great Work Total war team!
  40. Mar 23, 2012
    10
    This is by far the best Total War title to date. Multi-player runs perfect and the additional units add so much to the Shogun 2 title that it's made me want to start playing it again. The graphics and smoothness of the game are great. Fall of the Samurai is worth every penny.
  41. Mar 23, 2012
    10
    This is an expansion, but yet it is like a whole new game. Everything is remade, the one thing that remains the same is in the interface, some of the maps and the graphics. I have enjoyed the game ever since the beta started, but it is first now that I have felt that I have enough knowledge of the game, to actually write a review. The campaign is really fun, and while the map stays the same and the mechanics haven't change completely from shogun 2, it is still very solid game play, and having already completed one campaign I haven't had any problems yet. It was fun, the AI was good, and the new time the game was set in made it feel brand new for me to play. It had no problems that I found, and was absolutely stellar. If you enjoy the campaign in Shogun 2 you should definitely try this one as well. I don't know if the sinc bug is in this one as well, but I hope they fixed it so you can play more than 100 turns with friends ^^.

    The multiplayer is the aspect of the game that I have looked forward to the most. With a rank
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  42. Mar 23, 2012
    10
    GREAT GAME a few amal bugs but over all deef worth the money aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
  43. Mar 23, 2012
    9
    If you enjoyed Shogun 2 you can't go wrong with this one. The improvements are awesome: naval battles are much more fun and much faster, infantry combat has been tweaked and the ability to call in off-map artillery NEVER gets old + you can take direct control of your on-map artillery. New research tree is great as well as the new agents. Religion has been replaced by loyalty of the people either to the Shogun of to the Emperor. Overall it is a great game for veterans and novices alike ! Expand
  44. Mar 23, 2012
    10
    For some unknown reason i got this early 1-day-early, but as a DLC for SHOGUN 2. Classic Total War pure win game - 10/10. Absoutely worth its' price, i got it for 15$ in Russia.
  45. Mar 23, 2012
    9
    Mannnn dis' da **** you got yo flashy graphics and yo crazy gameplay mechanics this game will always satisfy a brotha the story line is cool to! you got your **** shoguns and **** then the rebels who have the europeans! its like Hunger games all again! execpt this be better because hunger games copied the history books yo
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 45 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 44 out of 45
  2. Negative: 0 out of 45
  1. Jun 9, 2012
    85
    Fall of the Samurai is an excellent mix between old and new forms of warfare, although the game leans more on the new forms of warfare which can make lovers of the old forms feel left out. The expansion is so big on the other hand, that you can't really pass up on it. This expansion lifts the original to new heights.
  2. Apr 29, 2012
    80
    It very much feels like Creative Assembly has peaked creatively.
  3. Apr 27, 2012
    90
    Still unique, still unmissable - and wielding knockout visuals too. [June 2012, p.87]