Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai

Railroads, black powder weapons, no more food shortages, but more turns: much is new in Fall of the Samurai. It takes a close look at the fall of the noble, traditional warrior caste, allowing players to change history. More extensive naval battles make things more exciting and the many new options let the game shine anew.

Still unique, still unmissable - and wielding knockout visuals too. [June 2012, p.87]

Fall of the Samurai isn't just a new Shogun experience, it's a new Total War experience, and one that every fan of the series should check out.

Another fantastic slice of battles and city building from Creative Assembly. [May 2012, p.74]

After a decade of development, and thousands of years of bloodshed and territorial domination, it seems the Total War series has come full circle. Fall of the Samurai is the resounding conclusion, a well-thought out, well-crafted game that puts comparable expansions to shame.

A masterful rendition to the franchise. [Apr 2012, p.58]

Like any good expansion – even standalone expansion – it doesn't just add things to the original, it changes them. You'll get an experience much more like a Civil War-era wargame with Fall of the Samurai, as opposed to a medieval wargame with the original Shogun 2, and that, in itself, is worth the cost of admission, let alone all the new units, locations, abilities, factions, and bells/whistles.

A magnificient expansion that not only includes more content, but adds noteworthy new features to refresh the experience and make the game feel new and different, despite retaining the gameplay base of the original title.

An excellent expansion that focuses on a fascinating period in history, and helps to make the perfect toe-dipping experience for strategy newcomers.

A great expansion pack transmits Shogun 2 in the modern history of Japan and offers dozens of hours of good entertainment with catchy campaign, new units and historic battles. [March 2012]

In any case, Fall of the Samurai demonstrates what releasing a good add-on truly means. They could have gone down the cheaper "a little more of everything" road. But instead, Creative Assembly invested their hearts, brains and their uncompromising attention to detail into this, to give this expansion its very own charm and character.

It's upgraded, it's addictive, it's beautiful and polished as every other release in this series. Even though it's not as big as "Napoleon", fans of the Total War franchise will be more than pleased with Fall of the Samurai.

The Fall of the Samurai is definitely a must-have expansion pack for RTS lovers. Both for those who already own Shogun 2 and those who didn't play the previous chapter.

A standalone expansion taking the original that's been already excellent and setting out completely different rules you need to adapt to. For lovers of the series this is the must-have expansion. The reason behind it is its special setting, built upon the Shogun 2 time-tested structure, you've never seen before. Once again great fun for tens of hours.

Fall of the Samurai is one of the best expansion packs that we've seen in a long time. The huge amount of new troops, technologies en agents make sure that you'll never get bored with the campaign. There are a lot of new strategic options to discover in both singleplayer and multiplayer.

It's great that we got such a wonderful game to kill time with while waiting for a real revolution in the Total War series. [April 2012, p.66]

A glorious scramble for power elevated by some fantastic new units. Shame about those boring boat battles.

Shogun 2: FotS carries its legacy with honor and is an extremely robust title. Given that it's a stand-alone product, if there were more initial clans in the beginning of the campaign, it could easily pass as a unique sequel. It's a title worth investing in, as it offers many hours of entertainment. [April 2012]

Fall of Samurai does what an expansion should do, take a good base and build something related but different about it. The sea warfare doesn't work as well as it could, but overall it's a great experience and a must for any Total war fan.

Fall of the Samurai is a great stand alone expansion pack: there are no big gameplay innovations but loads of new content and the same amazing visual experience of Shogun 2.

Thanks to gunpowder and cannons, battles at land and sea are much more engaging than in the original. Add the well thought-out changes on the strategy map and it's purse-friendly price tag and you have one great addition to the Total War-series.

The Boshin War marked the end of one era in Japan's history. The civil war, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and the Imperial troops, provides an excellent basis for a Total War game. Caught between the crossfire of different factions, Western influences and rapid technological development, Japan was reshaped. Fall of the Samurai draws successfully from this interesting setting. The battles are as massive and tactical as ever and conquering Japan province by province is immensely satisfying despite the familiar feeling of the game. [Apr 2012]

This is the rare expansion that's a great buy even if you don't have the original game.

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.

This stand-alone expansion modernizes Total War while remaining true to tradition.

At the end of the day, Total War: Shogun 2 - Fall of the Samurai is a fun game if you like this genre of PC gaming that contains a very sturdy interface with some lush graphics and political intrigue thrown into the mix.

Its historical setting, attention to detail, and engrossing combat mechanic make it a worthy addition the Total War series. Fans of the series (especially fans on Creative Assembly's foray into bullets and bombs) should definitely think about picking this up.

At first I was skeptical, but Creative Assembly presents challenging and varied strategy, which has been improved on a lot of levels although some relevant areas like AI and diplomacy have been left out.

Creative Assembly manages to innovate the previous Shogun 2 chapter by changing era and adding fireweapons to the conflicts. Thankfully this creates a well balanced mixture that is sure to be liked by many, if not every, fan of the series.

A decent addition to Shogun 2's content library, although we still think a slightly missed opportunity to do something truly special.

Fall of the Samurai brings no revolution to the series. It's simply the same good Shogun 2 with new units and arsenal. This add-on is a definitive and strong finale to the samurai saga by The Creative Assembly.

With arguably more gameplay content than the original, expanded diplomatic and battle strategies, and moving the series forward to the industrial age, developer Creative Assembly have released another stellar entry into this long-running series.

Fall of the Samurai is what every expansion pack should be. There is nothing that will make you gasp with awe, but every one of the new features fits the game perfectly. Evolution at its finest.

It very much feels like Creative Assembly has peaked creatively.

The singleplayer is just wonderful and if you liked the other Total War games, this is not to be missed.

Fall of the Samurai is an excellent expansion for a game that already is a great strategy game.

The addition of gunpowder brings a whole new layer of strategic complexity to the battlefield. An expansion pack that manages to improve upon an already great game.

It introduces a plethora of new units, tactics and gameplay elements, and does represent a significant evolution in the Total War series.

Exactly what you'd expect from a Total War game. Fall of the Samurai is a great standalone game, even if you did not play Shogun 2.

Although Creative Assembly hasn't quite overcome all of Total War's traditional shortcomings, this latest interface nevertheless feels better, much as the combat AI feels better and those battles at sea feel much, much better.

The epic dynasty-building from the original Shogun 2 has been replaced by a depiction of a shorter but very turbulent period in the history of Japan. To some extent Fall of the Samurai is almost a fusion of Total War: Shogun 2 and its predecesor Empire: Total War. Although I'm not a great fan of warfare in the 19th century, Creative Assembly succeeds in keeping Japan exotic and interesting in an era of modernization very familliar to us westerners. The strong heritage from Shogun 2 makes this a great expansion and a must for fans of the series.

Machine guns and naval artillery are the innovations that define this standalone expansion and make of Fall of the Samurai a good product, definitely more viable for the fans of Empire than the Rome, Medieval and Shogun chapters of the Total War saga. A glimpse of a future step in the 20th century warfare from Creative Assembly?

So it's not hard to ignore those niggles, especially when you've got an excitable eight year old in your head jumping around and making gun noises as he pretends to swing a sword about. There's a magic in that weird juxtaposition of old and new.