Fall of the Samurai
A standalone expansion to Total War: Shogun 2. The campaign begins in the year 1864 and covers the events that led up to the Meiji Restoration, namely the Boshin War, which saw Imperial rule returned to the country after over 600 years. During the Meiji Restoration the encroachment of Western colonial powers caused growing resentment, forcing Japan to modernise and industrialise, leading to increasingly militant nationalism and eventually resulting in the abolishment of the traditional Samurai-based feudal system.
Choose from six new clans supporting either the last Shogunate or the Imperial Throne as you build, explore, negotiate and battle with other clans in order to secure victory. How you communicate with new foreign powers in the form of British, French and American nations is fundamental in recruiting new unit types and researching new technologies.
For the first time in any Total War game, deploy 19th century technology to further your war effort such as Gatling-Gun mounted defences and the deployment of railways to allow for swifter troop movement on the Campaign Map, which has also been refreshed and updated to reflect the modern setting and also has been extended southwards by the addition of the island of Ezo.
New features, aside from railways, the inclusion of foreign powers and the updated map include:
- 39 new land units.
- Modern ranged units including coastal defence guns, the Armstrong and Gatling gun, some of which must be aimed in a new first-person mode.
- 10 new naval unit types including heavily-armed-and-armoured steam-powered warships as well as foreign ironclad ships. For the first time ships can attack adjacent cities and armies from the sea on the campaign map.
- Improved siege dynamics including a new ‘port siege’ battle type whereby ships may capture ports in real time, assuming they can traverse highly bolstered coastline defences.
- During a land battle, offshore artillery units can be called in to provide covering fire and when fighting at sea, coastal gun emplacements can be used to turn the tide of battle.
- New upgradable tower defences.
- Three new agent types each with their own unique skill tree. Ninja and Geisha agents have had their skill trees updated with new abilities.
- Multiplayer 2.0 with new modernised Conquest Map and new Fall of the Samurai Avatar, armour items and retainers. Players can enjoy multiple career progressions across Shogun 2 and the expansion.
Fall of the Samurai was released on 23 March 2012 by Sega and the Creative Assembly.