It is 190CE and China is in turmoil. The Han Dynasty crumbles before the child-emperor, who is a mere puppet for the tyrant Dong Zhuo. The brutal and oppressive regime’s power grows as the empire slips further into anarchy. Yet hope blossoms in the form of three heroes, sworn to brotherhood in the face of calamity. Warlords of great families follow suit, forming a fragile coalition in a bid to challenge Dong Zhuo’s remorseless rule. The future of China will be shaped by their hands, but personal ambition threatens their already crumbling alliance.

Inspired by the beauty and artistic style of the age, Total War: Three Kingdoms breathes life into the heroes of this fascinating period as they struggle to unite China under a single banner.

“We’re lucky to be in a position to do the right thing for our games, and in this case, it means taking the time to get everything ready for you,” said Rob Bartholomew, Studio Brand Director at Creative Assembly. “It’s important that we give you a game that you can enjoy to the fullest, and we’re excited for you to see what we have in store.”

It’s been an incredibly busy and exciting time for us in the studio. We’ve been able to show you more of Three Kingdoms than ever before and taking the time to evaluate it thoroughly.

There are some revolutionary features going in and it’s looking really good. But we want to make sure it’s great. So we’re moving the release date to 23 May, 2019.

With Three Kingdoms, we set out to create a new level of complexity. As such, we need a little more time to make sure these systems deliver as intended and give you the Total War experience you’ve waited so patiently for.

Of course, the extra time won’t hurt when it comes to fixing those bugs that have been hard to nail down, getting the localisation just right, and adding additional polish to help it shine. We all know those little details make a big difference.

We’re lucky to be in a position to do the right thing for our games, and in this case it means taking the time to get everything ready for you. It’s more important to give you a game that you can enjoy to the fullest, rather than stick to a release date just because.

We know not everyone’s going to be happy about this, but ultimately, we believe this the best thing for the game and our players.

Total War: Three Kingdoms is scheduled for release on March 23, 2019.