The year is 1187.

You defend Jerusalem against Saladin; the Kingdom of Jerusalem prevails.

Constantinople is never sacked; the Byzantine Empire never falls. With the Byzantines as your allies, you defeat the Mongols.

In 1412, the Holy Roman Empire disintegrates into small, German kingdoms.

As the Kingdom of Jerusalem, you proclaim yourself defender of the Catholic church, and Jerusalem becomes the capital of the Christian world.

Trade with India and Asia blossoms.

Columbus never sails to America…

Built as the ultimate medieval strategy sandbox, it will empower players to shape realms, rewrite history, and immerse themselves in the Middle Ages like never before. Combining meticulous historical authenticity with unprecedented player agency, this is more than a sequel, it’s the rebirth of historical Total War.

Our vision is for Medieval III to be the definitive Total War sandbox set within the Medieval world and to be the ultimate “What if?” game where you can alter the course of history. We aim to set the scene by immersing you in the historical authenticity you expect from Total War. As you play, the world responds in ways that feel genuinely plausible. You can choose to follow the course as written in the history books or take a bold step towards rewriting it.

As development progresses, we'll have more to show and discuss about its design direction - and in some cases, we'll give you a voice to shape certain decisions. But game development is challenging, so we're only going to be able to discuss certain areas when we're confident they're ready to be shown. Through this, we hope to provide more insight than ever before into the development of a Total War title. We're going to make some mistakes, but we're excited to make this journey with you.

Creating any Total War game takes time and immense effort, not just to make, but to ensure it hits the quality expected by you and us. The truth is, we’ve wanted to make this game for a very long time. We made attempts to bring it to life in the past, but we never felt we could truly do it justice.  

So, what’s changed? For starters, we now have Warcore - the next evolution of our game engine. It’s unlike anything we’ve worked with before, offering a bespoke set of new and improved tools across our animation system, to the renderer and campaign building blocks - all designed to bring the medieval era to life in ways we’ve previously never been able to achieve.

We also knew it was essential to bring together the right people - a team with decades of experience and a deep understanding of what makes historical strategy so compelling. This expertise, combined with the passion of those who helped shape the series, gives us the foundation to build something truly special.

Right now, the game is in early pre-production, so think about it being years away, rather than months, meaning we're just past the opening stages of its long journey. This phase is about laying the foundations: defining scope, prioritizing features which number in the hundreds at this stage, and shaping how our vision will translate into an unforgettable experience.

We have never talked about one of our games this early on in pre-development before, so it is a very exciting prospect for us, but of course as with anything new, we will have to expect bumps and bruises along the way, so please bear with us whilst we find our rhythm. This is particularly important when we are in the middle of big project milestones as we won’t be able to talk much, so we just want to set clear expectations for the instances in which we’re busy focusing on the game.

We still have work to do before we can show you the game in its early state, but we’re ready to talk about things like our vision, the magnificence of the medieval time-period, how we aim to bring the game to life – and of course, introduce you to our talented development team.

This means that alongside the community management team, we will have members of the development team chatting to everyone, so you can hear all of the juicy details directly from them.

We will also have our brilliant community moderators supporting us on the CA Community hub, so we also expect it to be a safe space and respectful for any and all to join in on the conversation. The usual community rules apply here, and we won’t tolerate any breaches of them.

To begin with, we want to start sharing our vision; from discussing the Medieval time period to game & art pillars - and why these are important foundational building blocks. While we may not talk about game features just yet, this will be a great opportunity for you all to understand a bit more about how we tackle development from the early stages. Not everything we say in the future will be major news, and some things might be light touch but still very interesting for us all to get our teeth into.

You'll hear plenty more from me in the weeks and months ahead, but if you're looking to know even more about what Med III truly is, click here to go straight to Our Vision for Med III from Creative Director Leif Walter, and learn all about our vision for this game.

Thanks for reading, and welcome to the Medieval III team!

– Pawel, Game Director

With Medieval III, we want to push this further than ever before. Our guiding motto is “Rewrite History”. We want to create the ultimate medieval sandbox where the outset is defined by impeccable authenticity, but from there, the story is yours to tell. We want to empower you to do this in more meaningful ways than ever before, leaving less to pure ‘head canon’, and instead giving you more ways to influence the world, while also creating greater opportunity for how the world will speak back to you and react to your actions.

We want you to shape the history of a realm throughout the medieval era, and embark to tell fantastic stories, write alternate histories, or relive the pivotal moments of medieval history.

This is what Medieval III is all about: You pick a realm, seize your glory, and rewrite history - or kneel before it!

Of course, this is only one of many possible stories we want players to tell within the sandbox of Medieval III, but it is still a great example of the vision we have for the player fantasy.

We want you to feel like being the Architect of Feudal Realms. The realm- your faction- is really almost like the main character in an RPG game. It’s the “build” of your campaign that will allow you to forge your own legacy throughout the era.

Imagine, London, 1318. A fictious king of a Danish dynasty, Ragnar IV., has ascended your throne as the ruler of England. Yet you decide to abolish the monarchy and call out a League of Free Cities of England. And as England is now entering a hypothetical second Viking Age, your prosperous urban centres will dominate European trade for centuries to come...

What version of England will you create?

To do all of this, we want you to become a master of grand strategy, where foresight, planning, and the exploitation of interlocking systems is rewarded.

Imagine, Cairo, 1352. As Mamluk Egypt, your trade relations with Venice have lead to Italian enclaves along coastal trade towns. Contrary to history though, you decide to promote Italian culture through lawmaking and reforms. Thirty years later, Italian General Nicolo di Brindisi, now Grand Marshal of Egypt, is leading a mixed force of Mamluk cavalry and Italian Crossbowmen to defend the realm against the Timurids...

How will you exploit decisions across decades?

And once you go into battle, we want to make sure you feel like a real leader of your soldiers. Master the tides of morale, discipline, and evolving battlefields.

Imagine, Manzikert, 1221. Leading your byzantine army into battle, your right flank is suffering from high fatigue, and on the left, your light infantry is being pushed back by heavy enemy troops. But when the rain starts, dirt turns into mud. The enemy sends in a last group of reserves to crush your retreating troops. Yet in the forming mud, and bolstered by your General’s presence, your light infantry withstands the charge in a heroic brace. A park in the darkest hour that ripples through your army and starts to turn the tide in battle...

Can you snatch victory from the jaws of defeat?

And finally, we want you to be the manipulator of the world as a stage. The medieval world is your canvas, and you are the agent of change across realms, and of the world itself.  

Imagine, Riga, 1278. As the Teutonic Order, you are leading the Baltic crusade. You deforest regions to stimulate timber trade and found new cities to attract settlers from Western Europe. Farmland and mines expand on the map through your decree. You build new castles on the map to fortify your new home. Central European architecture spreads to the Baltic.

Your presence will transform cultures, cities, and the land itself.

All in all, we want you to think about:

What kind of kingdom will you create?

What dynasties will lead it?

And what peoples will inhabit it?

So, there you go! This is the creative vision for Medieval III and our experiential north star. Whenever we are in discussions within the team; whenever we are considering a variety of options – we come back to this north star. Will this feature help us deliver this vision? Which version of it will contribute the most towards it? And equally, for the conversations here with all of you, it would be great to calibrate ourselves around this vision, too.

How do YOU want to rewrite history?

Ultimately, this is what we want all of you to experience.  We want you to experience a sandbox that carries the signature blend of TOTAL WAR, where immersive tactical battles blend with your campaign story to shape kingdoms, religions, cultures, and estates. A sandbox to rewrite history across the turbulent centuries of medieval history.

I would be thrilled to hear some of the great campaign and battle stories you were able to tell in the past, and what you would be looking for with MEDIEVAL III!

Cheers,

– Leif, Creative Director

Total War: Medieval III is in early pre-production.