Total War: Shogun 2

Launched: March 2021

Playable on: PC

Playing as a samurai is objectively cool. Commanding whole armies of samurai? I’d argue is even cooler. That’s what’s on offer when playing Creative Assembly’s Total War 2: Shogun 2. Like the OG Shogun: Total War, a PC strategy classic that I cannot in good faith recommend you play in the year of our lord 2023, Shogun 2 casts you as a daimyo in 16th century Japan battling it out with your rivals to conquer the country.

Like all entries in the Total War series, the gameplay is a mix of turn-based strategy and real-time tactical combat. On the campaign map, I recommend playing as the Shimazu clan for their reduced recruitment and upkeep costs for katana samurai. Sure, there are other unit types like cavalry, artillery, and archers, but this is the samurai game slideshow. Forget about those chumps.

For those not feeling the campaign sandbox experience, you can also replay historical conflicts like the Battle of Sekigahara or mess around in the game’s custom battles mode and just have thousands of dudes charging each other to duke it out. In short, this is what we call good shit. – Eric Schulkin, Video Lead