Total War: Rome 2 Announced, Coming to PC in 2013

It’s long been speculated that Creative Assembly would be working on Total War: Rome 2 after the release of Total War: Shogun 2, but now it’s official.

Publisher Sega today announced that development on Total War: Rome 2 is well under way, and that a release date on PC at some point in 2013 is being targeted. That may be a long wait, but you won’t have to wait for more information. In fact, you can get that right now.

In Polygon’s preview of Total War: Rome 2, lead designer James Russell said that Total War: Rome 2 is easily Creative Assembly’s most ambitious project to date–and the game’s budget, the largest in the series’ history, is evidence of that.

“It’s a massive project for us. It’s got a big budget, bigger than any Total War game we’ve ever made,” Russell said. “It’s also very new for us, because we have the combination of ship and land and there will be multiple capture points that will make things more interesting.”

If you preferred the grand scale of previous Total War games such as, for example, Empire, it sounds like Total War: Rome 2 will be right up your alley.

“Shogun 2 was an exercise in focus, in looking at a single culture,” communications manager Al Bickham told Eurogamer in their preview. “And while there were variations in unit types between the different clans, it was really a drop in the ocean compared to what we’ll be doing in Rome 2. We want to wind it back out again to cover a much, much larger geographical area and a whole series of cultures this time.”

There’s a whole lot more information to digest, so be sure to head to the two links above for the full lowdown.