Total War: WARHAMMER II - Rise of the Tomb Kings

Rise of the Tomb Kings was developed by Creative Assembly, published by SEGA and released 23rd January 2018.

About the Game

Rise of the Tomb Kings is a Campaign Pack DLC for Total War: WARHAMMER II that introduces a brand-new race to the fold from the Warhammer Fantasy Battles world: The Tomb Kings.

Across the arid deserts of Nehekhara, vast legions of skeletal warriors rise from beneath the baking sands to slaughter those who trespass into their domain. It is a lifeless realm of endless dunes, stained red from the blood of savages and barbarians. This is the Land of the Dead, where mummified kings are cursed to rule in perpetual unlife. But it was not always this way.

There was a time when the ancient kingdom of Nehekhara stood as a crown of human civilisation; a golden age when its cities shone with majestic splendour, its armies conquered entire nations and its kings ruled as gods among men. But this realm was razed millennia ago by the treacherous sorcery of the reviled Nagash: in a stroke, the living perished and the dead rose from their tombs.

Death is no barrier to glory for the Tomb Kings however. In unlife, they will see the empire of Nehekhara restored to greatness!

Rise of the Tomb Kings introduces four new playable factions, each with their own Legendary Lord and a bunch of new campaign mechanics. Rise of the Tomb Kings will also bring a comprehensive roster full of unique and exciting new units.

Key Features:

New Tomb Kings Race playable in both the Eye of the Vortex and Mortal Empires campaigns

Unique Race mechanics inspired by the Tomb Kings lore

4 new playable Legendary Lords: Settra the Imperishable, High Queen Khalida, Grand Hierophant Khatep and Arkhan the Black

Gather the cursed Books of Nagash and win the battle for the Black Pyramid to achieve ultimate victory

Uncover the mysteries of the past by researching the Nehekharan Dynasties

Tap the Realm of Souls to regenerate your troops and summon Ushabti in battle

Combine exotic trade goods and Canopic Jars - the Tomb Kings' unique resource - to craft magic items and raise fabled Legions of Legend at the Mortuary Cult

Comprehensive army roster featuring iconic units from the Warhammer Fantasy Battles world

Skills and Experience

Rise of the Tomb Kings is both the final and the best DLC project I worked on at Creative Assembly. It delivered an artistic and feature rich game experience, and arguably the best race in the Warhammer series.

The project spanned from the end of 2017 to early 2018. This was the New Content Teams first Warhammer 2 DLC. We had originally planned to include the Warhammer 2 version of Norsca (a Warhammer 1 DLC) and the Intel Laboratory mode along with Tomb Kings in December, but due to integration problems had to split the projects up.

A further challenge we overcame in this project was the Tomb Kings animations. Due to the lore of this faction, there's a strange blend of "constructs" (statues bought to life) and fluid snake units. The constructs had to have very solid static animations to look rigid, where as the snakes were the most complicated animations done to date. Making the snakes fluidly transition from one pose or stance to another was difficult but turned out to look brilliant in the game.

The Tomb Kings army roster is the most diverse we have made, with a crazy blend of creatures, skeletons, mummies and monsters. The Ancient Egyptian style theme is easy to understand and accessible for the player.

As the first Warhammer 2 DLC, we also had some new things to include. For example, there are 2D movies throughout the campaign, which weren't in Warhammer 1. This involved working with new and contracted artists. We also had to make the Tomb Kings "Eye of the Vortex" campaign, and figure out new gameplay for fitting a unique campaign experience around the existing "Race for the Vortex" mechanic.

We also included a sizable patch with Tomb Kings, and a Free Legendary lord called Trech Craventail.

Overall the project delivered better than expected, and although the Norsca integration issues meant we successfully released the Laboratory Mode before Christmas and Tomb Kings after.

As my final DLC for Creative Assembly, I'm proud of this one and the large catalog of DLCs I have released here. I am ready to move onto new challenges, which will appear on this site in the near future!