Nanman DLC announced.

[zoner16]

There has always been a certain amount of fiction/legend/myth in these games. All that really changed was how much and how central it was.

What concerns me isn't the presence, but the reliance. Easter eggs, hypotheticals, and other stuff based on questionable or downright fictious sources haven't ruined the games previously. In most cases they're either ignorable or modded around. However, now it seems that the games have to constantly justify themselves on some kind of never-before-seen content and stick it front and center in case people miss it.

At a certain point, CA is going to run out of eras with fantastical pop-history presence, at which point, what then? Invent something? I doubt that will work. The historical/fantasy hybrid approach hasn't generated much enthusiasm, even from the people who enjoy the games that have it. Most reviews about Troy seem to ignore the myth units or consider them a disappointment outside of memes. Even Romance mode in 3K is more about enjoying the characters rather than the mysticism or magic, with people seemingly happy so long as they can act out their favorite scenes from the Yanyi.

At the end of the day, tigers, elephants, and a medieval Chinese flamethrower in a new years float will not appease those who are here only for fantasy appeal. There's already a few complaining that "there aren't enough new units" because "humans don't count, they're the same skeleton." This DLC (and 3K in general) is getting by because of the appeal of the Yanyi, which itself is something of a unique case, and Troy had to resort to a sales gimmick. The fantasy appeal is going to be swallowed into the WH3 singularity when that launches, and that'll be around for quite a while. Chasing that crowd is a doomed proposition from a business standpoint, so CA is going to have to pull out something that can sell to the fanbase that isn't lawfully wedded to the Warhammer series, or else it won't have an audience.