This year marks the fifth anniversary of Total War Rome 2 but Creative Assembly is still cranking out updates and DLC for the strategy game. That’s an incredible feat of commitment from the developer since it is also juggling newly-released games like Total War Saga Britannia and upcoming games like Total War Three Kingdoms. The free Ancestral Update launches today in Open Beta for Total War Rome 2, implementing many additions and improvements to the 5-year-old game.
Creative Assembly has revealed that the Total War Rome 2 Ancestral Update will add the highly-requested Family Tree feature. Fans were disappointed to discover that the game did not feature family trees back when it was originally released in 2013, especially since other games like Total War Shogun 2 and Total War Attila did feature them. In addition, the Family Tree increases the number of Intrigue options in the game. Intrigues are options which can be executed to achieve a variety of outcomes, including assassinating a family member or marrying them off for political purposes.
Other highlights of the Total War Rome 2 Ancestral Update includes visual improvements like the addition of MSAA anti-aliasing and improved lighting, especially during night battles. The skills of agents and generals are now also culture-specific, with the addition of new actions. Check out the full list of fixes and improvements in the patch notes included in the official blog post.
The developer advises that players should disable their mods before installing the Total War Rome 2 Ancestral Update. However, keep in mind that it is currently in Open Beta, so users will need to manually download it by opting into the Ancestral Update themselves. Last but not least, Creative Assembly has also reminded us that a new Total War Rome 2 DLC will be coming very soon. That was initially teased last month when the developer detailed its plans for each game in the Total War franchise.
