The Total War: Warhammer series has been a huge success, and the most recently launched Total War: Warhammer 3 has been no exception to that. This week marks the first anniversary of Warhammer 3’s launch, and to celebrate, Creative Assembly has confirmed a mystery update will be landing to commemorate the game’s launch.
But before we get excited about new races, keep in mind this isn’t likely to be anything huge. Last week, CA delivered the update schedule for the game, which included the upcoming downloadable content (DLC), the first of which is due to drop in April. So it’s best to assume this "mystery update" will comprise something smaller, like some free legendary lords for existing races, or some new mercenary "Dogs of War" units. Also possible is the Mirror of Madness game lab feature teased at the end of the last year, as well as a rework for an existing race, but both of those seem less likely than a few free lords or heroes.
But while fans may want to temper their expectations for this week’s update, it’s free reign where the next DLC is concerned. April’s DLC is all but confirmed to be the release of the Chaos Dwarves. Essentially an evil version of the more standard Dwarf faction, the Chaos Dwarves are worshippers of a fire god, and happily toil away in their mountain holds, creating evil daemon-possessed weapons for the followers of the Dark Gods. At the moment, their place on the map is taken up by some rather generic Greenskins factions, and their arrival will fill the area with hobgoblins, centaurs, and other awesome monsters.
Two more major DLC updates are expected this year, and it’s less certain what those will contain. There are large sections of the Immortal Empires map blocked off, including the lands of Kuresh and Ind, and it’s highly likely CA will want to fill those in. However, Games Workshop’s source material is slightly vague about what can be found there. While human factions are expected, so are hideous snakemen (evil cousins of the Lizardmen). These would be largely new additions to the Warhammer Fantasy canon, and will require CA to work closely with Games Workshop to create something new. It’s not unfamiliar with this process, though, creating the brand-new Cathay faction for Warhammer 3.
We expect we’ll hear more rumours about what to expect as those dates get closer.