Gods & Monsters

History and mythology collide in Creative Assembly Sofia’s Total War Saga: Troy.

- Fraser Brown

Total War is delving into mythology. For the last couple of historical games, myths and legends have been creeping into the war-torn sandbox, but in Total War Saga: Troy, Creative Assembly Sofia is taking things one step further, honing in on a conflict where our best source is an epic poem about petty gods and a giant wooden horse. This isn’t Warhammer, though, and history hasn’t been entirely abandoned.

So there are gods. And mythical heroes. And even a minotaur. The team’s drawn on ancient yarns like The Iliad and The Odyssey, along with other myths, but then squinted at them through the lens of history. Maps and archeology have been used to give cities and armies an air of authenticity, and the minotaur is really a big bloke wearing a bull’s head and wielding a massive axe. When he’s charging at an army, though, the distinction doesn’t matter too much.

“We’ve got the history and archaeology on the one hand, and we have the characters and the narrative from The Iliad to just pour over them,” says lead game designer Todor Nikolov. Troy reinterprets a slew of far-fetched legends, but it’s grounded by the historical layer. The familiar Total War campaign structure has been similarly preserved.