NARRATOR: Set during the 19th century, The Fall of the Samurai offers a largely different gaming experience to the original Total War: Shogun 2.
It's full of explosives, pyrotechnics, it's got lots of fun new units like torpedo ships and Gatling guns.
Ships explode left and right, you get armour penetrating shells...
We have this huge clash between the modern and the traditional.
Effectively this is a war for the soul of Japan in the modern world.
NARRATOR: In The Fall of the Samurai, the campaign map has been extended,
both further north to Hokkaido and to new island provinces in the south.
Ultimately, at the end of the Boshin War, the Shogunate forces were chased by the Imperial forces into Hokkaido,
forming the Ezo Republic, which was the last stand of the Shogunate forces.
NARRATOR: The campaign map has been reimagined to reflect the new time period,
with steam railways making their first appearance in a Total War game.
Developing a rail network allows swift movement of troops and agents.
Now, if you've got a Gatling gun factory, say, in one province at the end of the railway line,
within a turn you can get him right where he's needed at the frontline.
NARRATOR: But be wary of enemies sabotaging or blockading your stations.
My favourite agent, really I think, is the Foreign Veteran agent,
so that's an American or British or French foreign veteran that you bring in
to improve the recruitment of your troops, drill your troops, train them more effectively.
And they can also challenge other agents to single combat.
NARRATOR: The American, British and French nations play an important part in the struggle for victory.
Japan was rich in natural resources, and obviously trade opportunity.
The Americans were very keen on tapping this potential.
A bunch of Americans turn up and say, "You will trade with us," and back it up with some gunboats.
NARRATOR: The construction of trading districts for Western powers will give you access to devastating units and advanced technology.
The Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment that took many many decades in the West
gets condensed into two or three or four short decades in Japan.
In about thirty years it's one of the most advanced industrial nations in the world.
Instead of having to rely on expert swordsmen and people who you had very few of,
you can train anybody to fire a Gatling gun.
NARRATOR: But the cost of modernisation is great.
Modernisation means mechanised factories, it means the breakdown of traditional social values and social connections.
NARRATOR: Industrial development can breed discontent in the people
and reduces the effectiveness of traditional weapons and units, such as samurai.
A lot of people became more and more angry with what they saw as increasing foreign domination.
If modernisation unhappiness becomes too much of a big issue, a region can suffer a samurai rebellion,
which was something that actually happened in the 1870s, where a bunch of disgruntled samurai
decided that all this westernisation was no good and rose up against their masters.
Which I thought was quite nice.
NARRATOR: The dynamic clash between the old traditions and the new industrial world is at the heart of The Fall of the Samurai.
Like all Total War games, there's no wrong path to victory.
Make your own choices, build your legacy, triumph and dominate Japan.