Only 18% positive: Remaster of a strategy classic turns into a disaster

Total War: Shogun 2 is an absolute classic that won over countless strategy fans when it launched in 2011. On October 13, Creative Assembly, MATABOO and Sega released the Complete Edition, a modernized version of the nearly 15-year-old strategy game. Alongside all expansions, the new edition includes updated textures, 64-bit support, modernized controls and more than 50 additional playable factions. Sounds good? Fans probably thought so too – until they actually played the remaster.

On Reddit, the Shogun 2 remaster is being absolutely torn apart. A side-by-side image comparison shows a samurai whose face looks more like a robot than a human after the visual overhaul. The new illustrations also reportedly feature Portuguese soldiers with six fingers. Many Redditors suspect that the developers used AI to upscale the graphics and barely checked the results. u/mr-english writes: "They must have used a REALLY crappy AI model from 2 years ago or something because I put the original image into the free version of chatgpt [...] and I got this:" – showing an image he upscaled himself with noticeably better results.

However, the questionable visuals appear to be just the tip of the iceberg. In Steam reviews, players report numerous bugs, sluggish unit controls and poor performance. The strategy game reportedly struggles even on high-end hardware. One user, for example, reports getting just 30 to 40 FPS with an RTX 5090 at 4K. The switch from Steam Workshop to Mod.io has also drawn criticism, as many older mods no longer work without additional effort.

Only 18% positive reviews on Steam

Of around 1,700 Steam reviews, just 18% are positive. Considering that even games with positive review scores below 70% are generally regarded as having a mixed reception on Steam, this is nothing short of a disaster for the developers. Particularly frustrating is the fact that the Complete Edition, which normally costs $39.99, has replaced the original game on Steam. The original version, which would probably be the better choice for most players at this point, is still included in the Complete Edition, but is now considerably more expensive to obtain. According to SteamDB, Shogun 2 has previously been available on sale for around $7.50.

As a child in the 90s, my Gameboy was my steady companion. After school, the PlayStation was fired up. When I finally got my first PC, I was completely hooked. My passion for gaming has never waned since. For me, writing for Notebookcheck means reporting on topics that are really close to my heart - in addition to gaming, I also like to write about e-mobility, photovoltaics and innovative gadgets. When I'm not sitting at my computer, I'm probably on water rescue duty on the Baltic coast or trying to counteract the downsides of my geek life - namely sitting for long periods - at the local swimming pool.