A Total War Saga: TROY - Rhesus & Memnon

I've spent enough time in Total War's Bronze Age to know that faction variety is the quiet killer of long-term replayability. When every Greek general is pulling from the same pool of spearmen and chariots, campaigns blur together fast. Rhesus and Memnon, the fifth and final DLC for A Total War Saga: TROY, attacks that problem directly by adding two leaders who sit entirely outside the Greek-Trojan cultural axis, each with mechanics built around their mythology rather than borrowed from existing factions. Rhesus, King of Thrace, plays like what veterans of older Total War titles would recognize as a barbarian faction. His armies are unshielded, aggressive, and built around decisive early charges and armour-piercing chariots rather than defensive depth. His signature campaign mechanic is a Devotion resource earned through Thracian Rituals, which unlock buffs, elite units, and settlement bonuses as you perform them. Alongside that sits the Countless Host system: Rhesus can spawn full-stack barbarian armies by capturing forested settlements, though those stacks cannot reinforce your main force until you have raised the Host's level high enough. In practice, it creates a satisfying snowball loop when it works, and a frustrating management headache when it doesn't. The Devotion system is genuinely interesting on paper but critics and players alike have noted that Rhesus as a whole feels underdeveloped compared to his counterpart. The Thracian starting position in the north of the campaign map offers a fresh strategic angle, but his faction never quite earns the same attention as the second hero. Memnon is the real reason to own this pack. He leads a horde faction starting on the island of Rhodes, fighting a military expedition on behalf of Pharaonic Egypt without ever settling down. His forces cannot inhabit settlements at all - only sack and raze them - which funnels resources back into his recruitment pool rather than an empire. The Pharaoh's Servant mechanic is the clever bit: by constructing specific buildings or researching technologies, Memnon unlocks off-map territories in Egypt, Aethiopia, Canaan and Susa that feed new units into his roster. You never fight there. They just become a supply line. Combined with War Spoils, prestige spending, and assignable camp followers that can fatigue enemy armies or disable siege towers before a battle even starts, Memnon's campaign has genuine strategic texture. His unit roster is the most multicultural in the game, and for players running historical mode on harder difficulties, the variety of lightly armored fast units opens up tactical options that the base game factions simply do not provide. The DLC also shipped alongside a free quality-of-life patch that added auto-resolve casualty predictions before you confirm a battle, the ability to abandon settlements, and accelerated construction via gold spending. Those are free regardless of purchase, but they improve the experience of playing with these two leaders noticeably. Where does this land for a buying decision? If you have exhausted the base roster and are looking for a mechanically distinct campaign, Memnon delivers one. Rhesus is a competent addition that will satisfy players who want to push into the Thracian north, but he does not have the same staying power. The 72 percent positive Steam rating is an accurate signal: this is a solid, slightly uneven expansion that rewards players already committed to Troy, not a reason to start from scratch.

Diego · Scout Team

Strategy & simulation

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