Total War: Arena Re-launches In China, But You Can Play In English

A few months ago, we learned that Creative Assembly was partnering with NetEase to resurrect Total War: Arena in China, which shut down in the rest of the world in early 2019. The re-launch goes live today -- and you won't even need to know Chinese to play it.

The new version of the game has 12 maps, at least double what the original had. (The press release states that it "adds seven iconic battlefields to the original five," though this seasoned TWA player can distinctly remember six battlefields.) The other details we have about the game seem to mimic the features of the original: 10v10 PvP battles, four factions (Rome, Carthage, Greece, and Barbarian), legendary historical commanders like Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, and plenty of units to unlock and customize.

If you want to play the game now, you'll need to download it from the game's Chinese website and play on Chinese servers. We were provided with a primer that you can use to enable English language support for the game:

Even this extra step might not be needed for too long, however. Creative Assembly still has plans for a "launch in Europe and North America yet to be announced." Whether that will be published by NetEase or by a different company -- Wargaming handled publishing duties for the original TWA, while Sega typically publishes Total War titles -- is also still an unanswered question.