Total War: Shogun 2 Fans Outraged Over AI-Upscaled ‘Enhanced’ Edition
On October 13, Total War: Shogun 2 – Complete Edition hit the digital shelves, touted as “the updated, enhanced, and complete version of the grand strategy classic.” However, players are expressing their discontent, with 82 percent of recent reviews leaning negative, some even calling it “literally the greed they talk about in the bible.”
Originally launched in 2011, Total War: Shogun 2 was met with widespread acclaim, often earning scores of 9s and 10s. It was celebrated as the pinnacle of the already popular Total War series and has consistently ranked among the franchise’s best. In 2019, it was named the top title in the series, and more recently, it was placed at #2, just behind the newly released Three Kingdoms. Clearly, this game has a dedicated fanbase, and a re-release optimized for modern systems should have been a slam dunk.
Instead, the new edition is currently facing a wave of backlash on Steam, criticized for poor performance, a mix of old and new bugs, broken mod support, numerous graphical glitches, and the questionable (and undisclosed) use of AI upscaling for the game’s unit cards. Adding fuel to the fire, the decision to remove all previous versions from Steam while raising the price for this new edition has left many players furious. Interestingly, when I added the Complete Edition to my library, I also received the original version, but I can’t get it to launch.
The fact that Creative Assembly has inflated the install size from 3.85GB to 45GB is impressive, but players are struggling to find any real benefits from this increase. This stands in stark contrast to the few press reviews the game has garnered, with only four critics giving it a Metascore of 86.
Playing the game feels frustrating, with jagged camera movements and a visual style that seems like a confusing blend of old and slightly newer graphics, resulting in a blurry and outdated appearance. It certainly doesn’t look modern.
We’ve reached out to Creative Assembly regarding the AI usage but haven’t received a response yet. The absence of any mention on the Steam page makes some of the game’s art difficult to justify. I compared images from the new game’s encyclopedia to those from the original, and the results are disappointing. For instance, one comparison shows how the process confused a central wooden bar on a boat for part of the background, squishing one of the figures and losing coherent detail in various areas, including the bow strings. If it’s not generative AI at play, the outcome is still baffling, and if it is, the execution is incredibly sloppy.
Another example highlights some truly unfortunate results. The visuals are significantly worse, particularly where the AI misinterpreted smoke from gunshots, rendering it as something resembling lampshades. More glaring are the flags, which have lost their specific unit emblems and now resemble art-deco jellyfish. Additionally, one character has been awkwardly repositioned between two slats of wood.
My personal favorite is the General’s Hatamoto, where the upscaling failed to capture the original’s facial details beneath the helmet, resulting in a bizarre amalgamation that looks like a 16th-century automaton.
The lack of an AI disclosure on the Steam page breaches Valve’s guidelines, so expect that to be rectified soon. Hopefully, we’ll hear from the developers shortly to clarify which version of the familiar “Placeholder art was created using generative AI and was unfortunately included in the final release” excuse we’ll be getting.
