Total War Sega: Shogun 2 Remake is such a disaster that it is being pulled from sale

One of the greatest games of all time has taken a terrible hit to its reputation

One of the most popular games of all time has done terrible damage to its reputation

AI Creative Assembly Sega Total War: Shogun 2 Total War: Shogun 2 - Complete Edition

Total War: Shogun 2's October 13 "updated, enhanced, and complete release" didn't go well. Released with an absolute barrage of negative reviews on Steam, based on a host of graphical issues, new and old bugs, poor user interface, and unannounced use of AI enhancements for in-game art, one of the most popular PC games of all time quickly became one of the most hated. So much so, in fact, that Sega has just announced that it's retiring the game.

Aside from the many problems with this failed attempt to remake Total War: Shogun 2 for modern PCs, one of the most bitter aspects of this re-release was Sega's decision to pull all other versions of the game from sale. Gone is the original price, completely replaced by this broken, AI-filled mess, all for a price hike of $40. According to a new statement from Sega, this should also be reversed. And pulls no punches.

"We understand that Total War: Shogun 2 – Complete Edition has exceeded both your expectations and our standards," the company wrote in a statement posted on its X account. We have seen your feedback, comments and reviews. We agree that the current experience is not where it should be."

Sega says it's currently working with platform owners to "temporarily" remove the game from sale "while we investigate the issues," though those who purchased the remastered version will retain access. "We are working closely with our development partner to identify the causes of these issues, provide improvements, and ensure that Shogun 2 – Complete Edition meets the quality standards players have come to expect from Total War," the comments continued.

The company has also announced that it plans to reinstate sales of the previous version of the game, so those who want to play the classic game in its original form can once again do so. At least in the meantime.

What the reviews don't mention is the use of artificial intelligence, which was clearly used in an attempt to zoom in on a lot of the game's artwork from the original blurry thumbnails. The results are often ludicrous and clearly not subjected to reasonable quality checks. (Besides, other vast swaths of in-game encyclopedia art haven't been upgraded at all, instead featuring the originals with little postage stamps.) We've reached out to Sega and Creative Assembly to ask why the use of AI hasn't been confirmed, and why the Steam store page has yet to be updated.

How a game can be released in this state, while clearly falling short, remains a curious question, and while Sega is doing the right thing right now, it seems odd that quality checks weren't put in place to prevent it from happening in the first place.

At the time of writing, the Steam store page for the updated version of Shogun 2 is still up, now down to just 17% positive reviews out of nearly 2,000. It will probably go away soon and the original (and more functional) version of the game will return. If you want help getting it working on your current PC, go here.

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