Total War: Rome II Beasts of War DLC's new units anger community

Total War: Rome II's newest DLC, called Beasts of War, claims to add seven new units to the game, such as Celtic Warhounds and Camel Cataphracts.

newest DLC, called Beasts of War, claims to add seven new units to the game, such as Celtic Warhounds and Camel Cataphracts. But some players are angry that the units are not as new as they may appear.

For example, a Let's Play video posted to YouTube in August 2013, prior to the release of Rome II, shows off the armored camels unit ( at the 7:20 mark). This in spite of The Creative Assembly's lead unit designer Jack Lusted previously statingthat the DLC for Rome II will not include content cut from the main game prior to release.

As you can imagine, this has sent the community pretty angry on the official forums, especially since some players think the DLC is taking precedent over more substantial additional content and improvements to Rome II.

Creative Assembly brand director Rob Bartholomew recently told Eurogamerthat there's a misunderstanding about what's being shown in the video combined with a marketing error. "The naming is unfortunate, but these aren't the same units that were then released subsequently as DLC," he says. "As with all work in-progress content, it is subject to change and revision before the final game is shipped. Content might be revised for all sorts of reasons involving balancing or quality for example."

Bartholomew also responded to allegations from modders who claim to have unlocked the units by poking around in Rome II's files. "A lot of placeholder content gets put into the game to fulfill various design, development or testing needs, but not all makes the cut for inclusion for one reason or another," he says.

Technical and DLC issues aside, our reviewfound that Rome II was a tremendous strategy game. If you don't think the Beasts of War DLC is worth $3 but still want to adds some new units to the game, check out its Steam Workshop page, which is packed with free, additional content.