SHOGUN 2 and Fall of the Samurai are campaigns built around entirely different wars. SHOGUN 2 covers the Sengoku Jidai, when rival clans used swords, bows, cavalry and diplomacy in a struggle to unite Japan. Fall of the Samurai covers the Boshin War, when industrial weapons, steam-powered fleets and foreign influence transformed that style of warfare. Fall is playable as its own campaign, not merely a technology-themed add-on to the original story.
For a new PC buyer, the current decision is also about editions: the Complete Edition combines the campaigns, but its exact contents differ between Steam and other storefronts.
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Total War: Shogun 2 | $11.95 | Buy on Amazon |
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Total War: Shogun 2 Gold - PC | $28.49 | Buy on Amazon |
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Total War: Shogun 2 - PC | $22.99 | Buy on Amazon |
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Total War : Shogun 2 | $10.85 | Buy on Amazon |
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Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai, Limited Edition - PC | $12.95 | Buy on Amazon |
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The short version: two wars, two battlefield identities
Total War: SHOGUN 2 asks you to lead a Sengoku-era clan through diplomacy, betrayal and conquest. Its military world is defined by traditional arms and by the political problem of becoming shogun while rival clans resist you.
Fall of the Samurai moves several centuries forward to the Boshin War. Tradition is colliding with industrialisation, so firearms, artillery, steamships and ironclads matter as much as the loyalty of samurai-era troops. The result is not simply “SHOGUN 2 with better guns”; it is a separate campaign experience with a different strategic rhythm and a much more destructive battlefield.
#1 Best Overall
- Choose from 9 different clans and compete online and offline for the undisputed supremacy of Medieval Japan
- Play through the Main Campaign in single player or invite a friend online to play competitively or cooperatively in Campaign Multiplayer mode
- Developed according to Sun Tzu's principles in the Art of War, the Artificial Intelligence constantly analyzes its situation
- Build and govern cities, recruit and train troops, conduct diplomacy and manage your agents
- Improved land and naval battle gameplay, now with the ability to combine forces and attacks
| Question | SHOGUN 2 | Fall of the Samurai |
|---|---|---|
| Historical conflict | Sengoku Jidai: competing clans fight to unite Japan. | Boshin War: the conflict between the shogunate and imperial forces during Japan’s transition to modern warfare. |
| Typical battlefield | Swords, bows and horsemen dominate. | Modern guns and artillery, including Gatling guns, reshape engagements. |
| Campaign identity | Clan politics, diplomacy and conquest in a traditional feudal setting. | Industrial-era warfare, technological change and the clash between old and new military systems. |
| Naval and artillery emphasis | The supplied official material does not give a complete feature list for a direct one-to-one comparison. | Steam-powered ships, ironclads, naval fire support and direct first-person control of ships or artillery are documented. |
| How it is packaged | The original campaign remains playable for existing owners. | Its own campaign flow and clan selection; included in the Complete Edition. |
SEGA’s Complete Edition FAQ and Feral Interactive’s official manual establish these distinctions.
SHOGUN 2: the Sengoku Jidai campaign
A war for political unification
In SHOGUN 2, the central objective is to guide a clan through the Sengoku Jidai and ultimately unite Japan. The campaign is as much about managing relationships as winning battles. Diplomacy, betrayal and conquest are explicitly part of the campaign’s identity: alliances can help you survive, but the balance of power changes as soon as a rival sees an opportunity to expand.
That setting gives every military decision a feudal context. You are not introducing a new industrial system into an old one; you are operating inside a world where established clan loyalties, samurai status and traditional weapons define what armies can do. The campaign’s tension comes from deciding which neighbors to trust, when to break a pact and where a victory will leave you exposed.
Traditional arms define battles
The period is characterized by swords, bows and horsemen. Ranged troops can soften a position, cavalry can exploit a flank and melee formations decide whether a line holds. Terrain, morale, timing and formation discipline matter because armies do not have the same level of rapid-fire firepower or long-range bombardment found in Fall.
Feral’s manual describes the contrast directly: “Total War: SHOGUN 2 was set during a time when swords, bows and horsemen dominated the battlefield.” That is an official description of the game’s period, not a claim that every battle excludes gunpowder; it identifies the dominant military character that Fall changes.
Fall of the Samurai: the Boshin War and modernisation
A separate historical crisis
Fall is set during the Boshin War, when Japan is entering the age of modern warfare. Its campaign is built around the conflict between tradition and industrialisation rather than the Sengoku struggle to unify the country. The change in date changes the strategic questions: a commander must consider industrial weapons, modern artillery and naval power alongside units descended from the older samurai tradition.
Rank #2
- Brand New in box. The product ships with all relevant accessories
SEGA describes the Complete Edition as spanning three standalone campaigns over more than 700 years of Japanese history. SHOGUN 2 represents the Sengoku Jidai, while Fall represents the Boshin War; the middle campaign, Rise of the Samurai, is a separate Genpei War setting rather than a bridge campaign that must be completed first. The publisher’s announcement is available at SEGA’s September 16, 2026 release page.
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Guns and artillery change the battlefield
Fall’s defining difference is the scale and importance of modern firepower. Guns and artillery can punish formations before they reach melee range, and Gatling guns add a particularly concentrated form of rapid fire. Feral’s manual summarizes the shift with the line: “Warfare in A Total War Saga: FALL OF THE SAMURAI is a somewhat different proposition: modern guns and artillery have little respect for courage and honor.” The wording is Feral’s explanation of the design contrast, not an independent historical quotation.
In practical terms, traditional courage does not make an exposed unit immune to a battery or massed firearms. A player who approaches Fall as if every battle were a sword fight will encounter a different set of priorities: protect firing positions, use artillery range intelligently, and avoid allowing infantry to cross open ground without support.
Steamships, ironclads and naval fire support
The official manual documents several naval and artillery systems that are central to Fall:
- Many modern vessels are steam-powered.
- Ironclads resist most attacks from traditional ships.
- Nearby fleets can provide naval fire support during land battles.
- You can directly operate an artillery unit or ship and fire in a first-person mode.
- Up to 40 units may be controlled in a battle.
These features make naval power more than a separate strategic layer. A fleet can influence a land engagement, while direct gunnery lets you participate in the firing process instead of leaving every shot to automated unit behavior. The manual also notes that Boshin-era land units can be mixed with SHOGUN 2 units in battles. Naval technology is not symmetrical, however: the manual explains that the two eras’ ships cannot fight each other in the same way because the matchup would be unfair.
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How the campaign experience feels different
SHOGUN 2 rewards controlled expansion
SHOGUN 2’s campaign pressure comes from the map-wide consequences of taking territory. Expanding can make you stronger, but it also creates new borders and new diplomatic problems. Because the military technology is comparatively traditional, the value of a battle often rests on positioning, morale, terrain and the interaction between melee, missile and mounted units.
Rank #3
- Choose from 9 different clans and compete on and offline for the undisputed supremacy of Medieval Japan. Gain experience to level up your own character-warlord as well as your generals and agents.
- Play through the Main Campaign in single player or invite a friend online to play competitively or cooperatively in Campaign Multiplayer mode.
- Developed according to Sun Tzu's principles in the Art of War, the Artificial Intelligence constantly analyzes its situation and reacts to your every move with greater precision and variety.
- A streamlined User Interface makes management of your kingdom much easier. Build and govern cities, recruit and train troops, conduct diplomacy and manage your agents - each feature is now introduced with comprehensive tutorials
This is the better fit if your mental picture of the game is a clan council deciding which province to attack, followed by armies meeting in a contest of formations and timing. The period itself supplies the game’s identity; there is no need to add an industrial technology race to understand why one clan is dangerous.
Fall rewards adaptation to industrial warfare
Fall changes the relationship between a unit and the ground it occupies. Artillery can reach positions that would have been relatively safe in the older campaign, and firearms make an unprotected advance more expensive. Naval support can add another source of bombardment, while steamships and ironclads change which fleets can challenge one another.
The result is a campaign for players who want to manage a transition. You can still field forces connected to the samurai-era military world, but you must account for weapons that make older assumptions unreliable. The campaign’s drama comes from that collision: traditional formations and modern firepower coexist, yet they do not have equal battlefield roles.
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Fall has its own campaign start flow and clan selection. Feral’s manual presents a separate Fall campaign rather than a mission chain that begins inside the original SHOGUN 2 campaign. Current SEGA materials package the Fall campaign with SHOGUN 2 and Rise of the Samurai in the Complete Edition, describing the three as standalone campaigns.
That means you do not need to finish SHOGUN 2’s Sengoku campaign to start Fall’s Boshin War campaign. The campaigns share a broad historical setting and game lineage, but their conflicts, technology and strategic identities are distinct.
Buying and edition details in October 2026
The Complete Edition launch and storefront differences
SEGA’s FAQ set the Complete Edition launch for October 13, 2026, at 16:00 BST, 08:00 PDT, 23:00 CST and 00:00 JST on October 14. It is distributed on PC through Steam, the Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store and GOG. The package contents are not identical across those storefronts.
Rank #4
| Storefront | What the official FAQ says is included | What that means for a buyer |
|---|---|---|
| Steam | The Complete Edition, the original SHOGUN 2 and its associated DLC, except the Blood Pack because of age-rating requirements. | The broadest stated bundle if you want both the updated edition and the legacy game. |
| Epic Games Store | The Complete Edition only. | Do not assume the original standalone package is included unless the store listing states otherwise. |
| Microsoft Store | The Complete Edition only. | Purchase access is tied to that edition rather than the legacy Steam package. |
| GOG | The Complete Edition only. | The FAQ does not state that the original standalone game is bundled separately. |
The FAQ is the authoritative source for these distribution rules: Total War: SHOGUN 2 – Complete Edition FAQs.
What happened to the original Steam listing?
SEGA says SHOGUN 2 stopped being available to purchase as a standalone game on Steam at 16:00 UTC on September 28, 2026. The Steam page remains available for existing owners, who retain access to the original game. The FAQ also says existing owners will receive any missing original DLC at no cost.
This is different from automatically replacing the legacy game. The original version remains a separate playable product, while the Complete Edition is an updated version with its own feature and mod-compatibility rules.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the updated Complete Edition changes
The Complete Edition is not only a repackaging of campaign names. SEGA’s materials list the following updates:
- Improved visuals.
- Interface scaling for 1440p and 4K displays.
- Modernised controls.
- Japanese and Chinese voice acting.
- Full text localisation for those languages.
- More than 50 newly playable minor factions.
- Mod.io support.
- A 64-bit upgrade.
These improvements apply to the updated edition, not automatically to every installation of the original game. If you prefer an existing mod setup, check which executable and edition you are launching before moving your campaign.
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Original SHOGUN 2 mods are not compatible with the Complete Edition. Original-game mods remain unchanged for the legacy version. A mod collection that worked before the edition change may therefore require a separate installation, an updated release or a decision to keep using the original game.
Best Value
- The American, British and French nations played an important part in the story of the Boshin war and your relations with these foreign powers will be integral to unit recruitment and to advancing your technology trees.
- Thirty nine new land units, including modern ranged units - such as the Gatling gun and Armstrong gun - controllable in a new third-person mode.
- New port siege battle type, this new battle type triggers when attempting a naval assault on an occupied enemy port. The attacking fleet must sail into the harbour and capture the port, running the gauntlet of coastal gun defences.
- New land and sea unit interactions, during a land battle, armies can call in offshore artillery support barrages.
- Campaign map bombardments: offshore naval units can bombard armies and cities in adjacent coastal areas on the campaign map itself.
Which campaign should you choose?
| Choose this first | If you want… | Why |
|---|---|---|
| SHOGUN 2 | Sengoku-era clan warfare, diplomacy and traditional arms. | The campaign is built around the struggle to unite Japan during the Sengoku Jidai, with swords, bows and horsemen defining the military world. |
| Fall of the Samurai | Industrial weapons, heavy artillery, Gatling guns and steam-powered naval warfare. | The Boshin War setting makes modern firepower and the clash between traditional and industrial forces the central experience. |
| Complete Edition | Access to the three campaign settings in one updated PC package. | It combines SHOGUN 2, Rise of the Samurai and Fall as standalone campaigns, with the storefront qualifications listed above. |
| Legacy SHOGUN 2 | A known original installation and its existing mod setup. | Existing owners retain access, and original-game mods remain separate from the Complete Edition’s mod system. |
These are style recommendations, not claims that one campaign is universally better, easier or more historically authentic. Choose SHOGUN 2 if the Sengoku clan struggle is the attraction. Choose Fall if the transition to modern warfare, naval fire support and industrial artillery is what you want to play.
A practical buying checklist
- Decide which war interests you. Select SHOGUN 2 for the Sengoku Jidai or Fall for the Boshin War and industrial-era conflict.
- Check the storefront. Steam’s stated bundle includes the original game and associated DLC except the Blood Pack; Epic, Microsoft Store and GOG list the Complete Edition only.
- Check whether you need the legacy executable. Existing SHOGUN 2 owners keep their original game, while the Complete Edition is a separate updated version.
- Audit your mods. Original SHOGUN 2 mods do not work with the Complete Edition. Keep the legacy installation if a particular mod collection is essential.
- Choose based on campaign breadth. The Complete Edition provides three standalone campaigns, so it is the straightforward option if you want Sengoku, Genpei and Boshin settings rather than only one period.
Frequently overlooked differences
Fall is not simply a late-game technology tier
Fall’s guns, artillery, steamships and ironclads are tied to its Boshin War campaign identity. They are not a research branch that can be added to an ordinary SHOGUN 2 campaign to create a hybrid timeline. The separate campaign structure is important: the historical conflict and the mechanics are designed together.
The historical span belongs to the collection, not one campaign
The Complete Edition’s description of more than 700 years refers to the combined scope of SHOGUN 2, Rise of the Samurai and Fall. It should not be read as the time span of either SHOGUN 2 or Fall individually.
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The sales figure is franchise-wide
SEGA’s September 16, 2026 announcement reports more than 48.3 million copies sold for the Total War series. That is a franchise figure, not an individual sales total for SHOGUN 2 or Fall.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: SHOGUN 2 is the Sengoku-era clan and samurai campaign; Fall of the Samurai is the standalone Boshin War campaign where guns, artillery, steamships and ironclads transform the way battles are fought. For a new PC purchase, compare the storefront contents of the Complete Edition, and keep the legacy game separately if you depend on original SHOGUN 2 mods.
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