Total War Empire just got a colossal new DLC with 44 factions, but not for PC

Total War: Empire is one of the most beloved entries in the long-running series, boasting a Metacritic review average of 90% and becoming its fastest-selling launch back in 2009. To this day, we still rank it among our best Total War games. Now, it's just been given a whole new lease on life with the launch of massive expansion A New World, which unlocks 44 more playable factions, 14 extra ships, and a range of additional campaign features. There's just one problem: it's been made specifically for the mobile edition of Total War: Empire, meaning PC players have no way to grab this latest DLC.

For those of you who don't keep up with mobile gaming, the iOS and Android launch of Total War: Empire arrived in November 2024, courtesy of developer Feral Interactive. Since then, it's been building out this major paid expansion, which has just arrived alongside a similarly sized free update for the strategy game. Its headline feature is the 44 new playable nations, which are divided across existing minor factions and emergent ones. That includes those that previously only appeared after revolutions, such as Scotland, Mexico, or the Mamelukes, all of which are now playable right from the start of a campaign.

"If you want to reimagine a world in which the Mughal Empire never fell, now you can," Feral teases. "Want to defy the odds and turn Dagestan into a global superpower, or beat Simón Bolívar to the punch in liberating Gran Colombia? Step right up." Most of these inclusions have been given their own new national traits and special unit variants, and Feral has taken time to balance them "to help the new, fledgling nations compete against the established powers, facilitating new and unique styles of play while minimizing any disruption to the experience of the base-game factions."

All of the content from the PC version's Warpath DLC has been introduced as well, and the 'late start' campaign now allows you to begin from 1783, in "a world transformed by decades of imperial exploration and industrialization," as many different nations. Most notable is the introduction of three distinct ways to play as the United States. They're now accessible from the start of either the grand or late-start campaigns, and then there's a third option: the Thirteen Colonies.

Feral describes this third path "for those who really want to stick it to those pesky Brits." You start under the thumb of a punishing national trait, 'Taxation Without Representation,' which models "the punitive economic measures imposed on the colonists by the British crown." Your goal: grow New England's population, build a center of education, and push to declare independence. Doing so will cause the birth of the United States on your next turn, "complete with star-spangled banner, an expanded unit roster, fresh diplomatic relations with the wider world, and its own powerful national trait."

The introduction of 14 new ships, largely weighted towards the later game, is also a welcome expansion to the spectacular naval battles of Empire, which wowed us back in 2009 as the first game in the series to show them in full 3D, rather than simulating them in a menu. Feral initially brought in ships from the Napoleon roster, and then "realized [it] could do more, and began thinking about a more general late-game content pass for a more sophisticated naval simulation."

It's an impressive list, and fantastic news if you're someone who likes to take your Total War on the go. Sadly, with Feral having development rights specifically for the mobile version, it seems unlikely that we'll ever get A New World on PC. Fortunately, we've always got the best Empire: Total War mods to fall back on, some of which offer equivalents to a handful of the features on show here.

Total War: Empire DLC A New World is out now on iOS and Android devices, priced at $6.99 / £4.99. A large update for the base game has also rolled out simultaneously. You can read through the full patch notes courtesy of Feral Interactive.

We've rounded up the best war games in 2025 for more dramatic theaters of conflict, and you can get some more on-the-move action with the best gaming handheld.

Are you playing A New World? Let us know your thoughts in the PCGamesN community Discord server, and tell us whether you think Feral's version is now the definitive TW: Empire experience.