An exclusive look at the new 'Rise of the Samurai' campaign map
173An exclusive look at the new campaign map in Rise of the Samurai, which is coming out in September. Available for pre-purchase now:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/34344/
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Keen-eyed followers of upcoming DLC "Rise of the Samurai" may have noticed a few differences to the main Shogun 2 campaign map.
Our artists have been beavering away at crafting a different experience for the new campaign, which is set some 400 years before the main game. As well as tweaking elements of the terrain detail, they've also added a new skybox (effectively overhauling how the sky looks in the campaign).
They've also tweaked the sea, adjusting its appearance and tweaking the waves so they're more visually-pleasing.
What's more, there's a lot more variety in the campaign map flora now, particularly when you see the seasonal changes. It's atmospheric to say the least.
There are also tweaks to the shoreline, rivers, borders and particle effects. UI elements on the campaign have also been tidied, so distant settlement names are now 'fogged out'. That leads to a less cluttered appearance to the map.
Minimum-spec machines will also receive a nice visual boost. Fog has been optimised and enabled for lower-end machines. That will be the case for the core Shogun 2 game, also. Lighting has also been tweaked, and tree rendering improved.
As lovely as all of this sounds, there are gameplay reasons too. Impassable forests are now much easier to discern from forests you can hide in, and there's a clearer delineation between various strategic elements of the map.
But don't take our word for it -- check out the lovingly-crafted comparison video below, which demonstrates the changes between the standard map and the new Rise of the Samurai campaign map.
The screens, however beautiful, still don't do the new campaign map justice. In motion, as you're flying over the terrain, it looks even lovelier -- you'll be able to find out for yourself sometime this month when it's released (watch this space for the release date).
Until then, enjoy the video. Let us know what you think of the changes in the comments!
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