Total War: Rome 2 - Hannibal at the Gates campaign pack announced and trailered

Like a fine HBO drama, this trailer for Total War: Rome 2's upcoming Hannibal at the Gates DLC is deceptive about its charms. Sure, it looks like you'll be watching for the rousing rhetoric of arch-enemies Scipio and Hannibal. In reality, there are more carnal pleasures buried within. No, not naked people - you really have been watching too much HBO - but elephants! For a glorious few seconds you can watch them bash up soldiers like the armoured meat-sacks they are.

Hannibal at the Gates features a new campaign map, which focuses on the Western Mediterranean during the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage. The two main sides will be expanded through a diplomacy-focused civil tech tree, and they'll be joined by three new playable factions: Syacuse, the Arevaci and the Lusitani.

The Hannibal at the Gates campaign pack will be released March 27th, and will cost £10/$15. In addition, a new free content patch is planned, with details of that coming soon.

War, diplomacy and elephants? It all sounds rather dramatic. How dramatic?

This dramatic.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.