Total War: MEDIEVAL II

Review by eFreeware

The most striking thing about Total War: MEDIEVAL II on Android is that it asks you to run an empire and fight its battles in the same sitting. You move armies and manage provinces on a turn-based map, then drop into real-time clashes where infantry, archers and cavalry meet on the field. That combination is the whole appeal, and it is a lot of game to fit on a phone.

This is a paid release from Feral Interactive, priced at $14.99, with no ads. It has been downloaded more than 100,000 times and holds a 4.7 average from 11,756 ratings, which suggests the people who can run it tend to stick with it. It suits strategy players who want a long campaign to sink into rather than something to dip into for five minutes.

Three continents, five centuries, one throne

The setting spans Europe, North Africa and the Middle East across roughly five hundred years of the Middle Ages. The great kingdoms of the period are all jostling for the same ground, and you are trying to end up on top of them. The developer frames the path to power as a choice between diplomacy and conquest, with trade and subterfuge as the quieter routes.

That framing matters because it tells you what kind of strategy game this is. You are not only moving armies; you are managing relationships, resources and the loyalty of the people under you. Securing what you need to rule an empire is presented as the central problem, and the map gives you a wide stage on which to solve it.

The base game includes up to 17 playable factions. Each one can be built into a major power, whether you get there through statecraft, scheming or open war. Having that many starting points gives the campaign a lot of replay value, since the faction you pick shapes the position you begin from.

How a campaign actually unfolds

A typical game moves between two modes. On the strategic map you take turns, making diplomatic agreements, setting up trade and sending agents to work against your rivals. When armies meet, the game switches to real-time battles where you deploy infantry, archers and cavalry and command a full range of medieval weaponry.

The turn-based layer is where the long game happens: alliances to forge, rivals to destabilize, and the slow accumulation of the resources and loyalty you need to hold an empire together. What you arrange on the map determines what you take into the field.

The developer says the Android version has been given a new interface and touch controls built for the platform, which is the detail that decides whether a game like this works on a phone. If you would rather not use your fingers, it also supports any Android-compatible mouse and keyboard. That flexibility is welcome in a genre where precise selection matters.

The Kingdoms expansion and what it adds

The Kingdoms expansion is sold through an in-app purchase and is a substantial addition. It brings 24 playable factions spread across four separate campaigns, each fully featured in its own right.

Because the expansion is so large, the developer lets you install its campaigns one at a time rather than all at once. That is a sensible concession to storage limits, and it means you can try a single theater before committing the space to the rest. The expansion also unlocks asynchronous multiplayer campaigns on a single device, which the Hotseats & Halberds update introduced.

That same update rebalanced late-era units, including Pikemen and Zweihanders. Balance changes are the kind of thing that matter most to players who have already spent many hours in the campaign, and it is a sign the game is still being tuned rather than left as it shipped.

What it costs and what it needs

The game itself is $14.99, with no advertising. The Kingdoms expansion is an additional in-app purchase, and the base game already includes 17 factions.

Storage is the more pressing consideration. The base game needs Android 12 or later and 4.3GB of free space, and the developer recommends at least double that to avoid problems during the initial installation. The Kingdoms expansion adds a further 8.04GB on top, though installing its campaigns individually reduces what you need at any one time.

There is also a device-compatibility question. The developer's stated approach is to block purchases on devices that cannot run the game, so if you are able to buy it, it should perform well in most cases. They do acknowledge rare instances where an unsupported device slips through because the store misidentifies it, and they point to a support page listing supported chipsets and verified devices. Checking that page before buying is the prudent move.

The game is rated Teen and supports eight languages: English, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish and Russian. The most recent update, from April 29, 2026, fixed a crash seen on some Adreno GPUs along with a number of minor issues.

Why the campaign keeps pulling people back

What holds attention in a game like this is the sense that a single decision ripples outward. A trade agreement funds the army that takes a province; an agent's work weakens a rival before the battle even starts. The developer lists diplomacy, trade and subterfuge alongside outright war, and the variety of those tools is what gives each campaign its own shape.

The faction count helps too. With up to 17 in the base game and 24 more in the expansion, there is room to start over with a completely different position on the map. Five centuries of simulated history means a campaign has room to breathe, and the asynchronous multiplayer option in the expansion opens up a slower, shared way to play.

The 4.7 average across a large number of ratings suggests this lands well with the audience that can run it. I would read that as a sign that the touch controls and interface work has paid off, since a strategy game this dense lives or dies on whether commanding it feels natural on a small screen.

A deep campaign for players with the space to keep it

Total War: MEDIEVAL II is a full-scale strategy game rather than a trimmed mobile version of one. The mix of turn-based empire management and real-time battles, the breadth of factions, and the option to play with touch, mouse or keyboard all point to a release that expects a real commitment of time and storage.

It is best suited to players who already enjoy this style of strategy and want a campaign they can return to over weeks. The $14.99 price, the 4.3GB base install and the extra 8.04GB for the expansion are the practical hurdles, and anyone with a device near the edge of the supported range should check the developer's compatibility list first.

If you have the space, the patience for a long campaign and a device that meets the requirements, this is an easy recommendation. If you want something lighter that you can pick up for a few minutes at a time, the scale of it will work against you.

What's new

• Fixes a crash seen on some Adreno GPUs • Fixes a number of minor issues