Sega and Creative Assembly have pulled Total War: Shogun 2 – Complete Edition, released on October 13, from stores after a flood of negative Steam reviews over performance, bugs and images that players say were upscaled with artificial intelligence. Sega itself admitted the game "fell short" of expectations.

What happened

The Complete Edition was sold as the updated, complete version of the 2011 strategy classic. At launch, however, Sega also removed every earlier version of the game from Steam and raised the price of the new one, according to Kotaku. Players pushed back: the Steam rating dropped to "Overwhelmingly Negative" and, per VGC, only 19% of more than 2,000 reviews recommended the game before it was pulled.

In a statement posted on X, Sega said the game fell short of its own expectations and standards. The company said it is working with platform holders to temporarily remove the Complete Edition and reinstate the original version while it investigates, and is working with its development partner to identify the causes and deliver improvements. People who already bought it can keep playing. There is no date for the game's return, and VGC does not mention refunds.

The AI controversy

Part of the anger comes from the game's images, especially the unit cards. Players pointed out on social media that they appeared to have been AI-upscaled; one example shows a human hand with the wrong number of fingers. Kotaku compared encyclopedia images from the original and the new version and reported artifacts such as a merged figure, distorted gunshot smoke, a corrupted flag emblem and a general's face fused with his helmet.

Kotaku also notes that the game's Steam page carries no AI-use disclosure, which the outlet says breaks Valve's rules. When Kotaku published, neither Sega nor Creative Assembly had replied on the subject, and nothing in the statement reported by VGC confirms AI use. The use of AI therefore remains an allegation, not a confirmed fact.

Other complaints

Beyond the images, the complaints include poor performance, old and new bugs, graphical problems and broken mod support. VGC also says bugs from the original game remain in the remaster.

What we still don't know

  • When, or if, the Complete Edition returns to sale.
  • Whether buyers will get refunds.
  • Whether Sega will confirm or deny the use of AI in the visuals.

The case adds to the debate over AI in the games industry, which the site follows, and is another example of a remaster the community rejected in its first days.