"Total War: Shogun 2 - Complete Edition" faced a wave of negative reviews upon release. At the time of reporting, only 19% of the 677 user reviews on its Steam page were positive. Players' criticisms mainly focused on image processing, bugs, and performance issues; the original "Total War: Shogun 2" has also been removed from the Steam store.
Some players questioned whether the new version's visuals used subpar AI upscaling. A comparison of a unit card sparked discussion: in the original, a bearded mounted samurai appeared normal, but in the new version, players described his nose and beard as resembling another helmet shape. Some newly added images were also suspected of having anomalies such as six fingers. However, whether these issues were caused by generative AI remains speculative based on visual observation alone.
On the technical front, players documented existing bugs from the original version as well as new glitches appearing in the updated edition. Many users reported that the new version's performance is even worse than the old one. Purchasing the new edition also costs $10 more than the original.
With the original version removed from the Steam store, new players can no longer purchase the old edition; however, those who previously owned it can still download and play it.