“The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road to either safety or to ruin.” — Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

And the peach blossoms drift to the floor of the Moscone Convention Center at GDC 2011 in San Francisco. After creating gaming backdrops for Napoleon’s wars and Alexander the Great’s conquests, Sega returns to its samurai roots in 16th century Feudal Japan with Total War: Shogun 2.

While clearly Sega has updated the graphics since its predecessor, Shogun 2 is packed with new features — one being a tech tree, known as the “Arts.” The player can customize by focusing on offensive, defensive and economic attributes. The player can engage in the purchase of new abilities for characters and appointment of advisers. Generals can be promoted to commissioner. Although available units are all the same within each faction, different clans have strengths and weaknesses. One clan may have stronger cavalry units while another may wield superior strength with archers. Success is achieved by utilizing your clan’s strengths while exploiting the enemy’s weakness.

Like Total War: Shogun, the player must develop settlements, manage economic growth, train the army and unleash hell against the opposing forces. Generals and top officers will serve as morale boosters; however, their family politics within the clan must be settled to ensure stability and success. Battles will take place in large fields where players will have to be tactical in maneuvering their armies against enemy factions. Naval battles will feature large carriers that resemble floating fortresses. In addition to dealing out bloodshed with no remorse, diplomacy and politics will share a decent portion of your gaming experience. Ninja and Geisha can be used as spies to pick up useful intelligence on the enemy.

Shogun 2 seeks an authenticity by delivering all dialogue in Japanese with English subtitles. It is shaping up to become a worthy sequel of very high value. The game is now out, so check it out, and prepare yourself for an experience in which warriors traded sword for blood and death for honor.