The "Beasts of War" Pack is now available for $2.99 on Steam. This little bit of DLC adds special "beast" units to some of the factions, and they are straight up terrifying.

Of course, you and a friend might also relive Caesar's victories against the savage hordes in case you find sympathy with the Roman cause. This new addition (which they aren't calling DLC or a full blown expansion, but something between the two) adds new factions to both the main game and a mini-campaign taking place in a smaller overworld map. A denser playing field allows for faster turns and a faster game experience.

The Creative Assembly has been hard at work to bring gamers their latest expansion to the ancient world co-op strategy game. Confirmed by Sega, Caesar in Gaul will include an all new campaign with 18 expansive maps. From the Gaul to Britannia’s southern coast, four factions will engage in warfare to see who’ll stand on top; Rome, the Gallic Arverni, the Germanic Suebi, and finally, the Belgic Nervii. While the established timeframe for the campaign is much shorter than others, taking place from 58-51 BC, players will have 24 turns to take per year instead. Not only that, changes in season and their weather attributes will affect outcome of each decision made. Director of the Total War games, Mike Simpson, praised this expansion as the biggest one yet:

The Total War: Rome II Blood & Gore DLC is all about upping the violence. There are lots of references to things being "visceral" and "gruesome", all thanks to a more refined particle system that coats combatants in gore. Decapitations, dismemberments, impalements and the like are all suddenly commonplace. It's Total War's way of helping you feel like you're really on the front lines in the ancient world. It's also a way to teach children that humans 2,000 years ago were filled with a lot more of the red stuff than we are now.

The Culture Pack adds a handful of new features and units to Total War: Rome II, along with a playable culture with three new factions: the Roxolani, Massagetae, and Royal Scythians. The Roxolani are known to be ruthless traders and warriors in their quest for riches, riding into battle on their horses with swords at the ready. The Royal Scythians, on the other hand, prefer a life of luxury, though they aren't opposed to picking up bows and spears to defend that life. The Massagetae are a loose group of tribes with a reputation for being skilled at animal husbandry and unrelenting warriors to boot. Kind of like acid reflux after a really good rack of ribs, when you think about it.

The list is pretty extensive, with developer Creative Assembly putting much of their man power into making the game run as smooth as possible. Additionally, the AI issues have been one of main focuses this time around, along with other areas like multiplayer and the online campaign speed being vamped up slightly. These areas were addressed due to the string of complains since the launch of the game earlier this month.