Rather than fighting one-off, staged battles, players can join together to complete a whole campaign spanning over half a century. One of the major additions to Shogun 2 is the inclusion of an adversarial (or cooperative) online campaign mode. A general can be a skillful melee fighter, a cunning admiral, or a overseer with bonuses to clan happiness and research Agents can specialize in different fields, such as assassination, sabotage, and inciting (or quelling) revolts. In previous Total War games, characters and generals gained skills and experience as they fought and completed missions, but Shogun 2 marks the first time in the series where the player has the ability to customize his agents directly. With this latest entry, The Creative Assembly expands on gameplay features introduced from previous Total War games as well as including some all new additions to the franchise. These encounters range from small skirmishes of a few hundred, to epic fights of up to 2000 per side, all using the units the player selected and recruited in the turn based portion of the game. Once two armies meet and a battle begins, the game shifts and the player is taken to a detailed 3D battlefield to command formations in real time. The turn based portion has the player using a Risk-like map to manage the clan's economy, conduct diplomacy, and move armies and agents across the islands of Japan.

Total War: Shogun 2 use the same hybrid of real time and turn based gameplay found in previous Total War games.

The player takes on the role of one of ten daimyo it is up to the player to lead their forces to victory, and ultimately to seize control of Kyoto to take the title of shogun and restore order. The shogunate lies shattered in the aftermath of the Onin War and the country's various daimyo are warring for scraps of political power.

Total War: Shogun 2 returns to Japan's Sengoku (or 'Warring States') period, picking up in 1540 slightly later than the original Shogun: Total War.

Shogun 2 bows sound like guns