Firstly, it is set in a magical-fantasy world called Darien rather than a Grimdark science fiction future secondly it has four sides rather than just two(The expansion adding a fifth one) thirdly said sides' units were very divergent, rather than almost every Arm and Core unit having a direct other-side analogue as in Total Annihilation. TA:K has number of differences separate from its predecessor. Later, however, improvements made TA:K possible. The latter's setting, centered around mechs and vehicles and never showing humans, had been chosen partly because it had been thought that the much-admired 3D engine was not capable enough to depict them. The Real Time Strategy game Total Annihilation: Kingdoms, commonly abbreviated as TA:K or TAK, is the follow-up to the successful game Total Annihilation made by the now-defunct company Cavedog Entertainment, and sadly, Needs More Love.
