A few weeks before its due out in stores, a playable demo of Total War: Shogun 2 is now available for download via Steam. The demo gives folks a quick slice of the upcoming historical RTS game from the development team at UK-based The Creative Assembly and publisher Sega.

The demo will allow folks to play "epic land battles and on Total War: Shogun 2's gorgeous new campaign map." It should keep folks busy before the full game ships out to stores and via download on March 15. While you are downloading the demo check out our recent hands-on impresssions of the game based on playing a late beta build.