Warhammer: 40,000 - Dawn of War 4 looks like a return to the glory days of the original real-time strategy game

Warhammer: 40,000 - Dawn of War 4 is finally real, I’ve played it, and I love it already.

Diving into new-to-the-series developer King Art Games’ take on the epic strategy franchise, I was immediately transported back to some of my fondest memories of PC gaming, LAN parties, and chaotic 40K action as I felt like the emperor himself moving armies around maps.

I only got to play one skirmish mission in my hands-on session, but there was plenty to sink my teeth into. Dawn of War 4 really looks like it’s channeling a lot of what made the first game excellent, from story and characters to units and action, and I can’t wait for more.

A new paint job

Immediately obvious in the short presentation before my preview, and then the hands-on itself, were the brilliantly authentic Warhammer visuals. In short, Warhammer: 40,000 - Dawn of War 4 looks fantastic.

From birds-eye views of the landscapes, biomes, and even in chaotic action, the details are clear and enjoyable to soak in. When you zoom right in, it almost feels like you’ve moved your face really close to real-life units on a game board.

And while my early build did include plain placeholder texture for some buildings, I’ve absolutely seen enough to convince me the game is going to look great and capture the Warhammer 40K style.

My skirmish mission was only in one type of landscape - a dusty one - but with the promise of a huge range of biomes across the planets in the game, from snowy landscapes to epic urban cities, there’s likely going to be a great role for each map to play in missions.

It’s not just a level of quality either: to me, as a fan of the first game, it looks like how I remember that original entry appearing. Rose-tinted helmet visor, maybe, but still, it only helped reinforce the memories of it.

Steel thunder

That’s what immediately drew me in, but it was, perhaps unsurprisingly, the way it played that kept me gripped.

With familiar and intuitive controls, as well as nothing being overtly obtuse or complicated, it plays superbly. This is great from a general perspective, but as someone with different hands and not as many digits as most, this is great news for accessibility, which I applaud.

There’s immense satisfaction in moving across the map and claiming resource and power points, and perhaps even hunkering down a little after each one to ensure it remains yours. There's also much to be said about pushing out quickly and rapidly taking further away points to stake a claim across maps and give yourself viable building locations in multiple areas.

Upgrades for almost every unit and structure give each depth, rather than one-dimensional functions or a one-and-done feel. Each Tarantula defense turret and Space Marine squad can be upgraded to give each an edge against infantry or armor, so you can mix up and optimize your army and bases brilliantly.

My skirmish pitted Space Marines against orks (unsurprisingly) after coming to the rescue (unsurprisingly) of the Adeptus Mechanicus (Imperial Guard, to fans of a certain age). Though there was a bonus appearance from a particular mysterious xenos humanoid race too - and while this was far from new, the action felt fair in terms of challenge, and exciting in how units clashed. During missions, you have a main objective from the off, but there is a good pace of secondary objectives coming as the mission rolls on.

A most impressive detail in the action, from a technical perspective, is that all combat animations are synced and dynamic to each unit and are far more responsive to inputs.

For example, there are now detailed combat actions in the game that are unique to each different unit taking on each other, be that dreadnought vs goblin, or space marine on an ork boss - each is unique and thus the action feels real between whatever units are facing off.

The increase in responsiveness to units is excellent, too, and there’s more freedom and control as a result, like the order in which your units will attack others, instructing a group of units with more nuance, and so on.

I will say that the skirmish I played didn’t allow for much time to experience the more powerful units at my disposal due to the fact that progress was relatively straightforward, and I had to do a fair amount of waiting once I’d secured every single resource and power point on the map to get the required amounts of each to unlock said units. However, it was worth it to see the absolute power and incredible destruction that the likes of the heaviest dreadnaughts and space marine tanks that I could eventually get access to. Those orks never stood a chance at that point.

All in all, the action feels superb, and I was gripped by every encounter and eager and excited to prepare to take the next point, hunker down to ensure its success, and move on to the next point objective. Give me moarrrrrr.

Going big, *and* going home

And it’s not just in-game action that's going big. King Art Games is promising the ‘biggest Dawn of War game at launch, with four full faction campaigns consisting of more than 70 missions, as well as multiplayer, co-op, and skirmish modes, and a last stand mode, all coming on day one.

King Art Games is also promising that the four factions will play very differently, offering varied campaigns and ways to play, and thus experiences of Dawn of War 4 - as opposed to different methods of playing the same way as is sometimes the case in strategy games.

The studio is also, as aforementioned, focusing on the feeling of the first game in the series, and much of the focus on story, location, and, well, everything else feels like Dawn of War 4 is returning the franchise to a natural home.

The story returns to Cronos, for example, and brings back Cyrus as a pivotal character, while there are also major roles for those four playable factions and narratives fleshed out in CGI cutscenes, and an overarching story written by series veteran John French that is sure to hit the right tones for fans.

It already feels like the sequel that fans have been waiting for and believing they’d see one day, particularly since the halcyon days of the first Dawn of War game. I can’t wait to return to it in the future, and am already locked in for its release on PC next year.

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