Each year the Warhammer Skulls event showcases another batch of new Warhammer games, like the upcoming RTS Realms of Ruin, and the latest updates to existing ones, like Darktide's new missions. This year there are a couple of giveaways as well, which is why you can get classic '90s strategy game Final Liberation: Epic 40,000 free as part of the Warhammer Skulls Digital Goodie Pack on the front page of GOG from now until May 28, and 4X strategy game Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War free on Steam if you claim it by June 1.
Final Liberation is a glorious blast from the past, pitting the Imperium against hordes of orks at a massive scale, with titan mechs stomping over tanks to the sound of a heavy metal soundtrack and the finest FMV cutscenes that 1997 could offer. It's just a shame it never received any expansions and is limited to a single campaign.
Gladius is more recent, launching back in 2018. We didn't think much of it at first. In his review, Tom Senior gave it a 61 and wrote, "Maybe some bigger explosions would help the ponderous exploration section, which you spend exposing procedurally generated terrain and blasting local insects", before concluding that "Perhaps with updates and expansions it will gain some complexity and nuance".
He wasn't wrong. Thanks to a stream of patches and DLC, Gladius finally got the variety it needed and has been slowly climbing our list ranking every Warhammer 40,000 game. It's just been given another free addition, a Tyranid unit called the Tyrannocyte, which is an organic transport ship that looks like someone weaponized the egg from Alien. There's also a paid DLC out today called the Firepower Pack, which adds the following 10 units, each for a different faction:
- Rogal Dorn Battle Tank – Astra Militarum: Heavily armoured battle tank fitted with powerful weapons.
- Whirlwind – Space Marines: Artillery tank with a variety of missiles to pound enemy positions from afar.
- Deathmark – Necrons: Sniper unit that teleports to reach its target
- Deff Dread – Orks: Heavy assault walker unit that excels in close combat.
- Greater Brass Scorpion – Chaos Space Marines: Super-heavy walker vehicle that can devastate any enemy frontline with its powerful weapons.
- XV107 R'Varna Battlesuit – T'au: Heavily armoured monstrous creature equipped with extremely powerful long-range weaponry and a multipurpose nova reactor.
- Dark Reaper – Craftworld Aeldari: Long-range anti-armour infantry equipped with a variety of missiles to deal against fast targets.
- Kataphron Breacher – Adeptus Mechanicus: Canticles of the Omnissiah infantry unit with powerful anti-vehicle armament.
- Imagifier – Adepta Sororitas: Support infantry unit that buffs nearby Adepta Sororitas infantry units.
- Poxwalker – Neutral: Light melee infantry unit able to regenerate in combat.
