Warhammer always changes
In the grim darkness of the next fiscal year, there will only be Warhammer. Games Workshop, the wargaming overminds of the titular tabletop-turned-multimedia dynasty, evidently feels we’re due a Battle Barge-ful of games taking place in its perma-deathmatch universe. No less than a dozen projects currently sit on the forge at various studios with more undoubtedly appearing as time marches on. GW is giving out rights like it’s some sort of fast-serve deli serving licenses instead of sliced ham.
And why not? Sure, the grimdark campiness of the 41st millennium is a parody paradise. That still doesn’t deflate the badassery of slaying bloodthirsty, grammatically challenged fungus as genetically engineered killing machines who devour brains for power. If that’s humdrum, there’s always ancient murdering robots or teleporting space elves. Over in the Old World, knights joust with vampire zombies astride skeletal dragons while Lovecraftian demon gods toy with the sanity of mortals just for kicks. Warhammer’s vast and outrageous lore screams for gaming adaptations of the same caliber as the excellent Dawn of War series or the unchecked brutality of Space Marine.
Staying on top of the huge amount of incoming tie-ins spanning most genres imaginable—even chess—is tougher than looking over a Chaos Lord’s shoulder pauldron, so use our assembled codex here to conquer the Warhammer onslaught.
Total War: Warhammer
When Total War isn’t enough, just add Warhammer. Barring the mystifying time it took for such a glorious union to happen, Creative Assembly’s adeptness for simulating armies crunching into each other is shaping what’ll likely become the PC gaming flagship for Warhammer’s everlasting and encompassing strife. The Empire, Greenskins, dwarves, and Vampire Counts make up the confirmed playable factions so far, and macro-side Total War staples such as city management and diplomacy remain with faction-specific flavors (you’ll reap speedier progression when constantly fighting in the Greenskins’ campaign, for example). Magic spells, flying units, and powerful named characters—you’ve probably seen plenty of Emperor Karl Franz’s vibrant helm plumage in our coverage by now—are all part of the epic package. It’ll be a special kind of shivering pleasure witnessing a thundering Waaagh! charge into a mile-long shield wall at the massive scale Total War accomplishes so elegantly.
Latest news: Knowing the influential pull of the tabletop campaigns, Creative Assembly lead writer Andy Hall recently explained how the game will function off a Total War interpretation of the original stat-heavy ruleset instead of a direct carryover.
Genre: Turn-based/real-time strategy
Developer: The Creative Assembly
Publisher: Sega
Release date: 2016
Link: https://warhammer.totalwar.com/
Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade
Eternal Crusade’s pitch touches on a familiar structure: a massively class-based multiplayer shooter with a persistent, multi-factional struggle for resources and territorial dominance. If “40K PlanetSide 2” isn’t bouncing around your brain yet, then… well, it’s 40K PlanetSide 2. Daybreak’s MMOFPS is still one of the best venues for large-scale combined arms scrap-fests, so translating that formula into the chaotic 40K universe sounds exciting. Beyond Space Marines and their evil, goatee-wearing Chaos Space Marine counterparts are other planned playable races such as Orks, Tau, Eldar, and Dark Eldar.
The insectoid Tyranid will also appear as part of separate cooperative dungeon-style and survival modes. Interestingly, the beastly bugs will also act as a computer-controlled force serving as a balance check against the other factions with a preference for swarming whichever race controls the most land. Developer Behaviour Interactive is aiming for a buy-to-play system (including a microtransactional cosmetic shop) with a limited free-to-play option that restricts players to a single Ork class.
Latest news: An early “Founder’s Access” period for pre-order purchasers is projected for sometime this year where players can trial in a 32-man vertical slice of a sample zone complete with vehicles, swappable weapon loadouts, and capturable facilities.
Genre: MMOTPS
Developer: Behaviour Interactive
Publisher: Behaviour Digital
Release date: 2016
Link: https://www.eternalcrusade.com/
Warhammer: The End Times - Vermintide
In the End Times, an apocalyptic event destroys the old Warhammer world. (Yes, really.) That’s apparently perfect timing for the Skaven rat-men hordes to smash-and-grab through the Empire’s crumbling domain—until they gib in bloody chunks under your and your friends’ hammers/swords/daggers/pistols/eldritch fireballs. Fatshark’s Vermintide reverently lifts its core multiplayer FPS/melee co-op design straight from Left 4 Dead with a snugly fitting aesthetic of smelly rat-people replacing smelly undead people in the postcard gothic medieval sprawl of Ubersreik. An AI director controls the ebb and flow of enemy presence including deadly special Skaven types such as the juggernaut Rat Ogre or the sneaky Gutter Runner.
Mechanically distinct playable characters reflecting popular Warhammer archetypes—agile Witch Hunters, destructive Bright Wizards, and brawny Empire Swordsmen as a sample few—toss in some welcome asymmetry for team compositions. As Evan described in his preview earlier this year, working together to overcome challenging optional tasks during each mission rewards higher scores and increasingly potent weapon unlocks, a nice lean on long-term progression over simple repetitive pest control.
Latest news: Fatshark has kept quiet over the past few months while sewing up Vermintide’s innards, but it took some time in July to release an explanatory video on how experience and awards are divvied up between team members. We’ll be seeing even more of it this week at PAX in Seattle.
Genre: FPS/Action
Developer: Fatshark
Publisher: Fatshark
Release date: 2015
Link: http://www.vermintide.com/
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada
Only the craziness of the 40K cosmos can pull off Star Wars-sized shipfights with cruisers carrying full cathedrals on their backs. The namesake of Tindalos Interactive’s upcoming space RTS is just one of the handful of participant fleets bristling with lasers, bombardment cannons, and torpedos that rip apart space itself. Chaos, Eldar, and Ork flotillas will also join in the broadside bash, so expect to see capital ships covered in diseased flesh and frigates made up of a lot of guns slapped together.
Little else is known on Armada’s specifics so far save the ability to customize ship components and weaponry along with crewmembers and captains who gain veterancy the longer they stay alive or who might defy orders in the face of tough odds (a defiance you can quash by executing dissenters). Here’s hoping for a 3D-oriented tactical design similar to Homeworld and a victory condition possibly involving an Exterminatus order.
Latest news: A good chunk of a year remains until Armada’s release, but a brief teaser trailer shared in late spring offers a glimpse of some Gothic ships sailing the starways and ruining someone’s day with a salvo of missiles.
Genre: RTS
Developer: Tindalos Interactive
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Release date: 2016
Link: http://www.battlefleetgothic-armada.com/
Space Hulk: Deathwing
The original Space Hulk of two years ago closely recreated the tabletop campaign’s look, ruleset, and pacing as a top-down, turn-based hunt for Tyranid interlopers aboard a ramshackle derelict. Deathwing keeps the setting but straps you in boots-first into the walking fortress of a Terminator power armor suit, kicks the Unreal Engine 4 into your eyeballs, and sends plenty Xeno broods into your awaiting dakka.
That predictably molds a single-player or co-op multiplayer first-person shooter type of Space Hulk. With the tongue-wagging Genestealers’ love for mobbing victims much like Vermintide’s Skaven, Deathwing will assuredly emphasize coordinating firepower (using guns of the handheld to refrigerator-sized kind) and position with teammates. The claustrophobic layout of the hulk’s colorless metallic labyrinth suggests sudden flanks and surprise attacks could turn overwhelmingly vicious, but that shouldn’t pose much of a problem for cyborg soldiers clad in crotchskulls.
Latest news: Deathwing’s latest trailer somehow juxtaposes its grimtacular carnage with some sort of plinky Swiss indie pop, so it’s the worth the watch.
Genre: FPS
Developer: Streum On Studio
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Release date: 2016
Link: http://www.spacehulk-deathwing.com/
Warhammer 40,000: Regicide
Warhammer and chess. Not even the Emperor’s omnipotent will could scry this implausible combo, but The Great Game’s immortal legacy of anticipation, misdirection, and bold sacrifices neatly weave into 40K’s guts-and-glory spirit. Regicide isn’t the game for seeing hundreds of warriors hurl themselves into an unending meat grinder. (Indeed, its chilling opening cinematic is deviously subtle.) It instead smoothly captures chess’ comparatively sophisticated thrill of flexing superior command strategy with a handful of soldiers.
One mode simply entails classic chess with 40K army units replacing standard pieces. A brother mode, Regicide, adds special actions taken per turn drawn from an initiative points pool that shakes up traditional attack rules with weapons and gear added in. Any piece can attack with initiative abilities during a turn, so clearing a board turns moves such as “pawn threatens bishop” into well-animated spectacles like “Space Marine grunt threatens Ork Dok while Terminator rook tosses a melta bomb at the Warboss.”
Latest news: Regicide plans an imminent graduation from Early Access at the end of the month. The launch will add a 50-mission campaign and accompanying story to the grim grid along with additional abilities and armaments previously unavailable in the pre-release version.
Genre: Turn-based strategy
Developer: Hammerfall Publishing
Publisher: Hammerfall Publishing
Release date: 2015
Link: http://www.warhammer40Kregicide.com/
Mordheim: City of the Damned
The night life in the city of Mordheim just hasn’t been the same ever since a magical meteor cratered all the good pubs into a smoking ruin. Scattered shards of the meteor, Wyrdstone, carries precious enough properties to spark a mad multi-faction scramble for space rocks. The turn-based street war brushes closely against XCOM in terms of action-point combat and praying to the percentage gods, but Mordheim also boasts intricate customization options for each unit’s armor, weapons, stats, and even wounds acquired in battle—the latter particularly visible via arm- and leg-shaped pieces of metal replacing dismembered extremities. Playable treasure seekers include Skaven, a weird cult that’s a little too buddy-buddy with mind-possessing demons, mercenary gangs, and the Sisters of Sigmar, an all-female warrior order.
Latest news: The aforementioned demon-worshippers comprised Mordheim’s most recent major update. Otherwise, regular Early Access patches continue expanding content until a full launch slated for sometime this year.
Genre: Turn-based tactics
Developer: Rogue Factor
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Release date: 2015
Link: http://www.mordheim-cityofthedamned.com/
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 3
Don’t rev up your chainsword in celebration just yet—neither Sega nor Relic has an official word on a return of the much-loved RTS series. An update to a domain registration owned by Sega was the only recent stirring of a six-year dormancy, but the ensuing media frenzy was enough indication of the enormous desire to jump into Relic’s exquisitely crafted bloodshed once more. The studio once spoke of a prototypical “MMO-like” structure as a considered direction, but anything’s possible in the aftermath of Relic’s experiences with Company of Heroes 2.
Latest news: The Whois lookup update is the only scrap of news related to DoW 3 in quite some time. Pray to the fate-twisting Warp for the tauntingly blank face of dawnofwar3.com to soon fill with something revealing.
Genre: RTS
Developer: Relic Entertainment
Publisher: Sega
Release date: Unknown
Link: http://www.dawnofwar3.com/
Eisenhorn: Xenos
Eisenhorn: Xenos quietly popped into existence last year as an action-heavy adventure charting the journeys of Gregor Eisenhorn, an Inquisitor who, like the rest of his order, wields near-unrestricted license to carve out heresy within the Empire of Man. Details are scarce, but developer Pixel Hero Games’ debut announcement reveals a plot adaptation of the Xenos story arc from author Dan Abnett’s book trilogy detailing a conspirational search for a really evil tome. A Pocket Gamer preview for the mobile version describes combo-heavy fights, stealth sequences, a party system, and Deus Ex-style invisibility and hacking powers.
Latest news: Outside a batch of screenshots from GDC 2015, Pixel Hero is keeping quiet to presumably focus on meeting its late 2015 release target.
Genre: Action-adventure
Developer: Pixel Hero Games
Publisher: Pixel Hero Games
Release date: 2015
Link: http://pixelherogames.com/
Blood Bowl 2
A Warhammer version of football plays much like its real-world counterpart with the trifling difference of losing a teammate or two to the odd stabbing, crushing, or fatal maiming. The first Blood Bowl brought together the races of fantasy Warhammer for a turn-based toss of the old pigskin or to simply punch each other to death on the field, and it was silly fun.
Blood Bowl 2, developed by original Bowl creator Cyanide, arrives this September with the second season of the sadistic sport presented on a brand new engine with improved animations and expanded multiplayer modes. The first Bowl enjoyed strong replayability with its team and race variety but fumbled with a slightly clunky UI. BB2’s enhanced look should hopefully fix that up to shine alongside its established mechanics following GW’s official ruleset.
Latest news: The latest trailer introduces team Dark Elf to the roster complete with daggers hidden in funny places and barely functional helmets.
Genre: Turn-based sports
Developer: Cyanide
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Release date: September 2015
Link: http://www.bloodbowl-game.com/bloodbowl2/
Warhammer 40,000: Dark Nexus Arena
The inevitable meetup between PC gaming’s glut of MOBAs and GW’s Warhammer license storm has resulted in Dark Nexus Arena which, according to developer Whitebox Interactive’s initial announcement, blends twin-stick shooting with traditional MOBA design. Teams of four players controlling Space Marine, Ork, and Tau veteran characters such as Stormboys and Fire Warriors hit familiar lane-configured maps taking place in major 40K landmarks like the Dark Eldar capital of Commorragh. Expect piles of further veterans appearing in later updates to shape that sweet MOBA meta.
Latest news: Whitebox unveiled the support-oriented Apothecary veteran back in May. Purchasable bundles also offer early access to in-progress builds.
Genre: MOBA
Developer: Whitebox Interactive
Publisher: Whitebox Interactive
Release date: 2016
Link: https://www.darknexusarena.com/
Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr
The latest addition to the wild Warhammer license ride, Martyr is a third-person RPG being put together by NeocoreGames, the studio behind the excellent Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing. That’ll almost certainly mean Diablo-like camera angles, clicky combat, and possible co-op inquisiting with a few Warp-powered spells thrown in. Keep an eye on this one, as bringing the Emperor’s justice to flocks of Chaos daemons while wearing functionally questionable armor looks quite cool.
Latest news: The official website is up alongside a debut trailer, but not much else has been shared so far.
Genre: Action RPG
Developer: NeocoreGames
Publisher: NeocoreGames
Release date: 2016
Link: http://www.neocoregames.com/w40K-inquisitor/
