If the creators of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War 4 get their way, the grim darkness of the far future is actually going to be a lot like that halycon summer I spent back in 2010, playing through the first Dawn Of War for the very first time. In a new interview following last night’s announcement, KING Art Games co-founder Jan Theysen has described Relic’s original real-time strategy game as the new sequel’s “guiding star” – specifically for its grander battles and greater emphasis on base-building versus the second game’s more focussed, borderline action-RPG campaign and the third game’s MOBA-inflected, something-for-everyone approach.
Speaking to Wrrrammer Youtuber The Great Book Of Grudges, Theysen explained that the decision to track it all back to DOW1 came from discussion with players of the developer’s previous alternate-history RTS Iron Harvest. “A lot of the feedback was ‘[it would be] be great if we would have bigger armies, or if we would have more base building, and more fortifications, and all of that stuff’,” he said. “And so for us, relatively quickly, we said, ‘OK, we feel like this is the way to go’. Instead of going more in the Dawn Of War 2 direction, let’s go for Dawn Of War 1 and basically make something like a modern interpretation or an evolution of Dawn Of War 1.”
Theysen added that “we obviously also looked at Dawn Of War 2 and 3 and whatever we found might work for the game we wanted to make, we absolutely used that. But Dawn Of War 1 became our guiding star.” MOBA-mislikers rejoice, I guess.
Dawn Of War 4 doesn’t cut-paste ideas and mechanics wholesale from the first game, of course, for time is a river that only runs in one direction, whether it’s stained with Ork blood or no.
“What you can’t really do is just take this stuff that worked 20 years ago, put it in the modern game and expect [it to work],” Theysen went on. The new RTS strives for the same feel, however. In particular, the developers have given attention to the “relatively drawn-out” battles of the first game, and how they challenge you to weigh the value of a single objective against your base economy and the fortunes of the wider conflict.
“It’s not like you go there and it’s fast time-to-kill and then you go to the next point,” Theysen commented. “But it was a little bit like if I really wanted to, you know, I can really make sure that I don’t lose this point, right? Because I can invest resources, I can bring units back and heal them, you know, and then I can bring in reinforcements and so on, right? And so if I really want, I can maybe win the battle, but then I might lose the war, right?” Dawn Of War 4 also aims to cultivate this tension in terms of how and when you upgrade units.
The discussion of tactics vs strategy sits nicely alongside discussion of the game’s four factions, later in the interview – that’s the dauntless Space Marines, the ever-rioting Orks, the skeletal pharaonic Necrons and the crusty modem-humping spannerheads of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
I really like the sound of the last two and their base dynamics. The Adeptus Mechanicus can deploy the noosphere, a cybernetic network, to AOE-buff their units and structures, providing they arrange them more craftily than, say, the Orks. As the opposing player, you’ll want to sabotage the noosphere connections to disempower the other Admech fortifications.
The Necrons, meanwhile, gain defensive advantages such as living metal healing while on their home turf, and benefit from slow and steady expansion. There’s a link between the area they control and how fast they accumulate resources, so you might want to contain them early, before they sprawl too far.
All of which makes me want to fire up the other three Dawn Of War games this evening and make comparisons – my memories of the Relic trilogy are hazy, but I can certainly relate to the overarching observation about Dawn Of War’s clashes being more protracted. I guess the other question here is what exactly they’ve carried over from the other two games. I suspect we’ll need to go hands-on before we know the answer.
Some plot recap to close: Dawn Of War 4 takes place on planet Kronus, 200 years after the events of Dawn Of War expansion The Dark Crusade. It’s got four singleplayer campaigns – four! Our skullcups runneth over, etc – together with skirmish, co-op, competitive multiplayer and the returning Last Stand mode. It’s out in 2026.
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