Although still a year out, Sega and Relic Entertainment are very excited to give their devoted fans an amazing first look at their upcoming title, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III.
Ever since the announcment trailer grabbed our attention and put it into a chokehold before the almighty Blood-God, fans have been eager to bare witness to official gameplay. The time has officially arrived as Relic’s brief walkthrough of a single level from the upcoming entry gives players more than they could have hoped for.
Showcasing the combined might of the space marines, the snowy level pits the fearless warriors against an Eldar army. The demonstration shows the return of base building and its combination with orbital weaponry as players can deploy new troops from the sky and then use the pods they arrive in to recruit new minions. Adding to the deadly arsenal of a fully equipped base.
The upcoming title also marks a return to form for the types of characters players will use with the traditional story heroes, infantry units and super units. Gabriel Angelos, a Space Marine and Master of the Blood Ravens, is the story hero for the Space Marines and in the typical fashion of real-time strategy games, has his own special abilities to turn the tides of battle.
Angelos is a melee tank unit that is best served on the front line and pitted against immense amounts of infantry units. Thanks to his God-Splitter ability, he can leap across the battle field, closing the distance between his troops and his enemies, while also creating a crater that destroys nearby enemy units. Meanwhile his Retribution ability is a spinning attack that deflects incoming damage, knocks back enemy units and also causes massive amounts of damage.
Gabriel is supported on the battlefield by an overwhelming force of infantry units who range from Scouts, Snipers and assault classes to the epic might of Devastator squadrons and Dreadnauts. The most deadly of these forces however, is the Super Unit, Imperial Knight Solaria. This noble hero is dressed to kill as she operates a gigantic tank mech-suit that can deal a fearsome amount of damage.
Solaria is a unit that must be earned through the campaign and is utilized later on in the missions. Much like the Gabriel, Lady Solaria comes complete with her own special abilities which make her best used against armored opponents and enemy hordes.
Her Gattling Barrage spreads a hailstorm of bullets in a 90 degree area that decimates large groups of enemies. The Ironstrom Missiles on the other hand, allows players to choose up to six targets with the added ability to stack them all on one target for increased damage.
The pièce de résistance however, was the Space Marine super ability, Orbital Bombardment. Raining death from above, the bombardment brings a searing laser down to the planet that completely obliterates the enemy forces it encounters. Each of the playable races within the game will have access to their own super ability, but the space marines get this beautiful experience.
Whats makes it so beautiful is the fact that it gains a larger blast radius for every enemy it destroys, while also decreasing in speed along the way. Meaning players will have to choose very carefully where they place the attack at risk of not causing enough damage to save your minions.
The demo only showcased what the Space marines will have to offer in the upcoming game, however, the intense devotion from the development team at Relic serves as an assurance that fans can truly expect one of the greatest real-time strategy experiences from the Warhammer 40,000 universe no matter which campaign they play through.
Gamers will be able to unleash hell when Dawn of War III is released in 2017 exclusively for PC.
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