KING Art has recently provided warhammer 40,000 fans with an extensive gameplay demo Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IVthe long-awaited sequel to the classic dawn of war franchise that hasn’t seen a new mainline entry since 2017’s Dawn of War III.
In this 15-minute demo video, two of the developers participate in a 1v1. multiplayer skirmish mode while showcasing the game’s fast-paced combat and the destructive capabilities of two of the four playable factions: Space Marines and Orks.
For those who don’t know, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is a series of Real time strategy (RTS for short) games based on the iconic tabletop war game.
What makes this series unique among other games in the genre is that it greatly reduces the resource management elements and focuses solely on building armies as quickly as possible so that you can blow each other up in a gruesome and explosive manner.
As seen in this deep dive into the game, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 will be no different. In this game, buildings build themselvesand gathering resources to build more units for your army is obtained by taking and holding Power Nodes on the map.
As for the factions that are played, the Space Marines are generally a multi-role type of army. They have a wide range of units and vehicles that are tough as nails and can hit enemies twice as hard with a variety of destructive weapons designed for any situation.
Meanwhile, the Orks are bloodthirsty berserkers who specialize in hand-to-hand combat and cannot shoot directly to save their lives. Your main strategy is to build as many units as possible and overwhelm your enemies with unstoppable force. “TIME” of axe-wielding, grenade-throwing, Squig-riding maniacs.
Windows Central’s opinion
The original Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War from 2004 holds a special place in my heart, as not only was it one of my gateways into the Warhammer 40,000 universe, but it’s also one of the few real-time strategy games I enjoyed playing as a kid.
When I was a kid, I got bored gathering resources in games like Age of empires and Warcraft 3, and I just wanted to get to the killing parts (which I shamefully admit got me killed more often than not when playing against friends in multiplayer), so Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War was practically made for me.
So it’s comforting to see the series retain that kind of gaming mentality with Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV. The combat looks blisteringly fast and gloriously brutal, and the number of units attacking each other on screen looks insane (and I’m worried about whether my PC can handle such chaos on screen).
If this is just for the 1v1 multiplayer skirmish mode, I can’t imagine how crazy the single player campaign modes and other multiplayer modes like 2v2 and 3v3 will get.
I can suck in real-time strategy games, but after watching this gameplay demo, I’m willing to learn how to play them properly so I can relive my nostalgia for the Dawn of War series when Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War releases on September 16, 2026, for PC via Steam.
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