‘Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 3’ Gets New Trailer, Highlights Improved Combat


The new trailer for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 3 highlights an improved combat system and an overall epic feel to the game previous iterations have been lacking.

The trailer covers the typical things you would expect; a bit of background into the conflict and some excellent cinematic cutscenes, but best of all, it shows several instances of combat with the new system. Plus, it helps just how awesome all the units look.

So what new features is Dawn of War 3 bringing to the series?

To be perfectly honest, the game does not appear to bring new concepts to the franchise as much as it refines and enhances what the previous two iterations focused on. Dawn of War 3 looks like it took the best aspects of the previous games, and mashed them together into a new, improved game. It brings back the large armies and base building of the first Dawn of War, and the valuable hero/elite units of Dawn of War II also are back in the fray.

On the downside, it appears the hero unit customization from Dawn of War II is gone as the focus seems to be more of the table top variant’s method of simply switching around the elite/HQ units from the original table top game. On the other hand, hero units will still be upgraded with passive abilities, but nothing compared to what Dawn of War II offered. Of course, since 3 is focusing more on the macro than micro, it does make sense to cut back on the level of micromanaging needed to effectively play.

[Image by Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 3/Sega]

Last year, Eurogamer got their hands on an early version of Dawn of War 3, and they were pleased with how the game was shaping up even back then.

“Elements of the base-building and big armies of Dawn of War 1, and elements of the micro-managed heroes of Dawn of War 2, combine to form an immensely satisfying real-time strategy that, based on a couple of playthroughs of a late-campaign mission, feels as weighty and as punchy as any game based on the Warhammer 40,000 universe should, with a zing and responsiveness inspired by the PC’s most popular games that emerged in the seven years since Dawn of War 2 came out.”

Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War 3’s story revolves around an ancient, powerful relic called the Spear of Khain. What exactly the spear does in the game, or whether or not the players will actually be able to use it has yet to be determined, but everyone seems to be fighting for it. At launch, the game will feature Space Marines, Orks, and the Eldar, and the new trailer seems to indicate there may be factions within the factions fighting over who gets the relic.

[Image by Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 3/Sega]

According to PCGamesN, “As for the Spear of Khaine, it’s a repurposed name, only having been used once before in 40k terminology to reference a group of soldiers rather than an artifact, back in the Eye of Terror codex from the early 00s. Khaine is the Eldar blood god, and the words of wisdom from Taldeer at the start of the trailer rather suggest he’s still all in on the war plan.”

That could add some interesting elements to the game, especially if there are significant differences between different factions of the same race. Hopefully, the faction differences will do better than Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, where the main differences between factions are a couple of corvette units, a bit of technology, and one uber-elite unit.

From the gameplay in the trailer, you can see the effectiveness of different units at their various tasks. A hammer wielding hero can break an enemy line with ease, but beware the suiciding Orks (the Banelings of the 40k universe).

So what do you think about the new Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 3 trailer? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below!

[Featured Image by Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 3/Sega]

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