Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
Currently on sale: Don’t hesitate to buy, it’s worth it.
This game is excellent, looks good even a decade later, and plays very well. The story is good and keeps you interested and invested, the voice acting is very well done, the graphics are great, and sound effects + ambience + music all give it a wonderful mood. Good replay value. I’ve played through it several times since I got it when it was new.
In story mode, you control personalized special units that all stay with you through the entire game. You gain new abilities and find new armor, perks, special items and weapons as you go along, and the options for unit and squad customization are great and varied. You’ll be spending an enjoyable amount of time between missions distributing gear and choosing what skills to level up on your units (and will probably find great appreciation for Cyrus' squad over time).
– Real player with 653.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Futuristic Singleplayer Games.
Seeing what’s happening with DoW 3 (I’d call it ‘necromancy’) I decided to write a few words about something, that often appeared in the discussions, and that’s the difference between DoW 1 and DoW 2, which - as some people say - ruins the game.
I’ve played DoW 1 a lot (non-steam versions) back when they came out, and I think they are amazing games, especially Soulstorm (all the races!), and I was quite used to their mechanics.
When I played DoW 2 for the first time, I was quite… suprised. Game mechanics took a bit of an overhaul, so I had to get used to it, but when I did it gave me a lot of fun.
– Real player with 110.8 hrs in game
Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® - Soulstorm
It is the 41st Millennium. For more than a hundred centuries the Emperor of Mankind has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by the will of the gods and master of a million worlds by the might of His inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the vast Imperium of Man for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day so that He may never truly die.
Yet even in His deathless state, the Emperor continues His eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the daemon-infested miasma of the Warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor’s will. Vast armies give battle in His name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst His soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: the Imperial Guard and countless planetary defence forces, the ever-vigilant Inquisition and the Tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat to humanity from aliens, heretics, mutants – and far, far worse.
– Real player with 541.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Futuristic Singleplayer Games.
Do you know when you truly love a game?
When almost 12 years after it’s launch, the giddy excitement of running home from work to play it never actually wore off.
Don’t let my playtime fool you, I owned the boxed versions of these games loooong before they were in my Steam account and have invested literally THOUSANDS of hours into this game. I was always kind of interested in 40K, having roomates who played the tabletop when I was younger and reading the odd comic here and there, but THIS was the game that turned me into a 40K fanboy and opened me up to the whole universe.
– Real player with 484.1 hrs in game
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution
DAWN OF WAR II RETRIBUTION
Dawn of War II Retribution is the second expansion and third edition of the Relic Entertainment RTS Dawn of War II (2009), following its predecessor Chaos Rising (2010). It takes the setting of the 41st millenium and lets the player experience it from a tactical combat perspective, controlling resources to build a better, more refined army than your opponent in order to claim victory.
The game consists of three main elements as well as side features. These are as follows:
– Real player with 1883.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Futuristic Singleplayer Games.
Honestly, this review is based almost entirely on the Last Stand, which is a multiplayer mode within the game.
The single player campaign was fun and allows you to play through with multiple races, but for me lacks the near infinite replay value of the previous DoW titles. The multiplayer I’ve never played, except Last Stand, so I cannot comment on that.
So… almost 700hrs on Steam, plus many more on GFWL before DoW2-Last Stand came to Steam… Is the Last Stand that good? By the Throne, yes!
– Real player with 870.8 hrs in game
Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® – Winter Assault
Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® – Winter Assault Review
The War is not over yet soldier…
Some key points that this game offers:
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Two Single Player Campaigns, Order (Good) & Chaos (Evil).
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Full expansion pack to the original Warhammer 40, 000: Dawn of War game.
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New units, tactics and strategies allows for a fresh experience in Warhammer warfare.
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New and Improved multiplayer mode.
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New multiplayer maps.
Gameplay & Controls:
The controls haven’t changed much; the game is still played the same way as the original, all the fun commands, tactics and keyboard shortcuts.
– Real player with 1005.3 hrs in game
I didn’t really get to play this game long enough to use the Imperial Guard in a combat scenario, but all I can say just playing their tutorial, the Imperial Guard is the Military Faction I’ve always wanted to be. What stopped me from keeping this game was that I’ve been told about “Warhammer 40,000:
! Dawn of War Soulstorm so I took a look at it & I found out that there’s
! more races to fight in the other one. That’s really the only reason why I refunded this keep this game.
– Real player with 69.5 hrs in game
Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr
This game has evolved a lot sine it’s release, there’s still improvements to be made, but the developers turned this game in to a good direction. I look forward to replay this game each season and I dump from 60 to 100 hours each time.
There’s quite a lot of build diversity. Recently minion builds got buffed so if that’s your thing you can play that. You can play sword and shield crusader or equip it with flamethrower to give a little roast in the name of the Emperor. Maybe a tech priest with poisonous auto rifle that hits enemy and then spreads to it’s counterparts? Game offers total 4th classes.
– Real player with 290.7 hrs in game
Overall a perfectly solid ARPG. Better than most, in most ways.
The idea of you playing as an Inquisitor and not, as someone put it, a discount space marine as the gameplay suggest, is actually consistently integrated into the writing, so thumbs up for that. The story is above-average for a game. The mission scripting however is laughably bad - listen to a brief exchange with mission control, go from point A to point B, encounter villain, exchange threats, kill each other, repeat. In between A and B you kill a bunch of enemies. Sometimes they are cultists, sometimes rebels, sometimes aliens. But once you have done one mission in this game, you have done them all.
– Real player with 56.1 hrs in game
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Anniversary Edition
Brilliant game, one of my favourites of all time.
First let’s start with…
The single player campaign.
You play as a Captain of the Space Marines, who are some of the mightiest heroes of the Imperium of Man. And you can tell, not just from how powerful you are in combat, but from the way the world reacts to you - you are high status, and your presence brings hope. My favourite moment was when a wounded Imperial Guard guy slumped against the wall whispers “I got to see a Space Marine before the end” in almost religious awe, followed by a prayer to the Emperor to aid you. Really makes you want to go out and kick Ork ass for the little guys.
– Real player with 4060.8 hrs in game
I really enjoy this game. It’s pretty much mindless fun most of the time. The game’s divided in 3 different game modes, or so I feel, let’s try to quickly analize each mode, shall we?
First, we got the single player campaign. The game stars Captain Titus, probably the only likable Ultramarine out there, in a short-ish action packed, VERY linear third person shooter campaign. The way it often goes is, move from point A to point B, reach a big arena where enemies try to bumrush you, kill everyone in there in the name of the Emperor, and move to the next arena, killing a few stray enemies on the way. You can carry 4 weapons at a time, not counting melee weapons, a pistol, a heavy weapon, a normal weapon, and a bolter. The weapons featured in the game are pretty much what you’d expect from the Spess Mahreens. You got a bolter, bolt pistol and a storm bolter, a heavy bolter, plasma cannon, gun and pistol, lascannon, VENGEANCE LAUNCHER (which is basically a stickybomb launcher), a melta (Which is pretty much a shotgun in this game. Why? I dunno), a stalker bolter, a chainsword, hammer, and power axe. Sadly, there are no lightning claws or power fists. In this game, there is no such thing as health regen or medkits, the enemies ARE the medkits. When you stun an enemy, either by bitchslapping them or hurting them enough, they are open for a brutal, awesome execution, which in turn, heals you. Did anybody say blood for the blood god?
– Real player with 414.3 hrs in game
Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® II Chaos Rising
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising Review
He, who stands with me, shall be my brother! Let us go forth and purge these traitorous scums from the sight of the Imperium my brothers…
Some key points that this game offers:
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Continuation of the Original Story line form Warhammer 40, 000: Dawn of War II
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New Powerful Librarian Unit.
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New Multiplayer Races.
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New Units for all Races.
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New Hero’s for The Last Stand.
Gameplay & Controls:
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising continues the story from where the original left off. Our recruiting worlds still recovering from the brutal invasion by the Tyranids, and now out of nowhere the impossible has happened…
– Real player with 1030.7 hrs in game
Warhammer 40K Dawn of War 2 Chaos Rising is the standalone expansion to Dawn of War 2 and it shows in quite a lot of ways that THQ is not only capable of taking criticism, they can take that criticism and turn it into game fixes and improvements.
Perhaps most notably and most importantly, the single-player campaign. No longer will you be fighting the same battles on the same maps over and over again. Now every single map is a unique entity, properly designed filled with story and gameplay triggers. Although this does mean the campaign is a good deal shorter than in Dawn of War 2 the trade-off is well worth it. Instead of getting only a couple of good missions and a ton of generic ones you now only get good quality missions. This also makes the storyline more condensed as you no longer have 5 generic missions in between every revelation and it keeps your interest up much more efficiently.
– Real player with 323.6 hrs in game
Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® - Game of the Year Edition
–-{Graphics/Art Style}—
☐ It’s the Matrix
☐ Beautiful
☑ Meh
☐ Paint.exe
☐ It looks like that one Rambo game everyone forgot about
—{Gameplay}—
☐ Fantastic
☑ Good
☐ Meh
☐ Having just the base controls doesn’t count as gameplay
☐ Staring at walls is better
—{Audio}—
☐ Audiophile’s wet dream
☐ Good
☑ SIIIINDRI!
☐ Early 1990’s TV static sounds better
☐ Crickets
—{Music}—
☑ Mick Gordon’s music or equivalent
☐ Good
☐ Meh
☐ It’s not winning any awards
☐ Nickelback level of quality
—{PC Requirements}—
– Real player with 65.0 hrs in game
“Beware the Alien, the Mutant, the Heretic”
‘Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War’ is, simply put, one of the best Real-Time Strategy games on the market - A blood-soaked odyssey through the Warhammer 40k Universe - filled with Imperial Space Marines, Ork Hordes, Eldar and The Forces of Chaos.
Campaign: Released in 2004 by Relic Entertainment, ‘Dawn of War’s’ brutal opening cinematic sets the stage for what awaits within - a savage battlefield across the Imperial Planet of Tartarus where the local population have been suddenly beset by Ork Hordes. As Commander of the Space Marines (The Emperor’s Personal Guard), you begin a quest to push back the Orks and determine why they are on the planet. A deep and engaging story-fueled campaign takes you from cities to lost ruins, from mountains lairs to the planets icy tundras, leading a tech heavy force of Space Marines, Mech Walkers, Artillery Tanks, Predator Tanks and Terminator Assault Squads, to unearth the cause of this strange heresy plaguing the planet.
– Real player with 54.2 hrs in game
Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters
Lead humanity’s greatest weapon, the Grey Knights, against the corrupting forces of Chaos in this brutal and fast-paced turn-based tactical RPG. Root out and put a stop to an insidious plot to infect the galaxy with the Bloom, an intergalactic cosmic plague capable of rotting worlds into oblivion.
Armoured in faith, shielded by devotion, the Grey Knights’ very existence is rooted in mystery, enforced with mind-wipes and executions. Experience life in the 41st millennium and follow the journey of these elite warriors in a narrative penned by acclaimed Black Library author, Aaron Dembski-Bowden.
SHAPE THE FATE OF THE GALAXY
Upgrade your base of operations, build new facilities, conduct research into arcane mysteries and engage in combat missions across multiple worlds to purge the spread. The Bloom corrupts without prejudice; your choices will affect which planets succumb… and survive.
FORGE YOUR CHAMPIONS
Command your own, personalised squad of Grey Knights; learn a range of diverse skills and psychic abilities, unlock powerful equipment and specialise your champions into four unique standard and hero classes. Each of your warriors can be customised with voice, armour and facial options to make them your own.
PRECISION TARGETING
Grey Knights are an elite chapter of Space Marines and are not in the business of making mistakes or missing their shots. The Precision Targeting system puts you in control of your tactical decisions, allowing you to plan your strategy with confidence, whether by taking shots from afar with sure-fire accuracy, or dismembering and dismantling a foe in brutal melee combat!
MUTATING MONSTROSITIES AND THEIR MINIONS
As the Bloom corrupts worlds, environments will evolve and erupt with deadly hazards and minions, cultists and the infamous Death Guard Chaos Space Marines will mutate with pestilent boons and blessings, giving them new attacks and abilities. Adapt your tried and tested strategies to overcome unsurmountable odds against towering foes and their servants.
CINEMATIC SLAUGHTER
Charge headlong into fast-paced tactical combat. Eviscerate and execute enemies up close in gory displays of prowess, or strike from afar with blessed bullets and powerful psychic energies. Use the dynamically destructible environment to your advantage by tearing down pillars or slamming vehicles into unsuspecting enemies.
Stellar Monarch
If you are familiar with Eurogame style tabletop games, then the abstractions and economic focus (vice military control) will feel very familiar to you. The game’s pillars are not based on American-style wargames.
Many devs who make 4X games seem to have the souls of engineers; Aurora 4x being the archetype. In those games micromanagement focuses on design, production, and use of things like ships. Mastery of those concepts leads to victory.
This game requires micromanagement and is numerically obtuse as well, but it focuses on the qualitative values of game elements (i.e. cards) instead of design, production and use of things.
– Real player with 30.3 hrs in game
There’s a lot left to be desired in this game. The UI is clunky, the artwork is amateurish (think early D&D), and there are some strong biases (no female officers, everyone is Caucasian). Maybe there’s a button to change that - but if there is, I havent dug it out from the UI yet (oh, that tiny button on the map pulls up a list of worlds? Which cannot be ordered to tell me most populous, most rebellious, etc?).
For all that, however, the game does two things well. It lives up to what it says it is - you’re the Emperor, not a warehouse clerk. You dont deal with the minutae of the empire, you have People for that - who are, admittedly, often trying to kill you. Or skim off the top. Or are just idiots. But you’re the Emperor, you have People for those People too; people with sharp, pointy objects - my purges havent reached Stalinist levels, but every once in a while, I do feel the need to prune my court of the more corrupt or stupid couriers or officers (‘fire’ all corrupt governors except the loyal ones? Meh heh heh heh).
– Real player with 23.5 hrs in game