Ready your bolters, rev your chainswords and don’t forget to pack a flamer — Total War: Warhammer 40,000 was just announced at The Game Awards! Stranger Things and Marvel star David Harbour took to the stage for the announcement. He said that he will also be playing a character in the game (my bet is on a grizzled Space Marine commander).
The most recent game in the Total War franchise has been Total War Warhammer III, set in the Old World of Warhammer Fantasy. Rumours of a 40k game in the franchise have been swirling for some time. This will mark the first Total War game to step out of a historical setting, however. So time will tell how this fantastical franchise will stand up to sci-fi battlegrounds. Historical fans don’t need to fret, though. Creative Assembly recently announced Total War Medieval III is also in development.
Check out the explosive trailer below:
Prepare for war
Taking a look at the blog post that went live alongside the trailer, there’s a bit we can learn about the game. There are four main factions at launch: the Space Marines, Astra Militarum, Orks and Aeldari. But from Creative Assembly’s track record with Total War titles, we can expect this roster to grow post-launch. Total War: Warhammer currently has 24 playable factions in the game.
READ MORE: Mystery Solved! The Truth Behind That Game Awards Statue
A big departure from traditional Total War games is the inclusion of multi-planet battle maps. From the trailer, we can see factions fighting over various planets in a solar system, and what appears to be orbital bombardment by capital ships. There are also customisable armies to mess around with; the images below show several Space Marine factions to play as.
Between Total War Warhammer 40,000 and Dawn of War IV in development, fans of galactic conquest are going to be eating well in the near future.
If you want to get your fix of bloody space battle now, check out our review of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.
Total War: Warhammer 40,000 will release for PC but will also be the franchise’s debut on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles. You can wishlist it now!
