Is Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III a triumphant return for the RTS legend? Read the latest news about Dawn of War 3’s release date, price, DLC, and gameplay.
The Dawn of War games hold a special place in the hearts of most strategy game fans, and are also among the best games ever made based on Games Workshop’s flagship sci-fi brand – not to mention the best PC games, full stop. That means that we’ve been pretty damn excited about the latest title in the series, Dawn of War III.
First announced in an epic cinematic trailer in early 2016, the game was developed by Relic Entertainment, the same studio behind the original two games and their expansions, and was one of our most anticipated games of the year.
We’ve now played the game – you can read our review here – but this is where you want to be for everything we know about Dawn of War 3, including its release date, platforms, price, and DLC .
Dawn of War 3 came out worldwide on 27 April 2017 .
Dawn of War 3 is available on PC, Mac, and Linux, but there are no announced plans for it to appear on any consoles – and we don’t expect that to change.
At launch, Dawn of War 3 has an RRP of £39.99/$59.99. The first port of call for most players will be Steam, though Amazon UK also has a Limited Edition physical version of the game that includes a soundtrack and lenticular art card for £42.99.
There are even more bonuses for people who splash out for the game’s Collector’s Edition, available from the official store or Amazon for £99.99/$129.99. That includes the game, the Masters of War pack, a lenticular art card, soundtrack, premium disc case, three cloth faction banners, and a replica of the ‘Godsplitter Daemon Hammer’, just in case you ever need one of those.
In terms of gameplay, Dawn of War 3 is a combination of the best elements of the first two games in the series, and like them is a real-time strategy (RTS) game set within Games Workshop’s dystopian Warhammer 40,000 universe.
The game pairs the epic scale battles of the original Dawn of War with the powerful hero and elite units of the second game, resulting in a game that’s bigger than ever before, but still retains the satisfying RPG-lite elements of levelling up your core units.
At launch, there are three playable factions to choose from: Space Marines, Eldar, and Orks. Each has its own unique powers, units, and tactics, and all of them are playable within the story-driven single-player campaign, which darts from faction to faction each mission.
There is also be online and LAN multiplayer, though there’s only one gameplay mode at launch. It requires you to take down an enemy’s Shield Generator, Turret, and Power Core (in that order) in order to grab victory, and is playable in 1v1,2v2, or 3v3.
As for core gameplay, capture points are returning for resource generation, while the new gigantic walker units and orbital beam powers will bring destruction on a whole new scale. To match the bigger battle size, the directional cover system has been dropped in favour of destructible shield bubbles that should hopefully be a bit less fiddly to manage.
Developer Relic announced the first update to the game during E3 2017, and the good news is its free. The Annihilation Update, out from 20 June, makes a few welcome changes to the game’s multiplayer component.
First up, it adds Annihilation Classic mode, which simplifies multiplayer by only requiring you to destroy your enemies key structures to win – sure to appeal to fans of the original Dawn of War. There’s also a new Annihilation with Defenses mode, which is exactly the same except it starts each player off with a few turrets to prevent early rushes.
Those turrets are drawn from three new turret designs – one for each faction – which will also be buildable in every multiplayer mode. Players don’t have to spend any Skulls to unlock them either. The only downside? They’re not available for single-player right now, but that might change down the line.
There’s also be a new multiplayer map, Mortis Vale, and a new Engines of Annihilation skin pack for the game’s Super Walker units.
Relic and publisher Sega haven’t yet confirmed any specific DLC or expansion plans for Dawn of War 3 beyond Annihilation, but we can make some educated guesses. Based on the past two games, and the kind of content ready for Dawn of War 3’s launch, it’s likely we’ll see other races and factions added over the coming months, potentially including the Imperial Guard, Necrons, Tyranids, or Chaos Marines.
Here’s what you’ll need inside your PC to run Dawn of War 3:
64-bit Windows 7 3GHz i3 or equivalent 4GB RAM 1GB nVidia GeForce 460 or AMD 6950 or equivalent DirectX 11 video card
64-bit Windows 10 3GHz i5 or equivalent 8GB RAM 2GB nVidia GeForce 770 or AMD 7970 or equivalent DirectX 11 video card
Want to watch what the hype is about? Watch the announcement trailer below, or scroll to the top of the page to see some gameplay in action.
