The latest Warhammer 40,000 game, Dawn of War III, is nearly upon us. The title is a follow-up to 2009’s Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, itself a sequel to the 2004 original, and it aims to combine the best bits of those two games and add in some larger-scale action in the form of super-sized units. But is it successful?
Well, with its April 27 launch just a few days away, reviews have started to go live for Relic Entertainment’s RTS title. In GameSpot’s review, critic Daniel Starkey said the game “builds and maintains an organic tension that yields huge pay-offs … there’s nothing else quite like it.” Read more in our full Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III review, or watch some gameplay here. If you want to try it for yourself, meanwhile, you can try the open beta starting April 21.
For a wider view on Dawn of War III’s critical reception, you can take a look at our roundup below, or check out GameSpot sister site Metacritic.
- Game: Dawn of War III
- Developer: Relic Entertainment
- Platform: PC
- Release: April 27
- Price: $60 / £40
GameSpot — 8/10
“An odd chimera of its forebears, there’s a lot in this fast-paced RTS that’s a little bit off. Parts of the interface don’t work sometimes, inter-match army management is half-baked, and the micromanagement needed to use the game’s signature hero units effectively doesn’t jibe with the extensive base-building you’ll need to support them. But those problems fall away when you’re in the heat of battle. Dawn of War III builds and maintains an organic tension that yields huge pay-offs, and there’s nothing else quite like it.” — Daniel Starkey [Full review]
PCGamesN — 8/10
“This is the most conventional RTS in an historically unconventional series. While this fact alone may divide players, its quality of presentation and polished mechanics mean that, as it inevitably expands with more content, Dawn of War III may yet become the champion of a genre that remains stubbornly resistant to evolution.” — Robert Zak [Full review]
Polygon — 8/10
“Dawn of War 3 makes an admirable attempt to nudge forward a genre that has struggled in recent years to progress. The addition of Elites offers intriguing and complex challenges for those who are prepared to put in the necessary practice. Relic has obviously thought long and hard about how real-time strategy might best be improved–even if true evolution seems out of the game’s grasp.” — Colin Campbell [Full review]
PC Gamer — No score (review in progress)
“If I were to pass judgement on it now, I’d call Dawn of War III flawed but fun. The flashy animations might chase away Warhammer fans who can’t bear the thought of guy in terminator armour flipping into battle. There’s certainly fun here, though, and I’ll be back with a fuller review explaining whether that means it represents a new dawn for the real-time strategy genre as a whole.” — Leif Johnson [Full review in progress]