Dawn of War III Preview - E3 2016

Dawn of War III, developed by Relic Entertainment, is the latest installment in the well-received series of real-time strategy games based in the Warhammer 40k universe. In it, you take the role of a Space Marine to quash a galactic threat. In the preview, we got to know one such grizzled Space Marine a little better.

We began our demo in a frozen tundra on the planet Acheron, sampling a linear slice of a large mission meant to show off the mechanics. The plot of the game concerns a catastrophic weapon discovered on said planet, and this lure ultimately pits three forces against each other: the Blood Ravens Space Marines, the Eldar, and an Ork horde. For this mission, we stepped into the hulking armor of the constantly-incensed Gabriel Angelos, leader of the Blood Ravens.

Gabriel—can I call him Gabe?—is a veritable one-man army and elite hero. In the previous game, elite heroes functioned a little differently, and now your main party can consist of up to three elite units, which each have their peculiarities. Gabriel is your tank unit, capable of dishing out the damage. And soon, we’ll meet another, bigger hero.

Gabriel arrives on Acheron on his lonesome and immediately gets stuck into slaughtering some Eldar, knocking a swathe of them out. A few icy footsteps after the first horde, we find that a few other units are pestering us from across a ravine. No matter, because Gabriel’s God-Splitter ability allows him to leap along the battlefield and come crashing down, obliterating anyone within his area of effect. Moving onwards, Gabriel can then unleash another ability—Retribution—when faced with enemies launching projectiles in his vicinity. With this move, he can swing his hammer, knocking back all opponents, erecting a temporary shield, and whipping back any projectiles.

But despite his best efforts, our Space Marine can’t do it alone, and is quickly overwhelmed. Backup is required, and it comes in the form of Lady Solaria, who lands in a 15 meter tall Imperial Knight mech. She done kill thing good. The Lady quickly turns several groups of enemies to a fine paste with her Gatling Barrage, a twin-cannon assault along a 90 degree radius.

Still, there isn’t many of us, so we order in a fresh shipment of marines via a drop ship, and also build a base, a mechanic which was brought back from the first game. With the base built, we’re able to call in a Dreadnought to help us in the coming battle. There are also a host of other units to call in, too.

We solider onwards to capture a resource point, with more friends in tow. But the Eldar aren’t giving up the fight easily, utilizing turrets and a large door to keep us at bay. There is also the introduction of a cover mechanic in the game, with entrenched enemy units. Because the armies and battlefields are much bigger in Dawn of War III, these heavy cover points now defend better against ranged attacks and have a complete circumference.

A few steps away, the enemy is in cover, so we use Assault Marines to rush their position because all that ranged cover won’t protect you up close. With our army on the offensive, our marines rush into the heart of the fray, and Lady Solaria readies her Ironstorm Missiles. This move allows her to select six targets and deal monstrous damage. Then a few Devastator Squads drop in to aid in the battle. They are heavy weapons experts that, while slow, can deal a lot devastating damage, especially to enemy heavy tanks.

One of the final moves that we sample is the classic orbital cannon, which tears across the battlefield, growing stronger as it takes more enemies out. This move deals with foes like Gabriel’s hot space knife through interstellar butter. We can then progress further through the map, dealing with the door, and rallying all our units to destroy a menacing portal at the end of the level. The ultimate battle is chaotic, with all our units wading about and cutting into the Eldar while special moves fly. However, there is still a sense of order present, and you can comfortably command other units (or let them do their thing) while you concentrate and smashing aliens into the dirt. Then, with the portal destroyed, the demo comes to a close.

Dawn of War III looks like another strong installment into the series. The title feels well-polished, where game elements are kept simple and easy to grasp, allowing you to focus on destroying enemies or choosing a more tactical path. Characters are nicely realized, battles are more sweeping and epic, and the levels should provide you with enough interesting objectives to keep you busy while you follow the exploits of Gabriel and his Blood Ravens. Dawn of War III is expected to release on PC in 2017.