Dawn of War 3 was a bit of a surprise when it got the official announcement a few weeks before E3 2016. The franchise had been dormant for some time, and while a sequel was in the works long ago, it seemed like it had fallen into development hell and gone the way of so many games before it. Now, the game is back and looking better than ever. I got to sit in on a gameplay demonstration at E3 2016, and speak with Phillippe Boulle, Game Director on Dawn of War 3.
The game is looking fantastic, and this comes from someone with little connection to the Warhammer franchise, and very little love for the RTS genre as a whole. There was just something about this game though, it looked so brutal, so bloody, and so cool. Even knowing only a few scant details about this universe, I was sucked into the conflict, and quickly got a grasp of the stakes and major players involved.
For those who are familiar with Warhammer, and the first two Dawn of War games, Dawn of War 3 is likely a much richer experience. Three factions battle it out, the space marines, orks, and eldar. In the campaign you will play through the story from all three perspectives, learning more about the conflict as you progress along.
In terms of gameplay, Dawn of War 3 is a mixture of the best parts of the first two games. There’s the large, epic battles of the first, along with the larger heroes of the second. In the gameplay demo we had a couple of big heroes on our side, with one being a 14 meter tall mech that simply laid waste to anything in her path.
Cover also plays a key role, with engineers able to bring up shields that have been scattered around the map. Your men can then stay inside these, firing outward. Of course, they aren’t totally safe, and as you play through the game you’ll find more and more counters for things like this.
What can’t really be countered was the massive orbital bombardment that was used to finish off the match. This gigantic laser beam fell from the sky, igniting everything but the earth. And as it churned through the eldar forces it simply gained in strength. This is likely just one of Dawn of War 3’s super weapons, so if you’re a fan of big, bloody conflict then you should be keeping an eye on this one.
For more details check out the interview below. Dawn of War 3 hits PC in 2017.
Dawn of War 3 Interview from E3 2016
- This article was updated on March 8th, 2018
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