Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV, the latest installment in the iconic real-time strategy franchise, received a major spotlight with its official Story Trailer unveiled at the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted 2025 on December 4, 2025. Developed by KING Art Games and published by Deep Silver, the game is slated for a 2026 release exclusively on PC via Steam, promising the largest campaign in series history with over 70 epic missions playable in solo or co-op modes. The narrative, co-written by renowned Black Library author John French, returns players to the war-torn planet Kronus, where the Blood Ravens Chapter of Space Marines—led by the returning veterans Captain Cyrus and Chief Librarian Jonah Orion—descend into orbit amid a fierce battle against the Ork Warboss Gorgutz and his forces, including the brutish Commander Guzcutta already entrenched planetside.
As the trailer unfolds, the Imperium’s defenses crumble under relentless assaults from multiple fronts: the Necrons, awakened by the enigmatic Chronomancer Thothmek who stirs dormant tombs in pursuit of ancient secrets, and the Adeptus Mechanicus’ Technoarcheologist Potentia Delta-9 scouring Kronus for lost knowledge. Just as the Blood Ravens’ lines teeter on collapse, reinforcements arrive in the form of the Dark Angels Chapter, marking their debut as a fully playable faction across all game modes for the first time in the Dawn of War series, complete with unique Commanders Company Master Astoran and Chaplain Ezrael. During the Space Marines campaign, players can switch between commanding the tactically finesse-oriented Blood Ravens in stealthy, smaller-scale skirmishes and the Dark Angels’ overwhelming, large-scale assaults, sharing core Space Marine strategies, wargear, and weaponry but differentiated by chapter-specific abilities and playstyles.
The trailer’s climactic moment delivers a franchise first: the descent of Lion El’Jonson, Primarch of the Dark Angels and one of the Emperor’s legendary sons, who becomes playable in the campaign’s finale, allowing direct command of this god-like warrior in real-time strategy combat—something unprecedented in any prior Warhammer 40,000 video game. Beyond the story, the game features four fully unique playable factions—Space Marines (Blood Ravens and Dark Angels), Orks, Necrons, and the series-debuting Adeptus Mechanicus—each with distinct commanders, units, buildings, and mechanics that reshape warfare. Gameplay revives classic Dawn of War elements like base building, massive army clashes, an expanded Sync Kill melee system, a Painter tool for customization, and replayable modes including highly configurable Skirmish, Last Stand, and competitive multiplayer in 1v1, 2v2, or 3v3 formats, all brought to life with spectacular CGI intros and fully voiced cutscenes. The trailer, available on the official Warhammer YouTube channel and embedded on Steam, has already garnered significant excitement, teasing the non-linear, choice-driven campaign’s horrors of war on Kronus.
