The Dawn of War series contributed greatly to my teenage love of Warhammer. When my friends had to pack up their toy soldiers and go home, I could log onto the family computer and spend the remains of the day pushing my pixelated population into ridiculous wars in the digital realm. No plastic required.
I know that we all collectively agreed to forget about Dawn of War 3, but the first and second installments of the grimdark RTS game were formative for a generation of gamers. I particularly remember fixating on the Soulstorm DLC, which added Sisters of Battle and Dark Eldar to proceedings, and spending hours directing my tiny troops to victory.
However, Relic hasn’t returned to the 41st millennium since the poorly received third entry in 2017. The developer has been through a lot in that time, releasing Age of Empires 4 and Company of Heroes 3, while splitting from Sega in order to go independent with funding from external investment group Emona Capital. And it’s this investment company that may have hinted that Relic’s next game could be a return to Dawn of War.
Relic’s Reforged Relationship With Games Workshop
This hint comes in the form of a LinkedIn post from Dominik Dolenec, a managing partner at Emona. He shared pictures of himself and colleagues at Warhammer World, including a selfie with the famous Space Marine statue and the inimitable Exhibition Centre, where Games Workshop showcases its finest armies and room-filling dioramas.
“Great visit to Games Workshop PLC in Nottingham,” he captioned the post. “Many thanks to Owen Rees for sharing the Warhammer magic with us! Looking forward to deepening our partnership in years to come.”
There’s a lot to take in here, but the most important name in this post is Owen Rees, who is tagged. Rees is Games Workshop’s group head of licensing, so is in charge of collaborating with people like games developers on creating Warhammer video games. He’s been in similar roles in the company since he left White Dwarf in 2007, and his own LinkedIn profile explains that he was the project lead on no fewer than six Dawn of War titles (including DLC).
Dolenec’s post included the bicep and gamepad emojis, suggesting he was working in a video games capacity. But he could be representing any or all of the developers in Emona’s portfolio, right? Why is this post suggesting Dawn of War 4, rather than a Baneblade deconstructing game from Hardspace: Shipbreaker devs Blackbird Interactive?
Actually, I want that game.
That all comes down to Dolenec’s t-shirt, which appears in the corner of one of his photos. It appears to bear the logo of Relic Entertainment, suggesting that he’s in Nottingham on its behalf. He also confirms that we’re not seeing things in the comments and he is, in fact, emblazoned with Relic’s crest.
In The Far Future Of The 41st Millennium, There Is Only Dawn Of War
This has huge implications for the future of Relic and the Dawn of War series. Presumably Relic can’t make more Space Marine games now Saber Interactive has taken on that mantle. Reforging a partnership with Workshop suggests that we may see a return to Dawn of War – why else would a top dog be organising meetings at Warhammer World?
Relic could be planning a new series set in the 41st millennium – or the Age of Sigmar universe, for that matter – but in this era of constant sequels and remasters, it seems unlikely. What could be safer for a newly-independent studio than returning to its roots and giving the people what they want in the form of a new Dawn of War game?
There is a possibility that these meetings are to discuss authorising remakes of the original games, as suggested by Relic’s new strategy.
It’s not an open goal, however. Relic will have to be careful not to repeat the mistakes of the threequel, and balance the new Warhammer units and armies with the classic RTS gameplay of the original two games. For fans, it’s not worth worrying about whether the game will be good enough until it’s actually announced or in our hands. For the moment, all we can do is hope.
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