I grew up on Soulstorm and the new Dawn of War 4 trailer hits a lot of the right notes. Adeptus Mechanicus is finally getting the spotlight it deserves and Imperial Knights can be allies. The visuals look great and the trailer leans hard into cinematic combat in ways that line up with how my imagination used to fill in the blanks.
Sync kills are the showpiece
The standout change is how sync kills are used across whole fights. Units no longer just play a random swing animation and go back to standing around. Dawn of War 4’s combat director strings encounters into fully choreographed exchanges. That makes every scrap feel like a set piece instead of a lucky animation trigger.
There is a moment in the trailer where a Redemptor Dreadnought and an Ork Deff Dread go toe to toe. They grind at each other, trying to breach armor, until the Deff Dread starts lifting the Dreadnought. You can almost hear the servos straining. The camera cuts before the finishing move, which is exactly the kind of emergent story I want to see more of when the game launches next year.
What the devs say
“When you do a new version or reinterpretation of a classic game, the challenge is always that you’re not trying to recreate the old game, but you’re trying to recreate the feeling that people had when they played the old game,” King Art co-founder and creative director Jan Theysen tells PCGamer in the extended trailer above.
That idea explains a lot of the design calls. King Art is not trying to make a frame-by-frame remake. They are trying to capture the spirit players remember from the original Dawn of War and translate it into a modern RTS.
New units and some omissions
The trailer also introduces units like Sicarian Ruststalkers and Ork Stormboyz. The Ruststalkers move with almost ballerina precision for a robot. The Stormboyz are chaotic and loud in classic Ork fashion. Each unit feels like a clear expression of its faction.
There are things that did not return. Firstborn armor is absent. The forces of Chaos are not included in this initial slate. Those are tough choices but they show King Art carving out its own direction for the 41st millennium while still nodding to the series roots.
“It’s more about having a great game today, not recreating a game that was great 20 years ago,” Theysen says. Dawn of War 4 looks like the modern take many fans have wanted.
Where this might fit for you
If you want deeper impressions, I spent time in a preview where I replayed the tutorial level multiple times to catch textures, timing, and how the combat director kicks in. With a multiplayer campaign on the table, this could easily be a contender for the best co-op games list when it lands.
And if you are over at buff.game grinding Buff Points for whatever cosmetic flex you like, think of this as the sort of game where those points could buy you bragging rights at launch. Keep grinding those Buff Points. They come in clutch for the collection.
The final verdict from me
Will gameplay live up to the spectacle? That is the big question. The trailer promises cinematic, dramatic fights and a roster that respects faction identity. For me, the Deff Dread wins that showdown no contest. If the rest of the game keeps that level of character in battles, Dawn of War 4 could be a modern RTS that still nails the feeling of the classics.
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