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Way back in 1998, Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate was a turn-based tactics game that pitted Ultramarines against the forces of Chaos. The series was revived in 2022 with Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters, this time setting up the psychic space marines of the Grey Knights against Chaos. Where the original was heavily inspired by the ’90s X-COM, the sequel was based more on the hyphenless remakes, specifically XCOM 2. And as someone who played XCOM and thought “this would rule even harder if it was Warhammer” that’s all I wanted.
Except what I also wanted was a bit more enemy variety. After the tutorial, Daemonhunters focused entirely on servants of the one Chaos god, the flyblown plague lord Nurgle. So the just-announced sequel that promises we’ll be turn-based tacticsing our way “across the war-torn worlds of the Tyrian expanse against seven distinctive enemy factions” is exactly what I was hoping for.
Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Deathwatch was revealed during the Warhammer Skulls event with a trailer that shows not only new enemies, but also new protagonists. The Deathwatch marines are alien-hunting specialists drawn from existing chapters, who paint their armor black to show their new allegiance (just like Titus in the opening of Space Marine 2). They also act as part of the Inquisition, and it looks like we’ll be able to round out our squad with Inquisitorial agents and more vehicles—a Leman Russ tank, a Scout Sentinel walker, and a Redemptor Dreadnought.
“Rising to power as Interrogator Bastian Rath,” the press release says, “players are thrust into command amid a conspiracy threatening the stability of the Tyrian expanse. Across scorched planets, commanders will decide the fate of the sector and the Imperium’s future within it as they uncover the truth left behind in the wake of Inquisitor Rykov.”
As for those seven factions, only a handful show up in the trailer. Orks, t’au, and genestealers are all represented, and a mutalith vortex beast sneaks in at the end—a servant of the Chaos god Tzeentch that carries a literal Chaos gate on its back, justifying the name of the game right there. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Thousand Sons, space marines who follow Tzeentch, show up as well.
Though it doesn’t have a release date yet, you can follow Chaos Gate – Deathwatch on Steam and the Epic Games Store for updates. Other big news from the Warhammer Skulls showcase include a release date and DLC roadmap for Dawn of War 4, Darktide getting a Skitarii class, the reveal of a platformer where you can play a ratman, and the release of tiger warrior DLC for Total War: Warhammer 3.
