Crafting an epic Dawn of War IV story fit for the Warhammer 40,000 universe

Hi everyone!

When we began thinking about our vision for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV, we knew straight away that crafting an unforgettable story would be absolutely essential. Big stories have always been a big part of our work at KING Art Games, and this was our opportunity to do what we do best on the biggest stage.

We also knew early on that we wanted to have a separate campaign for all four of our factions, and then weave those stories together into a compelling overarching story - one that was fit for a legendary series like Dawn of War. 

Finally, we needed an expert on board to help us navigate the seemingly endless universe of Warhammer 40,000! We’re thrilled to be working with best-selling Black Library author John French, who not only knows his way around game development but is also a huge Dawn of War fan.

To set the scene for the world we’ve created together, our story picks up some 200 years after Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, the expansion to the original Dawn of War.

A tear in reality known as the Great Rift has torn the galaxy asunder and left returning planet Kronus - not to mention some of the Blood Ravens Space Marines - stranded. Leaders Cyrus and Jonah head to Kronus to begin rebuilding their Chapter, but quickly discover a sinister threat that places the entire galactic sub-sector in danger. 

This being Warhammer 40,000, of course, they’re not alone in wanting to explore and exploit the secrets of Kronus for their own ends.

Deep beneath the sands of Kronus, an Adeptus Mechanicus expedition has discovered a Necron complex. At first they believe it to be a tomb, then a prison - but a prison for what? As the campaign unfolds, we discover how this buried secret influences the Orks and Adeptus Mechanicus, and draws the Necrons to Kronus - while the Space Marines battle to survive.

This is just a very spoiler-free sneak peek at our game world, but just choosing those factions was no simple matter! A universe like Warhammer 40,000 has a huge number of incredible factions to draw from, and it’s fair to say we found this a very tough nut to crack.

We knew we wanted to have the Space Marines, because it’s Dawn of War - the Blood Ravens had to be in there! We were also starting to think of Dawn of War IV as a kind of reimagining of the first Dawn of War, so we all felt very strongly that we wanted to include the Orks too.

This left us space for two more factions that would go on to inform our story. The Necrons haven’t been playable in the series since Dark Crusade, so having the game set on Kronus gave us the perfect opportunity to bring them back. As for the last spot, we wanted to round off our cast with a faction that had never been part of a Dawn of War game and would be new for everyone - the Adeptus Mechanicus fit the bill perfectly!

Now that we had our cast in place, we set to work with John French to develop our ideas and start building out the narrative. Together we crafted a story packed with the kind of intrigue, treachery and epic conflict that’s truly worthy of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Our goal in all of this wasn’t to simply continue a story that the first three games had told, but instead tell a new epic tale that just happens to feature some familiar faces from the previous games. Our story is linked to the older Dawn of War games, but it’s very much its own completely new thing, and we can’t wait for you to experience it for yourself!

So far in today’s update we’ve covered some of the processes behind crafting our story, but we wanted to finish by talking about something else that’s incredibly important to us as we continue our work on Dawn of War IV.

We decided very early on that although a balanced multiplayer experience would be essential (we don’t want imbalanced units or cheese tactics, after all), we didn’t want our story campaign to suffer, just so we could guarantee a fair and fun multiplayer system.

Instead, we’re treating them as two entirely separate things and balancing them accordingly. If we want one unit to be super powerful in the campaign because it’s better for the story and it’s just plain awesome to have it that way, we just go ahead and do it - even if we then need to tone that unit down in multiplayer.

This means we never have to compromise on our storytelling vision, while also ensuring our multiplayer remains an incredible experience too.

We can’t wait to share more of our work with you in the months to come, and you’ll be able to set foot in our world for yourself when Dawn of War IV launches next year. In the meantime, you can follow us on Steam for updates and don’t forget to add the game to your wishlists too!