Dawn of War 3 screenshot of a battle between Eldar and Space Marines

If you're like me and you spent the past few days living comfortably under a rock, you might be interested to hear that Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III has now arrived on Steam. And much like the vast majority of Warhammer 40,000 games out there it appears to be a mixed bag in terms of quality.

But before we move onto that, here's the recently posted launch trailer to hopefully let you know what Dawn of War 3 is all about. Unfortunately, due to all the weird cuts and angles you'll probably not going to get much information on the gameplay itself, but it should at least give you a general idea of what sort of RTS Dawn of War 3 is. Have a look:

So what's the problem? Well, while Dawn of War 3 might be a solid RTS, its neither a good Warhammer 40,000 game, nor is it a good Dawn of War game. That might sound a bit silly given its title, but hear me out. First and foremost, the classic Warhammer 40,000 characters and units don't feel like they should. The best example of this are the Space Marines, the nearly godlike walking tanks that can blow through entire regiments of puny mortals without breaking a sweat. In Dawn of War 3, however, they are basically nothing more than cannon fodder - more akin to the Starcraft 2 Marines than the Warhammer 40,000 ones. This might sound like a ridiculously petty complaint, but when you add up a bunch of these issues you get a game that just doesn't feel like it belongs in the same universe as its source material.

As for the gameplay, its really not bad, but its just not Dawn of War - neither 1 or 2. There's basebuilding mechanics, but there are so few buildings you can actually create that it might as well not be there. There is no morale or suppressive fire to hamper the enemy's units, no destructible cover to play around in, no fancy kill animations when units get face to face, and barely any units you would actually care about keeping alive throughout the entire battle. And best of all, there is only one game mode in the multiplayer, so I sure do hope you like it, cause that's all you're getting! 

After that sea of negativity it might come as a surprise to hear that I don't actually hate Dawn of War 3. It really is a solid RTS with some fun mechanics and a decent campaign, but as a sequel to one of my favorite franchises it falls so, so miserably short. But if you have no prior expectations and you're just looking for an interesting RTS, you might want to check out the official website and see if Dawn of War 3 is something you could enjoy.

Dawn of War 3 screenshot of a giant battle

Dawn of War 3 screenshot of Orks fighting the Eldar

Dawn of War 3 Imperial Knight screenshot

Dawn of War 3 Space Marine fortress screenshot