He’s massive, this Blood Raven, towering over Eldar troops. When the demonstration begins, Angelos is alone and Dawn of War III resembles an ARPG. The changes to cover reduce positional micromanagement and that appears to be a way to allow the player’s attention to be focused on the correct use of units and their skills. That’s not to say terrain won’t matter: in the mission I saw,much was made of bottlenecks around strategic points, as well as the use of unit-specific abilities to traverse otherwise impassable areas. It’s a simplification, providing a protective umbrella rather than actual lines of cover, and it might be that it improves the flow of territorial gain and entrenchment, placing a greater focus on the composition of forces rather than the specifics of the terrain.

Hence the importance of assault marines that can zip across the map - and most obstacles - using their jump packs. That protects them from attacks coming from any side, but can be destroyed and does not provide any security against melee units that might infiltrate.

Cover is no longer directional, as in the second game, so instead of hiding behind walls or other environmental objects, squads can be placed within protective bubbles. The second game emphasised the importance of cover and the new/old way of dealing with that is the one mechanic I’ve seen that I’ve yet to be convinced about. Base-building, dropped in II, is back, but leaders with overpowering abilities are a major part of the game as well. Rather than keeping the focus of Dawn of War III on these heroic units though, Relic are attempting to bring together the best parts of both of the game’s predecessors. There are heroes here, in the form of Gabriel Angelos, who fights alone against overwhelming numbers before backup arrives, and in the pilot of that Imperial Knight, Lady Solaria. It’s not grimdark though, and that’s not only because of the bright colours. This is a Blood Raven assault on a planet of ice and fire, and it’s extremely violent, with assault squads taking flight and screaming across the map to tear their enemies apart, and a forty foot tall Imperial Knight combat walker crushing everything in its path, or indeed its line of sight. This is Dawn of War III and it's hideous, awesome and garish.ĭespite the planet-shattering power of that weapon, I’m most taken aback by how colourful the whole scene is. Eldar become brittle silhouettes, elevated by the white heat for a moment as if undergoing a warped Ascension, and then they crumble to ash. It’s like the finger of an extremely angry god, a column of flame that can be dragged around the planet surface, disintegrating any unit that it touches. I’ve never seen anything quite as Warhammer 40k as the fire that rains from the sky when Relic’s representative calls in orbital bombardment on an Eldar army.

Dawn of war 3 grey knights