Dawn of War 4 – The Final Preview of Warhammer’s Next Big RTS

Key Preview Takeaways:

• The Adeptus Mechanicus and Necron factions play significantly differently from the previous two we looked at.
• The AdMech campaign story features some alluring intrigue.
• A few weeks ahead of release, there are still a few technical rough spots.

The Terminator-like Necrons and the cybernetic humans of the Adeptus Mechanicus make a very interesting match-up on the battlefields of Warhammer 40K. At first glance, you might ask yourself why Dawn of War 4 spent two of its faction slots on what could broadly be described as “robot guys.” And certainly, they do have some similarities. But now that I’ve gotten to spend quite a bit of time with both, I can say that they certainly claim their own niches.

Rise of the Machines

While the demo I got to check out also included Space Marines and Orks, those missions were the exact same ones we covered extensively as part of our exclusive IGN First coverage earlier this year. Of course, they’ve gotten a lot of polish since then. But in terms of the campaign especially, it’s a lot of stuff we’ve already covered. So go check those videos out if you haven’t. Because here, I’m going to focus on the stuff that was brand new to me: the AdMech and the Necrons.

We got to see the first six missions of the AdMech campaign, and the tone is quite a bit different from the Orks. While we last left warbosses Guzcutta and Goregutz scrapping over who got to be da biggest boss, not really caring about who got in their way or why, playing as AdMech let me engage with the unfolding events on Kronus much more proactively.

It’s the second campaign of the four if you want to go in chronological order, and your choices in the Ork campaign can carry over in certain ways. Whether you chose to elevate the beastboss or the warlord from the stars to power might affect what kinds of Ork enemies you face, for instance. But the Orks play more of a supporting role than anything in these six missions, as the followers of the Omnissiah are focused on the much deeper problem of the Necron presence on Kronus.

Our main hero for the AdMech is Potentia-Delta-9, a technoarchaeologist who often puts the quest for knowledge above the directives of her superiors. She eventually locks dendrites with Sek-Ix-23, a much more by-the-book machine cultist who doesn’t appreciate her loose cannon way of doing things. Just like the Ork campaign eventually split off to let you play as Guzcutta or Goregutz, the AdMech story reaches a point where the Magos Dominate of Kronus – the highest-ranking commander of the Mechanicus forces – gives a final ultimatum to Potentia. You can continue playing as her and go rogue, or choose to take over as Sek-Ix and try to restore order.

The story structure is a bit different from the Ork campaign in that it’s not actually a branching timeline here. The same story will play out either way, but Potentia’s perspective on it is quite different from that of Sek-Ix. They eventually come together before the end, but I don’t want to spoil exactly how. I enjoyed this campaign a fair bit more than the Ork one overall. The stakes are higher, the characters are more relatable, and there’s some juicy intrigue and ancient secrets to dig into.

Battle Network

The AdMech faction plays very differently from the Orks, as well. They’re highly ranged-focused, with basic Skitarii Rangers and Skitarii Vanguards as the backbone of their armies. Both prefer not to get into melee if they can help it. But Vanguards are a bit more durable and excel at medium range, while Rangers file in behind them to lay down fire from a distance. They also get access to Ruststalkers, deadly melee troops who are permanently cloaked until they enter combat or get very close to the enemy.

While these cybernetic humans do a lot of the dirty work, the AdMech specialists come from the higher tech Cult of the Omnissiah. Tracked Kataphron melt through armor with great ease and elite Kastelan Robot maniples transform the frontline into a chrome wall of death in the late game. They’re an adaptable army that can get shredded in close quarters if you’re not careful, but has tools for almost any situation.

Their buildings form a network called the Noosphere that grows in power the more structures are connected to it, granting bonuses to all structures in the network. This can increase the power of defensive turrets or the production speed of unit structures, for example. But you need either cheap, defenseless Cogitator Relays or more expensive Cognis turrets to link distant structures and resource points to the network, and anything that gets cut off from your main base loses all of the benefits of the Noosphere.

This makes the AdMech somewhat vulnerable to flanking and deep-strike tactics, and creates an interesting strategic question at the start of every match. Should I expand quickly to seize as many points as possible with these fragile, single-path networks? Or should I take it a bit slower and build in redundancies and more automated defenses? Both can work under certain circumstances.

March of Oblivion

The Necrons have some things in common with the AdMech playstyle, but they’re also the most different of the four factions in terms of how their economy works. They are what I sometimes call a “goo faction,” in that they want to spread their special kind of goo across the map. Think Zerg creep from Starcraft or Undead blight from Warcraft 3. Their specific goo is a green and black machine lattice that emanates from each Nexus of Dominion, fragile tower structures that also produce their only economic resource: dominion.

Basically, the Necron economy is based on how much of the map area you’ve managed to blanket in your power grid. This doesn’t mean they don’t care at all about resource points – capturing them can give powerful secondary benefits like reduced unit costs and increased production speed. But it does mean that they can keep expanding by going around heavily-defended points and gooping up uncontested corners of the map, which is a very interesting way to play.

The theme of the Necron army could be summed up by the declaration, “We are inevitable.” Especially at the beginning of a match, they spread very slowly across the map. Swift scarabs are fast enough to seize some control points early, but don’t have the staying power to hold them. Meanwhile, your core infantry unit, Necron Warriors, can even stand up to Space Marine Intercessors, but march incredibly slowly.

This makes certain map types that revolve around holding strategic points tricky for Necrons. They have some better fast units later, as well as limited access to teleportation. But against a swarmy faction like Orks, I usually had to resign myself to the fact that they would take an early lead in capture points, and I would simply have to wash over them like a slow-motion tide to wrap up the win decisively in the second half. Knowing when and where to commit is of the highest importance, because after deploying a wave of warriors or teleporting to a strategic location, the Necrons might not have a chance to pivot later.

They were only available in Skirmish, so I didn’t get a great idea of what their campaign is about or who their face characters might be. But they’re clearly getting set up as the big bads, so I’m interested to learn more about what their motives on Kronus will be.

A Bit Rusty

While what I played is not a final build, I do have to mention some technical issues. There were a couple campaign missions that took upwards of two minutes to load, even on an SSD, and that’s kind of unfortunate. Multiple times when a cutscene triggered in the middle of a mission, the entire client would hang for several seconds before proceeding. Hopefully these are all things that can be cleaned up before launch, which is barely over a month away on December 3.

Some technical scuff aside, I had a great time getting chromed up with the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Necrons in Dawn of War 4. The campaign story really starts to come together in some interesting ways in its second chapter. And the ways both of these factions control space differently feel like engaging and welcome additions to the roster compared to the more straightforward playstyle of Orks and Space Marines.

While you’re here, check out these recent previews of other big upcoming games we’ve checked out recently!

Leana Hafer is a contributing freelancer for IGN with a specialty in RPGs, strategy, horror, and survival games. She has been reviewing video games professionally since 2010 and is one of IGN’s most prolific contributors, with more than 100 reviews published. You can also find her work on sites like PC Gamer and PCGamesN.