New and Upcoming Warhammer Games to Keep an Eye on in 2021 and Beyond

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The Warhammer franchise is prolific to the point of ridiculousness. We’ve seen dozens upon dozens of video games set across all versions of Warhammer over the past few decades, and the rate at which they are being churned out doesn’t seem to be slowing down. In fact, it seems to be increasing with each passing year. Just to give you an idea of where we’re currently at, PC Gamer recently put out an extensive ranked list of Warhammer games containing a grand total of 40 entries. And that particular list only includes games taking place in the 40K setting.

But despite already having plenty of Warhammer games to occupy our time with, we’re always looking forward to seeing what the future has in store for the franchise. After all, you can never have too much of a good thing. With that in mind, we decided to put together a list of new and upcoming Warhammer games and found just enough to make a top 10 list. How convenient. We’re ranking these in reverse based on how promising they look. Let’s not waste any more time and jump straight into it.

10. Warhammer 40K: Lost Crusade

We’re starting things off with a couple of new Warhammer games available exclusively on mobile just to get them out of the way. Lost Crusade is an MMO RTS released on Android earlier in 2021. The game has a fairly interesting setting and a story revolving around a Space Marine battle barge stranded in a distant sector of the galaxy after the Fall of Cadia. Unfortunately, the gameplay isn’t anything to write home about. If you played mobile RTS games in the past you’ll know exactly what to expect from Warhammer 40K: Lost Crusade.

9. Warhammer: Odyssey

Another mobile game that came out earlier this year, only this one is available on both Android and iOS. Odyssey is set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe and plays like a traditional MMORPG. Well, sort of. This definitely isn’t mobile gaming’s response to World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV despite implying otherwise. Warhammer: Odyssey is an overly simplified version of the typical MMORPG formula and while it does have its moments, the game struggles to keep players engaged for any significant amount of time. There have been other Warhammer MMOs in the past and none of them end up being very successful. We doubt Odyssey will fare much better.

8. Total War Battles: Warhammer

We’re now starting to dip into some upcoming Warhammer games that look somewhat more promising. While this is yet another mobile game, Total War Battles is being developed by Netease in collaboration with Creative Assembly. CA has done an amazing job with the Total War: Warhammer franchise so it will be interesting to see what they can do with a mobile game. Granted, most of the development work will be handled by Netease, but the studio is said to be working closely with Creative Assembly on the project.

So what is this game all about? Well, it’s essentially TW: Warhammer for mobile devices. Many of the unit models look pretty much identical and the battles also look reminiscent of those seen on PC. Though I doubt they will take place on a similarly large scale. RTS on mobile is generally pretty boring but we’ll just have to wait and see how this one pans out. Total War Battles: Warhammer doesn’t have a release date just yet.

7. Adeptus Titanicus: Dominus

Finally, we have arrived at the first of the new Warhammer games for PC and this one is quite recent, having launched on March 26th, 2021. Adeptus Titanicus: Dominus is a turn-based adaptation of the Titan Legions tabletop game. If you’re not familiar with the setting, it’s basically just like regular 40K but exclusively focused on Titans. Not the best setting in my opinion but would have the potential to look epic in video game form if done properly. Sadly, Dominus isn’t quite able to pull it off.

If you’re hoping for something like MechWarrior or BattleTech but with Warhammer 40K Titans you’re probably going to be disappointed because Dominus isn’t nearly as interesting as those games. The combat system isn’t too bad but other aspects of the gameplay feel pretty dated. Same goes with the graphics. Having that, the game might improve with future updates so keep an eye on it if you’re a big fan of the tabletop.  

6. Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Tempestfall

Age of Sigmar is a relatively new tabletop setting that hasn’t received a ton of video game adaptations. Most of the adaptations we got so far are either mobile games or card battlers but that’s going to change later this year. We’re getting two new Age of Sigmar themed Warhammer games in 2021, the first of which is, surprisingly enough, a VR title.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Tempestfall received a pretty cool looking cinematic trailer earlier this year but we haven’t seen any actual gameplay footage just yet. We don’t know too much about Tempestfall at the moment, only that it’s going to be an action-adventure game where players get to battle against the forces of Nighthaunt while wielding Lord-Arcanum weapons and magic. A specific release date hasn’t been revealed either but the game is expected to come out this summer to PC VR and Oculus Quest. Battle Sisters, Warhammer’s first serious foray into VR was a decent enough game. With any luck we’ll get another one with Tempestfall.

5. Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground is an upcoming turned-based tactics game published by Focus Home Interactive. The company already brought us a couple of good Warhammer titles in the form of Space Hulk: Deathwing and the Battlefleet Gothic: Armada series. There’s a good chance that Storm Ground will be another solid addition to their roster, though we’re still cautiously optimistic for now. Simply because no one was able to make a truly solid Age of Sigmar game just yet. If successful, this would be the first.

In terms of gameplay, Storm Ground seems to draw quite a bit of inspiration from series like Heroes of Might & Magic and King’s Bounty. Which sounds like a great combination on paper. Various promotional materials for the game show units as represented by cards, however, the publisher stresses that this won’t be a card game. That piece of news is certainly very welcome since most of us are sick of card games by now. Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground is set to launch across all major platforms on May 27th, 2021.

4. Necromunda: Hired Gun

We’ve only had one adaptation of the Necromunda setting so far with Underhive Wars, which ended up being a big disappointment. We truly hope that won’t be the case with Hired Gun because the game looks pretty awesome from what we’ve seen so far. Necromunda: Hired Gun is an FPS taking place in a city that can only be described as a hive of scum and villainy. You play as a bounty hunter, are accompanied by a cyborg dog, and the launch trailer has some serious Cyberpunk 2077 vibes. So far, so good.

The Steam description mentions that Necromunda: Hired Gun is an indie FPS. However, the game is being developed by Streum on Studio and published by the aforementioned Focus Home Interactive, so that label is a bit odd. But, in any case, Streum on Studio did a pretty good job in the past at handling the Warhammer license with games like E.Y.E: Divine Cybermacy, and Space Hulk: Deathwing. Both of which were FPS games. We’re excited to see if Hired Gun will be handled just as well as the studio’s previous projects.

3. Blood Bowl 3

The original Blood Bowl is one of the oldest Warhammer games ever made, launching way back in 1995 for DOS. The series was then rebooted in 2009 and got a sequel in 2015 along with a spin-off mobile game. This brings us to the present day. Blood Bowl 3 is scheduled to launch later this year on August 21st and looks to be pretty similar to its predecessors in terms of gameplay, but with updated graphics and various other improvements here and there. No big surprises. The traditional Blood Bowl formula has always been very solid so there’s no need to make any big changes to it.

In case you’re not familiar with the series, Blood Bowl is essentially fantasy football set in the Warhammer universe. Blood Bowl is just as bloody and violent as any other Warhammer game but features a lot more comedy than most. Just like its predecessors, Blood Bowl 3 is being developed by Cyanide Studio while the publisher this time will be a company called Nacon Games. Nacon worked on a lot of sports games in the past but is still fairly new to the Warhammer franchise. We’ll have to wait and see what sort of impact, if any, that will have on Blood Bowl 3.

2. Warhammer 40K: Darktide

Darktide is easily one of our most highly anticipated Warhammer games of 2021. Set in the hive city of Tertium, Warhammer 40: Darktide is a 4-player co-op FPS in the vein of Left 4 Dead. Or, better yet, Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide. If you’re wondering why the two names sound similar, that’s because Fatshark, the developer of Vermintide, is the same company bringing us Warhammer 40K: Darktide. The original Vermintide was a surprising hit and its sequel performed even better. We’re hoping Darktide will be just as good, if not even better.

One of the best parts of Vermintide was undoubtedly its combat system, which was heavily focused on melee. Despite Darktide being primarily an FPS, the developers promise that there won’t be a shortage of melee combat either. The class system and loadout customization are also making a comeback, albeit in a slightly different form. All in all, Darktide looks to be the Warhammer 40K equivalent to Vermintide and that’s honestly all we could ask for. Expect Darktide sometime later in 2021.

1. Total War: Warhammer 3

Many of you probably saw this one coming a mile away, but there could only be one game at the top of this list. Announced back in February, Total War: Warhammer 3 is the final installment in Creative Assembly’s highly successful turn-based/real-time strategy hybrid. The series is so successful, in fact, that it ended up overshadowing most of the company’s historical games. And it’s easy to see why. CA’s take on the Warhammer Fantasy universe is nothing short of a masterpiece, with TW: W2 arguably being one of the best strategy games ever made. And we don’t say that lightly.

Total War: Warhammer 3 will mark the introduction of the armies of Chaos in all of their glory alongside other factions like Cathay and Kislev. Even though Creative Assembly hasn’t confirmed the addition of a map mode similar to the Total War Warhammer 2 DLC Mortal Empires, it’s almost guaranteed that we’re going to get one. If past games are anything to go by, we can also expect new factions and lords to be added post-launch via DLC packs and expansions. Total War: Warhammer 3 doesn’t have a specific release date just yet but it should arrive sometime in late 2021.

Honorable Mention: Warhammer 40K: Battlesector

One game we forgot to mention while compiling this list is Warhammer 40K: Battlesector, an upcoming TBS. The game seems to be drawing a lot of inspiration from the Dawn of War series but doesn’t look particularly polished or engaging at this stage in the development process. Still, Dawn of War I & II are some of the best Warhammer 40K games ever made and we’re always interested in other titles in that genre. We recommend keeping an eye on it to see how it evolves. Battlesector doesn’t have an official release date just yet.

Honorable Mention: Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters

Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate was announced after we published the article but I just had to go back and give it a shoutout. We only got a short teaser so far but it looks amazing and the gameplay is said to be something along the lines of 40K meets XCOM. I don’t know about you but that sounds really good to me. Daemonhunters looks to be a reboot of the Chaos Gate game we got way back in the late 90s. We’ll definitely keep an eye on this one and we suggest you do the same. Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters is scheduled to launch sometime in 2022.

If you enjoyed this list make sure to check out some of our other ones down below.

Jason Moth

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