Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War Video Game Series

All titles were set in the dark and brutal universe of the Warhammer 40,000 (otherwise known as WH40K), developed in 1987 by Games Workshop for board battle games. The world is a futuristic counterpart to the earlier universe, which used a fantasy atmosphere and first appeared as a story background for a battle board game Warhammer Fantasy Battle.

The action of the games in the series Dawn of War takes place in the distant future, around the 40th millennium. Centuries ago, mankind had already managed to colonize many planets and, with the help of extremely advanced technology, to create a true interstellar superpower. However, unexpected events and unforeseen wars ruined the prosperous civilization and threw its inhabitants back into the darkness of barbarism, cruelty and division. Reunification became possible only through the efforts of the Emperor - an extraordinary leader of great intelligence and power. With the help of a loyal army, he subjugated first the entire Earth and then the human colonies scattered across the cosmos, creating an entirely new superpower: the Empire of Mankind. The Emperor was mortally wounded during a civil war unleashed by one of his top commanders, Horus. To save the monarch's life, the Emperor's servants placed him in the so-called Golden Throne, a mysterious device from the technological heyday of humanity. The Golden Throne has already kept the Emperor's decaying body alive for more than ten thousand years, while united humanity professes him as the supreme god and immortal ruler and protector of the human race. Genetically modified super-soldiers, known as Space Marines, as well as ordinary members of the imperial war machine fight and die every day with the Emperor's name on their lips, fervently believing that their only purpose in life is to fight the enemies of the immortal monarch.

Life in the world of Dawn of War is neither easy nor pleasant. The Empire of Humanity is an oppressive and brutal theocratic regime, characterized by merciless treatment of representatives of other races and species as well as its own citizens. Military commanders have no qualms about sacrificing their soldiers and using immediate execution as punishment for cowardice. Deviation from belief in the Emperor's god is not tolerated, and being a mutant or a member of an alien race automatically qualifies for extermination. The situation is not improved by numerous and deadly external threats: attacks by warlike Orcs, monstrous Tyranids and Nekrons, and the machinations of the demonic forces of Chaos. The vision of the future portrayed by the titles in the series Dawn of War is a dark and pessimistic world in which only war exists.

The first part of the series allowed us to fight for the safety of the Empire in a gameplay model very reminiscent of classic RTS strategies. In order to field a land army, the player had to construct a base and ensure its supply of raw materials. The constructed outposts consisted of command centers, recruitment and production facilities, structures for developing improvements, and defensive fortifications. The raw materials were two: requisition points and energy. With these, players could summon infantry troops, walking machines, heavy tanks, hovercraft, and artillery vehicles to the battlefield. Troops could be upgraded in the field with new soldiers, special units adding certain bonuses, or by replacing members' standard armaments with flamethrowers, sniper rifles or rocket launchers.

Part two brought with it significant changes in mechanics. While the game remained in the real-time strategy category, the gameplay was stripped of most of the base-building elements, with RPG-like themes taking its place. During missions, we commanded elite squads consisting of plot-important characters and the guard that protected them. Each of the heroes had unique abilities, such as temporary invisibility, planting explosive charges, throwing fragmentation or stun grenades, devastating charges or healing items. In the locations we visited, we had the opportunity to find new armor and a variety of weapons. We also managed the development of the heroes in terms of their statistics, being able to improve their health, strength or effectiveness in ranged combat.

Released in 2017, the third part was an attempt to return to the mechanics of the original. Base building and training units in specific structures returned to the game. Ordinary troops and vehicles were joined by incredibly powerful heroic units, which were capable of single-handedly decimating advancing enemy forces. Both heroes and regular army units could receive upgrades called doctrines, which provided new skills or bonuses on the battlefield. This allowed players to tailor their forces to their preferred style of gameplay. At the time of the release of DoW III enabled play using three factions from the universe of WH40K: Space Marines in the service of the Human Empire, the mysterious elven-like Eldar, and the Orcs, who delight in war and destruction.

The first and second installments of the series were highly rated by both industry reviewers and gamers. The third installment received only mildly lower ratings among critics, but was heavily criticized by some players. Among the recurring objections were accusations of trying to approximate the gameplay to the MOBA genre and abandoning the dark atmosphere of the universe in favor of colorful visuals. Ratings on metacritic.com were as follows for each of the three main installments of the series (according to critics - according to users): 86/100 - 8.7/10 for Dawn of War, 85/100 - 8.1/10 for Dawn of War II and 77/100 - 4.7/10 for Dawn of War III (as of 12/08/2017).