Dawn of War 4 will dare what no predecessor has. For the first time, you can command a Primarch

In a recent interview with IGN, Jan Theysen, the director of the upcoming real-time strategy game, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4, explained how, for the first time, players will be able to command a Primarch. This upcoming RTS was first revealed during this year’s gamescom Opening Night Live showcase, eight years after the previous entry in the series. Interestingly, this is also the first game in the series to be handled by a new developer: KING Art Games, the team behind another RTS hit, Iron Harvest from 2020. You can read our gameplay preview from gamescom, where we got the impression that the game seems a lot like the original Dawn of War, for better or for worse.

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War 4 will let players command a Primarch for the first time

For anyone unfamiliar with the lore behind Primarchs, they are a group of god-like humans created by the Emperor to “command the Emperor’s Great Crusade to reunite the scattered human race…” via the Warhammer 40k Fandom page. These 20 Primarchs served as “genetic templates” for the legions of Space Marines. They were meant to be “perfect generals, warriors, and statesmen; larger, stronger, faster, and smarter than any normal Human could ever hope to be.” They do not age, and they cannot be affected by disease. These characters have never been playable in a Dawn of War game before, but in Dawn of War 4, players will be able to command Primarch Lion El’Johnson, if only for a brief time.

According to Theysen, The Lion will only be available to play for a short time. “And so in the game, there are two cutscenes and one mission where the Lion plays a role, and you can play him and he is fun and he is off the charts, but he is not available for the rest of the game because he’s just too powerful.” So, don’t have any expectations about Dawn of War 4 being a game about a Primarch, it’s only a quick cameo. But it is still the first time that one of these legendary units is actually playable, which is noteworthy for the series.

No other Warhammer game has featured a playable Primarch before, so it’s a special privilege for KING Art Games to get this opportunity. In the interview with IGN, Theysen explained the process of designing a unit with unprecedented, god-like powers and strengths: “…it’s about having fun with the Primarch, and we didn’t really care about if this is balanced or if this is something that you could theoretically do in multiplayer… Who cares? This is just to have fun…” Since this isn’t a unit players can control elsewhere, such as in player-versus-player matches, it must have been freeing not to have to balance it as much.

Related:Dawn of War 4 returns to its roots, but I don't know if it's more than just a copy of the masterpiece from years ago

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War 4 is scheduled to release in 2026, so players will still have to be patient a bit longer before commanding the god-like human super soldier.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4

2026

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• Overview

• strategy games
• Warhammer 40,000 (franchise)
• RTS