Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters is an extremely Warhammer-ass videogame title, and the majestically overwrought cinematic that rolled out in August absolutely matched that energy. Somehow, though, the gameplay reveal trailer that dropped today manages to surpass it all with a bombastic call to arms exhorting the Grey Knights to strike down the vile corruption of Chaos.
Once you’re past all the sound and fury, though, you will get a look at some gameplay, and it actually looks pretty good. Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters is a turn-based tactical RPG—grimdark XCOM, basically. The action is pleasingly chunky and sticky, and there’s one good environmental kill that gives me hope for more of that sort of interactivity throughout the game.
We also get a brief look at the game’s strategic layer, which of course occurs in a warp drive-powered Neo-Gothic temple in high orbit. The video indicates that you’ll travel between worlds on your quest, repairing and upgrading systems, pursuing research, and customizing your Space Marines to ensure maximum killability.
Tactical combat games live or die on subtleties—reactive AI, risk and reward, gameplay surprises, that sort of thing—that generally don’t come across in trailers. Even so, I think Chaos Gate looks promising at this point: If the mechanics can live up to the ambience, this could be a really entertaining tactical combat experience.
Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters (if nothing else, it’s a helluva title) is set to launch sometime in 2022 on Steam and the Epic Store. If you’re looking for some Warhammer gaming to keep you busy in the meantime, we’ve got a ranking of every Warhammer 40K PC game ever—and if that’s not enough to keep you occupied, we did every Warhammer Fantasy game ever made, too.
And just to make sure nobody misses it, here’s that Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters cinematic. We are the hammer!