Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III brought Relic Entertainment’s real-time strategy series back after a six-year gap, and it arrived with an identity crisis it never fully resolved. The game launched for Windows on April 27, 2017, with Feral Interactive’s macOS and Linux versions following on June 8. It is the third mainline Dawn of War entry and the first new release since Dawn of War II: Retribution in 2011.
Trailer, via IGDBcom.
The Spear of Khaine on Acheron
The setup is classic 40K: a catastrophic weapon called the Spear of Khaine turns up on the lost planet Acheron, and three armies race to claim it. The Blood Ravens Space Marines arrive under Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos. The Eldar come led by Farseer Macha. The Orks follow Warboss Gorgutz, in his fourth series appearance after Winter Assault, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm.
Angelos and Macha both return from the first Dawn of War, which gives the campaign a reunion charge the later missions rarely earn.
Cyprus Ultima and the Blockade
The campaign opens on the Imperial Knight world of Cyprus Ultima, besieged by an Ork horde under Warboss Gitstompa. Inquisitor Holt has ordered the Imperial Navy to blockade the planet and refuses Lady Solaria’s House Varlock any reinforcements. The Blood Ravens run the blockade to help her, but not before Varlock Keep is looted by Lieutenant Gorgutz. Gitstompa then uses the stolen parts to build an enormous cannon meant to destroy the Eldar.
Autarch Kyre, leading the Biel-Tan warhost, summons Macha to help against the Orks. He is using Cyprus Ultima as a staging ground to reach Acheron when it emerges from the Warp. Kyre is obsessed with the Spear, said to kill enemies with a single blow, and he seized the Spirit Stone of Farseer Taldeer from her twin brother, the Ranger Ronahn. Taldeer, in a trance, prophesied that wayfarers would be called by the Spear and united by the Storm Prince.
Three Factions and Their Skins
Playable factions are the Space Marines, the Eldar and the Orks, all series veterans. The Imperial Guard and the Daemons of Khorne appear as non-playable forces, and the Necrons make a brief cameo in the epilogue. Multiplayer offers skins across the three factions, different chapters for the Space Marines, alternate craftworlds for the Eldar and different clans for the Orks.
The arena-style influences are the game’s most argued-over decision. They pull Dawn of War III away from the base-building sprawl that defined the first two games and toward hero-centric skirmishing.
What Works and What Doesn’t
The faction roster is the strongest argument for the game. Three armies with genuinely different playstyles, backed by a skin system that lets Space Marine players pick their chapter and Eldar players pick their craftworld, gives multiplayer real staying power.
The campaign is where the cracks show. Cyprus Ultima is a strong opening, but the story leans hard on Kyre’s obsession with a prophecy, and the payoff depends on caring about Eldar lore that the game explains only in passing. The Necron cameo in the epilogue is a tease for a sequel rather than a satisfying close.
Here is the ranking of what Dawn of War III gets right, in order of how much it matters:
- Faction variety — three armies that play nothing alike.
- Multiplayer customization — chapters, craftworlds and clans.
- The return of Angelos and Macha from the original game.
- The Acheron premise, which sets up a genuine three-way war.
A Series at a Crossroads
Dawn of War III sits in an awkward spot. It is not the large-scale war game the first entry was, and it is not the tight squad tactics of Retribution. What it is, mostly, is a compromise, and compromises rarely satisfy the people who wanted one of the two originals back.
The good news is that the foundation holds. Relic built a functional, attractive strategy game with three factions worth learning. The bad news is that the campaign never builds the momentum its opening hour promises, and the arena-style borrowings feel like a bet on a trend rather than a conviction about what Dawn of War should be.
A successor is coming. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV, developed by King Art Games, is set for release in 2026. That gives Relic’s version an odd legacy: the entry that kept the series alive long enough for someone else to take it.
The Hard Numbers
- Release date: April 27, 2017 (Windows); June 8, 2017 (macOS, Linux)
- Developer: Relic Entertainment
- Publisher: Sega
- Platforms: PC (Microsoft Windows), macOS, Linux
- Genre: Real-time strategy
- Modes: Single player, multiplayer
- Critical score: 7.7/10 (IGDB aggregate, 11 outlets)
Dawn of War III is a competent strategy game carrying the weight of a franchise it never quite matches. The three factions and their customization options justify the price of admission for multiplayer players. The campaign does not. 7.7 of 10.
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