I had never played Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. There, I said it. This classic title eluded me for years, not because I never had the chance to buy it or didn’t know about it, but simply because I had no interest in Warhammer when I was a kid. That’s mostly because, as a kid in Portugal, contact with Warhammer was pretty much non-existent. When I bought the game 5 or 6 years ago, just getting it to boot up and play at a decent resolution was a massive pain. Because of that, I put it on the back of my head and never picked it up again. That is, until the release of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Definitive Edition.
- Genre: Real-Time Strategy
- Developer: Relic Entertainment
- Publisher: Relic Entertainment
- Release Date: 14th August 2025
- Price: $26.99/ 25,64€/ £21.59
- Buy at: Steam
- Reviewed On: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X 3.70 GHz, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA GTX 2080
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is often hailed by players as one of the best real-time strategy (RTS) games ever made. When it originally came out, in 2004, it was an impressive showcase of technology, with the game being hailed for its fantastic graphics, detailed animations, and spectacular effects. Unlike other real-time strategy games at the time, when most factions were essentially re-skins of one another with a couple of unit variants, in Dawn of War, each of the factions was massively unique, playing a lot differently from one another. Dawn of War also displayed, for the first time in an RTS, a cover system, which would become the basis on which the gameplay of titles like Dawn of War 2 and Company of Heroes would be built. The game also had an amazing scale and spectacle, remaining faithful to the setting it was drawing from.
Unsurprisingly, the game was a massive commercial success for Relic, and Dawn of War went on to receive a lot of accolades and plenty of nominations for strategy game of the year, but it would mostly end up as a runner-up, losing the first spot to Rome: Total War.
The Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Definitive Edition doesn’t change anything about the game in terms of content, gameplay, units, mechanics, etc. What you played 20 years ago is exactly what you’ll be playing in 2025. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or if it comes up as a bit of a disappointment. With other Definitive Editions like Age of Empires, Age of Mythology, and Stronghold being such massive improvements on the originals – and for the same asking price- the Definitive Edition for Dawn of War comes off a bit thin on the sides. If you only wanted to experience the original game in a modernized format, then what’s in here is more than enough to satisfy you, but I’m left feeling that more could have been done to add value to what’s essentially a $30 purchase.
I just want to dedicate a small paragraph here describing some aspects of the game for those of you who might be hearing about Dawn of War for the first time, or might have heard but never played the original. It’s a classic real-time strategy (RTS) in the most classic sense of the word, and by that I mean that there’s a base-building aspect and a combat aspect with the units you create and upgrade. This also means that there’s very little in the way of in-depth tactical combat, and battles usually devolve into masses of units fighting each other head-on. Given the fact that this is Warhammer, it’s quite fitting and pretty damn spectacular, but don’t go into it expecting the kind of granular combat you might get from other, more tactical RTS games like Combat of Heroes or Men of War. This isn’t that, and that’s fine.
If everything else remained the same? What has improved? The changes boil down to visual upgrades and quality of life improvements. The game’s visuals underwent a significant overhaul. The first thing you’ll notice is the upgraded textures, which are particularly noticeable on the units and terrain. If you go back and compare those side by side with the original, it is a night-and-day difference. Add to that better shadows and graphics, and the Definitive Edition is already an experience worth having in 2025 if you don’t mind my complaints.
I’m not sure if the sounds were improved in any way, but the game sounds great. A lot better than more recent games, to be fair. Every weapon fired can be heard, from gunshots whizzing to whistling lasers, powerful explosions, and cries in battle. This is going to lead me on a tangent, and that is going to be unit barks. You know, the sound a unit makes when you click or order them around. They are just peak Warhammer nonsense, and I love it: “For the Emperor!”, “I am the instrument of His will”, “Walk softly, and carry a big gun”. They never get old.
The game now works flawlessly on modern systems, and if you’ve tried to play the original like I did, it was a massive pain to get it set up properly and running. The HUD has also been adjusted for modern aspect ratios, as the original game was 4:3. Lastly, but not least, the game has 64-bit support and an integrated mod manager to facilitate compatibility. I have tried a couple of mods but couldn’t run them, so I’m not 100% what’s going on with this. It might be because these older mods haven’t been updated, as it has been said by Relic that not all mods will work from the get-go. If you’re interested in mods, I would wait a couple of weeks to see if everything is working properly and then pull the trigger.
Having played the original campaign through, having never played it before, it’s mandatory for me to say that it holds up extremely well. In fact, I have been having more fun playing the Dawn of War campaign than 2025’s real-time strategy (RTS) darling Tempest Rising. If you have been reading Strategy and Wargaming for some time now, you probably read me saying that I’m more of a single-player kind of guy, and having run through the campaign for the first time, it was definitely fun. It’s short, simple, but enjoyable nevertheless. Up next, I’ll play the rest of the game’s campaigns. Speaking of which…
The Definitive Edition of Dawn of War consolidates all the DLCs for the original in a single package, so you’ll be getting all of the content from the Winter Assault, Dark Crusader, and Soulstorm DLCs. So, if you’re a single-player guy, there are 4 campaigns for you to run through, which should last you upwards of 30 to 40 hours of playtime. There’s also an amazing skirmish mode where players can mash-up whatever combinations of factions/teams they want across dozens of maps.
The original Dawn of War always had a very dedicated and active multiplayer scene since its inception, and I don’t see things changing anytime soon, as the Definitive Edition is the best way to play right now. So it’s easy to imagine all the oldest players will migrate here. Add to that the fact that the game is cheaper for owners of the original Dawn of War, costing less than 20 dollars.
As for improvements, I see some areas where Relic could have gone a bit further by adding new content without messing up the original’s soul. The first one is rather obvious, and that would have been to include a new exclusive campaign for the Definitive Edition. C’mon, this was so basic there’s no reason not to do this outside of laziness. All of the games I have previously mentioned did that on their definitive editions, so why not? Outside of money reasons, I can’t fathom why this wasn’t done.
The same thing could be said for a new faction. Why not add the Tyranids? Maybe that’s a bit too hard to fit into the game? Well, why not a generic Genestealer Cult, which could be the basis for the campaign I mentioned previously? Even the Primaris Space Marines could show up as a new faction. In a universe as vast as the one of Warhammer 40,000, it’s a bit disappointing to see nothing new 20 years later.
The other thing that could have been improved is the army paint. Dawn of War army painter mechanic is beloved by its players, so why not throw them a bone by adding more badges and banners? Maybe even the possibility of creating their own. Again, such a missed opportunity. And this one couldn’t even be because of monetary reasons, because having an artist creating decals wouldn’t be the thing that would break Relic’s bank account, that’s for sure.
Now, let’s wrap this one up with my complaints, because despite being residual, the 30-dollar asking price requires a minimum standard in my eyes, and some of these flaws don’t pass it. As for the technical aspects of the game, the only problem I had was that one time- yes, one time- the lower right part of my HUD disappeared and I didn’t know why. Maybe I have pressed some key? No idea. I reloaded the single-player save, and it went back to normal.
The Steam page for the game says the pathfinding was improved for this Definitive Edition. I’m not so sure about that. Units get stuck behind buildings a lot. They go one way only to find out that they cannot cross said path, so they track back to the optimal route. Sometimes, even the ranged/assault command doesn’t appear to be working properly, with some units seemingly stuck on assault, no matter how often I changed it back to ranged.
The biggest aspect of the game that really annoys me, and if I had only one thing I could change, would be adding WASD controls for the camera instead of arrows. As someone who uses WASD for camera control in every game, having to awkwardly tilt my keyboard to use the arrows and then having to navigate to the other side of the keyboard to active abilities is just so annoying to the point where I don’t even use those abilities anymore, I just control the camera with the arrow keys and manual select each ability with the mouse. A quick look at the Steam forums validates my perspective on this issue. Relic, you add this in an afternoon, just do it.
Final Score 7/10
What’s in the Definitive Edition of Dawn of War should be more than enough for everyone, new and older players alike. However, with that being said, with the 30-dollar price tag, I expected a bit more from it. A bit more content, maybe a new faction, even just a mini-campaign, would have helped justify the asking price for Dawn of War. What’s here is amazing, but that’s because it’s essentially the same game it was 20 years ago, with better graphics. I personally don’t mind that, and I’ve been having a blast, but with the Definitive Editions of other titles coming with a lot more content for the same (and sometimes even cheaper) asking price, it is very hard for me to give a score above 7. With that being said, if you’re a fan of the original and would like to relive those memories, please do buy the game; it’s well worth it. If you’re someone like me, who never played but wants to get into it, because you love either Warhammer or RTS games, then I would say what’s here is more than worth it, since you never experienced the original content either. If you have no idea what Warhammer or Dawn of War is, or you’re not sure if you like it, I would advise you to maybe wait for a sale before jumping into it.
Support Strategy and Wargaming
I do what I do in Strategy and Wargaming because I love to do this, and I’m never going to stop. If you would like to support me with that, you can buy me a coffee for a dollar if you’re feeling generous. If you can’t, no worries, Strategy and Wargaming will always be free, and I’d love to have you around!
Leave a Reply