Total War Warhammer 40000 Review | All You Need to Know
A lot of us, when we hear Total War, think of mythical and historical battles or worlds full of magic. But this time it's different—Creative Assembly has gone for Space Marines and Orks in space and interplanetary battles. In this Total War Warhammer 40000 Review, I'm gonna go over these massive interplanetary and orbital campaigns, based on the alpha version of the game.
How Total War Warhammer 40000 differs from previous versions
At the start of this Total War Warhammer 40000 Review, I should say the Total War series generally has two parts: the Campaign Map, where forces move turn by turn and conquer territories, and the Real-Time Battle, where you command your forces in a fight.
So why is the Warhammer 40000 version different in the Total War series? The first difference is the space and planetary battles, and the second is the focus on long-range weapons, snipers, fortifications, and all kinds of modern weapons—whereas in previous versions you went into battle with armies of swordsmen and archers.
In the alpha version, you're dealing with three sections:
- A Tutorial that teaches you the basic concepts
- A short campaign that's a sample of a planetary map
- A big battle between Space Marines and Orks
Note: In the final version, you'll be dealing with four factions: Space Marines, Orks, Astra Militarum, and Aeldari.
What makes the battles in Total War Warhammer 40000 exciting
In these battles, on the Space Marines side, you've got all kinds of forces—squads armed with Bolters and plasma weapons, plus tanks, Dreadnoughts, Librarians, and even Land Raiders. You gotta help your forces advance with new techniques like Suppression.
But against these orderly ranks, the Orks have a different style—they swarm your lines with huge numbers and break them apart. One of the highlights I gotta mention in this Total War Warhammer 40000 Review was the heavy fire poured onto the Ork charge, followed by the bloody hand-to-hand combat that's Total War's specialty.
Strategic decisions mid-battle
It's true the weapons are different in this Total War version, but the strategic system is still there. You gotta know your combat units well to make vital decisions mid-battle to defeat the enemy or save your forces. But the chaos of the battlefield might cause you to make mistakes that lead to defeat.
Special tools and abilities in the game
In the game, you've got all kinds of powerful tools to change the course of battle:
- Each unit has its own special powers. For example, Assault Marines can reposition with Jump Packs, or a Librarian can smash enemy groups with Vortex of Doom.
- As a commander, you can give different orders to your forces through Combat Doctrines.
- You can call in Orbital Fleet bombardments to hit large targets.
- With Reinforcements, you can drop Space Marine support forces into battle with Drop Pods or Terminators.
Note: These abilities aren't spammable—each one has a Cooldown.
Planetary campaigns
I've got good news for you in this Total War Warhammer 40000 Review: the campaign mode is kept in the game. You can move your forces across the planet, capture new territories, upgrade your cities, and lots more—exactly like previous games in the series. Right now in the alpha version, only one planet is available, and we'll most likely get a whole system in the final version, so we gotta get ready for a massive game.
In my opinion, we're looking at a multi-layered space game that starts with system battles and leads to planetary battles. We'll have to wait and see.
Strengths and weaknesses in the alpha version
If we ignore issues like battles being too crowded or frame drops during orbital strikes—since it's just the alpha version—here are the other positives and negatives:
| Section | Status |
|---|---|
| Design and sound | Excellent and one of the game's strengths; fully pulls you into the Warhammer 40000 atmosphere |
| Special powers | Adds good variety and is very engaging |
| Planetary campaign | Could be a strong point for this Total War entry, as long as it's bigger in the final version |
| Tactical depth | Still too early to judge |
| Performance | Frame drops in big battles, but it might get fixed in the final version |
| Console | The first Total War you can play with a controller |
Final summary of the Total War Warhammer 40000 Review
What I can say at the end of this Total War Warhammer 40000 Review is that in this alpha version, you can only look at the game overall and see its basic systems. I gotta say that so far we're seeing action-packed battles, and the planetary campaigns are very engaging. Combining them with the Warhammer 40000 world adds to the appeal, but it's still a bit early to talk about performance and strategic depth—we gotta wait for newer versions. In this Game Review, I only covered the starting point of the game, and it'll be completed as more info and newer versions come out.
