First Look at Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online

For the Emperor!

Gaming is a competitive industry, and few genres are more competitive (or more expensive to compete in) than the massively multiplayer gaming genre. A number of high profile MMOs have crashed and burned in spectacular fashion, sometimes taking entire development houses with them. In some cases this was due to a lackluster back story and insufficient attention to character development. With that in mind, the Warhammer universe would seem to be an ideal franchise upon which to base an MMO, and indeed there is already a fantasy-themed MMO in the form of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.

The Adeptus Astartes in action

But these days the fantasy MMO genre is a crowded place, with Warhammer Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan, and World of Warcraft essentially competing for the same gamers. Some time ago a second MMO based on the sci-fi world of Warhammer 40,000 was announced.

So will the new Warhammer game live up to the hype? In truth, there hasn't been much hype at all, and hard information on the new MMO has been hard to come by. What is known is that the game is currently in development at Austin-based Vigil Games and is not slated for release for some time yet.

There has also been some speculation as to the exact nature of the gameplay, however, according to what we know so far the game will be more of an MMORPG as opposed to a MMOFPS. Among other features, there will be a reasonably in-depth combat system, with suppressive fire and flanking. The game will be set in the 41st Millennium, well after the events of the Horus Heresy and more in line with the tabletop game.

The Most Detailed MMO Characters Ever?

According to an early interview with creative director Joe Madureira, all the races important to Warhammer 40,000 lore will be represented in the game, and every race will have a distinctive feel. Responding to questions from PC Gamer in 2008 (Issue #187), Madureira said they'll be "Tons of stuff hanging off your character, weapons, scrolls... we are going to have the coolest looking characters of any MMO, ever. Once we begin releasing images, feel free to call me on that."

Well today we have the first screenshots of the game, which Vigil has officially titled Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online. So now that we have some screens to look at, how do the images compare to Madureira's early boast of about Warhammer 40,000 Online having the "coolest looking characters" of any MMO, ever? And will the game engine live up to the high expectations gamers have for this title?

In short, those questions are difficult to answer because there is still relatively little to go on. The shots we've seen so far of the Adeptus Astartes look solid, but whether the characters sport the level of detail some may have been expecting based on Madureira's remarks is a matter of some debate. Like many existing  MMOs currently on the market, Dark Millennium's artistic design has a decidedly cartoonish look to the characters and environments. In fact, the overall feel seems at least superficially reminiscent of the Dawn of War II RTS game, also based on the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Whether that's a good thing or not is largely a matter of taste. But overall it seems Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium is shaping up to be an attractive game.