Total War: Warhammer 40,000
Total War enters the 41st Millennium with galactic-scale strategy.
Creative Assembly / Sega · via Wikipedia: Total War: Warhammer 40,000 · Fair use
Total War: Warhammer 40,000 is an upcoming strategy video game from developer Creative Assembly and publisher Sega. It blends turn-based campaign management with real-time tactical battles, and is the first entry in the Total War series to leave the fantasy realm for the far-future setting of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe.
The game was announced on December 11, 2025, at The Game Awards, with a trailer featuring actor David Harbour, a known Warhammer 40,000 fan, who will portray a character in the game. It is slated for release on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, launching with four playable factions: Space Marines, Astra Militarum, Orks, and Aeldari.
Creative Assembly described the project as a long-term endeavor, intended to expand over multiple years with additional factions, heroes, war machines, and worlds. The goal is to create "the ultimate game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe," building a galactic sandbox that brings more of the setting's iconic forces into play.
The story takes place during the Era Indomitus, after the Fall of Cadia and the formation of the Great Rift. The Imperium of Man is split between Imperium Sanctus and Imperium Nihilus, and the game features the war-torn planet Armageddon, a key battleground between the Imperium and the Orks.
Gameplay combines the classic Total War campaign structure with futuristic warfare. Players command armies across a galactic sandbox, managing planets, resources, fleets, diplomacy, and military expansion, while fighting large-scale real-time battles. New elements include ranged combat, armored vehicles, orbital bombardments, psychic abilities, and army customization. Battles occur across war-torn worlds with faction-specific units and abilities, and planetary campaigns are divided into regions with different biomes—arid, temperate, ice, and waste worlds—that affect terrain and combat. Battle maps are large-scale and can be heavily altered by destruction, allowing players to remove buildings, create new sightlines, and reshape the battlefield. Orbital fleets can also provide devastating bombardments during ground fights.
Rather than developing a trilogy, Creative Assembly plans to support the initial game with major releases and downloadable content over time. Total War: Warhammer 40,000 is scheduled for release in 2027.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Total War: Warhammer 40,000
- Developer
- Creative Assembly
- Publisher
- Sega
- Series
- Total War · Warhammer 40,000
- Platforms
- Windows · PlayStation 5 · Xbox Series X/S
- Released
- 2027
- Genre
- Turn-based strategy, real-time tactics
- Modes
- Single-player, multiplayer
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Total War: Warhammer 40,000 was officially announced on 11 December 2025 during The Game Awards 2025, with a reveal trailer featuring David Harbour, a Warhammer 40,000 fan, who was announced to portray a character in the game. Creative Assembly described the project as an expansion of the traditional Total War formula, combining strategic campaigns, cinematic battles, and player-driven choices with the scale of galactic warfare. The game is being developed as a long-term project, with plans to expand it over multiple years through additional factions, heroes, war machines, and worlds from the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
The game is set during the Era Indomitus period, following the Fall of Cadia and the creation of the Great Rift, a time of renewed conflict across the galaxy with the Imperium of Man divided between Imperium Sanctus and Imperium Nihilus. The planet Armageddon, one of the most significant war zones in the setting, features in the conflict involving forces of the Imperium of Man and the Orks. Creative Assembly aims to create 'the ultimate game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe', with future content expanding the game's galactic sandbox and bringing more of the setting's iconic forces into the game.
Reader's Guide
Total War: Warhammer 40,000 represents a major shift for the Total War series, moving from fantasy to science-fantasy and introducing the franchise to the vast Warhammer 40,000 setting. The game combines the traditional Total War campaign structure with futuristic warfare, allowing players to command armies across a galactic sandbox, managing planets, resources, fleets, diplomacy, and military expansion while engaging in large-scale real-time battles. Key gameplay features include ranged combat, armored vehicles, orbital bombardments, psychic abilities, destructive war machines, and army customization, with battles taking place across war-torn worlds featuring faction-specific units, vehicles, and strategic abilities.
Planetary campaigns are divided into regions across different biomes—arid, temperate, ice, and waste worlds—with terrain and civilization density affecting battlefield layouts and combat. Large-scale battle maps are designed to reflect the vast scale of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and environments can be heavily altered through destruction, allowing players to remove buildings, create new lines of sight, destroy cover, and reshape battlefields. Orbital fleets can provide support through devastating bombardments during ground engagements. Creative Assembly planned to use the game as a long-term sandbox, with major releases and downloadable content built on the initial game rather than developing it as a trilogy. Following its announcement, journalists described the game as a natural successor to the Total War: Warhammer trilogy and highlighted the challenges of adapting the large-scale, galaxy-spanning setting to the Total War formula.
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