"Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition is a near perfect remaster of one of the best real-time strategy games in the history of the genre, and I could not be happier with how it turned out."
As a teenager, I loved to play single-player RTS games, they offered an abducted of challenging content, insights into interesting historical and fictional settings, and modding and scenario editors allowed me to create scenarios and occasionally entire campaigns, which I did on more than one occasion.
There was something so simple and enduring about RTS games from that era, they were not flashy, or overly popular (with few exceptions), but they were made to cater to “RTS gamers” in a way that many games that came after did not.
The golden era of RTS games (1995-2005) saw some of the most iconic RTs games in history ever released, and while there have certainly been good titles since that time, the golden era was dense with amazing titles that would go on to become cornerstones of the genre.
Unfortunately in spite of the many successes of the Golden Era, in the years the end of this era, RTS games would quickly lose what made them special, as gaming become less of a nerdy hobby and gained wider public acceptance, developers began creating RTS games aimed at a wider audience of players instead of catering to fans of the RTS genre.
As a result the RTS genre, entered a period of drastic decline with far fewer beloved titles, and more catastrophic failures, until the RTS genre as a whole was viewed as a risk by major publishers, which in turn lead to less titles, fewer new fans, and an overall decay of the genre.
Thankfully throughout this time, there were still some new games being made, and some were actually pretty good, but It was not until the release of Age of the Empires II HD in 2013 did the genre start to show signs of revival.
And the rest as they say is history, with Age of the Empires II HD going on to receive 3 official expansion packs, before being superseded by Age of the Empires II: Definitive Edition, which has as of 2025 received an additional 7 major DLC packs with more on the way.
The success of Age of the Empires II HD and Age of the Empires II: Definitive Edition has lead to a full on revival of the RTS genre, leading to the remastering of many beloved titles, and the development of new titles in beloved franchises, such as Age of the Empires IV and the recently announced Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV.
As a fan of the RTS genre for over 20 years, I could not be happier with the state of the genre in 2025, something that I was not able to say for far too many years.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War was already a great game before the release of the Definitive Edition, and I will not pretend that it was not, however it was very much a game of its time, with muddy textures, poor support for high resolutions, and dated camera controls, and the Definitive Edition addresses all of these issues, improving upon a solid foundation to create a title that is both authentic to the time it was made, and more than able to go head-to-head with titles released today.
The main reason to purchase Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War – Definitive Edition is the strength of its single player content, which includes four campaigns and a skirmish mode.
Out of the 4 campaigns the original “Dawn of War” campaign is easily the best in the collection, with the expansion pack “Winter Assault” coming in a close second.
Unfortunately the 3rd and 4th campaigns lack a cohesive narrative, and instead allow players to conquer a planet in a similar fashion to Total War games, thanks to the inclusion of a turn based strategic world map.
While each faction has a unique ending, when compared to the rich narrative of the Dawn of War and Winter Assault campaigns, it all feels a little flat, despite the campaigns being rather enjoyable in and of themselves.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War – Definitive Edition’s multiplayer is not very active, and its not uncommon to find only 1-2 full lobbies when playing during off peak times.
While its possible to find s few more full lobbies during peak playtimes, I would not recommend anyone purchased Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Definitive Edition purely for the multiplayer aspect without being aware of what they are purchasing.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War – Definitive Edition offers support for 64bit modifications, allowing mod creators greater freedom that ever to expand upon their mods, in addition to maintaining legacy support for the vast majority of modifications created in the 20+ years since Dawn of War originally released in 2004.
While some Christians dislike all things Warhammer and lump it in with everything else they do not like as dangerous, evil or demonic, I feel the total reverse is true. You can read more about my views on the Warhammer universe in my blog post titled Deep Dive #7 - The Grimdark and the Light.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition is a real time strategy game developed and published by Relic Entertainment, it released on 14 August 2025, and is available exclusively on PC.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition supports the following peripherals:
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition is rated PEGI 16+ and contains:
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Definitive Edition is a fantastic game, and one which is sure to please fans of the golden era of RTS games (1995-2005) and new comers alike, due to its engaging narrative, captivating gameplay, and vivid portrayal of the Warhammer 40k universe.
Ultimately Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Definitive Edition is one of the best RTS remasters of all time, and a worthy addition to the digital library of any RTS or Warhammer 40k fan.
We found Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition to be a great game, meaning it delivers a memorable experience with only minor imperfections that don't detract from the overall enjoyment of the game.
"Age Of Empires IV proves, without a shadow of a doubt, that in the right developer's hands, a modern RTS is possible and that remastering classic titles is not the only way to ensure good RTS games in 2023."
"Stronghold: Definitive Edition is a disappointing remaster of a niche title which fails to make any meaningful improvements to Stronghold's ageing mechanics, pitiful AI, and glacial pacing."
"Despite being a less impressive release than Age of the Empires II: Definitive Edition, Age of the Empires III: Definitive Edition is still worth playing for fans of the original, even if the original is better in many ways."
