Dawn of War 3 looks grim in all the right ways

The PC Gaming show kicked off with an expanded look at Dawn of War 3, the bleak real-time strategy game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. In case you wondered how big a deal that is, there was even a real-life Space Marine on stage, bolstered by his fanatical devotion to the God-Emperor of Mankind. Honestly, you could see it in the way he waved. 

It takes place on a new planet called Acheron, named after the ancient Greek ‘river of woe.’ The new gameplay footage showed everything fans demand from a 40k game - drop pods thundering from the skies, ancient weapons for shattering alien foes and plenty of fire and death. There was also a glimpse at a huge, horribly-effective orbital laser. This can apparently be controlled by players, and it gets bigger as it does more damage. Think of it like the worm in Slither.io, but with more alien genocide. 

More details were revealed about the story mode. Players will again take control of the not-too-subtly named Gabriel Angelos - middle name David Boreanaz - the chapter master of the Blood Ravens. He’s part of a story mode which will feature three heroes, all representing different armies. The most impressive thing, though, was Lady Soleria - a hulking, heavily armoured Imperial Knight, which stomped towards the Eldar line, shredding them with gatling cannon. 

Warhammer 40, 000: Dawn of War 3 is set for release in 2017. In the meantime, you can look forward to more footage of the E3 mission on June 24th. 

Check out every announcement and full summary details on our PC Gaming Show 2016 page.

Matt Elliott
Matt is GamesRadar's senior commissioning editor. His ideal game would be a turn-based beat 'em up set in Lordran, starring Professor Layton and Nico from Broken Sword. There would also be catapults and romance.