Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade

At PAX Prime 2014, I sat down with Behavior Interactive’s Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade for a play session to see what was happening with the PC and current gen console PVP-centric MMO. The combat still feels fluid and fresh, from blasting away with heavy mounted turrets, cruising in tanks and vehicles, and unleashing precision melee strikes from the sky on unsuspecting targets. Note that the image shown here is from the pre-alpha work in progress version.

Our play session highlighted a small forces objective capture (In the real game, such battles would probably include hundreds of players, not six) that had the aggressors move through a death canyon under heavy fire to set up a mobile spawn point and lay siege. We had the chance to use several units, including slow moving heavies with devastating gatling weapons and speedier jetpack loadouts.

Combat is skill-based, so someone who’s quick to learn the systems should have no problem taking on veteran players with augmented loadouts. There’s blocking, block breaking, dodging, a cover system, grenades, medpacks, and a host of other systems at work during any given skirmish, and with hundreds of players engaging in each battle things the action is sure to be unending.

The game will feature Warhammer’s Ork Boyz as the free-to-play faction, a thematic choice that should be hilarious to see as the Boyz deliver their personal brand of hooligan justice to the other warring selections such as Space Marine and Eldar. The factions will constantly be attempting to take over the planet of Arkhona, with the Tyranid PVE faction acting as sort of a referee to the grand soiree, keeping pressure on the races as they extend their reach.

We’re nowhere close to a release, but with a powerful IP to draw on, responsive combat, and the prospect of thousands of players engaging in conflict at once – Warhammer 40,000 Eternal Crusade could shake things up.