Warhammer Skulls festival 2022 kicked off yesterday with a bunch of announcements and updates for some of our favorite Games Workshop titles. During yesterday’s stream, we got to take a look at a handful of new Warhammer games coming later in 2022 and beyond, including Rogue Trader, Boltgun, and more. Updates and some new footage for previously announced titles were also showcased during the stream and, of course, the Warhammer Skulls sales are back yet again.
Overall, the Warhammer Skulls 2022 showcase wasn’t necessarily mind-blowing, but it did feature some interesting announcements. Keep reading if you want to learn more about them because we’re going to break things down for you right here.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
The Warhammer Skulls showcase kicked off with a new trailer for Warhammer 40K: Darktide. Darktide is the newest Warhammer project from Fatshark, the studio that brought us Vermintide a few years back. Vermintide 2 is one of the best Warhammer Fantasy games out there and, based on what we’ve seen so far, it looks like Darktide won’t disappoint either. The gameplay looks similar, however, this one is set in the Warhammer 40K universe and will focus on gunplay and melee combat in equal measure.
A new Darktide trailer premiered yesterday that gave us another look at the hive city of Tertium. The protagonists resemble those we saw in the first trailer, but Fatshark assures us that we will be able to customize characters to our liking. Probably the main highlight of the trailer is the Psyker. Fatshark already confirmed a little while back that Darktide will have Psykers as a playable class but it was nice to finally see one in action.
Along with the new trailer, the studio also announced that pre-orders for Warhammer 40K: Darktide are now open on Steam and the Xbox Store. The Standard version of the game will only set you back $40 while the Imperial Edition costs $60. Pre-ordering either of them will land you some nice bonuses, though most of the good stuff can only be found in the Imperial Edition.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide launches on September 13th, 2022.
Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters
Despite a couple of hiccups at launch, Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters has generally been a successful game so far. The developers over at Complex Games celebrated yesterday by releasing an accolades trailer during the Warhammer Skulls festival livestream. The developers also mentioned that they are currently focused on post-launch content and revealed a new relic, the Ward Osseus, which is now available for free for all Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters players.
The Daemonhunters segment wasn’t exactly a high point of the stream but the game has been around for less than a month at this point. We shouldn’t expect to hear any major announcements regarding it for at least a few more months. If you want to check it out, Warhammer 40K is available on Steam and the Epic Games Store for $45.
Total War: Warhammer 3 Immortal Empires
After a brief promo for the Warhammer+ subscription service and the announcement of a World of Tanks x Warhammer crossover, the stream moved on to Immortal Empires. It’s no secret that Total War: Warhammer fans haven’t been particularly happy with the third entry in the series. At this point, everyone knows that Immortal Empires is the only thing that can save the game from disaster. Sure enough, developer Creative Assembly knows it too.
The developers finally showcased the Immortal Empires trailer during the Warhammer Skulls stream and it looks just as glorious as we were hoping. You’ve got Warhammer 3 factions like Cathay and the Ogre Kingdoms fighting against the Vampire Counts, Nurgle armies teaming up with Skaven forces to attack Bretonnia, and Karl Franz summoning the elector counts. The trailer even teased a couple of new units. The emperor does look a bit derpy, though.
The Immortal Empires trailer is pretty much exactly what we wanted to see from the upcoming combined map. Too bad it won’t launch until Q3. Of course, we already knew about the release window and the fact that it’s going to launch in beta thanks to the Warhammer 3 roadmap. But we were secretly hoping that CA would release it a bit sooner because the anticipation is killing us. Oh well, at least Q3 isn’t THAT far off at this point.
Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef
Next up we have Shootas, Blood & Teef, an upcoming run & gun 40K game that’s scheduled to launch sometime later this year. As you can probably tell by the name, you’re playing as an Ork in this one and your goal is essentially to run around and shoot everything that moves. You’ll get to fight humans, Genestealer cults, and other Orks while listening to heavy metal music. There’s also co-op and PvP, so this should be pretty fun.
Shootas, Blood & Teef will launch on October 20th, 2022 across all platforms. The physical version is already available to pre-order but it looks like you’re going to have to wait a bit longer before you’ll be able to pre-order the digital one. In the meantime, there’s a new and improved free demo for the game available right now on Steam as part of the Warhammer Skulls 2022 festival. Go check it out if you’re into over-the-top Warhammer-themed run & gun platformers.
Vermintide 2 Chaos Wastes Update
Vermintide 2 is the gift that keeps on giving. Despite focusing on the upcoming launch of Darktide, Fatshark still plans to support Vermintide 2 with at least one more update. Revealed during yesterday’s stream, the new update will focus on the Chaos Wastes game mode and will introduce Be’lakor along with a new level and a new enemy type to Vermintide 2.
The best part? Chaos Wastes: Be’lakor will be available for free to all owners of Vermintide 2 starting with June 14th. In the meantime, you can take part in the Skulls for the Skull Throne in-game event, which runs until June 12th. Vermintide 2 is currently available for a whopping 80% as part of the Warhammer Skulls festival so make sure to grab it if you don’t already own it.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
The highly-anticipated Space Marine 2 was of course also part of the celebrations. But I’m afraid there’s still no gameplay footage just yet. However, we did get an interesting behind-the-scenes look at the game featuring some of the lead devs and Clive Standen, the voice of protagonist Captain Titus. You may recognize Clive Standen from Vikings where he played Rollo.
The Space Marine 2 segment was a bit of a letdown, to be honest, but we still have high hopes for the game. The original Space Marine is easily one of the best Warhammer 40K games of all time and the sequel could end up being even better. But we’ll just have to wait and see. Space Marine 2 will be available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. The game doesn’t have a release date just yet.
New Blood Bowl 3 Beta
If you’ve been following our website for a while you might remember that we covered the last Blood Bowl 3 beta test back in February. We weren’t particularly impressed with the state of the game back then, but we were eager to give it another shot in the future. Well, the future is now and publisher Nacon announced the third phase of the Blood Bowl 3 beta during the Warhammer Skulls festival.
The biggest new additions in this new beta are two new formations in the form of the Chaos Renegades and the Old World Alliance. Both of these formations are comprised of players from a variety of races. The beta also introduces new pitches, each of which features special gameplay rules designed to spice things up.
Blood Bowl 3 is set to launch on PC and consoles later in 2022. The third beta test is already live and is expected to last until June 12th.
Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector Sisters of Battle Dlc
If you like turn-based strategy games set in the Warhammer 40K universe you probably already know all about Battlesector. If you don’t, now would be the perfect time to look it up because the game is currently available at 40% off and just received a major new update. Developer Slitherine also revealed that a new DLC introducing the Sisters of Battle will launch later this year. The Sisters of Battle will join existing factions like the Blood Angels, Necrons, and Tyranids.
As far as other plans for the future are concerned, the developer says that players can also expect a new game mode called Daemonic Incursion. The new game mode will launch as a free update later this year alongside the Sisters of Battle DLC.
Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War
Gladius is another Slitherine title and it just so happens to be one of the best 4X games you can play right now. Don’t believe us? You can see for yourself because the game is currently free-to-play on Steam as part of the 2022 Warhammer Skulls festival. The game will remain free for a few days longer and you can buy it for no less than 90% if you like what it has to offer. And if you already own the game, you may want to look into the new Escalation Pack DLC that came out just yesterday.
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun
Boltgun is a retro FPS that pays homage to the likes of Doom and Quake. Honestly, I’m shocked we don’t already have more Warhammer 40K games like this. Blasting demons in the face accompanied by heavy metal music in a game that looks ripped straight from the 90s sounds like a perfect combination. What else is there to say about this one? It looks fast-paced, hectic, and tons of fun. Boltgun will launch on all platforms sometime in 2023. No set release date just yet.
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
The main portion of the showcase ended with one of the most interesting announcements of the night. Developer Owlcat Games revealed Rogue Trader, a Warhammer 40K-themed cRPG. I don’t know about you but I’ve been praying to the Emperor for some more 40K RPGs for years and it looks like we’re finally getting a new one. Not just that, but Rogue Trader will be the first proper cRPG set in the Warhammer 40K universe.
Owlcat Games are no strangers to cRPGs. This is the same studio that brought us Pathfinder, one of the best isometric RPGs of all time. We already saw some pre-alpha footage of Rogue Trader during the showcase and everything looks pretty promising so far. I don’t want to spoil anything else for this one so go ahead and check out the announcement trailer for yourself down below.
Warhammer Mobile Games, Card Games, and Sales
As expected, the Warhammer Skulls showcase also featured a number of card games and mobile games. We get a handful of these every year and they’re usually not very good so we’re not going to spend a lot of time talking about them. The Warpforge CCG is probably the most interesting of the bunch but even that one looks pretty generic if we’re being honest. Aside from that, we also got a look at Tacticus, the new expansion for Horus Heresy: Legion, and a couple of other small games.
Far more interesting than card games and mobile games are the sales currently going on across most storefronts. Steam leads the way with discounts of up to 90% on a whole slew of Warhammer games and DLC. You can get particularly good deals for Vermintide 2, Gladius, Mechanicus, Inquisitor – Martyr, Battlefleet: Gothic Armada, Mordheim: City of the Damned and Total War: Warhammer 2 and its many DLC packs. Seriously, that game has a ton. We even made a Warhammer 2 DLC guide.
Likewise, you can head over to the Epic Games Store and GOG to find even more great deals. GOG is even giving away a free Digital Goodies Pack to celebrate the Warhammer Skulls festival. Among other things, the pack includes wallpapers, an art book, and the original Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate for free.
