Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

📰 Title:	Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II	🕹️ / 🛠️ Type:	Game
🗃️ Genre:	Strategy	👁️ Visual:	Free-roaming camera
🏷️ Category:	Strategy ➤ Top-Down Fight of Units ➤ Squad-Based ➤ Warhammer	🏝️ Perspective:	Bird's-eye view
🔖 Tags:	Strategy; Tactical; Action RPG; Non-linear; War; Warhammer 40K; Games Workshop; Sci-fi; Fantasy; Gore; Atmospheric; Co-op	⏱️ Pacing:	Real Time
🐣️ Approx. start:	2009-02-19	👫️ Played:	Single & Multi
🐓️ Latest:	2009-02-19	🚦 Status:	04. Released (status)
📍️ Version:	Latest: 20090219	❤️ Like it:	9. ⏳️
🏛️ License type:	💰 Commercial	🎀️ Quality:	7. ⏳️
🏛️ License:	Commercial	✨️ (temporary):
🐛️ Created:	2016-09-24	🐜️ Updated:	2024-06-22

📰 What's new?:		👔️ Already shown:
💡 Lights on:		💭️ New version published (to be updated):
🎨️ Significant improvement:		🦺️ Work in progress:
🎖️ This work:		🚧️ Some work remains to be done:
👫️ Contrib.:	goupildb & Louis	👻️ Temporary:
🎰️ ID:	15094

📜️[en]:	A real-time strategy-tactical role-playing game taking place in the sinister science fiction universe of Warhammer. It’s the 41st Millennium in the Sub-Sector Aurelia, a cluster of worlds on the edge of the Milky Way, where a battle of epic proportions is about to begin. As a newly promoted Force Commander of the Blood Ravens Chapter, it is your privilege to lead crack squads of Space Marines into battle against the forces of Orks, Tyranids and Eldar that threaten the Imperium of Man.	📜️[fr]:	La suite du jeu éponyme, et un mixe entre un RTS et un jeu d'Action-RPG, prenant place dans l'univers de Warhammer, dans le 41e millénaire, dans le sous-secteur Aurelia - un groupe de mondes sur le bord de la Voie lactée, dans lequel une bataille est sur le point de commencer. Le joueur y incarne le Commandant des Forces du Blood Ravens Chapter, à la tête des escadrons d'élite des Space Marines dans une bataille contre les forces des Orques, des Tyranides et Eldar qui menacent l'Imperium de l'Humanité.

📕 Description [en]

📜️ "A real-time strategy-tactical role-playing game, taking place in the world of Warhammer 40,000" 📜️ .

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.

The sinister science fiction universe of Warhammer® 40,000® comes to savage life with Dawn of War® II on Mac and Linux.

It’s the 41st Millennium in the Sub-Sector Aurelia, a cluster of worlds on the edge of the Milky Way, where a battle of epic proportions is about to begin. As a newly promoted Force Commander of the Blood Ravens Chapter, it is your privilege to lead crack squads of Space Marines into battle against the forces of Orks, Tyranids and Eldar that threaten the Imperium of Man.

Driven by an innovative campaign narrative steeped in the lore of Warhammer 40,000, armies of technologically advanced warriors wage brutal war against remorseless enemies in a series of addictively fast-paced and visceral combat missions.

Chaos Rising

Fight fear. Fight temptation.
Fight the Chaos within.

Chaos Rising is set one year after the events of Dawn of War II. Aurelia, long-lost home world of the Blood Ravens Space Marines, has re-emerged from the Warp. A realm of pure psychic energy, the Warp is the final resting place of the spirits of the dead and home to the Chaos Gods and their malevolent daemons.

Once a verdant jewel, Aurelia is now an ice-bound wasteland harboring dark secrets and deadly new enemies. Take command of the Blood Ravens to free Aurelia from Chaos, even while treacherous forces work from within to destroy you.

Retribution

Determine the fate of Sub-Sector Aurelia.

Retribution is set ten years after the events of Chaos Rising and presents a new threat to the Imperium of Man. Azariah Kyras, Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens Space Marines, has become Corrupted and must be destroyed before he ascends to daemonhood and drags Sub-Sector Aurelia ever more deeply under the dread influence of Chaos.

Command one of six races in a campaign that ranges across all the planets in Sub-Sector Aurelia, from the jungles of Typhon Primaris to the planetary metropolis of Meridian and on to the dead world of Cyrene.

🌍️ Wikipedia (Dawn of War II):

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is a real-time strategy-tactical role-playing video game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ for Microsoft Windows based on the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe. It is the sequel to the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War video game series. Dawn of War II was released in North America on February 19, 2009 and in Europe on February 20, 2009. A sequel, Dawn of War III, was announced in May 2016.

Gameplay

Playable armies at the initial release of the game include the Space Marines, Orks, Eldar, and Tyranids. The Chaos Space Marines and the Imperial Guard were later added to the game through its two expansion packs.

The gameplay of Dawn of War II is markedly different from that of Dawn of War and its expansions, especially considering that building your own bases is completely removed. Jonny Ebbert, the game's lead designer, describes the feel of the game by saying that it "takes everything that was great about the original and combines it with the best that Company of Heroes had to offer." There is a heavier focus on cover, which gives more substantial defensive bonuses. Accordingly, there is also new emphasis on methods of dealing with units in cover. Some weapons, such as grenades and other explosives, can destroy cover, while others, such as flamers, ignore cover bonuses completely. Other differences between Dawn of War II and its predecessors include improved unit AI (squads under fire seek cover, for example), more realistically sized vehicles, and an improved physics engine, though the ai is easy to manipulate, by means such as placing suppression squads which the ai will instantly know have been placed and avoid, thus allowing you to funnel the army to your needs. This game also includes a fall back command which the ai will use somewhat liberally, making the squad or command unit fall back at a higher speed and become resistant to range damage while being more vulnerable to melee.

As a Games for Windows - Live game, the game uses the Achievements system from Xbox LIVE, and is the first widely released, PC-exclusive game to use it. Because of this, a player must be able to connect to the Windows Live servers in order to access the game's multiplayer features. The game also requires authentication via Steam. On June 17 2014, an optional update was released that removes Games for Windows Live and the now defunct Gamespy multiplayer servers for Steam solutions, including Steam Cloud.

Campaign

Dawn of War II features a non-linear interplanetary campaign, playable as the Space Marines. The campaign can be played either as single-player or cooperatively with another player through an online connection.

The game's campaign departs from those of its predecessors in several key features. One of the most notable departures is that there are no base-building elements, unlike in previous Dawn of War titles. Instead, the player chooses the units to be used prior to beginning a mission, cannot build new units once the mission begins, and has only limited reinforcement options.

A major part of the campaign lies in choosing which battles and even planets to fight in, and there are consequences regarding which missions are chosen. There may be multiple distress calls to answer, for example, each available for only a limited duration. Once a mission is chosen, the player may still have to choose between various objectives, having to decide between saving civilians or obtaining a powerful piece of wargear, for example.

Once a war zone and mission is selected, the player chooses only four squads to take part in the coming battle. Each squad is unique in its combat specialty, personality, and even the voice acting of its squad leader or sergeant. There is a strong narrative focus on the sergeants of these squads who can increase in experience and skills as the campaign progresses, and cannot ultimately be killed. Rather than dying in a mission, squad leaders are "knocked out" and can be revived either by a friendly unit in close proximity or upon completing the mission.

The campaign includes many elements traditionally associated with RPG-style games. Squad leaders and commander units can be equipped with the wargear which is gathered from battlefields and slain enemies and by accomplishing objectives during missions. Throughout the campaign, as a Space Marine kills enemies and achieves objectives, he gains experience, "levels up", learns new abilities, and gains bonuses.

Squads

Force Commander: The player-named Force Commander leads the strike force throughout the game and is the one "squad" that always deploys. The youngest Force Commander in the history of the Blood Ravens, he earned a reputation for his ability to command in situations that would have broken other leaders. The Force Commander is never heard speaking outside of battle, where he can be heard shouting the generic battle cry "For the Emperor!" when using the "Rally!" ability, making him an almost silent protagonist. The character is the most versatile one, and can be customized to fulfill most roles. He can use almost any weapon and equipment, save for a few squad-specific items.

Tarkus: Tarkus leads a squad of 3 Tactical Marines, who fulfill the "Tank" role by drawing enemy fire and soaking up damage. Tarkus can wield a variety of ranged weapon, from bolters to plasma guns and flamers, and his squadmates can be upgraded to use plasma weapons as well. With investment in the "Melee" skill tree, the Tactical Marines can switch to close range weapon, but that reduces their ranged capabilities. The Tactical Marines are potentially the most durable squad and a great addition in any mission. A veteran of countless battles, Tarkus' professional, confident, seen-it-all demeanor makes him a model Space Marine Sergeant.

Avitus: Avitus leads a squad of 2 Devastators, heavy weapon specialists. The squad is specialized in suppressing enemies, reducing their movement and firing accuracy. The squad members use enormous heavy bolters, and Avitus can switch to missile launchers or a plasma cannon when enemy heavy vehicles are expected. Devastator squad ranks highest in terms of raw damage and suppression abilities, although they lack in mobility and melee combat capabilities.

Thaddeus: Thaddeus leads a squad of 2 Assault Marines who specialize in close quarter combat and use jump packs for rapid assault, breaking enemy entrenchments. His squad almost exclusively uses melee weapons, and refocusing to ranged combat is costly and ineffective. A former ganger on Meridian, Thaddeus was the first recruit from that planet in decades, and, although over 80 years old, is considered young and inexperienced compared to his fellow Sergeants, all veterans of several centuries. The process of Space Marine maturation, from a brash fighter into a cold-blooded warrior, is discussed after one of the missions.

Cyrus: Cyrus leads a squad of 2 Scouts who specialize in stealth and infiltration. While Scouts are equipped with the ubiquitous bolters by default, and Cyrus can be trained to use flamers, their most effective weapons are unique to the squad - combat shotguns and sniper rifles. Cyrus also gains a special ability depending on the weapon he wields, for example the "Headshot" skill for sniper rifles. The camouflage ability allows the squad to scout ahead undetected and, when upgraded, to deploy traps and explosives without compromising themselves. They are vital in missions where a direct confrontation is ill-advised.

Davian Thule: After being critically injured by a Tyranid warrior, Davian Thule is placed in stasis until his condition is stabilized. Afterwards, due to his grievous injuries, he cannot fully recover, and instead becomes a Dreadnought - a cybernetic combat walker. Although powerful, Thule is slow and more vulnerable to anti-vehicle weapons and explosives. His default armament - a pair of arms ending in massive power fists, with a flamer fixed under one of them - is geared for melee. However, by replacing one of the arms with an assault cannon, Thule can be turned into a devastating ranged unit.

Skirmish

Dawn of War II includes a skirmish game as well, playable either as single-player or multiplayer, and uses the Games for Windows - Live online gaming service for multiplayer games and matchmaking.

Prior to a match, a player chooses a faction and one of the chosen faction's three commanders. The various commanders are used to complement different strategies. For example, a player who chooses the Space Marine army can choose among the offense-oriented Force Commander, the support-oriented Apothecary, and the defense-oriented Techmarine.

Unlike most contemporary real-time strategy games, including Dawn of War, most of the unit and research production in Dawn of War II is done from an army's headquarters building, and unit upgrades are performed on the field of battle itself. The focus in the game is on frontline combat and unit-based tactics rather than the more traditional base-building style popularized in titles like Command & Conquer and the Age of Empires series.

There are only two game modes in the skirmish game thus far. There is the standard Victory Point Control mode where the key to winning is controlling the critical victory points on the map until your opponent's victory points run down to zero, and in unranked custom matches there is also the annihilation mode where players attempt to completely destroy their opponents' units and structures. In both modes, players fight to control requisition and power nodes which supply factions with required resources. In online ranked play, players compete in 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3 matches. Annihilation games are not supported for ranked play.

The Last Stand

On October 14, 2009 Relic released a new game mode (as part of their 1.8.0 patch) for Dawn of War II, called The Last Stand. Players take control of either a Space Marine Captain, an Eldar Farseer or an Ork Mekboy, and co-operate with two other players in order to take on waves of AI controlled units. With the release of Chaos Rising, the Tyranid Hive Tyrant and Chaos Space Marine Sorcerer were also made playable. As the players play, they gain experience points which unlocks 'wargear' for their character. This was further improved with the release of Retribution which added an Imperial Lord General to the fray. A new DLC emerged giving players a chance to use the Shas'O Tau commander. Later on in March 2016 a brand new DLC was announced and released as part of a 5th birthday in which the Necron Overlord became playable.

Plot

The game opens with the player and Sergeant Tarkus deep-striking onto the desert planet Calderis to aid Captain Davian Thule and his initiates. As they drive away the Orks they are confronted by Mek Badzappa and his wartrukk. Although the Mek escapes, the Space Marines collapse the mine through which they are coming and achieve victory. After this they strike from the cruiser Armageddon into a hamlet where Scout Sergeant Cyrus is waiting for them. They manage to fight their way to the defender of the hamlet, Sergeant Avitus, rescue him and save the hamlet from Orks.

After this they receive word that Orks have attacked two more key locations and assume someone is leading them. The first attack is led by a Stormboyz Nob named Skykilla and the second by Warboss Gutrencha. After this the Marines obtain information from Skykilla and Gutrencha and find that both have visited Felhammer Mine recently. They also learn that Mek Badzappa is there as well. However Cyrus remains on board the Armageddon to provide technical support. When they enter the mine they see a Warp Spider Exarch and his retinue vanish, and the Space Marines are rescued from Ork gunners by Sergeant Thaddeus. They also find Badzappa and his platoon under attack by an Eldar Warlock and a company of Guardians. Badzappa used a specialized goggle and saw that Eldar were deceiving them by thinking that they were Orks. Apparently, the Eldar planned to use the Orks because there is a bigger threat. Although they kill the Warlock, the Mek escapes once again. As the Warlock dies he speaks of a greater foe threatening them all, but the heroes remain unconcerned.

They travel to the jungle planet of Typhon Primaris to stop Eldar activity. A Warp Spider Exarch is stirring up the Orks into revolt and must be eliminated. He mentions nothing of the so-called "greater foe" but Thule asks them to return to Calderis as Mek Badzappa is launching an attack against the capital, and citizens are reporting plants mutating and small purple creatures killing livestock. This was the "greater threat" the Eldar Warlock talked about. The Tyranids are feared since they devour worlds for the so-called biomass. The Space Marines arrive and finally kill the Mek, but they are soon attacked by the Tyranids. Thule is mortally wounded by a Tyranid Warrior and Techmarine Martellus leads them back to safety after they destroy the Tyranid attack force.

The Space Marines return to Typhon, leaving Apothecary Gordian in charge of Thule. They kill the Eldar ranger Nemerian, who has been stirring up trouble, and return to Calderis to kill the Tyranid Warrior that mortally wounded Captain Thule.

After this they are voxed by Captain Gabriel Angelos (the protagonist of the first game) who tells them that he is bringing his company to aid them in their battle to stop the Tyranids, and gives them the three primary objectives of the game. To gain victory they must: gather a pure sample of Tyranid bio-toxin, so that poison can be created (and an antidote to possibly save Captain Thule's life); secure a long-lost Astronomic Array on Typhon, which can find a weakness in the Tyranid Hive Fleet; and gain control of the Angel Forge on the hive world of Meridian, the sector capital, to mass-produce the poisoned weaponry to arm Thule's ships. These can be completed in any order desired. Securing the Astronomic Array will grant the player orbital bombardment and deep-strike, defending Angel Forge will allow Sergeant Tarkus to use Terminator Armour, and gathering the bio-toxin will allow the grievously injured Captain Thule to fight on as a Dreadnought. Meridian is the target of constant Eldar attacks and it is slowly revealed that Idranel, a Farseer of Ulthwé, has been planning to lure the entire Tyranid fleet to Meridian and then destroy it, thus stopping the Tyranid threat and protecting their Craftworld but destroying a planet with population in excess of 32 billion Imperial citizens.

Upon completion of all three objectives, the Tyranid poison is ready for delivery. However, Captain Angelos's ship Litany of Fury and the rest of his fleet are psychically assaulted by the Hive Mind and are in grave danger of becoming lost in the Warp. This effectively takes the reinforcements out of the picture - but the Hive Mind is weakened from the exertion and goes to planet Typhon to feed. The player's entire strike team deploys on the planet and administers the poison to the Hive Mind through its feeder tendrils. In the space battle above, the Armageddon is destroyed and Gordian is killed.

As the poison takes effect, all appears lost as the strike team has no means of retreat and massive waves of Tyranids are preparing to attack. Suddenly, Captain Gabriel Angelos and the entire 4th Company drop in. Angelos leads the player and their forces to attack the Hive Tyrant Alpha, delivering the coup de grâce to the Hive Fleet. As the Tyranids are defeated Gabriel reflects on how the Emperor created the Space Marines to battle the untold horrors of the galaxy, warriors who would fight to the death to defend mankind, and how you and your strike force are those warriors.

🌍️ Wikipedia (Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising):

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising is a real-time strategy video game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ, and the sequel expansion of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II. The game was released on March 11, 2010 for Games for Windows.

Chaos Space Marines are introduced in the game and all the races in the previous game (Space Marines, Eldar, Orks, and Tyranids) were given new units.

The game predominantly takes place on the ice-covered home-world of the Blood Ravens, Aurelia. Gabriel Angelos explains Aurelia was lost to the Warp for a thousand years, but has now reappeared along with an active Blood Ravens' beacon.

Campaign

Chaos Rising is set one year after the events of Dawn of War II and the defeat of the Tyranid invasion (as well as the Eldar and Ork forces) of sub-sector Aurelia. The campaign marks the return of the Blood Raven heroes from the previous game, the Chaos Lord Eliphas from Dark Crusade, Derosa as the new governor of Meridian, and the heretical Vandis.

New to Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising is the Corruption System. In the campaign there are often multiple objectives which will complete a mission; depending on which one a player chooses to complete, they will become more or less corrupted. Corruption describes how close the player's Marines (i.e. the Force Commander, Jonah and the rest of the Squads under the player's command except for Davian Thule, who is the only member unaffected by corruption) are to turning to Chaos and betraying the Imperium of man. This is a conscious choice in the gameplay and will affect the ending of the game as well as what missions are available throughout the campaign for the player.

Two new environments are available in Chaos Rising to complement the three already available (the jungle/swamp terrain of Typhon, the deserts and canyons of Calderis, and the towering Gothic city-scape of Meridian). The new environments are:

• Aurelia - Once a verdant world, home to billions of humans and the jewel of the sector. One thousand years ago, the planet was engulfed in a warp-storm (a stellar disturbance where the Chaotic dimension known as the Warp meets real space), causing the fertile world to become a frigid wasteland. After this, the planet disappeared into the warp entirely. After a millennium, Aurelia has re-emerged with the forces of Chaos. This planet is the playground of the Dark Gods: Khorne, Tzeentch, Slaanesh and Nurgle.
• The Judgment Of Carrion - A Space Hulk, a giant derelict ghost ship (in some cases they are made up of many different ships or even parts of small asteroids and space stations) which floats randomly in and out of the Warp. Often hundreds or thousands of years old, Space Hulks can contain any sort of horrors and treasures. In Chaos Rising, the Judgment of Carrion has emerged from the Warp along with Aurelia and is inhabited by a splinter of a Tyranid Hive Fleet and within this ship lies many secrets.

Plot

The Force Commander and his strike force arrive on Aurelia, along with the newly requisitioned Strike Cruiser Retribution (replacing the Armageddon, destroyed over Typhon Primaris in the previous game), after receiving a Blood Ravens encoded distress signal. The distress signal turns out to be a trap, and the Blood Ravens are ambushed by traitor Guardsmen of House Vandis, the militia of the former governor of the subsector. After escaping the trap and leaving the area, the Force Commander and the Dreadnought Davian Thule move to rescue the Librarian Jonah Orion, who is under attack by Eldar forces that have unearthed ancient ruins and revived Wraithguards.

After receiving a distress call from newly installed Governor Elena Derosa, who had aided them against Vandis in the original campaign, the Blood Ravens proceed to Meridian's Angel Gate where bands of Orks, driven there by House Vandis forces, are looting the area. They later encounter Chaos Space Marines of the Black Legion who are attempting to take over Angel Forge, led by Eliphas the Inheritor, a former Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers who was believed to have been killed on Kronus in Dark Crusade. After halting the Chaos raid, a combined Imperial Guard-Blood Ravens strike force returns to Aurelia to attack Legion forces dug into the area. Resisting intense artillery barrages from House Vandis forces and wave upon wave of cultists, the Blood Ravens discover a Chaos Temple and after a gruesome battle against summoned Daemons, destroy it completely. Taunting them throughout their struggles is Araghast the Pillager, the Chaos Lord commanding the Black Legion forces.

After the Chaos Temple falls, the warp begins to tear the planet asunder which forces them to make an immediate evacuation. Araghast allows the Force Commander and his strike force to escape, and tells Eliphas that his vengeance can wait. Aboard the Retribution, a recording was found that implicates a traitor within the Chapter who gave Araghast's forces the transmitting codes that were used to ambush the Blood Ravens when they first arrived on Aurelia. The Blood Ravens then return to Meridian to aid the 85th Vendoland in recapturing Spire Legis. With the help of Sergeant Thaddeus (who requested to be on the mission, originally hailing from that region), they successfully weaken the Chaos and Heretic forces holding the area. They also destroy an Eldar strike force that was uncovering ancient ruins on Typhon with Sergeant Tarkus. After dispatching numerous problems, Space Marine Scouts on Calderis send out a distress call that they have been engaged by a substantial number of Chaos forces. With the help of Sergeant Cyrus, they save the initiates from certain death and kill a Chaos Sorcerer operating in the area. Soon after, a contingent of the Blood Ravens Honor Guard, led by Captain Apollo Diomedes, arrives. Diomedes, acting on behalf of the Blood Ravens' Chapter Master and Chief Librarian, Azariah Kyras, orders all Blood Ravens to cease all engagements with the Black Legion forces and return to their ships until further ordered.

Disgruntled by the orders but still loyal, the Blood Ravens return to the Retribution. Several highly encrypted transmissions are intercepted. However, despite their best efforts they are unable to fully dissipate the message's masking. Techmarine Martellus, having survived the Tyranid invasion, accesses the Astronomic Array on Typhon. He reports that he has recovered detailed information about the arrivals and departures of a giant Space Hulk, the Judgment of Carrion. The Space Hulk contains a logic engine system that is powerful enough to remove the masking on the intercepted messages. Meanwhile, investigating how heretic forces had duplicated a Blood Ravens signal, Cyrus is able to discover that the traitor is aboard the Retribution.

When the Space Hulk arrives as Martellus predicted, the Blood Ravens find the ship infested by a splinter of the Tyranid Hive fleet. The foul taint of the Warp also permeates the vessel, cutting their stay aboard extremely short. Not far into the Space Hulk, they discover the bodies of fallen Blood Ravens of the Fifth Company; mysteriously their gene-seeds have been prepared but not collected and stored by an Apothecary. Raising even more questions, the names of the fallen Marines are still marked as on-duty within the Chapter Honor Guard. After much progression throughout the ship, slaughtering innumerable amounts of feral Tyranids and recovering the remaining gene-seed with Librarian Jonah Orion, the Blood Ravens finally gain access into a large sealed vault that contains the logic engine system. Inside, numerous Space Marine corpses strew the floor, each puzzlingly with their gene-seeds prepared but not collected. While accessing the logic engine, they find a dataslate written by Apothecary Galan that details the expedition he and fellow Marines made onto the Space Hulk.

Galan was part of the expeditionary group led by the then-Librarian Azariah Kyras. The message contains references to a Daemon named Ulkair that was stalking them within the ship. The Daemon is seeking their gene-seed which compelled Apothecary Galan to try and hide them. Galan worries however that, eventually, the subtle whisperings of the Daemon might overcome them, he also worries for Kyras who has exerted much of his psychic strength in fending off the Daemon and his minions. Kyras seems apathetic about the death of his Battle Brothers and slight hints are made from Galan's description of events that point at slight corruption on his part.

Leaving the Space Hulk and allowing Martellus to analyze the newly acquired logic engine to unmasked messages of the traitor, the Blood Ravens answer to yet another distress signal from Governor Derosa. Chaos Forces have besieged the capital city of Meridian and are assaulting the Governor's palace itself. The Force Commander goes to the defense of the Governor and beats back multiple waves of Black Legion and Vandis Heretic forces on the palace's doorstep. The Blood Ravens receive a transmission on their private voice channels from Araghast the Pillager, mocking them and challenging them along with Sergeant Avitus to a duel. The Blood Ravens, despite orders from Diomedes, return to the chosen battlefield of Aurelia to answer Araghast's challenge. Araghast teleports away from the Blood Ravens using warp portals conjured with the aid of Eliphas, who begrudgingly serves as the Chaos Lord's lieutenant. As the Commander and his forces gained the upper hand, Araghast calls for Eliphas to open another portal to help him escape, but Eliphas betrays Araghast and refuses, leaving a furious Araghast to the mercy of the Blood Ravens. With Araghast slain, Eliphas takes command of the Black Legion forces.

Enthralled by the silencing of Araghast, the Blood Ravens remark the fitting end that a leader of traitors was, ironically, destroyed thanks to a traitor. Martellus, analyzing copious amounts of data, reports to the Force Commander that Apothecary Galan is still alive and also within the Honor Guard of the Blood Ravens. They also find yet another coded transmission from the traitor to Galan. But despite the threat posed by Chaos, Captain Diomedes orders all the Blood Ravens to leave the sub-sector immediately. Gabriel Angelos, unwilling to simply leave the Blood Ravens recruiting worlds to be corrupted by Chaos, orders the Force Commander and his squads to disregard Diomedes' orders. Angelos travels to Calderis where Diomedes is operating out of, and confronts him regarding the retreat order. Diomedes, acting in the name of Kyras, declares Angelos and his men traitors to the Chapter, and sends out a notice to all Blood Ravens to kill him on sight.

Knowing that Gabriel is no traitor, the Force Commander and his squads infiltrate Captain Diomedes's fire-base on Calderis. Within, they locate Apothecary Galan along with a host of Honor Guards that they find have all been corrupted by the forces of Chaos. The strike force attacks Galan and defeats him; in his dying moments, the Apothecary thanks them for freeing him from the influence of Chaos and tells them that everyone who had gone aboard the Judgment of Carrion had been corrupted, along with most of the men in the fire-base. Only Captain Diomedes himself is found to be pure of corruption, but is blinded by his pride. The strike force proceeds to the Honor Guard's Command Center where they hope to access its logs to expose the traitor on the Retribution. The Command Center is unfortunately destroyed and Captain Diomedes appears on the scene, branding the Commander and his men as heretics for what they have just done. The Commander and his squad explain to Diomedes what had transpired and the events on board the Judgment of Carrion. Diomedes was shocked to hear about it, along with the name of the daemon, and allows them to escape. Meanwhile, logs from Galan's dataslate that was found on board the Judgment of Carrion reveal that Kyras had fallen to Chaos long before the expedition. In addition, the Daemon Ulkair was imprisoned on Aurelia and they finally realize that Eliphas is planning to release him.

On Aurelia, Eliphas explains that just before the planet was taken by the Warp long ago, Kyras managed to imprison Ulkair after Kyras' master Moriah was killed in battle. Soon after, the warp descended upon the planet taking both Kyras and the Planet. Kyras, trapped within the warp, made a deal with Ulkair to guarantee his escape; Kyras returned centuries later aboard the Judgment of Carrion. Eliphas then sacrifices a captured Blood Raven scout and a plague champion to release Ulkair, a Great Unclean One - a Greater Daemon of Nurgle, the Chaos god of plague and decay. Ulkair thanks Eliphas for releasing him and promises him more power and control under its service. As the player and his squad return to Aurelia, they discover the identity of the traitor. (Note: The traitor varies based on the Corruption level of the squads under the player's control. The one with the highest Corruption is the traitor, but if none of the player squads are corrupted, the traitor is Techmarine Martellus.) The traitor immediately leaves the Retribution and joins with the Chaos force on the ground, and the Commander leads his loyal squads in pursuit to destroy him.

After they kill the traitor, he tells them that Ulkair has been revived and confirms that Kyras was corrupted by Chaos. Gabriel arrives with his battle barge, the Litany of Fury, and is informed by the Commander and his men of the traitor and the corruption of Kyras. Gabriel, wasting no time, launches a grand assault upon the ancient Blood Ravens chapter keep on Aurelia, where Kyras bound Ulkair. Making use of Predator tanks to secure a beachhead, numerous Chaos bases are destroyed as the Force Commander and his squad gather to assault Ulkair. As they begin to approach the Daemon, they are intercepted by Eliphas, who guards the only way to reach Ulkair. Before they can deal a killing blow, Eliphas is saved by the warp and escapes death yet again, leaving the Commander and his forces free to battle Ulkair. In a long and difficult battle, the Daemon is finally vanquished and sealed again. However, Ulkair remarks that no prison may hold him forever and that he will eventually return and slaughter them all.

Back aboard the Litany of Fury, Gabriel declares their victory over the Black Legion and Ulkair the Unclean One. He tells though of the greater challenges that await them, since Azariah Kyras has been corrupted by Chaos, the only thing that the Blood Ravens may do now is slay him. Gabriel then speaks to the Commander and his squad about their actions (which depends on the Corruption level of the Commander and his squads, and whether they chose to redeem Captain Diomedes or slay him on Calderis). Meanwhile, Eliphas awakens in a prison of some sort, where he is met by Warmaster Abaddon, the lord of the Black Legion. As Abaddon advances on him, Eliphas swears that as he promised, the Blood Ravens will fall.

Ending

Once the player reaches the end of the game, it gives out five endings that the player may receive depending on the player's redemption and corruption levels.

• Full Purity - If the player does all the redemption missions and kills Apothecary Galan and not Captain Diomedes, and only one of your squad leaders was corrupted before turning the traitor, the player's character and his squads will act as Agents of Purification within the Chapter and with the help of Gabriel and Diomedes after learning the truth about the Corruption within the Blood Ravens. The player's character is bestowed the position of Brother Captain of the Fourth Company.
• Purity - If the player kills Galan and spares Diomedes, but the corruption level of your squads is above zero, Gabriel commends the player character for being willing to oppose Kyras' command and for purging the corruption within his ranks, and calls for a rallying of others in the Chapter with similar courage to oppose Kyras and the forces of Chaos.
• Neutral - If the player does both redemption and corruption in all of the missions (Killing all the Blood Ravens, and not killing both Diomedes and Galan), the player's character will be banished from the chapter and exiled to the Eye of Terror for a hundred years and sentenced to pay for his sins with his blood or the blood of his enemies.
• Corruption - If the player has greater corruption points than his redemption, player's character will be executed for heresy by Gabriel using his Thunder Hammer.
• Full Corruption - If the player does all of the corruption missions and has a full level of corruption in all of his squads, the player's character becomes the next Chaos Lord of the Black Legion war-band on Aurelia.

Canonical Ending

In the Space Marine Campaign in Dawn of War II: Retribution, it's revealed that Apollo Diomedes is alive and still serves under Chapter Master Kyras, but still refuses to believe that the Chapter Master serves Chaos although he was convinced of his honor guard's corruption on Calderis. Tactical Sergeant Tarkus reveals that the traitor of the Force Commander's strike-force was Devastator Sergeant Avitus, who served with him on Kronus. After he slew Avitus, Tarkus makes an oath of silence and is dubbed as "The Ancient". Scout Sergeant Cyrus, Techmarine Martellus and Librarian Jonah Orion still serve under Captain Gabriel Angelos and Captain Davian Thule was killed in the prologue mission of the Chaos Campaign (non-canonical) but does not appear in any other campaign. Assault Sergeant Thaddeus was never mentioned, probably still serving the Force Commander, who was marked as a renegade by Kyras.

Multiplayer

The Last Stand

The Chaos Sorcerer and the Tyranid Hive Tyrant will be added to the current selection of The Last Stand heroes.

New units and/or upgrades

All new units and upgrades for the four pre-existing races in Dawn of War II will be available to players who only own the original Dawn of War II, upon the release of Chaos Rising - with the exception of the Chaos Faction for those who do not own Chaos Rising.
Chaos

Commander Units

• Chaos Lord – Offense Commander, affiliated with Khorne, The Blood God, focused on melee combat.
• Chaos Plague Champion - Defense Commander, affiliated with Nurgle, The Great Lord of Decay. Focused on abilities weaken enemy units.
• Chaos Sorcerer - Support Commander, affiliated with Tzeentch, The Changer of Ways. Uses abilities to harass or damage enemy units from a distance.

Tier 1

• Heretic Squad – A cheap melee squad that can be upgraded with grenade launchers and an Aspiring Champion (detector). Comes with the ability to worship, granting benefits to nearby squads. Can build shrines in Tier 2, amplifying the effects of nearby worshipers.
• Chaos Space Marines (CSM) - Similar to the Space Marine Tactical squad. CSMs start off weaker, but become tougher with upgrades. Can be upgraded in Tier 1 with Eternal War for bonus damage. In Tier 2 an Aspiring Champion may be added, as well as upgrading the squad with Marks of Khorne (Chainaxes) or Marks of Tzeentch (Inferno Bolters).
• Chaos Havocs - Similar to Space Marine Devastators. In Tier 2 can be upgraded with marks of Khorne (Autocannons) or Marks of Tzeentch (Lascannons).

Tier 2

• Chaos Bloodletters - Lesser Daemons of Khorne, armed with Hellblades as power weapons. They can phase into the Warp and teleport.
• Chaos Dreadnought – Chaos Walker armed with autocannon and a power claw when built. It can be upgraded with marks of Khorne (Twin Power Claws) or Tzeentch (Missile Barrage).
• Chaos Bloodcrusher – Bloodletter rides the daemon beast, Juggernaut into battle. Its power is charging into battle and cause fear to enemies' infantries.
• Chaos Plague Marines – These are the worshipers of the Chaos God Nurgle. High in toughness and armor, however they are not the best shooters or close combat units. These ranged heavy infantry units are armed with bolters and a missile launcher, allowing them to deal with vehicle armor as well as infantry units. They shoot normally while suppressed and detonate when killed.

Tier 3

• Chaos Predator – Similar to Space Marine Predator and its variants. It can be upgraded with the marks of Khorne (increasing damage), Nurgle (increasing health), or Tzeentch (giving it an extra punch against vehicles).
• Great Unclean One – Greater Daemon of Nurgle. This monster wields a Plaguesword and can vomit on enemies. Its intestines can be used to snatch infantry units, and a swarm of flies surround the Great Unclean One which attack nearby enemies. Heretics can be sacrificed to the Great Unclean One to gain power. Is the most powerful and expensive unit in the game.

Eldar

• Wraithguard - Although they look similar to the larger Wraithlord, the three member Wraithguard squad is best used at range against enemy infantry and tanks. They are armed with short ranged wraith-cannons and are more effective when near a warlock.

Orks

• Weird Boy - Every so often an Ork comes along that is a little bit different than all the others. These Weirdboyz are Ork psykers, conduits for powerful psychic energies generated by masses of greenskins and their enthusiasm and excitement for a fight.

Space Marines

Units:

• Librarian - Capable of powerful damage and support spells. Inspires surrounding space marines when killing in melee. A new character in the campaign called Jonah Orion is a Librarian.

Upgrades:

• Devastator Heavy Bolter squad - They can now receive the lascannon upgrade.
• Dreadnoughts - Able to receive the multi melta upgrade.
• Predator Tanks - Able to receive the Lascannon upgrade.

Tyranids

• Genestealers - An elite Melee unit that infiltrates after staying still for a period of time.
• Tyrant Guard - Powerful defensive melee units used to protect other large or vulnerable units. Replaces the Carnifex in Tier 2.

🌍️ Wikipedia (Dawn of War II - Retribution):

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Retribution is the stand-alone second expansion to Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, part of the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War series of real-time strategy computer games. Set in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 fictional universe, the single player campaign is playable with multiple races.

Imperial Guard is introduced as a new race, and all races including the races from the original game and the first expansion (the Eldar, the Space Marines, Chaos, the Orks and the Tyranids) are now playable in single-player.

Campaign

Dawn of War II: Retribution offers a campaign for every race, including the Imperial Guard. The campaign takes place across Sub-sector Aurelia, which appeared in the previous two games. The worlds include the jungle world Typhon Primaris, the desert world Calderis, and the hive world Meridian from Dawn of War II; the arctic world Aurelia and the derelict ship Judgment of Carrion from Chaos Rising; and the dead world of Cyrene, mentioned in the original Dawn of War as having been subjected to Exterminatus (complete sterilization of all life on a planet corrupted by Chaos or alien influences) by Blood Ravens Captain Gabriel Angelos.

Setting

Dawn of War II: Retribution takes place ten years after events of Chaos Rising. Sub-sector Aurelia is now suffering from conflict between Ork pirates called the Freebootaz led by Kaptin Bluddflagg to pillage the sub-sector, the arrival of the Eldar of the Craftworld Alaitoc led by Autarch Kayleth to seek about a prophecy and recovering an ancient artifact, a Tyranid Hive Lord restoring the remnants of the Hive Fleet Leviathan and to the link of the Hive Mind, the Blood Ravens defending the sub-sector led by Captain Apollo Diomedes to hunt down Chaos as well as investigating their Chapter Master, Azariah Kyras, for being corrupted by Chaos, the return of Chaos Space Marines of the Black Legion led by Eliphas the Inheritor to fulfill his promise to Abaddon the Despoiler to annihilate the Blood Ravens, and the newly arriving Imperial Guard of the 8th Cadian Regiment led by Lord General Castor, performing an Exterminatus under Inquisitor Adrastia to investigate for corruption within Sub-sector Aurelia as well as the Blood Ravens' Chapter Master Azariah Kyras. These events may have been caused by Gabriel Angelos' actions (from the original Dawn of War game) when he destroyed the Maledictum, a Chaos stone containing the bound essence of a daemon of Khorne, with the hammer "God-Splitter".

Plot

The player's character arrives on Typhon Primaris engaging and battling an opposing faction and defeating their leader. (Space Marines vs. Chaos, Eldar vs. Orks, and Imperial Guard vs. Tyranids). It is learned that the Imperial Inquisition has deemed the sector beyond redemption, and will be arriving soon to perform Exterminatus on all the inhabitable worlds in the area. Later, the faction leader is given the objective to eliminate Azariah Kyras who intends to use the impending Exterminatus as a sacrifice to Khorne and ascend to daemonhood. The motivation varies depending on the player's faction, for example the Space Marines, Imperial Guard and Eldar wish to oppose Chaos, their ancient evil enemy; the warlike Orks simply want a good fight and to thump the strongest foes they can find; the Tyranid splinter wishes to overrun the sector and summon a new hive fleet to consume all the biomass; the Chaos faction are Kyras' rivals and wish to surpass him. Regardless, it is deemed by the player faction that Kyras must die. The player quickly attempts to secure a means of transport off Typhon, escaping a local cult along the way.

Arriving on Calderis, the player character fights against Kyras' Chaos-corrupted Blood Ravens Space Marines, operating under orders to purge the planet. After destroying a Warp portal on Aurelia, the faction learns of an attack on Meridian ordered by Kyras and arrives there killing the traitor guardsmen and uncovering a transmission from Kyras revealing his location on Typhon.

The player character returns to Typhon Primaris to confront Kyras himself, only to be ambushed by Eldar from Craftworld Biel-Tan. Wary of a ritual they are undergoing, the player's character kills the Eldar there. Following this, Kyras reveals that the Eldar ritual was preventing the Imperial Inquisition fleet from arriving at the sub-sector. The Inquisition fleet arrives, beginning Exterminatus on Typhon Primaris. The player escapes Typhon before the Exterminatus finishes. A cyclonic torpedo reduces Typhon to ash.

Finding themselves on the space hulk (a huge conglomeration of drifting space-borne detritus consisting of many wrecked ships) known as the Judgment of Carrion, the player's characters recover, and find their determination to stop Kyras. It is deduced that he is hiding on Cyrene, as the planet has already undergone Exterminatus decades ago, and therefore the Inquisition will not travel there to perform Exterminatus again. On Cyrene, the player characters launch an attack against a joint alliance of Chaos Space Marines, corrupt Imperial Guardsmen and traitor Blood Ravens by using their most powerful unit against them. Kyras begins to ascend into daemonhood. Gabriel and his 3rd Company launch an attack on Kyras' forces while Gabriel's own command unit confronts the daemon prince himself; however they are defeated by Kyras. The player's faction then launches their own attack, ultimately successfully killing Kyras.
Ending

After Kyras' death, the ending of the game will depend on which race the players character chose:

• Chaos - Eliphas allows the Exterminatus to continue, thus sacrificing the sector to Khorne. He is thus granted daemonhood by the Blood God, usurping Kyras' place.
• Eldar - Ronahn recovers the soulstone containing the spirit of his sister, the Farseer Taldeer, and decides to return to Craftworld Ulthwé with her.
• Imperial Guard - Inquisitor Adrastia returns to the Inquisition to suspend the Exterminatus on sub-sector Aurelia, by presenting Kyras' psychic hood as proof that the threat has ended, while Lord General Castor and Sergeant Major Merrick commend each other for their exemplary actions rather backhandedly.
• Orks - Inquisitor Adrastia attempts to renege the deal between her and Kaptin Bluddflagg with assassination. Unfortunately, Kaptin Bluddflagg catches her off guard and takes her hat, which he wanted in their deal. Following that, he claims the Judgment of Carrion as his new Krooza, and uses it to leave the subsector.
• Space Marines - Captain Diomedes contacts Inquisitor Adrastia to halt the Exterminatus. The Chapter is then purged of any remaining chaos taint and Gabriel Angelos, after being revived from the brink of death and rebuilt with bionics, is appointed as the new Chapter Master. This appears to be the canonical ending, as corroborated by other Warhammer 40,000 materials: a squad of Blood Ravens appears in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, in which their victory over the conflict in Aurelia is mentioned; meanwhile, the exact course of events of the successful Blood Ravens campaign in Retribution is likewise mentioned in some publications (such as Fantasy Flight Games' "Deathwatch: Honour the Chapter" supplement).
• Tyranids - The Hive Tyrant's psychic strength summons a Hive Fleet, that launches a surprise attack and consumes the entire sub-sector, resulting in a 94% casualty rate for the Imperial Guard forces and the complete annihilation of the Blood Ravens, who refused to retreat.

Multiplayer

The Last Stand

The Imperial Lord General will be added to the current selection of The Last Stand heroes as well as new environment and new waves of enemies. It can also update all the previous heroes from Dawn of War II and Chaos Rising by importing the Games for Windows account to the Steam Account.

The Last Standalone is a stand-alone version of the Retribution version of The Last Stand. The Last Standalone was released on April 20, 2011 as a separate Steam purchase for $9.99 (€6.99). Owners of The Last Standalone receive a discount on the full version of -Dawn of War II: Retribution.

New units and/or upgrades

Multiplayer will introduce base building to a small degree, as well as every race getting a Global Ability Advance Unit. Retribution is a stand-alone title and does not require ownership of earlier games in the series to use any of the factions in multiplayer.

Release

Specific race packs were released for each of the six races within the campaign, containing special items for that race in the campaign of Retribution, such as armour, weapons and accessories. The Ork race pack is a Steam exclusive and Tyranid pack a THQ online store exclusive, although all were made available as DLC after release, and all come in the Dawn of War II: Retribution Collector's Edition retail box.

Wargear packs were also released for The Last Stand multiplayer mode. Each pack added new wargear to a specific hero class.

There were also two DLC packs released adding new sub-races to use in multiplayer game with unique models and color schemes for units: Dark Angels Space Marine chapter and Eldar Craftworld Ulthwe. Similar DLC pack adding the Ultramarines Space Marine chapter was released on August 16, 2011.

The Tau Crisis Suit Commander is another hero for Last Stand mode available by download.

📕 Description [fr]

Un jeu de stratégie en temps réel prenant place dans l'univers de Warhammer 40,000, par le studio Relic Entertainment, portage Linux par le studio Feral Interactive, publié par SEGA.
Il utilise le moteur Essence Engine.

Dawn of War II (DoW II) est la suite du jeu éponyme, et un mixe entre un RTS et un jeu d'Action-RPG (type Diablo) solo / multi en coopération et en ligne, prenant place dans l'univers de Warhammer 40,000, dans le 41e millénaire, dans le sous-secteur Aurelia - un groupe de mondes sur le bord de la Voie lactée, dans lequel une bataille est sur le point de commencer. Le joueur y incarne le Commandant des Forces du Blood Ravens Chapter, à la tête des escadrons d'élite des Space Marines dans une bataille contre les forces des Orques, des Tyranides et Eldar qui menacent l'Imperium de l'Humanité.

Dans les ténèbres de l'avenir lointain, il n'y a que la guerre.

Le sinistre univers de science-fiction de Warhammer® 40,000® prend vie avec Dawn of War® II sur Mac et Linux.

Nous sommes le 41e millénaire dans le sous-secteur Aurelia, un groupe de mondes sur le bord de la Voie lactée, dans lequel une bataille aux proportions épiques est sur le point de commencer. En Étant nouvellement promu Commandant des Forces du Blood Ravens Chapter, il est de votre privilège de diriger les escadrons d'élite des Space Marines dans la bataille contre les forces des Orques, des Tyranides et Eldar qui menacent l'Imperium de l'Humanité (NdT : voir la page Wikipédia, il s'agit d'un empire galactique dans l'univers de Warhammer).

Conduit par une campagne narrative novatrice ancrée dans l'univers de Warhammer 40,000, les armées de guerriers technologiquement avancés s'adonnent à une guerre brutale contre des ennemis impitoyables dans une série de missions de combat addictive, rapide et viscérale.

Chaos Rising

Luttez contre la peur. Luttez contre la tentation.
Luttez contre le Chaos qui y règne.

Chaos Rising se situe un an après les événements de Dawn of War II. Aurelia, le groupe de mondes d'origine - depuis longtemps perdu, des Space Marines du Blood Ravens, a ré-émergé du Warp (NdT : la trame de l'espace-temps). Royaume de pure énergie psychique, le Warp est le dernier lieu de repos des esprits des morts et la région d'origine des Dieux du Chaos et de leurs démons malveillants.

Autrefois joyau de verdure, Aurelia est à présent un désert de glaces abritant de sombres secrets et de nouveaux ennemis mortels. Prenez le commandement des Blood Ravens pour libérer Aurelia du Chaos, alors même que ces forces traîtresses œuvrent de l'intérieur pour vous détruire.

Retribution

Déterminez le sort du sous-secteur Aurelia.

Retribution se situe dix ans après les événements de Chaos Rising et présente une nouvelle menace pour l'Imperium de l'Humanité. Azaria Kyras, Chapter Master (NdT : Chapitre maître) des Space Marines du Blood Ravens, s'est fait corrompre et doit être détruit avant qu'il ne s'élève en Daemonhood et n'entraîne le sous-secteur Aurelia toujours plus profondément sous l'influence terrifiante du Chaos.

Commandez l'une des six races dans une campagne qui s'étend sur toutes les planètes du sous-secteur Aurelia, de la jungle de Typhon Primaris en passant par la métropole planétaire de Meridian et jusque sur le monde mort de Cyrène.

🌍️ Wikipedia (Dawn of War II):

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II est la suite du jeu vidéo de stratégie en temps réel Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, annoncée par THQ le 3 avril 2008. Son développement a été confié à Relic Entertainment, qui avait déjà développé Dawn of War et ses extensions. Le jeu est disponible depuis le 19 février 2009 sur Windows uniquement. Les abréviations DoW II ou Dawn of War II sont communément admises pour le désigner.

Cet épisode marque un tournant dans la série Dawn of War, notamment en raison de la refonte totale du gameplay. Les Tyranides sont également jouables pour la première fois, tandis que la campagne peut être menée en coopération.

Le 12 mars 2010, une première extension, Warhammer 40,00: Dawn of War II Chaos Rising est sortie, introduisant une nouvelle race : le Chaos. Une seconde extension, dénommée Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution est sortie le 1° mars 2011.

Système de jeu

Les développeurs de Dawn of War II, conscients des limites qu'apporterait un gameplay trop proche de celui de Dawn of War, ont décidé de radicalement changer les mécanismes de leur nouveau projet. Cette orientation se traduit notamment par l'impossibilité de construire ses propres bâtiments. Néanmoins, il est possible d'exploiter les édifices du décor, ce qui a d'ailleurs un rôle important au cours d'une partie. En effet, les joueurs ont la possibilité de mettre leurs soldats à couverts à l'intérieur d'un bâtiment, ce qui peut leur conférer un avantage sur leurs adversaires. Le gameplay dans ses grandes lignes est repris du jeu de stratégie en temps réel Company of Heroes, également développé par Relic Entertainment et primé à de nombreuses reprises. Le décor est donc destructible et joue un grand rôle dans l'élaboration de la stratégie de jeu.

Races

Quatre races ont été implantées dans le jeu, Relic Entertainment ayant révélé leur existence au cours de différents évènements : les Space Marines et les Orks dès l'annonce du jeu; les Eldars lors de l'E3 2008 et enfin les Tyranides. Cette dernière race, très attendue par les fans de l'univers Warhammer 40,000, a été dévoilée au cours de la Games Convention 2008.

Campagne solo

Malgré l'annonce de ces quatre races, seuls les Space Marines sont jouables au cours de la campagne solo. Celle-ci permet au joueur de partir à la conquête de plusieurs planètes au cours d'une succession de missions. Les escouades de Space Marines, présentes dans Dawn of War sont composées de commandants, dont le rôle est déterminant au cours de la campagne.
On peut équiper ces commandants avec de nombreux item ou wargear. Il y aurait a priori environ 100 wargears par races. Les commandants, en plus de leurs accessoires, ont la possibilité de monter de niveau en glanant des points d’expérience au fil des tueries. Une fois un palier franchi, le joueur décide de placer deux points de compétence dans les domaines de la santé maximum, dégâts de mêlée ou à distance, ou encore énergie. Au fil des niveaux se débloqueront également des armes plus puissantes.

Scénario

Les Blood Ravens sont de retour. Après les campagnes de Kronus et Kaurava, cette fois-ci, ce n'est plus de purge qu'il s'agit, mais de la défense des planètes de recrutement des Blood Ravens...

Dans le Secteur Aurélia se trouve 3 planètes : Calderis, Méridian et Typhoon. Lorsque Calderis est attaquée par des Orks, le capitaine Thule, vétéran de la bataille de Kronus, est envoyé avec le Protagoniste pour nettoyer la planète. Mais s'agit-il vraiment d'un simple raid Ork ? Ou bien cela cache t-il une plus grande terreur ?

Lorsque les Eldars rentrent dans la partie, cela se complique. Jusqu'à ce que l'ont découvre que la menace est... Les Tyrannides. Une race qui ne cherche qu'à se nourrir de planètes entières. Les Blood Ravens doivent maintenant se battre sur leur sol, et aider les autres planètes du secteurs, où la Garde Impériale (Représentée par le 85e Vendoland) est complètement annihilée.

Pour cela, le protagoniste devra diriger des "héros" et leurs escouades. Tarkus, le marine tactique, Avitus, le devastator, Thaddeus, le marine d'assaut, Cyrus, le Scout, et Thule lui-même, dans le corps d'un Dreadnought.

Servant sur l'Armageddon, un vaisseau de Guerre, le protagoniste aura aussi l'aide de Martellus, un Techmarine, et de Gabriel Angelos, le capitaine de la compagnie.

Multijoueur

Le jeu propose non seulement un mode multijoueurs classique, c'est-à-dire permettant des affrontements entre joueurs, mais aussi une campagne jouable en coopération. Il utilise notamment le Games for Windows Live, le service de jeu en ligne de Microsoft.

Informations confirmées sur le mode multijoueur:

• Avant chaque début de partie, le joueur doit choisir parmi 3 commandants celui qui guidera ses troupes. Chaque commandant aura des capacités propres
• Le commandant choisi gagnera des points d'expérience au cours de la partie et pourra monter jusqu'au level 10
• Un commandant level 10 "will kick the ass of a" commandant level 1
• Pas de construction de base : on a un QG, qui a trois niveaux d'évolution. C'est ce QG qui permettra de recruter ses troupes et de lancer des recherches technologiques.
• collecte de ressources
• point stratégique
• objectif stratégique
• énergie

source : relic forum

Graphismes

Dawn of War II propose un moteur graphique très évolué, proposant notamment des décors détaillés, des textures fines, des animations réalistes, mais surtout un environnement totalement destructible (bâtiments, végétation, terrain, etc). Il utilise une version évoluée du moteur graphique Essence Engine, déjà présent dans Company of Heroes, ainsi que le moteur physique Havok. Enfin, le jeu peut tirer parti de DirectX.

🌍️ Wikipedia (Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising):

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising est la première extension du jeu vidéo de stratégie en temps réel Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II. Elle est sortie le 12 mars 2010, et a été développée par Relic Entertainment et éditée par THQ. C'est une extension stand-alone, ce qui signifie qu'il n'y a pas besoin de posséder le jeu original pour pouvoir y jouer.

Nouveautés

Une nouvelle race a été ajoutée au mode multijoueur : le Chaos. De nouvelles unités ont été ajoutées à chaque race, et de nouvelles cartes multijoueur sont disponibles. De plus, un héros Tyranide et un du Chaos ont été ajoutés au mode de jeu Baroud d'honneur. Il est à noter qu'un patch officiel est sorti le jour même, permettant aux joueurs ne possédant pas l'extension de pouvoir profiter des nouvelles unités pour les races précédentes et des nouvelles cartes multijoueur.

Histoire

Le mode un joueur se déroule à peu près un an après les évènements contés dans la campagne du jeu original. Le joueur dirige toujours les mêmes escouades de Blood Ravens, avec l'ajout d'un archiviste, Jonah Orion.

L'histoire commence après la réapparition de la planète Aurelia, sortie du Warp après des siècles de disparition. Cette boule de glace renferme biens des mystères. L'émergence du Chaos se mêle à la traîtrise de sujets de l'empereur, ainsi que de rixes avec les Eldars, les Orks et quelques tyrannides.

Les escouades peuvent désormais gagner plus d'expérience, et un système de corruption a été mis en place. De nouveaux pouvoirs mortels sont disponibles si le joueur choisit la voie corruption lorsqu'un dilemme se présente à lui ou qu'il utilise de l'équipement corrompu. La corruption globale de vos unités aura une influence directe sur la campagne, avec de nouveaux pouvoirs, mais aussi de nouveaux ennemis, se trouvant au départ dans votre camp et se rebellant contre le joueur

🌍️ Wikipedia (Dawn of War II - Retribution):

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution est la seconde extension du jeu vidéo de stratégie en temps réel Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II. Sortie le 1er mars 2011, elle est développée par Relic Entertainment et éditée par THQ.

Nouveautés

Dans Dawn Of War II - Retribution, vous pourrez pour la toute première fois prendre le contrôle de n'importe quelle race pour parcourir la campagne, y compris la Garde Impériale, implémentée pour l'occasion. Il y a donc 6 races jouables en solo :

• les Space Marines (menés par le Capitaine Diomedes) ;
• les Space Marines du chaos (menés par le Seigneur Eliphas) ;
• les Tyranides (menés par le Seigneur-Prince Tyranide) ;
• les Orks (menés par le Kaptain Bluddflagg) ;
• les Eldars (menés par l'Autarque) ;
• la Garde Impériale (menée par le Seigneur-Général Castor).

De nouvelles unités ont également été ajoutées :

• Land Raider Reedemer (Space Marine) ;
• Noises Marines (Space Marine du chaos) ;
• le Maitre des essaims (Tyranide) ;
• Chariot de guerre (Ork) ;
• Autarque (Eldar).

Comme d'habitude, une poignée de cartes multijoueurs ont été ajoutées pour étoffer les affrontement entre joueurs.

Le Games For Windows Live, qui gérait les succès et listes d'amis, disparaît. C'est désormais Steam qui s'en charge, ce qui implique également que, bien que cette extension soit un "Stand Alone" (jouable sans le jeu d'origine), les possesseurs de Rétribution ne peuvent pas affronter ceux qui ne l'ont pas, et inversement.

Histoire

L'histoire prend place 10 ans après les évènements de Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising. Ce titre permet aux joueurs de choisir leur destin dans la première campagne multi-race de la série Dawn of War II.

Elle met en avant la corruption du sous-secteur Aurelia. L'Ordo Malleus, la Sainte Inquisition de l'Imperium s'est mise en route pour purifier les mondes du sous-secteur (via l'Exterminatus).

Cependant, Adrastia, une Inquisitrice de L'Ordo Hereticus envoyée en avant-garde, promet que le sous-secteur sera épargné si la source de la corruption, le Maître du Chapitre Azariah Kyras des Blood Ravens, est retrouvée et détruite. Cet objectif sera donc au cœur de la quasi-totalité des campagnes.

🗃️ Specifications

🚦 Entry status

📖️ Summary

🎥️ Videos

🕸️ Links

📕 Description [en]

📕 Description [fr]