Dawn of War II expands again with Retribution

THQ's Warhammer 40K RTS franchise getting second add-on set 10 years after the first and focusing on Imperium chaos; due for PC in early 2011.

Most of the attention directed at THQ's Warhammer 40,000 franchise of late has gone toward Relic's third-person action role-playing game Space Marine and the Vigil Games-developed massively multiplayer online role-playing effort Dark Millennium Online. However, THQ is not yet done supporting 2009's real-time strategy title Dawn of War II, announcing today that the PC game would receive a second expansion pack in winter 2011.

Kaptin Bluddflagg kindly requests your cooperation.

Kaptin Bluddflagg kindly requests your cooperation.

Titled Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution, the add-on's most distinctive feature is that it introduces a multi-faction single-player campaign to the series. Beyond the single-player scenarios, Retribution will also include a suite of multiplayer upgrades, ranging from new units and maps to a new playable faction.

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD***

Retribution follows on from the events that transpired in Dawn of War II's first expansion, Chaos Rising. Set 10 years later, the game sees the Imperium reeling after an "apparent betrayal" by Gabriel Angelos' Space Marines. Gamers will be able to assume command of their chosen faction to experience the events of the game as they play out, with THQ revealing the first possible option being the Ork horde.

For more information, check out GameSpot's review of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising.

53 Comments

  • vortex6666

    Posted Feb 16, 2011 2:58 am GMT

    george43 you make me laugh saying that dow2 was better on every point then dow 1

    to me dow1 was far more supreme in strategy in teching management and in combat
    what is to think in dow2 every1 knows where your base is you cannot expand outbuild or reinforce your warmachine
    second what army do you have lol
    seems like you only control a few squads or vehicles if you choose to again little tactics there
    you cannot attack on 2 sides you cant split troops cause you dont have enough under your control so tactic wise you are restricted allot
    ofcourse the graphics are shiny and some new finishing moves are there oh very nice
    but i rather have 5000 corpses on the ground scarring my battlefield then 1 finishing move or shiny graphics
    i hope they bring back the good times of dark crusade and implement some good ideas from dow2 but it seems that the people today only like the gay rushing style of play and need to finish the game under 15mins
    instead of enjoying the games to its full potentials

  • squidbilly22

    Posted Dec 21, 2010 2:01 am GMT

    Give me the RPG element of 2 but bring back large armies and another all female race ,something of an evil chaos nature might be cool.Rather have 1 long campaign story than 3 short forgettable ones.Most importantly beef of skirmish mode.

  • benbonney

    Posted Nov 17, 2010 4:16 pm GMT

    I think guard will be the next new army, their models are already present in the single player atm..... Plus Imagine playing as yarrick or marbo LOL

  • george43

    Posted Aug 28, 2010 1:42 pm GMT

    I don't understand the nostalgia of base building in DoW 1.

    Base building in DoW 1 was more like a hiccup then it was strategic. All it did was slow down requisition gathering. This was cured in DoW 2 by skipping the buildings and streamlining unit production. Other then the lack of buildings, DoW 2 was better then DoW 1 on almost every level, from squad management to tech'ing to map control.

  • stantheman12345

    Posted Aug 24, 2010 6:31 am GMT

    id like tau and the IG over any other fations

  • Zingoe1

    Posted Aug 19, 2010 1:00 am GMT

    Wasnt the I the sign of the Inqusition? and you know considiring they think that the Space Marines are all do lally now

  • 1N54N3

    Posted Aug 18, 2010 11:36 pm GMT

    Tau and Necrons plz. Enough said

  • OnHighToTheLow

    Posted Aug 18, 2010 6:06 pm GMT

    here's the youtube link for the trailer that just came out on Wednesday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfUYAF__56s&feature=player_embedded

    ; I just want 2 new races & for the game to cost $30 again, and I'll be happy : ) because DoW2 is a good franchise

  • EchoEcho

    Posted Aug 18, 2010 5:45 pm GMT

    I play IG and Tau in DoW1, and I really hope to see at least one of them make a return for DoW2 before Relic moves on to developing DoW3. There doesn't really seem to be any reason for the Tau to be involved, but plenty of reason for IG to be around, especially with the Inquisition concerned about Gabriel Angelos' apparent betrayal. Keeping my fingers crossed, either way.

  • oflow

    Posted Aug 18, 2010 4:39 pm GMT

    @the hunger: Exactly.While I can understand how a lot of people hate basebuilding and love the more tactical gameplay in DoW2, IMHO its not really what 40k is about. 40k is supposed to be about large battles, not squads. What they did with DoW2 is basically take the essence engine from CoH (fyi I think COH is the best rts ever made) but remove the base building portion. This actually removed a huge chunk of strategy from DoW2, since without basebuilding, veterancy or doctrines all the factions in DoW2 pretty much play exactly the same. They have an offensive boss, a support boss and a stealth boss. With a very limited number of deployable units you cant use strategy for map control you basically just move around the map trading resource points.

    Hopefully DoW3 will take the good from DoW2 and combine it with the good from Dark Crusade and bring back large maps, maybe some sort of bases/veterancy and bring back the missing races like Tau, IG and Necrons.

  • the_hunger

    Posted Aug 18, 2010 4:09 pm GMT

    I hope that DoW3 gets back to the massive battles of DoW1. While I do like the RPG-elements in DoW2 and the commander customization, I am not a fan of the small strike-force squads of DoW2. Also, I hope that Relic pays more attention to the skirmish AI, which is rather poor in DoW2.

  • j0abell

    Posted Aug 18, 2010 11:04 am GMT

    I'm with the fans of the first DOW that hated the second. Maybe they're both decent games in their own way, but they diverged from the original so much, its almost like they're different genres. I feel like they should have named it something different, instead of trying to capitalize on the first with a game that shares so little in common, aside from the IP.

  • Shadow_Fire41

    Posted Aug 18, 2010 8:54 am GMT

    DO WANT!

  • Avitus546

    Posted Aug 18, 2010 5:44 am GMT

    The game is coming out in March 2011...And I can't wait for it come out....I hope Apollo Diomedes and Gabriel Angelos will be playable characters in the Space Marine campaign this time...

  • NoDzombie

    Posted Aug 18, 2010 4:11 am GMT

    still never finished Chaos Rising, i got Startcraft 2 which distracted me, then my gaming PC died so now i cant play anything, really must fix it next pay day.......

  • Vaelis

    Posted Aug 18, 2010 2:04 am GMT

    @mazik765

    It'll be winter in America in early 2011.

  • ExESGO

    Posted Aug 18, 2010 1:11 am GMT

    I still say that if the Inquisition will be in the game.. it still needs more Inquisition.

  • tyskenfan

    Posted Aug 18, 2010 12:58 am GMT

    Finally a bigger focus on the campaign!

  • Sindri0x

    Posted Aug 18, 2010 12:22 am GMT

    This is awesome.
    The new race looks to be Inquisition (watch the actual trailer), but I was hoping they would do an alien race after having done Chaos. Hell, our assumptions may be wrong; there could be a second new race also, hopefully either Tau or Necrons.