Why These Two Classic Warhammer Remasters Are Already…

Summary

Dawn of War: Definitive Edition and Space Marine: Master Crafted Edition offer minor updates, leaving many fans underwhelmed.
Comparisons to successful remasters like Age of Empires 2 highlight lackluster changes in these Warhammer remasters.
Many fans want a new Dawn of War game, instead of just a small remaster.

The Warhammer Skulls showcase recently shone the spotlight on some new game announcements and updates, while also confirming a leak in the process. Recently, some Dawn of War-related photos were leaked online, fueling speculation that the classic RTS series was being revived in some way. This was confirmed in the showcase, with Dawn of War: Definitive Edition repackaging all the first game’s content in one upgraded package, with graphical enhancements to boot.

But another old title by Relic Entertainment was also brought back in the form of Space Marine: Master Crafted Edition. Sporting some upscaled textures, the remaster of the original Space Marine promises to modernize the 14-year-old game with a new UI. It seems as if both Warhammer games will be standalone from their original versions, though little is known about the titles beyond a shared June 10 release date. However, these reveals were not met with overwhelming enthusiasm, and when compared with past remasters of other old, beloved titles, it becomes clear why.

Space Marine 2 Feels Incomplete Without These Iconic Warhammer Weapons

Warhammer 40,000 has a massive range of iconic weapons to pick from that would provide endless replayability to Space Marine 2.

Posts 1

By Emma Neeson

Dawn of War and Space Marine’s Remasters Don’t Seem to Offer Much

In the last few years, fans of many franchises have likely become more familiar with remasters and remakes, as new ones seem to be cropping up all the time. Some have been done incredibly well, such as Age of Mythology: Retold, while others have caused plenty of people to scratch their heads, wondering why Horizon: Zero Dawn needed a remaster when it was still fresh in people’s minds. As many classic titles have got older, they tend to be viewed increasingly with nostalgia by older gamers, and publishers all over the industry have cashed in on reselling old games in new packages. The reception to Oblivion Remastered is proof of this approach in action.

More than a few people who watched the Warhammer Skulls showcase were left wondering the same thing. Looking back at the trailer for either Dawn of War or Space Marine’s remaster, it can be hard to spot the improvements. Dawn of War’s graphical updates are slightly more noticeable, with textures seeming smoother and higher resolution, lending some much-needed depth, particularly to the Necron Warriors. Space Marine’s presentation, however, seems to be entirely within the updated UI, as judging by the trailer, there seems to be almost nothing noticeably different in terms of textures or lighting.

The 64-bit support is very welcome, as anecdotally, the original Dawn of War games are suffering instability on some modern PCs.

While some fans of classic franchises can get upset when a remaster changes the look of an old game too much, the pendulum can swing the opposite way, and some of the commentary around these remasters has been asking why this was even necessary. The phrase “cash grab” has also entered the mix, and for good reason. Nothing was said about the price of either title, and owners of the original games were not promised any kind of upgrade to sweeten the deal. Evidently, there will be money involved, and how much they cost could drastically affect their reception in the near future, and the last thing Dawn of War needs is controversy.

June 26 is Going to Be a Big Day for Space Marine 2

Fans of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 are set for an exciting day on June 26, as the developers prepare a new update for the game.

Posts

By Matti Robinson

Warhammer Fans Are Already Making Comparisons to Age of Empires

Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition is one of the more recent examples of a remastered RTS injecting a lot of new life into a game. At the time of its release in 2019, quite a few people were hesitant to get on board, but it has remained one of the most consistent games on Steam, as its player base has hovered around 16,000 concurrent players for six years, and only seems to be increasing. Time has been kind to Age of Empires in this regard, but unfortunately, the same is not being said about Dawn of War’s Definitive Edition.

While the title “Definitive Edition” means something different game to game, the implication set by AoE 2 is one of sweeping, noticeable, and necessary changes to modernize an old game. While this is also in part due to AoE 2’s competitive scene still remaining active after nearly three decades, it also shows that even old fans are content with the remaster. That gold standard of how to retain the classic feel while modernizing the package is making DoW’s Definitive Edition look lackluster in the eyes of some, who don’t think the remaster went far enough.

Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition is still getting new content to this day.

Space Marine: Master Crafted Edition Is Even More Puzzling

Given the lack of clear visual or technical enhancements made to Space Marine 1, it seems unlikely that a new UI will tempt many players to go back and try out the 2011 title. The enhancements made to the audio and character models are nice, but will probably be hard to notice without both the original and the remaster side by side. It’s true that the first game had some issues with audio at times, but it wasn’t a feature that held anyone back from trying it. The main thing going for DoW: Definitive Edition is that it should run properly on modern PCs, but that isn’t a problem that the original version of Space Marine 1 has, leaving some wondering why this remaster exists.

Mod Support Is the Elephant in the Room for Dawn of War: Definitive Edition

It’s hard to argue against the sentiment that mods have kept Dawn of War alive after over two decades. Ultimate Apocalypse, Unification, and Redux are just a few of the expansive, high-quality mods that continue to keep Dawn of War in the collective consciousness of Warhammer fans. As the Definitive Edition has promised, a new 64-bit framework should make the game more stable and open for modding, and hopefully this makes porting mods to the game simple. However, if things are not exactly the same, it could cause a fracturing of the modding community, as a lack of parity between the old games and remasters would incur more work, encouraging modders to work on only one version. Hopefully, this is not a problem, but if Skyrim Special Edition is anything to go by, it could see the originals abandoned.

Warhammer: 10 Old World Models That Have Aged Brilliantly

These 10 models from Warhammer Fantasy have come back with a bang in the franchise's Old World.

Posts

By Callum Scambler

Many Dawn of War Fans Just Want a New Game

The Dawn of War series has been on ice since it was canned in 2017, and the remaster’s announcement has only reminded players of that fact. Dawn of War has had a tumultuous history, as each entry has been wildly different from the last, causing many players to firmly stick to their favorites within the series. However, Dawn of War 3, while it does have its fans, proved to be the tipping point, as most fans of the first and second game roundly rejected it, forcing Relic to end support for the game before it could release any expansions.

But there is still an appetite for a Dawn of War 4. Space Marine 2’s success proved that even after 13 years, the same formula of gritty chainsword-swinging action in the 41st millennium can be hugely successful. Many Warhammer fans miss the old RTS series, as for quite a few of them, it was their introduction to the wider franchise. Unfortunately, RTS games have not been going through a renaissance recently, and outside the previously mentioned outlier AoE 2, most RTS games today struggle to maintain an audience. Iron Harvest shut down after a couple of years despite its promising launch and unique aesthetic, and Realms of Ruin looked great from the outside, but its playerbase fell off a cliff immediately on launch.

Realms of Ruin was going to be the first Age of Sigmar RTS in the vein of Dawn of War 2, until it shut down.

The draw of the Warhammer IP is evidently not enough, then, and thus it’s likely that a new Dawn of War project was deemed too risky a while ago. Relic has found some success in Company of Heroes and Age of Empires 4, but with Relic now being an independent outfit, it’s unlikely to be taking any risks. However, if the developer was interested in returning to the series, it could be using this remaster as a way to test the water. If it gets a lot of interest, perhaps a larger project could be incubated, but all of this is just speculation, and even if it did signal interest in making Dawn of War 4, the game would still be many years away from release.

How the Warhammer Remasters Could Pan Out in the Future

It all remains to be seen how both remasters turn out, but the early reception has not been one of overwhelming excitement. Relic, the original developers, appear to be handling both remasters, which in most cases would be a welcome thing, but the studio’s reputation for technical issues is well known in the community, with Dawn of War 2’s game-breaking sound bug still present in the game. Hopefully, Dawn of War: Definitive Edition and Space Marine: Master Crafted Edition are well-handled, and well-priced, and become good ways to experience these classic titles for decades to come, but right now, it’s hard to judge their value.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image