Warhammer Skulls Showcase 2023
There is one event every year, where we all pray to our lord and savior: the Emperor of Mankind. He who protects us from the warp and who brought us into the grim dark future of the 41st millennium, because it is the Warhammer Skulls Showcase. As an Ork, I still think the Emperor of Mankind is a bit smelly, but what can you do? And before I commit more heresy, I will just tell you what happened during the skulls event.
We had a few new announcements, one specifically in the realm of strategy games, and we saw some gameplay from a project I am personally extremely excited about. But we get to that last. First, I want to put a spotlight on the new content of already existing games.
Warhammer 40k Battlesector got a major update and new DLC in the form of the Ork Faction Pack, which can be used in Planetary Supremacy, Daemonic Incursion, Skirmish, and Multiplayer mode. It is priced at $15 and is available now. Total War: Warhammer III got a free new hero with Harald Hammerstone joining the fray. Warhammer 40k: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters also received a free content update. The Bloom Assault mission is an alternate seeding mission type that is effectively an escort mission, and with the War Dog Stalker, a new unit has been added as well.
As for games that you might have missed and are on sale right now, these are the games TSI whole-heartedly recommends:
Warhammer 40k Mechanicus. A turn-based strategy game inspired by XCOM, where you take control of the Adeptus Mechanicus fighting the Necrons. The game is currently 84% off and sits at a cool $5. You will get some mileage out of this one.
Warhammer 40k Gladius is currently free entirely on Steam! The game is inspired by Civilization and is, at that price point, worth picking up.
And finally, there is Warhammer 40k Battlesector, a turn-based strategy game that pits the Blood Angels against the Tyranids in a very intense campaign. The game got slashed by 45% and sits at $19.
These three games should fix your craving for all things Warhammer 40k. Unfortunately, there is only Total War: Warhammer 3 if you are a Warhammer Fantasy fan and strategy game fan. That would set you back $40 now.
Now that we have taken care of the sales, we are moving on to the highlights, mainly two important things that happened during the showcase. There was one major new announcement and gameplay reveal. Let’s start with the gameplay reveal first.
Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader is currently in development at Owlcat Games, the makers of the two Pathfinder games that have rocked the CRPG community in the past. Now they have set their sights on the Warhammer universe, and they came out swinging with new gameplay that can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql6ApN9Oo5M
It looks like they take on another tactical CRPG game and apply all the lessons they have learned during developing Pathfinder. It doesn’t show much other than it might be turn-based, cover is involved and ship battles in space are a thing. Faction-wise, we see the Necrons, all Chaos Gods, the Eldars, and more. They also announce a beta test on June 1st, so this is going to be exciting if you are into tactical CRPGs. Keep an eye on this one!
If you want to jump in early though and have some cash burning through your pocket, the founder’s packs are available on the Owlcat Rogue Trader website ranging from $39 to $299 with, of course, various bonuses and Alpha/Beta access on Steam.
https://roguetrader.owlcat.games/preorder/en#packs
The last game that was announced is an interesting one. Warhammer Age of Sigmar – Realms of Ruin is billed as a realm-shattering real-time strategy game and is currently in development at Frontier, who also published Warhammer 40k: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters. Not much is known about it yet, however, knowing Frontier and its pedigree, this game is worth keeping an eye on, especially since high-profile RTS games are somewhat rare these days. The trailer can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFs5h-sgpFM
And that’s it for the Warhammer Skulls 2023. It was short, sweet, and to the point. Nothing to scoff at. I didn’t go in with any expectations and I wasn’t disappointed. Let us know in the comments what you think! Follow us on Twitter for more updates and keep on strategizing!
The Orcosaurus is a gamer with three decades of gaming experience. When he doesn’t review naughty games on YouTube, he wages WAAAGH! with indie games on his YouTube streams and creates his podcast, Orcocast, where he interviews indie devs about their journey as game developers. He loves strategy games, action games, and RPGs and is a total Warhammer 40k nut.
