The plan is to give gamers “long term goals” and a “steady stream of rewards.” Ebbert says that gamers have a lack of attachment to RTS characters, and that has to change. Even before the Relic duo has begun explaining the revised ‘wargear’ concept, we can see where this is headed. Dawn of War 2 is going to focus on a limited number of characters - persistent faces who, as in an RPG, will be built up and developed by you as the game progresses. Your characters are going to pick up valuable pieces of loot as they go through their violent lives, and you’re going to be able to equip them between missions via character management screens. Far more involved than previous games, the new wargear has a potent whiff of World of Warcraft about it, with the different items having descriptions and colourful names rather similar to those we’re so familiar with from the Blizzard fantasy monolith.
Creating long term goals for Dawn of War 2 means connecting gamers with that inner loot-hunter that RPGs have identified and catered to so proficiently: there’s always going to be a finer suit of power armour lying around the corner, and you’re going to find this gear right on the battlefield itself. That’s right: loot drops.
Also exhibiting this new attention to the long term goal is the way in which the campaigns are going to be delivered. Relic have learned from the conquest modes of previous games, and are now planning to present gamers with a shifting, changing campaign as they battle for control of entire planets. Ebbert explains that missions will have consequences, mainly in terms of loot, but also in terms of what you’ve achieved for the campaign as a whole. Shifting objectives will mean that you can’t hit everything and you’ll have to weigh up one objective over another: save the civilians or get hold of good gear? These kinds of decisions will imbue the Dawn of War 2 campaign with a sense of consequence. Your choices, far more than before, are going to be felt on the battlefield.
All of which meta-game leads us directly into the field of battle itself. Dawn of War 2 will be moving away from the classic base-building model and toward a tactical game where small, elite units are the focus. As in Company of Heroes, you’re going to be tackling your objectives with just a couple of squads, often against overwhelming odds. The campaign demonstrated to us in Vancouver was for orks and space marines, the only two playable races Relic are willing to tell us about now. The space marines will find themselves in situations where only direct deployment of the powerful leader characters will deliver success. “Kinda like ‘300’,” says Ebbert, referencing the film of the famed Spartan last stand. “Except space marines are so badass it’s called ‘30’.”
We’re shown a rolling ‘live’ demo, narrated by the team as it plays. Space marines arrive on an Imperial world being overrun by orks, and two squads move into position along a flyover littered with the debris of previous battle. They move forward and take cover behind some kind of space crates. A battle kicks off as orks come barreling down the gloomy avenue into the crossfire of the entrenched marines. Being out in the open as they are, the orks are ripped to shreds. The orks fight back by lobbing a stikbomb into the midst of the firing marine squad, blasting their cover away and sending them flying. The new physics and overall increase in detail are powerfully evident in these opening moments. The firefights are intense, with the blazing bolter fire raising a blizzard of particle effects across the theatre.
The scene changes and we see marines pinned down by heavy ork fire. The orks send in their tougher melee troops, which begin to dispatch the marines at close range. Things are getting ugly for the marines, and eventually they have to call in support. The commander character arrives and begins to have at the orks with his chainsword and pistol. Eventually he’ll pick up some fallen wargear, which can later be identified and equipped, and then be joined by the jet-packing assault marines. The Imperial dreadnought is back too. He bursts onto the battlefield, chunkier and heavier-looking than ever. It’s clear now that the focus of the game is closer, tighter and louder. The drop pods too have been enhanced. They’re great steel hammers from the sky, to be called down at opportune moments to slam into the ground, obliterating enemies and releasing vengeful imperial soldiers.
