The thunder of bolters repelling an Ork incursion and the distinctive red and white ceramite armor of the Blood Ravens bring me right back to the moment the trailer for the original Dawn of War made me an instant Warhammer 40K fan more than 20 years ago. And it’s that first game in the series that serves as the jumping off point for the upcoming Dawn of War 4. A lot has changed, but a lot remains the same, bringing bigger battles and snazzier graphics to a classic take-and-hold RTS that is equal parts spectacle and tactics. I played through the 1-2 hour demo a few times and it felt like Dark Crusade never left.

The last we heard of this franchise was in 2018 when Relic ended support for the divisive Dawn of War 3, and this next chapter is deploying under different masters. King Art Games, the developer of the alt-history dieselpunk RTS Iron Harvest, has taken up the banner, and I can definitely see a throughline between the big, stompy robots in that game and the classic dreadnoughts and titans in this one. King Art has also elevated the cinematic carnage by adding a synced animation melee system that can simulate a scrape between any two of its many dozens of units.

Like the recent editions of the tabletop game on which it’s based, Dawn of War 4 has jumped 200 years deeper into the 41st Millennium, after the Eye of Terror opened and split the Imperium of Man apart. The Blood Ravens are a scattered and beleaguered chapter trying to put themselves back together, serving as one of the four… and a half playable factions. Their roster reflects the newest Space Marines codex, with Primaris Intercessors and Bladeguard Veterans leading the charge. Older, tracked mainstays like the Rhino and Predator have been swapped for the higher-tech repulsor vehicles. But some classic favorites like the Dreadnought and Terminators have stuck around.

Space Marines focus on small, elite squads that are expensive to build and reinforce, but outshine most of their opponents pound-for-pound. Their buildings are large and expensive, with defensive structures being fully automated rather than manned. In fact, they barely pay attention to cover at all, which was an adjustment from having replayed Dawn of War 2 fairly recently. They do have a lot of tactical flexibility though, with most infantry squads being trained into a pool of strategic reserves that can be deployed by drop pod to anywhere you have vision. The drop pods are even armed, and will stay on the map as a light defensive turret until destroyed.

ENEMIES OF THE IMPERIUM

The other ubiquitous Dawn of War race from that very first trailer, the Orks, are the second faction, and the primary enemies in the demo I played. They have much more of a horde style of combat, though with a few units like the Meganobz in their petroleum-fueled power armor that can go toe-to-toe with a space marine. Their buildings are cheap, and all of them have some kind of little guy with a machine gun on them, so vomiting production structures across the map is also how you create defensive positions. The animations are especially thematic and entertaining, as it really looks like a giant heap of scrap that was chucked unceremoniously through the atmosphere.

The Orks also, of course, get a WAAAGH! mechanic that lets them earn powerful deployable stratagems for causing all sorts of havoc.

Just as I was coming to grips with the Orks, though, one of my control points was taken by surprise by the other hostile race, the terminator-like Necrons. Hinted at in the epilogue of Dawn of War 3 but never fully materializing, they make a dramatic return with the monolith super unit that can warp in new squads to its location. For balance reasons, Necrons can’t simply get right back up when killed like they can in the tabletop game. But they do get a special building called the Resurrection Chamber that can respawn a certain number of destroyed squads for free.

They play the most differently from the other factions in that they aren’t especially concerned with the requisition and power capture points dotted around the map. Rather, their economy relies on spreading their matrix – like an eerie, cybernetic form of zerg creep from Starcraft – that grants bonuses to their units when fighting on it and provides them with resources the more of the map is covered in it.

STALWART ALLIES

Having barely fought off the Necron incursion and getting pushed back hard by the Orks due to my divided attention, who would arrive at the crucial moment to join the Blood Ravens in turning the tide of battle? Would you believe it’s a faction completely new to the Dawn of War series? The final of the four fully-playable multiplayer factions is the Adeptus Mechanicus, with their swarms of cyborg servitors and impressive, well-kept war machines.

The AdMech have a unique ability to see enemy contacts as blobs of color relative to their size and power on the minimap, even in the fog of war, so it’s almost impossible to surprise them. Their buildings are also networked, providing them with powerful boosts to production for being in range of a network node, which can make them vulnerable to surgical strikes severing the connection. Their super unit is the titanic Imperial Knight, which really shows off Dawn of War 4’s scale next to the puny units it’s stomping over.

I did say four and a half factions, though. The Imperial Guard were present on the mission I played as AI-controlled allies, although with a limited roster of units. They will also be playable in the tutorial mission of the campaign, but not in multiplayer. Not yet, at least.

The other four factions will each have their own campaigns with branching story paths, taking us back to the planet Kronus from the Dawn of War: Dark Crusade expansion. The story features more than 40 minutes of CGI cutscenes across all factions, and was written by prolific Black Library author John French, author of the recent Ahriman novels among others.

Dawn of War 4 will also bring back the popular Last Stand mode from Dawn of War 2, though in a way that was described to me as less hero-centric and “less MOBA-like,” focusing more on the classic RTS mechanics like Dawn of War 1. Co-op is also on the slate, and there was a conspicuously greyed-out “Painter” option on the main menu. The devs weren’t ready to talk about this one yet, but told me their goal was to include everything the previous Dawn of War games had in terms of customization and then add a bit more.

I certainly wasn’t expecting a new Dawn of War any time soon, much less from a studio other than Relic. But from the bit of it I’ve played, it seems like King Art Games understands the assignment. As a Dawn of War 2 fan, I miss the emphasis on cover and move-and-fire tactics. But Dawn of War 4 has nevertheless made a big first impression. I can hardly wait to get dug in next year.

Developer Positive Concept Games and game management platform indie.io announced at gamescom Wednesday that 16-bit action RPG Shrine’s Legacy will release October 7 on Steam.

If you’re not already familiar with Shrine’s Legacy, it’s inspired by classic RPGs of the SNES era and blends that retro look with more modern real-time combat and puzzle solving. The story takes place in a land called Ardemia, a magical world threatened by a returning evil. It can only be saved by uniting the Sword of the Shrine and the eight elements of magic scattered across the world.

You play as two young heroes, Rio and Reima. Rio is heir to the Sword and a descendant of the last hero to banish the ancient evil, while Reima is a mage who’s been desperately seeking the Sword. The two are brought together by the rise of this evil and will go on a journey to find the eight elements before it’s too late.

That journey will take you across an expansive world full of dungeons to explore, puzzles to solve, and secrets to discover. Investigate its nooks and crannies to find crafting materials and magical jewels, and face down treasure-guarding bosses to earn stat-increasing items and learn powerful spells.

This is a character-focused tale, one that will force its two heroes to deal with pain, tragedy, and loss. Vanquishing an ancient evil isn’t possible without sacrifice, and we won’t go into spoilers here, but you’ll find out just how much Rio and Reima are willing to lose to successfully complete their quest.

You can play all of Shrine’s Legacy either solo or in two-player co-op. As you could probably guess from their descriptions, Rio is a melee fighter and Reima is a ranged magic user. If you play solo, you can swap between them at any time, with AI controlling whichever character you’re not actively playing. For co-op, you can go the old-fashioned way and play with a friend on the couch or pair up online via Steam Remote Play Together or Parsec. Either way, there’s full controller support and customizable keyboard controls.

If you want to try Shrine’s Legacy for yourself, there’s a free demo available on Steam now. It contains about two hours of the game’s story, including two dungeons, two towns, and multiple bosses. Just like the full game, the demo can also be played solo or in co-op. If you want to stay up to date with the latest news and previews, you can also follow the game and developer on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

The only game IGN has awarded a 10 in 2025 has been discounted only a few weeks after it launched on Nintendo Switch 2. Donkey Kong Bananza is down to $62.99 at Amazon right now, $7 off its original list price, and a 10% saving for those counting.

I finally played Hollow Knight: Silksong. No, I don’t mean to brag, but instead find myself having to type it out just to convince my eyes that it actually happened. Yes, it may have only been for around 20 minutes, but the long-awaited sequel shows little sign of disappointing.

During my demo at gamescom 2025, I was faced with a choice of two areas to play in: Moss Grotto or Deep Docks. Of course, I was going to try both, but first went for Moss Grotto — based on nothing apart from green being my favourite colour — which turned out to be the right decision. This sunlit grassy zone appears to be the very beginning of Silksong, as I fell into it following a brief cutscene in which a caged Hornet (the playable princess-protector protagonist) breaks free from the metal wagon she’s held captive in by collapsing the bridge it’s being paraded on. Developer Team Cherry seems keen on immersing us straight back into the world of Hollow Knight right from the very beginning, teasing lore via a passage of Conductor Romino’s Pharloom Folly.

As for Moss Grotto itself, it felt very much like a (re)introduction to the core mechanics of Hollow Knight. A mixture of rudimentary platforming and simple battles was littered across its grassy floors in a short but sweet section of Silksong’s presumably sprawling labyrinth of a world. It all ended with a boss fight against a large queen-bee-like insect that attempted to lock me in her lair. Moss Mother gave me little boss bother, though, dispatching them by unlocking that long-dormant Hollow Knight muscle memory as I leapt over darting diagonal attacks and evaded crumbling rocks falling from the sky. It was action platforming 101, but still felt incredibly satisfying.

I then swiftly moved onto Deep Docks, which turned out to be an entirely different proposition. Tools such as kunai, which can be thrown horizontally to pierce foes, were added to my arsenal, along with skills such as a familiar dash ability. Things naturally get more complex with more items to juggle, t, which is reflected in Deep Docks’ level design that comprises a maze of clanking metal elevators and the numerous semi-hidden levers that operate them. I may have only spent a handful of minutes there, but I could already see myself getting hopelessly lost without the aid of one of Cornifer’s ever-valuable maps.

Upon unlocking a boss arena, I was confronted by an enemy of far greater threat than any I had encountered yet. Lace, a balletic white insect, not too dissimilar in look to Hornet herself, dazzled me with intricate combos delivered at a speed my poor brain could not compute quickly enough. Defeated, I moved on, knowing this would be a battle for another day and not one I particularly wanted the dozens of people waiting in the queue behind to witness me losing again and again.

While it’s too early to gauge the overall difficulty of Silksong, the jump up in this later area was noticeable, with enemies capable of far more than simple prods and darts. I usually welcome added complexity and evolution of combat when it comes to sequels, so I have no great issue here. I just hope that in totality, fights won’t become too tiresome with exploration and progress being halted too often. Discovering the secrets of Hollow Knight’s world was maybe the purest of its joys to me; I wouldn’t want Silksong to feel like running into a brick wall too often.

There are concessions to make you feel more powerful compared to the original, though. Health regain is now divorced from skills, meaning you can throw those kunai liberally without having to sacrifice a potential life-saving heal. Attack is still the best form of defense, echoing some of my favourite systems from the likes of Control, Doom Eternal, and, of course, the original Hollow Knight. This is emphasised by the fact that you can only trigger health regen when your silk-white bar is full, encouraging even more offensive maneuvers to build that up quickly. Dodging will only get you so far in Hollow Knight Silksong.

All of these tweaks and changes tie together to create a more aggressive minibeast, and, although I certainly have a soft spot for the original Hollow Knight, I’m finding myself instantly drawn to Silksong more. 2018’s game often placed you on the back foot, but here I felt instantly more empowered and ready to go toe-to-toe with my aggressors. As someone who traditionally enjoys the push of faster-paced action games as opposed to the pull of more modern examples of the genre (I’m really trying my hardest not to use the term soulslike here), I’m left encouraged. Creature design is still one of the highlights in the sequel, with the borderline adorable adversaries almost being too cute to stab. At one stage, I got locked in a room with some flying nuisances with pots over their heads who lobbed molten rocks at me, as well as a pudgy little round lad with a saucepan for a shield. I almost felt bad killing them.

But in truth, combat was never the highlight of Hollow Knight for me anyway, but rather the layers of exploration and discovery lurking beneath each of its beautifully crafted environments. And while I’ve barely scratched the surface of what secrets Silksong has stored in this regard, initial impressions promise a similar bounty of nooks and crannies packed full of insect friends and foes. Platforming through these mazes is still a joy; a delicately delightful balance between precision and floaty jumping that tests your skills, that crucially never feels unfair when dropping into a gap unwillingly. The addition of mantling in the sequel helps this massively, with edges freely within grasp even when slight misjudgments are made.

I was instantly taken by how much more colourful the environments are this time around. Cinders dance around caves dripping with lava and glowing green moss dresses earthy overhangs, themselves floating precariously above pools of glistening water. Hornet’s red cape billows against the painted backdrops, both acting in harmony to form the sort of Saturday morning cartoon look you’d expect if one were to hang in the Louvre. Hornet also feels bigger on the screen, dominating the frame to a greater degree than her meeker-yet-still-mighty forebearer. That visual design feels like a deliberate choice, one aimed at creating more of a power trip sensation this time around. It’s these ideas — from revamped combat design to its repainted world – that appear to be acting in concert to a magical degree, and impressive proof, even in this small dose, of what Team Cherry has been brewing.

Yes, we’ve been waiting many, many years for this sequel, but everything at this stage points to it being worth it. Each aspect feels authored and prescribed to a clear vision — a piece of playable art that is as fun to wield as it is to watch (I should know, the gamescom queue was very long). It may have been the shortest of demos, but so far, Silksong is very much singing to me, maybe even more than the original.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.