The first RTS based on the latest Games Workshop fantasy setting, Warhammer Age of Sigmar – Realms of Ruin will launch on 17th November across PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Alongside the release date announcement, Frontier Developments also revealed the Nighthaunt as one of the game’s four factions, and the replayable Conquest mode.
Age of Sigmar is a complete reboot of Games Workshop’s iconic fantasy setting, shifting the tabletop game in a different direction with its rules, reimagining all of the factions, and kicking off new narrative arcs. Warhammer Age of Sigmar – Realms of Ruin sees the champions of mankind, the Stormcast Eternals, heading into the Realm of Ghur (AKA the Realm of Beasts), facing off against the Orruk Kruleboyz and, as revealed in the above trailer, the spectral visages of the Nighthaunt. There’s one more faction to be revealed, quite likely one of the good guys, since we now have two baddies, eh?
We’ve been hands on with a couple more levels from the campaign – read out latest Warhammer Age of Sigmar – Realms of Ruin preview here.
In addition to a narrative campaign and online multiplayer, Realms of Ruin will also have the Conquest mode. This is designed to be repeatable single player, giving you a procedurally generated map and letting you chart your own path across it on the way to a final battle. Helping to mix things up and add more variety are rule changes that can affect vision, speed, time limits, modify control points and more.
Realms of Ruin will likely feel pretty familiar to players of Dawn of War and Company of Heroes, with Frontier building on similar foundations for the squad-based strategy and control point mechanics that define your territorial control on the map. It’s a well-worn system that works well here, but Frontier has also worked hard to make this game as friendly for console players as possible. In addition to mouse & keyboard controls on PC, there will be two controller schemes, one of which is the new DirectStep system that’s about quickly snapping together waypoints for units to follow. You can see our impressions on that in our first hands on preview of Realms of Ruin.
Warhammer Age of Sigmar – Realms of Ruin will arrive in multiple editions, with the Deluxe and Ultimate editions including a 3 day early unlock. For people splashing out a bit more, they’ll be able to play from 14th September, but 17th September is the official release date.