A new story trailer for Dawn of War 4 has just been revealed, showing off the Dark Angels as a playable sub-faction, and teasing the old and busted Lion El’ Johnson who appears to actually be hanging around his kids for once.
The trailer also gives us some more context as to why the four playable factions are back on Kronus, with Blood Ravens and Orks clashing like the good ol’ days, while the Adeptus Mechanicus explore Necron tombs. We see a variety of units new to the series, including a Chaplan on bike, Necron skorpekh destroyers and an Ork Beastboss.
Lion El’ Johnson interestingly enough has his helmet on at the tail end of the trailer, which may have prevented some from noticing his presence in the trailer. However, given we see his shield on full display, that’s certainly him!
We also now know that the Dawn of War 4 campaign has been written by Black Library author John French. He’s written plenty of Warhammer books over the years. This includes books focused on Ahriman, the first captain of the Thousand Suns legion. There’s been a long-running fan theory that the Blood Ravens are successors of the Thousand Sons, so who knows? Maybe John French will drop a breadcrumb or two.
Other interesting tidbits from the trailer include the fact warboss Gorgutz is still alive and kicking. This makes sense as the Orks canonically were the victors of Dawn of War: Soulstorm, thus Orks would still be milling about the place. The Necrons have been fleshed out a bit too, ironically.
During the campaign, players will be able to pick between Dark Angels and Blood Ravens missions, allowing a degree of choice depending on which Space Marine faction you vibe with the most. These missions are “non-linear” according to the official press release for this story trailer.
Dawn of War 4 is set to release sometime in 2026, though you can wishlist it now! If you want to get an idea of what it’s like, why not read our Dawn of War 4 preview. In it, writer Chris Tapsell stated: “it feels like the sequel to the original that RTS fans always wanted”.
