Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution
Series	Dawn of War
Released	March 1st, 2011

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution is the second expansion pack to the real-time strategy computer game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II. Retribution will have single player campaigns for races other than the Space Marines and will introduce an additional playable race. So far campaigns for the Orks¹, Tyranids² and Eldar³ has been confirmed.

Relic announced that Retribution will be dropping the Games for Windows Live Multiplayer Platform in favor of using Steamworks as its primary and only platform. This will make the game entirely stand-alone with all the races included.⁴

The game takes place 10 years after events of Chaos Rising. ⁶

On January 20th, 2011 a sizable portion of information regarding campaign characters was revealed.^{5 6}

During a session of Q&A with Relic Entertainment, it was revealed that decisions made by player in Dawn of War II and Chaos Rising could not be imported to Dawn of War II: Retribution.⁷

Campaign characters

Imperial guard

Player takes control of The Cadian Shock Troops force, which recently entered sub-sector Aurelia to fight constant xenos and daemonic threats.

1. Lord General Castor - the Imperial Guard Commander with no regimental affiliation. Sent to Aurelia with a sole purpose of winning the war, he is annoyed with local guardsmen, seeing them incompetent at defending the sub-sector from daemonic incursions.

2. Inquisitor Adrastia - clever, proud and idealistic, she believes in Imperial dogma without a doubt. Brought on Aurelia to investigate accusations against Azariah Kyras, she also finds local habitants' lack of faith as the main reason behind their mischiefs.

3. Sergeant Merrick is an experienced combatant. He is respected by his squadmates and cares about them more than he does about Imperium. He is angered by Adrastia's dismissive attitude and Castor's belligerence.

Space Marines

Blood Ravens Chapter is in civil war. Seeking to redeem his chapter from influence of Chaos, Apollo Diomedes joins forces with Cyrus and Techmarine Martellus. Together they must find truth about Kyras.

1. Apollo Diomedes is a decorated war hero. After learning about true nature of Kyras, he is seeking the strength the accept the fact that for decades, he served a monster. He is a believer who's faith has been shaken.

2. Sergeant Cyrus was allowed by Apollo Diomedes to surreptitiously join his forces in his pursuit of truth behind the Chapter Master. Cyrus' main intent is to convince Apollo of Kyras' duplicity.

3. Techmarine Martellus also accompanies Apollo Diomedes, serving as a voice of reason in arguments between Cyrus and Apollo.

Note: since both Cyrus and Martellus are present in Dawn of War II: Retribution, it can be concluded that neither of them was a traitor during events of Chaos Rising, indicating that one of The Force Commander's other sergeants was executed for treason (later revealed to be Avitus).

Chaos Space Marines

Chaos forces on Aurelia are led by Eliphas The Inheritor, who once again bargained his way back from the grave. Being in service of Abaddon, Chaos Space Marines are tasked with eliminating rival races on Aurelia.

1. Lord Eliphas is scheming and subtle. He prefers to direct battle from safety, rather than raging through battle. Eliphas is sadistic and is only intersted in promotion through the ranks of Chaos, willing to do anything it might take.

2. Neroth is the Sorcerer of the Black Legion. Unlike Eliphas, he prefers forthright destruction, leaving all scheming to former. Despite he follows orders of Eliphas, Neroth is an agent of Abaddon, sent to ensure Eliphas lives up to his end of the bargain.

3. Plague Champion Varius is a fearsome and skilled warrior, sworn to protect Eliphas. The putrescent slime that oozes from Varius’s weeping sores pits and corrodes his armor releasing the contagion contained within.

The Eldar

The Eldar of Craftworld Alaitoc are led by Autarch Kayleth, a fearsome warrior who has spent centuries mastering all aspects of warfare. Their mission is to prevent the realization of a prophecy which implies the imminent destruction of Typhon.

1. Kayleth is haughty, curt, and pragmatic. She knows exactly what to do in any military situation, treating other races as irritations along the path to completing her mission.

2. Ronahn is a former Pathfinder of Craftworld Ulthwé. He has renounced his ties to craftworld and now wanders the stars. However, he remains loyal to his race and answers their call for assistance. Ronahn is skeptical towards the Eldar's reliance on prophecy, and sees their current mission as a waste of effort.

3. Veldoran is a warlock, accompanying Tyrea on her mission who interprets the prophetic visions of the Farseers. His confidence in mission is absolute.

Reception

As of February 25th, 2011, Dawn of War II: Retribution has been received well. IGN cited the price, combat, and visuals as good positives and the plot as being vague and not as fulfilling as Dawn of War II and Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising's.⁸

Sources

• ¹:http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/08/17/orks-world-first-interview-on-dawn-of-war-2-retribution-screenshots/
• ²:http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/09/29/dawn-of-war-ii-retribution-shows-off-eldar-campaign/
• ³:http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/10/18/dawn-of-war-2-retribution-tyranid-campaign-preview/
• ⁴:http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/09/15/relic-ditch-games-for-windows-live-for-steam/
• ⁵:http://community.dawnofwar2.com/blog-post/dawnofwar2com-ready-retribution
• ⁶:http://www.dawnofwar2.com/us/retribution/campaign
• ⁷:http://www.thqinsider.co.uk/2011/01/20/dawn-of-war-ii-retribution-exclusive-relic-qa/
• ⁸:http://pc.ign.com/articles/115/1152183p1.html