THQ Officially Announces Dawn of War II and Beta Details

The highly anticipated sequel Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II has been officially confirmed by THQ and Relic Entertainment and dated for spring 2009. The game is being developed exclusively for the PC and it uses an enhanced version of the Essence Engine 2.0. As expected, many key changes will be made - changes that will delight the RTS fans all over the world - but for the moment only few details are known.

Still, this doesn't mean that we don't have any reasons to be excited. For example, THQ has announced that Relic Entertainment will bring us a fully co-operative multiplayer campaign, filled with intense action and visceral action - as we got used with by the series ("No, it should by my campaign! My campaign only!" yells our gaming editor colleague and Warhammer 40,000 fan Andrei) Well... for those who really want a campaign just for themselves and nobody else, that will be possible too: a non-liner one - and this is definitely something that will make a lot of people happy.

Also, since there's still a lot of time left until the game will be released, you'd probably prefer taking part in the closed beta. And you'll get that chance only if you purchase (or have purchased already) the recently released Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Soulstorm. And having in mind that it will be an invitation-only multiplayer beta, you can consider yourself lucky.

"The original Dawn of War and its subsequent standalone expansions have established the series as one of the industry's leading RTS franchises," said Brad Carraway, vice president, global brand management, THQ. "Dawn of War II will re-define RTS gaming to gamers worldwide, delivering brutal frontline action and tactics, and allowing players to get straight to the action with unprecedented fast-paced RTS gameplay and a full co-op campaign, all in stunning cinematic detail."

If you would like to know what we thought about Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Soulstorm, go check the review.