14 DAY TRIAL // The developers at Relic have officially confirmed that the third playable race in the upcoming Retribution expansion for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II will be the dreaded Tyranids, the alien menace which threatens to destroy all sentient life in the known universe.
The biological warriors, who rely on both close quarter and long range units to defeat the Space Marines, will be able to filed as many as 140 units on one map at one time, meaning that they will be able to simply overwhelm the more limited squads of other races.
One interesting twist is that the Tyranids will just have one hero, the Swarmlord, who will be upgradeable as his human counterparts and will be able to spawn lesser units.
Dan Kading, who is the lead designer working on Retribution, has told PC Gamer, “He has his traits that he can level up just like anybody else, and he has a variety of biomorphs that he can equip over the course of the campaign: including scything talons, crushing claws – which is a more anti-vehicle, anti structural style melee weapon – Barbed Stranglers, and Venom Cannons – which is a massive ranged anti-vehicle weapon that the Tyranids use”
He added,”He’ll get different carapaces he can pick up, and a variety of equipment that will change his various abilities from Rippers, which will just form an entourage around him, to the ability to regenerate some of his units on the field, or to spawn Spore Mines which can drift off and attack.”
The unique nature of the Tyranids also means that gamers will have to unlock certain units after each mission, creating an interesting choice between accessing better fighters or getting better wargear for the hero that leads them.
The Retribution expansion for Dawn of War II is set to be released at some point during March 2011 and it will be powered by Steamworks from Valve.