Take this memory and mood into your head with me.
Eldar stalking the apocalyptic streets of a besieged Tau city, fundamentally dismantling the materialist defenders, the Tau, as they fire from cloaked and hidden positions in all directions. Eventually, triumphantly, they begin a siege of the Tau central citadel. The Tau's lives are forfeit and they gladly lay them down fighting for the life of yet only one of their own, who is now doomed to die at the hands of an avatar of an ancient, foreign alien God.
A civilizational, essential struggle against a dying race that remembered them before they were even sentient germs in an ocean. The Eldar cherish the very essence of what remains of their own souls, having lost so much of the stars they once conquered and irreversibly damned so many of their own to physical manifestations of metaphysical doom. And it is the Tau, who have no souls at all. Their materialist, fanatically militant and pseudo-egalitarian society has ensured this youthful race do not even have a dent in the immaterium.
Xenos whose souls are the only thing they fight for versus xenos whose souls never existed in the first place.
After wiping them out of the 'race' to liberate their own planet, albeit one that had effectively annexed and oppressed its indigenous inhabitants, the Tau are now but remnants abandoned to a coastline.
Taldeer had come to this planet with her fellow Eldar on an ancient mission to ensure the Necrons could not take a foothold. And yet, ironically, it was the Tau that stood in her way. After she and her people so effortlessly annihilated the Blood Ravens, these damned Tau were the ones to put them through a meat grinder. In a desperate defense on barren land, so many Craftworld Eldar fell just meters from their headquarters as it was besieged for hours by continual swarms of the Tau's best troops, lead by their most veteraned Fire Warrior.
Meanwhile, the united forces of Chaos, in pure irony, had robbed Taldeer of her mission. It was they, of all the factions, who destroyed the Necrons and let them not gain a single foothold. The corrupted souls had perished the soul destroyers. There was no joy in this, for now Taldeer's campaign felt invalidated and now, so many of her men were carrion in Tau cities.
The wrath of Taldeer and her Exarch council and Seers, Banshees and Guardians, finished up the last remnants of the Tau on the planet... And ironically, the battle did not end. I was effectively softlocked due to a script breaking and the battle being won, yet, the mission not being over.
Left with a phantom pain that this was where my Dark Crusade run would end, I knew what Taldeer felt in this moment. An irreplaceable loss that no amount of hatred could fill. The kind of hole that hollows the already maddened soul. But a taste, of the misfortunes to come in whatever distant conflicts. But for now, it was us and us alone. Abandoned by fate and scoured by inability. Lost to the cruel joke of a 20 year old bug...
Dawn of War is fundamentally, very easily, the most fun RTS of its time in my honest opinion. It may not have the competitive jaw that Starcraft is most well known for, but I still think that this game alone is a proof to the enduring nature of Relic's earlier games. Being so full of soul, spirit and a blatant, immortal love for the source material.
This game was my first true and genuine, full introduction into the Warhammer 40k setting many years ago. It is a huge part of my earliest gaming years and it started a life long obsession with the Eldar and Tau. The Imperial Guard and SPESS MAHREENS generally dominate the mindspace of most people in the fandom and those who witness it second hand, but to me, the Eldar and Tau are some of the most iconic factions ever devised in a tabletop setting.
Years later, I read many the works of Gav Thorpe and especially loved his omnibus, Path of the Eldar. But this journey, once again, comes back to Dawn of War for instilling such a deep, spiritual interest in the space elves and also dissonantly, a strong appreciation also for the materialist Tau.
All that aside, the game itself is something incredible and it has aged so well. Pathfinding is still a bit wonky, but the gameplay mechanics, the base building and everything else, really is so perfectly fluid and Relic struck absolute gold with the DoW formula and then, decided to never do it again, for whatever odd reason. But this game is hypnotic and collectively, over the decades, I never tire of playing as the Eldar, coaking all my buildings and then rushing to summon the Avatar of Khaine, only to promptly have him B-Line right to an enemy HQ for a truly humbling deliverance of defeat to my enemies.
The linear campaign itself of the base game is surprisingly good. Among the best in any RTS games, it also has a very keen story and a fantastically dramatic, over-acted voice cast that sells the setting better than any other 40k title. An absolute legendary meme factory, it was back in the day. Dawn of War helped define an entire culture for internet denizens who were fans of the game, things like Cultist-Chan are now relatively forgotten or ignored by new comers, but those who know - know.
Winter Assault is hard, but has one of the more interesting mechanic-based campaigns with a variety of conclusions and some stellar presentation.
Then we get to Dark Crusade, the absolute peak of Dawn of War and possibly, arcade RTS games overall. A dynamic conquer-the-map type gameplay mode with absolutely stellar and top tier presentation, alternative methods of storytelling and extremely strong character, representing all of the factions in the best way for each and every move. Arguably, the amount of hype some of these siege missions generate are the pinnacle of the genre.
Soulstorm is a lot bigger in some ways, but takes steps back in others. But it is still good and concludes the package with the extremely fun additional factions. Soulstorm and Dark Crusade are 100% the reason you should buy this game and as much as I enjoyed the more linear, scripted campaigns, these two dynamic map-painting campaigns are still the best thing Relic has ever sold.
A tremendously high effort and down right, nearly perfect way to familiarize yourself with 40k for newcomers who are not yet ready to step into the world of painting and army building IRL. And for those returning, we salute you, veterans of the great wars of so many skirmish matches decades ago.
A game so iconic that there are entirely NPC-voice compilations on youtube of JUST this game's top tier dialogue and hammy audible presentation. A game that truly cannot be praised enough.
