Eternal Crusade

Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade is a third-person massively multiplayer online (MMO) game based on Game Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 setting. The game was made by Behavior Interactive and published by BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment. The game was released for Microsoft Windows PCs on September 23, 2016 and for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One later in 2017. In addition, all factions will have "hero-classes" that are playable but will cost in-game resources to use. Players can play as Space Marines, Eldar, Orks, and Chaos Space Marines with the Tau and Dark Eldar eventually added after release as playable factions over the game's lifetime. The Tyranids will be present in game as computer-controlled non-player characters, and will act as a balancing force against all factions but mostly concentrate on the race with the most captured land, as well as being the primary enemies in the game's procedurally-created dungeon "Underworlds" and survival "Hives" game modes to provide a player versus environment experience. It is likely that some of the Tyranids will appear as bosses. Players will choose their allegiances and background, then fight over land in huge open world battles between the different factions, earning points to upgrade their character and earning hundreds of weapons and accessories drawn from 26 years of Warhammer 40K lore to craft the perfect warrior.

Plot

The story in the game is written by best-selling Warhammer 40,000 author Graham McNeill and Narrative Designer Ivan Mulkeen who will help develop the different factions in the game. The open world is set on the planet of Arkhona in the late 41st Millennium. The player versus player gameplay of Eternal Crusade takes place on the surface of Arkhona that is open to all players. The player versus environment game modes all are set in instanced areas, below the surface of the planet, but the player will first need to discover entrances to them during open world play to enter.

Setting

The Kharon System is located in the galactic northern marches of the Segmentum Obscurus, in the dead centre of a void of systems -- right on the edge of Imperial space. It is a trinary star system, consisting of three suns locked in orbit aroud one another. The fifth planet in the star system, Arkhona, is a former Imperial world first settled tens of thousands of years before the start of the game. Although the settlements of mankind at one time stretched across all of its continents, when representatives from the Ordo Xenos arrived recently they found that the entire population of Arkhona had been destroyed. Shortly afterwards, the Inquisitors themselves were lost under terrible circumstances, thus setting the events of the game in motion.

Combat

Eternal Crusade is an MMO set in a open world, though the combat is modelled on that of a third-person shooter. There are no ability bars or auto-attack systems, and combat is skill-intensive. Once you a round of combat or certain goals are met in-game, the player will receive experience points to upgrade their character with items ranging from new weapons to armour. There are also vehicles spread across each map, which are usuable by the players and include iconic Warhammer 40,000 vehicles such as Land Raiders and Baneblades.

Monetisation

Eternal Crusade is a limited free-to-play MMO. All players can play for free, and will be able to play as all of the included factions except their respective jump assault classes at the start of the game. Paying players who purchase a copy of the full game will be able to play as all classes from all factions. Also, players will be able to buy specific factions from a game store that will also sell faction-appropriate cosmetic items, operating via a microtransaction service.

Factions

Space Marines

The foremost of humanity's defenders, the Space Marines are revered across the Imperium. Clad in ancient Power Armour and wielding the most potent weapons known to Man, the Space Marines are terrifying foes. They are the God-Emperor's Angels of Death, and they know no fear. Answering a psychic distress call from across the galaxy, the Space Marines come now to the former Imperial world of Arkhona to purge it of treacherous xenos and the taint of heresy. Playable Chapters include: the Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Imperial Fists, and the Ultramarines.

Basic Classes: Tactical, Devastator, Assault, Apothecary.

Elite and Hero Classes: Not yet released.

Chaos Space Marines

From the depths of the Warp, the traitor Chaos Space Marine Traitor Legions emerge to wage war against the Imperium. Slaves to darkness, they seek to bring down the Imperium of Man and destroy all they once swore to protect. The call from Arkhona was heard not only by the Imperium, but echoed through the halls of the daemons and sorcerers in the Warp. Even the fallen primarchs were roused from their bitter reveries, and they will not see Arkhona lost to them a second time.

Basic Classes: Tactical, Havoc, Raptor, Aspiring Sorcerer

Elite and Hero Classes: Not yet released.

Orks

Brutal, green-skinned creatures that outnumber possibly every other intelligent race in the galaxy and have more in common with a great savage ape than a man. They delight in carnage and so great is their need for conflict that, without a more obvious opponent, the Orks will indulge in fighting bloody wars with themselves, just to ensure they get a good scrap. United under a visionary new Warlord, this Ork Waaagh! has been on a sector-spanning crusade that has already seen hundreds of Imperial worlds fall. Driven by visions from their gods Gork and Mork, the Orks now have Arkhona targeted as the site for a truly apocalyptic war. Orks come from a variety of Clans, each with their own unique battlefield culture. When they put their differences aside to fight for the glory of the Orkoid species, none can stand before the Green Tide.

Basic Classes: Shoota, 'Eavy Loota, Stormboy, Painboy

Elite and Hero Classes: Not yet released.

Eldar

A group of Aspect Warriors led by an Eldar Warlock; (from left-to-right) a Dire Avenger, Howling Banshee, Fire Dragon, Striking Scorpion, Dark Reaper and Swooping Hawk

The last remnants of a proud and ancient civilisation, the Eldar are deadly foes. Inhumanly swift and highly skilled, they are armed with advanced weaponry far beyond the ken of mortal men, and their mastery of the psychic arts is unparalleled. The history of Eldar goes back to long before the dawn of man, and thus they have had a secret stake in the fate of Arkhona since pre-history. As the warp vomits forth its corrupt spawn, the Imperium musters its greatest warriors and the savage greenskins descend upon it, the Eldar know all others must be prevented from gaining control of this world. An engimatic race, they are divided into numerous Craftworlds -- giant, planetoid-sized spacecraft, each with their own unique character and culture.

Basic Classes: Dire Avengers, Fire Dragons, Dark Reapers, Swooping Hawks, Howling Banshees, Striking Scorpions, Warlock

Elite and Hero Classes: Not yet released.

The Tyranids

The Tyranids are an extragalactic composite species of hideous xenos that is actually a space-faring ecosystem comprised of innumerable different bioforms which are all variations on the same genetic theme. The Tyranid race is ultimately dedicated solely to its own survival, propagation and evolutionary advancement. All Tyranid organisms are synaptic (psychically-reactive), and each Tyranid creature within a Hive Fleet shares and contributes to a communal Hive Mind, allowing the trillions of beings comprising the Tyranid Hive Fleets to communicate and organise instantaneously on a staggering scale. It is unclear at this time why the Tyranids are on Arkhona or how they got there. Regardless, they remain opposed to all other factions as they advance on their objective to devour all organic matter in the universe.