Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Anniversary Edition

Masterpiece.....Perfectly balanced base building strategy game.

Despite its age and the odd visual glitch, this is a fantastic RTS and I would urge any 40k fan or someone interested in getting into 40k (as I have been) to pick up and play this game. Campaign is good and skirmish is fun. Hard to find any multiplayer games but that was expected given the game's age and population. Still, cannot recommend this game enough!

I am playing this game for the first time over 20 years after this game came out. I can imagine that when it came out, it was an amazing introduction into the 40k universe. However, at this point and having played so many other RTS and games in this universe, this game isn't that great. The basic premise is capture and hold locations to build resources. The campaign is Blood Angels only and is exactly what you would expect if you are familiar with the universe. I had hoped for more campaigns but that is likely to my comparison to Warcraft and other RTS games of the time. This would probably be a good game if you've never played another RTS and enjoyed the universe but otherwise, there are so many options that are better. At this point, this game is very cheap, so it's worth the cost, I'm just not sure I'd ever touch it again.

''Walk softly, and carry a big gun.''
That's it. This is the review. Now kill those xenos.

RTS stealth mission in the very beginning killed it for me i do not care bro

Complete joke of technical support. There's no way this "anniversary edition" should be sold when it doesn't even work on modern hardware. Luckily I purchased this game years prior to the change (when it actually worked). I was hoping to experience the 40k universe like I did years ago, but until they manage to get this game working for Windows 11, its a 0/10 for me. What a shame

What is there to say. I f you love this genre you will have or played this lots already.

Dawn of war 1 is an insanely good RTS title that still shines on its genre than most recent titles (which isn't much). If you like strategy games then i highly recommend this title which is not only fun but also a great way to be introduced to the franchise since this game contains nine factions from warhammer 40k except the tyranid (its on the sequel Dawn of war 2) and alot of units you can command and battle in in four campaigns.

i have spent over 100+ hours on dark crusade and another 70+ hours on soulstorm so i did burned a lot of time in this series Especially on the campaign of dark crusade since its pretty awesome.

Upon completion my life has now been left empty. There is a void so deep in me not even my wife can fill it. The only thing that can is Dawn of War. Yet, Dawn of war 2 sucks, and Dawn of war three does not even deserve to be mentioned in this review. This game... once gave me purpose. Now I am forsaken by the Emperor.

Got bored this summer season and don't know what to play.

Luckily, its the same time for steam sale and got this Warhammer 40k series.

So Hype and a very good game in RTS genre.

Great if you like RTS, Outstanding if you like Warhammer.

Good lore and story but gameplay-wise just frustrating. I recommend playing on easy just for the story-line campaign. Units path-finding is horrendous.

So depressing that nothing came even close in 20 years since this came out.

It is a old game but it is a great game after all it from the golden age of RTS games

I never thought I would get into this game so much.
But here we are many many years later and its still my no.1 Favourite game... Well, this and the other DoW games... Winter Assault, Dark Crusade, and SoulStorm.
I play them all in turn, with each race and I have done several times now.

тут сюжетка конечно не прям креативная, просто миссии где тебе нужно как обычную катку сыграть и уничтожить все здания противников, но она как ртс на удивление приятная, так что очень даже пойдет

Brings back good memories. I remember swapping between this and Half Life 2 when they came out. Replayed through this and still holds up after all these years.

Wow, this sure is a blast from the past! It's amazing how well it has held up despite being 20 years old. I'm used to rude awakenings, where that awesome game of memory turned out to be ... less so without the rose-tinted nostalgia. But Dawn of War is still a remarkably good game despite the aged graphics and interface.

My only real complaint is the pathfinding. Holy jeepers, it is PAINFUL how bad troop movement works when you have maxed infantry and mech units in play. No matter how carefully you try to space them out, any attempt at moving in anything resembling formation is doomed. There's always that ONE guy stuck behind other troops, which makes the whole squad run around in front of everyone else and causing cascading gridlock.

If there is a modder somewhere that has addressed this, please share - I'd be most grateful!

It's dawn of war. Its probably one of the best base building RTS games ever made or at least a high water mark for the genre to this day. The combat, the music, the pacing, even the story campaign hold up as very solid experiences years later.

I remember picking up the physical disc of this game at a carboot sale, and I had no idea what joy was in store for me and my brother! We ended up falling in love with the game from the get go and to this day, I can still say I love booting up this fantastic game and replaying through the nostalgia hit in single player or multiplayer PvP with friends.
If you have tried DoW 2 or are just curious about playing the OG, I urge you to do so. It is such a fun game and a real blast!

If you enjoyed this review, I am starting up my own curator page and group and would love for you to join / follow!
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45328416/

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/ajmfreviews

old, very fun skirmish and campaign

Solid entry to the DOW franchise. The game has aged pretty well.

Just an amazing game. Played for the first time in 2025 and fell in love with it

Hear your troops scream for the Emperor and your ears go deaf to multiple artillery blasts is what makes this game stand out than other RTS. Mind the imbalanced choices for each faction is closely tied to their respective lore

after playing 40 hours of dow 1 I can say that this game is a masterpiece. pls pick this game up when you can. It is a perfect representation of 40k. It is probably the best game to start with to get into 40k. I do think that a little research is required to play but not that much. I recomend you watch weshammers 40k timeline,it will give you some much needed background information. OH, THE VOICE ACTING AND THE WRITING ARE PERFECTION.

RTS reddit slop. Only good RTS was Warcraft III. Stay away from everything else that devolves into ridiculous high APM ADHD. This game barely runs on modern systems too, and the mods that are the 'definitive' experience bricked the game when I tried them.

Yes, just YES!

Yes for Nostalgia
Yes for Gameplay
Yes for Story
Yes for the God Emperor!

Simple to learn, and allows for different player strategies. Good introduction to the setting with a solid story and voice acting performances. Army painter is also a fun addition. Visuals are dated, but the character models and environments are well made.

10/10 it's like having a real WH40k mini army and making them fight in real time warfare.

Best franchise. I hope they release fixes for this franchise (Dawn Of War 1 Series) and provide Steam Workshop support as well as improving base games for Mod compatibility like what EA Games is doing to C&C franchise. Dawn Of War, C&C, Act Of War, COH ... shall not die.

Still fun to play in as 20 years ago

Sega we know you love money with the aggressive pricing of the total war games.
Please get off your arse and remake this series so you can print money to continue to make total war games that no one asked for.
This is my favorite RTS of all time. Mods are very much active to this day.

I'm on a mission to play and review everything in my Steam Library, which has grown out of control. 40k Dawn of War is one of the best RTS games of it's time and one of the best 40k games period! I had hours of fun with this back in the day.

Was too young to be interested in this when it came out, but now that I'm a 40K fan, it's cool to go back and see the games that came before. Just rolled credits on this one in February of 2025 and had a blast! Highly recommend. May take some fiddling with the settings depending on what resolution you're at, but otherwise worked with no problems. Give it a shot, they call it a classic for a reason

Good game and great value for 5.99€ on sale—you get the main game and three expansions.
Between these four games, you get at least 20+ hours of RTS fun.
Also, if you want to get into Warhammer 40K, this is the best game to start with.

I played this first as a demo from the preview disc from game informer. I have bought all the expansions on physical discs. I now play it on the steam version with all the different mods. This is probably the best 40k game if not then the one that put 40k on the map proper for video games

Fight against Necrons: Engage the enemy. Wait for their immortality to expire as they kill your troops. Kill Necrons. Refresh troops. Advance some. Repeat.

One of the best RTS of all the time. It's fast and challenging. Campaign is a bit boring imo, but skirmish is fun. 9

AMAZING storyline and fun gameplay, play this if u like strategy games

This game and all of it's expansions are some of the greatest games of all time, original campaigns are awesome, i wish they made a hi def remastered version of the game

Amazing, Fun, and fast paced game play! Even after all these years it is worth playing over and over again! For the Emperor!!!

it was ok
I played each game completely vanilla on windows 10 and all 4 games (Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Anniversary Edition, Winter Assault, Dark Crusade, Soulstorm) booted up just fine they all had the same bug where every 20 - 40 minutes the screen would freeze up and the way to unstick it was to Ctrl+Esc then click back into the game so that was a little tedious however Dark crusade was extra bad where it was more like every 1 - 10 minutes the screen would freeze

other issues are that moving your squads feels extremely similar to the old starcraft broodwar days of trying to make a mass of dragoons/goliaths to walk down a ramp (for those of you who don't know its pretty miserable)

and other problems is sometimes your units just don't attack when they are right next to the enemy for some reason or a few times things would be invisible (I'm not talking about the intentional type of invisable such as cloaked units, Im talking about dropping a command center and after completing you are able to select a "barron" patch of ground to make units and whatnot with

another issue is the super close camera view where you almost can't even see the entire range of some units because it is so close. the anniversary edition and winter assault also don't have widescreen support but supposedly mods have fixes for these video issues however I didn't use any of those

last major problem I encountered on the soulstorm game is that after completing a level the game crashed and I lost about 2 hours of gameplay so I am not willing to replay that and it will get a negative recommendation

other than those issues I actually liked the game enough to beat 3 of the 4 games

It is better to die for the Emperor than to live for yourself.

This was my first computer game for the Warhammer series! Love the graphics and the storyline. I have them all

Scam for money, do not buy, runs like garbage, atleast if we pay for it they should fix the minor issues, this is of principle people, don't support pricks like this

7/10 good rts, units are simetimes forgeting orders, getting stucked in each other

I think people who are saying it's one of the "best RTS of all time" may be hyping it up a little, but Dawn of War is pretty fun, and definitely holds up despite its age. Speaking of its age, there are a few quirks such as the units being very, very stupid when left to do their own thing, and AI opponents and allies alike making rather goofy decisions, but in general everything holds up fine.

Can't say I'll miss hearing the same set of voice lines played on loop every time I get into a brief confrontation though.

Wish more games were like this. Strategic, fun, and full of lore.

i luv da warring factions and diversity provided in this game.

I was looking forward to playing this game again as it had been years since i last played through, but I cannot enjoy it without the pause feature and have time to give orders react or to what is happening, hopefully it can be restored at some point.
I guess Dow II is the same.
Unplayable for me.

I've been making use more often of Steam's 1 hr. trial period. Sometimes it feels to short, other times its plenty of time to make the decision for a refund. I'm new to 40k and had seen some info about this game. Knowing the age of the game, I figured the graphics would be dated but had an hour to decide if I could live with it or not. So when I start the game for the first time, I realized that "dated" would be generous. I thought..OK...this will be an easy return. 3.3 hours later, I have to ask...what the hell happened? Well...the game did. Yes, the graphics were hard to get past at first. But the game-play. Ho man....it's hard to describe how good it is without sounding crazy. The audio, the design, the modeling and level of detail, AI that actually paths, common sense mechanics. The graphics even grew on me after a while. What it boiled down, in this case, was the games inability to render at the resolution I typically use for my monitor. When I got past that, I could really appreciate the level of thought that went into this game's details. Some games stand on their graphical fidelity. Many today have photo-realistic graphics, but those too you get used to. And then you have to deal with the often shallow stories or repetitive game-play. Then there are games like this one, where the lack of graphical fidelity forces you to focus on the actual game-play. The fact that, 21 years after it's release, I can comfortably say this game is one of the most enjoyable and thematically impressive games in my collection is a testament to what a good job the developers did on this one. Hopefully one day we can get back to making games like this. Ones that are so engaging that the graphics are secondary to the game-play.