Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War

After winning as the 4 free factions you get after purchasing the game (Space marines, Necrons, Orcs and Austra Militarum) I can safely say that this is a great 4X strategy game, VERY easy to learn for newcomers to the genre. I love the models and the combat. I do feel though that the Orcs are a bit stronger than the other factions but nevertheless I do think this game is well balanced. Would recommend. Especially for map game and 40k lovers.

This is the best turn-based strategy game I've ever played. The economy mechanics are transparent and deep, but not excruciating. There is definitely a learning curve here for every faction, and the factions have very different and compelling play styles and difficulty.
Though a lot of the factions are DLC, they feel well worth what you pay for. Playing this in 2025 and absolutely addicted.

I wanted to love this game as much as I love 40k but I can't. The base game is decent and worth it to buy on sale.

However. Every time I open the research menu I see parts of my army locked behind a paywall. I can stomach an entire faction like Tau being DLC but the Chimera? or the Landraider? You gotta be @#$% me! Here is your spaghetti but the sauce and cheese cost extra! Get that outta my face!

Oh its just 1 DLC to complete your army. NO! its 3. Reinforcement, Fortification and Assault. Nearly $6CAD each.
I don't mind that there are only 2 ways to win a game. Kill everyone else or quests. I can't recommend a game that splits your army and puts part of it behind a pay way.

Super fun game. Complete on its own despite the presence of DLC. A steal if you grab it on sale.

Don't be fooled by it looking like Civ. It's a wargame with a light building element. No diplomacy in sight.

All in all, a great game that punches well above its weight.

Nice turnbased game, but unfortunately without a proper campaign. You can start skirmish-games over and over again, but that's becoming boring pretty quick.

the game is good and very fun to play, but when you go look at the DLC and see that there £160+ and £90 on sale but feel like you payed a down payment for the game and it now feels more like a demo than a full game.

The game provides a lot of fun playing it. Each faction has its charm. The mentioned paywall is for sure maddening and an innovative concept of grouping dlcs by lore or time would be desirable. Reaching the storytelling part of it and its dlcs there could be so much more. Nevertheless a great game.

Gladius is absolutely fantastic! This game is great for new and returning players to either 4X Grand Strategy, Warhammer, or both! VERY addicting, long EPIC matches. FOR THE EMPEROR

Not a fan of the dlc pricing structure, but i guess they gotta pay the dlc team somehow. But I do enjoy the gameplay, all the factions ive tried so far have all felt pretty unique, and the story mode for each faction was pretty interesting. Game ran really well too, outside of an issue I had where the game would often struggle to start up, once you got to the main menu it was fine. Sometimes I had to end the task a few times before it would take, not sure what that was about.

This was the slow paced turn based strategy game I was looking for! Wanted something to play while watching videos or doing chores. Would totally recommend if you're looking for the same thing.

Love this game. Great depth and I can play a full game in one sitting.

In a grimdark future they smashed together civ and age of wonders and it was pretty good.; lots of fighting and no diplomacy cuz why would you negotiate with xenos? As with all GW games, the DLC makes an otherwise affordable game pretty expensive.

To be clear I don't agree with others that the factions are overpriced or a rip off. Yes they released a lot of new content but I see this as a positive. If you started plaieng the game day one and subsequently bought the additional factions, then they are reasonable, granted you didn't need all the packages, some are almost useless.

But with the newest DLC they crossed a line. Now YOU NEED THE DLC to reasonably play the Space Marines. They nerfed a lot of the standard units to fit the DLC stuff. Whereas before you could comftably play as all base factions without dlc and still did well.

I loved this game I was a big smurf fan and I loved how accurate the units felt according to lor until they relesed the ultima founding now my smurfs feel as if they are paper when they go against chaos.
I was able to beat a hard enemy with infantry only smurfs and now everything is useless... god I hate PRIMARIS

Another tragic example of an awesomely fun concept that has been robbed of its soul and had it split into a dozen horcruxes.

The base game is a skeleton of what it shouldve been, with its meat and organs split into a myriad of overpriced DLC. Greed killed what this game could have been and has reduced it to a mediocre forgettable mess

Like Civ kinda, but completely remove diplomacy, simplify economy and expand military and tactics dramatically. Factions also very asymmetric, unlike Civ.

Solid 9/10.

If you love civilization and WH40K franchise then this game is perfect for you.

Modding is huge plus here as well as negative; as the game can crash like on 100th turn... then you have to investigate what has caused it and well be ready for tilt fest :D

Without mods it can still crash, for various reasons.

Still great game !

Truly excellent and fun multiplayer 4x where every faction feels very distinct yet reasonably balanced.

For me, the best 40k strategy game out there.

Review is for the base game only which I bought at 90% off.

Civ V with Warcraft 3 heroes, if it was developed in 1998 but had tolerable graphics.

I do not recommend it.
BUT I support a sequel if the devs actually do something about UI and quality of life.
Unless you specifically want 4X or to use all races, Dawn of War 1 and 2 are better games for Warhammer fans.

There's something to be said about this being the only 40K game with basically all the races in it (DLC required) and it is the most accessible war game imaginable if you can tolerate the UI and lack of quality of life features. There is a fan somewhere that this game means the world to and I cannot give it a thumbs down for that reason.

I'll also add that I did not have a terrible experience, just not good enough to recommend.

Its a simpler 4x but handles the theme well and the combat can be decent.

Brutally honest? A sub par 4X game with a warhammer skin thrown over the top and the Paradox / the Sims esque 400 DLCs. 6/10 meh.

I also own this through GOG and it is one of my favorite games. The lack of diplomacy in a 4x game kept me away at first, but it actually turns out to be a great strength in that it streamlines the game loop in a really nice way. Excellent replayability and mod community.

Not sure what to make of Gladius . Have experienced repeate crashes that needed working around. Dont feel confident the game is producing what it should . Needs more than debug tool . Will need to play more of it to come to any solid conclusion and still hopeful that if nothing else it will serve as a good training ground for Zephon. Further crash so Uninstalled,

Decent 4x 40k game, very combat-focused as expected for the universe, basic research tree.
There's not much else to say. A lot of minor things could be improved. My personal pet peeve is the heavy shading, no matter how much you play around with Gamma and Contrast the graphics just stay dark.
Also be wary of the DLC pricing. You have to purchase additional races & units in small chunks.
Compared to the pricing of the Civ6 add-ons, or the Dawn of War expansions back in the day, the value is only there for the most hardcore fans I think.
As much as I love 40k I'm not gonna drop another 30€ on this.

What I like is the various factions and differing play styles, I cant wait for the upcoming DLC! I definitely recommend for anyone who likes turned based games.

The way they release DLCs is way too greedy.

Truly and amazing game, had so much fun. Only complaint is the massive paywall for characters that makes the game feel unfinished

This is a fun strategic game. You build and manage your cities, and send your units out to crush your opponents. This game is very confusing when you first start out, but offers a lot of complexity once you understand what is going on. If it's on sale, buy it and some of the first few DLC.

Also Warhammer 40,000 is a really cool aesthetic.

I usually hate diplomacy in 4X games. I want to be friends with everyone, but everyone is a bastard, and they want me to pay seven billion strategic resources for one goddamn scallop. Against my will, I end up fighting people.

There is no such problem here. If you meet someone on the surface of Gladius, kill them. They're out to kill you.

And it rules.

This is a fun strategy game. It can get expensive if you buy all the DLC but if you watch the game goes for less than 5 dollars at time and most of the dlc is on sale at the same time. just buy when discounted and enjoy.

At first glance on the store page I never was interested in this game. However as ive played it a bit now with friends its become clear this game is so much more than it looked like, and ive started to fall in love with it. It's kinda similar to Civilization games in that its a 4X game, however it takes a heavy emphesis on eXterminate, just like it should in the 40k universe. So far ive fell in love with the combat and found it really fun to fight against my friends too, something that in civilization always felt like a "bad" thing to do for everyone to have fun, while here its just the nature of the game.

id give the game a 8/10 and highly recommend it while on sale and definitely if you enjoy civilization games and warhammer 40k!

Better than civilization. If you like warhammer and you like civ THIS is the GAME for you!

I'm not personally a massive 40K fan and for that I suffer from a lack of lore. However, the basic mechanics of this game and it's loop really stuck their landing for me. It feels like a simplified yet unique on Civilization that focuses far more on combat than anything else. For that, I love it greatly. I'll probably still boot this game up for a session or two a decade from now.

If you don't mind a steep learning curve this game is a fun way to melt the brain for a few hours, thinking of new combinations of tactic and units to win the match.

Gameplay: Is basically civ style turn based RTS.

Fun alone: Yes.

Fun with friends: Yes!

Bitch and a half to play: Better fucking believe it!!!

A solid, but compared to other a bit simplified, 4X game.
It's a nice entry to the genre but the fact that a lot of factions are locked behind DLCs is a drawback. Especially when You take into account that You need more than one DLC to have access to all the faction specific units and technology.

Good game to kill some time, reasonable number of factions (unfortunately most are dlc). Still fun after a few years, there are a good number of mods in the workshop to add on if wanted.
Price may be a little high after all the time but well worth it if picked up on a sale.

Fun 4x game. A lot of DLC to get all the units for your favorite faction, but steam sales are normally frequent enough to off set this monetary cost.

Tried it, it's alright.

Frankly put off by so many paid DLC's.
So I feel that I am not getting the proper experience without paying for them...

So a no from me, sorry.

If this is accurate to the lore, then use different material.
Maybe it would be a slog to fight the robots as the humans, but those were the worst first 30 turns I've ever spent on a 4X.
What, is a medium length game supposed to take 700 turns?

If you like 4X with procedural generated maps and focused on tactical combat then this is a game for you. Now if you also like Warhammer 40K setting then this is a must buy.

If you like 4X games with a focus on diplomacy and expanding via building your cities, then this might not be for you, as city building is very basic and diplomacy non-existing... it is just war.

I have to mention that the AI is a lot better than most games out there.

Finally a tip that the game does not tell you. By setting the neutral roaming forces on the higher setting you make the early game more difficult but the overall game a lot more easy as the NPC factions cannot counter effectively the early waves of neutral forces.

This is a well constructed game and it gives you a bit of everything, city building, quests, tactical warfare, a variety of interesting races to choose from. It has a good AI opponent, and you can use the settings to make the game as difficult as you like. Personally, I turn off all the quests and the Lord Of Skulls DLC, I'm not very keen of powerful virtually indestructible units or strong enemy formations appearing behind my lines and wiping out everything I've built. The quests are not too bad in this regard, and I have enjoyed some of them, but I get enough satisfaction without them so I don't bother. All that being said, I recommend this game to anyone who likes to build and improve their forces, cities and fortifications and have a good fight on their hands. This game is in my top five.

While the game is fun at first, it's overall shallowness puts it in the realm of so many other warhammer shovelware titles. I don't want to knock the art or the interface which are quite good. I have to point out that when compared to similar games, there isn't much game here. It feels very rushed, like they built the bones of what could have been a great game and once it started shaping up they immediately shoved out the door. This game could have seriously benefited from a single player campaign to draw players in and introduce them to the mechanics.

What often seems to be the problem with 40k games is that they teases a vast immersive universe and then constantly give just a morsel of it where interactions are limited. The 40k universe really deserves better than the amateur effort to bring its world to life than game companies have given it. There is so much lore and world-building to draw on, I cannot understand why every one of this games contemporaries in the same genre has so much more depth.

Great 4X game. Warhammer 40K setting. Wonderful combo.

The emperor protects!

If you like turn-based games like civ but focus on combat in an awesome franchise I would recommend! Like civs however they over charge for the extra factions but fun. Still getting the hang of it but hotseat and coop play are great with friends.

This is a pretty good copy of Endless Legend (Gameplay, UI Design and faction Asymmetry are all extremely similar) with a 40k reskin that plays moderately well, but is rather simplistic for a 4X. Endless Legend is one of my favorite games, so this immediately drew me in. I was pretty disappointed.

Unfortunately, everything the game does right is largely ruined by the AI being programmed in the least fun possible way. Every neutral mob will team up with to gank you from all sides, at all times, even on the lowest possible difficulty, as early as the first turn. "minor factions" begin the game with 10+ units and will literally besiege your starting settlement if you get unlucky with world generation. Enemies will intentionally ignore each other to gank you, and will go out of their way to attack you even if the other enemy is adjacent to them.

It's not that this design is too hard to surpass, it's just that it's really tedious and not actually very fun.

great game always seem to come back to it

CHECKING THE SCOREBOARD DISABLES ACHEIVMENTS

AND IT DOESN'T EVEN TELL YOU

Fuck you devs.

There are so many other absolutely insane design decisions, but that was the last straw. Every detail about this game seems like a declaration of war against the players.

Basically civilization but in WH40K and i actually enjoy this game a lot more than civ.
Looks nice, sounds nice, campaigns don't take too long unless you're a minmaxxer or play on high difficulty i guess.
Played one campaign with Astartes and the other with Necrons and enjoyed them both a lot.
DLCs kinda expensive though :(

this game is rly rly rly FUN!
all factions are very different and in 40k style
DLCs are a bit expensive if you buy them all but if you play multiplayer only the host needs them for everyone to play

Been playing this in anticipation of Zephon. This is a great 4X without a lot of the fluff that goes into other 4X games. This is certainly one of the best Warhammer 40K games out there in addition to just being an awesome war-focused 4X. Lots of different units to play with, lots of different factions to play with (from DLC) that are often on massive sale. The AI is pretty good; it puts up a decent challenge.

One big plus is that there are lots of movement and deployment options, so getting units to where they need to be is a bit easier than with normal 1-unit-per-tile 4X games.

A solid recommendation from me for this game.

I like it.

Will I ever touch multiplayer even casually? No. The games full of sweats and I doubt you'd enjoy multiplayer realistically. BUT - Multiplayer with your friends is always a great option.

I started pretty rough, I was struggling against wildlife not knowing what to do and getting my troops DEMOLISHED in combat and it was really stressful but it actually gets pretty fun and you have a lot of difficulty options for AI to give you a fair fight.


My advice: Play orks.