After teasing Total War: Medieval III is early development, Creative Assembly and Sega announced the next Total War game after Total War: Warhammer III. It’s Total War: Warhammer 40,000.
For the uninitiated, no, the series didn’t skip over 39,997 entries. The next Total War game, as revealed at the 2025 The Game Awards, will be set in the Warhammer: 40,000 series. For the initiated, the Total War series is going for an intergalactic scale, in grim dark future where there is only war.
Total War: Warhammer will have four factions: the Space Marines, Astra Militarum (i.e. Imperial Guard), the Orks and the Aeldari (i.e. the Eldar). Fans of the tabletop series with countless video game adaptations should know that these four faction’s characteristics will translate into four different playstyles. Space Marines require “tactical precision”, the Guard uses brute force (just throw bodies at the problem), the Orks favour barbaric aggression and the Aeldari require some “psychic finess.”
Four factions is on the low side, considering Warhammer 40K have dozens of them, but it’s a start. Total War: Warhammer III doesn’t have 20+ factions in the first release either.
The sandbox will allow you to capture planets, upgrade fleets, call in bombardments or even just throw a weapon big enough to destroy a planet completely.
Total War: Warhammer 40,000 will bring army customisation, as in they can be fitted in different heraldry, iconography and wargear. In other words, you can make Space Marines a different chapter where with different colours, you are not locked into commanding the iconic Ultramarines in their iconic ultramarine-shaded armour.
The debut trailer features David Harbour who will portray a character that hasn’t been revealed yet. It’s mostly a cinematic one, but the latter part shows glimpses of gameplay. Including a look at the tactical battles, the core feature of a Total War game.
Total War: Warhammer 40,000 will be the first game in the series to launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S alongside the expected platform, PC. This is in part to a new evolution of Creative Assembly’s game engine, Warcore, previously revealed in a dedicated Total War 25 Years Anniversary Showcase livestream.
Total War: Warhammer 40,000 has no release date yet, but it’s coming to PS5, PC (Steam) and Xbox Series X|S.