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For the archetypal clip ever, a Primarch is playable successful a Warhammer 40,000 video game. Lion El'Jonson — aka The Lion — is playable successful upcoming real-time strategy crippled Dawn of War 4. It’s a hugely breathtaking imaginable for fans of the setting, who person truthful acold had to ideate what it would beryllium similar to play arsenic a Primarch successful a video game. Now, we’ll get to power The Lion himself, the reborn person of the Dark Angels section of Space Marines, arsenic helium presumably swats distant each earlier him with the Emperor’s Shield and Fealty.
But however did developer King Art Games person Games Workshop to fto them bash what nary different developer has done before? And however did it attack making the earnestly overpowered Lion El'Jonson enactment successful Dawn of War 4? What does his inclusion mean for Dawn of War 4’s imaginable canon presumption wrong the setting? And volition we get to spot his face?
I sat down with manager Jan Theysen to inquire these questions and galore more. We get into immoderate superior item astir The Lion, the Dark Angels, and wherever we’re astatine successful the Warhammer 40,000 universe, truthful beryllium down, relax, and spot successful the Emperor.
IGN: I deliberation the archetypal evident question is wherefore did you take the Dark Angels arsenic the 2nd playable faction for the Space Marines?
Jan Theysen: When we talked about, okay, what are the factions we privation successful the game, it's evident that you request the Blood Ravens, right? It's a Dawn of War. And we talked astir the different factions and past astatine immoderate constituent it came up, okay, wherefore conscionable person the Blood Ravens? Maybe determination is an enactment to besides person different faction oregon different chapter. And fundamentally Games Workshop said, ‘Hey, wherefore not Dark Angels, could beryllium a chill pick?’ And we said, ‘Oh, okay, of course, wherefore not? Cool pick.’ And past they said, ‘Okay, what about… bash you privation Lion El'Jonson?’ And we were like, ‘Oh, okay, chill idea.’ That's fundamentally it.
IGN: So Games Workshop suggested Dark Angels to you guys?
Jan Theysen: Yeah, fundamentally they said, ‘Hey, conscionable due to the fact that it's a Dawn of War doesn't mean that it tin beryllium lone Blood Ravens, right? There could beryllium different Space Marines successful determination arsenic well. And this was basically, good past let's speech astir it. What are the options and what could beryllium a chill addition? And we took it from there.
IGN: There'll beryllium a strategy wherever you'll beryllium capable to take betwixt playing arsenic the Blood Ravens and the Dark Angels and you prime the missions you privation to play. How volition that work?
Jan Theysen: As you mightiness know, we person 4 antithetic campaigns successful the crippled and for each of the campaigns we effort to fig retired thing that gives the players immoderate choices oregon immoderate things they tin bash and power successful the campaign. And truthful for example, successful the Ork campaign, you tin virtually pick, okay, bash you privation to play these Orks oregon these Orks and they're warring each other. And truthful that's a precise wide distinction.
For the Space Marines, of people that doesn’t marque sense, right? They're not truly antithetic goals oregon anything, they're not warring each other, but they're moving connected the aforesaid thing. And truthful we fundamentally said, okay, what we tin bash is we tin connection antithetic gameplay experiences based connected the factions, due to the fact that story-wise, the Dark Angels, they person each the toys and each the powerfulness and they tin fundamentally bash the large battles and the epic conflicts, portion the Blood Ravens are… they person bigger problems and they request to trust connected smaller operations, down force lines, a small spot much covert operations maybe.
And truthful fundamentally however this works is we person this Space Marine run communicative and determination are antithetic things happening astatine the aforesaid time. The Blood Ravens and the Dark Angels, sometimes they are astatine the aforesaid spot astatine the aforesaid clip and past you tin play some of them. But different times it's like, okay, Dark Angels bash this now, Blood Ravens bash this now, who bash we privation to play? And past you tin fundamentally pick, hey, I privation the large each retired warfare conflict oregon I privation to play this much tactical happening possibly with the Blood Ravens. And past you tin prime and past astatine immoderate constituent they conscionable again, oregon the things converge again.
IGN: So you don’t alteration the communicative outcome?
Jan Theysen: The communicative remains the same, but the question is which parts of the communicative you brushwood oregon you play with due to the fact that the different worldly inactive happens, but past you lone perceive from it if you're not a portion of it.
IGN: Do the Dark Angels person antithetic units astatine their disposal? Are the gameplay mechanics different?
Jan Theysen: In wide it's each Space Marines, right? The faction is Space Marines, but storywise successful the campaign, the Blood Ravens don't person entree to each the toys and to the large armies and truthful on. So their missions volition beryllium much infantry dense and besides a small spot smaller. And determination is adjacent present and determination thing that is much successful the stealth oregon thing that leads you to play a small spot much cautious maybe, portion the Dark Angles is much similar okay, the large battles.
But they person the aforesaid units successful multiplayer. In multiplayer for example, if you play the Blood Ravens, you person each the aforesaid toys due to the fact that that's a abstracted thing. Where they disagree is with the heroes. So some of the factions person 2 playable heroes, but for Lion El'Jonson, who is successful the run but not truly similar a playable hero. So they some person two. And that of people leads to antithetic things you tin do, but besides a small spot antithetic playstyles maybe. So depending connected the leader you pick, if you truly are into dilatory advancement and almighty antiaircraft units, past you mightiness prime the Terminator captain. And if you are much astir speedy stealthy stuff, you mightiness prime Cyrus. There they tin disagree a small spot successful presumption of gameplay.
IGN: Let's speech astir The Lion. We've ne'er had a playable Primarch successful a Warhammer 40,000 video crippled before. Why are you allowed to bash this erstwhile nary different developer has been allowed to bash this? How did this travel about?
Jan Theysen: When we talked astir the Darker Angels we talked astir options, what tin we do? And this came up, and it was like, we were conscionable fundamentally asking is that an enactment oregon not? Just due to the fact that let's marque definite that we talked astir everything. And they said, good yeah, maybe? Tell america what you would similar to bash with him and past we tin archer you if this is an enactment oregon not. He's conscionable truthful disconnected the curve successful presumption of powerfulness level that of people you can't truly person him arsenic a mean portion successful the crippled oregon thing you tin usage successful multiplayer oregon thing similar that. And truthful we fundamentally said, okay, we don't privation to marque this each astir The Lion and the full run revolves astir him oregon something, due to the fact that helium is again, truthful disconnected the curve for that, it wouldn't really… I mean, however tin we correspond him successful a close mode that doesn't messiness up your full crippled and balancing and everything? And truthful we fundamentally said, okay, it would beryllium truly fun, it would beryllium truly chill to person him successful the game, and it's a large grant to person him here, but let's conscionable person it arsenic a impermanent appearance. And truthful successful the crippled determination are 2 cutscenes and 1 ngo wherever the Lion plays a role, and you tin play him and helium is amusive and helium is disconnected the charts, but helium is not disposable for the remainder of the crippled due to the fact that he’s conscionable excessively powerful.
IGN: So you came up with a mode this would enactment and convinced Games Workshop?
Jan Theysen: I mean I don't deliberation we truly had to person them successful presumption of, they didn't privation to bash it oregon something. It was much like, okay, it evidently would beryllium a chill happening for players to person it successful the game, but let's marque definite we get it right. And truthful if we person the Lion successful the game, okay, however would helium play? What happens? Is helium one-shotting everything and however is this interesting? And truthful we came up with this thought that — without spoiling thing — it's fundamentally the Dark Angels and the Blood Ravens did everything they could to halt the atrocious happening from happening, and past astatine the precise extremity determination is conscionable thing they can't overcome. And that is simply a large entranceway for the Lion.
IGN: The powerfulness sets of the Primarchs are 1 of the astir debated aspects of 40K lore. Fans emotion pitting the Primarchs against each different and speculating astir who would triumph successful a fight. Part of what you're doing present is unmasking a Primarch successful a way, and revealing however that mightiness enactment successful a mode that we've ne'er seen before. We’re yet getting to spot their powerfulness acceptable successful action.
Jan Theysen: In an RTS you effort to springiness each the units that are successful the crippled a definite quality that fits the statement and that works successful presumption of lore. But connected the different hand, it's besides of people an RTS crippled and you person to marque definite that it's balanced, and that the players tin recognize actually, for example, what is this portion bully against? And that is of people a occupation if each the units are bully against everything. We dealt with that for the full accumulation to fundamentally fig retired however tin we marque definite that each the factions consciousness authentic and the units consciousness authentic and truthful on.
For The Lion, it's a small spot of a peculiar lawsuit due to the fact that it's similar the past ngo successful the crippled and it's much about, okay, let's person a chill cinematic happening going connected present and past it's astir having amusive with a Primarch, and we didn't truly attraction astir if this is balanced oregon this is thing that you tin really could theoretically bash successful multiplayer, thing similar that. Who cares, right? This is conscionable to person fun. And if we would ever enactment Lion El'Jonson successful immoderate different mode, helium could decidedly not beryllium the aforesaid portion that helium is successful the campaign.
IGN: Did you deliberation astir keeping this nether wraps truthful players could observe it for themselves astatine the extremity of the campaign? You are going retired present earlier the crippled comes retired and you're really talking astir it.
Jan Theysen: I mean that's ever the question, right? Do you privation the large astonishment for the crippled or, to beryllium honest, privation to usage it successful marketing? And I deliberation that the constituent is that successful today's scenery it's fundamentally intolerable to support it nether wraps. Maybe for a fistful of players it would've been caput blowing and truly chill and I get that. And of people if you could marque definite that this is the lawsuit for a batch of players, past we astir apt would've done it.
But successful world it astir apt takes a mates of minutes and you person screenshots of that oregon a video connected TikTok and past that was it. And truthful for america it was basically, okay, if we speech astir the Dark Angels — due to the fact that that is different thing. Theoretically, we could besides possibly person tried to conscionable support the full Dark Angels happening nether wraps, but again, it's precise hard to support it secret. And past wrong minutes idiosyncratic gets a station retired and that was it. And truthful we fundamentally said, okay, it's astir apt not worthy it and let's marque definite we each person amusive with it aboriginal on.
IGN: And you benignant of spoiled it yourselves. Did you spot fans spotted a The Lion record sanction successful a video? Was that intentional?
Jan Theysen: It was not. We didn't cheque the record name.
IGN: I would emotion to speech to you astir canon. So person you spoken with GW astir if Dawn of War is canon? If The Lion is successful the game, I'm assuming it's acceptable aft The Lion’s instrumentality due to the fact that what we're seeing here, the exemplary that I've seen successful the trailer is the caller model. So what person your discussions been similar there? Space Marine 2 is canon, and Titus is evidently a monolithic portion of the ongoing narrative. So however bash you acceptable in?
Jan Theysen: Actually, I don’t cognize if there's an authoritative determination for that, and that’s astir apt thing that Games Workshop has to determine successful the end. But we cognize wherever it takes spot successful presumption of determination and time. It would acceptable into everything else. But I'm not definite if Games Workshop says, okay, this is canon present oregon not.
For example, picking Kronus arsenic the satellite the crippled takes spot on. It was much like, okay, we request a planet. Do we invent thing new? And fundamentally the question was, well, we could besides spell backmost to Kronus and it mightiness beryllium amusive to archer a small spot astir what happened to the satellite and who won the Dark Crusade and each of that. And truthful wherefore not? And past fundamentally we figured out, okay, wherever is Kronus? Which broadside of the Great Rift is it on? And truthful on. And truthful you dilatory make however could each of this acceptable together? But again, if it's present authoritative canon oregon not, I deliberation that is simply a question for Games Workshop.
IGN: So is Kronus successful the Imperium Nihilus then?
Jan Theysen: Yeah, it's connected the different broadside of the Rift.
IGN: Which would explicate wherefore the Dark Angels and Lion El'Jonson are capable to beryllium determination astatine this constituent successful time.
Jan Theysen: Well, it besides explains possibly a small spot wherefore the Blood Ravens are struggling, right? Because it's fundamentally that section is benignant of each implicit the place, but the guys we are dealing with, they recovered themselves successful Nihilus arsenic well.
IGN: Following that then, are we mounting up immoderate benignant of narration betwixt the Dark Angels and the Blood Ravens present that fans volition get a footwear retired of successful presumption of successor chapters? Or are radical speechmaking excessively overmuch into the thought that they're moving together?
Jan Theysen: I deliberation that's possibly a small spot excessively much. I mean evidently we marque definite that we correspond the chapters and they're some Space Marines, but that doesn't mean that they needfully spot each different oregon that they are large friends. But astatine slightest for us, it's not a large aboriginal happening that present for example, Blood Ravens and Dark Angels are, I dunno… they won't beryllium successful a buddy movie anytime soon!
IGN: The Blood Ravens are canon, right? They were made portion of the canon by Games Workshop. And evidently Dark Angels are. So I deliberation questions similar that volition beryllium inevitable from fans.
Jan Theysen: It's true, but it's also, I mean particularly erstwhile it comes to the Blood Ravens, it's a comparatively tiny radical that fundamentally exists connected this satellite they usage arsenic a recruiting world. It's not similar this is present the lone thing. There mightiness beryllium different Blood Ravens retired there, we don't know. And determination are surely different Dark Angels retired there. So it's not similar we are penning the past of these chapters present oregon something.
IGN: If The Lion is successful the game, are we talking astir the Fallen present successful presumption of the Dark Angels?
Jan Theysen: In wide we don't truly privation communicative spoilers of course, but I deliberation successful this lawsuit it's not a portion of the communicative really. There's an contiguous menace and it's thing that has to beryllium dealt with quickly. And truthful we are truly astir that communicative and not excessively overmuch astir the backstory.
IGN: We’ve seen the Lion deterioration his helmet. Does helium person dependable acting? Does helium person lines of dialogue? Do we spot his face?
Jan Theysen: What you spot successful the trailer is portion of the 2 cutscenes that we person with him, and helium decidedly starts retired without the helmet, conscionable to marque definite that everybody understands who it is. And besides of people helium has lines, a small spot successful the cutscenes, but besides you tin play him. And truthful evidently being an RTS, helium acknowledges if helium is expected to termination someone, for example.
IGN: So we'll yet get to perceive him speak! You cognize what modders are going to bash erstwhile the crippled comes out, right? They're going to instrumentality The Lion and enactment him successful multiplayer oregon skirmish oregon immoderate it is. You indispensable beryllium predicting that.
Jan Theysen: I mean officially I astir apt person to accidental that you can't mod anything, but I tin spot radical doing that and besides having amusive with it, truthful wherefore not?
IGN: I'd emotion to get an penetration into what it’s similar moving with Games Workshop erstwhile it comes to large lore worldly similar this.
Jan Theysen: Without going into the details, we person a radical of radical connected the Games Workshop broadside moving with us, and we usage them arsenic this encyclopedia of Warhammer knowledge. So whenever we request something, we benignant of request an quality oregon a limb that does benignant of this, is determination something? And past they spell distant and travel backmost and springiness america options connected what we could use. And that is the main thing, due to the fact that it's truthful analyzable and determination is truthful overmuch stuff. And adjacent if you person idiosyncratic similar John French penning the story, helium knows a batch of stuff, but adjacent helium possibly doesn't cognize each the small details for each the antithetic factions.
If thing is conscionable not correct, past of people they besides travel backmost with feedback astir that. But for america I deliberation it's good due to the fact that successful the extremity what we effort to bash is to beryllium arsenic authentic arsenic possible. In the past, we each cognize that determination were games that possibly immoderate units and truthful connected didn't consciousness similar possibly they should consciousness and truthful on. And we fundamentally said, okay, let's marque definite we get this right. And Games Workshop was helping retired with that a lot. Let's marque definite we get it right.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 is scheduled for merchandise successful 2026 connected PC via Steam.
Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].
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