It's almost time for developer Complex Games to launch the first major expansion for their strategy-RPG, Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters - Duty Eternal. The expansion arrives next week, and in an effort to learn a little more about what it will be serving up, the expanded narrative, the new ally and enemy units, and the extra challenges to be overcome, we spoke with Complex's studio head, Noah Decter-Jackson.
Gamereactor: Before talking about the expansion, how have fans perceived the game since it launched? What's the word on the street, shall we say?
Decter-Jackson: We've been thrilled with the overall positive reaction from the fanbase for the game, as we're a pretty small studio trying to carve away at this massive project for so long. That said, we've gotten a ton of feedback and requests, and we've been trying our best to act on those that we feel may improve the game while also working on DLC.
How do you determine what part of the massive Warhammer 40K universe to focus on when creating further Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters content?
Ultimately, Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters is a game focused on this distinct strategic campaign managing a strike force of Grey Knights, so we have to keep the focus on building on the game in that context. This drives a lot of our creative decision making, which you can see in how Duty Eternal builds on the campaign experience.
Tell us about the expansion and what makes it exciting for Warhammer fans?
Duty Eternal focuses on a machine-plague variant of the Bloom called the "Technophage", so everything in the expansion has been built on top of this particular storyline to broaden the size of the main campaign for Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters.
At the same time, all players will encounter new Technophage-themed units (via a free update) that add some significant buffs in Armour and Stun, and can pick apart your Knight's armour at the same time. So we're introducing a whole new level of challenge to the game.
Give us an idea of the narrative for this expansion? What do you have in store for fans?
In addition [to the above] we're introducing a new character who serves as your go between with the Adeptus Mechanicus: Magos Explorator Yeltrix.
What are some of the new additions you're bringing here? Gameplay mechanics, characters, enemies, etc, and how do they work?
Venerable Dreadnought: The Venerable Dreadnought is a large, heavy-hitting weapons platform that you will be able to take as a 5th slot Unit on Technophage Bloom Missions, with its own unique weapons and upgrades.
Tech Marine: The new Tech Marine class gets access to Servitor Units, which follow them on the battlefield and have their own unique abilities.
Gladius Frigate: The Gladius Frigate is a secondary ship for the strategic layer of the game, giving you the opportunity to send additional squad members out to tackle Bloom Missions that you can't reach on your own, with combat auto-resolving, injuries incurred, and XP gained.
New Enemies:
Technophage Outbreak: This virus infects your Bloom Missions, making them significantly harder and introducing new custom warp surges that can skew combat much more significantly in the Enemy's favour, you will absolutely need to keep your Dreadnought well maintained to have any hope of defeating this plague.
What one part of the expansion are you most excited for fans to see and play?
Definitely the Dreadnought.
Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters' Duty Eternal expansion will debut on PC on December 6.