I really enjoyed Dawn of War 2 and its expansions, especially how it streamlined RTS mechanics and introduced RPG style loot and upgrades. This made me curious to try out the first in the series. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but was surprised to find a robust—though straightforward—narrative campaign. So much so, that it made me retroactively disappointed in DoW2’ story campaign. This disappointment was cemented when I finally played DoW2: Retribution, which I’ll talk about at the end of this newsletter.
Dawn of War, a surprisingly robust narrative campaign
I was really surprised by Dawn of War’s story campaign. I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting much. But the narrative is engaging, with a protagonist whose internal conflict drives the story forward. There are also cutscenes before and after every mission that help to build up and progress the story. It might seem trivial, but compared to DoW2’s lackluster mission briefings, DoW’s cutscenes, voice acting, and interesting main character really put into perspective what was lacking in DoW2.
Even DoW’s mission briefings are written like a captain’s log, helping to do the double duty of further defining the protagonist and communicate worldbuilding elements.
Dawn of War’s story has some twists, buttressed by a heaping dollop of paranoia. The expected infighting and suspicion typical of the imperium is at play, and it ties into our MCs past, coming together to make an engaging narrative.
I enjoyed it overall, but couldn’t get over my frustration that these elements were lacking in Dawn of War 2. I think it was a huge mistake for DoW2 to have a nameless protagonist. There are benefits to having a player-insert, but in this case DoW2 lost far more than it gained.
Streamlined RTS
Where Dawn of War 2 leaned more toward a squad-based RPG, the original Dawn of War leans toward traditional RTS gameplay. DoW is much similar to something like Warcraft 3, but still streamlined. The resources are capture points, which I really preferred. I didn’t miss chopping down trees. I also found building up a base and getting elite units to be pretty quick.
Having the resources be capture points and getting a fully upgraded base quickly encourages you to push forward. The capture points create an interesting tug-of-war dynamic, as the enemies are trying to steal them from you.
Although, in the last quarter of the game, I found myself getting burnt out. Many of the missions are similar, and by that point most of your units have been unlocked. The maps started to feel repetitive (outside of a couple interesting scenarios), and towards the end I started to miss DoW2’s upgrades and loot. Maybe a couple of the longer missions could have been reduced, or had more mission variety.
Overall, I still enjoyed it. It’s incredibly satisfying to have a swarm of space marines and dreadnoughts wade into an enemy base.
DoW 2: Retribution, more options aren't always better
I wrote about Dawn of War 2 and Chaos Rising previously, I enjoyed both and wanted to try DoW2’s final expansion, Retribution.
DoW2: Retribution still has the squad-based gameplay, but introduces a variety of units that you can summon from control points. This creates a nice mix of traditional RTS unit management, and squad-based RPG gameplay. Out of both games, the core of the gameplay in Retribution might be my favourite.
Unfortunately, it’s marred by the bizarre choice to have six copy/pasted campaigns. There are six factions you can choose from, and each of their campaigns is the literal, exact same. Same maps, mission objectives, and the overarching story of each is relatively samey with only a few lines of dialogue to differentiate it.
This was such a huge letdown. I would have much preferred two or three unique smaller campaigns that were interconnected, instead of more factions with the exact same missions. The only thing that changes are the units you control and a few lines of dialogue. Even then, much of the dialogue is variations of “destroy the tower,” but with a different accent. Even worse, some of the characters in your squad don’t even have voice overs or any dialogue whatsoever, like the Commissar in the Imperial Guard campaign. And a handful of missions toward the end of the Imperial Guard campaign don’t even have mission briefing text. This is absurd.
The only campaign that is fleshed out, and clearly the canon one, is the space marines. If you’re going to play Retribution, then I’d recommend just playing the space marine campaign, and maybe trying a few missions of another faction to test out their units. Otherwise, I do not recommend trying to play through multiple campaigns. I did the Space Marine, Imperial Guard, Ork, and a quarter of the Eldar before tapping out.
I cannot stress how much of a letdown these campaigns were. I don’t understand why they chose to have six repetitive campaigns. More options aren’t always better.
Conclusion
Despite my issues with DoW2: Retribution’s single player campaign, I still really enjoy the gameplay. But, the original DoW’s story mode put into perspective how much the sequel flubbed its narrative campaigns. I think it was a huge mistake to replace a named character with a player-insert, the story lost so much personality, and our squad members were not engaging enough to compensate.
Still, halfway through DoW I found myself missing DoW2’s more RPG adjacent mechanics. If I could mix the original Dawn of War narrative campaign with DoW2’s squad-based gameplay, then I think that would be my ideal Dawn of War game.
Despite its missteps, I’ve become a fan of the series. I’m looking forward to playing DoW’s subsequent expansions, and then Dawn of War 3. I’ll share my thoughts here, subscribe so you don’t miss out.