[Editor’s Note: Watch the video version of this preview below, if you’re interested.]
The campaign has always been my favorite part of Dawn of War, putting its RTS action in context of the wild, over-the-top, operatic drama of the far future. But when I got to go hands-on with the first bit of Dawn of War 4’s grim story, it was a bit less opera and a bit more party rock, with the Ork faction leading the way. And as straightforwardly brutal as they are, there’s an interesting twist this time with a bit of intra-faction rivalry between the biggest boyz.
BOSS MODE
There is a brief, two-mission tutorial when you first load up Dawn of War 4 featuring the Space Marines and the Imperial Guard. But in terms of the main meat of the campaign, each of the four factions has their own story with a specific spot in the larger, unfolding narrative. And the Orks come chronologically first, with their campaign setting the stage for everything that comes after it. And that just kind of works, really. If you want to kick things off with a bang and make a lot of messes others are going to have to clean up later, I can think of no one better to serve as the opening act.
As you may know if you’ve seen the CGI trailer, the inciting action of the entire game is a Blood Ravens battle barge getting invaded by orks under recurring Dawn of War big baddie, Gorgutz. This guy is hundreds of years old at this point and has been leading his boyz across the stars in conflict after conflict. So when he decides to crash his rok down on Kronus to pursue the Astartes, he has every expectation of being in charge.
That’s not exactly how it plays out, though. In the first mission, called Da Beastboss, we’re introduced to a younger and scrappier leader, Guzcutta. He’s native to the planet Kronus, at least in as far as the Orks can be native to anywhere considering they’re technically an invasive species of fungus… look, it’s a long story, okay? We could be here talking about 40K deep lore for hours. But the point is, he’s only ever known Kronus as home and the band of Orks living here already view him as their leader.
If Gorgutz is the surprisingly clever old war dog, Guzcutta is kind of a rebellious teen coming into his own. Gorgutz favors huge war machines and ridiculous firepower to get the job done, while Guzcutta relies on the beasts his boyz can tame and ride into battle for a little bit more of a low-tech approach. Both warbosses will eventually get access to all the same units, of course. And this initial bit is really just an introduction to Guzcutta and the Orks’ main faction mechanics.
MAKE IT ORKY
Since the tutorial focused on how to move units, attack, use abilities, and things like that, Ork mission one can focus on what makes the Orks unique, like their Waaagh! mechanic, which you can learn more about in our faction deep dive. Your enemies for the early campaign are mainly the machine men of the Adeptus Mechanicus, occasionally supported by other Imperial auxiliaries, which forced me to focus quite a bit on mobility and flanking.
See, these spindly Skitarii can’t stand up to a proper Ork in melee combat, but if they have the benefit of cover, their deadly ranged attacks can hold off a frontal assault for quite a while. Luckily, speedy Squighog Riders can simply run right around their emplacements and hit them from behind. And if that isn’t working out, Stormboyz with their definitely not OSHA-approved jetpacks can leap right over them.
This is also where the Beast Snagga Boyz came in handy, because they’re a little bit tougher than your standard Ork infantry, so they can draw fire for a decently long time without getting completely disintegrated. I wouldn’t say it takes a mastermind to play this faction, as it shouldn’t, but there is quite a bit to chew on tactically if you want to get the most out of them. Relentless aggression is rewarded in multiple ways, including growing the size of your squads with experience to become a proper horde. But combine that with a little cleverness, and now you’re really dangerous.
CRASHDOWN
But if mission one was all about letting you get to know Guzcutta and his little neighborhood, mission two, Da Biggest Boss, is about how his life got flipped turned upside down. Remember Gorgutz demanding they “crash faster” in the trailer? Well, his ominous pile of scrap has finally touched down in a huge explosion and Guzcutta’s boyz are eager to find out what happened. This is another fairly low-key intro mission with the goal of making it to various piles of wreckage left by the rok’s impact and finding clues. But the AdMech are also interested in it, and I had to fight my way through them to get answers.
The mission culminates in the first meeting between the two bosses, when you come across Gorgutz’ landing party – or at least, the ones who survived the crash – under attack by the AdMech. If you hear Gorgutz’ version, of course he would have been fine. But from Guzcutta’s perspective, he totally saved the day. Regardless, the main tension of the campaign has now been established, as both big Orks believe they should be the boss on Kronus. And neither of them are about to back down.
You will get to pick between them eventually, which is where the whole campaign branches. But for now, we spend a little more time with Guzcutta. He’s the one I ended up picking anyway. I just like his style. And the next mission, Da Race, is a thematically appropriate contest to see who the better boss is by who can destroy the AdMech base fastest.
This is one of my favorite missions in Dawn of War 4 so far and one that really doesn’t let you rest on the natural strengths of the Orks alone. While you’re making your way up the left side of the map, Gorgutz is clawing up the right. And that means it’s not enough to simply overwhelm the humies eventually, which has been easy enough to do up until now. You have to be efficient with your units alongside being relentless and get to the end before your rival does. This kind of scenario design is what I think separates a good RTS mission from a just-okay one.
There’s even a bit of a strategic choice built in here, since you can send forces over to engage Gorgutz and slow him down. Ultimately, I found that this delayed me making progress on my side too much and it was better to just let him get bogged down with the AdMech. But it’s certainly another way to do the mission if you need to buy yourself some extra time. Flanking him while he’s already engaged is especially effective.
A TALE OF TWO BOSSES
Proving yourself here isn’t enough, though. Once the Ork campaign branches off, you’ll get multiple choices of which mission to take on next, with each one tipping the balance of power toward Gorgutz or Guzcutta. On one mission, you might be collecting scrap to assemble deadly Deff Dreads. I particularly liked one involving the taming of a savage Squigasaur, which becomes Guzcutta’s mount and changes his playstyle for the rest of the campaign.
I didn’t get to see how this boss brawl ends, or how its outcome might shape the campaigns that come after it. But simply having multiple possible endings for the first of four campaigns is exciting. Especially because I’ve never liked Gorgutz. It’s about time he got knocked down a peg, you know? And Guzcutta’s not exactly a knight in shining armor, but I can respect his disdain for authority and yee-haw philosophy on life and war. An Ork after my own heart, if there ever was one.
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