New Warhammer Online details

By Ellie Gibson Published 16 March, 2006

It's due out next year.

Mythic Entertainment has officially announced the first details of its new Warhammer PC MMORPG.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is set during a time when a terrible Chaos Plague is ravaging the land, wreaking havoc on the population and generally making things tough for the poor old Emperor. Meanwhile, the dwarfs of the World's Edge Mountains are coming under siege from an Orc army.

And just to make matters worse, an army of Chaos is marching south, bearing the banner of Tzeentch - Changer of the Ways. So what's a beleagured Emperor to do but call upon the High Elves of Ulthuan to help out - and luckily for him, they agree.

But alas, the Dark Elves take the opportunity to invade Ulthuan, led by Malekith, Witch King of Naggaroth. So the High Elves forge an Alliance of Order with the dwarves and the empire, and an epic war begins. Which is where you come in, obviously.

The game will feature Realm vs Realm gameplay that integrates PvP and PvE combat, and is going to be "a game unlike any other," according to Mythic CEO Mark Jacobs.

"The core concept behind WAR is simple - war is everywhere," added producer Lance Robertson.

"This world, dominated by force of arms and magic, provides a wonderfully rich setting for an MMO. Our game will give player entrance into this world to experience the epic nature of war and the glory of battle. Every aspect of the game, including PvE content, is geared towards the greater war in some important way."

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is due out some time in 2007.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 6 years ago

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  • rhinoxious #1 6 years ago

    Warhammer is good, should be interesting.

    Wasn't this in development by Climax at one point?

    ps. First!
    Edited by 1 at 16/03/06 @ 17:18

  • The_Aardvark #2 6 years ago

    The Warhammer universe is amazing (and one from which Blizzard have taken a surprising amount of "inspiration" for WoW) but this strikes me a just another "me too" mmorpg.

  • reality_cheque #3 6 years ago

    Sounds cool, but I think I'd rather play actual Warhammer.

    My High Elves kick arse. Moving mountains onto enemy units is a winning strategy IMO.

  • Penitent #4 6 years ago

    Sounds good. I look forward to not playing it on my Mac.

  • MrAtheist #5 6 years ago

    Looking forward to this one, just wish they had gone with some sort of 40k game instead. Do we really need YET ANOTHER men-in-tights-swords&sorcery mmog!? :)

  • Khab #6 6 years ago

    Agreed. If it had been 40k and reasonably competent I'd have picked it up in a heartbeat.

  • Orange #7 6 years ago

    The fantasy settings are easier to make.

    I'm sort of half looking forward to it. I like the Warhammer world but I'm not sure if it has got a good enough developer working on it.

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #8 6 years ago

    There are some screenshots of the game around. Looks very average at the moment. Still, I like DAoC, and Mythic have now got experience with these things, so it'll be interesting to see how it develops.

  • El_MUERkO #9 6 years ago

    \o/

    Dwarf Troll Slayer for meh!!!

  • PlugMonkey #10 6 years ago

    Why would anybody want to be anything else?

  • SentientNr6 #11 6 years ago

    Dark Elves!
    Yes! Masters of Arcane Goth.
    Anyway the Warhammer Universe is one of the best out there, and there are a lot I am told.
    I hope they can capture the feel of it.

  • The_Aardvark #12 6 years ago

    On second thoughts, if I can be a chaos warrior with a chance to mutate fatally every time I level up then I'm definitely sold!

  • El_MUERkO #13 6 years ago

    i'm just really worried they'll make it family friendly when it should be an orgy of blood and gore

  • mull #14 6 years ago

    Well, they're probably testing the waters with this first, before investing in a 40K MMO. I agree a 40K one would be... uhh, well, I haven't got the words to describe the nerdgasm I'd have playing a properly done one, basically.

    I hope they take a real viseral, brutal approach with this- a kind of balls to the wall, big armies, PvP hack'n'slash affair, with none of the baggage of the genre.

    /Imagines running around as a Lord of Change, mutating High Elves into Chaos Spawn...

  • moosebiscuit #15 6 years ago

    Does anyone know if theres a subsriction fee? Oh, and MMORPG would kick ass in the 40k universe.

  • Freki #16 6 years ago

    While no details are yet released I would pretty much guarantee a subscription fee. However as they are usually less than a £10 a month it isnt really that big a deal.

  • Quine #17 6 years ago

    Have you seen the Mark of Chaos RTS coming up?

    It looks like everything you could want in a virtual Warhammer game!

  • neuroniky #18 6 years ago

    @Quine: seen the screenshot of Mark of Chaos and the game looks ace. BUT...

    4 races.

    In 40K 4 races *could* work... SM, Orks, Chaos and Eldar are the basis of the whole 40K Universe (along with the promptly added IG), so there was a good choice (Tyranids were not a choice because of the engine used, and the other big race (Tau) is not a staple of the 40K universe (newbies...).

    But in WHFB... well, High Elves, Skaven, Empire and Chaos are alright, but keeping out Undeads, Dwarves and Orcs is too big a limitation. Dark Elves too are one of the primary races, but since high elves are already in, probably they thought "one elf is enough".

    Returning to the game in object... a) WH:o will never come out b)if it comes out it will be bad, because WH is a universe made for big set piece battles, not for roleplaying and c) I won't be buying it anyway, unlike a faithful reproduction of the tabletop game which I would buy even if it was priced 500 Euros if it allowed netplay. But, GW is not a smart company, or maybe it is too smart, and so we will never see this on our pcs...

  • MJ #19 6 years ago

    >because WH is a universe made for big set piece battles, not for roleplaying.

    There was a roleplaying version of Warhammer when i was a nipper - and it was pretty good.

    I'm not sure if they still publish it?

    *quick websearch shows that GW sold it off
    Edited by 1 at 17/03/06 @ 08:39

  • Crube #20 6 years ago

    Yes it was in development by Climax a while ago, but then GW screwed them over, canned the project, then reawoke the project with Mythic.

    The general concensus is that the Climax version was looking sh!t hot, whereas this is not a patch on it...

    There are many, many disappointed GW fans out there..

    @MJ - It's still available, published through Black Industries (part of GW)
    Edited by 1 at 17/03/06 @ 10:13

  • Stickman #21 6 years ago

    "GW screwed them over"

    Something that should come as no surprise.

    /looks at teeny dwarf lord model
    /looks at price
    /remains in double take loop for eternity

  • MrAtheist #22 6 years ago

    In defence of GW, do a bit of searching on Google re. the fallout from the Climax WHO attempt.

    GW were very unhappy with the development at Climax (not in any game design sense) and they didnt 'screw' anyone over (well, apart from people paying £30 for some plastic Space Marines anyway ;-)

  • Crube #23 6 years ago

    Try talking to someone from the 'inside...' and dont believe everything you Google...

  • Empedocles #24 6 years ago

    The Climax art looked great but the undelying MMOG tech was non existant, GW did not screw them over, just made an exec decision that after 5 years dev the thing was never going to see the light of day.

  • MrAtheist #25 6 years ago

    I was talking about 'inside' information ;-)

  • Megapocalypse #26 6 years ago

    I like the look of this, but Warhammer just doesn't interest me as much as 40k.

    I'm still hoping that someone somewhere sees sense and realises the potential for a 40k themed Planetside type game.

    /drools

  • reality_cheque #27 6 years ago

    There was a roleplaying version of Warhammer when i was a nipper - and it was pretty good.
    I've still got a copy, and it's bloody awesome.

  • kangarootoo #28 6 years ago

    @Crube

    "Yes it was in development by Climax a while ago, but then GW screwed them over, canned the project"

    Thats not the way I heard it, and I DO know people from "the inside". There was a time where not one artist that produced the art being shown publicly was still working at the company.


    On the WHFR front... Hogshead publishing licensed the printing rights to WHFR (GW still own it) some years back, but they don't do it anymore. A bit of googling tells me its published by Black Industries now, whoever they are.

    Time for a free plug for a company I bought from about 8 years ago. Service was good and their range is just ridiculous so they can almost certainly sort anyone out in need of a nostalgia hit.

    http://www.leisuregames. com/

  • evade #29 6 years ago

    I'd say Arbiter (work for mythic or what?) is closest to the truth with the GW/Climax thing. Basically Mythic arent in the same relationship as the previous deal. GW also went through a phase of canning anything which isnt core market - look at the cards they used to make. They disappeared at the same time too.

    That and the GW/Climax thing was ruined by incompetent management (on both sides, but particularly GW) buring all the money on expensive consultants.

    @kangarootoo thats utter bollocks.
    Edited by 4 at 20/03/06 @ 13:56

  • Crube #30 6 years ago

    kangarootoo -

    I was on the inside...

    Arbiter sounds closest...
    Edited by 1 at 20/03/06 @ 16:51

  • kangarootoo #31 6 years ago

    Oh well, fair enough. I was only passing on what I had heard from people that worked there (they did work on WH, but before the actual canning took place). I'm not too big to say I was wrong if thats the case.

    @evade, which bit is utter bollox? I really am sure that Leisure Games have an extensive range of products, so I'm sure that can't be it ;)