Creative Assembly is no stranger to the Warhammer IP, but the grim darkness of 40K’s far future is an entirely different beast, and one that required new machinery under the hood. During my hands-on time with Total War: Warhammer 40,000 at Gamescom 2026, I was shown not just a taste of the studio’s next game, but also a glimpse at the larger franchise’s future.
Warcore is the new engine that’s powering all the carnage, massive armies, and destructible scenery pieces that define Total War: Warhammer 40K’s visuals and real-time battles, and it could be a transformative evolution for Total War as a whole based on what I played across three different modes: Tutorial, one Campaign mission, and an advanced Battle Challenge.
The off-screen photos in this preview article were captured during my hands-on session with the game.
A lot has been theorised about the strategy game’s depth – veterans don’t want to sacrifice any – after it was revealed Total War was finally making its console debut, and while I was told that the gamepad controls were already feeling pretty good, we played through the session with the traditional mouse and keyboard combo.
From the get-go, I can safely say Warhammer 40K is easy to get into in a way past Total War entries weren’t. The interface during real-time battles – at least in the current build – is much cleaner and also features bigger buttons and HUD elements that make micromanaging breezier, with icons being on the more descriptive side too. For example, anything about stances and army formations now occupies a larger part of the surface-level interface, making it harder to ignore for newcomers. You can still pause and fast-forward the action to make proper tactical decisions or skip the jogging toward the frontlines, but this is otherwise Total War like we’ve known it forever.
Mechanically, I spotted no big causes for worry, though I’d wager Total War diehards and true 40K connoisseurs will have a few things to say the moment they get their hands on the game. The Space Marines – the only faction we had access to during the demo – are more like lumbering warriors, which made them perfect for a first hands-on showing of the strategy title. Ideally, the Bolter-carrying troops march slowly towards the enemy hordes (Orks in this case) while long-range soldiers provide cover from more strategic positions. Then, the melee guys carrying chainswords can just charge into the green waves, slicing and dicing them.
The unit variety across the three levels we got to play was just enough not to feel daunting. Roles were clear, and so were the battlefields, with the last one being a particularly difficult one to win (I didn’t). As always, you can’t just throw everything you have at the enemy and expect to come out on top, but you can definitely spearhead the offensive with heavy tanks and melee fighters. Meanwhile, putting ranged soldiers behind cover – a returning feature from Total War: Empire – makes a difference.
It turns out the melee-oriented Orks are pretty good at flanking and have strength in numbers, so smart positioning is the way to go with Space Marines. As scary and bulky as they are, they can get overwhelmed pretty easily. Tanks can draw attention away from the Astartes, but blindly throwing them into the “green woodchipper” simply wasn’t smart. The final Battle Challenge underlined how important this is, especially when you’re playing more defence than attack.
During a regular Campaign game, it’s likely you’ll just want to “quick resolve” battles that you’re totally winning, but we didn’t get much of a chance to muck around with the main Total War attraction at this point. Clearly, Creative Assembly instead wanted to showcase the new tech and what makes 40K different. That said, I was able to zoom out of the planet my lads were on and pan around a sector of space, each with its own war happening. World maps are spherical and unsurprisingly “smaller” than a full Total War: Warhammer map, yet they act as provinces/regions, with the star systems and sectors of space pushing the (already huge) scope to dizzying new heights. It’s a different structure for what’s essentially the same basic loop, but it was hard to discern new turn-based elements in this preview build.
Thankfully, the battles, even at this early stage, are thrilling to watch unfold. Animations are richer across the board; blood splashes on and covers the Astartes as they tear through the Ork armies; and explosions send tens of units flying across the screen, also tearing down entire buildings (an effective way to destroy cover and expose units to more ranged damage). It’s glorious carnage on a massive scale that both fits the 40K universe and elevates what the future of Total War can be.
The cherry on top – and perhaps a key to winning battles in this game – are stratagems and special abilities like orbital strikes (those battle barges orbiting planets can be used) and big precision bombardments that can turn entire squads of Orks into ground meat, taking heat away from the troops on the ground and turning the tide of battle. It’s also the sort of visual spectacle that makes Warcore shine in a far more obvious way. But of course, we had to be careful with friendly fire.
As one of the game’s four unique factions at launch (more are expected to arrive later), the Adeptus Astartes can also drop-pod reinforcements wherever as long as that part of the map is revealed or seen by the other troops. This allowed me to give the computer-controller Astra Militarum army a helping hand quickly, before my main force had gotten close enough to the frontline. While you can’t drop reinforcements as soon as the battle starts, they’re available after a short while and can be used – within a certain limit – regularly… until you deplete the reserves. Of course, drop pods can also be used as weapons against the enemy. You can imagine what a house-sized chunk of metal does to an Ork when it lands on them after an orbital launch.
While I know many Warhammer 40K fans are also dying to learn more about customisation, I’m sad to report the build we played wasn’t the most fleshed out on that front, though I was able to quickly establish a paint set and do some heraldry work for my Space Marines during the Campaign mission I played. It was applied to all of the army’s units automatically based on pre-established parts, so I left wondering whether more precise – as well as unit-specific – paint jobs were on the table.
All in all, Total War: Warhammer 40,000 was one of my favourite demos at Gamescom. It delivered exactly what I expected it to, but did so with confidence and in style. Warcore is impressive tech, and the far-future setting of 40K rewrites how real-time battles play out. It remains to be seen how the larger game comes together, or what unit customisation really offers, but this isn’t a dumbed-down evolution of the formula.
Creative Assembly could be hitting the ground running with this one, though I’m still expecting the most passionate fans to put up a fight with weirdly specific requests and very heated feedback. And you know what? Maybe that’s what Total War needs to stay both sturdy and fresh after some past misfires.
Total War: Warhammer 40,000 will launch on PC (Steam), PS5, and Xbox Series X/S in 2027. A closed beta is coming soon, and those interested in playing can sign up for it now.
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