To the uninitiated, trying to find the best Warhammer games is a completely baffling task. Warhammer is science fiction and it’s fantasy. It’s little plastic soldiers, and it’s novels, comics, scented candles, and video games. It’s a niche hobbyist thing, and Henry Cavill won’t shut up about it.
But if you really boil it all down, Warhammer is about amazing settings and has given us some of the best strategy games of all time. The fantastical landscapes of the World-That-Was and the future hellscapes of the 41st millennium may be packed with lore, but fundamentally, they’re sandboxes for you to stomp around in – epic backdrops for your own stories of triumph and defeat. It’s this sandbox quality that the best Warhammer games exploit, taking advantage of the decades of world-building and the thousands of tantalizing narrative threads to generate rich worlds for you to conquer and (in all likelihood) liberally coat in blood.
Here, I’ve rounded up some of the best from the last twenty-something years for your delectation. But before we get to all that, allow me to crowbar in a disclaimer. I was once employed by Games Workshop, where I helped to run the company’s Warhammer Community website. During that time, I had a vested interest in selling you on all things Warhammer. Now, I don’t. And I’m free to say that I’d gladly sacrifice 60% of the company’s output if it would just bring back Mordheim.
10. Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin
Developer: Frontier Developments
Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Released: 2023
Age of Sigmar may be the most popular fantasy wargame in the world, but its setting of the Mortal Realms is curiously overshadowed by the World-That-Was when it comes to video game adaptations. While that distinction may be meaningless to anyone who doesn’t own a set of sprue cutters, it does leave you a little underserved if you’re desperate to command Stormcast Eternals and Nighthaunt from the comfort of a desk chair.
If that’s you, Realms of Ruin is probably your best bet. Eagerly anticipated on the basis of its developer’s fine pedigree, Realms of Ruin promised a real-time strategy experience that brought the warring factions of the Mortal Realms to vivid life. In this sense, at least, the game is a stirring success, but there are some unorthodox design decisions that puzzle more often than they delight – the inability for units to withdraw from an engagement without having to hotfoot all the way back to base is a particular head-scratcher. It may not be one of the best RTS games we’ve ever played, but fans of the source material may want to give this handsome but idiosyncratic RTS a chance. Everyone else would probably be better off sticking with the World-That-Was (or their sprue cutters).
9. Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector
Developer: Black Lab Games
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Released: 2023
Scale up the squad-sized tactics of Mechanicus and Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters and you’ll get something resembling Battlesector, in which you control an entire army of ceramite-clad superhumans. To secure victory as the Blood Angels over the course of a 20-mission campaign, you’ll need to carefully exploit Battlesector’s momentum system – which rewards you with valuable extra actions and powerful special abilities for securing kills while up close and personal.
It’s a thematic touch that underlines the particularly ferocious nature of the Blood Angels chapter, but it also handily raises the skill ceiling on an already smart strategy experience. Like many others, I overlooked Battlesector at launch (the incredibly generic name didn’t exactly help it stand out in a busy year for Warhammer-y games), but this is one fight that’s worth seeking out.
8. Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun
Developer: Auroch Digital
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
Released: 2023
For some fans of the setting, Warhammer 40,000 is defined by its bleakness, brutality, and horror. For others, it’s a laugh riot. After all, while it’s true that mankind in the 41st Millenium is ruled by the harshest and bloodiest regime imaginable and threatened on all sides by murderous aliens and rapacious gods, it’s also true that this setting is home to space orks that paint their vehicles red so that they’ll go faster.
Furthermore, the red ones actually do go faster. This is the side of Warhammer 40,000 that Boltgun embraces, combining cartoonish ultraviolence with the lo-fi, heavy metal trappings of early FPS classics such as Quake and Doom. The result is a joyous celebration of cool, dumb fun that propels players forward with all the pace and impact of a bolter shell.
Read our list of the best FPS games for more bullet-filled fun.
7. Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus
Developer: Bulwark Studios
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Released: 2018
Imagine if humanity suddenly lost the ability to produce new toasters. Any that remained would be treasured artifacts of a golden age of sandwich-making, treated with a level of care bordering on devotion. As time went by – and the supply of precious toasters dwindled more and more – the maintenance and repair of toasters might only be conducted by a worshipful priesthood that whispered prayers to almighty Breville while filling sanctified crumb trays with holy oils and incense.
That, in a nutshell, is the role that the Adeptus Mechanicus plays in the 41st Millennium. Their tech-priests venerate the spirits that reside within the Imperium of Man’s machines, most of which are relics from a bygone age of technological mastery. They’re one of 40k’s most compellingly odd factions, and the turn-based tactics of Mechanicus push them to center stage in a narrative penned by Black Library author Ben Counter. The campaign’s difficulty curve may be a little wobbly, but the combination of XCOM-style chin-stroking and eccentric technological evangelism makes Mechanicus a memorable outing.
If Mechanicus sounds right up your street, read our list of other games like XCOM that you can play right now.
6. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
Developer: Fatshark
Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S
Released: 2023
Given the success of the Vermintide series, hopes were high for Fatshark’s first foray into the 41st millennium. But, while the game was rightly lauded for its atmosphere and combat, bitter disappointment over a lack of content and a painfully slow loot grind dominated the story of its launch. While some of those issues have been addressed by a cavalcade of updates, there’s still a sense of missed opportunity surrounding Darktide.
And that’s not entirely fair, since the moment-to-moment experience of lasgunning Poxwalkers is every bit as satisfying as stabbing Skaven in Vermintide 2. The expanded arsenal of ranged weapons – which satisfyingly kick, roar, and pzzzap in your hands – only adds to the experience, while melee combat is just as weighty and viscera-strewn as ever.
Read our Warhammer 40k: Darktide review for more information!
5. Total War: Warhammer 3
Developer: Creative Assembly
Platforms: PC
Released: 2022
Every installment in Creative Assembly’s superlative strategy series has its charms, but the third outing is a particularly good entry point for anyone looking to dip their toe into the roiling waters of the war-torn World-That-Was. Partly, that’s down to the game’s excellent prologue-tutorial, which provides a fairly seamless on-ramp for even novice generals, but it’s also the product of eight years of tweaks and refinements to everything from UI design to campaign structure.
Once you’ve earned your stripes, you’ll discover a sandbox of warfare packed with diplomacy, backstabbing, strategy, and gibbering hordes of chaos daemons – all rendered in exquisite detail. And now, two years on from launch, Total War: Warhammer 3 has benefitted from a raft of judicious patches and improvements, as well as a large catalog of (admittedly, often quite expensive) DLC.
4. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
Developer: Owlcat Games
Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Released: 2024
The Imperium of Man is a big place. Millions of star systems fall under its jurisdiction (whether they want to or not), and countless billions of citizens live, toil, fight, and die within its ever-shifting borders. By virtue of its 100+ hour campaign, Rogue Trader has the opportunity to grapple with the vastness of this setting in a way that few other games can, showcasing lesser-seen factions, locations, and concepts over the course of its role-playing campaign.
Those coming to Rogue Trader expecting the dazzling polish and generous approachability of Baldur’s Gate 3 may struggle with this game’s tooth-chipping levels of crunch. But if your experience of the 40k setting has so far been limited to space marines shooting stuff, Rogue Trader makes for a dizzying introduction to the darker corners of this strange and sprawling galaxy.
Check out our ranking of the best RPGs ever made if you want more recommendations after checking out Rogue Trader.
3. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Developer: Saber Interactive
Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Released: 2024
Since the release of the very first edition of Warhammer 40,000 way back in 1987, space marines have been the uncontested stars of the setting, adorning the covers of rule books, boxed sets, novels, video games, and Panini sticker albums. That ubiquity is a double-edged sword, though, and it can create the feeling that Space Marines are a bit pedestrian – the humdrum default in a galaxy of bizarre and bloody variety.
The designers, artists, and animators at Saber Interactive have solved this by rendering protagonist Demetrian Titus with all the unstoppable momentum of a battleship on legs, imbuing his every action with astonishing strength, disturbing ferocity, and thunderous impact. Suddenly, the terror and awe with which the average Imperial citizen regards a space marine makes total sense. If you’re looking for a polished, blockbuster vision of the Adeptus Astartes at war, Space Marine 2 is an easy recommendation.
Read our Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 review for more details on one of the best new games of 2024.
2. Warhammer: Vermintide 2
Developer: Fatshark
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Released: 2018
Picture the breathless multiplayer action of Left 4 Dead. Now, replace the shambling undead with conniving ratmen, and switch out the bullet-spewing arsenal for a rack of gleaming longswords. If that sounds at all enticing (and frankly, how could it not?), the Vermintide series offers a near-endless torrent of skittering foes for you to bash, slash, and impale from a first-person perspective.
While the original Vermintide set a high bar, its sequel has the more active community, as well as a handful of worthwhile improvements to the first game’s formula. The addition of selectable ‘careers’ for each character, for instance, injects even more variety and longevity to a line-up that was already pretty great at catering to different playstyles.
If Vermintide 2 has given you the co-op bug, here is our list of the best multiplayer games that you can play right now.
1. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
Developer: Relic Entertainment
Platforms: PC
Released: 2004
Some diehards may prefer the pared-back, RPG-inflected action of its successor, Dawn of War 2, but the fast-paced base-building and screen-filling firefights of the original represent the chaotic pinnacle of this real-time strategy series. Dawn of War 3, meanwhile, is very much the Luke Hemsworth of the trilogy – there’s nothing wrong with it per se, it just has two more famous and beloved siblings. Who are also taller.
Today, the Dawn of War Anniversary Edition bundles the base game and all of its DLC, which amounts to a smorgasbord of grimdark delicacies including (by my count) three single-player narrative campaigns and two grand strategy campaigns, as well as heaps of multiplayer options. Throw in 20 years of modding, and you have one hell of a value proposition.
Fancy something a bit cheerier? Step outside the grimdark future with these best sci-fi games.
