With Dark Heresy, a new role-playing game set in Warhammer 40,000 is in the works, which you can already play in Alpha on Steam. MeinMMO editor and Warhammer expert Benedict Grothaus has looked at the currently available content. Most of the playtime was spent on perhaps the biggest challenge: thinking.
Since the announcement, I have been looking forward to Dark Heresy, and the more I hear about the game, the more excited I become. Together with the boss, I have already dove into the deepest nerd topics and absorb every piece of news about the upcoming role-playing game like dry cornstarch soaking up a drop of clean water.
Owlcat, the creators of Dark Heresy, have already delivered one of the best games ever with Rogue Trader, if you want to get into the world of Warhammer. Such dedication to detail and the Warhammer lore is rarely seen. With Dark Heresy, the developers wanted to do even better and address the last criticisms.
The Alpha of the new role-playing game has been running on Steam since December 2025, and I actually wanted to hold back because I know: once I start, I want to continue, and for that, I need the whole game!
Nevertheless, I have now sunk the first 12 hours into the Alpha and am glad about it. Now I not only think that Dark Heresy will be my next highlight, I know it.
Small spoiler warning: I will try to reveal as little as possible of the story I know so far. However, if you want to know nothing in advance, you should at least skip the next two sections. Here goes to the last section.
Rogue Trader was really good, Dark Heresy is even better
To quickly catch you up: Rogue Trader and Dark Heresy are cRPGs, isometric and story-driven role-playing games with turn-based combat – similar to Baldur’s Gate 3. The games tell a story that you influence with your choices.
An important feature is the various companions with their own backgrounds and personalities. Rogue Trader set a good precedent here, especially with the first DLC Void Shadows, which made the entire ship of the Rogue Trader available. Anyone interested in the backgrounds of Warhammer 40,000 should definitely take a look.
Criticism at the time mainly concerned fights and levels or character development, which I actually found very positive. There are simply too many skills with complicated descriptions, while in the end, it turned out that a straightforward brawler build with a heavy bolter carried the whole game.
Dark Heresy takes a different approach here. Instead of a huge selection of different skills, there are archetype-fitting options when leveling up, so there is more “class identity”. I have experienced how that affects gameplay… painfully, I must add.
Thinking instead of shooting doesn’t seem to be my strength
The Alpha currently offers about 15 hours of content with several areas to explore. Different fights await here at the locations, one of which is relatively easy, while another almost wiped out my entire team.
In the fight against some Kroot, which many of you may know as auxiliary units of the Tau, my entire team almost went down. Only Crogg, the simple but loyal Ogryn companion, was left with half his health and no morale.
Admittedly, had SOMEONE (the Psyker cough) not decided that a Daemonette would spice up the fight, it would have probably been easier…
Dark Heresy, however, places more emphasis on tactical gameplay. Instead of simply barging in with a heavy bolter and mowing down enemies, I need to use cover and hit vital spots to prevent enemies from acting or moving.
At times, I had to tactically attack my own units with flamers or magic and accept the damage to take out multiple enemies that would have otherwise taken me down – while I was playing on the “easy” mode like most testers.
I never had such situations in Rogue Trader, but they fit perfectly with Dark Heresy. Because something I noticed after the first hours is: I have to think much more; fights are not that important. What matters is how well I can create a complete picture out of fragments.
The boss compares his detective system to a meme, and he is completely correct
The core of Dark Heresy is the investigation system. Instead of a Rogue Trader like in Rogue Trader or a super soldier like in Space Marine, in Dark Heresy, you play a member of the Inquisition with the goal of solving various cases in a macro-pole and preventing possible heresies.
Anatoly Shestov, the Executive Producer, explained to me in several conversations that one can best imagine this system like the meme with the guy who stands in front of a wall of clues and connects everything with red threads. And he is right:
In every conversation, there may be a hidden clue, items in the world – some of which are REALLY well hidden – and even just random pipes can create further “clues” that progress the case. Sometimes just a tiny detail is needed to completely dismantle a seemingly plausible hypothesis.
At times, I sat for almost an hour in front of this wall of notes, reading through the clues, gathering input from my companions, and contemplating who killed whom and what was stolen – and why. In the end, I never came to a conclusion and, somewhat contrite, searched for further clues.
Who stole the coconut – and who has to die for it?
The Inquisition is the most dangerous organization of the Imperium for good reason: If they suspect that someone is dealing with the powers of Chaos or has been corrupted involuntarily, Inquisitors quickly take decisive action with their pistol.
Thanks to Dark Heresy, I understand why they do this. When I consider how incredibly much effort I put into searching for missing workers and thus realize that maybe an unholy cult is lurking in the Underhive…
At the latest, after I found clues about an involvement of the dangerously notorious Night Lords, it was clear to me that in the 41st millennium, it is simply the safer way to shoot first and ask questions later. Because while I search for the one guilty party, corruption continues to spread.
And if this happens to catch one (or a few dozen) innocent folks… well. According to the Inquisition, there is no such thing as innocence anyway, only varying degrees of guilt.
Dark Heresy is not quite what I expected – different, but even better than hoped, at least in the first 12 hours. There is still a while until the release, and important content like character creation is still missing; currently, you play a pre-made character. Nevertheless, this brief insight has made me even more eager for the role-playing game. The highlight would be if I could someday press the button
: Exterminatus is the most terrible weapon in Warhammer 40,000 and even the mad Imperium uses it only very rarely
