Dawn of War 2004

The original Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War came out on Sep 20, 2004, developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. It is the game Dawn of War 4 takes as its model, an RTS of capturing map points and fighting with reinforceable squads, with a Metascore of 86 from 51 critics. Its campaign follows the Blood Ravens on Tartarus. Its place in the series is on Dawn of War Games in Order.

Quick facts

Sources: Metacritic; Steam; Game Over Online.

Factions

The game has four playable races: Space Marines, Orks, Chaos and Eldar. All four work in skirmish and multiplayer, but the campaign is Space Marines only. The expansions take the roster up to nine.

Story on Tartarus

0:11 The campaign opens on Tartarus, where Imperial Guard defenses are failing against an Ork invasion and the Blood Ravens drop in to save the world. You command Captain Gabriel Angelos with the Librarian Isador at his side, and learn why the Orks are unusually organized and why Chaos and Eldar forces are on the same planet. The clip is the Definitive Edition's enhanced trailer, which shows red-armored Space Marines fighting Orks.

Relic's own later recap gives the ending away. Angelos, haunted by the Exterminatus he ordered on his homeworld Cyrene, fails to save Tartarus, has to execute the Chaos-corrupted Isador, and is tricked into freeing a Greater Daemon of Khorne. Angelos returns in Dawn of War 3 but is deliberately not in Dawn of War 4; the Blood Ravens do.

How it plays

Resources come from power generators and from capturing and holding locations, with no peons or mining. PC Gamer's line on what that changed: "There's no gold, no spice, no vespene bloody gas". The fights over those points are the main way to earn. Space Marine buildings drop from orbit.

11:53 Squads are the unit of play. A basic Space Marine squad starts at four and can be reinforced anywhere on the map up to eight, taking weapons such as flamers or missile launchers. Requisition and power also buy a Veteran Sergeant, plasma guns, heavy bolters, power fists and attached independent characters, which carries over the tabletop's logic. In the clip, milkandcookiesTW compares Dawn of War 4's reinforcing on the battlefield to the first game's, from a pre-release build.

2:40 Sync kills, the close-up melee finishers, are what Dawn of War 4's team named as the thing they loved most about the first game. KING Art grew the idea into the Combat Director. The clip is KING Art's Oct 2026 overview trailer.

Reception

WorthPlaying's 2004 review said "finally someone's done the tabletop game justice." Goonhammer credits the game with the license's resurgence in video games, about a year after the shooter Fire Warrior. Not all of it holds up in critics' memory: reviewing the sequel, PC Gamer's Tom Francis called the campaign "brief and jarringly anti-climactic." PC Gamer's 2026 note on its ranking still says "the first game still reigns supreme" among Warhammer 40,000 games. Players agree with the later view: the Anniversary Edition sits at 94% positive of 5,599 Steam reviews on Oct 31, 2026.

No publisher sales figure for the game has been found.

How to play it today

The Definitive Edition, $29.99 list on Steam and also on GOG, remasters this game with all three expansions. The Anniversary Edition, $14.99 list and Windows only, is the same content without a remaster. Both carry the campaign on Tartarus, which Relic lists as the Fall of Tartarus.

Link to Dawn of War 4

0:03 KING Art thinks of its game as "a kind of reimagining of the first Dawn of War", which is why Orks are the opposing force again. Jan Theysen said the studio chose the first game as its model over the second. The new story stands alone; see Story and Setting. The clip opens the same trailer.

Frequently asked questions

When did the original Dawn of War come out? Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War came out on Sep 20, 2004 on PC, from Relic Entertainment and THQ. It reached Steam later, on Aug 7, 2007.

What factions are in Dawn of War 1? The original Dawn of War has four playable races: Space Marines, Orks, Chaos and Eldar. Its campaign is Space Marines only.

Who is the main character of Dawn of War 1? The original Dawn of War follows Captain Gabriel Angelos of the Blood Ravens, helped by the Librarian Isador, on the planet Tartarus.

Is Dawn of War 1 still worth playing? Yes for RTS and Warhammer 40,000 fans, by the reviews: Dawn of War has a Metascore of 86, and PC Gamer's 2026 note still ranks it first among Warhammer 40,000 games. The Definitive Edition is the modern way to play it.

Should I buy the original Dawn of War or the Definitive Edition? Buy the Definitive Edition for 4K, 64-bit and the mod manager, or the cheaper Anniversary Edition for the original build. Both hold all three expansions.

Sources

• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, Metacritic
• Dawn of War Anniversary Edition, Steam
• Definitive Edition, Steam
• Dawn of War review, Game Over Online
• The best Warhammer 40K games ranked, PC Gamer, Apr 15, 2026
• Dawn of War 2 review, PC Gamer, republished May 24, 2026
• Crafting an epic Dawn of War IV story, KING Art, Nov 20, 2025
• Dawn of War 4's guiding star, PC Gamer, Sep 28, 2025
• The big Dawn of War 4 interview, IGN, Aug 28, 2025
• Definitive Edition review, GameWatcher, Aug 19, 2025
• Definitive Edition Out Now, Relic, Aug 14, 2025
• Interview with Robbie MacNiven, Relic (archived), Nov 12, 2020
• Video Game Retrospective: Dawn of War (2004), Goonhammer, 2019
• PC Review - Dawn of War, WorthPlaying, Oct 5, 2004
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Definitive Edition - Enhanced Trailer Original Audio, Dawn of War, Aug 11, 2025 (video)
• I Played Dawn of War 4 - New Gameplay, Overview, Mechanics, and Impressions, milkandcookiesTW, Aug 20, 2025 (video)
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV - Official Game Overview Trailer, Dawn of War IV, Oct 21, 2026 (video)