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Hammerfall Publishing and Games Workshop have teamed up to bring us a new Warhammer 40K title. In a bold move, (to put it lightly) the two companies are currently developing a Warhammer themed 3D chess game. Chess – Regicide is said to be released this holiday season and will be available on multiple platforms.
IGN reports that the goal here was to combine one of the most popular board games of all time with the 40K universe. The game will reportedly be very detailed, with emphasis on visuals and animations. “Warhammer 40k and chess fans have been talking about combining these two elements for well over a decade now,” said project leader Cathrin Machin. “Its a huge honour that we’ve been able to make it a reality.”
Chess – Regicide will allow players to choose from several factions and will feature singleplayer, as well as a cross-platform multiplayer mode. A Blood Angels campaign written by Games Workshop’s Ross Watson will also be available. The campaign’s levels are said to be created by Grandmaster chess champion Zhao Zong-Yuan, currently ranked number one player in Australia.
Hammerfall Publishing wants to set the game apart with realistic kill and death animations, captured with the help of military trained choreographers. The company also mentioned that a lot of work is being put into Regicide’s graphics and details. “It’s such a landmark game concept and we knew that bringing AAA quality graphics to this title would be the only way to do it justice. Our character and environment creation process is incredibly meticulous and we’re incredibly proud of the results.”
A quick look on the Warhammer 40K wikia reveals that this concept does have some lore behind it. The page reads “Regicide is human tabletop game played across the Imperium of Man. It uses a board and pieces or can be played using a virtual holographic display. It is similar to the ancient Terran game of chess, and can be played on a “hooded” board where only certain pieces are visible, making the game more complex. It is known that this game was played by Chief Librarian Petrok of the Iron Snakes Space Marines Chapter as a trainee Librarian to improve his tactical ability without relying on his psychic talents.”
This all sounds very interesting but I doubt Chess – Regicide will be well received given that fans of the series have been asking for a new RTS title for a long time now. The last decent Warhammer 40K games were released back in 2011, in the form of Dawn of War 2 – Retribution and Space Marine. After THQ went bankrupt back in 2012 the franchise pretty much started going downhill. A few more titles are expected to be released in 2014 and 2015, including an MMO that goes by the name of Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade.
