Info about Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III:

Official game description:
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III out now for Mac OS and Linux.
===============================================================
Review Scores
=============
About the Game
==============
Step into a brutal battle between three warring factions  
In Dawn of War III you will have no choice but to face your foes when a catastrophic weapon is found on the mysterious world of Acheron.  
With war raging and the planet under siege by the armies of greedy Ork warlord Gorgutz, ambitious Eldar seer Macha, and mighty Space Marine commander Gabriel Angelos, supremacy must ultimately be suspended for survival.
**UNLEASH THE GIANTS**
----------------------
Take control of towering war machines and tip the balance of battle in your favor with the biggest characters in Dawn of War history. Turn the tide with the mighty Imperial Knight (Space Marine), the clattering Gorkanaut (Ork), or the haunting Wraithknight (Eldar).
**COLOSSAL BATTLES**
--------------------
Dawn of War is famous for its epic action and those immense clashes are back - but now they're off-the-scale. Wage war with massive armies across violent volcanic terrain or mighty orbital Star Forts.
**CALL UP YOUR ELITES**
-----------------------
Take your battle plans to another level by deploying powerful collectible elite squads, each boasting their own special abilities and bonuses that will help you unlock and develop new attacking strategies to conquer your foes.
**DESTRUCTIVE ABILITIES**
-------------------------
Cause devastation on the battlefield with powerful super-abilities. Rain down total destruction on your enemies with the Space Marine's Orbital Bombardment, the Eldar's blistering Eldritch Storm or the Ork’s Rokks to counter your unsuspecting rivals.
**THREE-FACTION CAMPAIGN**
--------------------------
Learn what makes each force formidable through alternating missions. You'll soon come to understand the combat advantages of Space Marines, Orks, and Eldar and the rules of a universe with no heroes or villains… only war.
**A NEW DAWN ONLINE**
---------------------
Your army will wreak havoc online. Join the multiplayer community and forge new alliances - or turn the tables on your new 'friends' as they become foes in explosive, chaotic and competitive maps.
**ONE ARMY TO RULE**
--------------------
Customize your own universal army from the very first moment you are matched in a melee. Progress through battle after battle with loyal troops by your side across both challenging campaign missions and dominating multiplayer maps.

Release date: 27 Apr, 2017

Categories: Real-time Strategy, Base Building, Competitive Multiplayer, Single-player Story, Unit Management, Character Customization


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Enjoyable Gameplay & Strong Visuals (weight 0.67): Players consistently found the game enjoyable, fun, and engaging, highlighting its addictive qualities and overall positive gameplay experience. Many also praised the game's visual appeal, including graphics, animations, and art style, noting its polished and vibrant presentation.
- Successful Blend of DoW Mechanics (weight 0.27): The game successfully blends elements from previous Dawn of War titles, offering a mix of base building from DoW 1 and hero-focused tactics from DoW 2. It's seen as a solid modern RTS that appeals to both series veterans and newcomers, often compared favorably to other RTS games like StarCraft and Warcraft.
- Engaging & Epic Campaign (weight 0.15): The single-player campaign is a significant strength, praised for its engaging story, varied objectives, and epic large-scale battles. Players found the missions entertaining and well-paced, providing a compelling narrative experience.
- Authentic Warhammer 40K Experience (weight 0.14): The game excels at capturing the essence of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Players appreciated the faithful adherence to lore, distinct faction aesthetics, and the overall grimdark atmosphere, enhanced by strong sound design and voice acting.
- Detailed & Impactful Units (weight 0.12): Unit design, detail, and animations received high praise, particularly for elite units and their spectacular abilities. The game's focus on active unit use and the visual impact of large-scale battles were also highlighted as positive aspects.
- Ork Faction is a Highlight (weight 0.11): The Ork faction, in particular, stood out for its entertaining voice acting, unique 'Scrap Mechanic' gameplay, and overall adherence to the chaotic and humorous Ork lore. Players found playing as Orks to be a highlight.
- Distinct & Well-Designed Factions (weight 0.1): The three playable factions are distinct and well-realized, offering varied playstyles and enhancing replayability. The campaign effectively introduces each faction, and their interwoven stories contribute to a rich narrative.
- Excellent Audio & Voice Acting (weight 0.08): The game's audio elements, including music, sound effects, and voice acting, are consistently praised. The soundtrack is described as epic, and the voice acting for characters and armies is considered superb, contributing to an immersive experience.
- Strong Modding Community Support (weight 0.06): The game benefits significantly from robust mod support via the Steam Workshop. Mods are easy to install and can greatly enhance the game's balance, add new features, and provide additional content, improving the overall experience.
- Challenging High Difficulty AI (weight 0.05): On higher difficulties, the game provides a significant and enjoyable challenge, requiring strategic and tactical planning. The AI is noted for its logical strategies, making for a rewarding experience for RTS enthusiasts.
- Strategic Elite Unit Design (weight 0.04): Elite units are well-designed, offering unique abilities and strategic depth without being overpowered. Their ability to gain experience and be customized adds to the tactical flexibility of gameplay.
- Unique RTS/Hero Blend (weight 0.03): The game's ambitious blend of large-scale RTS battles with hero-focused tactics creates a unique and strategically varied gameplay experience, often compared to simplified versions of Warcraft 3 or StarCraft 2.
- Simplified Base Building Return (weight 0.03): The return of classic base building, simplified for ease of use, was a welcome feature for many players. It offers more base building options compared to Dawn of War 2.
- Active Multiplayer Community (weight 0.03): Despite initial concerns, the online multiplayer component is active and engaging, providing various ways to play with friends or bots, which contributes to the game's longevity.
- Dynamic Gameplay & Post-Launch Improvements (weight 0.02): The game offers dynamic and fast-paced gameplay, with larger army sizes than Dawn of War 2. Post-release updates and patches have improved the game's balance and overall state.

Common complaints:
- Major step back from predecessors (weight 0.99): Players widely agree that the game is a significant regression from its predecessors, Dawn of War 1 and 2, failing to capture their essence, depth, and quality. This sentiment is a major driver of negative reviews and disappointment among long-time fans.
- Overpriced and poor value (weight 0.66): Many players feel the game is overpriced, especially given its perceived lack of content, numerous bugs, and overall poor quality. They believe it does not offer value for money, even at discounted prices.
- Buggy and unstable experience (weight 0.52): The game is plagued by numerous bugs, frequent crashes, and technical issues, even years after its release. This significantly hinders playability and contributes to a frustrating user experience, particularly on macOS.
- Boring, uninspired campaign (weight 0.48): The single-player campaign is widely criticized for being boring, repetitive, and unengaging. Its disjointed narrative, forced faction switching, and lack of meaningful character progression contribute to a dull and forgettable experience.
- Limited factions and forced switching (weight 0.36): A significant point of contention is the limited number of playable factions (only three) and the forced faction switching within the campaign. Players desire more variety and the ability to focus on a single faction, feeling the current setup lacks depth and replayability.
- Failed RTS-MOBA hybrid (weight 0.3): The game's attempt to blend traditional RTS elements with MOBA-inspired mechanics is largely seen as a failure. This hybrid approach alienated both RTS purists and MOBA fans, resulting in a compromised and unsatisfying gameplay experience.
- Abandoned by developers (weight 0.18): The game was perceived as unfinished upon release and was quickly abandoned by developers, leading to a lack of post-launch support, updates, and new content. This abandonment contributed to a fractured and ultimately dead player community.
- Cartoonish, un-grimdark graphics (weight 0.12): The game's visual style is frequently criticized for being too cartoonish and bright, deviating from the grimdark aesthetic of the Warhammer 40,000 universe and previous Dawn of War titles. This impacts immersion and overall atmosphere.
- Dead multiplayer community (weight 0.11): The multiplayer component of the game is largely defunct, with players reporting empty servers, long queue times, and frequent disconnections. This lack of an active online community severely limits the game's replayability.
- Inconsistent and flawed AI (weight 0.1): The AI is criticized for being inconsistent, ranging from overly passive to blatantly cheating with resources. Pathing issues and a lack of strategic depth in AI behavior make skirmishes and campaign encounters less engaging.

Gameplay feedback:
- Hybrid Gameplay Approach (weight 0.15): The game attempts to blend the large-scale army management and base-building of Dawn of War I with the hero-focused, tactical depth of Dawn of War II. This hybrid approach aims to offer a diverse gameplay experience.
- Traditional RTS with Mass Armies (weight 0.11): The game features traditional RTS elements like base building, resource gathering, and unit production, but these are often secondary to hero unit management and aggressive map control. The focus is on large-scale battles with mass armies.
- Three Distinct Factions (weight 0.08): The game features three distinct and unique factions: Space Marines, Orks, and Eldar. Each faction has its own playstyle, units, and special abilities, providing variety in gameplay.
- Playable Campaign Experience (weight 0.08): The single-player campaign is considered playable and serves as a good introduction to the game's mechanics. It offers a decent amount of gameplay hours and rotates between the three playable factions.
- Limited Unit Progression (weight 0.04): Unit progression and upgrades are handled through doctrines and stratagems rather than individual unit leveling. While there are various unit types, some players felt the viable options were limited.
- Unique Ork Faction Mechanics (weight 0.03): The Ork faction emphasizes overwhelming numbers, chaotic momentum, and a unique 'scrap' mechanic for unit buffs and production. Their gameplay evolution and narrative were particularly well-received.
- Fast-Paced Eldar Faction (weight 0.03): The Eldar faction is characterized by speed, precision, and the ability to teleport structures. Their gameplay relies on hit-and-run tactics and strategic positioning.
- Skill-Based Core Mechanics (weight 0.03): The game's mechanics are considered visually impressive and competent, though they require skill and micro-management to master. It offers a different experience compared to other games in the genre.
- Balanced Difficulty Levels (weight 0.02): The game's difficulty is generally considered balanced across various settings, allowing both casual and hardcore players to enjoy the campaign and core game modes.

Performance notes:
- Mixed performance and optimization (weight 0.1): Players report mixed performance, with some experiencing crashes, especially on Mac, and others noting good optimization even on older hardware. The game can be demanding on RAM and higher resolutions may lead to frame drops, though it generally recovers. Cutscenes can also exhibit low frame rates.
- Acceptable graphics quality (weight 0.05): The game's graphics are generally considered acceptable, not outstanding but not disappointing. Some players find them impressive with detailed units, while others need to lower settings for smooth performance.
- Linux compatibility issues (weight 0.01): Linux users note that specific Proton versions (e.g., 8.0-5) are required to launch the game on recent distributions, indicating potential compatibility challenges.
- Needs more patches (weight 0.01): Players feel that the game still requires additional patches to address remaining technical issues and improve overall stability.
- Good game balancing (weight 0.01): Despite a limited number of patches, the game's balancing is generally well-regarded by players, suggesting a solid core design.

Recommendations:
- Do Not Buy This Game (weight 0.34): Many players strongly advise against purchasing Dawn of War III, often recommending older titles in the series (Dawn of War I or II, especially Soulstorm/Dark Crusade) or other RTS games instead. This sentiment is driven by a perceived departure from the series' roots and overall disappointment.
- Only Buy On Deep Sale (weight 0.33): A significant portion of the feedback suggests that the game is only worth considering if purchased at a steep discount, typically 70-80% off or more. At full price, it is widely considered not worth the money, but a sale makes it a more acceptable, albeit still flawed, experience.
- Enjoyable For Specific Players (weight 0.13): Some players find the game enjoyable, particularly those who appreciate a blend of traditional RTS and hero-driven combat, or fans of the Warhammer 40K universe. It's seen as a decent option for casual RTS players or those looking for a unique take on the genre.
- Try Before Buying (weight 0.03): There's a mixed sentiment regarding whether players should try the game for themselves. Some encourage giving it a chance, while others advise skipping it entirely, highlighting the divisive nature of the game.
- Mixed Review Scores (weight 0.02): Overall ratings for the game are highly mixed, ranging from very low to moderately positive. This reflects the strong division in player opinion and the game's inability to satisfy a broad audience.
- Better With Friends And Mods (weight 0.02): Some players suggest that the game can be more enjoyable when played with friends and/or with mods, particularly if purchased at a significant discount. This implies that the base game experience might be lacking for solo players.
- Play Campaign On Hard (weight 0.02): A few reviewers specifically recommend playing the campaign on a higher difficulty setting. This suggests that the campaign might offer a more engaging or challenging experience when played this way.

Other player notes:
- Game is 'okay' for its price (weight 0.16): Many players found the game to be 'okay' or 'alright,' especially when purchased at a low price or received for free. It offers a decent amount of playtime, particularly for fans of the genre and the Warhammer 40k universe, though some only played the campaign partially.
- Different from previous Dawn of War (weight 0.15): A significant point of contention is that the game deviates heavily from its predecessors, Dawn of War 1 (a classic RTS) and Dawn of War 2 (squad-based). Many fans expected a blend of the two or a return to the original's style, leading to disappointment.
- Suggestions for future Dawn of War (weight 0.11): Players have strong ideas for future Dawn of War titles, suggesting more factions, units, defensive structures, and a return to features like conquest mode and map editors. There's a clear desire for expanded content and strategic depth.
- Undeserved negative reception (weight 0.01): Some players feel the game was unfairly targeted by negative campaigns or 'review bombing,' leading to undeserved hate. There's a suspicion that some negative feedback was not based on genuine gameplay experience.
- Campaign plot summary (weight 0.01): The campaign features a plot where the three main factions unite to defeat a daemon after discovering a deceptive spear. This provides a basic narrative framework for the single-player experience.

Emotions:
- Disappointment (weight 0.32): Players expressed significant disappointment due to the game's perceived inferiority compared to its predecessors, citing a boring and hollow campaign, limited factions and content, and a general lack of innovation and depth. Many felt the game deviated too much from the series' core identity, adopting MOBA-like elements and simplified mechanics, leading to unfulfilled expectations and a sense of wasted potential.
- Frustration (weight 0.21): Frustration stemmed primarily from persistent technical issues such as crashes, bugs, and broken multiplayer, which often prevented players from engaging with the game. Additionally, players were frustrated by poor design choices, including clunky controls, imbalanced units, tedious resource management, and an unengaging campaign structure, leading to a generally unplayable or unenjoyable experience.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.19): Players found satisfaction in the game's graphics, sound design, and overall aesthetic, often praising the visual quality and immersive atmosphere. Enjoyment also came from the successful blend of RTS and hero management mechanics, engaging story elements, and the strategic depth offered by demanding battles and unique race mechanics, especially when the game was played with friends or at a discounted price.
- Excitement (weight 0.03): Excitement was generated by the game's engaging gameplay, particularly its intense multiplayer and large-scale battles, which delivered a thrilling RTS experience. Players also appreciated the high-quality graphics, animations, and sound design, which contributed to an immersive and explosive Warhammer 40,000 atmosphere.
- Anger (weight 0.03): Anger was a strong emotion, primarily driven by the perception that the game was a 'trash' or 'disgrace' that ruined the franchise. This was fueled by numerous bugs, poor design choices, and a perceived lack of developer support, leading to feelings of wasted money and a sense of betrayal for long-time fans.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.03): Players enjoyed the game's single-player campaign, story, and voice acting, finding the overall gameplay experience fun and engaging. The ability to play with friends and the game's adherence to the Warhammer lore also contributed significantly to positive feelings.
- Desire (weight 0.02): Players expressed a strong desire for more content, specifically additional factions, units, and story missions. There was also a clear wish for improved mod support and more customization options, indicating a hunger for expanded gameplay possibilities and replayability.
- Boredom (weight 0.02): Boredom arose from the game's unengaging story, repetitive missions, and perceived lack of strategic depth. Players found the gameplay tedious, particularly in early campaign missions and due to slow resource accumulation, leading to a quick loss of interest and replayability.
- Hope (weight 0.02): Hope was tied to the game's future potential, with players wishing for continued developer support, more content, and improved mod support. There was a strong desire for the game to be revived and for future installments in the series to realize its full potential.
- Confusion (weight 0.01): Confusion stemmed from the game's mixed reception and the perceived disconnect between player expectations and the final product. Players were puzzled by the game's design choices, particularly its UI and unit separation logic, and the strong negative sentiment from the community.
- Joy (weight 0.01): Joy was experienced through the game's fun gameplay, particularly within the Warhammer 40,000 world and lore. Players expressed a deep love for the game, finding it broadly appealing and enjoyable.
- Sadness (weight 0.01): Sadness was primarily caused by the game's perceived failure, limited content (especially factions and DLCs), and its lack of popularity, leading to a sense of a 'dead game.' Players mourned the lost essence of previous titles and the potential end of the series.
- Regret (weight 0.01): Regret was a common emotion, often associated with the purchase of the game, leading to feelings of wasted money and time. Players expressed regret for not heeding warnings and for their initial optimism, especially when the game was abandoned by developers.
- Acceptance (weight 0.01): Players showed acceptance by acknowledging the game's distinct style and differences from its predecessors, especially when purchased on sale. Despite its flaws, some found value and still considered the game 'cool' or good, recognizing its unique approach within the series.
- Appreciation (weight 0.01): Appreciation was directed towards the game's stunning graphics, polished presentation, and accurate aesthetics of each race, which contributed to an immersive experience. Players also valued the game's ambition and specific design choices, finding it a quality title within the Warhammer universe.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.01): Nostalgia was triggered by fond memories of previous games in the series, leading to comparisons and a longing for the strategic depth and specific features of older titles like Dawn of War 2 or Warcraft 3. Players felt the current game often failed to capture the beloved Warhammer aesthetic.
- Mixed feelings (weight 0): Players experienced mixed feelings by acknowledging both the good and bad aspects of the game, often finding enjoyment despite its flaws. This sentiment frequently arose from comparing the game to other titles in the series, recognizing its shortcomings while still finding it worth playing.
- Concern (weight 0): Concern was primarily focused on the game's multiplayer activity and its online playability, with players worrying about the declining player base and the game's competitive focus. There was also concern about the game's direction potentially sacrificing lore for esports, impacting the franchise's future.
- Neutrality (weight 0): Neutrality reflected a balanced view of the game, often acknowledging its overall quality as a standalone title without strong positive or negative bias. Players saw the campaign as 'alright' and recognized the game's hero-focused design as a departure from traditional RTS elements.
- Surprise (weight 0): Surprise occurred when the game exceeded low expectations, leading to a positive realization that it was better than anticipated. This often stemmed from initial negative perceptions or reviews, only to find unexpected positive qualities upon playing.}