Owlcat Games reveals a detailed look into Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy's Investigation system — Become a fair judge or a biased executioner

Promotional screenshot of the player Inquisitor conducting an investigation.
Use advanced technology to reconstruct crime scenes. (Image credit: Owlcat Games)
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Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy, the latest Warhammer 40,000 CRPG created by Owlcat Games, has received a gameplay deep dive into its Investigation system.

Here is a summary of Owlcat Games' deep dive into Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy Investigation system, as taken from the game's Steam news page.

A Deep Dive into the Investigation System - YouTube A Deep Dive into the Investigation System - YouTube
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In this game, you will be dispatched across the Calixis Sector to investigate crimes, unravel grand conspiracies that may involve the ruinous powers of chaos, and punish the enemies of man.

You will need to investigate the environment for clues that could help unravel a case. Some clues can be spotted easily, while others will require the aid of party members or tools like Servo Skull Swarms and a terrain analyzer to locate.

You must be careful when tracking and examining evidence, as some trails may lead to dead ends (where you could literally end up dead) and some evidence may end up being useless red herrings to throw you off.

So you must carefully decide which clues are worth pursuing and which ones are better left alone.

Use your Detective Journal to draw conclusions. (Image credit: Owlcat Games)

The game will also provide players with a Detective Journal to keep track of the evidence they've collected, use to analyse clues with testimonies from NPCs, and draw conclusions from it to solve active cases.

Additionally, you can also call upon your party members for aid to help out with analysing clues by offering fresh opinions that could lend credence to conclusions, or use special skills to uncover clues within the clues.

Be warned, as each clue and testimony could grant you multiple conclusions to draw from, some of which may be false. You will need to decide which clues and testimonies are wrong and which ones are true.

Time to render judgement. (Image credit: Owlcat Games)

The deep dive concludes with an explanation of what happens at the end of an investigation.

Once a case is closed, you must present a report to the Inquisition that summarizes your investigation with all the evidence gathered, your moral decisions during it, your setbacks, and who you decide is the guilty party.

However, not all accounts are accurate. Your reports can be distorted by a lack of crucial evidence that you may have missed or intentionally left out.

In Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy, you can punish characters even if you lack the evidence to do so, but there will be dire consequences for doing so.

Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy is set to launch on PC at an unspecified time in the future and is available to wishlist on Steam.

Owlcat Games' previous Warhammer 40,000 CRPG, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, is available to purchase on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (Steam)
WH40K CRPG
Save 84% ($44.20)
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (Steam): was $52.79 now $8.59 at loaded.com


Become a Rogue Trader and conquer the Koronus Expanse in the name of the Imperium or the Ruinous Powers of Chaos in Warhammer 40,000's first epic CRPG adventure, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader.

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Alexander Cope
Contributor — Gaming

Alexander Cope is a gaming veteran of 30-plus years, primarily covering PC and Xbox games here on Windows Central. Gaming since the 8-bit era, Alexander's expertise revolves around gaming guides and news, with a particular focus on Japanese titles from the likes of Elden Ring to Final Fantasy. Alexander is always on deck to help our readers conquer the industry's most difficult games — when he can pry himself away from Monster Hunter that is!

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