Windows Central Insider
On June 7, 2026, during the PC Gaming Showcase, a new trailer for the upcoming strategy game, Total War: Warhammer 40,000, was shown.
In it, the developers at Creative Assembly demonstrated a ton of new gameplay footage while talking about how it plans to bring people on board who are new to Total War or Warhammer 40,000, some of its gameplay systems, and more.
Here's what you need to know from this trailer and why you should be excited if you're a fan of Warhammer 40,000, strategy games, or both.
For those who don't know, Total War: Warhammer 40,000 is the latest entry in the Total War franchise. These games mix turn-based and real-time strategy gameplay with empire management elements to create epic scenarios where you are leading massive armies to conquer enemies in world-spanning campaigns.
Total War: Warhammer 40,000 plans to take Total War's core concepts and dial them up to, well, 40,000 by having the player command armies waging war on multiple planets while taking direct control of specific units during key moments to lead them to victory.
Judging from the alpha gameplay footage in this trailer, it appears that Creative Assembly is already on track to capture how grim and over-the-top wars waged in the Warhammer 40,000 universe can get.
Seeing the cities of Armageddon (one of the worlds you will be fighting on in Total War: Warhammer 40,000) being ripped apart by never-ending artillery barrages while hundreds of Orks and humans massacre each other with gunfire, blades, and explosions is a sight to behold, especially if you're a Warhammer fan who's read novels about the wars waged on this world, like Helsreach by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.
But if you're someone like me who's never played a Total War game and is interested in trying this game, don't worry. Creative Assembly has confirmed the game will have story-driven campaigns that will introduce players to the game's mechanics and Warhammer 40,000's setting.
Additionally, the developers have stated that the campaign's story will have branching paths depending on the choices you make and territories you conquer.
These choices also provide gameplay benefits for your army depending on which faction you play as. For example, Orks will be able to build Stompa mechs faster if they control territory that yields Scrap, whereas the Astra Militarum will gain a boost in tank production if they control a Plant on a civilized world.
To close out the trailer, Creative Assembly has revealed that there will be a closed beta test for Total War: Warhammer 40,000 sometime later this year, which you can sign up for right now on their website.
Windows Central's take
Now, I love Warhammer 40,000 games, but when it comes to strategy games with real-time elements in them, like Age of Empires or the classic Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War games, I suck at them because I couldn't handle the amount of chaos on screen without cheating.
But that was me as a kid during the early 2000s; as an adult in the 2020s, I've grown wiser when it comes to strategy from playing tactical games like Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector.
So I'm willing to give Total War: Warhammer 40,000 a shot and learn how this franchise works because this game looks utterly insane. Fighting on multiple worlds and watching hundreds upon hundreds of units on-screen blowing each other up in a shower of gore looks awesome, and I can't wait to try it out.
Total War: Warhammer 40,000 is set to launch sometime in the future on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.
🗨️ Over to you
So how do you feel about Total War: Warhammer 40,000? Does it make you excited as a longtime Warhammer 40,000/strategy game fan, or does it make you want to try the Total War series for the first time if you're a newcomer?
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