Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III

 PC
User Score
4.6

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 499 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 164 out of 499
  2. Mixed: 70 out of 499
  3. Negative: 265 out of 499

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  1. Ben86
    May 3, 2017
    2
    I am not reviewing the campaign of this game, just multiplayer.

    This game is a great disappointment compared to the previous titles in the series and an even greater let down if you enjoyed any of the Company of Heroes games. It is closer to a regression to Starcraft merging with Dawn of War I than an advance on Relic's previous titles. There are few animations (and the ones there    I am not reviewing the campaign of this game, just multiplayer.

    This game is a great disappointment compared to the previous titles in the series and an even greater let down if you enjoyed any of the Company of Heroes games. It is closer to a regression to Starcraft merging with Dawn of War I than an advance on Relic's previous titles. There are few animations (and the ones there look like a cartoon), no sync-kills, a very restricted camera, poor voice acting (in comparison to the previous titles), less strategic depth, more of an arcade RTS, and general lack of immersion. They went from a work of art to a game that tries to win over the e-sports crowd and fail to deliver even there.

    The game becomes boring after a few games, and as an RTS, judged apart from previous Relic games it deserves something around a 6 if you ignore the downgrade from the previous titles and that it is supposed to take place in the 40k universe.    … Expand
  2. WyvernZed
    Apr 27, 2017
    2
    Fatal Errors within the tutorial, and UX design on par with Command and Conquer ... from '95. Truly a shame.

    The sad part is that this is a series with a fantastic history and a truly astounding track record when it comes to the gameplay. To see a series go to the point where there's crashes in the tutorial and unnumbered buttons for macro purposes, which means you can't even hotkey    Fatal Errors within the tutorial, and UX design on par with Command and Conquer ... from '95. Truly a shame.

    The sad part is that this is a series with a fantastic history and a truly astounding track record when it comes to the gameplay. To see a series go to the point where there's crashes in the tutorial and unnumbered buttons for macro purposes, which means you can't even hotkey efficiently. Not sure what they were thinking releasing a year early.    … Expand
  3. bmmerotti
    May 9, 2017
    2
    “the game Warhammer 40k fans have been waiting for”
    9/10 – Gamereactor
    Sure, why not? How could relic deliver an unfinished game is really beyond me. Despite the already bad animations (see the devastator with heavy bolter please), voice actions and lines exchangeds between characters, the game is full of bugs and glitches. I could really overslook all these problems if the    “the game Warhammer 40k fans have been waiting for”
    9/10 – Gamereactor

    Sure, why not?

    How could relic deliver an unfinished game is really beyond me.

    Despite the already bad animations (see the devastator with heavy bolter please), voice actions and lines exchangeds between characters, the game is full of bugs and glitches.

    I could really overslook all these problems if the campaign mode was at least "ok", since im not really into MP competitive stuff (and in that perspective, this game had a HUGE downgrade in comparison to DoW II) but the campaign was mediocre at best.

    I've played some skirmishes with my friends against the AI and it is full of bugs, enemy units sometimes just stop and do nothing, or some times they keep attacking you with their mediocre ranged damage (i.e howling banshee's ranged attack).

    If this game is to be something good in the future it will be because of the community doing mods and maps. Hope relic staff sees this and dont make this mistake again.    … Expand
  4. SturmGeschutz
    Apr 30, 2017
    2
    DoW3 is a compromise of all the values, as a player I came to trust and identify with the franchise. It neither honours the 30yr old IP of Warhammer 40K nor explores it in this iteration.
  5. CpnCornDogg
    May 4, 2017
    2
    You played the series and loved it !!! Whats not to love, its the best part of COH with heroes mixed in set in the 40k universe! Now you hear the third installment is dropping holy **** its gonna be amazing.....no. no it isnt...... Its a pathetic abomination of what we loved from these games with dumbed down mechanics and vomit inducing vfx. **** THIS GAME AND EVERYTHING THEY DIDYou played the series and loved it !!! Whats not to love, its the best part of COH with heroes mixed in set in the 40k universe! Now you hear the third installment is dropping holy **** its gonna be amazing.....no. no it isnt...... Its a pathetic abomination of what we loved from these games with dumbed down mechanics and vomit inducing vfx. **** THIS GAME AND EVERYTHING THEY DID WITH IT. I dont understand how you can take a winning franchise and change its core mechanics that made it famous and **** up everything. See this is the ****ing problem with games nowadays you got some suit who pays your ****ing production telling you we need something fresh......dude if it aint broke dont fix it...just make it better. **** THIS GAME… Expand
  6. Skor1kk
    May 7, 2017
    2
    Difficult to say whether this game is worth recommending or not. Also, lots of people have been commenting on my playtime. The reason it is so low, is because I wanted to refund the game after playing the campaign, which obviously we could not do in the betas. I have collectively around 24 hours of playing if you include both closed betas as well as the open beta.
    If you're really    Difficult to say whether this game is worth recommending or not. Also, lots of people have been commenting on my playtime. The reason it is so low, is because I wanted to refund the game after playing the campaign, which obviously we could not do in the betas. I have collectively around 24 hours of playing if you include both closed betas as well as the open beta.
    If you're really passionate about W40k, and you can't stand the idea of divergence from the lore and atmosphere, then I'd say give it a pass. I'd also advise giving the game a miss if you're very much into the established gameplay from either the first or second game, as this game diverges quite a lot from its predecessors in ways which seems to have the community mostly angry about.    … Expand
  7. Kotofon
    May 9, 2020
    2
    Обожаю мультяшного габрика из расы дредноутов и всё что с ним связано. Нет серьезно, игра то еще дерьмище, на которое я потратил косарь с лишним. Но местами когда на экране сталкиваются 2 огромные армии и происходит какой-то непонятный пи*@!~ из взрывов и летящих снарядова, габрика раскидывающего всех супостатов вокруг себя это даже... как-то начинает походить на старый добрый... А такОбожаю мультяшного габрика из расы дредноутов и всё что с ним связано. Нет серьезно, игра то еще дерьмище, на которое я потратил косарь с лишним. Но местами когда на экране сталкиваются 2 огромные армии и происходит какой-то непонятный пи*@!~ из взрывов и летящих снарядова, габрика раскидывающего всех супостатов вокруг себя это даже... как-то начинает походить на старый добрый... А так профукали все полимеры которые у них были. ГОВНО.… Expand
  8. FrostormNidhegg
    Nov 16, 2018
    2
    Говно. Хотите хороший обзор на эту игру - посмотрите его на канале Spaceman, "забытый обзор Dawn of War 3" называется - там все досканально разобрано. Игра ужасна, это не ДоВ. Играйте в 1 и 2 части, они прекрасны. А это стороной обходитеГовно. Хотите хороший обзор на эту игру - посмотрите его на канале Spaceman, "забытый обзор Dawn of War 3" называется - там все досканально разобрано. Игра ужасна, это не ДоВ. Играйте в 1 и 2 части, они прекрасны. А это стороной обходите
  9. benny0909
    Apr 27, 2017
    1
    All I can say is, what happened???

    If you were interested in playing something similar to the original DOW titles or even DoW2, DoW3 is neither. It seems like Relic/Sega were more interested in playing League of Legends than making their own game. The game is optimized poorly, stutters & lags even in the menus. The voice acting is atrocious & somehow the graphics managed to go back    All I can say is, what happened???

    If you were interested in playing something similar to the original DOW titles or even DoW2, DoW3 is neither. It seems like Relic/Sega were more interested in playing League of Legends than making their own game.

    The game is optimized poorly, stutters & lags even in the menus. The voice acting is atrocious & somehow the graphics managed to go back in time a decade.

    The business model is clearly setup with DLC in mind to milk the playerbase in future updates with content that should have been available on release.    … Expand
  10. kmdcanada
    Apr 27, 2017
    1
    OMG this is such a steaming pile of crap! COH2 was a bad game and that was 10 years ago, but it's better than this! Game is laggy as hell. No cover, no strategy. Ugly for this day and age. Can't change key binds. Devs ignored all feedback and just threw out a quick cash grab!
  11. Letheron88
    May 3, 2017
    1
    We were told repeatedly that this would be the game that takes the series back to its roots, that brings back the big battles and even better, would bring in the scale of the titan units to really shake things up. Cut to the actual game and you have a game about hero units, where basically everything revolves around them and the big battles of the past are nothing but a distant memory.We were told repeatedly that this would be the game that takes the series back to its roots, that brings back the big battles and even better, would bring in the scale of the titan units to really shake things up. Cut to the actual game and you have a game about hero units, where basically everything revolves around them and the big battles of the past are nothing but a distant memory.

    This isn't fun, it doesn't look good (were they designing this ready for a smart phone port?), it has no idea what its trying to be. I loved the first two games, and for me the only thing the series was missing was the sheer scale of the overall universe this IP is set in.

    If you want just another game set in the 40k universe, this is definitely that, if you want a Dawn of War game, don't bother.    … Expand
  12. Fubar72
    May 2, 2017
    1
    No rebindable keys.
    No Fullscreen (borderless windowed by default) cause huge issues in the game, for me this is simple, i can't play at all. For other people they can't select their native resolution or they have permanent windows taskbar above the game.
    Both are mindless devs choice. Both are without any fix. Uninstall is the only one good choice, and this is my last game from    No rebindable keys.
    No Fullscreen (borderless windowed by default) cause huge issues in the game, for me this is simple, i can't play at all. For other people they can't select their native resolution or they have permanent windows taskbar above the game.

    Both are mindless devs choice.
    Both are without any fix.

    Uninstall is the only one good choice, and this is my last game from Relic.

    For me, this studio are the world number one of the lazy now.

    Don't buy it without fix.
    They probably go to never fix it.    … Expand
  13. Ravensbane
    May 3, 2017
    1
    This game is a massive insult to the DOW franchise.They removed the features that people loved about the first 2 games and made a crappy rts wannabe that no one wants to play.The game has only 1 multiplayer mode,it has no depth,just mindlessly throw your armies at each other with no regard for strategy.
    They removed unit upgrades and customization.Which was one of the things I loved about    This game is a massive insult to the DOW franchise.They removed the features that people loved about the first 2 games and made a crappy rts wannabe that no one wants to play.The game has only 1 multiplayer mode,it has no depth,just mindlessly throw your armies at each other with no regard for strategy.
    They removed unit upgrades and customization.Which was one of the things I loved about the dow games.The roster is smaller and you cant even play the single player campaign offline.
    Lastly don't be fooled by reviews by users like "Voenix",they have just created an account to give 10 rating to this **** game.If you value your money and time stay away for this game.    … Expand
  14. Alul
    Apr 27, 2017
    1
    Nice lightning effects.
    If you like LoL or other titles like that, well good for you. You found new way to dumbing your intellect.
    For kids who like gummebears, jumping heroes, and all that childish "fun" factor. There you go.
    Bye Relic. I hope not for ever...
  15. Kamamura
    Jul 21, 2017
    1
    Pitiful shade of the former glory of its two predecessors. What's worse, the developer is not above using their moderator henchmen to suppress valid criticism of this mediocre product in Steam forums. Well, obviously, I don't need your forums to discuss your games to survive, however you need my money to sustain your revenue stream to survive - money you will now never get. Refunded, moving on.
  16. orrtega
    May 2, 2017
    1
    Вообщем ребят нечего особо разглагольствовать,множество обзоров в стим говорят сами за себя. От себя,я очень люблю Ваху,перечитал множестов книг,пересмотрел множество настолок иииии,я был школьником когда был первый ДоВ,я пришел из армии,когда был второй ДоВ,но третьего ДоВа лучше бы и не было.Вообщем ребят нечего особо разглагольствовать,множество обзоров в стим говорят сами за себя. От себя,я очень люблю Ваху,перечитал множестов книг,пересмотрел множество настолок иииии,я был школьником когда был первый ДоВ,я пришел из армии,когда был второй ДоВ,но третьего ДоВа лучше бы и не было.
  17. sidcom
    Apr 28, 2017
    1
    Disgrace to a genre, DoW series and tabletop original, not a Dawn of War game. Terrible maps, only 3 races with even less units than original DoW, cartoonish graphics and gameplay as shallow as a puddle. This game tries to mix some MOBA, C&C, Starcraft and DOW into one pot, result is a disgusting mush resembling a puke. It is not nearly as good as any of those game. For me, this a fail ofDisgrace to a genre, DoW series and tabletop original, not a Dawn of War game. Terrible maps, only 3 races with even less units than original DoW, cartoonish graphics and gameplay as shallow as a puddle. This game tries to mix some MOBA, C&C, Starcraft and DOW into one pot, result is a disgusting mush resembling a puke. It is not nearly as good as any of those game. For me, this a fail of epic proportions.… Expand
  18. Blindy92
    May 2, 2017
    1
    This game is a piece of crap. It takes everything Dawn of war games were about and throw it away and makes a shinny **** with decent graphics, a few maps of multi, crap campaign, crap sizes. The game is broken in all aspects and costs a way too much for nothing absolute nothing. I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone especially people who know the lore and played the other games. WorstThis game is a piece of crap. It takes everything Dawn of war games were about and throw it away and makes a shinny **** with decent graphics, a few maps of multi, crap campaign, crap sizes. The game is broken in all aspects and costs a way too much for nothing absolute nothing. I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone especially people who know the lore and played the other games. Worst game so far by far in 2017 in terms of expectations and results.… Expand
  19. MrRuin
    Apr 27, 2017
    1
    I am a fan of every Relic game up to now except The Outfit which I have never played. I loved Homeworld, Space Marine, Impossible Creatures, both CoH's and both DoW's even though they were very different games. Also I enjoy Warhammer, especially 40k. So this should be a game for me, no? Sadly, it is not.

    Combat is not interesting and is quite mechanical, economy is outdated returnig to    I am a fan of every Relic game up to now except The Outfit which I have never played. I loved Homeworld, Space Marine, Impossible Creatures, both CoH's and both DoW's even though they were very different games. Also I enjoy Warhammer, especially 40k. So this should be a game for me, no? Sadly, it is not.

    Combat is not interesting and is quite mechanical, economy is outdated returnig to version before CoH1, turrets and power nodes are a blatant steal from MOBA's and completely unnecessary. Elites are badly designed, being able to kill entire armies while costing nothing (so most combats will be around Elite point in the game and whoever holds it, almost certainly wins) and are completely not customisable taking away a strategy layer.

    Raiding is completely out of the picture cause of listening posts so there are only big blobs running around, and cause there is no retreat the blob which gets the first win will continue winning and return mechanics are completely not working cause instead of pop cap regulated req it is economy regulated, so if you have map control your army is gonna be bigger, period. Super weapons also cost nothing so can be spammed and whoever wipes more with his power, wins engagents without the need to strategise. Also Elites will almost certainly become micro transactions with best ones locked behind mounds of ingame currency or a couple of Euro's, so if you want to win in a tournament you better have the newest Elite (pay cash).

    And I am not even touching strange art style, lore unfriendly abilities and animations and bad responsiveness ... Simply put, this game is gaming disappointment of a decade for me    … Expand
  20. Halasker888
    Apr 27, 2017
    1
    If you are a fan of DoW 1 or 2 - avoid it. If you are looking for something 'grimdark' - look somewhere else. This game is not a RTS anymore. It is a mix of Clash Royale and a bad StarCraft clone.
  21. Lucius59
    May 4, 2017
    1
    ok, the graphics are nice. that's all for the good things.

    the bad things now: -when i buy a game which is a sequel (furthermore for 60€) based on a marvelous and complete license than warhammer 40k, i expect to have more content than in the previous one. here you have less armies (only 3 choices), less units (take à look at the eldars, where are the guardians? or the spacemarine    ok, the graphics are nice. that's all for the good things.

    the bad things now:
    -when i buy a game which is a sequel (furthermore for 60€) based on a marvelous and complete license than warhammer 40k, i expect to have more content than in the previous one.
    here you have less armies (only 3 choices), less units (take à look at the eldars, where are the guardians? or the spacemarine motocycles for exemple).

    -it's suppose to be an rts game, which mean for me basically build a base and an army.
    here you have 5-6 buildings available depending on the army you play and which are mostly the same in each army, so much for diversity...

    there are probably more defaults i don't think about right know but it's enough for saying i'm really disapointed about this game and it's not worth it the expensive price of 60 €    … Expand
  22. Ondora
    May 10, 2017
    1
    How did the developers manage to ruin a follow up to such a great franchise.
    Dawn of war had quite big armies and variety of units/abilities/heroes and fun multiplayer as well as campaign.
    Dawn of war II had smaller armies and and less variety of units but much more and stronger abilities which made it much more tactical. This wouldn't have been possible to play with big armies like in    How did the developers manage to ruin a follow up to such a great franchise.
    Dawn of war had quite big armies and variety of units/abilities/heroes and fun multiplayer as well as campaign.
    Dawn of war II had smaller armies and and less variety of units but much more and stronger abilities which made it much more tactical. This wouldn't have been possible to play with big armies like in DoW but was also as much fun in a quite different way. Also the Last stand mode was fun big times.

    THIS is just terrible. It tries to bring big armies like in Dow but units got even blunter than in DoW(less abilities, no equipable weapons, no progress for your units)
    No buildable defensive structures. Neither Moral nor suppression system. The graphic totally switched the direction, now it became catoonish(terrible for a universe that tries to be serious). The animation of movement looks silly, which leads to an essencial part of DoW franchise:
    They removed the executions! With a terrible argument of how they couldn't balance the "make a unit take damage, or not take damage while it executes another" their lazy asses just removed them completly. The campaign of DoW II was better though it was boring as watching tar drip.
    There are only 3 factions with not enough variety to make them interesting.
    Actually considering that you could give most units on average 3 upgrades/weapons, even that had more variety.
    Some argue that the workshop appendex could improve the game through gamers over time, like skyrim was improven through mods by players BUT IT'S NOT THE JOB OF THE PLAYERS TO MAKE THE GAME PLAYABLE IF THE DEVELOPERS GET PAYED.
    I just hope that someday a miracle happens and somebody takes this over and forges DoW IV as good as ther first two. This game here is pure ****    … Expand
  23. Shawsy94
    Jun 7, 2017
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This was, honestly, an utterly pathetic attempt. Gameplay is over simplistic, the devs have a horrendous disregard for the fluff (terminators can't do backflips) and the campaign is dull and unimaginative. Not to mention the fact that we only get three races to play with a hint at a fourth in the end cutscene. This from a setting that has over a dozen different factions is simply not acceptable. Sadly this has fallen into the same trap that EA did with battlefront. Relic could have easily made something incredible, and instead they made something tragic.… Expand
  24. Wanasko
    Aug 28, 2017
    1
    I'm all shocked this is a bastard false offspring not a true blood from the franchise. I'd rather play dow 1 and enjoy it rather than wasting my time. dawn of war chaos rising was ten timesbetter than this, really miss the spirit of the game
  25. Beaver
    Apr 27, 2017
    0
    They tried to make an esport and forgot to make it fun. Removed all character, added MOBA bases to destroy, and made the multiplayer pay to win. Oh don't want to play against the pay to win people?
    You can't level up your Elites unless you play multiplayer, no xp for co-op skirmish vs ai. Next time focus on making a fun game instead of being greedy.
  26. BigJimmy1234
    May 18, 2017
    0
    All they had to do was ideally blend the first and second DOWs together....but no, they made this garbage; it's not an RTS but a very poor MOBA with graphics worse than DOW2. I have hundreds of hours in the other DOWs yet I would not play this game even if it was free.
  27. dopehat
    Apr 30, 2017
    0
    So disappointed about this game. Reviewers / game critics going "This brings the best of DoW1 and DoW2" - What friggin' game did they play? I'd say they are bought.
  28. Gasperitis
    May 9, 2017
    0
    I was massively disappointed. I played the multiplayer beta and then requested a refund on my preorder.

    I doesn't feel like a Relic RTS. Everything was a step backwards. I have played RTS since Command And Conquer. I have played DOW 1 and 2. I have also enjoyed the Company of Heroes franchise. This was the perfect storm of things I don't like about RTS. There is only 1 way to win,    I was massively disappointed. I played the multiplayer beta and then requested a refund on my preorder.

    I doesn't feel like a Relic RTS. Everything was a step backwards. I have played RTS since Command And Conquer. I have played DOW 1 and 2. I have also enjoyed the Company of Heroes franchise. This was the perfect storm of things I don't like about RTS. There is only 1 way to win, you are clearly channeled into choke points. You have god like elites. Blob on blob combat.

    Other gamers have covered these same points more eloquently than I have.    … Expand
  29. LorrX
    May 10, 2017
    0
    This game is like a half finished Star Craft mod, that just before the dev's quit working on it decided to make it a MOBA. All the things that made Company of Heroes and Dawn of War awesome and unique aren't there.

    Units have no persistence, there's no per unit retreat function only a mass callback. Not that it matters because the combat is spamming unit blobs and micromanaging hero's.    This game is like a half finished Star Craft mod, that just before the dev's quit working on it decided to make it a MOBA. All the things that made Company of Heroes and Dawn of War awesome and unique aren't there.

    Units have no persistence, there's no per unit retreat function only a mass callback. Not that it matters because the combat is spamming unit blobs and micromanaging hero's.

    There is no tactical use of terrain, no cover mechanics to speak of, no destructible buildings like in CoH. Just some barricades, that seemingly got tossed in as an aside. The maps, all 8 of them (as of this writing) are flat non interactive clearly divided into MOBA style lanes, which if the game had interesting hero mechanics like say DoW II would be serviceable....but it doesn't so they serve to highlight the lack of gameplay in both depth and variety.

    The camera is awful, if your going to have mass blobby combat at least let us see the action. Instead we get a tiny keyhole camera view. You'll never see anything like the cut scenes except during a cut scene.

    The art direction is equally bad, it looks like it should be for another game not a DoW. Everything is shiny and neon like an unflattering combination of Star Craft and Tron.

    No base building, it doesn't even have the ability to build defenses like in CoH (listening posts not withstanding), no mine fields, no emplacements except on points, just shallow and bland pop out your 6 or so buildings as quick as you can and done.

    DoW III doesn't feel like a finished game or much of a game at all, the mechanics are unfinished and shallow, there's no direction to the game, the animations are bad, and a decided lack of depth on the whole process. While I appreciate the thought, you don't just make a half finished clone of Star Craft pump out a few League of Legends inspired maps, and instantly get e-sports success, you have to make a good game first something Relic forgot to do while chasing that MOBA money.    … Expand
  30. Styke
    Aug 3, 2017
    0
    There's not a single redeemable factor in the game, and this is from one of the biggest fans of Relic and all of their games - I have signed copies of Homeworld and Company of Heroes. DOW3 is simply a cash-grab at the pre-teen market and shameless in it's simplicity.
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Awards & Rankings

23
#23 Most Discussed PC Game of 2017
29
#29 Most Shared PC Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 76 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 55 out of 76
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 76
  3. Negative: 0 out of 76
  1. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jul 5, 2017
    60
    The new Warhammer is a classic strategy in core, but simplified to MOBA elements. It combines the gameplay of the first Dawn of War with the latter, and it certainly works nice. [Issue#275]
  2. GameOver.gr
    Jun 30, 2017
    65
    DOW 3 is trying very hard to satisfy many target groups -RTS players, online competitors, mobs fans- but in the end it fails to deliver something memorable.
    Read full review
  3. games(TM)
    Jun 23, 2017
    80
    The games that play out as intended - courtesy of the twists that Relic has brought into the franchise this time around - well, those will stay in your mind as some of the most intense RTS games you'll ever have. [Issue#188, p.74]
See all critic reviews »