Total War: Warhammer 40,000: Release Date, Factions, Gameplay and Everything We Know

Total War is finally going to the 41st millennium. Creative Assembly and SEGA are making Total War: Warhammer 40,000, and it's one of the most awaited strategy games on the way. Here's everything we know so far: factions, gameplay, platforms, the closed beta, and the big question, the release date.

Last updated October 24, 2026. This article will be updated as new details are announced.

The short version

• Developer: Creative Assembly (the studio behind the Total War series)
• Publisher: SEGA
• Platforms: PC (Steam), PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S
• Announced: December 2025, at The Game Awards
• Release: planned for 2027, exact date not announced yet
• Playable factions at launch: Space Marines, Astra Militarum, Orks and Aeldari

How it was announced

The game was revealed at The Game Awards in December 2025, with a trailer introduced by actor David Harbour (Stranger Things), a self-described Warhammer 40,000 superfan. Harbour will also play a character in the game, who hasn't been revealed yet. SEGA and Creative Assembly presented the announcement as the close of Total War's 25th anniversary celebrations.

Factions

Four factions are playable at launch:

• Space Marines, the Emperor's elite super-soldiers
• Astra Militarum, the Imperial Guard: huge armies of human soldiers, tanks and artillery
• Orks, loud, brutal and endlessly fond of fighting
• Aeldari, the ancient, fast and fragile space elves

Reports from the announcement also say Chaos Space Marines are planned as post-launch content. Fans will no doubt be hoping for Necrons, Tyranids and more after that, but nothing beyond these factions has been confirmed.

What the gameplay looks like

Like every Total War game, it mixes a turn-based campaign with huge real-time battles, but the 40K setting changes a lot.

• A galactic campaign: instead of one map, you expand across planets, upgrade your fleets and manage a war economy. Planets can even be bombarded from orbit before a battle.
• Ranged, cover-based battles: 40K armies fight mostly with guns, not swords. The first gameplay reveal showed Astra Militarum infantry, like Cadian Shock Troopers and Kasrkin, taking cover in ruins while Scout Sentinels tracked Ork movements and tanks set up ambushes. According to PC Gamer's coverage, shots are simulated as real projectiles, each with its own path and collisions.
• Destruction and big machines: previews mention destructible scenery and heavy units like Dreadnoughts and Razorback tanks, and the reveal trailer showed an Ork Gargant.
• A new engine: the game runs on Creative Assembly's new in-house engine, called Warcore.

Gameplay reveal and Gamescom

The first in-development battle gameplay was shown at the PC Gaming Show in June 2026: the Astra Militarum fighting Orks on the war-torn world of Armageddon, starting on the campaign map, then dropping into a full ground battle after an orbital bombardment.

At Gamescom in August 2026, journalists got their first hands-on time with an early build, covering a tutorial, the campaign and battle challenges. The first impressions were mostly positive. Game Informer played a Space Marine detachment against an Ork warband, and other outlets noted that Total War veterans will have quite a few new ideas to learn, because ranged warfare plays very differently from the fantasy games.

Is there a beta?

Yes. Closed beta registration opened alongside the June 2026 gameplay reveal. If you want a chance to play early, look for the beta sign-up on the official Total War channels. Only use official links, because popular betas attract fake "beta key" scams.

When is the release date?

Creative Assembly has said the game is planned for 2027; PC Gamer and Destructoid reported this from Gamescom 2026. There's no exact release date yet: the Steam page still says "To be announced," and the game can't be pre-ordered. Some fans point out that Warhammer 40,000 turns 40 in 2027, which would make a fitting launch year, but that's speculation.

Creative Assembly has also said it doesn't plan sequels this time. Instead, it wants to keep growing this one game as a "sandbox" for years, with Destructoid reporting plans for "10 or so years" of updates and new content.

You can already wishlist it on Steam, PlayStation and Xbox, which is the easiest way to get a notification when a date is announced.

My take

I've wanted this game for years, and so have a lot of strategy fans. Total War: Warhammer proved that Creative Assembly can handle huge fantasy armies; 40K is a different challenge, with guns, cover, tanks and whole planets to fight over. The early previews sound promising, but it's still in development, so I'm keeping my expectations sensible until we see a release date and more of the campaign. I'll update this article as soon as there's real news.