Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War was the introduction to Warhammer for many people when it was originally released on PC in 2004. Now, twenty-one years later, Dawn of War will be dragging both veterans and newcomers back into the Grimdark Future with the Definitive Edition of the game, which launches this week on 14th August.

Definitive Edition // Dawn of War

The original Dawn of War followed the Blood Ravens Space Marines Chapter, now a fan favourite, as they fought on the wartorn world of Tartarus. The game featured plenty of mechanics that real-time strategy (RTS) fans were familiar with, namely base building and controlling the map as you grew and upgraded your army. However, it also introduced plenty of new and innovative elements, including making each of the factions vastly unique in their mechanics, as well as bringing cinematic moments to the screen with the famous sync kill and more (I'll never get tired of a hero carving their way through their enemies!).

Blood Ravens vs Orks // Dawn of War

The Definitive Edition goes beyond just the core game. You will also find all of the expansions for the original Dawn of War, including Winter Assault, which introduced the Imperial Guard into the mix, plus Dark Crusade, where you also met the fearsome Tau and Necrons and Soulstorm, which featured the Sisters of Battle.

In total, you'll get nine factions to play. Space Marines, Orks, Eldar, Chaos, Imperial Guard, Tau, Necrons, Dark Eldar and Sisters of Battle. Drop these into the intense story campaign missions of the original games or the awesome non-linear campaigns that you'll find in Dark Crusade and Soulstorm.

Ork Waaagh! // Dawn of War

The new Definitive Edition also features plenty of upgrades to the look and feel of the game. It will now work on modern systems in 4K with widescreen viewing, an improved HUD layout and lots of additional tinkering behind the scenes. The improved draw distance should make the game feel more cinematic and every.single.one of the units has been given a high resolution update.

The game also features updated pathfinder and unit management to suit modern RTS gaming, so it should all run much smoother than before, giving you a chance to dive in and get the best Dawn of War experience yet. The game also supports modding, which is ace to see and should mean we'll see plenty more Dawn of War content in the future.

If you'd like to know more about the game and see the Definitive Edition in action, you can check out some of the team's videos below...

Updating a Classic // Dawn of War: Definitive Edition

Gameplay Commentary // Dawn of War: Definitive Edition

Watching these videos has really sparked the nostalgia in me and I might have to go and pre-order this as soon as I've finished writing this article. I have such fond memories of playing this game with my brother, fighting through the campaign and getting excited about the expansions as and when they came out.

Necron Lord // Dawn of War

If you want to jump right into playing the game in multiplayer and living out those LAN events of your youth, the Definitive Edition of Dawn of War also features a full two-to-eight player multiplayer set-up, which allows you to fight games in teams or as part of a free-for-all where anything goes. There are loads of modes to choose from and a bunch of maps taken from the core Dawn of War game and the various expansions.

Sisters of Battle Vs Necrons // Dawn of War

Even with the more modern games in the Dawn of War franchise being fun to play, there's something great about the classic Dawn of War experience that resonates with people. As mentioned above, this was probably the first exposure to Warhammer 40,000 for a lot of people and I think a lot of wallets have horror stories of the miniatures that were snapped up after people enjoyed the experience on PC.

Considering the love that has been seen online for the Definitive Edition of Dawn of War, I would imagine that Relic has something cooking up in the background for the future of the series. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a new Dawn of War announced sometime this year.

Will you be firing up your PC, downloading Dawn of War: Definitive Edition and jumping back in?