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We’ve had no shortage of great Warhammer 40K games lately, but most aren’t exactly aimed at the casual crowd. Warhammer Survivors changes that, finally providing curious gamers with an easy entry point into the grim darkness of the 41st millennium.
Developed by Auroch Digital (in collaboration with Vampire Survivors’ Poncle), this new spin on the survivors-like roguelite subgenre mixes the sci-fi 40,000 setting with the pure fantasy Age of Sigmar universe. This means heroes and enemies from all over the Warhammer mythos meet together in a bite-sized game that anyone can figure out and enjoy in less than five minutes.
When you look at the alternatives, that’s a remarkable achievement for a franchise that’s notoriously hard (and often expensive) to get into.
Warhammer Survivors isn’t bogged down by dense lore, involved mechanics, or massive campaign playthroughs. It’s more of an “inspired by” effort that gives casuals a small taste of the series’ iconic characters — including Boltgun‘s Malum Caedo — and factions like the terrifying Tyranids, the raucous Orks, and the foul forces of Chaos.
All of 40K’s (and Age of Sigmar’s) recognizable elements are on display, but they serve more as flavoring sprinkled on top of Vampire Survivors’ successful formula.
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If you’re new to the Survivors-like subgenre, it’s a unique gaming experience. You battle an endless onslaught of enemies that slowly march towards you, with your character passively attacking automatically. You only need to move them around sprawling arenas and select level-up upgrades and items after collecting enough gems (skulls in this case).
The moment-to-moment gameplay is as simple as it can get outside of walking sims and interactive “experiences,” but there’s a deceiving depth to item synergies and how to correctly “build” characters to endure all the carnage.
Unlike Poncle’s original game, Warhammer Survivors struggles a bit to get going. The early hours are sluggish until you unlock certain meta upgrades, but its still got that Vampire Survivors magic at its core.
As far as “podcast/gym games” go, this is a perfect fit. There’s just enough going on to keep one’s brain engaged, but minimal inputs and a tight overarching design lead to a rhythm that’s easy to get into without using much brainpower. It’s oddly satisfying to weave through enemies and level up your firepower, watching a single Astra Militarum grunt grow into a full Lasgun-spamming, chainsword-wielding wrecking ball.
Achievement and unlock hunters will find enough to bite into here, too. It’s unclear if the devs will continue to add more Warhammer 40K and Age of Sigmar deep cuts to this game via DLCs and free updates, but those universes have daunting depths to explore. This really could become a gateway game for future 40K fans: by the time they realize they’re hooked, they’ll already have 2000 pts of space marines painted and ready to play.
As massive sci-fi and fantasy properties try to aggressively expand and absorb more and more fans, it’s easy to pander to already-converted diehards too much. And sure, we can’t wait for strategy heavyweights like Dawn of War 4 and Total War: WH40K either, but they’re hardly good recommendations for folks who don’t even know what a Space Marine is or why the robotic Necrons are so grumpy.
Warhammer Survivors won’t answer those questions beyond the surface-level iconography, but it’s fun enough to push those curious to dig deeper and embrace the same material in more mature video game genres… and maybe even pick up a few miniatures.
Warhammer Survivors is now available on PC (Steam & GOG), PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 1/2, and mobile (iOS & Android). It’s also playable on Game Pass.