As you may remember from the base game of Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters (which you’ll need to own before you can start enjoying its mech-based antics), the Bloom is the main force of evil you’re fighting against with your squad of Grey Knights, and there’s a new Technophage strain of it to take down in the Duty Eternal expansion. Complex Games say this is the most challenging variant of the Bloom yet, and they’ll be remixing regular maps with new objectives, higher reinforcement numbers, tougher consequences if you fail, and all new Warp Surge conditions (which are the wonderfully chaotic little twists that change the battlefield every couple of turns as the Bloom spreads and grows stronger). Fortunately, you’ll also have a few more toys in your arsenal to help combat this higher threat, including what I’m calling Warhammer 40K’s equivalent of a Gundam: the Venerable Dreadnought. This hulking suit of armour will be a fifth playable member of your team during any Technophage Outbreak mission in the expansion, and can be customised with different weapons and loadouts just like your regular squad members. I mean, if you thought the Grey Knights were large, just look at the size of Dread boy down there. Properly enormous, that lad. You’ll also be able to recruit Techmarine Grey Knights as well, which is a new class of warrior for this expansion. They specialise in sending out Combat Servitor drones into the battlefield, but they can also repair and enhance your Venerable Dreadnought, making them a potent potential combo for those Technophage missions. The other big addition is the chance to recruit a second vessel to help your cause - the Gladius Frigate - who you’ll be able to send out on other missions you might not be able to reach in time with your own ship, the Baleful Edict. These encounters will resolve off-screen, say Complex Games, but will still have similar risks and rewards compared to doing the mission yourself. All in all, a very good excuse to pop back into the world of Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters from the looks of things, and I’ll hopefully be giving the expansion a go around launch day on December 6th to bring you some further thoughts on it. The base game is already one of the year’s best strategy games in my book, so I’m looking forward to seeing how its Dreadnought mech shakes things up. In the meantime, you can find out more on Steam and the Epic Games Store, where Duty Eternal will be available as a standalone purchase for £13 / $15, or as part of the new Castellan Champion Edition for £45 / $55, which bundles the base game and expansion together.
