"If someone asked me about my favourite intellectual properties I’m positive Warhammer 40K would be one of the top three. My obsession with this universe goes into the early days of my gaming career, when Dark Crusade was the first RTS I really got into on PC – this made me look into the universe of Warhammer and read up on lore. In an instant, I was sold. It’s not strange, then, that I as well as many others was extremely hyped about the possibility of having an MMO set in this fantastical plane of existence. However, life happened and the game eventually fell into obscurity even before release, at least partially due to the fall of THQ a couple of years back. Lately, however, Behavior Interactive, the developers of Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade, jumped back into the spotlight with new information regarding everybody’s favourite unreleased MMO – it shifted to Unreal Engine 4."
Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade has moved into the realms of Free-to-play. The move is not all that surprising given the game’s struggled to truly establish itself as a powerhouse in the multiplayer space.
Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade has a long history of changes, both staff and development wise. There’s a whole different subject to cover in how Eternal Crusade was originally pitched through crowd funding. Promises may have been broken, the product may have been changed, but there’s still plenty to talk about.
Is anyone surprised anymore when it comes to Games Workshop IPs? Every single game that has the Warhammer tag comes with a justifiable amount of skepticism. There are certainly titles that do stand up and are positive additions to the franchise (Warhammer: Total War, Dawn of War, etc.), but there are countless others that fall well below expectations.
The one positive I will give to Eternal Crusade is that it isn't a terrible game. It's okay. It has it's problems, but it can also be fun. Given the development, delays and everything else surrounding Eternal Crusade, I don't see how anyone could be surprised by this though.
"Unfinished" is a word you will find often associated with Eternal Crusade. Despite a lengthy development, the Warhammer 40,000 shooter has been released in a questionable condition, and there is something to be said for a few key technical failings of the game. More than a few reviews on Steam are also calling it the "No Man's Sky of Warhammer 40,000" thanks to the massive changes it underwent during development, shifting away from Planetside scale combat to a much more limited battlefield.