Warhammer 40,000: Storm of Vengeance beta hits Steam

In the year 40,000, our universe is ravaged by war. Bloody battles between humans and xenos rage on endlessly, entire planets are annihilated regularly, and Space Marines, more machine than human, know only death and war. Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 has just about the most epic, metal-album-cover fiction that ever existed, and it's a great source material for video games.

Warhammer 40,000: Storm of Vengeance 's beta, up now on Steam for $10, looks more like Plants vs. Zombies than anything else, which isn't quite epic as we hoped.

British developer Eutechnyx describes it as a “lane strategy game” set in a pivotal moment in Warhammer 40,000's universe. It tells the story of the conflict on planet Piscina IV and features two notable characters: Grand Master Belial and Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Thraka. Players will either defend the planet as the Dark Angel Space Marines or joyfully annihilate it with the Ork Waaagh!

One user review on Steam describes it—perhaps more honestly—as “Kinda like Plants Vs Zombies, but with Space Marines and Orkz, which is kinda weird when you look at the rest of the games in the franchise.” Indeed.

The beta includes more than 50 missions per faction, skill trees and abilities for each faction, and simultaneous cross platform multiplayer between Steam, iOS, and Android.