Warhammer 40,000 gets its own MOBA with Dark Nexus Arena

By its nature, a brutal, endless future war contains a lot of possible gaming scenarios—but it still seems like there are a lot of Warhammer 40,000 games in development these days. You may also have noted that there are a lot of MOBAs kicking around too. And now, in one fell swoop, there are more of both, thanks to the upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Dark Nexus Arena.

It's actually a blend of the MOBA and twin-stick shooter genres, according to the announcement, in which teams of four players representing Space Marines, Orks, and Tau do battle across the city of Commorragh and the arenas of the Wych Cults. The website at DarkNexusArena.com currently lists Ork Stormboys, Assault Terminators, Scouts, and Fire Warriors as selectable "veterans," while the presence of numerous other faction logos—Adepta Sororitas, Chaos Space Marines, Eldar, Tyranids, and several others—suggest that many more will be added.

"We are hardcore MOBA players with a shared passion for the Warhammer 40,000 intellectual property here at Whitebox," Jonathan Falkowski, CEO of developer Whitebox Interactive, said in a statement, via Rock, Paper, Shotgun. "Our aim is to deliver a highly-polished experience that a player of any skill level can step into and find success and enjoyment."

An Early Access launch is planned for a bit later this year, and even though the game isn't actually available yet, Whitebox has put up a Dark Nexus Arena store offering limited edition bundles running from $25 to $250. Make of that what you will. A full release is expected to take place sometime in 2016.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.