Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader reveals first look at gameplay at the PC Gaming Show

A new trailer for the upcoming RPG Warhammer 40,000 RPG Rogue Trader made an appearance during today's PC Gaming Show, showcasing the "unique and powerful servants of the Imperium" who seek out new worlds and new servants, stamp out Heresy, and bring the Emperor's light to the darkest reaches of space.

Rogue Trader is being developed by Owlcat Games, the studio behind the isometric fantasy RPGs Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, and that heritage shows: The gameplay in the video appears more action-oriented than in the those previous games, but Warhammer 40,000 is literally the franchise that coined the phrase, "There is only war," so that probably to be expected.

Still, like those games, Rogue Trader is putting a focus on NPC companions: Nobody new turns up in this video, but we've previously been introduced to Abelard the Seneschal, Idira Tlass the unsanctioned psyker, Cassia Orsellion the navigator, and Pasqal Haneumann, Magos Explorator, a cyborg tech-priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus, which may be the most concentrated Warhammer character class I've ever seen.

Choices will clearly have consequences, too, and I'm not just talking about who you want to romance or whether to be nice or nasty to an NPC: "It is the Rogue Trader's duty to navigate through this dangerous unknown, for they have the power to feed the Emperor's flame, or to plunge millions of worlds into darkness." No pressure!

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is coming to Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store, and you can preorder it now through the official website at roguetrader.owlcat.games.

Andy Chalk

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.