Warhammer: Chaosbane brings action-RPG combat to the Warhammer Fantasy universe

The Games Workshop licensing machine continues to grind inexorably forward with today's announcement of Warhammer: Chaosbane, a new isometric action-RPG set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. The new game will be set in the Old World, "a dark and bloody continent" comprised primarily of human nations, that has suffered numerous invasions over the years by the greenskins, skaven, undead, and others.

(A quick crash course: Games Workshop maintains two Warhammer settings, Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000. They are thematically similar—grimdark war as far as the eye can see—but otherwise distinct. The bulk of the licensed Warhammer games are set in the 40K universe, although some of the best of them, including Vermintide and Total War: Warhammer, are Fantasy universe games; Chaosbane will be the first action-RPG set in Warhammer Fantasy.)

Specifics are light, but players "will be plunged into the middle of Old World history," and will explore "iconic locations" include the cursed city of Praag and Nuln, the old capital of the Empire, as a human, high elf, wood elf, or dwarf. It's being developed by Eko Software, which previously created the How to Survive zombie survival ARPGs.

The two screens released with the announcement look like very standard action-RPG fare, and without the logos could have been lifted from just about any game in the genre. That's not especially inspiring, but hopefully Eko will find a way to make it stand out from the crowd—or at the very least, do all the usual things really well. A release date has not been set.

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.