Owlcat Games’ Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is one of the best CRPGs in modern memory, and it’s just released on Nintendo Switch 2. While that game is making its debut on Nintendo’s new platform, PC players are soon to be treated to an all-new Warhammer 40,000 experience with Dark Heresy.
Based on the tabletop RPG of the same name, Owlcat’s Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy is set to release in Alpha on December 16, 2025. But where Rogue Trader saw players dive through the filth of the 40K universe from the perspective of near-royalty, Dark Heresy has players sticking to the shadows in a much darker story.
Speaking to FRVR ahead of the release of the new Rogue Trader Switch 2 port, Owlcat Games brand manager Anton Emelyanov explained that “Dark Heresy delivers a very different kind of 40K experience from Rogue Trader.”
“While Rogue Trader places the player at the helm of a voidship with wealth and influence, Dark Heresy moves to the opposite end of the spectrum,” Emelyanov said, teasing that the new game’s adventure through the Calixis Sector has a “much more personal scale” than the system-jumping tale of Owlcat’s prior game.
Rogue Trader is also a very grand experience with massive ship-based combat offering a secondary layer to the game that Dark Heresy avoids. Instead, Owlcat is aiming for a smaller scale with denser quality, expanding on the studio’s penchant for branching outcomes.
“Despite being smaller in scale, Dark Heresy is actually broader in narrative variety,” the developer continued. “The heart of Calixis is filled with political decay and rotting secrets. It allows us to tell more investigative and morally complex stories.”
Dark Heresy will also follow the usual trend of Owlcat releases with a large amount of content and improvements added post-launch as fans help sway the direction of the game. Emelyanov explains that this helps the team to “respond to real player behaviour”, expanding features and content in the ways that players actually want.
“This experience allows us to aim for smoother launches for other games we are developing,” they said. “Our post- launch support also isn’t just about fixes: over time, we’ve been able to add entirely new stories and content that weren’t part of the original plan, as a way of acknowledging the enthusiasm and support of our audience.”
While Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy launches into Alpha later this month, the game’s full release date has not been confirmed at the time of publication.
For more from our chat with Owlcat, read about the studio’s thoughts on the massive success of Baldur’s Gate 3, and what it means for the future of the CRPG genre.
