The annual Warhammer Skulls event happened earlier today and it spawned a lot of announcements. Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Deathmaster is a 2D brawler starring a wretched skaven, XCOM-like Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters is getting a sequel, and—the announcement in most want of further context—Darktide is getting a cog boy.
And that’s not even all. A demo for Boltgun 2 dropped and apparently it’s sick (in a good way). You’d be forgiven for feeling a bit flummoxed by all the Warhammer happenings, which is why one of the most important announcements has gone somewhat unremarked upon.
Warhammer 40,000 Gladius – Relics of War is currently free-to-keep if you redeem it on Steam quick smart. I don’t know how long the offer lasts, but Epic Games Store, for example, isn’t giving it away willy-nilly so I don’t think it’s a permanent thing. Normally “free game” is a big deal.
Gladius is a 4X strategy game released in 2018. Upon release, PC Gamer’s Tom Senior wasn’t too impressed by it, awarding it 61 / 100. “A plodding and predictable 4X strategy game that’s relaxing in its own way, but rarely challenging,” he wrote. Still, other outlets rated it fairly highly: IGN wasn’t wowed by it but reckoned there was “a lot of action-saturated, tactically-driven fun to be had”. And our official Warhammer ranker wants to add that it was substantially improved after launch thanks to some patches and DLC.
Unwowed, unimpressed, sickened… what matters is that Gladius is currently free and you can make up your own mind risk-free. It’s the only 4X Warhammer game, so for that fact alone it’s worth a shot.
