Why is Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 going back to Kronus? We asked the real-time strategy game’s creative director to explain why

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 creative director Jan Theysen explains why the game revisits Kronus Theysen says King Art Games wanted to reintroduce Crusade Mode, which opened an opportunity to revisit the planet Crusade Mode was first introduced in the first Dawn of War game King Art Games has exp

<![CDATA[ <article> <ul><li><em><strong>Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4</strong></em><strong> creative director Jan Theysen explains why the game revisits Kronus</strong></li><li><strong>Theysen says King Art Games wanted to reintroduce Crusade Mode, which opened an opportunity to revisit the planet</strong></li><li><strong>Crusade Mode was first introduced in the first </strong><em><strong>Dawn of War</strong></em><strong> game</strong></li></ul><p>King Art Games has explained why <a href="https://www.techradar.com/gaming/dawn-of-war-4-preview-october-2026"><em>Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4</em></a> will revisit Kronus and how the return of Crusade Mode played a part in the decision.</p><p>"It's basically the idea that coming back or going back to a place that you visited before is fun," creative director Jan Theysen shared <a href="https://www.techradar.com/gaming/maybe-you-win-the-battle-but-lose-the-war-because-you-put-all-your-resources-into-one-battle-warhammer-40-000-dawn-of-war-4-creative-director-says-king-art-games-wanted-battles-to-take-a-while-so-borrowed-from-the-original-strategy-games-systems">with TechRadar Gaming</a> when asked what the team's driving force was for <em>Dawn of War 4</em> to revisit the planet.</p><p>"We also knew that we wanted to reintroduce the Crusade Mode, or the crusade-like planetary conquer-the-planet type of mode," he added.</p><p>Crusade Mode is a fan-favorite mode that had its origins in the first game's <em>Dark Crusade</em> expansion nearly 20 years ago, and King Art Games <a href="https://www.deepsilver.com/gb/games/dawn-of-war-iv/news/crusade-mode-returns-in-warhammer-40-000-dawn-of-iv" target="_blank">describes</a> it as <em>Dawn of War 4</em>'s "endless mode." </p><p>Players can replay the mode's extended campaigns over and over, featuring numerous territories spread across Kronus, and they’ll always play out differently each time, while also introducing extra gameplay variety to the base game.</p><p>"Somebody said, well, if we bring back the mode, wouldn't it be fun that it's on the same planet, right?" Theysen continued. "And you can revisit the territories and the stuff you remember from the first game, and we said, okay, why not? Great idea; it's on the right side of The Great Rift."</p><p><em>Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4</em> launches on PC on December 3, and Theysen has also <a href="https://www.techradar.com/gaming/could-warhammer-40-000-dawn-of-war-4-come-to-console-its-creative-director-says-rts-games-on-console-are-always-a-big-challenge-but-i-think-we-could-do-it-on-a-technical-level">suggested that the game could eventually come to console</a>. </p><p>The creative director also told TechRadar Gaming <a href="https://www.techradar.com/gaming/we-ended-up-with-four-really-big-campaigns-and-70-missions-its-insane-warhammer-40-000-dawn-of-war-4-creative-director-says-king-arts-ideas-snowballed-after-deciding-on-four-faction-campaigns-with-branching-stories">how it ended up with four separate faction campaigns</a> and that <a href="https://www.techradar.com/gaming/warhammer-40-000-dawn-of-war-4-creative-director-says-king-art-considered-adding-other-factions-to-the-game-like-death-guard-but-decided-on-adeptus-mechanicus-because-lore-wise-its-the-most-interesting-in-terms-of-gameplay">it considered adding other playable factions before deciding on Adeptus Mechanicus</a>.</p> </article> ]]>