For the first time since the announcement, Creative Assembly is showing gameplay from Total War: Warhammer 40k and giving us a glimpse of the planets we’ll be waging war on.
Creative Assembly ended 2025 with a bang, unveiling not only Medieval 3 but alsoTotal War: Warhammer 40,000! After the studio already celebrated great success with Warhammer Fantasy,it is now venturing into the brutal sci-fi version of the universe.
However, battles and campaigns across an entire galaxy—where firearms are widespread—logically work a little differently than in the Middle Ages or in medieval fantasy. That’s why Warhammer 40kis set to become one of the most unusual Total War games ever.
The developers provided a preview of what this means in the recentlivestream on April 30. Among other things, this was the first timeextended “gameplay” footage of Warhammer 40k was shownand, most notably, it showcased how you’ll experience the planets and battlefields in the game.
An Entire Planet Under the Microscope
The Warhammer 40k campaign is structured quite differently than in the past. After all, here we can cover a vast galaxy with never-ending war. Each solar system is designed to function as its own campaign, though there are various variations. Within a solar system, howeverthe individual planets act as a sort of continentin the earlier Total War games.
In the stream, we were able tomarvel at one of these planets from every angle. It is actually possible to zoom from orbit all the way down to the planet’s surface. On top of that, the entire planet is truly at your disposal for conquest. In the stream, we saw the developers completely circle a Hive City planet and examine the individual continental plates and massive megacities on the surface. This is where you’ll move your army and engage enemies:
Depending on where you fight on the planet, the battlefield will change. It makes a difference whether you encounter the enemy just outside a metropolis, right in the middle of it, or completely outside in the wasteland.
Important to note: Planets can be dynamically customized. For example, this Hive Planet in your game doesn’t necessarily have to consist primarily of wasteland; it can also be a mix of Hive Ice, Hive Desert, or Hive Temperate.
Planetary Battlefields
In addition to a look at the planets, there was also an extensive camera fly-through of several Warhammer 40k battlefields. The most striking thing about this: The battlefields are really, really huge! In the stream, a 20-unit army is practically lost in the vast expanse of a map.
So it’s safe to assume that battles here will take place over long distances and involve truly massive armies. Later, we see the Hive City map again—which was already featured in the first trailer—and get a better sense of just how vast and winding the terrain is.
The stream also emphasized once again that in Warhammer 40k, you can destroy much more than before. We didn’t get to see any of this, but according to the developers, the weapons have significant destructive potential.For example, you can supposedly blow a forest that’s blocking your view completely off the map.
Although Creative Assembly says there are many battle maps in the game, a modular design is intended to further increase variety and do justice to the scale of a galaxy. That’s why all battle maps can be dynamically adapted depending on the planet’s biome. All the maps shown could just as easily exist in a different biome.
Additionally, there appears to be more variation in where an army can appear on the maps. Every side of the battlefield is a potential entry point, so you’ll experience the map from different angles, at least at the start.
However, when considering the scenes shown and the promises made, keep in mind that Warhammer 40k is still in development and will likely remain so for a while—even if development is progressing well. Therefore, quite a bit could still change before release.
