''Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online'' was a
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
to be based on
Games Workshop
Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are ''Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and ''Warhammer 40,000''.
Founded in 1975 by John Peake (gam ...
's ''
Warhammer 40,000
''Warhammer 40,000'' is a miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop. It is the most popular miniature wargame in the world, and is particularly popular in the United Kingdom. The first edition of the rulebook was published in September 1987, ...
'' setting. It was under development by
Vigil Games until
THQ
THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...
's closure.
Gameplay
The game was to feature relatively in-depth fire-fights with player-formed squads as well as cover and flanking mechanics.
["Actual WH40K MMO details here"]
"Computer and Video Games
''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...
", 2008-04-08. Retrieved on 2008-06-29 However, being true to the setting, war and battles would have been a big feature of ''Warhammer 40,000 Online'' and the developer
Vigil Games were promising to deliver battlegrounds of epic proportions.
[" Warhammer 40,000 Online"]
"GamesRadar
''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and '' Computer ...
", 2008-05-07. Retrieved on 2008-06-29 Controllable vehicles would have been a key aspect to the game; the developers have said that they would have been multifunctional and that some were able to sport multiple pilots.
[
The game would have been set in the 41st millennium, well after the Horus Heresy, and all races important to that period in the setting would have been represented, although only one playable race had been announced so far: the Imperium of Man.]["New WAR40K trailer introduces first playable race"]
" Massively", 2010-08-20. Retrieved on 2008-08-22 Details about characters were largely unknown, but it was said that there would be no non-combat classes in the game as this would not fit properly with the background. Players would be able to customize their characters visual appearance with ranged and melee weapons, armor, books, scrolls and chains.[
Although war and battlefields would have been a large part of ''Dark Millennium'' the scope of the game would have included more of the setting than that; Vigil Games’ General Manager ]David Adams David Adams Musical Theatre Performer
Starlight Express, Avenue Q, Les Miserables,
Government officials
* David S. Adams (State Department) (born 1961), Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs
* David Adams (Labour politician) ( ...
mentions being able to visit "cities (of all scales, types and sizes), exotic alien temples, Chaos shrines, deserted battlefields, mysterious ruins, ancient structures, drifting hulks in space, etc..." and that they would have been populated with all manners of non-player characters.[
]
Development
Originally announced in March 2007, further information was released as well as a teaser trailer at E3 2010. Originally planned to be a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Vigil Games announced that they would be dropping the MMO components of the game in order to focus on a single-player game with a more traditional multiplayer experience.
On December 19, 2012, the publisher THQ
THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...
, the owner of Vigil Games, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
, bringing ''Dark Millenniums fate into question. THQ's public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...
representatives announced that the MMO aspect of the game was ended in March 2012, but not definitively answering if the project as a whole was cancelled. It was later stated in an interview that ''Dark Millennium'' had been retooled into a co-operative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
game with the working title ''Inquisitor'', but that project too was eventually abandoned.
References
{{Games Workshop
Cancelled Windows games
THQ games
Dark Millenium
Windows games
Video games developed in the United States