I’ve been back on Warhammer: Vermintide 2 recently and am having more fun than ever. But while roaming the streets of Ubersreik, or wandering the Skaven-infested fields, I couldn’t help but wonder: why aren’t there many Warhammer Fantasy games?
Warhammer Fantasy is a setting that could not be more perfectly suited for video games. It is as broad as it is deep, has an entire world with infinite pages of lore written (and more constantly added), and is, generally, one of the best fantasy settings overall. It is serious, gritty, and uncompromising, which are traits uncommon in modern fantasy that is, for my taste, way too optimistic.
What’s more, it takes significant inspiration from sword-and-sorcery and more traditional fantasy genres, those that predate Tolkienesque fantasy that is, as I’ve said, concerned a lot more with chasing genre tropes than doing anything of substance.
Both aesthetically and narratively, Warhammer distinguishes itself from most of its genre peers, incorporating elements of early Gunpowder times, the Renaissance, and generally satirizing our own world, which would, if done correctly, be yet another way for a great game to look critically at the history of mankind through the lens of a fantasy world.
Its themes, ranging from tales of heroism to nightmarish stories of genocide, war, famine, and suffering, are as rich as they come, allowing any potential developer to make a game based on any aspect of its world, or any location (all of which are, as I’ve said, super diverse and varied).
So how come we only really have Total War: Warhammer and Vermintide to speak of?
I won’t argue that Fantasy is more popular (or even at the same level, really) as 40K. The latter, being sci-fi, has always been the big brother, despite the former coming first. It appeals to more people, has a much more unhinged and vast lore, and is, overall, better written. But even in its case (and this could be a feature of its own), most games focus on a small semi-representative subset, i.e., the Space Marines, and rarely venture out to cover the rest of the infinitely large universe of 40K.
In the case of Fantasy, we have a Total War game, which, no matter how much it tried to weave narrative threads into it, can never truly encapsulate the world of Fantasy. It does help us sort of relive the grand battles and sieges, play as any faction, and experience the world to as much detail as this format can afford, but it is merely a bird’s eye view of the situation, and not a true exploration of what is one of the richest settings in the history of fantasy as a whole.
On the other hand, there’s Vermintide 2 which, by my account, does a much better job at that face-to-face immersion into the world of Fantasy. You get to visit recognizable locations, see the architecture, style, and way of life from up close, and even if everything is mucked to hell by the rats, you are given a chance to take The Empire in. What’s more, there are narratives tied to every map and level (and even character), which greatly improve the sense of immersion. But it’s still far from perfect.
Both of these games are observational. They take the setting, place us in it, but seldom give us much to do. One is a grand strategy title where the setting is quickly sidelined in favor of, well, strategizing, whereas the latter is a L4D-style game where gameplay is the main point, and the setting merely a means to an end.
Outside of these games, there hasn’t been an honest or recognizable attempt to make a Warhammer Fantasy title. Both of these sold well from what I could gather and continue to do so, especially through their DLC schemes. So my question remains: why haven’t we gotten a proper Warhammer Fantasy game (outside of a handful that, even at their best, do not take full advantage of the setting)?
Why isn’t there a singleplayer, narrative-driven game (or RPG) set in this tremendous universe? Hell, if Games Workshop wants us to go to Age of Sigmar, even that could be made to work. So much potential is there for the taking, so much lore and worldbuilding, and yet everyone keeps stumbling head over heels to pursue 40K, which has been oversaturated to the max.
I certainly hope this changes eventually, as I’m sick and tired of “the next game with Space Marines but this time it’s a different chapter,” given how much unused potential remains ripe for the taking in both Fantasy and 40K itself. And the former especially.
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