What are you up to this weekend? Uh-huh, oh really, great, that's really interesting. Wrong: you're actually playing all the Dawn of Wars. That's because they're free on Steam for this weekend, and cheap if you want to keep them beyond that.
I've just checked my Steam library, and I'm now (temporarily) the owner of Dawn of War, DoW: Dark Crusade, DoW: Soulstorm, DoW: Winter Assault, Dawn of War 2, DoW2: Chaos Rising, and DoW2: Retribution. (Also, a hundred or so indie games from bundles that I'd completely forgotten about.)
That's about standard for one of Steam's free weekends, but Sega has used the occasion to add some new content to both games. The original Dawn of War is receiving a new, official multiplayer map, while its sequel is offering up some extra gear. Here's a rundown from Sega of what's included:
"The Temple of Cyrene is a brand new, official multiplayer map we’re adding into the Dawn of War I rotation. This map will be playable in DoW I, as well as the Dark Crusade and Soulstorm expansions. The Temple of Cyrene sits on the blasted landscape of a world scoured clean by the Exterminatus of the Imperial Inquisition. Homeworld of Gabriel Angelos, Cyrene is now a ghost-world of ruined cities and ashen fields. Fight for supremacy amidst the remains of Cyrene’s once-mighty temples. Claim the three critical locations at the heart of the ruins or drive into enemy bases and deliver annihilation."
"In Dawn of War II, we’re giving away four free sets of Wargear; The Vanguard, Sniper, Sternguard, and Destroyer, to equip in the main campaign that were previously only available as pre-order DLC, or as rare loot drops. Now everyone will be able to equip items like the Veteran’s Grenades, Blade of Ulyus, Armor of the Destroyer, and many more to complete your sets!"
If you want to buy the games/expansions, they're all 75% off for the next few days.
We recently revisited the very first Dawn of War, in honour of its tenth anniversary. There might be a Dawn of War 3 in the works.
