The announcement that Vigil Games is to take the reins of an MMORPG project based on the Warhammer 40,000 license is one that offers both cause for excitement and concern. The studio – headed up by comic book artist and creative director Joe Madureira – is in many ways the right choice for the license. For instance, the chunky, muscular and detailed art delivered by Vigil in Darksiders is a perfect fit for the thick armour of the Ultramarines or the crescent arcs of the elf-like Eldar’s headwear. “We have a house style at Vigil, there’s a way we want games to look,” art director John Mueller tells us. “We want them to look like art, not like photoreal duplications. Joe’s style really applies to the IP.”

Wuuuaaagh!

So far, so good. The cause for concern? Vigil has released but one game thus far – an action-adventure. Where’s the expertise required to sculpt an experience as huge and expansive as an MMO, a genre that’s notoriously difficult to break into thanks to the might of Blizzard? According to Mueller, we need not worry. “The MMO team was a new group at Vigil that’s been slowly assembled over the last few years,” he says. “We have experience from all around the industry, from Blizzard, to NCsoft, to Sony Online; you could pick any MMO and we’ve probably got someone who’s worked on it.”

How about Warhammer Online: The Age Of Reckoning? Mythic Entertainment released its MMO based on Games Workshop’s fantasy license in 2008; an excellent take on the genre that’s enjoyed a healthy and dedicated community fanbase over the past two years. According to Mueller there’s little relationship between Mythic’s game and Vigil’s – not just in terms of the setting and art style, but also on the fundamental level of gameplay. Given the weaponry, technology and races of the 40K universe – not to mention the important role vehicles play – Vigil decided that the back-and-forth trading of blows we’ve come to expect from the MMORPG just wouldn’t work. As such Dark Millennium is to be an altogether more action-based experience than any MMO we’ve played previous.

“We’re really doing a lot of things with vehicles and the heavy action-orientated combat,” says Mueller, and he’s not wrong. The E3 teaser sees Orks brandish intimidating blades in one hand and bolt guns in the other; Imperial Titans crush chainsword wielding Space Marines underfoot; various beasts fly Ork helicopters while armoured Imperium scorch across the terrain in attack bikes. And although the screen is encircled by a HUD of special attack icons, buffs and cooldown timers, the action in the centre looks like it’s been modelled off the run-and-gun action of Gears Of War. It’ll be interesting to see how Warcraft players weaned on the customary structure of PvP will respond to this explosive approach to the MMO model.

One tough S.O.B.

There’s very little concrete information available on Dark Millennium right now – the glimpse shown at E3 a reminder that the game exists rather than an all-out reveal. But Mueller is aware that gamers are excited. “People want to know a lot about what the combat classes are and the factions and all these kind of things. But we’re saving that for now. Soon, though…”

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