Whitebox Interactive pushes the Warhammer 40,000 franchise pushes the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), championing its upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Dark Nexus Arena game as the latest contender for the increasingly crowded genre.
Derived from Games Workshop's table top game that's based on war in a dystopian sci-fi universe, indie studio Whitebox Interactive, founded in 2014, is the first to use a Warhammer 40,000 license to translate the experience into a MOBA. Jonathan Falkowski, CEO of Whitebox Interactive, said the studio is filled with hardcore MOBA fans and expressed his enthusiasm for working with Games Workshop to launch Warhammer 40,000's first entry into the genre.
"We are hard-core MOBA players with a shared passion for the Warhammer 40,000 intellectual property here at Whitebox," says Falkowski. "Our aim is to deliver a highly-polished experience that a player of any skill level can step into and find success and enjoyment."
Using the MOBA standard of dividing players into teams consisting of heroes and minions, Dark Nexus Arena will draw its legendary characters from the ranks of the Space Marines, Tau and Orks factions. In later releases of the games, Whitebox Interactive will include champions from other factions such as the Sisters of Battle and Chaos Space Marines.
"Warhammer 40,000: Dark Nexus Arena demands real-time reflexes during battle to sidestep enemy fire and deliver killing blows," says Whitebox Interactive.
Gameplay will consist of four-player teams seeking kills and enemy souls, which feed the Dark Eldar's race's "soul thirst" and enables players to perform the executions that win the matches. Players can kit out their heroes with gear and spells abilities, while selecting other classes from the factions of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Warhammer 40,000 is expected to launch at some point in 2016, though Early Access will open up during the second quarter of 2015.
"Our vision is to adapt a never-before-seen piece of the Warhammer 40,000 universe to a videogame set against the brutal and bloody Dark Eldar Arenas," says Whitebox Interactive. "To that end we are calling on you, the community, to help us. Your feedback will drive our work towards game balance, bug fixes and development of the best Warhammer 40,000 multiplayer battle arena experience."
For fans of the Warhammer 40,000 universe who aren't already heavily invested in a DOTA 2 or are trained on the upcoming Heroes of the Storm, Dark Nexus Arena may be the MOBA experience they have been waiting on. Check out Warhammer 40,000: Dark Nexus Arena's teaser trailer shown and let us know if you plan on giving it a try:
