Warhammer Skulls 2024: The biggest announcements

Warhammer Skulls is an annual convention that focuses on announcements and updates for the various video games under the Warhammer umbrella. There’s a surprising variety of video games in this catalog, especially since Warhammer refers to both the fantasy and sci-fi settings of Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Age of Sigmar, and Warhammer 40K. While some fun Easter eggs and crossovers were announced, the event also featured some pretty hefty announcements. Here are the five biggest news stories out of this year’s Warhammer Skulls.

Rogue Trader is getting a new expansion

Rogue Trader is a massive CRPG, and while it had its fair share of bugs and balance issues, developer Owlcat Games has spent the time since launch ironing those wrinkles out. A new 15-hour campaign is on the way, integrated with the main story. The expansion, called Void Shadows, largely takes place on the the von Valancius war-ship.

Players can meet (and possibly romance) Death Cult assassin Kibellah, coordinate with new high-level officers, build a new hangar for void combat, and uncover a xenos conspiracy aboard their ship. Owlcat also announced that Rogue Trader will now be supported on Steam Deck, which makes playing through this massive game much easier — or much more mobile.

Mechanicus 2 announced

Image: Bulwark Studios/Kasedo Games

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus is a solid, if somewhat underappreciated XCOM-style strategy game. Today, Kasedo Games and Bulwark studios announced that there will be a sequel, Mechanicus 2, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X. While the first game only let players take the role of the tech priests of the machine cult known as the Adeptus Mechanicus, the sequel allows players to take the side of the ancient machines known as Necrons.

Mechanicus 2 will have multiple campaigns, taking place around the awakening of a Necron tomb world. The player’s choices determine the ultimate outcome of the war, with Black Library writer Ben Counter helming the narrative. While this sequel was unexpected, it’s certainly a pleasant surprise.

Darktide and Vermintide 2 are both getting updates

Image: Fatshark

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide takes place in the bowels of a hive city, pitting rejects pulled straight from jail against the endless tides of the disease god’s minions. The next update will arrive on June 25, and it’s called Secrets of the Machine God. The update includes new weapons and a new mission, where players explore an abandoned Mechanicus research station.

The update will also include a new event called Hestia’s Decollation Crusade. Players will be asked to eliminate the generals commanding swarms of heretics, in exchange for in-game currencies.

For those who prefer squashing rats in a fantasy setting, Fatshark’s other co-op horde shooter game is also getting an update. Vermintide 2 will receive a quality-of-life update with lots of changes: a new loadout system, changes to Chaos Wastes and the Winds of Magic, weekly expeditions, updates to the Chest of Trials, 30 new boons, and more.

Vermintide 2 is also launching an in-game event that will run from May 23 to June 9, during which players can earn time-limited rewards. Fatshark is debuting the first playable boss on test servers, which are charmingly called Returning Alpha Test — or RAT. Players who are interested in trying out the Bile Troll boss fight can join those test servers between May 30 and June 9.

Space Marine 2 gets multiplayer-focused trailer

Image: Saber Interactive / Focus Entertainment

Focus Entertainment and Saber Interactive shared a new trailer showing off the multiplayer modes available in Space Marine 2, which is currently set to be released on Sept. 9. Players can tackle the campaign as a team in the three-player co-op mode, allowing their friends to take the role of Titus’ supplementary Ultramarines.

The PvP game mode from the first Space Marine is set to return as well, with three 6v6 game types called Annihilation, Seize Ground, and Capture and Control. The co-op elements of the game will have classes; for instance, the stealthy Sniper has a camo cloak, whereas the tanky Bulwark uses a combat shield on the front lines. There are also some fun customization options, allowing players to make their own custom chapter of Space Marines.

Boltgun gets an expansion

Image: Auroch Digital/Focus Entertainment

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a charming, bloody boomer shooter that I enjoyed more than I expected, and Auroch Digital has now revealed a new expansion to the game. Forges of Corruption includes new environments, enemies, and weapons. Players can pick up a new edition of Boltgun that includes the Forges of Corruption content, or they can buy the DLC separately. Forges of Corruption will launch on June 18, along with a free horde mode update, a navigation guide to prevent players from getting lost, and various bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements.