Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy gets new detailed screenshots ahead of Alpha release

While the gameplay setup looks similar to Rogue Trader, we've already spotted some key differences.

Published 2025-12-10

Owlcat Games has shown off a bunch of new screenshots from Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy. Taking us away from the fancy balls and luxurious lifestyle of a Rogue Trader, Dark Heresy puts us on a dirtier, more dangerous path as an Acolyte of the Inquisition. However, it seems from these new screenshots that despite major story changes, a lot of the core gameplay looks like that of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader.

The visuals get an upgrade, which is something you immediately notice looking at the screenshots below. Some models look to be reused, such as the Rustwalker enemies, but considering Rogue Trader is just recently two years old, it makes sense we'd see some familiar stuff. There are also some icons of abilities that look the same, implying we might be able to pick our favourite archetypes from the last tactical RPG.

Elsewhere, there's a lot of new. Character portraits have got a glow up, and even from stills we can see character models and visuals have got an overall improvement. We can now use verticality a lot more in the turn-based combat, too, by the looks of things. There's the investigations system, too, which allows us to play more of a detective role in Dark Heresy.

Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy's Alpha testing begins on the 16th of December. Players can join by becoming a founder on the Owlcat's website here. Right now, we don't have any further information about a release date.

Back