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Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters will pit you against Nurgle’s corruption, XCOM style

The Grey Knights must battle a spaceborne plague as Nurgle's influence spreads across a solar system

A mutated Death Guard displays wings and a tentacle in Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters

We first caught wind of Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters during the Warhammer Skulls event this summer, and now we’ve finally got a proper look at the XCOM-style strategy game itself – specifically, the forces of Chaos you’ll be up against as the secretive Grey Knights chapter of the Space Marines.

A new video dev diary reveals that it’s good old Nurgle who’s popped his boil-covered head up again, this time in the Tyrtaeus sector. Nurgle’s spaceborne plague, the Bloom, has appeared in the system, and over the course of the game, its influence will spread to the planets there. It’s your job, as the Grey Knights, to fight back against its corrupting influence, and that means taking on all the pestilence, mutation, and corruption that’s spreading across each world.

Nurgle has some pretty intimidating foot soldiers at his bilious command, including the Death Guard – a traitor legion of Space Marines who have accepted Nurgle’s ‘gifts’ and become both immune to all pain and injury and incredibly stinky in the process. Along with Nurgle’s other minions, the Death Guard carry corrupted seeds that spread the plague to new worlds.

Here’s the diary in full:

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The developers at Frontier Foundry and Complex Games also provide a peek at your primary antagonist in Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters. It looks to be Mortarion, a Daemon Primarch of Nurgle, who flies into battle on a pair of rotting, leathery wings swinging a terrifying warp-empowered scythe. He’s got an extensive entry on the Warhammer 40K fandom site, as well as one of the coolest-looking miniatures I’ve ever seen – and the peek we get of him in the video above looks like it’s sticking closely to the original Games Workshop design.

It looks as though Daemonhunters will feature a highly dynamic campaign, with enemies and challenges changing depending on which of Nurgle’s plagues have infected a planet, and for how long it’s been active. That means you’ll need to choose between swift interdictory action and beefing your troops up for tougher combat challenges: upgrade your ship to respond quickly, or upgrade your soldiers to be able to withstand more punishment and dish out more pain.

Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters is due for release next year, and it’ll be available on both Steam and the Epic Games Store.