Warhammer 40,000 Regicide is a Chess Strategy game developed by Hammerfall based on Games Workshop's tabletop game Warhammer 40,000.
This game provides examples of the following:
- Chess Motifs: Space Marine and Ork units have chess motifs.
- For the Space Marines
- Captain = King
- Librarian = Queen
- Devastator Marine = Bishop
- Assault Marine = Knight
- Terminator = Rook
- Tactical Marine = Pawn
- For the Orks
- Warboss = King
- Weird Boy = Queen
- Loota = Bishop
- Storm Boy = Knight
- Mega Nob = Rook
- Shoota Boy = Pawn
- For the Space Marines
- Curb-Stomp Battle: What happens between pieces if one is taken out the normal chess way of another moving into place-a fight happens between them, and the character on the receiving end, at most, manages to knock the taking piece's weapon away for a second before getting killed.
- Cliffhanger: The game ends with the Warboss killed and his army defeated, but Baldessar explains that the Eldar are at large and that their fight is far from over.
- Darker and Edgier: This is the 40K version of chess, it is to be expected. And if to emphasize the fact, the teaser trailer had a torn battlefield littered with broken chess pieces whilst Space Marines fire their Bolters at unknown targets (One of them even smashes a Knight piece underfoot).
- Defictionalization/Mythology Gag:
- The game is based on an actual in-universe game "Regicide", which is the Imperium's equivalent of chess and mentioned in various 40K media, such as the Ciaphas Cain novels.
- One of the missions has a squad of assault marines facing against Orks, with the Blood Angels Captain Dracomedes (Voiced by Brian Dobson) shouting "Strike from the skies Brothers !". This line seems to be a homage from the Dawn of War 2 intro, in which a Blood Ravens Captain says the same line (Also voiced by Brian Dobson !).
- Hearing Voices: The opening cinematic has an Imperial recording a video log and claiming that he is hearing "some kind of voice or whisper".
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Librarian Baldessar is this to Captain Dracomedes. His cool-headedness and psychic abilities help the Blood Angels in planning and executing their battles against the Orks, and those qualities are all that save Captain Dracomedes from the Eldar-induced bloodlust that led him to turn against his own. Given the effectiveness of the Queen piece in chess, Baldessar's competency relative to his superior is arguably also a case of Gameplay and Story Integration.
- Meaningful Name: It is called regicide because the primary objective of the game is to kill the "King".
- Motion Capture: Some of the animation (particularly Space Marines) will be done through motion capturing.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The bloodthirsty Captain Dracomedes and his trusty Librarian Baldessar in the campaign mode fit this to a T, right down to their armors' colors.
- Shout-Out: Multiple lines of dialogue are taken directly from the Dawn of War series. In addition to Captain Dracomedes' repetition of the "Strike from the sky, brothers!" line from the Dawn of War 2 intro, Librarian Baldessar puts select quotations from Indrick Boreale's infamous pre-battle speech
to effective use, as when taking an enemy piece, he will sometimes say "The enemy will taste death and defeat. Let it be his last meal!", and "Overwhelm them, and leave none alive!". Needless to say there is much less Narm in his delivery, especially when it is said alongside a brutal kill animation. - Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration: Librarian Baldessar is the Hyper-Competent Sidekick of the bloodthirsty Captain Dracomedes, and the story aligns well with their roles in the game of Chess: the Queen (Baldessar) is the most powerful piece the player can use to defend the King (Dracomedes).
- Trailers Always Lie: The first trailer gave people the impression the game was some Dark RPG until the second trailer revealed the game was actually a chess game.
