Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® – Winter Assault

Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.

Very Positive · 88%Very Positive · 88%2007

The verdict

A tough, gimmick-heavy expansion with two campaigns and the Imperial Guard. Fans enjoy it, but newcomers and anyone wanting a relaxed campaign should skip it for Dark Crusade.

Great for

Dawn of War fans who want a hard, story-driven campaign and the Imperial Guard

Main risk

Brutally difficult, gimmicky and bugged campaign missions that can frustrate or block progress

What players love

Fun Imperial Guard faction

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews

“Love the campaign, the guard is super fun to play, the Emperor protects.”
Steam review · 31.9 h played ↗

“The new class is wonderful to play - squishy units in huge numbers, but tanks the size of a city that can overpower almost anything.”
Steam review · 11.1 h played ↗

“Imperial Guard is a fun change of pace.”
Steam review · 9.7 h played ↗

Strong campaign and story

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews

“Hands down best campaign in the Dawn of War series”
Steam review · 4.2 h played ↗

“Story is 10/10 gameplay is 8/10”
Steam review · 8 h played ↗

“A truly solid campaign. The hilarious bickering between Gorgutz and Crull alone is worth replaying the bad guys' campaign.”
Steam review · translated · 18.7 h played ↗

Dual Order/Disorder campaign with multiple endings

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews

“The dual campaign allows players to take the role of either Order or Chaos and fight on either side of the war taking place with a fully fleshed out story.”
Steam review · 12.7 h played ↗

“Campaign is where this expansion shines really. It has a unique two sided campaign with joining either order or disorder.”
Steam review · 11.7 h played ↗

“The DLC is simply great. A new race, campaigns for evil and good (with two endings each), awesome overall.”
Steam review · translated · 12 h played ↗

Challenging, rewarding difficulty

Mentioned in ~1 in 10 positive reviews

“Hard as nails compared to the base game, and the levels tend to be massive footslogs through hell for the Guard. Just as it should be!”
Steam review · 77.9 h played ↗

“The game is challenging and you may have to repeat some missions if you make some bad decisions in the beginning, but it is rewarding and fun.”
Steam review · 8.5 h played ↗

Classic Dawn of War gameplay and new units

Mentioned in ~1 in 10 positive reviews

“New units and their play style are all welcome and have use in the campaign.”
Steam review · 9.9 h played ↗

“There really isn't too much in Winter Assault that breaks from the formula of other Dawn of War games besides continuing a great story and fun gameplay”
Steam review · 20.6 h played ↗

Nostalgic classic with great voice acting and music

Mentioned in ~1 in 12 positive reviews

“I loved the winter themes and the imperial guard were awesome to play and god man the voice acting was so good!!”
Steam review · 41 h played ↗

“Oh, nostalgia. Playing this game every two years for almost 20 years.”
Steam review · 10.7 h played ↗

What players complain about

Brutal, unfair mission difficulty

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews

“you are so out matched, out numbered, and out gunned on each of the missions that it is beyond a struggle just to get by. It's not even fun.”
Steam review · 8.2 h played ↗

“the campaign in this one is incredibly difficult even on Normal for some reason, and many missions can go on for longer than an hour for me.”
Steam review · 15.1 h played ↗

“this is no longer difficulty, it's nonsense, considering you don't even have Astartes or decent vehicles, only the damn Guard.”
Steam review · translated · 31 h played ↗

Gimmicky, unclear missions and escort levels

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews

“My issue with the campaigns is that they are basically made of gimmicks.”
Steam review · 8 h played ↗

“I play to have fun, not to solve game designer's riddles!”
Steam review · 7 h played ↗

“an escort mission near the end of the Order campaign. Said escort is handled by a dumbass AI that get's stuck on their own units”
Steam review · 16.9 h played ↗

Campaign-breaking bugs and scripting errors

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews

“The game has several bugs, that make the campaign unplayable. They usually rear their ugly head as "The Fatal Scar Error - Excecution Paused"”
Steam review · 2.1 h played ↗

“First mission is bugged. Wiped out all the chaos and basically had 100% control of the map and the objective "Move the reinforcements forward" just stayed unresolved.”
Steam review · 1 h played ↗

“the fourth mission for disorder is bugged so you cant complete it”
Steam review · 6.5 h played ↗

Weak Imperial Guard and Eldar to play

Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews

“Problem is the Imperial Guard are as weak as pigshit.”
Steam review · 1.1 h played ↗

“the imperial guard are terrible to play as, constantly throwing units just to die and get nothing done”
Steam review · 7.9 h played ↗

Forced faction switching mid-mission

Mentioned in ~1 in 10 negative reviews

“You are forced to switch back and forth between two armies. It's jarring, annoying, and 4th-wall breaking.”
Steam review · 20.3 h played ↗

“The particularly wretched part is Chapter 4 where it expects you to play as two races at once, switching places when need be.”
Steam review · 11.1 h played ↗

Poor pathfinding and unit AI

Mentioned in ~1 in 13 negative reviews

“the units path-finding is absolute GARBAGE borderline unplayable.”
Steam review · 24 h played ↗

System requirements

From the Steam store page

Steam Deck: Unsupported

Steam doesn’t list requirements for this game.

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