Warhammer Fantasy is one of my favorite fictional settings ever. You've probably heard of Warhammer 40k, which is the sci-fi wing of the Warhammer brand, but Warhammer Fantasy actually came out first, and is my preferred iteration of the iconic universe. Stretching back to the early 1980s, Warhammer was conceived as a fantasy world akin to Tolkien's Middle-Earth, but with some notably darker inspirations like Michael Moorcock's The Elric Saga and Conan the Barbarian, as well as being directly inspired by real European history, which lends a grounding element to the universe. This brilliant melting pot of references comes together to make one of the most unique takes on "traditional fantasy" that has ever been conceived.
When getting into Warhammer Fantasy, often now referred to as Warhammer: The Old World, you have several different avenues you can take. You could obviously start with the lane that started it all: the iconic tabletop miniatures game. There are also dozens of excellent novels that you can read, I recommend starting with the Gotrek and Felix saga. What we're here to talk about today though are the myriad video games set in the the Old World. We're not going to cover all of them, but we'll try to get a good mix of different genres so that maybe you can find an entry point that suits your tastes.
Total War: Warhammer Series
Total War is an acclaimed strategy series owned and developed by Sega. These are grand strategy games, where entire kingdoms are waging war in intense, turn-based, tactical battles. Players manage their cities, as well as their vast armies as they have to plan and plot out their kingdom's moves; whether that be full-scale war against rival nations, or attempts at diplomacy. Your armies can be comprised of loads of different types of troops, magic users, siege engines, monsters and more to truly give the battlefield a sense of destructive wonder. There have been three different Total War: Warhammer titles, with each of them critically acclaimed and beloved by fans. I've even heard of two well-known celebrities who have been addicted to these games: everyone's favorite nerd/actor, Henry Cavill, and one of the funniest comedians that I've ever heard, Shane Gillis. The Total War: Warhammer games are only available on PC.
Vermintide Series
In the late 2000s, it felt like everyone loved the Left 4 Dead games. They essentially created a new genre of first-person, multiplayer shooter games that pitted a team of players against hordes of zombies. The players have to work together to navigate semi-linear stages, vanquishing the zombies and eventually reaching an extraction point, where they have to stand their ground while they wait to be rescued. This addictive, satisfying gameplay loop enthralled millions of players in the two Left 4 Dead titles. Shockingly, we never really saw any studios trying to imitate this genre. Until finally, Fatshark, a team out of Sweden, developed Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide. This is quite literally Left 4 Dead with a Warhammer Fantasy skin over it, though it does feature some additional gameplay features not found in Left 4 Dead.
The "End Times" was an extremely controversial marketing move by Warhammer's parent company, Games Workshop. They sought to kill off the Warhammer Fantasy brand to replace it with a new Warhammer sub-series. Their in-universe method for handling this weighty decision, was by having the Skaven, a subterranean, humanoid rat-like faction, wipe out all life on the planet. They told many stories set in the End Times, which again, was quite controversial, for the simple reason that they've decided to kill off the entire setting of Warhammer Fantasy, so these stories often featured brave heroism in the face of inevitable defeat.
It rubbed many longtime fans of the franchise the wrong way. The universe was known for its dark storytelling, but it wasn't always a foregone conclusion that the good guys would lose until the End Times. But, if you can look past that, the two Vermintide video games are a great time. I do not recommend playing them alone though, as the AI-controlled teammates are pretty unreliable and ineffective.
Please get some friends to play the games with you for maximum potential enjoyment. Both Vermintide games are available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
Warhammer Online: Return of Reckoning
This is a slightly complicated one. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning originally released in 2008 and was killed in 2013, really before the game ever truly hit its stride. It was a critically acclaimed MMORPG set in the Warhammer Universe, mechanically similar to World of Warcraft, but centered more around player-versus-player gameplay. It also offered a good deal of satisfying PvE content as well, which was fun, because I primarily wanted to create my character(s), complete quests and explore the Old World. Age of Reckoning had several great races available to pick from, split across two factions.
You could play as Orcs, Goblins, Dwarves, Elves, Dark Elves, as well as Humans of both the Order and Chaos factions. While Age of Reckoning was shuttered in 2013, it has lived on as a free-to-play private server called Return of Reckoning. The website provides step by step instructions for how to download and set up this game. A warning for you though, this community has shrunken considerably over the years, with nearly all of the North American audience vanishing. I've heard that it's largely an Eastern European playerbase now, so they play basically the opposite hours that we would in the USA. If that doesn't bother you, and you want to experience it just for the solo PvE gameplay, there's plenty of it there for you. Warhammer Online: Return of Reckoning is only available on PC.
Blood Bowl Series
Blood Bowl is the hilarious fusion of football and Warhammer Fantasy. There is an actual tabletop miniatures Blood Bowl game as well, but we're talking about the three video game adaptations here. As with a regular game of football, you can win simply by scoring touchdowns, but given that this is a Warhammer game, there's another very fitting way that you can win: ruthlessly butchering every player on the other team.
While personally, I wish Blood Bowl played more like NFL Blitz or Mutant Football League, it actually serves as a pretty solid recreation of the tabletop iteration. It's turn-based, with dice rolls dictating your moves. There is a neat RPG element to the gameplay as well, where players can level up and learn new skills. There's also a solid amount of customization that you can toy around with, as you create your team. The original Blood Bowl was on a shockingly varied array of platforms: Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, PC and Xbox 360. Blood Bowl 2 is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC. Blood Bowl 3 is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and PC. A Nintendo Switch port has also been announced.
Chaosbane
Chaosbane is an isometric action-RPG, cut from the same cloth as Diablo. You can choose between a handful of classes, with each one being specific to a Warhammer Fantasy race; such as the iconic Dwarf Slayer or the Imperial Witch Hunter. From what I hear, the game is really quite decent. I'd say if you fancy a Diablo-like, and enjoy spending time in the Old World, you should consider checking this one out. Chaosbane is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series and PC.
Mark of Chaos
So, there you have it. There are quite a few diverse Warhammer Fantasy video games out there that you can check out if you're at all interested in this incredible fictional universe. I tried to select games from various genres that could potentially appeal to your varied tastes. I highly recommend checking out the Warhammer Fantasy setting, it's absolutely chock full of dark, heroic tales, arcane mysteries and gripping fantasy action.
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