Warhammer: Astartes II vs HIRAETH

• Creator & Director: Syama Pedersen
• Production Studio: Games Workshop Animation / Warhammer Storyforge
• Protagonist Faction: Deathwatch Space Marines (Indomitus Pattern Terminators)
• Release Platform: Warhammer+ (Global Exclusive Streaming Debut December 2026)
• Visual Engine: Unreal Engine 5 with Lumen Global Illumination

• Perspective: First-Person
• Multiplayer: Single-Player Only
• Setting: Desolate Alien Planet (Ahra Prime)
• Platforms: PC (initial), with Mac/Linux planned
• Early Access Release: 2025-09-03
• Unique Feature: A highly ambitious solo-developed survival game with a dual-mode structure, combining a hardcore survival sandbox with a deep, episodic narrative campaign.

• Cyber-Mastiff: Cybernetically augmented beast used by Inquisitorial squads to scent trace bio-signatures and alert against cloaked infiltrators.
  Canis mechanicus
• Ocular Servo-Skull: Flies ahead of the kill team through narrow ventilation chutes, transmitting real-time topographic auspex scans.
  Bionic Cranial Automaton

• Crux Terminatus Medallion: Bestowed upon Terminator veterans, said to contain microscopic fragments of the Emperor's personal battle armor.
• Forbidden Xenos Archeotech Sphere: Located in the deepest vault of the derelict void ship, emanating localized gravitational and psychic distortions.

• Resources: Found by scavenging the environment and hunting alien wildlife. These are essential for the game's deep crafting system.
• Lore Notes: Scattered notes and logs that provide environmental storytelling, allowing players to piece together the history of the failed colony on Ahra Prime.

• Grimdark Sci-Fi
• Deathwatch Space Marines
• Terminators
• Void Boarding Action
• Xenos Cleansing
• Kinetic Military Precision

• Sci-Fi
• Survival
• First-Person
• Open World
• Crafting
• Story Rich
• Immersive Sim
• Indie
• RPG
• Action
• Adventure
• Simulation

• Twin-Linked Storm Bolter: Heavy Mass-Reactive Firearm
  Standard armament of Deathwatch Terminators, firing explosive .75-caliber armor-piercing bolts capable of obliterating heavily reinforced targets.
• Disruption Field Power Fist: Power Melee Weapon
  Heavy motorized combat gauntlet sheathed in a crackling matter-disrupting energy field that tears open blast doors and monstrous alien armor.
• Heavy Promethium Flamer: Specialized Incendiary Weapon
  Tactical support weapon projecting pressurized streams of superheated chemical jellied fuel to scour corridor networks clean of biological infestation.

• Indomitus Pattern Tactical Dreadnought Armor (Terminator Suit): Heavy plasteel-and-ceramite exoskeleton equipped with a micro-fusion core and personal Crux Terminatus refractor force-field.
• Mark X Tacticus Power Armor: Modular power armor worn by Vanguard Deathwatch brothers, offering optimal balance of kinetic protection, sensory integration, and tactical mobility.

• EVA Suit: The Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) suit is the player's primary piece of gear. It serves as armor and a life support system. It can be upgraded with different modules to enhance its durability, power, and oxygen capacity.

• Liturgy-Inscribed Purity Seals: Parchment ribbons pinned with wax seals bearing devotional prayers to ward against warp corruption.
• Deathwatch Silver Shoulder Pauldron: Iconic silver left pauldron engraved with Ordo Xenos script, denoting the Astartes' sacred oath.

Combat choreography demonstrates peak Space Marine military doctrine: 1) Tactical Precision: Strict fire discipline, overlapping sectors of suppressing fire, and split-second target priority. 2) Terminator Resilience: Utilizing the near-impermeable ceramite bulk of Tactical Dreadnought Armor to shrug off heavy artillery and bio-acid sprays. 3) Breaching Tactics: Sequential melta-charge detonation, flash-grenade room clearing, and coordinated shield walls.

Progression is based on a deep crafting system and progressive skills and perks. The core of survival is managing the player's EVA suit, which requires maintaining oxygen, power, and durability. Players must also manage personal stats like health, stamina, fatigue, and hydration, and can suffer from afflictions like radiation sickness.

The narrative unfolds across a colossal, compartmentalized Space Hulk composed of merged void ships spanning millennia: 1) The Breached Prow: Cavernous docking bays shattered by boarding torpedoes, shrouded in zero-gravity debris and vacuum. 2) The Basilica Corridors: Gothic ribbed passageways lined with gargoyles and decaying Imperial statuary, choked by xenos webbing. 3) The Reactor Spires: Vast, humming plasma conduits emitting eerie radiation and blinding flashpoints. 4) The Crypt-Hold: The inner sanctum where alien containment chambers guard reality-bending psychic artifacts.

The game features a large, explorable open world with a full day-night cycle and dynamic weather, including snow and sandstorms. The world includes both surface and underwater environments. The playable area is planned to be gradually expanded throughout the Early Access period.

• Astartes Boarding Torpedo: Void Assault Craft
  Heavily armored ship-to-ship boarding ram designed to punch through meters of reinforced starship hull plating.
• Thunderhawk Gunship: Heavy Atmospheric/Orbital Transport
  Iconic Space Marine multi-role gunship equipped with heavy bolters and a dorsal turbo-laser destructor.

• Grave-Mite Bio-Parasites: Parasitus necrophaga
  Swarms of subterranean scavengers infesting the stagnant ventilation ducts of the derelict space hulk.
• Chimeric War-Beast: Bestia chimerica
  Mutated apex carnivore unleashed by the cultists to ambush the Space Marines in the lower cargo bays.

• Deathwatch Terminator Brother-Sergeant: Kill Team Commander
  Veteran officer coordinating boarding maneuvers, telemetry synchronization, and tactical fire sectors.
• Retributors Heavy Weapons Specialist: Fire Support
  Master marksman carrying the heavy flamer, providing relentless area denial against swarming enemy waves.
• Inquisitorial Agent: Ordo Xenos Mission Handler
  Imperial intelligence operative directing the kill team toward classified containment vaults.

• Breaching the Void Leviathan: Boarding Action
  Guide the boarding torpedo into the port hull of the derelict starship and establish a pressurized operational beachhead.
• Sweep of the Lower Catacombs: Corridor Cleansing
  Advance down the service corridors under disciplined overlapping fire to cleanse ambushing xenos organisms.
• Extraction of the Corrupted Relic: Relic Recovery
  Secure the primary containment sphere in the central vault and withdraw to the extraction torpedo before bulkheads detonate.

• ETERNAL Mode
  A pure, endless survival sandbox. The only objective is to survive for as long as possible against the harsh environment and deadly creatures of Ahra Prime.
• REVELATIONS Mode
  A five-chapter, narrative-driven campaign that follows the player's journey to uncover the secrets of the abandoned colony while being guided by the mysterious Charon.

Distributed exclusively via Warhammer+ digital subscriptions: 1) Warhammer+ Monthly Access ($6.99 / month): Grants streaming access to all episodes of Astartes II, alongside the complete Warhammer TV animation library and the Warhammer Vault. 2) Warhammer+ Annual Subscription ($65.99 / year): Includes 12-month streaming access, an exclusive commemorative Deathwatch Terminator collector's miniature, and priority access to future Syama Pedersen animation featurettes.

The game will be a single, one-time purchase. This will grant access to the full game, including the 'ETERNAL' sandbox mode at the start of Early Access, and all five chapters of the 'REVELATIONS' story mode as they are released over time. There will be no price changes during Early Access.

Following the December 2026 debut on Warhammer+, Games Workshop has announced supplementary production content including 'The Making of Astartes II' behind-the-scenes documentary with creator Syama Pedersen, digital audio commentary tracks, and official concept art books.

The game will follow a phased release model. After the initial Early Access launch with the 'ETERNAL' sandbox mode, the five chapters of the 'REVELATIONS' story campaign will be released cyclically. The developer also plans to add vehicles and expand the world map.

• Q: What is Warhammer 40,000: Astartes II?
  A: Astartes II is the official CGI animated sequel to the acclaimed Astartes miniseries created by Syama Pedersen, produced in partnership with Games Workshop for the Warhammer+ platform.
• Q: When is Astartes II releasing?
  A: Games Workshop officially confirmed during the Big Autumn Preview 2026 that Astartes II will release in December 2026 exclusively on Warhammer+.
• Q: Who are the main protagonists in Astartes II?
  A: The official teasers reveal that Astartes II features Deathwatch Space Marines, specifically elite brothers clad in Indomitus Pattern Terminator Armor, alongside representatives from Chapters such as the Retributors.
• Q: What software and technology are used to create Astartes II?
  A: Syama Pedersen and Games Workshop utilize Unreal Engine 5 along with Blender and Maya, employing Lumen global illumination and Nanite geometry for photorealistic real-time and cinematic rendering.
• Q: Is Astartes II a video game or an animated series?
  A: Astartes II is an animated 3D cinematic miniseries on Warhammer+, not an interactive video game. However, its immense visual fidelity and lore impact make it one of the most prominent Warhammer productions.

• Q: What is ☵ HIRAETH?
  A: HIRAETH is a single-player sci-fi survival game being created by a solo developer. It features two modes: a hardcore, endless survival sandbox and a five-chapter story campaign.
• Q: When will it be released?
  A: The game is scheduled to launch into Early Access on PC on September 3, 2025. The full 1.0 release with all story chapters will be at a later date.
• Q: Is it a difficult game?
  A: It is designed to be challenging, with deep survival mechanics. However, it will feature four difficulty levels, including an easier 'Wayfarer' mode for players who want to focus on the story.
• Q: Is the developer really just one person?
  A: Yes, the game is primarily the work of a single solo developer, Paweł Tomkowiak, under the studio name Jade Horse. This is a key aspect of its development.

Produced in Unreal Engine 5 leveraging hardware-accelerated Lumen global illumination, Nanite micro-geometry, and photorealistic PBR material shaders. Features microscopic surface imperfections, battle-worn ceramite scarring, volumetric smoke physics, and dynamic muzzle flash illumination.

Groundbreaking sound design engineered to emphasize visceral weight and mechanical authenticity: thunderous bass resonance on bolter detonations, servo-motor whines of Terminator armor joints, heavy magnetic boot-thuds, vacuum muffled acoustics, and an ominous, atmospheric dark-ambient industrial score.

The production eschews artificial visual overlays, instead presenting diegetic in-helmet Tactical HUDs (auto-targeting crosshairs, armor integrity telemetry, proximity auspex sweeps, and thermal signatures) rendered directly through the Space Marine eye-lens displays.

• Warhammer 40,000: Astartes II is an official 3D CGI cinematic streaming miniseries produced for the Warhammer+ platform, directed by Syama Pedersen and rendered in Unreal Engine 5. Unlike interactive video games requiring real-time rasterization or compute loops, Astartes II is distributed as high-bitrate 4K UHD and 1080p HDR streaming video. The hardware profiles below specify the recommended display, client decoding, and desktop/laptop configurations optimized for high-bitrate AV1/HEVC 4K playback and home-theater rendering.
• Laptop Performance Note: Hardware-accelerated video decoding (Intel QuickSync, NVIDIA NVDEC, AMD VCN) enables smooth, stutter-free 4K 60fps / 24fps HDR playback on modern laptops with negligible battery drain and silent cooling profiles.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: Integrated Iris Xe / Radeon 680M/780M or discrete mobile GPUs drawing just 10W-15W provide full hardware decoding for 4K 10-bit HDR streams.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: Passive or whisper-quiet laptop operation; decoding requires minimal CPU/GPU compute, preventing thermal throttling.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: Efficient quad-core mobile processors easily handle high-bandwidth streaming decryption and multi-channel audio passthrough.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: Display output can route directly through integrated graphics or dedicated GPU to external 4K HDR displays with zero frame judder.
• Optimization Detail: Upscaling Tech: NVIDIA RTX Video Super Resolution, Intel Video Super Resolution, Apple Display Engine
• Optimization Detail: Key Settings Impact: Enabling hardware AI video upscaling and HDR color mapping on 1440p and 4K displays preserves the fine metallic scratches, heat discoloration, and micro-textures on Terminator ceramite armor.
• Game Name: Warhammer: Astartes II

• OFFICIAL PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS from the game's Steam page. These specifications are for the Early Access version and may change. An SSD is recommended for higher tiers.
• Laptop Performance Note: Laptop performance will vary based on the specific model's cooling and TGP. The game's complex systems and high-fidelity world can be demanding, so a modern gaming laptop is advised.
• Laptop Consideration: G P U T G P: Maximum TGP for the laptop's GPU is essential to handle the advanced graphical features of Unreal Engine 5.
• Laptop Consideration: Cooling Thermals: The game's visually rich world and detailed simulation elements will require a laptop with a cutting-edge cooling solution to prevent thermal throttling.
• Laptop Consideration: C P U Power Limits: A powerful multi-core mobile CPU will be critical for handling the complex survival systems and AI.
• Laptop Consideration: M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX switch or NVIDIA Advanced Optimus is a critical feature for reducing latency and ensuring the best possible performance.
• Game Name: HIRAETH

• Upscaling Tech: NVIDIA RTX Video Super Resolution, Intel Video Super Resolution, Apple Display Engine
• Key Settings Impact: Enabling hardware AI video upscaling and HDR color mapping on 1440p and 4K displays preserves the fine metallic scratches, heat discoloration, and micro-textures on Terminator ceramite armor.

• G P U T G P: Integrated Iris Xe / Radeon 680M/780M or discrete mobile GPUs drawing just 10W-15W provide full hardware decoding for 4K 10-bit HDR streams.
• Cooling Thermals: Passive or whisper-quiet laptop operation; decoding requires minimal CPU/GPU compute, preventing thermal throttling.
• C P U Power Limits: Efficient quad-core mobile processors easily handle high-bandwidth streaming decryption and multi-channel audio passthrough.
• M U X Switch Optimus: Display output can route directly through integrated graphics or dedicated GPU to external 4K HDR displays with zero frame judder.

• G P U T G P: Maximum TGP for the laptop's GPU is essential to handle the advanced graphical features of Unreal Engine 5.
• Cooling Thermals: The game's visually rich world and detailed simulation elements will require a laptop with a cutting-edge cooling solution to prevent thermal throttling.
• C P U Power Limits: A powerful multi-core mobile CPU will be critical for handling the complex survival systems and AI.
• M U X Switch Optimus: A MUX switch or NVIDIA Advanced Optimus is a critical feature for reducing latency and ensuring the best possible performance.