The Total War: Warhammer 40k Gamescom demo is underway, with lots of players getting their hands on the upcoming grimdark strategy game for the first time. Total War's content creators have been giving their impressions, but Creative Assembly also snuck in a new Alpha Strike livestream, and this is one of the biggest information drops we've gotten yet.

The stream finally reveals the campaign structure for Total War: Warhammer 40k, explaining that each solar system we fight through will comprise a campaign, as we battle across multiple regions on each planet. Once a campaign is done, we'll zoom out to the wider Crusade Theatre, where we can start a new campaign in another system, carrying through our characters and retinues. Apparently, there are about ten systems per theatre, culminating in a final battle on Armageddon.

It's not necessary to complete every campaign in a theatre, but it's already reportedly bigger than anything Creative Assembly has made before, including Immortal Empires. There were lots of other little information tidbits, too, including:

• Heroes will have 'followers' they can equip to change the unit composition of their bodyguard. Imagine something like the Imperial General's retinue in Dawn of War.
• All unit weapon loadouts are fully customisable.
• There are planetary governors who you'll have to appease to unlock certain diplomatic actions and support.
• Space Marines can co-opt Planetary Defense Armies from the Imperial Guard to follow them as backup.
• The Imperial Guard have a variety of structures they can build on planets (similar to forts or watchtowers in Medieval 2 and Rome Total War), including artillery batteries and deathstrike missile launchers.

One of the best and most loreful additions, though, is that you can place 'dead' Space Marine characters inside Dreadnoughts (1:20:41 in the stream).

"It wouldn't be Space Marines if you couldn't take the mushed-up, almost corpse of a Space Marine, stuff it in a big metal tin can, and send it back into battle as a Dreadnought," says Will, Campaign Designer on Total War: Warhammer 40k. "There will be a little mechanic where even if your character has died, they might continue to serve the Emperor in a slightly chonkier form.

"Dreadnoughts and Land Raiders as well, we're treating them more like characters. Like these are super rare, super powerful ancient creations that are really valuable."

For those unfamiliar with Dreadnoughts, they're effectively what happens if you attach an array of deadly weapons to a life support sarcophagus and give it legs. Most mortally wounded Space Marines who are interred in them gradually lose their minds as they turn to mush over the long centuries, repeatedly roused from slumber to face each new battle, or provide wisdom and ancient memories to the younger brothers of the chapter.

Still, knowing that one of my Space Marine heroes who I've battled with since my first campaign can stave off permadeath by hopping into a Dreadnought is a great feature. After all, it sounds like we're going to grow very invested in our small, yet elite, self-created Space Marine retinue as we fight across the many campaigns of the Crusade Theatre.

You've got to give Crimson Desert kudos—it's been getting hit with free update after free update, including, most recently, an overhaul to the game's story. But that'll be slowing down in coming months, as Pearl Abyss gears up to release the game's first major paid piece of DLC content.

"While there still will be updates," says director of marketing and PR Will Powers in an interview with IGN at Gamescom 2026, "I don't think the scope and scale and pace of them will be as consistent past this point. What we're taking this opportunity to do is shift our development resources from these regular updates to focus on the upcoming DLC."

And you know what? Good. Crimson Desert was already a systems-heavy game at launch with an absurd amount of stuff to do—but just look at what's been added already. 20(!) small critters, a shotgun, a ton of different chest types, difficulty options, new animal mounts and inventory management, the ability to have your own hoard of pets, boss rematches and legendary creatures. Birdwatching? Why not, put it on there.

This game is an everything bagel that has only had more everything bagel seasoning heaped on top. It is a glorious leaning tower of mechanics that somehow hasn't collapsed under its own weight. It is a monument to game development hubris and as much as I respect Pearl Abyss' energy and commitment, I think it's probably for the best that it slows down.

Not too slow, though. As Powers confirms, the paid DLC will still be aiming for a release sometime in the final quarter of this year, which is wild to me. I wouldn't have even blinked if Pearl Abyss decided it was coming later, but no—the Kliff train stops for no-one.

By the time the studio finally puts Crimson Desert down, it's going to be a mammoth of a videogame. This thing takes around 250 hours to complete, baseline. I suspect that by 2036, Crimson Desert will have created infinite energy, cured every illness in existence, and given Kliff a railgun or something.