Warhammer: Dark Crusaders is a cancelled FPS that was in development for PC by Mindscape in 1995 / 1996. This project is not related to the RTS “Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade” expansion pack that was released in 2006. The 1996 Dark Crusaders was going to be one of the few first person shooters based on the Warhammer world, but the gameplay was not that much fun and in the end Mindscape decided to never publish the game, even though it was almost complete.
PC Gamer Online even reviewed a review-copy, with a 65% score:
Initially, the gameplay bears a strong resemblance to another squad-based shooter — Terra Nova — but unlike the sleek, efficient commands and diverse missions in TN, Dark Crusaders doesn’t let you make the most of your squad, and the missions don’t really require you to either.
During each of the 15 missions, which range from kill-’em-all scenarios to more specific reconnaissance missions, there are commands to order your troops to explore, follow, and teleport to and fro. But regardless of which command you choose, the results seem to be the same as if you left your brethren at home.
When ordered to explore, troops merely bump around walls shooting any enemies they encounter, then bump around some more often getting stuck in tight passages or wandering about aimlessly, leaving any and all mission-related work for you.
The weak command interface is so disappointing that during most missions it hardly seems worth the effort to even add units to the roster, since you’ll end up doing all the work yourself.
It seems that the FMV sequences used in Warhammer: Dark Crusaders were later recycled for Warhammer: Final Liberation, a turn-based tactics game published for PCs in 1997.
Derboo found a screenshot of the game in an old Korean magazine, if someone has saved more images or videos from old magazines or websites, please let us know!
Thanks to Jason for the english corrections! Thanks to Michal Fridrich and Tragos2d for the scans!
Images:
What do you think about this unseen game? Give your vote!
(5 votes, average: 3.20 out of 5)
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Here is a bad scan from a magazine I have in my possession. It looked like a really cool game. Reminds me of Space Hulk!
http://edge.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=480
Here is screenshot from czech magazine Score from 1996. And fun fact is, that this is actually review! Strange, but in that times, east europe magazines were known for reviewing from shady sources – http://www.oldgames.sk/mag/score-31/page/32/
Thanks a lot Michal, i have added them to the gallery!
Appearntly the game was supposed to have 3D acceleration support with the Paradise Tasmania 3D card. Source: https://web.archive.org/web/19970102154023/http://server4.pa.hodes.com/paradise/paradise3.html
A cool promotional picture available here:
https://web.archive.org/web/19970102154211/http://server4.pa.hodes.com/paradise/paradise3E.html
Highquality screenshots here: https://twitter.com/dosnostalgic/status/1021470139068440578
So was this a fan game or an actual commercial release that was never finished?
Source: https://youtu.be/w6oXt9OKKNo
Just to be clear. I ask because that gameplay at that Youtube link looks just like the screenshots here. Was it developed by that dev mentioned on the YT video and Mindscape picked it up? Questions for the universe.
Just wanted to confirm this is a lost build of the game and not just a “fan game”. Has the Mindscape logo when the game fires up. Seems very polished. Digital sound and MIDI music work flawlessly and it even has FMV sequences. Runs great in DOSBox at higher 640×480 resolutions. An amazing find for game preservation.