Report: Cancelled Warhammer RPG Early Footage and Art Revealed
This year, we brought to light that an unannounced Warhammer RPG, in development by the infant studio Thought Pennies, was cancelled around late 2024 due to a loss of funding from its publisher.
Following our report, new details emerged from a studio spokesperson, revealing that the project was an Age of Sigmar-based PvE RPG intended for PC, consoles, and mobile platforms. The game was being developed in collaboration with Games Workshop and funded by Nexon.
Although the partnership was reportedly working well, the spokesperson confirmed that Nexon made a “strategic change” in late 2024, leading them to pivot away from the project and end its development, a situation reinforced by previous layoffs at the studio.
Now, months after the revelation of the project’s existence, the first development materials have surfaced, revealing several previously unseen pieces of concept art, early gameplay, and cinematics that were being worked on for the title.
Concept Art and Early Footage for “Warhammer A`oS: Dark Frontier”
According to the materials shared on the reel of a former artist at Thought Pennies and confirmed by a mention on another developer’s resume, we have found that the game’s internal title was “Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Dark Frontier.”
The reel showcases a substantial amount of work for the game running on UE5, including the following gallery of illustrations containing environments and characters that can also be seen in the gameplay.
The footage shows third-person view gameplay with two different heroes, alongside some rough cinematics and tests for both melee and ranged combat against various creatures. It’s noticeable that most of these seem to belong to the prologue of the game, as noted from what can be seen on the mission descriptions in the UI.
Regarding core combat, the moveset featured the basic actions you could expect for a title of this genre, like a normal and heavy attack, as well as the ability to sprint, jump, dodge, and lock onto enemies.
Also included are four different special abilities for each hero, with attacks such as a gunshot to stun enemies or a powder throw to make enemies explode after a fire attack. One of these four abilities appears to be the use of an amulet, which we see as an icon next to the health bar. It is possible that this would have functioned as a passive ability to obtain health increments or other advantages.
Now that we know Nexon didn’t move forward with the project, it seems that all of Thought Pennies’ work won’t ever see the light of day. The company announced its licensing agreement with Games Workshop in 2021, so the game would have gone through roughly 3 years of development before being cancelled.
Curiously enough, this would mark the second Age of Sigmar game in recent memory to have its development terminated. The first was Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Soul Arena, a multiplayer strategy title that, although not cancelled in the traditional sense, was launched and remained operational from 2022 through mid-2024 before its servers were shut down.
Warhammer fans still have plenty to look forward to, as several major projects are currently in the works. This includes the anticipated comeback of their RTS series with Dawn of War IV, and the (way too early) announcement of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3.
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