Quarterly Briefing: May – July

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Greetings, Acolytes, and welcome to our regular briefing.

Over the past few months, we’ve revealed many new details and uncovered more of what awaits you in Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy.

As we continue to prepare you for your journey through the Calixis Sector, let’s take a look back at the most important reveals and updates from the past three months.

Today’s digest highlights:

• Daemonhosts reveal

• Beta release; what’s new in the beta

• Laarthyr Cairnareth companion introduction

• The beta survey – results and fun facts

• Discord community event

• Wishlist Goal – Tier I reached

• Saro companion introduction

• Community art feature

DAEMONHOSTS REVEAL

What fate could be worse than death for a poor living soul? Becoming the vessel for a Daemon, doomed to eternal suffering without rest.

In Warhammer 40,000

Dark Heresy , you may encounter just such a one: a blasphemous, vile entity known as a Daemonhost. But what exactly is this creature?

Learn more in our May article

🔗 Chaos Shackled: Daemonhosts Unveiled 🔗

BETA RELEASE; WHAT’S NEW IN THE BETA

Warhammer Skulls 2026 was an absolute blast for all the fans, with tonnes of long-awaited announcements and reveals. But for us, of course, there is one that stands out more than any other.

On May 21st, theWarhammer 40,000

Dark Heresybeta went live!

Check out the epic Beta Gameplay Trailer

The beta will remain open all the way through to release, so be sure to check it out if you haven’t already. It’s available to all founders who support us on our website and pre-order the game. Be among the first to try Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy, and help us improve the game by sharing your feedback! Learn more details about beta access in our news:

🔗 Your Investigation Begins – The Beta Is Now Open 🔗

Are you an alpha tester, or simply curious what awaits you in the beta? Then why not explore this detailed material about the many new mechanics, companions, content, combat, being added to the game?

🔗 What’s New in the Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy Beta 🔗

LAARTHYR CAIRNARETH COMPANION INTRODUCTION

May really was full to the brim with events and news! Among other things, we introduced our players to the mysterious Aeldari Way Seeker and your future companion, Laarthyr Cairnareth. Take a sneak peek into this Corsair’s intricate backstory in our video:

Curious to learn more about him? Of course you are! Whether he becomes your ally or remains just another nasty xenos, you can already learn something vital about his secretive nature by reading our article:

🔗 Laarthyr Cairnareth. The Path through Darkness 🔗

THE BETA SURVEY – RESULTS AND FUN FACTS

In the time since the Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy beta release, we have been carefully studying every piece of feedback we’ve received: thousands of survey entries, slews of comments across all platforms — your impressions and ideas are truly endless.

Thank you all for your passion and your boundless drive to help us make our game better. We will continue to process your feedback as it comes in, but in the meantime, we couldn't help but share some of the most interesting points we’ve found so far:

Meet the TOP 10 facts about how players play the beta, as well as what they love most about it:

• Praise the Omnissiah! The faction players earned the most reputation points with the Adeptus Mechanicus faction, as represented by the Lathe Worlds Fleet.

• 56% of players chose Normal difficulty for their playthrough.

• Cogg still holds the title of the most beloved companion, receiving an overall rating of 4.41⭐ out of 5⭐, followed closely by Aspyce Chorda, Laarthyr Cairnareth, Discordance, and Ra'akhti.

• The most popular choice in the character creation menu was Noble Officer from the Hive World, with around 11% of all players building a character with this origin, homeworld, and archetype.

• The Warhammer 40,000 atmosphere in the beta was rated 4.73⭐ out of 5⭐.

• The majority of beta players leaned toward the Amalathian alignment. The Emperor protects!

• The new Mystic archetype became the most highly rated among players, with a score of 4.1⭐, followed by the Officer, with 4.04⭐.

• The music was rated 4.52⭐.

• About 80% of players were merciful and chose not to kill the Krootox in the Brown Marshes.

• The most popular item to buy from the merchants was the melta сharge. Someone clearly likes big kabooms.

DISCORD COMMUNITY EVENT

At the beginning of June, our Discord server hosted an epic Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy -themed role-playing session. Participants took roles of agents recruited by the Inquisition. The agents' task was to locate a valuable piece of cargo and return it to their employer.

Over the course of four days, players generated an impressive amount of incredible events. For example, on the very first day of the event, players managed to pull a huge fish-like mutant (that the community named Randolf) out of a chemical lake, defeat it, and share the spoils.

It was our second game event of this kind, and judging by the scale of it and your feedback, you guys are really enjoying them — the session attracted almost 200 participants. Join our Discord community to connect with amazing fans and stay up to date with other upcoming events!

WISHLIST GOAL — TIER I REACHED

With your help, we were able to reach a significant milestone at the end of June: we surpassed the 800,000 wishlist mark for Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy! Thank you very much — we are so grateful for your support.

But of course, we refuse to rest on our laurels, and so we will continue to push forward, toward the cherished 1-million mark. In case you missed it, we’ve started a Wishlist Goal campaign for the community to help us get there. And would you look at that: we’ve already reached Tier I and unlocked some cool rewards!

Now, you can download and enjoy a bunch of atmospheric wallpapers for your phone or computer; just follow the link below. They’re grim and dark — exactly how you imagined them!

🔗 Wishlist Goals: Wallpapers Pack 🔗

But the rewards don't stop there. We held numerous Discord votes on what kinds of customisation options people would like to see in the game. In total, the polls collected almost 30 thousand of your votes. You can see the variants chosen by players below — these options will be created and added to the game in addition to everything that was already being planned by the team!

We hope you enjoyed this first set of rewards and are looking forward to the next ones! To help the community unlock them even sooner, don't forget to add the game to your wishlist and ask your friends to do so if you haven’t already:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3710600/Warhammer_40000_Dark_Heresy/

SARO COMPANION INTRODUCTION

July is the month we share the secrets of Saro, the sanctioned psyker who joins your party in the game. Having a devoted pyromancer in a team is clearly an asset — but don’t forget: psychic powers are also a burden, and they come at a cost.

Learn more about Saro’s curse in our companion video introduction:

But we couldn’t leave you without a detailed article, could we? So, hop on in and get to know Saro some more:

🔗 Saro, the Tainted Believer 🔗

COMMUNITY ART

Of course, this quarterly briefing wouldn't be complete if we didn’t also spend some time highlighting the amazing creativity of our community. Here are some of the incredible pieces of fan art shared by our talented acolytes over the last few months.

Touma Ortos by @sketchblognko https://www.tumblr.com/sketchblognko

Acolyte and the Night Lord by @vetusvulpes https://www.tumblr.com/vetusvulpes

Saro by @nanivel https://www.tumblr.com/nanivel That’s all for now! Thank you for joining us for this quarterly briefing. Whether you’ve been here with us from the start or are just catching up now, we truly appreciate your warm support, your useful feedback, and your incredible creativity.

That concludes this report, but the investigation is far from over. More news, updates, and secrets of Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy await in the months ahead.

Remain vigilant.

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