The game features several races for players to choose from.[2] Each race has its own variety of classes that are unique and recognizable to fans of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. In addition, all factions have "Elite-classes" that must be bought with in-game resources before being able to play them. The playable races include: Orks, Space Marines, Eldar, and Chaos Space Marines. The Tyranids are present in game as NPCs, being the primary enemies in the game's procedurally-created dungeons "Under worlds" and survival "Hives" game modes to provide a Player Versus Environment experience. As of Alpha, the plan was, according to the developers, to add various other races from the universe, such as the Tau and Dark Eldar, "over the game's lifetime".
Development
Founders program
Behaviour Interactive launched the founder program for Eternal Crusade on June 25, 2014.[3] Similar to a pre-order program, people can buy packs before the game release, allowing them to get the full game key, and several bonuses, like in-game currency, unique items, etc.[4]
Closed Alpha
The development team released the closed Alpha on September 14, 2015[5] to its founders. The objective of the closed Alpha was to test the shooter part of the game,[5] before releasing all the persistence and progression features.
Release
During the closed Alpha period, the game was available on Microsoft Windows platforms. The game is no longer available via Steam.[6] The game is available for free, however, in this version players can only play 18 out of the 22 basic classes and experience-points are earned at a lower rate. Paying players who purchase a copy of the full game will be able to play as all classes from all factions and earn experience-points at the full rate.
End of the game
One June 10, 2021, the developers announced the upcoming permanent shutdown of the game servers, scheduled for September 10, 2021.[7]
Post Server Close
There are attempts at bringing the game back to life privately being made as several private projects but as of August 2023 the game remains mostly unplayable and the official servers are down.
