Owlcat Games pleasantly surprised everyone with the Rogue Trader announcement but they also revealed a few additional details later on, on top of the one hiding in plain sight.
Rogue Trader will be the first CRPG in the Warhammer 40,000 universe and Games Workshop couldn't have picked a better partner for the endeavour. Owlcat Games have previously shown they can deliver a fantastic game that is massive, well-detailed and well-written. This trait has already started showing even with the first teasers for Rogue Trader, such as the image above.
The Wolf and the Holy Order?
At first, it might look like just another promo for a party-based game with various cool-looking characters fighting off a horde of enemies. In this instance, however, there is a giant question mark that has been placed front and centre - a Space Wolf is fighting alongside an Inquisitor.
If you don't know about this part of Warhammer 40,000 lore, the First Founding chapter of Space Marines has horrendous relations with the Inquisition, to put it mildly. It's currently unknown whether the Rogue Trader game will be set before or after the First War of Armageddon, which was followed by Months of Shame .
In short, Space Wolves and Inquisition didn't see eye to eye in the resolution of the war, eventually causing billions of casualties due to infighting and following purges. At the end of the Months of Shame, a truce came to be but both organisations were left with a significant distaste for one another, especially because Inquisition laid siege to the homeworld of Space Wolves, with whom they didn't see eye to eye even before this mess.
And yet, Rogue Trader shows them fighting together against hordes of what appear to be Dark Eldar. Owlcat pulled such intricate alliances off successfully before as we adventured with a Paladin of Iomedae and a Succubus in the same party in Wrath of the Righteous, which only makes this teaser more intriguing.
Then again, this could be a Sister of Battle. Even though Adepta Sororitas have ties with the Inquisition, this pairing would make more sense than a Wolf and an Inquisitor.
Even more unusual alliances
While the Imperium usually strives to eradicate other races in Warhammer 40K, they sometimes work side by side. For example, a certain Necron Lord once saved an entire Imperium planet but more closely to the topic of Rogue Trader, Imperium has worked with the Aeldari on occasion.
Space humans and space elves' cooperation in a video game was most notable in the Dawn of War series and expansions and it appears we will get some of that in Rogue trader too. Owlcat confirmed that while the player character will be strictly human, their party can feature Xenos . It's unclear how this might impact relations with the other party members though.
Fantasy Flight Games comeback, kind of
Fantasy Flight Games were working in tandem with Games Workshop for about eight years before the operations ceased in 2016. During this period, they created the Rogue Trader RPG, among others, which prompted the fans to ask whether the upcoming video game will have any connection to thee products.
As it turns out, Owlcat Games are basing it directly on the FFG tabletop RPG , meaning that Rogue Trader will be using FFG D100 rules.
No consoles initially
W40K: Rogue Trader is being developed with a focus on PC but the devs are looking closely at the possibility of a console release . Keep in mind that Owlcat also noted there are currently no plans for releasing on consoles.
