Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy finally has a release date, and Inquisition fans will not have to wait long. Owlcat Games has confirmed that its party-based, story-driven cRPG launches on January 28, 2027, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, with a Nintendo Switch 2 version also on the way. The news arrived alongside a new release date trailer, and it ends months of waiting for a game that has been one of the most anticipated cRPGs on the calendar.
The announcement puts Owlcat’s next big role-playing game firmly on the early 2027 calendar. January has become a busy month for major releases in recent years, but Dark Heresy arrives with a clear identity: you are an acolyte of the Inquisition, and your job is to hunt heresy wherever it hides. Set in the Calixis Sector in the 41st Millennium, the game drops players into a corner of the Warhammer 40,000 universe where corruption festers beneath the surface of Imperial society and the Tyrant Star hangs over everything like a threat nobody can explain.
Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy Release Date and Platforms
January 28, 2027 is the day. The game launches the same day on PC through Steam, GOG and the Epic Games Store, and on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. That day-one console launch matters: the whole war band experience arrives on every platform at once, with no waiting around for a later port. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is also confirmed, though Owlcat has not shared a date for it yet and says more information will follow.
For PC players, the Steam page is already live, with wishlist options and a community campaign built around wishlist milestones. The game is listed as single-player with online co-op and partial controller support, so you can bring a friend along for the investigation if you would rather not face the Calixis Sector alone.
Become an Acolyte of the Inquisition
Dark Heresy casts you as a lowly acolyte at the bottom of the Inquisition’s ladder. You are not a legendary hero when the story begins. You are a servant of the God-Emperor given an impossible job: root out crimes and apostasy in the Calixis Sector, where heresy hides behind noble titles, guild contracts and church doors. The setting is the Scintillan Inquisition’s territory, a place where the Imperium’s authority is absolute on paper and constantly challenged in practice.
The Tyrant Star is the mystery hanging over the whole story. This impossible black star has haunted the Calixis Sector for centuries, and Owlcat is building the game’s central conspiracy around it. Expect a slow-burn investigation that starts with a single crime and widens into something much bigger, because that is how the Inquisition works: one thread pulled, and the whole tapestry starts to unravel.
Your War Band: Zealots, Outcasts and Xenos
You will not hunt heresy alone. Dark Heresy lets you build a war band from zealots and outcasts, and the roster Owlcat has revealed is one of the most unusual in any Warhammer game. Your companions include Cogg, an abhuman; Saro, a psyker; and Discordance, a Pariah whose very presence unsettles the warp. There is also an Aeldari Corsair named Laarthyr and a Kroot called Ra’akhti, which means this Inquisitor’s retinue includes xenos, a choice that would make a puritan Inquisitor reach for their bolt pistol.
The human side of the war band is just as varied. Haymar is a Catachan fighter, Chorda is a Rogue Trader, and Touma rounds out the group. Each companion brings their own skills to the revamped tactical combat system, and each one has opinions about how an investigation should be run. Owlcat says companions will offer advice during investigations, and the choices you make will shape how they see you and what they are willing to do for you.
Investigations, Choices and Tactical Combat
The investigation is the heart of Dark Heresy. Rather than simply marching from one battle to the next, you will dig into crimes, question suspects and piece together conspiracies before the shooting starts. When the shooting does start, the game switches to turn-based tactical combat that rewards careful planning and ruthless efficiency, with enemy weak points to exploit and positioning that matters. It is the same DNA that made Owlcat’s Pathfinder games and Rogue Trader sing, rebuilt around the grim darkness of the far future.
Choices carry weight here. Dark Heresy is built around the idea that an Inquisitor’s decisions have consequences, and the game will remember what you did and who you did it to. That is a strong fit for the setting: in the 41st Millennium, there is no clean choice, only the least terrible one, and the game looks ready to make you live with yours.
Founder’s Packs, the Beta and the Road to Launch
Players who want in early still have a window. Founder’s Packs for the game remain on sale on the official website until the beginning of January, and the beta for all founders closes on January 7. That gives the community a few weeks with the game before launch, and it gives Owlcat a final stretch to polish the experience. If you are the kind of player who likes to go in prepared, that beta is the best way to learn the systems before the Inquisition calls.
The timing is worth noting for anyone planning their 2027 backlog. Dark Heresy arrives in late January, a few weeks after the holiday rush, and it lands in a month that is already shaping up to be crowded. A dark, story-heavy cRPG is a very different proposition from the action games that usually dominate the start of the year, and that is exactly why it stands out.
Owlcat Games Knows This Territory
Owlcat is not new to this. The Cyprus-based studio, which now employs more than 450 people, built its reputation on Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, two of the most respected cRPGs of the last decade. Its first Warhammer game, Rogue Trader, proved the studio could handle the 41st Millennium, and Dark Heresy is the follow-up that takes the studio deeper into the setting’s darkest corner. The Inquisition, with its moral grey areas and its cast of fanatics and outcasts, is a natural fit for a studio that loves complicated characters and harder choices.
Warhammer fans are getting a lot to look forward to in the coming months. Dawn of War IV is also on the way, and we recently covered its returning Last Stand mode, which brings three-player co-op survival back to the series. If dark fantasy is more your speed, Path of Exile: Covens of Umbra launches on November 13 with a rebuilt endgame. And if you want something completely different on PC, SEEDS has just launched on Steam Early Access. January 28, 2027 cannot come soon enough.
The full announcement, including the new release date trailer, is available on GamesPress, and the game is available to wishlist now on Steam. Mark January 28, 2027 on your calendar, acolyte. The Emperor protects, but the Inquisition is coming.
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