BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!
SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!
SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!
The Warhammer Fantasy universe is filled with horror, and Creative Assembly certainly did the source material justice.
- From the announcement trailer, the armies of the Chaos Gods get their first proper debut clashing in the dark, snowy wastes of Kislev.
- As the four are introduced, the viewer is treated to a "lovely" view of a Great Unclean One and his massive, maggot-filled grin, hundreds of the things dripping out like saliva.
- A Kislevite soldier is cut off in the fog when a horde of Bloodletters (lesser daemons of Khorne) comes charging out to slaughter him and his men. In a blink and you miss it moment, even these lesser daemons are shown shrugging off blows that would have killed a lesser being before gutting the humans on their Hellblades.
- A Bloodthirster is seen mowing through the ranks of humans, killing dozens of men with each swipe of his massive axe. And given that this is a daemon of Khorne, he's loving every second of carnage.
- Just the fact that Chaos is finally pulling out the big guns in this game. Various factions already in the games might be tough, monstrous, extremist, evil, or all of the above, but they can all be Killed Off for Real. The armies of Chaos, though? They are an army of daemons who cannot be permanently killed off by any known means. They can only be delayed, never defeated.
- The "Trial by Fire" Trailer shows the decimation of a Kislevite army and town by a Khornate army of mortal warriors and bloodthirsty daemons. Narrated by what is implied to have been a Kislevite man who turned his back on his country and sold his soul to Khorne.
- Just as chilling but more insidious is the way the narrator's voice changes. He starts relatively normal, if choked by grief and bitterness. But as the trailer continues, his voice... contorts. Becomes more feral, bass and baritone, as if his vocal chords are mutating. By the end, his humanity has gone completely and he roars out "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" with naught but slathering, blood-hungry rage. A concise and horrifying example of how the Ruinous Powers can take disenchanted and even well-meaning people, and twist them into nothing but loyal pawns.
- The real kicker though is at the end as we see the Brass Citadel. And looming out of the hellish night and smoke seems to be the enthroned form of Khorne himself.
- From the reveal trailer of Nurgle and Slaanesh, we have the Jump Scare of a statue the Advisor is examining briefly warping into a screaming daemonette. "We all wanted more..."
- At the end of the "A Covenant With Chaos" trailer, a Keeper of Secrets (heavily implied to be N'Kari, Chosen of Slaanesh) offers the Advisor power but with an obvious price. That's scary enough, but the way the camera is aligned means that N'Kari isn't just looking at the Advisor - they're looking at you.
- The very existence of the God-slayer and what he did is nothing short of terrifying and shows just how powerful the Big Four are in regards to the rest of the entities and monsters of the Warhammer world. By their manipulation, one mortal was almost able to kill a god. While the likes of Nagash or the Skaven have tossed around this idea, the God-slayer shooting Ursun shows that not only can the Four Gods of Chaos and their minions think about killing one of their rivals, they actually stand a good chance at pulling it off and then manipulating events to make themselves even stronger. What's to stop them from trying again, perhaps going against other heavy-hitters like Sotek or Sigmar? Chaos was already overly powerful in the setting, but now that they've proven they can kill other gods, and not even by their direct intervention, shows just how screwed the forces of Order are in trying to fight against Chaos.
- Spending too long in the Realms of Chaos will gradually inflict Chaos Traits on your lords. They start off unsettling and only get worse from there. The starting Slaanesh trait is "Self-Flagellant" which isn't as bad, all things considered. But how about the tier-2 Tzeentch trait "Gifting Eyes"? The flavour text for which tells that the Lord is sacrificing the eyes of their forces to the Changer of Ways. And then there's the final Nurgle trait. Something Within.
"Something Within" flavour text: You feel the worms, wriggling under your skin, climbing up your spine and feeding on your brain.
- While none of the Chaos Gods have especially pleasant events, regardless of them being good or bad, Tzeentch's are downright Lovecraftian. Tamer events include the shadows of a settlement's population animating to serve alongside them or runes appearing on every wall and causing people to either go insane or start speaking in tongues. Others? Imagine having two giant runes appear over a city, fusing the mouths of the population shut while deleting their minds so they serve as mindless puppets or scribes going into a frenzy while researching and slowly turning into giant brains that explode out of their skulls and consume their former bodies.
- The release trailer to Immortal Empires brings a lot of unpleasant images and unpleasant implications that come with them.
- Amidst the backdrop of the forces of Order convening for a possible alliance at Altdorf, we see images of hordes of Beastmen led by Khazrak besieging an Imperial settlement, Grimgor Ironhide at the front of a massive greenskin waaagh, and a Chaos force led by Archaon the Everchosen, Sigvald the Magnificent, and the Daemon Prince watching a Kislevite city burn. This is soon followed by a shot of the Great Bastion of Cathay breached, and a Dwarfen Karak being overwhelmed.
- As Teclis steps forward to offer his guidance, we see an army of Druchii led by Malekith, Morathi, and Malus marching on Ulthuan. And to contrast the forces of Order starting to bicker, we see Archaon in front of Chaos Lords of all the Chaos gods, finally united underneath his leadership as the Lord of the End Times.
- The vignettes that are shown are: a battle between Ku'gath Plaguefather and the Lizardmen under Lord Mazdamundi, amidst a jungle already corrupted and rotting in the green miasma of Nurgle; Gotrek and Felix facing down Skarbrand and two other Bloodthirsters in the burning ruins of an Empire city; Kairos Fateweaver and his forces overwhelming the Fortress of Dawn in Ulthuan; and N'kari and other daemons of Slaanesh in front of a corrupted statue of Sigmar and planning terrible, unspeakable things to the Empire soldiers cowering in front of them.
- Archaon is then shown absolutely ripping through Kislevite warriors, while Wulfrik is drawing his sword from a fallen Terracotta Sentinel as Norscan warriors stream around him in what looks like a Cathayan city. This is finally punctuated by Be'lakor landing on top a body of slain warriors, in front of what looks like an active Chaos Gate. Things are NOT shaping up for the Old World.
- Clicking on the Labour option when playing as a Chaos Dwarf faction results in a gut-wrenching scream of pain - clearly from one of the Dhrath-Zharr's victims. It's a chilling reminder of just what the "labour" system truly entails.
