As you progress through the game you unlock new powers and items, from guns that inflict increasing amounts of devastation to new special abilities that allow for more cunning strategies. Your maximum unit limit keeps things sensibly around the couple of dozen – well below the brain-melting numbers of those aforementioned games, but adds a new layer of chaos to battles.ĭespite still having limited units, Retribution ups the player’s workload with special abilities unique to each unit. As you progress through missions you encounter outposts that can be captured, serving as a checkpoint of sorts and allowing for the creation of more units.
But, almost taking a small step back in the traditional RTS direction, Retribution allows you to build units and vehicles mid-battle to boost your squad. Dawn of War II went against the grain by having you manage small squads of “Hero” units, and this has become part of its appeal and what sets it apart from other RTS games like Command & Conquer and StarCraft, which have you building up armies of hundreds.
These aren’t the only significant changes Retribution makes to the series.