Owlcat's follow-up to Rogue Trader puts you in the Inquisition, and the beta is shutting down January 7 so the studio can get ready for launch.
The Inquisition has a start date. Owlcat Games announced Monday that Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy launches January 28, 2027 on Xbox Series X|S and PC, with the PC version on Steam, GOG and the Epic Games Store. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is coming later, and Owlcat says it will share that date down the road.
“The Inquisition officially assumes its duty on January 28th, 2027,” Owlcat said in its announcement, and the release date announcement post has already pulled more than 94,000 views on X.
This is the next big story-driven CRPG from the studio behind Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, and it flips the fantasy. Instead of a rich space captain, you start as a lowly acolyte of the Inquisition in the Calixis Sector, a place Owlcat describes as “rife with heresy,” from the slums at the bottom of the Imperium to the spires where the elites live. You build a war band of “zealots and outcasts,” investigate crimes and cults, and decide how far you’ll go to root them out. Owlcat is clear that there’s no clean path here: you can chase the truth at any cost or sacrifice innocents for your own gain, and every choice has consequences.
The companion list is where this gets fun. You can recruit abhumans like Cogg, dangerous psykers like Saro and Pariahs like Discordance, or go full heretic with xenos like the Aeldari Corsair Laarthyr and the flesh-eating Kroot Ra’akhti. Human companions include the Catachan fighter Haymar, the bored Rogue Trader Chorda and the mysterious Touma, each with their own agenda. Their skills matter in both the revamped tactical combat and the investigations, where they’ll give you advice on how to crack a case. The big threat Owlcat is teasing is the Night Lords, the Chaos Space Marine legion that runs on pure terror.
If you’ve been following along, Dark Heresy was announced in May 2025 during the Warhammer Skulls showcase and has been in testing on Steam ever since, first as an open alpha in December 2025 and then as a beta starting in May 2026. That beta is still open to anyone who buys a Founder’s Pack, a Developer’s Digital Pack or the Collector’s Edition from Owlcat’s Dark Heresy website, but it closes January 7, 2027 so the team can prep for launch. Founder’s Packs stay on sale until the beginning of January.
Our read: this is a strong date for Xbox and PC players who love deep RPGs. Late January is usually a quiet stretch, and Dark Heresy lands with plenty of room to breathe before the spring rush. The detective angle is what has us most interested. Rogue Trader was all about being powerful. Dark Heresy is about being small, paranoid and making ugly choices to get the job done, and that’s a much more interesting place to start a Warhammer story. Owlcat also launching on Xbox Series X|S the same day as PC is exactly how it should be. Xbox players get the full game day one, no waiting.
Dark Heresy hits January 28. Are you joining the Inquisition?
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Image: Owlcat Games (official Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy key art).
