Dawn of War 4 Devs Get Crushed by Hard AI Orks in Hilarious Gameplay Video

Ever seen game developers get absolutely wrecked by their own AI? That's exactly what happens in the latest Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 gameplay video. Creative director Jan Theysen and senior game designer Elliott Verbiest team up as Space Marines against Hard AI Orks in a 2v2 Team Skirmish PvE battle. Spoiler: it doesn't go well.

The video features two matches. The first? A total disaster. The Orks wipe the floor with the devs in just over four minutes. They call it a practice round and promise they're "locked in" for the second match. They even increase the Victory Points needed to extend the match. But despite their best efforts—capturing points, auto-reinforcing units—the Orks keep coming in relentless waves. Starved of resources and behind on Victory Points, Theysen and Verbiest can't build a response army. The Orks push toward their base, and it's game over.

"I think I have to have a stern word with our coders about the hard mode difficulty," Theysen jokes. "I mean it's supposed to be hard but also the boss is supposed to win!" Verbiest adds, "I have no doubt that players will come back to us within like a few weeks of launch and tell us, 'Actually we've managed to beat this within two days.'" The second match lasts 13 minutes—better, but still a loss. Theysen hits surrender before the final blow. "This might be the second loss in a row which tells you two things," he says. "First of all, we are not that good at our own game. And also the AI is pretty strong."

What's refreshing is that the devs didn't hide this. They could have re-recorded on normal difficulty until they won, but they chose to show the game as it is—warts and all. Fans in the comments appreciated it. "Pretty cool that you guys showed the defeat and how hard the AI can be," one wrote. Another joked, "I will never do hard in a Warhammer game Orks just nuke you."

Dawn of War 4 launches on PC on December 3, 2026. If the hard AI is this tough, you might want to stick to normal difficulty—unless you're up for a real challenge. Will you be picking this up? Let us know in the comments!