The Apothecarry said:
Dawn of War II. I went it going "I know absolutely nothing about Warhammer 40k and I'm bad at RTS games." I came out "I'm still a bad RTS player but...FOR THE EMPEROR!!!"
Sounds like what happened to me with the first Dawn of War game. It was a complete impulse buy, and I had no idea if I was going to like it or not. My reactions could probably be summed up with the following:
*watches intro*
Well that was...odd...Orcs with guns? What was that beefy walker thing? Were those soldiers using weaponized CHAINSAWS?!
*plays tutorial*
Whoa, these armored guys have awesome voices! It's like controlling an army of Darth Vaders!
*starts campaign*
Oh, these Orcs are called "Orks." Subtle. Wait, who are these soldiers-whoa! Did that officer just shoot one of his own men for being afraid?! That's a bit extreme! Oh now I see, those armored guys are like special troops or something. Okay, I can dig-wait, who was that shadowy figure? There's space elves too? They were manipulating the orks to fight-OH GOD WHAT-?! Daemons-blood-sacrifices-WHAT?!
*finishes campaign*
Purge the xenos! Burn the heretic! Glory to the God-Emperor of Mankind!
Not only did Dawn of War and its expansions turn out to be my favorite RTS game, but it also made me the Warhammer 40k fan I am today.