Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Deathmaster Story Trailer Shows Vihneek Trading One Cage for Another

Dotemu and Old Skull Games released a story trailer for Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Deathmaster on October 29, 2026, and it sets out the plot behind the game’s Skaven assassin, Vihneek. In the 90-second cut on Steam, the captive Vihneek is told he now belongs to Clan Skrell. Dotemu says his rescuer turns out to be his new captor.

Dotemu tied the reveal to Warhammer Day in its announcement. Games Workshop’s Warhammer Community site carried the trailer the same day in a roundup of licensed games, which put Warhammer Day itself on Saturday, October 31. The 2D stealth-action platformer is due in 2027 on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2.

On YouTube, Games Workshop’s upload has drawn far more views than the publisher’s. On the afternoon of November 2 (UTC), the copy on the Warhammer YouTube channel showed 276,397 views. The upload on Dotemu’s channel showed 6,787.

The trailer, scene by scene

We went through the trailer second by second using the copy on the Steam store page, which runs 1:30 and has English captions burned into the picture. The timestamps below come from that copy. It mixes painted, sketch-like cutscenes with side-on game footage, and much of the footage carries a faint label: “Alpha Footage. Subject to change.”

• 0:00–0:14: The painted opening shows a clawed hand on a wooden beam and a shackled, hunched figure. The first caption tells someone they run in circles. Then a small pale figure crouches on a dark red heap as the caption reads, “I own you, half-rat!”
• 0:15–0:21: After the Dotemu and Old Skull Games logos, the first game shot shows a masked rat in a blue cloak facing a smaller, green-eyed rat on a ledge. The captions: “You now belong… to Clan Skrell.”
• 0:25–0:35: In a candlelit lair, the green-eyed rat crouches with a blade while the captions wonder how long he will last. Over a close-up of the red-eyed, masked rat, the caption reads, “The plague threatens our clan.” Climbing and jumping shots follow.
• 0:39–0:45: A robed rat with a staff stands over a glowing green cauldron while the captions boast about blight and plague.
• 0:48–0:53: A spinning throwing star fills the screen, then a lone figure walks toward a bright light. The captions call the clan “another cage” for “weak-furs” and add that “the keys are mine-mine.”
• 0:56–0:58: In a stone hall with a large statue and floating green lights, the caption reads, “Enough! I end you myself!”
• 1:06–1:11: Back in the painted style, a huge red-eyed rat looms over a smaller one. The captions read “Vihneek…” and then “You are no… …Deathmaster.”
• 1:15–1:30: After more painted close-ups, the title card gives way to key art with “2027” and “Wishlist Now-Now!” On this Steam copy, Steam is the only store logo on the end card.

The captions never say who speaks each line, and they never use the name Skiteek. That name comes from Dotemu’s description of the trailer.

According to Dotemu, Skiteek, a fellow Eshin assassin from Clan Skrell, frees Vihneek but becomes his new captor. The clan then uses him as a weapon, sending him on contracts, and each kill lifts him higher in its ranks while threats from rival clans loom.

One small note on the name. Steam, Dotemu and the trailer’s own captions all spell it Vihneek. Warhammer Community’s October 29 roundup spells it “Vinheek” once before switching to Vihneek.

New to Warhammer? Meet the ratmen

If the trailer’s “yes-yes” talk and clan names seem baffling, some background helps. Warhammer Age of Sigmar is a fantasy setting from Games Workshop, the Nottingham, England, company that makes Warhammer miniatures and tabletop games. The Skaven are its ratmen, and Games Workshop’s own history of the faction traces them back to 1985.

That history describes a society split into clans that constantly scheme against, sabotage and even devour one another. A few Great Clans sit at the top, each guarding its own trade: Skryre builds strange weapons, Moulder breeds monsters, Pestilens spreads disease, and Eshin specializes in stealth and assassination.

A Council of Thirteen tries to keep order, with the thirteenth seat left empty for their god, the Horned Rat. That god also appears on Deathmaster’s Steam page, which says Vihneek’s rise is all the better “if it happens to please the Great Horned Rat.”

The same page has players gather warpstones to unlock abilities and secret tools. In Games Workshop’s history of the faction, the Clans Skryre’s engineers combine warpstone with their machines to build weapons.

Why the title matters: Deathmasters are Eshin’s elite killers

The game’s title is a term from that lore. Steam calls Vihneek a Skaven assassin of the Clans Eshin, and in Games Workshop’s lore a Deathmaster is one of that clan’s elite assassins. A 2022 Warhammer Community article on Deathmasters calls them the deadliest assassins of the Clans Eshin, trained to move unseen and unheard and even to run up walls.

Eshin also climbs its ladder differently. A March 2026 Warhammer Community preview says the clan promotes on merit, which puzzles other clans that prefer to rise by murdering the boss. Its expendable Night Runners sit at the bottom. That same preview revealed new Eshin miniatures for the tabletop game, led by a Deathmaster named Crixxit.

The game’s own goal is a climb. Its Steam page says players carry out orders from Clan Skrell’s elites to rise through the hierarchy, and that “the more you kill,” the closer Vihneek gets to becoming “the ultimate Deathmaster.”

What the Steam page confirms

Beyond the story, the store page describes how Vihneek hunts. He uses heightened senses based on smell and hearing, each clan territory has its own rules and threats, and players can develop abilities specific to the clans they infiltrate. Here is what the listing showed when we checked it on November 2, 2026.

Steam is not the only place to wishlist it. The description under Dotemu’s YouTube upload links to pages on GOG, the PlayStation Store and the Microsoft Store. When we checked on November 2, it did not link a Nintendo eShop page, although Dotemu’s site lists Switch 2 among the places to wishlist.

The team behind it

Dotemu, a French publisher and developer based in Paris, describes itself as specializing in reviving classic franchises. Its company profile lists Streets of Rage 4, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, plus its original game Absolum. It also publishes Marvel Cosmic Invasion, whose Siege of Castle Doom expansion arrives on November 10.

Old Skull Games is doing the development. Dotemu’s profile of the studio says it was founded in 2012 and has 60 developers who make games for PC, consoles and mobile.

The story trailer is the third video on the game’s Steam page, after a reveal teaser and a gameplay trailer. Dotemu announced the game at Games Workshop’s Warhammer Skulls event on May 21, 2026, calling it a self-contained, single-player game, and showed first gameplay on August 26.

Deathmaster was not alone in the Warhammer Day roundup, either. The same post promoted other licensed games, including Warhammer Survivors ahead of its November 10 launch.

Still to be announced

Plenty is still missing. As of November 2, neither Dotemu’s announcement nor the Steam page gives an exact release date, a price, editions or full PC requirements. Steam lists only Windows, with no Mac or Linux version, and English as the only language with full audio. The trailer’s own label also says the footage may still change.

For now, the release date field on Steam holds a single entry: 2027.