Today we review the latest AAA video game taking the internet by storm – ‘Warhammer 40,000 -Space Marine 2’. How much does it bring the grimdark to life?
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, Focus Entertainment’s follow up to the hit 2011 Space Marine is out. It’s been making (blast)waves across the gaming sphere. I was lucky enough to get sent a preview copy of the PS5 version and have been playing around with it. Now full disclosure, this genre of game isn’t really my area of expertise. I’m much more a Rogue Trader or Gladius player. That’s not to say I hate the action/shooter genre, it’s just not my first choice. I am however, a long time fan of 40K and have been playing and enjoying the setting since the late 20th Century. Massive AAA releases like this are yet another sign that 40K is going mainstream and a great chance to see a setting in a new light. So take a look, spoiler free, at the game and what it brings for long time 40K fans.
Space Marine 2 Is a Very Pretty Game
Right off the bat, this is a good looking game. It’s got the kind of graphics you’d expect from any modern AAA game. And, it uses those to really bring the world of 40K to life. All the stunning, gruesome, ugly awesomeness of the setting is on display here. It looks great, and it looks like 40K. I don’t really have a whole ton more to say about the graphics themselves. On the PS5 everything runs pretty smoothy, and looked good.
It’s also a game that really nails the epic scale of Warhammer. Things are huge. You fight massive Tyranid swarms. You gun down enormous hordes. Stuff is blowing up all over the place. The game gets the scale totally right.
The Sky Is Full
On thing I do want to point out that I really like is how full the air is in the game. A lot of games for one reason or another exist mainly on the ground. In Space Marine 2 the sky and air are often full. In ground missions you’ll see massive swarms of Gargoyles blocking out the sun and the flying around. On friendly spaceships Cherubs flit about here and there. There is a lot to see up high and all around, and the areas with open skies, or massive vaults can be really really cool looking. The grandeur of the grimdark envelops you in all directions.
It’s Embracing the Grimdark and its Gruesomeness
A lot of people have been worried that 40K going mainstream means it’s going to be toned down and white-washed. Well, Space Marine 2 sure isn’t! This is a gruesome game, and leans in at times to the horror and slaughter of the setting. The battlefields are littered with blood and corpses, often mutilated and piled up. The Grimdark is on full display here. And they don’t shy away from other strange parts, Servitors, Cherubs and more 40k weirdness abound. If you like those kinds of filler parts of the setting that often get forgotten, then this is a great game for you.
The 40K Tropes Are On Display- For Better Or Worse
Look, this is a modern AAA 40K game. It’s playing to the tropes and represents the most well-known parts of 40K. You play as not just a Space Marine, but an Ultramarine. When the game starts you cross the Rubicon and become a Primaris. The Ultramarines are fighting off a Tyranid swarm. It’s basically, the core of tabletop 10th Edition Leviathan setting, focussing on Ultramarines vs Tyranids. You cycle through a ton of common Primaris weapons. You get classes that roughly match up with common unit types. When you run into Astra Militarum, they aren’t just Cadians, it’s the Cadian 8th, the most famous of their regiments.
This extends to the games visuals. Everything looks good. However nothing is particularly new or innovative either. The look of 40K is pretty well set these days. It’s not quite the scanned model files copy-over you see in some games, but its not all that far off. Everything looks like it should, but its also all the most common things in universe. How you feel about that is up to you, but if you are looking for something new, you won’t really find it here. This is a game that has to not only appeal to fans, but introduce millions of new people to 40K, so it’s gone for poster boys and girls to show off.
How About Space Marine 2’s Gameplay?
The game is split into three modes of play. The Campaign is single or co-op and takes you though main story as Titus. Operations are kind of repayable side missions where you and (if you want) friends fight PvE. Lastly Endless War is the PvP section of the game, where you go duke it out.
I mostly played the Campaign and yeah its pretty fun. You run around shooting stabbing and killing enemies. That’s pretty much it, that’s the kind of game it is. You can pick up weapons and ammo around the maps (there sure are a whole ton of Marine bolters just lying around).
There are some great set pieces, some riveting sequences, and even a few easter eggs. It’s pretty much what you’d want from a single player campaign if a bit short (a common refrain from single player fans these days, but hey at least it has one!). It’s pretty fun and pulpy and not anything too deep. If I had one real complaint its that I didn’t always notice a huge difference between all the various bolter types you could use, at least in single player. Still if Marines vs bugs, or other Marines, is your jam, then I mean this is going to scratch that itch.
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Player Wargear Customization
The game, especially is the non-campaign modes has a lot of customization. In all modes, you can modify your load out. Here you do get to see the stats of all the weapons and get some classic zoom ins. It’s still not very up front about how all the numbers relate, how much better is Firepower 3 than 2? (And also why is a heavy bolt pistol more devastating than a plasma pistol?). In other modes you can really go into upgrading weapons and classes. There are also just a whole ton of cosmetic upgrades and options. You can play pretty much any chapter you want, and any type of Marine, as long, it seems, as it’s a Primaris.
I did have an issue that when I was trying to play around with these options a bit I kept on getting kicked out of the menus and loaded into new servers erasing the progress on customizing I had made. I’m sure there is a way around this, but I didn’t see an easy option and just went back to playing single player. Most likely it’s user error.
Space Marine 2 Final Thoughts
This is a big, pretty, brutal and epic game. It’s Space Marines and its 40K to a T. If you like this genre, it’s likely a game you will enjoy and like. If you like 40K its also a lot of fun and does a good job of bringing the universe to life, at least the most common aspects of it. It’s a good game and it’s a fun game. It’s also pretty much exactly the game you expect it to be. If you saw anything about the game before it came out, well that’s what you are getting no more and no less. To put simply, it’s not just 40K, its modern 40K. And while it does a great job at being that, for an older player like myself it left me wanting a bit more, or something new.
But hey, it looks like Focus has a multi-year roadmap planned out for Space Marine 2, so hopefully that is exactly what we’ll all be getting.
4/5 Aquilas
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Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.
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