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Review: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

8/10

Summary

All in all, Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 provides a satisfyingly challenging experience that meshes gun play, mobbing strategy, “offensive” defense, and classic RPG progression into one spectacular bundle. The RPG progression made for a rewarding grind, but the experience was not varied enough for me to want to grind and explore through multiple classes. However, the core gameplay itself was enjoyable for me to complete one full character progression end to end.

Developer – Saber Interactive

Publisher – Focus Entertainment

Platforms – PC, Xbox Series S/X, PlayStation 5 (reviewed)

Review copy given by publisher

Ever since I finished sinking hundreds of hours into Warhammer Vermintide 2, I itched for new content from the same genre. Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 satisfies the same kind of excitement I expect when playing fast paced combat games. 

In this installation you play as Captain Demetrian Titus of the Ultramarines who is tasked with defending their home solar system from a Tyranid invasion. The lore for Warhammer 40k runs much deeper and unfortunately I’m nowhere near caught up. Sorry Warhammer fans, I frankly want to dive straight into killing things.  

This review will focus on the gameplay and progression of Space Marine 2, as it was the main attraction for me. When you inevitably get swarmed, you will need to rely on your basic combos to shred through the hordes of enemies. The game features a nice, weighty feel to your melee strikes – and a few finisher options to help create space for your next move. 

The gun play also feels amazing, as gunshots rumble through the controller in perfect synergy with the haptic triggers. The recoil, pacing, weapon variety may feel familiar to fans of FPS games. You can maintain a few sets of loadouts (one primary gun, one secondary gun, and one melee weapon) that can be swapped during specific portions of a mission. As you progress, you’ll quickly realize the need to bring the right loadouts for the right scenarios. 

Last but not least, the game also offers a few key defense options via dodges and parries, each with an opportunity to be executed “perfectly” to swing the game state to your advantage. This is the “offensive” defense aspect of games that many souls-veterans may be familiar with. As you “git gud” and learn enemy patterns, you can suddenly turn the enemy’s turn into your turn. The game also has a unique mechanic called a “gun strike” which allows you to deal massive damage when breaking enemies’ stances. 

All together the game implements melee, gun, and defensive play smoothly together – yielding an experience that’s appropriately challenging and deeply satisfying when done right. However, it does feel like the gunplay was executed better than the other combat aspects of the game. Ultimately you can get away with mashing melee combos and watching out for the defensive cues which are pretty generous…but this could also be coming from my experience of playing souls-like and fighting games. 

Now let’s talk about the macro of the game. There are a variety of enemy types, ranging from swarming trash mobs, melee brutes, ranged enemies, and much more. The assortment of enemies ends up creating an interesting combat puzzle to work through. 

Do you focus on clearing out the swarm mobs with your melee combos or spend a grenade to quickly clear and take cover from ranged attacks? Do you try to parry the small mobs to create more space on the map for yourself or try to reposition to a narrower area where you can mow enemies down more quickly with your ranged arsenal? Can you snipe the backline all the while trying to land those perfect dodges and parries? The skill ceiling of this game can be quite high, as it puts both your strategic decision-making and combat execution to the test. 

The game features 6 different classes, each putting additional focus on specific aspects of gameplay (e.g. Sniper for ranged combat, Assault for melee, etc). Each class comes with a unique class skill and class-specific perk tree which can open up different types of team compositions when playing multiplayer. There are also class-specific trials which both serve to teach you how to properly play the class and earn you materials for progressing your account.

Weapons also come with their own perk progression unlocked by either defeating bosses or finding hidden collectibles in maps. However, it’s important to keep in mind that some classes share weapons, which means that progressing certain weapons can progress the overall power level for multiple classes at the same time!

The game features a campaign mode, PVE missions that are perfect for multiplayer, and a PVP mode that I’m really excited to try out once servers go live. The PVE missions are what I sunk the majority of my time in, as it’s multiplayer and a key way to progress your account. Different missions call for different team compositions, which encourages variety in play style. Some maps feature loads of elites and high perch points – perfect for Snipers. Some feature waves on waves of weak mobs, perfect for classes like the Assault or Heavy which can easily mow through them. 

Unfortunately after the novelty of the gameplay wore off, the game felt more grindy. At launch, there are 6 PVE multiplayer maps and 4 difficulty settings. Each difficulty setting presents more challenges and resources to further progress your character. Most of the class/weapon upgrades were passive boosts to power, which made the game start to feel more stale as I cleared more. 

The visuals of this game were great. It boasted a variety of different settings, but at the same time I didn’t really find myself stopping to just appreciate the scenery. After all, how can you when you’re getting swarmed? Again, this is not the main selling point of the game for me so I don’t think it’s fair to compare it to other titles that put visuals as a core focus. Similarly, the audio aspect of the game enhances and does not detract from the core gameplay that is mowing down waves of enemies. I experienced no noticeable bugs while playing on the PS5. 

All in all, Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 provides a satisfyingly challenging experience that meshes gun play, mobbing strategy, “offensive” defense, and classic RPG progression into one spectacular bundle. The RPG progression made for a rewarding grind, but the experience was not varied enough for me to want to grind and explore through multiple classes. However, the core gameplay itself was enjoyable for me to complete one full character progression end to end.

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