Warhammer 40 000: Space Marine 2: Hands-on Preview - Old School Imperium Might
The original Space Marine game was a bit of a cult hit. It landed at a time when there weren’t a whole lot of options for Warhammer 40k fans in video games, especially on the action side of things, so it found an audience pretty quickly. It was by no means a groundbreaking game, but it did offer a solid action experience with a Warhammer coat that showed a lot of reverence for the source material. That was a long time ago, 13 years ago to be precise and the world has changed a lot since then. There are now more Warhammer games than you can poke a chainsword at, with just about every genre getting some love. But funnily enough, there still has been another great entry on the 3rd person action side of things. That is, until now. Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 is about to land and I’ve been lucky enough to go hands-on to see if it has been worth the wait.
During my time with the game, I got to experience two separate modes. The Campaign and the PvE component called “Operations.” The campaign once again focuses on Titus and his journey as a Space Marine for the Imperium. It is hard to say anything about the story because the mission I had access to was midway through the campaign and I was dumped (a little unceremoniously) into the action without any context. This meant I fumbled around a little trying to work out the controls and Titus’ abilities, but before long I had a good idea of what was going on. It is clear that the developers are holding the original game in reverence because Space Marine 2 is in no way reinventing the wheel. It would be fair to say that the goal here is to make a prettier and more modernised version of the first game and from my time they have succeeded in that task.
For starters, it is a stunning game. The engine is rendering hundreds of enemies on screen at once and maintaining a high level of detail. The Grimdark universe has been brought to life in a wonderful way and from what I have seen, Space Marine 2 may be the best-looking 40k game yet. The level of detail in not only Titus and his cronies, but all of the nasty bugs and baddies I battled is impressive and the environments, while not groundbreaking, all look appropriately industrial and bleak. It is clear the 40k team and the graphics designers have put a lot of love into bringing Space Marine 2 to life.
Gameplay-wise, the game captures the same spirit as the original game while updating things in areas that modern gamers expect. There are a host of ways that the formula has been tweaked to update the game for 2024, but if you haven’t played the original in a few years, you probably won’t even notice. Combat has been given added depth with a parry and riposte system, each marine has three bars of shield that can be refilled by executing enemies (basically glory kills) and the levels are way more expansive and involve a lot more exploration and maneuverability. Don’t get me wrong, a deep and involved RPG this is not, but the modern touches are certainly welcome and should appease fans.
This leads me to my primary concern for Space Marine 2 and that is if the gameplay can hold up over the length of a full game. There is no doubt this is fun in small doses, I had a blast with this small slice, but I fear the lack of depth may hinder the final product. The gaming environment is very different than it was in 2011 and I worry that this could disappoint fans expecting more. It is, in a lot of ways, very similar to a Muso title like Dynasty Warriors, so while a small crowd love the nature of these experiences, most find the joy wears off reasonably quickly.
The Operations mode is basically the end-game component of Space Marine 2. Something for people to sink their teeth into after the main game is complete. It feels, in a lot of ways, like Destiny’s strike missions, with three people taking on a challenging mission with multiple stages and an ultimate battle to finish things off. There are six different classes of Space Marine to choose from and no two team members can be the same class. I feel like this is going to be a pretty popular mode, after all, mass Xenos slaughter is always better with friends. Hopefully, this is something that gets added to and expanded upon as time goes by because it could really lift Space Marine 2 and ensure it has a healthy community for some time to come.
The final thing I want to mention is that in both Operations and Campaign modes, there is a wonderful sense of weight to the combat. You play as a hulking Space Marine and as a result, the combat feels appropriately weighty and satisfying. Ripping through an alien with a chainsword and then following up with a boltgun blast to the head is a true joy and really captures the essence of what it must feel like to actually fight as one of these gigantic warriors. This carries over the excellent boss battles that I got to partake in, with a real clash of Titans vibe coming across, two beasts of combat duking it out. A real highlight of my time with the game for sure.
It must be said that my time with Space Marine 2 brought no surprises. It was exactly what I expected to find and that was both satisfying and a little disappointing. There is no doubt that what I played captured the spirit of the original game while modernising it for current times, but at the same time, things could turn out to be a little shallow and have people looking for more. That said, there is no doubting the skill and care this game has been put together with and I think that the Warhammer 40k faithful will find a lot to love about Space Marine 2. It is gorgeous in an utterly depressing, gory way, the combat has a satisfying heft and the Operations mode has the potential to be a really addictive addition. We don’t have long to wait to find out for sure, with Space Marine 2 coming to Xbox Series, PS5 and PC on the 10th of September and I am rather keen to see how the final game turns out.
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