When Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2 was announced in late 2021, I already had an idea of what I wanted the game to be like. It wasn’t dissimilar to the first Space Marine game in many ways: a solid hack-and-slash shooter that has, at the core of it, execution moves that restore health. Space Marine 2 not only meets those expectations but goes above and beyond what was asked for.
Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2 is a third-person hack-and-slash shooter developed by Saber Interactive. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because it is the same studio behind the World War Z video game and their Swarm Engine gives life to the seemingly endless hordes of the Tyranid threat.
The game’s story centers around a Space Marine Lieutenant, Demetrian Titus. He was also the protagonist of the first game. In the century since the events on Graia, he has spent all that time trying to rid himself of an accusation of corruption. Before the events of Space Marine 2, Titus served in the Deathwatch as part of a kill team. At the start of the game, however, he is given a chance to earn back his place among the Ultramarines. The entire story sees him fulfilling his duty while settling some old scores from the battle of Graia.
From what I can see, you don’t need to have played the first game to get into Space Marine 2. Titus is very secretive about his time away from the Ultramarines and the other squadmates are naturally curious. Somewhere along the way, there’s going to be friction. Players who played the first game will know why, and the new players will find out eventually. I believe the story did a great job tying up loose ends while preparing us for more stories ahead. I also like that Chairon and Gadriel, Titus’s squadmates, aren’t one-dimensional characters. They make mistakes and have their flaws. But deep down, they are Ultramarines.
The gameplay consists of fulfilling a series of objectives in any given mission. You and your team go on a predetermined path, sometimes holding off waves of enemies, other times bulldozing through enemy lines. But regardless of what your objective is, you will always be wielding a primary weapon, a secondary, and that all-important melee weapon.
The selection of weapons has also nearly doubled since the first game. Sadly, the majority of weapons on offer are variations of the bolter. Why mess around with perfection, am I right? But in all seriousness, each bolter variant is a specialist in their own right. It’ll be up to you to get the most mileage out of them. A plasma rifle and long-laz round out the rest of the arsenal. The dev team plans to release more weapons post-launch, so there’s a chance your favorite weapon will make an appearance.
Movement is one of the things that got my attention early on. In most games, we expect our characters to perform actions as we intend, even to the point of canceling moves. But it’s a little different here in Space Marine 2. You are animation-locked, for the most part. However, if you manage to pace yourself and not spam attacks like your life depended on it, you can get into a rhythm that’s so sublime, that you’d swear your space marine is dancing on the battlefield. And that’s a feat for an eight-foot-tall behemoth. Expecting more than that is like asking a bull to charge through a china shop on its tiptoes.
The initial enemies the Space Marines will fight are the Tyranids. A ravenous swarm that’s likened to a plague. In terms of gameplay, the smaller types act like zombies from World War Z. They even climb on top of each other to reach the high ground. If you were impressed by what you saw in WWZ, Space Marine 2’s Tyranid swarm will knock you off your feet. And of course, it wouldn’t be a Space Marine game without Chaos Space Marines thrown into the mix. This time around, it’s the Thousand Sons chapter we must contend with. This traitorous chapter almost exclusively consists of psykers. Expect mind tricks and deception when you see them.
If you want to survive for a long time in the game, you will need to get used to the idea of getting swarmed all the time. It’s all very thematic if you ask me. When it comes to moment-to-moment combat, I love that it’s always a target-rich environment. But if I lighten up on the offensive, I will destroyed from every direction. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I firmly believe that Space Marine 2 is meant to be a cooperative shooter. Sure, there are PvP game modes but I don’t see them getting the kind of support Operations is getting. Unless PvP grows into an e-sport or something. But anything less than that and it’s an ok activity that supplements the co-op experience.
Progression plays a huge part in the game. Each of the classes has a lot of potential. To bring out the best in them, you will need to spend hours in Operations and/or the Eternal War game mode. This system was brought over from World War Z and the things you can do at max level may leave onlookers speechless.
The same can also be said about the weapons in the game. The ranged and melee weapons can be tuned to your preferred playstyle and the weapons. As a bonus, ranking up a weapon changes its outward appearance to something more extravagant than the last.
One of the things I didn’t expect to praise so soon was the game’s Photo Mode. I wasn’t expecting to see one before the launch. Before I knew it, I was pausing during combat and events to see if I could capture that perfect moment. I must admit that I was hooked on getting that perfect shot. I even resorted to reloading checkpoints to try again.
Now, I’ve been praising the heck out of the game’s version of the Swarm Engine. However, I am often reminded that the engine itself is not without drawbacks. I’ve noticed that enemies tend to not know what to do when pushed onto edge geometry. Elite Tyranids would freeze in place and sometimes teleport to solid ground. Another concern I have is that partner A.I. is more than a little passive at times. They would frequently leave low-health enemies for the player to finish. While I understand why, I just want them to put the enemy out of their misery.
My other big concern for the game is what the multiplayer experience is going to be like post-launch. I didn’t get a chance to try out the multiplayer on console. So, I can’t speak on that experience just yet. Additionally, PvP was not available during the review period. Hopefully, the multiplayer does extremely well on launch. But I am confident that the devs at Saber Interactive will do right by the players based on my experiences from playing World War Z over the years.
Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2 is the new pinnacle of Warhammer 40k games. I’ve played a lot of 40k games over the years and nothing comes close to how this game captures the essence of its source material. Apart from that, this is a game without microtransactions and cosmetic-only skins in the season pass. But above all else, all new content will be free to all players on release. I am 100% behind every one of these decisions. I wholeheartedly recommend this game to all players interested in the genre. You can even use it as a starting point to get into the grim, dark future of 40k’s setting.
