Space Marine 2's Brutal, Gratifying Gameplay Is Doing Warhammer 40,000 Right
Dave Jewitt
8/7/2024
From the very start of my time with Space Marine 2, I was taken aback by the sheer scale, atmosphere, and attention to detail. The pride and care emanating from this snippet of the grimdark world that Saber Interactive has built was palpable, and something I believe will resonate with both newcomers to the franchise and longtime fans of Warhammer 40K.During my hands-on preview of Space Marine 2, I was given access to a couple of non-campaign PvE missions, as well as a main mission from around the halfway point of the story. The story mission opened with Titus and his squad exiting their ship onto a landing pad with an Imperial Guard staging area just beyond. Through this section, I saw an exciting glimpse of life in the war-torn Imperium: Militarum units bowing and kneeling at the sight of Space Marines, a commander delivering a rousing speech from atop an enormous Baneblade tank, a Commissar delivering punishment to soldiers found guilty of cowardice, troops burning mounds of Tyranid corpses with flamers, and so much more. This small section really drove home how much effort has gone into the game's world-building, and immediately made me think that Space Marine 2 could very well be the most authentic Warhammer 40K game we've ever seen (and since I know so many have been curious, it's an experience you can indeed play through with or without your helmet).In my last preview, I said that Space Marine 2 really makes you feel like a Space Marine, and it's a sentiment that has only been further reinforced. But so far, this is also the first game that really makes you feel like you're in Warhammer 40K. A large part of this is thanks to the game's combat. It definitely demands more of you than 2011's Space Marine, but it also retains the same feeling of brutal, grimdark action that made the original great. This makes for more of a "thinking marine's" hack-and-slash game, which works incredibly well.Continue Reading at GameSpot...
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Categories: Science | Space
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