Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II Impressions: Living and dying by the Space Marine fantasy

There are two types of people in this world. Those who live and breathe Warhammer, and those who have never really got into the massive fictional world. My good friend and fellow Gamereactor UK writer Alex Hopley is of the former category, where I have always been more of the latter lot. Still, at this year's Gamescom, I found myself spending a considerable amount of time at Focus Entertainment's booth, and during my time there I got to go hands-on with Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II.

Just because I'm not a huge Warhammer guy doesn't mean that I don't have experience in this world. I've played Vermintide 2, Darktide, Chaosbane, and a few other titles, but that's about the extent of my Warhammer interest. Yet, what I will say is that out of all the times and places that exist in the Warhammer world, it's the futuristic and sci-fi era that has always piqued my interest. There's something about being put in the shoes of a 10-foot tall, one-tonne man and being asked to single-handedly carve your way through hordes of aliens that has always resonated with me, and likely a large portion of other lads out there. So, despite not being a massive Warhammer fan, Space Marine 2 seemed like a perfect game for me.

Coming from Saber Interactive, the very same developer who gave us World War Z and its fantastic horde mechanic (which clearly was useful in this game), Space Marine 2 picks up years after the previous Space Marine title, which no doubt few got the chance to play due to its age. This sequel puts players back in the shoes of the Space Marine Titus as he returns to the battlefield to help humanity stave off the assault of the vicious and seemingly endless Tyranid horde that is overtaking the galaxy.

There is a very important and clear story at the core of this game, and that could be felt throughout the demo that I got to experience. Titus travels around helping humanity where he is needed, all with his two Ultramarine brothers Chairon and Gadriel, and admittedly the demo didn't do a whole lot to emphasise the narrative, but it was clear that some of the key elements the story looks to cover will include Titus' origins and how that sets him apart from his brothers in arms.

Truthfully, it wasn't the narrative that I was excited to experience when I sat down to play the demo. I was more interested in checking out the gameplay, and how Saber looked to stick the mark with balancing difficulty and that of being a biological tank built and bred to kill. From what I tested, it looks like Saber has gone down the route of making this game a serious challenge. Even on the lowest level of difficulty, I often found myself overwhelmed by Tyranids and being desperate for healing items. Even though Titus is protected by bulky and tough armour and has a chainsaw sword and ranged weapons to protect himself, the Tyranids are tough opponents, and they will put you on the backfoot if you get too trigger happy or bend to a bloodlust and dive in without a semblance of caution.

The action is intense and relentless. The second the opening cinematic finishes, you'll be locked into combat until you reach the end of a level, and the only moments of respite from sawing and blasting through thousands of Tyranids come in the form of brief areas where you can stock up on ammo, or switch weapons. Then it's back to the action to slay, or more likely, fight for your life.

As I mentioned earlier, Saber's experience with creating enemy hordes in World War Z comes to the forefront instantaneously. Your screen will be overwhelmed with Tyranids that flow like a stream of body parts, and the process of cutting them down is less about skill and accuracy and more so managing their assaults and strategically defeating the horde by blasting them as they clamber up walls and so on. Just judging by how many enemies can be on-screen at once, it wouldn't surprise me to hear that Space Marine 2 will ultimately be a very demanding game in a performance sense, especially since the graphics are pretty impressive.

But just because Saber has nailed the feeling of being a Space Marine, and has also seemingly cracked how to make the action relentless and a little bit stressful, doesn't mean that I found Space Marine 2 to be a home run. In fact, to me, it seemed like the game lives and dies by its Space Marine fantasy. If you get bored of just swiping and gunning down arguably identical enemy types, then all of a sudden Space Marine 2 loses a lot of its charm. I'm hoping the full build will be different, but the demo had a severe lack of weapon options, featured a level that was pretty much entirely linear, and showed that the control scheme and available mechanics are a bit of a one-trick pony. If you strip away the visuals and the horde system that allows hundreds of enemies to be rendered on-screen at once, something that screams modern-gen technology, Space Marine 2 often felt like a game that is trapped in the mid-2010s.

I really hope that the demo I experienced was a scaled-back version of the game because there is a lot of potential between Saber's horde feature and the thrilling Warhammer Space Marine era. The allure of stepping into the combat boots of a Space Marine is unlike near anything else out there, and that alone will no doubt bring a lot of fans to this game, but for it to really stick the landing and to stand out in the action genre, I feel like Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II needs to have something extra to lift it up. Here's hoping Saber has been preparing exactly that.