The fight for the Emperor has made its triumphant return with the arrival of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II. Many of my friends and I got excited when Space Marine II was first announced, so it is quite something to finally have my hands on it after all this time. From a fantastic story and difficult gameplay to a wonderful soundtrack, this game seems to be the ultimate Space Marine experience. However, how much of it works? Let’s dive in and find out.

The bread and butter of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II is the campaign. Taking place around 100 years after the events of the original Space Marine game, you take control of Captain Titus while he is still serving his penance for his actions. After participating in an intense battle, Titus is offered a second chance to prove himself to the Emperor and mankind. His condition on having a second chance is that he must keep his past a secret to his new squad. Time will tell if he can keep it.

The main campaign truly thrives with the combat. The enemy shows little mercy throughout every difficulty, which helps give players that true Space Marine experience. The campaign can be played alone or with two friends. The fact that the campaign is capped at three players seems odd, but I am sure that the developers had a good reason for it. From my own experience, the campaign is a lot better with friends due to the sheer amount of carnage that you can unleash with three players rather than with two dinky AI teammates.

Of all the things that hooked me the most in Space Marine II, the PvP has kept me playing far more than I expected. All of the game modes are your standard multiplayer shooter offerings; the thing that makes the Player versus Player action so unique is the Space Marine flair that comes with the look and loadout of all of the players. The various classes and weapon load-outs allow for a playstyle for almost anyone.

Even though you are going up against fellow Space Marines, it never felt like you could tear each other to pieces like in Call of Duty or Counter-Strike 2. Instead, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II makes you feel like a bi-pedal tank and every clash feels closer to War Thunder or World of Tanks. It is hard to explain this further in words, but I believe that you will understand when you play Space Marine II yourself.

There are a series of operations that you can also play that help to enhance the story by providing an additional viewpoint. These operations are unlocked by playing the main campaign and show what another squad is up to on the same missions that the campaign follows. These are usually the squad missions that you hear vaguely on the radio during the main campaign, so these operations are a really cool way to provide additional context to the story. Plus it gives you more chances to slay enemies with your fellow Space Marines!

The customization of your Marine classes is also something that I adore. As you play Space Marine II, you earn tokens that allow players to unlock new chapters. Most chapters come with a unique color scheme and symbols so that you can create the weirdest and coolest-looking marines to enter the battlefield! The only thing that I didn’t really enjoy about the customization is that it doesn’t transfer between the various game modes. You will need to customize your marine in each game mode in order to show off your troop-inspiring flair.

Saber Interactive has set up an extensive roadmap of new content that it plans on bringing to Space Marine II over time. While it is rare for me to review a game including its content roadmap, I think that it is something that needs to be analyzed more often when discussing live service games since that has become a big drive from major studios these days. Assuming that Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II can stick the landing with its content, I think Saber can have Space Marine II be viable from a PvP perspective for at least two years.

Luckily Saber Interactive is planning more content for the PvE mode of Space Marine II, so that will give it an even longer lifespan. The only thing that I’m worried about is if the developers will fall into the pit that Helldivers 2 has fallen into from time to time. Space Marine II had an issue when Saber did a balance patch that angered players. Luckily, the developers were relatively quick to reverse course and put things back on track. Let’s hope that they can avoid any more of these problems going forward, as Space Marine II is a solid experience right now.

A PC review copy of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II was provided by Focus Entertainment for this review.

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Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II

$59.99

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• The Best Space Marine Experience
• Plenty of Customization
• Fantastic Gamemodes
• Wonderful Graphics

Cons

• Rare Bugs
• No Customization Carry Over