Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 review - Pure, unfiltered video game

Warhammer 40K is on somewhat of a hot streak with its video games right now. Rogue Trader was a sprawling CRPG and one of my favourite games of last year; 2022 saw both Darktide and Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters launch to scratch the itch of horde shooter fans and tactics games fans respectively. And Boltgun gave the franchise a hybrid retro shooter for people to feast on.

The dark, war-torn future of the 41st millennium just lends itself to a wide array of gaming experiences, and Space Marine 2 is the latest to join the list, providing perhaps the quintessential 40K experience: an Adeptus Astartes rampaging through swathes of Xenos and Chaos in an orgy of explosive violence. And what a grand time it is.

The Emperor protects

The game puts you in the heavy boots of Titus, the protagonist from the first entry who has served in the Deathwatch - a special offshoot of Astartes legions - for the past 100 years. A Tyranid invasion on the Recidious System brings his team to the planet of Kadaku to set off a virus bomb and try to save the planet from the ensuing hordes.

You and your team get separated as you attempt to land, and a solo prologue ensues, which ends with you joining the Ultramarines and gaining command of a squad to continue the battle against the Tyranids in coop or with AI companions.

Chairon and Gadriel are your fellow marines for the entirety of the game, and while the story centres around your efforts to save the system and its various planets from the Tyranids, and the Chaos forces working in the background, the heart of it comes down to this unit and their journeys to respect and understand each other. It's simple but effective stuff that gives personal stakes to the campaign.

Speaking of the AI companions, while Space Marine 2 can be played single-player, I heavily recommend finding some friends to make the journey with you. While the game is next generation in nearly every way - the graphics are gorgeous, the scale of vistas is massive, and there are ridiculous amounts of enemies on screen - the AI is just as dumb as they were in the seventh generation of consoles when the original was released in 2011.

I started on the recommended difficulty of Veteran for the intended experience, but the companions were so useless that I had to roll it back to Normal just to keep my sanity. You will have to do everything yourself regarding objectives, and they don't do a great job of protecting you or dealing with threats more than a few metres away from them, which leads to some frustrating moments. Annoyingly, Normal then felt a bit too easy at times, so I never got to experience that sweet spot where you get a fair challenge.

Join the legion

In addition to the cooperative story, there are PvE and PvP modes to engage with. PvE is made up of coop operations, unique levels that you can play through as one of six classes with a custom marine that you can eventually kit out in whatever armour and colours you unlock as you level up, and enhance with perks and better versions of the standard weaponry.

While each class is focused on the same idea of killing anything that moves and isn't human, you can carve out your own way of doing so. I opted for the Vanguard, a melee-focused class with a grapple that let me dive head first into the fighting to take on the larger enemies, something the campaign doesn't give you the chance to do, as you're more of an all-rounder when playing as Titus.

The gradual difficulty modes here make the PvE highly replayable, and the missions have a lot more unique gameplay mechanics than the main story levels, with a puzzle boss fight, escort mission, and even one with a sandstorm that rolls in to obscure the battlefield intermittently.

I didn't get the chance to try PvP though. The population isn't really there, with only reviewers having access to the game right now, so matchmaking couldn't find anyone to play with when I tried.

Filthy Xenos

The meat of Space Marine 2 is in fighting a tonne of aliens and monsters. You are a machine built for war, and the game goes to every length to make you really feel that. As a result, gameplay isn't very fluid and free-flowing, feeling clunky at times, but it serves the immersion of being a walking tank of a human buried under a mountain of thick armour.

You have a primary, secondary, and melee weapon, letting you switch them out in the hub area before missions or from gear drops found throughout levels. Shooting feels powerful whether you're equipped with the standard bolter rifle or a more powerful melta gun, and the melee weapons are also very fun to use. You have a dedicated button for pulling out your chosen armament at any point to slice or smash, and there's a little dance with dodging or parrying attacks, especially against larger enemies that don't take to being shot so well.

While hanging back is an option at times, you're rewarded by being in the thick of the fighting for the most part, and the way enemies will cluster to you, you won't always have a choice. Taking damage is expected, but you can earn some health back after losing it by harming enemies, and if you drop a shield, damaging an enemy enough to pull off a finisher will get it right back. The give and take is part of the draw, and as a result combat is messy and chaotic in the best way.

In terms of the design of the missions, it's very linear with the occasional branching path that might lead to a dead-end with a medkit or collectible. You're pretty much just following a pathway of blood and slaughter, with some wide open spaces for larger battles, and the occasional swarm moment where things get really intense.

During a swarm, you'll typically occupy a defensive position as hundreds of enemies come converging on your location. The grand scale of these moments make for some of the most tense and enjoyable times in the campaign or PvE modes, and the AI director in the background seems pretty good at fiddling with the dials to make you feel like you're just about to be overrun

The Verdict

Space Marine 2 is pure, unfiltered video game. It's arcadey and straightforward as hell; nothing is overwrought, there is no misconception of trying to be more than what it should be. You play a level, you kill a tonne of things in various contexts, and then you do it all again and again until the credits roll. That's all it needed to be, and it does it with the style and grace of a chainsaw bisecting a pig carcass. Here is the new gold standard for a third-person action game in the 40K universe.

4.5/5

Reviewed on PC. Code provided by publisher.