The original Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine was a cult-classic mashup of shooting and melee carnage back when 40K games were few and far between. Thirteen years later, the sequel is trying to rekindle that grim, bloody magic in a much more crowded and refined field. It’s a tall order, but one that Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 might be up to after all.
Years of trailers have made the upcoming PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC co-op shooter look stunning but faithful to its legacy. A new round of actual hands-on previews now seem to prove that it wasn’t all smoke and mirrors. Space Marine 2 sounds like it keeps its eye on the 40K prize with a three-player PVE mode called Operations that nails what fans love about the gothic space fantasy of the source material. The initial takeaways from critics’ recent time with the latest playable build sound more than promising so far.
At IGN, Leana Hafer was impressed by the level of visual detail and likened Space Marine 2's bloodlust to that of Doom 2016. There’s a Sekiro-esque perfect-parry system, but she felt the canned animations, while enjoyable, also made the flow of combat more choppy. Despite a linear single-player campaign, the meat of the game seemed to be in the six-class multiplayer PVE mode which is full of unlocks and customizations. “Space Marine 2 has a real shot at being the quintessential third-person action game set in the 40K universe,” Hafer wrote.
If the PVE mode sounds similar to the loot-based horde mode game Darktide, well, that’s exactly the comparison Eurogamer’s Chris Tapsell drew. Space Marine 2's take is less atmospheric but also more streamlined in its class-building and progression. Tapsell called it “schlockier” overall and better at embracing the “unthinking fanaticism” of the Warhammer fantasy. “This is a double-A game in triple-A clothing, in many senses, simple pleasures and just occasional jank, with a layer of grim, gothic fidelity over the top,” Tapsell wrote, describing the type of less ambitious, more focused shooter we don’t get as often these days.
Gamesradar’s Andrew Brown was even more enthusiastic, saying his time with the game turned it into his most anticipated of the year. “The way in which you move from shooting to melee and back is exceptionally fluid, and there were several fights where I felt like a force of nature, which is exactly what playing a Space Marine should feel like,” he wrote. “Even when I was up against Chaos Space Marines and hordes of demons, who crept into the preview level to fight Tyranids and Imperium alike, I was outnumbered but always felt like the strongest person on the battlefield.”
PCGamesN’s Ross McInally was much more harsh on the main campaign, criticizing what he saw as by-the-book missions and boss battles that make you unlearn the lessons the game has taught you. Also glitches. The Operations mode was a different story, with the ability to paint each piece of armor giving Space Marine 2 a bit of the sensibility of the miniatures tabletop game that inspired it. GameSpot’s Dave Jewitt was also bullish on game’s virtues as a Warhammer adaptation.
“Overall, Space Marine 2 is shaping up to be a more than worthy successor to the 2011 fan favorite,” he wrote. “Everything that made the original Space Marine great is still there but as a much more considered and evolved version of itself, all of which comes together to make Space Marine 2 feel like both a familiar old friend and an exciting new experience.” That’s all fans of the original need to hear.
Space Marine 2 was originally supposed to ship last year, before being delayed to 2024. It’s now set to come out on September 9. There were supposed to be free betas for fans to test out the game for themselves ahead of release, but developer Saber Interactive canned them in order to focus on having “the best launch” possible. Some features and hidden reveals were already spoiled for fans when an old build of the game leaked earlier this summer. Saber warned players to stay away, hoping their first experience of the game would be the finished product rather than in-progress work. So far it sounds like it will be worth the wait.