Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Review in Progress

Sitting at right around 65 hours into developer Owlcat’s impressively deep and expansive Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, there are a few things I can proclaim with confidence: One is that this game is absolutely huge – I might only be crossing the halfway mark, based on where I am in its intricate but not too difficult-to-follow story. Another is that this is a glorious glimpse into the 40K universe, highlighting elements of it that often go underexplored and showcasing some of my personal favorite races and organizations. It’s not without faults, and I have a lot more to see before I slap a final score on it, but Rogue Trader is already easily becoming my favorite of this studio’s ambitious CRPGs so far.

Unfortunately, it’s also worth mentioning upfront that there I ran into a lot of bugs – enough to stuff a Space Hulk with. Missing tooltips, abilities that don’t work correctly, invincible enemies, T-posing servitors, and even one case where my progress was blocked on a crucial quest. Like my grandiose, gothic voidship the Fortunatrix, it’s not exactly polished to a mirror sheen. I’ve been playing on a pre-release build up to this point though, and we were promised a lot of fixes coming in the Day 1 patch that will be out by the time you’re reading this. I made some test saves at a couple of vexing moments so I can go back and check if they’re mended in the release version, and I’ll update this review accordingly.

Now then: Rogue Trader puts you into the shiny, step-on-me boots of a titular Rogue Trader, the heir to the von Valancius dynasty and a very powerful person in the Imperium. No matter how you envision them – with satisfying dialogue options that range from a snarky pirate to a sanctimonious servant of the Golden Throne – this character is a joy to roleplay. Your status allows you to get your way and command respect in many situations where your typical adventuring hero would be laughed off or forced to kiss a ring. You’re so rich that your wealth is abstracted as a “Profit Factor,” and buying common items like gear doesn’t even make a visible dent in your coffers.

The writing really does steer the ship here, from the central quest to reclaim your protectorate and deal with a powerful Chaos cult, to terrifying encounters on desolate shipwrecks hidden away in the dark corners of the Koronus Expanse, to conversations with your diverse and multifaceted crew. If I had to pick three favorite factions in the 40K universe, they would be the Sisters of Battle, the Craftworld Eldar, and the Space Wolves. The fact that all three of those are represented by one of the Rogue Trader’s recruitable companions probably wasn’t done specifically to pander to me, but it sure feels like it was.

Breaking away from the Pathfinder rule system Owlcat reproduced with almost self-defeating fidelity in its past two games, combat in Rogue Trader takes a step forward as well. It pays homage to some of the classic Fantasy Flight Warhammer 40K tabletop RPGs, but is really a new system built from the ground up. And that intentionality has allowed it to simply work better, from character build options to encounter design.

I will warn you that it is still a very crunchy system, though. If you’re coming here straight from Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian’s interpretation of D&D will seem like a soft, gooey nougat that melts in your mouth by comparison. Ability descriptions in Rogue Trader can feel like reading an academic paper on differential equations, and the wordy, overly-detailed way the tooltips are presented doesn’t do it any favors. I eventually got a handle on it and came to enjoy the depth it offers, but it’s intimidating until you learn its visual language, and it never stops being kind of a chore to understand what a new talent actually does on first inspection.

One of my favorite elements of this combat system is how powerful support characters can be. I made my Rogue Trader avatar an officer who not only hands out buffs, but can also give allies free actions. This ends up making me the lynchpin of the entire party even when I rarely ever fire a shot or swing a chainsword myself. I have Yrliet, an ancient elven ranger with a sniper rifle, Argenta, a warrior space nun, and Ulfar, a freaking werewolf in power armor, in my party, after all. I’m never going to be as cool as any of them. So helping them do violence even better is a great niche to find myself in. Setting up a combo where Argenta empties a full bolter magazine directly into the face of a daemon or Yrliet one-taps the enemy commander from across the map is endlessly satisfying.

The galaxy of Rogue Trader looks great, from the cramped corridors of an imperial bunker to the wild expanse of an untamed jungle world. It manages to capture the harshness and moodiness of 40K without being constantly gloomy or depressing. There’s a lot of deft use of color in every environment and on every model or portrait. Exploration is a treat, even if danger is usually just around the corner. The character designs rule, too. And while voice acting is limited mainly to a few, specific, companion-related quests, what is there is very good.

I still have a lot of Rogue Trader ahead of me, and hopefully the devs will be exterminating bugs as fast as I’m exterminating the enemies of humanity. So check back in the coming days for more of my thoughts as the story progresses, and stick around for the final verdict next week.