I should not be playing Space Marine 2 like this. Even the game warned me not to. Regardless, here I slog, a puny level 1 Aspirant in a Ruthless difficulty op recommended for level 15 Angels of Death. Why am I here? For the glory of the God-Emperor. To feel the full grimdark direness of 40K. And because I’m a bloody idiot.

Through sheer grit, spit, and spite, I’ve clutch-killed a path through a swarm of Tyranids to my main objective. I’m caked in mud and blood. I’m out of medicae and depleted of lives, so my two beloved AI chapter brothers cannot resuscitate me. When these four rounds in my sidearm go, we’ll be down to pistol whips and harsh language.

As I crest the last hill and prepare to cry victoriam, the shout dies upon my lips. I stand in genuine awe of the graphics engine-flex that greets me. At least a thousand xenos—like an angry rash on the planet, like a Helldiver’s worst ultra-nightmare—flood across the mountain range beyond.

I gulp, despite “knowing” in the back of my gamer brain that this must be a parlour trick. Non-interactive eye-candy. Some sort of 2.5D matte painting, animated by the voodoo of an especially clever art team.

To my growing horror, a swarm of no fewer than two hundred of these xenos break off from the main host and beeline toward my position. I empty my bolt pistol into the biomass, shriek “Ave, Imperator!” and a tsunami of fangs and foreclaws obliterate us.

This is my very first experience of Space Marine 2, and I cannot wait to go again, albeit on a way more sensible difficulty. In a moment, I’ll fill you in on the finer details of my second sortie, but first let me get some preorder options out of the way. To skip that window shopping, click here to read my continued thoughts.

Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 Deals

Standard Edition

PS5

• Get it digital on PS Store – $169.95

XSX

• Get it digital on MS Store – $169.95

PC

• Get it digital on Steam – $149.95

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Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 hands-on

For those of you who never played the 2011 original, let’s cut right to the beating ossmodula of what Space Marine 2 is. The closest analogue I can give would be: a cover-system-less Gears of War with six classes, XP grinding for unique perks, and a three-player (or AI) squad running finite lives. Also, despite frequent and impressive glimpses outward to a larger conflict on your macro, missions will funnel you along hemmed in paths that can branch and become flooded with foes.

Even on Recruit difficulty, with a rifle that looks like it was ripped off an aircraft, your default state shall be backpedalling, dodging, and desperately trying to parry. Almost every encounter devolves into chainsword-to-claw CQC and last ditch Ability usage to turn some of the highest tides this side of Days Gone. Every quiet moment is spent licking your wounds and scratching for ammo and stimms left near the corpse piles of non-transhumans who had buckley’s chance of returning home with a head.

Sometimes you’ll stumble upon a dataslate that fleshes out their final heroic or hopeless moments. More often, exposition comes from well-voiced vox orders from your superiors, or some surprisingly touching snatches of squaddie chatter. Your bros keep their trigger discipline to short-controlled bursts; they’ll fire at will with compliments and encouragement. It’s…nice.

Is this revolutionary action gaming? No, not particularly. Does it nail the brutalist, survival on a knife’s edge atmosphere of Warhammer 40K? You betcha. And, like almost every game ever made, all of it’s elevated when you enlist some human cohorts who know how to roll as a unit and cover each other’s weaknesses.

To achieve that dynamic effectively requires the studious unlocking of 9 core perks, 3 team perks, 9 gear perks, and 3 signature perks. Quick tip: You should also probably pick and stick to a class early, as any self-improvement done will only accrue to the path chosen: Tactical, Assault, Vanguard, Bulwark, Sniper, or Heavy.

Being a lone wolf who loves to test the limits of common sense, I slid into the armour of a Heavy. Downsides: I’m less zippier, and having no melee weapons means I’m beholden to ammo box charity in the levels. Upsides: my 450-round Heavy Bolter reconstitutes Tyranids into tomato paste, and my Sig ability, Iron Halo, creates a semi-circle of safety from ranged fire.

Better yet, I have cool things to (literally and repeatedly) shoot for. At level 25, I can make my Halo regen myself and my homies at a greater range and twice as quick. Or at level 24, I can go the other way and increasingly weaponise my bubble to melt any interlopers. I’m also taken by the tactical risk-reward of perks, which, surprisingly, give me damage bonuses when I’m on cooldown and vulnerable.

Alternatively, you could invest in being a Team player. Your perk-improved rezzes could thoroughly refresh a brother, instead of heaving him to his feet, mere inches from death’s door again. Or you can avoid that entire life-death cycle by simply making your squad’s attitude-adjusters hurt more and chew ammo less to the tune of 25%. Decisions, decisions.

Even from a cursory glance into the systems of Space Marine 2, I catch the strong whiff of hours upon hours of grinding yet to be done. Hell, I can see that half of it will be spent on the purely cosmetic and tactically inconsequential. (Yes, Saber Interactive, I will achieve victory in 32 missions in Operations or Eternal War mode to unlock the God-Emperor-tier, 9-item set of ‘Relic Secundus’ armour.)

But all of this is assuming I won’t first be lured away by the chase of earning every Astartes Chapter’s colour sets, decals, and armour parts. It’s going to be agonising trying to pick from the Ultramarines, Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Iron Hands, Imperial Fists, Space Wolves, Salamanders, Raven Guard—this list goes on.

When I’m not drooling over menus, my time is spent in Operations mode, a PvE sidebar to the Campaign that’s centred on the auxiliary missions of Combat Squads Talasa and Veridian. In these sorties I mow down Termagants until my heavy bolter overheats, then it’s time to learn how to time my parries (obvious blue circle HUD element) to knock leaping Hormagaunts back.

As I dispense pure, unadulterated gunishment to the masses, a Tyranid Warrior will invariably show up. They’re effectively mini-bosses, prone to blocking rounds with their scythe-like hands, and you’ll need to leap roll away from their (unblockable red circle) attacks. Manageable stuff, until you have more than three of them encircling you.

Sometimes you’ll earn a short QTE window where you can counter-attack these brutes with a quick pistol blast to their bonce. And there’s also the sheer satisfaction of watching them enter a ‘red-flashy critical health’ state, whereupon they may be executed with an R3 click. The go-to move here seems to be shish kabobbing them with their own dismembered limbs. Or just grabbing their head with your Power Glove to administer the ultimate facelift (think: peeling).

On the whole, this gameplay loop of crowd/ammo/heat controlling may sound primitive on paper, but it’s also a pretty compelling power fantasy. Add the very real danger of you and your cohorts getting too cocky—and then boxed in with no means to jump or mantle to safety, because man-tank—and these encounters can get out of pocket quick.

Do I have concerns at this point? Only some niggling things. For starters, I think an extra audio layer of “blades biting flesh” was absent in the otherwise kinetic swordplay here. Also, despite being in the top-tier of specs needed to run this, I copped long load/shader caching moments, both from a cold boot and when taxiing to/from missions. Optimisable stuff.

Lastly, I spotted an isolated bug where one of my brothers was skating about on his helmet, completely inverted. But you know what? I think that’s all just the joys of preview code. In my decades of pre-release demoing, I’ve witnessed a lot worse in games that turned out just fine.

The only real irritation I’m feeling is the itch to hop back aboard for another pod drop. Space Marine 2 looks a treat up close, with an Emperor level reverence spent on the dense subject matter and fan-service attention to the minutiae of the titular marines. Even a trigger-happy berserker like myself could waste hours tinkering in the cosmetics menus, and then whatever photo mode options Saber feels like including.

More importantly, it just felt good in my Power Gloves and as merciless as you please, even when dialled down. Plus, Space Marine 2 clearly has a long-tail for post-campaign grinding in co-op or PvP for some seriously alluring unlocks and skills for six XP-independent classes. Admittedly, the story remains a mystery and a major piece of the puzzle, but it still seems like Saber is nailing the basic genetic-engineering of this sequel. I can feel it in my implanted, secondary heart of hearts.

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Adam Mathew was raised on Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels and stans the Adeptus Custodes.