Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a 2024 third-person shooter hack and slash video game developed by Saber Saint Petersburg and published by Focus Entertainment. The sequel to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (2011), it was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X /S on 9 September 2024. The game received generally positive reviews from critics.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Developer(s)	Saber Interactive
Publisher(s)	Focus Entertainment
Director(s)	Dmitry Grigorenko Oliver Hollis-Leick
Producer(s)	Aleksey Tkachev
Designer(s)	Anatolii Koruka
Programmer(s)	Efim Plotnikov
Artist(s)	Dmitry Kholodov
Writer(s)	Craig Sherman Oliver Hollis-Leick Ashley Cooper
Composer(s)	Nima Fakhrara Steve Molitz
Series	Warhammer 40,000
Engine	Swarm Engine
Platform(s)	PlayStation 5 Windows Xbox Series X/S
Release	9 September 2024
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter, hack-n-slash
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

In Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II, the player engages enemies using a mix of both melee and ranged combat from a third-person point of view. The player controls Titus, a lieutenant of the Ultramarines chapter and returning protagonist from the first game. Titus is accompanied by fellow Space Marines Chairon and Gadriel throughout the campaign who can be controlled by other players in the game's cooperative multiplayer mode or by artificial intelligence (AI) in single player.

The game utilizes ranged combat when facing weaker enemies (such as Tyranid Gaunts), while hack and slash combat is required when fighting more powerful enemies (such as the Tyranid warrior) that can block incoming projectile damage. Players can parry an opponent's attack, though some hostile attacks are unblockable and therefore must be dodged. Additionally, the player can fight alongside imperial guard foot soldiers controlled by AI throughout sections of the game. Titus is protected by armor. When his armor breaks, his health will drop permanently when he is attacked. Health will only replenish when the player recovers medkits in the game's battlefield. His armor, however, will regenerate after Titus performs an execution attack on an enemy. If a character's health is depleted the character will drop to the ground and bleed out for 30 seconds during which other characters can revive them before they die.

The game also supports a separate cooperative mode named "Operations”, and three 6v6 competitive multiplayer modes (Annihilation, Seize Ground, and Capture and Control). Players can choose from six different character classes and freely customize their player avatar with various cosmetic items.

Synopsis

Setting

The game is set in the early 42nd Millennium during the Era Indomitus, the Age of the Dark Imperium. After the return of Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Ultramarines, the Imperium of Man has launched a galaxy-wide, decade-long campaign known as the Indomitus Crusade with the goal of reclaiming lost worlds from its enemies and bringing it back from the brink of collapse. However, when it seems that the Imperium have gained the upper hand, an alien race known as the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Leviathan emerge from the western part of the galaxy and in greater numbers than ever before. This starts the 4th Tyrannic War.

The game's main enemies are the Tyranids (believed to be a splinter of Hive Fleet Leviathan) and the forces of Chaos. The Tyranids are an extragalactic insectoid race whose sole purpose is to consume all forms of biomatter. The forces of Chaos return from the first game, followers of the daemonic Gods of Chaos. Confirmed to feature in the game are the Thousand Sons, one of the nine Traitor Astartes Legions who are devoted to Tzeentch, the Chaos God of Sorcery, Manipulation and Mutation.

After the events of the first game, Captain Demetrian Titus (Clive Standen) of the Ultramarines Chapter was imprisoned by Inquisitor Thrax on charges of heresy due to his resistance to the powers of Chaos. Although he was deemed free of Chaos taint, Inquisitor Thrax continued to imprison Titus under torture for a century. Thrax was later killed by the Grey Knights after being possessed by a Daemon, and other members of the Inquisition freed Titus and offered him the chance to return to the Ultramarines. Titus, believing that he had disgraced his Chapter, instead chose self-imposed penance by becoming a Blackshield and joining the Deathwatch (an Inquisitorial order composed of Space Marines from multiple chapters, dedicated to hunting and exterminating alien threats).

Plot

Titus (known as "Blackshield Nullus") leads a Deathwatch kill team to the Recidious System, responding to an Adeptus Mechanicus distress call on the jungle world of Kadaku, home to a classified operation known as "Project Aurora". On approach, the Deathwatch transport is destroyed by Tyranids, and Titus is the only survivor. Titus succeeds in his mission, but is mortally wounded and recovered by the Ultramarines. Waking up aboard the battle barge Resilient, Titus is met by Chaplain Quintus, who explains that Marneus Calgar, the Ultramarines Chapter Master, ordered that Titus' life be saved by subjecting him to the "Rubicon Primaris", making him a more powerful Primaris Space Marine. Though Titus wishes to return to the Deathwatch, Quintus reminds him that he was declared free of Chaos taint by the Inquisition, but he must return to his Chapter and regain their favor if he truly seeks redemption.

After re-inducting him into the Ultramarines as a Lieutenant, Quintus orders Titus to keep his past a secret and to report to Sevastus Acheran, the current Captain of the 2nd Company. Acheran is skeptical of Titus' reinstatement, but gives him command of a squad, which includes Sergeant Gadriel and Brother Chairon. The team, backed up by the elite Cadian 8th regiment, is tasked with evacuating the Mechanicus personnel, including Archmagos Nozick Beta-12, who refuses to leave until data related to Project Aurora is retrieved from his research facility. While the operation is successful, the gunship transporting him crashes in Tyranid territory. Titus and his squad race to save Nozick but find him already dead. Surveying the wreckage, they discover that Nozick was not slain by Tyranids but by the forces of Chaos. Before they leave, a squad of Ultramarines transport a mysterious object from the wreckage that causes Titus to lose consciousness.

Acheran then orders Titus to go to Avarax, the system's other inhabited planet, to retrieve Nozick's apprentice Morias Leuze, who can continue work on Project Aurora. They reach an Adeptus Mechanicus facility and Titus accesses a cogitator that gives him Leuze's location. Suspicious of the mysterious object, Titus searches the cogitator and discovers to his horror that Project Aurora is a weapon powered by the Chaos "Power Source" he destroyed on Graia over a century earlier. Titus returns to the Resilient to confront Acheran, demanding that the project be stopped, but Acheran refuses as the Mechanicus are working under the orders of Primarch Guilliman himself. Returning to Avarax, they reach Leuze and escort him to the Resilient. Gadriel's suspicion of Titus is raised after Leuze unwittingly reveals to them Titus' history on Graia.

Titus urges Acheran to contact Lord Calgar, but the Astropathic Relay which would allow them to send a message is currently overrun by Tyranids. Titus fights his way to the Relay, and meets with Astropath Neoma who offers to send a message to Calgar. As she sends the message, Neoma suddenly accuses Titus of being a traitor and trying to lure Calgar to the planet to kill him. A suspicious Gadriel attacks Titus but stops as Chairon shoots Neoma, recognizing her as possessed by Chaos in the process of sending the message. Her body explodes in Warp energy which reveals Imurah, a Sorcerer Lord of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion. Upon returning to the Resilient, Acheran informs Titus that the Thousand Sons have appeared all over the Recidious System and are focusing on the burial world of Demerium, where Project Aurora is based.

Titus and Gadriel make amends before they assault Demerium. They reach Leuze, who reveals that by combining Necron and Mechanicus technology with the Power Source, Project Aurora will allow them to negate and banish all those touched by Chaos, across the entire galaxy. Leuze activates the machine and seemingly vaporizes Imurah, but the sorcerer reappears and kills Leuze, revealing that he influenced the Mechanicus into creating Project Aurora. He steals the artifact and uses it to create a massive rift to the immaterium to summon reinforcements. Reuniting with Acheran, the team attempts to close the rifts by destroying several obelisks that empower it. They are nearly overwhelmed, but are saved by the arrival of Lord Calgar and his Ultramarine forces. During the battle, Calgar, Titus and his team enters the rift and battle Imurah. While Imurah is distracted, Titus again destroys the Power Source, killing the sorcerer.

Returning to the Resilient, the Ultramarines celebrate their victory, and Calgar invites Titus to join him on a mission elsewhere. Before he departs, Titus is intercepted by Quintus, who reveals himself to be Leandros, Titus' former subordinate who had reported him to the Inquisition, and warns that he will eliminate Titus if he falls to corruption.

Development and release

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II was announced on 9 December 2021 with a cinematic trailer at The Game Awards 2021. It was confirmed that Captain Titus was making his return and has become a Primaris Space Marine. The game takes place in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe and features the Ultramarines chapter of Space Marines. The Tyranids will be featured as enemies. It was also announced that the role of Titus had been recast (he was voiced by Mark Strong in the original game), and he will be voiced by Clive Standen. A gameplay reveal was shown at The Game Awards 2022.

In June 2023, at Summer Game Fest 2023, it was confirmed the campaign would feature three player co-op with either other players or AI, it was additionally revealed that the game was set for a 'winter' 2023 release. A gameplay trailer was released at the end of August, as well as confirmation that there would be a beta release.

In September 2023, Games Workshop released a board game based on the game which includes a miniature model of Titus. In November, Games Workshop and Wētā Workshop revealed several statuettes in the works, with one of them being a statuette of Titus with interchangeable weapons and heads.

Space Marine II was originally scheduled to release for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S in 2023, before being delayed to 9 September 2024. In June 2024, developer Saber Interactive announced that the planned beta was cancelled in order to focus on getting the game ready for the launch date.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	(PC) 83/100 (PS5) 82/100 (XSXS) 83/100
OpenCritic	87%

Review scores

Publication	Score
Eurogamer	4/5
GamesRadar+	4/5
Hardcore Gamer	4/5
IGN	8/10
PC Gamer (US)	60/100
PCGamesN	6/10
Push Square	9/10
VG247	4/5

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic, and 87% of critics recommended the game, according to OpenCritic. The game attracted more than 2 million players on its launch day.

External links

• Official website