Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II
First published in GRIND IV, pages 98–103.
The art of endless war. I could start this text with an exhaustive description of the Warhammer 40K universe – but who am I to do that, if over 500 books haven't managed it? I could try to explain why, out of all sci-fi works, 40K is a British interpretation by definition. How the bleak, dark and often pessimistic spirit of its island creators is reflected in a distant, hopeless universe, where the only constant is war.
Yet human curiosity and the urge to explore survive. So do heroism. Sacrifice. Honour. Loyalty. And, now and then, human dignity. Perhaps it's precisely the idea of an impossible fight in the face of certain destruction that stirs such strong passions. Besides, the blend of advanced technology and a Dark Ages mentality produces a unique, inimitable techno-barbarism. I won't go further than this introduction.
Brother Aidan Techmarine of the Grind Knights
And one in profile, for the Emperor!
Laser, brother!
The 40K universe is represented first of all by the miniatures wargame, then by literature, and very little by video games. The Dawn of War strategy games are probably the best known, the classic Chaos Gate also has a place in fans' hearts, Boltgun is among the remarkable modern titles, and the rest of the deluge fills in various segments of the Imperium barely explored virtually until now: the Inquisition, Mechanicus, Rogue Traders, Necromunda. In 2024 you have plenty to choose from, and you don't need a PhD in lore. But back in 2011 (Holy Emperor of Mankind, where has all that time gone?) a game took its genetically modified heart in its teeth
I forgot my glasses and set out to fulfil the ultimate wish of any "hammerer". What would it be like to put on Space Marine armour and start smashing Orks and Chaos cultists?
I'm listening to Creed – One Last Breath and Alice In Chains – The Rooster as I write, and I realise that all the Warhammer memes aren't far from the truth. The first Space Marine, made by Relic Entertainment, is a game about a simple boy's fantasies, gathered up, put together and rammed home with a boot. The game turns you into a kind of knight covered head to toe in ceramite and plasteel armour, wielding a chainsword and guns that spit shells the size of a fire extinguisher, you are of the sun... twice as tall as The Undertaker, and you loyally serve the Emperor and the Imperium.
The Inquisition is nipping at your heels, your comrades-in-arms are beside you, life is heavy metal as fuck. All that's missing is cracking open a cold beer while you watch the green-skin invasion. You're perfectly calm, because you know you'll pulverise them all before sunset anyway.
That's more or less how the first Space Marine feels. A textbook action game, male fantasy taken to the highest level. Toxic as Papa Nurgle's farts for some, sweet as milk drunk straight from the Emperor's teat for others (they say genetically engineered nipples taste of honey).
TITEL,
Space Marine 2 throws Demetrian Titus, an Ultramarine smurf, into the middle of the chaos. Titel of Steel, as I like to call him. A good lad, wholly devoted to the cause he serves. So devoted, in fact, that after the events of the first Space Marine the Inquisition has him in its sights and he has to atone for his sins in the Deathwatch – a sort of elite penal battalion, where even the Black Templars only send their troopers with a screw loose. But Titus copes wonderfully, says all his prayers on time, clears his plate and executes Xenos like a sewing machine.
That's how we meet him again in the single-player campaign – Blackshield Nullus – in the Recidious system, where the Imperium is playing with fire in Project Aurora. The problem for ex-smurf Titus is that the system's planets are being overrun by a Tyranid swarm, and his mission ends in brutal defeat. Saved just in time by the Ultramarines, he's brought back to life through the Rubicon operation, a procedure that turns him into an upgraded Primaris super-soldier of the Emperor.
Brilliant, because that's why Space Marine 2 has infinitely more dynamic, furious and powerful gameplay than the first game.
Still under the Inquisition's scrutiny and received coldly by his comrades, Titus is now demoted to lieutenant.
I'm not going to describe the whole... It doesn't knock, it doesn't rattle... it's blue, too!
BOY
Comet-Boy, who drops from the heavens with a sledgehammer, the story of the campaign, because it isn't exactly long and has some cracking moments that turn everything accepted about the Ultramarines' attitude and combat tactics on its head.
What needs saying here are the elements that set this campaign apart from any other action game of 2024: the parallel structure, the co-op component and that bit with the Dreadnought. You know the one.
Space Marine 2 once again puts you at the head of a team of three super-humans. Alongside Sergeant Gadriel and Brother Chairon, Titel of Steel has to evacuate the Adeptus Mechanicus personnel involved in Project Aurora, repel the Zerg-like Tyranid invasion and, finally, wrestle with the forces of Chaos – the sand Chaos cultists
OF STEEL
Thousand Sons. A sort of hourglasses in power armour, about whom I recommend reading the lore separately, because they have a tragic history full of grimdark drama. Anyway, Titus gets support from the Cadian 8th regiment and a secondary team, whom I'll come to shortly (because that's how I spent over 100 hours) – aka "cannon fodder".
The main trick of Space Marine 2's solo campaign is that it isn't really meant to be played... solo. In fact, the game encourages co-op at every step and has missions built for collaboration. The difficulty, the dialogue, the secondary objectives – everything is made for teamwork. On the other hand, it would be a shame to charge into the story like a ram, because the visuals and sound in Space Marine 2 are glorious. It's worth breathing in the incense from every corner of the space barge, which is your main base between missions and a cathedral for the salvation of your soul. The Warhammer 40K universe has never been represented with such fidelity and such respect.
Space Command co-op The single-player campaign is worth playing even without brothers-in-arms. That's how it went for me, after several Brothers on the GRIND team broke their oaths and went over to Chaos or abandoned the fight. The Inquisition neither forgives nor forgets, for innocence proves nothing!
Leandros awaits you in the torture chamber with a smile on his face.
Ahem, Space Marine 2 truly shines in the co-op Operations mode.
Here your time is split between the toughest missions imaginable and a fitting room, where I spent some 30 of my 100 hours dressing up dolls. I painted my miniatures, so to speak, in hammerer terms. That's because Operations are carried out by the secondary team, Talasa, who, it seems to me, actually do all the heavy lifting.
Seriously, the co-op missions always have huge stakes, such as launching a decommissioned ship as a torpedo, destroying a fiery Heldrake or exterminating a Tyranid Hierophant – the bug equivalent of a Titan.
You know the Dreadnought that comes through the wall and asks Titel where the traitors are, after turning a Helbrute into mincemeat?
In Operations you fight alongside Talasa.
Sometimes you bring a gigantic bridge down on a Hive Tyrant, then execute it in the arena. Other times you have to launch a nuclear train. Occasionally you hold out against an assault by hundreds of beasts.
In fact, the real stars of Space Marine 2 are the fighters on the secondary Operations front. And the rewards are amazi-
Come and take the light! -ng, because after every mission you get experience, Armory Data, new armour pieces and credits. Experience can be invested in a fairly complex skill tree, while credits let you buy colours and emblems for your armour.
The level of customisation for each of the (for now) six classes is incredibly good. The images in the article show three of my favourite little soldiers – Tactical, Assault and Bulwark, maxed out, complete with Relic weaponry. One more and I'm gonna...
Relic weaponry, unlocked using Armory Data points. AD are hidden on the map, always in different places and dependent on the difficulty you choose. That's the only way to upgrade weapons, which in turn level up and have a perk system. The mechanism is super-intuitive and easy to pick up as you go, especially as there's not a trace of time-saving or pay-to-win trickery. That's roughly how Space Marine 2 simulates the experience of painting and assembling Games Workshop miniatures. ...lose it.
THE ART OF BRUTALITY
The brutalism in Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 reaches beyond architecture and vehicle design, where it meets grimdark gothic. That's because Space Marine 2 is a ballet of EXTREME violence, with the most grotesque, bloodiest executions. Once enemies are properly softened up, they can be executed with a single button press. This mechanic regenerates armour through dismemberment, crushing, fisting, erotic asphyxiation, flagellation and xeno-prolapse. I even put out a short on Return of the DOSboi, where I demonstrated the carnage and brutality of the combat, with the growls of Lorna Shore.
Then again, executions aren't that easy to come by. Plenty of enemies are extremely hard to bring down, they defend themselves, fall back to range or teleport. When you run into a Helbrute or a Carnifex on Lethal, spray and pray won't cut it, Brothers. Well-placed melee, ranged and grenade combinations, plus precisely executed defence – which translates as paralysing bolter fire – are the key to survival. Either way, your health bar always sits near zero, which amplifies the tension.
NO
MERCY
The Man-Shield, built to soak the hits and do the slicing. In 2024 there's no better action game. Everything it does is heresy. The Monkey King from Wu-tang-whatever might be a cool customer, but a Space Marine reduces him to 'purée' with a single backhand.
The sense of power, speed, brutality, carnage, the demented sound of the weapons and the voice acting in SM2 hit other levels.
Plus it's a truly AAA Warhammer 40K game, and without DEI. It doesn't apologise and doesn't blink in the face of modern sensibilities. In Space Marine 2...THERE IS ONLY WAR.
DOSBOI AIDAN
NO
RESPITE
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