Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 review – Grimdark gorefest embraces Chaos

Space Marine 2 might be the game Warhammer 40K fans have always wanted, but it struggles to escape the shadow of Gears of War and Halo.

If you’ve seen any of the trailers and gameplay demos of Space Marine 2 and thought, “Wow that looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun” then you’d be right. It’s a violent rollercoaster ride that almost perfectly adapts the 40K universe into playable form. If you’ve ever wanted to step into the shoes of one of the Emperor’s Angels, this is the best opportunity to live out that power fantasy.

Forget what you know from the first game too. While Space Marine 1 was great for its day, this is a totally different beast. The visuals are a treat and the atmosphere not only gets across the camaraderie of being among the Adeptus Astartes, the official term for the Space Marines, but it also communicates the sheer terror of being invaded by the Tyranid swarm.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 key details

• Price: £49.99/$59.99
• Developer: Saber Interactive
• Release Date: September 9, 2024
• Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC

There is only war

The locations you’ll explore are a mixture of jungle death worlds and imperial hive cities, all with one thing in common – they’re all doomed. You see in 40K, once the Tyranids make planetfall, that’s usually curtains for all life on it. The Space Marines aren’t here to save these planets, they’re here to evacuate VIPs, retrieve important data/assets, and slow down the swarm before it consumes another, more important, world. It’s bleak, and is to be expected for the franchise that coined the term “grimdark.”

To get you up to speed, players control Titus, an Ultramarine who’s still paying for his mistakes/heroism in the first game where he was up against the Orks, at least until Chaos (the Space Marine’s arch enemies) showed up and upstaged the green boys. This time, a now-demoted Titus is back in blue and on the front lines against Hive Fleet Leviathan, the most aggressive and powerful invasion of Tyranids the galaxy has ever seen. They’re also the current big bad in the tabletop game, with Chaos taking a temporary backseat.

The Tyranids are the perfect videogame enemy as they’re a swarm of vicious dino-bug monsters who live to kill – and get stomped to death by Space Marines. The average ‘Nid is no match for the Angels of Death, however, these creatures attack in swarms, making them incredibly deadly. Many of the abilities you can use in the game involve managing crowd control, so you’ll be slaying groups of Tyranids at a time – which never gets old and is always satisfying.

The Great Devourer

Those who are familiar with 40K will know that the Tyranids win battles through overwhelming numbers of Gaunts, but there are bigger and more deadly bioforms. The second most common is the Tyranid Warriors who are very tough to kill in the early hours of Space Marine 2, but in time you’ll dispatch them with more ease. However, they’re always a threat and should never be underestimated. The battlefield soon fills up and it can be quite overwhelming at times, but eventually, we learned to embrace the chaos.

Psychic Zoanthropes, tunneling Raveners, and swarms of tiny Rippers flesh out the Tyranid forces, but larger creatures also await wary players. The game looks to the tabletop models for its boss fights, so expect to see the Lictor, Carnifex, Hive Tyrant, and other classic monsters make an appearance. The Tyranids aren’t the only enemy to show up either, as other factions get in on the action as the story progresses.

The game is stuffed full of fan service and those who’ve enjoyed 40K for a long time will absolutely love the many references to the wider universe. The Horus Heresy still hangs over the Space Marines, despite it being ten thousand years ago. The galaxy is still reeling from the emergence of “The Great Rift”, and all of this contributes to world-building. Little guys in red robes from the Mechanicum run around the Ultramarine’s ship and we even get a window into how the normal humans of the Imperial Army view their Space Marine allies.

New players may be a little overwhelmed and confused by all this, and the game does little to handhold or educate on the wider lore. But if this is where your 40K journey begins then that’s not a bad thing. The game is an ideal entry point into the franchise as in Warhammer, there is no starting at the beginning. However, those who do decide to do a deep dive into the lore before or in between playing will find it very rewarding.

For the Emperor

Combat in Space Marine 2 has a heft to it, after all, you’re playing as an 8-foot tall super soldier in thick power armor. Not everyone will be a fan of this, as to those used to playing fast-paced hack-and-slash games, this could feel cumbersome. But once you’re used to it and have learned the game’s mechanics, it’s rewarding and addictive. Space Marines are created to kill until something stops them, and the game allows us to feel this for the first time.

Running and gunning are encouraged, and Space Marine 2 features a vast array of weaponry reminiscent of the tabletop game. Ever wondered what it’s like to shoot a Tyranid in the face at point-blank range with a plasma pistol? We did. Now we know, and it was fun to find out. The campaign is exciting and the story ties nicely to the current overarching 40K narrative but the game’s true strength is in its multiplayer.

While PvP offers brutal Space Marine vs Space Marine action, and yes you can play as Chaos Marines and loyalists from various Legions/Chapters, with a ton of build variety, co-op play is this game’s crowning achievement. It allows you to buddy up with two other players, craft your ideal Astartes warrior, then enter the battlefield and slay some Tyranids together. It’s thrilling and it’s even possible to play through the entire campaign in co-op, something you should do instead of playing solo if you can.

The Verdict 4/5

For Warhammer 40K fans, this truly is the game they’ve been waiting for, the issue is that it can feel slightly too similar to Gears of War in terms of gameplay, and Halo in terms of setting. Obviously, 40K has existed a lot longer than either of those two franchises, but that’s not going to stop some players from feeling a sense of déjà vu or that they’ve seen it all before. 40K may have inspired those sci-fi settings in part, but there’s no denying the opposite is true here.

While we have concerns that Space Marine 2 could eventually become a fans-only game after its initial hype has died down, there’s no denying that this is the 40K game that many of us have spent decades waiting for. Those who’ve ever felt like a modern multiplayer game set in this universe would be a blast, were not only right, they owe it to themselves to check it out.

Reviewed on PS5