God-Emperor of War
I was astonished by the announcement ofWarhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2at last year’s Game Awards, never expecting a sequel to actually happen, so I’m pleased to see a new trailer at this year’s Geoffries. This “gameplay reveal trailer” only has a few wee snippets of the game being played, but they’re solid. As our boy Spice Maureen stomps through vastGothicindustrial ruins and cuts through hordes of aliens, it’s got that ‘Dynasty Warriorsmeets God Of War’ look again. But I do already miss the Orks.
Ultramarine lad Lieutenant Titus returns for the sequel, having been transformed into one of those even-bigger Primaris Space Marines but demoted from Captain (presumably due to that whole ‘suspected heresy’ thing). After mowing down Ork boyz and forces of Chaos in the first game, now he’s fighting the Tyranids. He’ll be blasting that bolter and swinging his chainsword, force sword, and thunder hammer everywhere from cities to muddy jungle.
While the original game was made by Relic Entertainment, the sequel is coming from Saber Interactive. They’ve made games includingEvil Dead: The Game, World War Z, andSnowRunner, as well as handling quite a few ports. They are not a studio whose name instantly fills me with excitement but I am curious about the return of our big blue boy. And hell, I never expected a sequel after publishers THQ collapsed and Relic were sold to Sega.
Honestly, I’ll miss the Orks. Tyranids look neat and are a serious threat to the galaxy, sure, but Orks have such personality. A battle is so much livelier when your enemies are having a grand old time fighting you. And especially when they keep shouting SPOICE MUHREEN and SPICE MAUREEN. Sinister alien hive minds aren’t as much fun as fun-loving green cockney lads. I do prefer my 40K to beweird, loud, and mucky, like Darktide.
