I can't explain why, but I've always suspected it would be cool to hang out with the Space Marines, under all the heavy power armor. There's a kind of genetically modified, ritually weaponized “rocker dude” energy that I can appreciate. And based on Warhammer 40,000: Space Marines 2 Game Overview trailer released yesterday, it looks like I'll be able to test my theory firsthand. Finally: a game that gives us the opportunity to see how the Emperor's eldest children spend their free time.
The game overview begins with a look at Space Marine 2's campaign mode, picking up the story of protagonist Titus a century after the first game. Shown to planet-spanning jungles and metropolises, Titus and his Space Marine comrades will fight with chainswords and bolt pistols as they battle “seemingly endless waves” of Tyranids, thanks to Saber Interactive's “unique swarm technology.” It looks promising, with some snappy transitions between hand-to-hand combat and third-person shooting.
But most importantly for me, we learn about the Battle Barge, one of the Space Marines' armored fortresses, which we'll return to between raids to adjust team gear, choose between available missions, and “gather information” by chatting with the soldiers. boys. Ironically, I'm very excited to be able to snoop around a detailed Space Marine ship, and not just because I'm convinced that the Ultramarines are probably big gossips. I mean, those big blue boys are the closest thing the Space Marines have to a cheerleading squad. What else are you going to do in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium where there is only war, if you don't talk? I bet they have wild rumors about the Space Wolves.
The game overview also gives us some additional glimpses of the replayability-focused approach. Cooperative operations mode and Eternal War's 6v6 competitive matches. While there aren't many new details about how they'll play, the trailer details how both modes fit into the game's progression, which looks pretty elaborate compared to the first Space Marine game.
As you play Operations or Eternal War, you'll unlock cosmetics for your custom Space Marine, as well as experience and “armor data” to spend on skill and equipment upgrades. The six playable Space Marine classes have their own skill trees, while it appears that individual weapon types have their own “perk trees.” Additionally, as you use a weapon, it appears that you will unlock modified variants of that weapon archetype. A “handcrafted” automatic bolt-action rifle shown in the video had increased accuracy compared to the default variant, but decreased magazine capacity and ammunition reserves.
As for cosmetics, we get to see a bit more menus for customizing your Space Marine, and it seems as granular as you'd expect. It looks like there will be plenty of individual armor components to unlock and trade, and you'll be able to assign a general color scheme as well as component-specific colors and heraldry. I'm going to spend hours on those menus. I can not wait.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 will be released on September 9, 2024.
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