Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

This game is a gift for all 40K fans. Also a breath of fresh air for players suffocated by overly complicated and unfun games. And yes, this game is fucking fun, absolute video game. Maintains the essence of the first space marine, improves everything that was already great, and fixes what needed improvement, all modes, campaign, coop and PvP, all work perfectly and do their job. Without aggressive monetization and no logic cosmetics, customizing your character is really like painting a Warhammer miniature. The developers knew who their audience was, they knew what they wanted, they found a way to do it, and they did it. This game is excellent, is not perfect, certainly not, but to say it is bad is heresy.

I cant play the game anymore. Offline operations dont progress forward because the game truly only works "online". You cant connect to servers though because they screwed everything up with patch 7.0 and havnt fixed it in over 6 months. Even when connecting to servers i can get maybe 40 minutes in and then connection drops and lose all progress to the mission. Just a waste of unplayable time anymore.

wish there are more modern games like this: great action, a story and narrative that makes you feel like a badass, and no meaningless open/semi-open world nonsense. just sit back, kill bunch of aliens, explore cool places, watch cutscenes, and repeat. i realized how much i missed this simple but well executed idea. definitely recommended (it's more fun with friends). "for the emperor!!!"

The game play loop and combat of Space marines 2 is very fun don't get me wrong there is a reason i have 300+ hours as of this review however. The server stability and constant random crashes mid operations make it always unplayable. Never really had this issue until patch 7.0 and it has continued into the following patches (Pc Specs are much greater then required for this game) After numerous attempts to fix it myself I've come to the conclusion that it just seems patch on patch they always get something wrong and the players pay the price it will not get resolved if you happen to be one of the unlucky people on any given patch you pre much pack your bags and have to move along, I really hope the Devs think of using more resources on fixing these core issues before more people just end up saying screw it and uninstalling for good.

It's not a shooter, it's a hack and slash with guns with a VERY generous aim assist. Otherwise, this feels like playing Halo for the first time to me. The story can be kind of hard to follow as someone only slightly familiar with warhammer lore, but everything looks cool as hell

Bought the ultra edition, I have all the dlc but they are not unlocked in the game, I have to grind to get the game currency and only then I can buy what I bought in the dlc... this is scam fuck you Saber Interactive and the person who came up with this brilliant idea

It’s always a pleasure to see a big-budget, high-quality game set in the Warhammer 40K universe. This game delivers spectacular battle set-pieces and breathtaking backdrops that, despite the linear level design, add an epic sense of scale that truly captures the Warhammer spirit. Here, muscle-bound Astartes tear through xenos filth and purge heresy with righteous fury. Massive bolters roar as they cover their brothers' advance. Visually and graphically, the game looks solid and impressively immersive—real gritty warriors in a world where there is only war. The atmosphere is spot-on. Cutscenes and in-engine sequences help with immersion as well… and then the next mission begins. Unfortunately, I just can't bring myself to praise the gameplay. My opinion is based solely on the campaign—I didn’t have the time or desire to try out the rest. In terms of game mechanics, it feels like a basic action game from around 2010. Most of the weapons feel the same, enemy variety is minimal, and the gameplay scenarios are criminally repetitive. Perhaps the campaign is designed as a gateway into the game's live-service elements—missions, customization, and so on [i](which I briefly tried before realizing I’m an old man now and don’t have the time for this)[/i]. But honestly, it didn’t hook me at all. That said, the campaign is short and doesn’t overstay its welcome, especially the jetpack segments, which were genuinely fun. Beyond that, though, I doubt this game will leave a lasting impression on me. It might be a good fit for those with lots of free time, a group of friends, and a desire to grind through repetitive wave-based missions. For the most part, it gets a thumbs-up just because I bought it at a good discount. It’s not a disappointment, but I definitely expected more.

I dont know what the hell is wrong with the game but i recently returned to play the new siege mode and my fps is barely at 10 even on the lowest and im not even in a match, i have a pretty good pc build too, FIX IT

Game is definitely good but avoid if you are gonna play on steam deck, runs at 20-30fps on all low settings. The "tag" says steam deck playable which is obviously not true.

Crashes up the wazoo, yet this game's been out for 8 months. I get it's by an AA studio but cmon. I wanted to revisit this game after taking a break from it, especially when the prestige update came out but it's not possible when I can't complete a mission ever unless I speedrun it. Hard pass. Wait till it's 80% off+ or if they state the crashes are fixed, which they probably never will.

If you are a 40k fan and have mates who want to play it, maybe just ignore my review. Sometimes frustrating despite not being difficult. I'd describe it as clunky, and I love PS1/2 era Armored Core controls. Game is mostly TERRIBLE at making you feel like a big armoured dude, e.g. getting interrupted in the middle or running/charging attacks with a big ass hammer. Can be frustrating initiating some action, then not being able to cancel to parry/dodge an enemy special attack which started after you initiated that action, then getting stun locked into some other attack. The game seems to also alter your equipment mid mission (after cutscenes) and it's annoying. I thought it was a single player game with coop, but it's a coop game that can be played with bots. Also after finishing the campaign I went to have a look at the other content and it threw me into match before I could read what was on the screen with no visible option to cancel or start a private match (which I think is a thing?) so I just alt f4'd and will never play it again. This might be the game I regret buying the most out of any other in the last ~30 years of gaming, and I wish I returned it when I had that gut feeling. I finished the campaign out of spite.

8 hours on campaign, 7 hours trying to join multiplayer games. literally unplayable with the error code n-14, when i've tried all the solutions online - change time zone/ verify integrity of game files/ etc way too late to get refund, but at least the campaign was ok.

By far the best game produced in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Lore accurate, with respect for the players who know the world of 40k very well, yet still very accessible to people who are experiencing it for the first time. Visually stunning with incredible detail and audio design as the weapons feel powerful yet fluid. You really feel like a Space Marine. Combat is challanging yet rewarding and the replayability is fantastic thanks to the Operations and Multiplayer/Co-op modes. The only cons would be the cosmetic DLCs as they can feel quite predatory. Otherwise, would highly recommend!

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 looks absolutely stunning, with colossal Gothic architecture and battle-scarred landscapes serving as epic backdrops for swarms of Tyranids and explosive gunplay. Shooting feels tight and satisfying, and melee combat, especially cleaving through hordes of monsters with a chainsword, is brutally awesome. The campaign’s three player co-op is fantastic, featuring three unique characters, while side missions and PvP modes offer six distinct Space Marine classes, each with special abilities. Side missions are cleverly designed and tons of fun, and customization lets you fully kit out your chapter of marines. Highly recommended, it’ll leave you pondering, “Is the Emperor still alive on the Golden Throne or is he dead?”

Can recommend for playing with at least one friend. Solo Gameplay was a "stunning" experience in combat ^^

(review for the muiltiplayer PVE mode) 7 plus mins of load screen (in and out) for 40 mins of gameplay to do it all again, That is if you don't fail which you will do a lot because this game is brutal. I can't get the combat down or positioning. You do not want to play this game solo unless you like loading screens. This is a team base game and characters take care of certain enemies easier. When you solo with bots they are there to pick you up because 90 percent of the enemies want you and ignore bots. You technical can play this game true solo with mods and beat absolute(hardest difficulty) but that's like saying you can do a no hit run on dark souls I tried pinging enemies to see if the bots would go after certain targets.. it doesn't seem to work, Only suggestion is use all your ammo and grenades before you die o7

Maybe I'm in the minority here but the game was not all that entertaining to me. I think graphically it's very impressive and I love the animations, but gameplay wise it's very repetitive. I beat the campaign but lost interest very early on, but at least wanted to experience the story because I love 40k stuff. Guns do not feel impactful outside of a select few, and most of the guns feel identical. Dabbled a little in PvE and it brings a lot more content and customization, but I still didn't find the gameplay all that engaging. Darktide scratches the itch that I thought this game might compliment for me.

THERE'S NO TIME TO BE LOST! BATTLE BROTHERS! SPACE MARINES, TODAY THE ENEMY IS AT OUR DOOR! This game rules.

Good game if you have 2 more friends to play with. Buy it only if it is on 40%-50% sale as the campaign is short

Played single-player campaign. I didn't finish it. 17hrs is not how long I played, the game just didn't close after I closed it... The first hour was filled with "OOO"s and "Ahhhh"s since the visuals are great, and stuff looks cool , but then it all got old very quickly Guns feel very light and weightless and while finishers are cool, it's just a time-waste animation and the repetition really irritated me. Everything feels slow and Clunky, i get that they're in giant suits but the movement feels dogshit to me. Maybe this is just horde shooters in general, I don't know, and I don't usually play these, but it was extremely dull. Walk in , shoot, characters scream, hit button, continue. The're was very little variation in the hours I played and the guns didn't feel satisfying enough to change that. I wanted to enjoy the story, but the gameplay felt like walking through mud to knee height. Maybe this plays better as a group game, but the first few hours are so dull gameplay wise that in singleplayer everything feels like a chore for the next cutscene. I didn't have a good time, and got the impression that I probably never would if this was the type of gameplay. Watch gameplay, and make a decision. This isn't my cup of tea. To each their own.

Really fun game but it would be nice if it would stop crashing and had much better performance

I really enjoyed the campaign, and the operations are a lot of fun!

Absolute cinema, very fun gameplay, amazing story, friendly community to play with (i played this as a solo player, all my operations were with randoms and they were fun, beside the crappy connection to servers its still playable). the game is kinda easy when u master the parry mechanics so i recommend upping the difficulty to match your level on operations (even the campaign gets more challenging and fun and dynamically change enemies numbers and behavior for more engaging fights and getting the full experience of the Ultramarines power!) im new to the space marine series and played the first one before this one to understand the story and it was worth it, one of my fav games and im glad i didn't play it on release because it had problems and im pretty sure it would ruin my experience as a new-comer. if you are a fan of the series you probably already played it, but if you are new take my advice and jump right in and immerse yourself in this beautifully crafted world. - i can't believe i did the last operation (newest one they added with the update) first try on the ruthless difficulty being level 15 with randoms, it was chaotic and an experience i will never forget. thank you for your aid brothers! (screw you to the one who saw my level and shook his head and left, i got others who were loyal to the emperor, trusted and believed in me instead!)

I must say,I really do enjoy this game. The design aesthetic brings the WH40K universe to life exactly as I have imagined it. The combat system is engaging & challenging, with perk enhancements to the weapons & class abilities enabling you to adjust them to your preferred play style. Now, I do wish there was a little less emphasis on the "gunstrike" mechanic that is integral to the melee combat, with more emphasis placed on the strict employ of the melee weapons instead, but it is fun & engaging none the less. I got into SM2 right before the patch 7.x release, so I dodged some of the annoying bugs & technical issues others have experienced. Sometimes it pays to wait & let others do the beta testing. That said, my 1 con concerns the decision to severely nerf the performance of the assault class jump pack (JP) in operations. As opposed to campaign, where you can leap to heights of what seems like 100+ feet, & where the pack recharges fairly quickly to enable more frequent jumps, in operations mode, the JP has been rather severely restricted, having a ~15 foot "glass ceiling" & a painfully slow recharge rate that keeps the assault player running around on the ground more than actually jet jumping in & out of hot spots to assist his fellow SMs to turn the tide like the class has been depicted (& how it was played in the 1st SM game). You can't jump up to higher emplacements on a map or, literally, up to the top of a flight of stairs. Literally. In ops, the JP is rendered to being a (fleeting) ground slam perk ability serving to enhance melee AoE damage. But you can't really get vertical & leap around the map much with it. Instead, the emphasis has been on enabling using the JP more for horizontal dodging than actual vertical jumping (You can get immediate JP recharges for correctly dodging attacks, enhanced by some class perks). So much for being a jump pack. The slow recharge rate itself is not unique to the assault class, as class "special abilities" (Such as the JP, in the case of assault) are intentionally implemented so that the recharge rate is inversely proportional to your SM's health bar. This means that it recharges slowest when your health bar is full, & fastest when the health bar is nearly depleted. I don't know the exact rate, but would estimate that its quickest rate - when the health bar is nearly depleted - is approximately 30-40 seconds for the JP to recharge when the ability has been depleted, (A full JP charge has 2 boost jumps). Not always fun. Again, the inverse recharge rate-to-health dynamic applies to all the class special abilities. The only way to utilize class special abilities more frequently is to be low on health. Remember, using the JP to side dodge attacks can0 keep the ability charged, provided you activate certain perks - only available at level 25 - & time your dodges correctly. It's obvious that these design choices are intended to make the game more challenging, & while I have no issue with challenge (I still play the OG XB360 Ninja Gaiden 2 on my PC from time to time), I'm not a fan of rather artificial difficulty barriers that detract from the game play experience. There is a mod, Astartes Overhaul, which restores the JP to its full glory, & it doesn't actually break the game. Now, I'm not suggesting that the devs have to match exactly what AO does, but it would be nice if the assault class could have a greater level of flight & maneuverability than it currently does in ops. Perhaps trade for reduced armor & limiting ground slams to taking out only the targeted NPC enemy, while stunning the other NPCs in the surrounding area in lieu of inflicting damage. Just something to enable the class to live up to its flight rep. I'm hoping the studio might relent a bit for the forthcoming Siege mode & restore the assault JP to some degree. Finger crossed. It would be really fun to be able to have the experience of zipping around the map like in the original SM. Thus, assault being my preferred class, the abridged flight experience leaves me wanting for more in this one area of the game. That said, however, I'm pretty much "pro" with most everything else about the game, as it is a very quality in most respects, & obviously has a lot of passion poured into its development. I'm looking forward to the forthcoming Siege mode (fingers crossed). i haven't experienced the technical server connectivity issues that others have, so can't comment on that issue. I don't doubt their experiences, as these things do happen, & I hope the studio can work out those kinks, as the more, the merrier when it comes to MP. Just my long-winded $.02

Holy crap is this game an experience. WH40K is by FAR my favorite fantasy universe. The story and history is so deep and visceral it feels real. And there is no substitute for the feeling you get when you kick a xeno heretic into giblets and red mist. The visuals and missions are all amazing. Gorgeous is an understatement. And you can spend HOURS just customizing your Space Marines armor and weapons. Only thing that I could wish for is Custodes Armor. But I can recreate my shiny oiled up golden boys easily. Lol On my ROG Strix with a 4080, on ultra settings, DLSS on, I never had an issue and the game never crashed on my whole play-through.

Great game, except the thousand sons might be the most unfun enemys in any game i have ever played im not talking about lore, i love thousand sons lore, i mean gameplay wise, all they do is spam terminators on higher difficultys, and they in general are just very frustrating, while having basically no variety in enemy types.

This was my entry game in the 40 K universe and I gotta say I had a blast playing the campaign. I am hooked to the 40 K lore now.

You know how the lore pool of warhammer is extremely vast and deep? Well, this game is neither. The campaign is single story line for Titus that takes about 12 hrs to play through. You see two factions, one of which is the tutorial level only. Basically, the games just a shallow version of gears of war and doom. Go to objective, fight off wave, go to next objective, fight off another wave, do the saw in half finisher every 10 seconds. After the main story line it's just do the same missions from different perspectives to unlock/upgrade a small selection of gear for an underwhelming pvp experience. Not my style of game, but it is bad*ss in a peaked in the high school weight room kind of way

I sit down, put on my headset, hear the intense soundtrack and stare at my pug. There is a clear uncertainty in her eyes- as though her faith is troubled- "Fear not brother" I tell her; "Your time will come!" If you recall the golden age of Xbox 360 (2006-2012) then you can remember a time when games felt like blockbuster events with polished, concise campaigns meant to show you detailed and deliberate snapshots of the artists envisioned world. Space Marine 2 is a reminder of that era. True that many cosmetics are paid DLC but most of them are in fact unlocked within the game- via gameplay. The story is dramatic, informative of its world and lore drenched. Its got a fair amount of varied environments, weapons and enemy types without overstaying its welcome. Fans of intense and heavy third person shooters like classic Gears of War will especially appreciate the work put into the animations, sound design and overall feeling of controlling an Astartes space marine. Fans of the tabletop game and Warhammer 40k at large will enjoy customizing both loyal astartes armor and that of heretic astartes - getting access to both Imperium and Traitor legion color schemes and decor motifs to mog their opponents in multiplayer. There is a co-op component as well with decent post launch support and new content flowing in. Many other reviews mention that there is technical trouble with servers and not being able to region select can lead to high ping during lower player count hours. This is especially true if you live in the EU, AUS or CAN. I do have confidence that this issue is going to get resolved in the near future. (time of writing this review June 25'). Don't let that keep you from enjoying the campaign or trying the multiplayer shenanigans. You will enjoy this game to the point of annoying friends, family, romantic partners and even your pets with grand statements about the glory of the imperium. You will have a short playlist on your spotify of 40k music. You will pledge eternal service.

Its just not a fun gameplay loop and is pretty boring both in story and content. Go play Darktide instead.

Decent game ruined by forcing 3rd person and overuse of cutscenes and unskippable yapping. Melee attacks are scripted to attack the enemy closest to where you are looking. That system randomly breaks and will flick behind you rather than targeting enemies. The bosses are annoying rather than challenging. The tutorial mission + first real mission are designed to be bloated enough to prevent you from being able to refund the game on steam after you realize how shit it is. [b]Sample of gameplay loop:[/b] - Cutscene - Unskippable yapping - Cutscene - Cutscene - Unskippable yapping - Elevator - Cutscene - Elevator - Unskippable yapping - Start game - Cutscene - 1 minute of gameplay - Elevator - 3 minutes of gameplay - Cutscene - Unskippable yapping waiting for elevator controls - Elevator - The rest of the game (including 14 more elevators) - Repeat

Best game I have played for awhile, its extremely fun and satisfying when you get your act together.

the controls and gameplay feel super clunky. gave it multiple trys but still.. handling is bad. sad since im a warhammer fan big time

I know this game is popular (which is why I bought it) but I honestly don't like it. To the game's credit, the story is gripping from the start and the graphics are great, but I think the combat in the main campaign really sucks. You feel heavy, slow and the fight mechanics are clunky and very restrictive. I felt like I wanted to move faster and more freely, but the game locks you into fighting a certain way. You are forced to always react to what the enemy is doing, it feels like you're always awkwardly 'defending' against vicious onslaughts of enemies which are fluid, more aggressive and much faster moving than you are. Control over your unit is often suspended for some little parry, dodge, shooting or execution cut scene, which also annoyed me since it felt like the fight was stopping and starting a lot. I wanted to have more freedom and more control over what I was doing, but the combat seems to sort of 'play itself' most of the time. It's not difficult or challenging or impressive, its annoying. Unfortunately, I don't have the patience for this clunky & very repetitive style of fighting, it frustrates me so much I don't think I'll play it again.

The campaign is really good. It takes about 10 hours to 100% it. Everything else surrounding the campaign is horrific miserable garbage. So understand you're paying $60 (or whatever the current price is) for 10 hours of a good space marine campaign and nothing else. The multiplayer is horribly unoptimized garbage with severe QOL issues (that have mind bogglingly not been worked on by the devs). The fact that it takes 6+ minutes to from the start of an end game screen to a position where you can queue up another game is pathetically embarrassing. This 6 minutes is if you're on a decent set up, slamming your fucking space key to get through all the useless end game screens, and praying to the omnissiah that you only have a 3-4 minute loading screen this time. The customization is really not that impressive, but is improving, even though they perpetually fumble the epic skins. Finally, the enemies are just too fucking tanky. Why on the emperor's green terra is a fucking HORMAGAUNT tanking more than a single bolter round? Ever. Period. Under any fucking circumstance. Let alone THREE FUCKING BOLTER ROUNDS. The stun locking from elites is miserable to play against. I would rather just get one shot (which they come close to doing anyway) then getting gang(enjoyed) by a trio of warriors off of fail dodging by a pixel the barrage of aoe unblockable zoanthrope attacks. Slamming my space bar crying to god "why can't they leave me be?". The multiplayer could be enjoyable, very very very easily. But these developers are fucking floundering.

I love this game but I'm posting a negative review because it has been performing steadily worse and worse since launch. 1/3 online games will have every player at 150+ ping and the frame rate in every game mode is extremely inconsistent, every update seems to make it worse.

Partially game is not for me but I don't think I do it justice if I just say that and not anything more. Gameplay feels janky - while I understand they wanted to go for this kind of play style with the cinematic takedowns, but for me that takes so much away from experience. Also you cannot push away the enemies if they have surrounded you: you are a spacemarine and you cannot just shove them? Story wise it was ok. Is it worth the 60+ price tag? no, not really, but then again I think they leaned more into what comes after. Another thing: loading screens.. don't even make me start talking about this - there are just way too many. Once I finished campaign and went for the operations, every time I get out of lobby or into lobby there is a loading screen. I can get behind loading into actual playing but everything in between - just why. Controls are also weird - while you can get used to them it's not clear for me why do I have to press unscope (which is aim->scope with scroll wheel), when I want to parry. Why limit that way? I can easily sprint from being scoped in but I cannot care for my life? weird. Too little weapon variety for me and shots don't feel like they would always have impact. Although not the same at all, I'd better liked Warhammer: Dark tide. But oh well, I still like the franchise and I have given my 2 cents. For honor and glory. May the emperor protects.

Game runs like absolute garbage now, my specs are well within the minimum and a tad bit on the recommended requirements. Saber better work on their optimization of this game.

Ana hikayeyi bitirdim, sadece online modunu bir kez denedim. Aslında keyifli görünüyor ama fazla vakit ayırmadım. Grafiksel açıdan oyun gerçekten muazzam. Atmosfer, ışıklandırmalar ve karakter modellemeleri son derece başarılı. Bölüm tasarımları da hikâyeyle çok uyumlu; adeta uzun metrajlı bir Warhammer filmi izliyormuş hissi veriyor. Bu açıdan atmosferin içine çekmeyi başarıyor. Ancak beni en çok üzen kısım, tek oyunculu modda karakter gelişimi veya silah yükseltme sisteminin olmaması oldu. Oyunun başında hangi silahları kullanıyorsanız, neredeyse oyun boyunca aynı şekilde ilerliyorsunuz. Ne bir yetenek ağacı var ne de özelleştirme seçenekleri. Bu durum, oynanışı biraz yüzeysel hissettirebiliyor. Oysa ufak da olsa karakter veya ekipman gelişimi oyuna çok şey katabilirmiş. İlginç olan ise bu tarz geliştirme sistemlerinin online modda yer alması; ama nedense hikâye moduna eklememeyi tercih etmişler. Yine de vakit geçirmek için oldukça keyifli bir oyun. Özellikle Warhammer 40K evrenine ilginiz varsa, atmosferi yaşamak için kesinlikle denenmeli. Hikâye kısmı biraz kısa kalsa da, sunum ve aksiyon sizi tatmin edecektir.

Connection issues made it unplayable. Connection issues in Singleplayer I might add. Lags, rubberbanding, DC'd to main, you name it. In SINGLEPLAYER.

The new horde mode is atrociously balanced, the upgrades are mostly not impactful, and the rate of funds gained feels like a drought with how many extremis I've been killing. Somehow I doubt the devs themselves managed to actually beat it past hard wave 15.

Reason for negative review being: campaign was short albeit pretty epic and interesting. Lack of replay-ability and lack of interesting variable character powers.

[h3] The Premise: [/h3] I am not a fan of Warhammer 40K's universe and fandom as a whole. But something that differentiates me from a lot of capital G gamers is that I actually like playing games. I put my own money on the line to test the product on my skin and not formulate my opinion based on YouTube videos, treating them as a supplementary piece instead of a substitutional piece. While I have no investment in 40K, I liked a lot of the games bearing the same flag. I loved Darktide, I played some of the first Space Marine game - I was kinda turned off by the lack of co-op, ironically enough - I really, really liked Rogue Trader - still going through it, as Baldur's Gate sucked my time away - while stuff like Mechanicus fell in the lower end of the graph. Without furter ado. [h1] The Review Proper. [/h1] [h3] Chapter 1: Deliverance. [/h3] I bought the game basically on launch as I was swept up by the sheer hype that it manifested. The YouTube Shorts looked incredibly fun, it looked incredibly scenic, just a massive eye candy (complimentary) and I am a sucker for that kind of stuff. The game had something that I always found other horde-based games lacking: scale. Space Marine 2 really gives you a sense of scale of the rampage and violence and just the sheer, unadulterated bodily offense it will apply upon your CPU and Graphic's Card. I just bought a new PC and thought that this could be the perfect game to test its mettle and I heard it sing. It sung a song that reminded me of the first time I played Gears of War with my friend at his house when I was a kid. The fun, the gore, the sheer amount of just blitzing into a crowd of people and turning them into red mist. When I realised that I could just walk into some enemies and turn them into salsa my day was sold on the game. I shot into a crowd of Tyranids and saw the crowd react, opening a breach that the flood quickly patched up with the physical, tangible mass of their numbers. It was a feast for my eyes and my heart. Parrying felt responsive and incredibly tolerant, the executions were brutal and while yeah, it took me some time to get used to dodging and the art of comboing my enemies into a living death, I was satisfied with what I received. Unfortunately none of my friends bought it due to the steep price tag, and differences in timezones didn't help me, but I was determined to enjoy the game with or without them. I played L4D2 and Darktide alone after all, it's not that hard to have fun with a game by myself. [h3] Chapter 2: Who the hell are you people? [/h3] Story-wise I was... Kinda disappointed. Not by virtue of the game sucking, but by virtue of me never really getting invested in Space Marine as a serie. Titus to me was just a person. A big beefy person with a fridge on its back, but I struggled to pogchamp all over the place when the game did something that was clearly a reference to something else, or introduced a character that was probably famous from the other game or a different novel, and as the scene played out in the allotted moment of silence where the howls of the fans and Twitch streamers should be, I found myself just sitting there, waiting for the scene to end, feeling like I just missed something vital, feeling like I was less of a person for not feeling like the rest. Seeing reaction videos to the scene, I discovered that indeed, the character in question was a recurring figure and I just didn't know. It kinda felt like removing the laugh track from the old TV shows for me. [h3] Chapter 3: Flatline. [/h3] My actual main gripe with the story is that the game goes from us killing satisfying gushers of ichor to unsatisfyingly punching shells of metal filled with dust. Narratively it made sense: a threat was done, time to fight the next one. Sucks that the newer threat just felt unresponsive to my strikes. Not very satisfying to punch and beat the daylights out of, surely unhelpful were my lobotomised companions that made this overall experience sucky, pushed forward by the strength of my willpower, my desire for big guns, and the Sunk Cost Fallacy. [h3] Chapter 4: Cold; the air and water flow- [/h3] If the game was just packaged as a 60 euros 8-ish, maybe more hour-ish single player session, I would rather die than play, but luckily it's not just that. Co-op is the main bulk and selling point of the story, and also absolutely mandatory to understand what happens in the main story as we pilot the B-team sent to do everything else that Titus wasn't doing. And while the co-op mode is in fact pretty good by virtue of being co-op, and with it a league over the previous installment of the game... The system in crippled by one major thing: the grind for EXP, coin, and resources to unlock weapons, upgrades, and skills - the latter being mostly circumstantial number increases, not as fun as they could have done it in my opinion. This unfortunately introduces the cosmic grind for upgrades and upgrade materials, something that I truly despise, especially in this very game, where the virtue of the upgrade is not enough to reliably even the scaling of the ramping difficulty. And boy the game gets difficult in the higher ranks, requiring higher levels - of course - to grind higher rank materials for higher rank upgrades. This process starts from being unique due to the player experiencing the new additions that appear with each rank of difficulty, but quickly become bemusing due to the piling of technical and mechanical difficulties mainly related to the dev team's uncertainty of how parry should function. [h3] Chapter 5: Modern Games "Difficulty". [/h3] I played difficult games. I play Ultrakill, Dark Souls as a whole, Elden Ring, played a lot of Divinity Original Sin, now wading into Baldur's Gate, and I also played a lot of high-end missions in Darktide, too. Those are difficult games, or can become such due to the game being manufactured into becoming that difficult. Space Marine 2 - no matter how much the "elites" stomp their feet and wail in impotent rage - is not a difficult game. It's incredibly basic. You have a way to aim, switch weapons, you have your firing gun, your melee weapon, a dodge, and a parry/block. There isn't even a difficulty curve about learning to parry since it's a horde shooter. If you manage to land a parry in the sea of fifty strikes coming at you at once, everyone gets stunned, you just need to mash it. It's actually more difficult not to and instead dodge as you are hardwired to parry everything, including the unparriable attacks. What people call "Difficult" in this game is the idea that there are a lot of big enemies that do big damage, with big health pools, while you have little health, little ammo, and little resources to dispatch them. It's the same kind of difficulty that people hammered on and on about being not fun to deal with. When Back4Blood came out, people didn't like this kind of difficulty setting, wanting something closer to Left 4 Dead 2, where you needed to be more careful, pick your fights more carefully, etc. But now that Space Marine 2 is doing it, somehow it's good. In all honesty, the true difficulty of the game was to enter a lobby where a Sniper wasn't already being played. [h3] Chapter 6: The Wrap-Up. [/h3] Space Marine 2 is a flash in the pan of a game. It has some good moments, but it's mostly an arid grinding session where you punch walls of flesh for thirty minutes or more a pop, to get a small mileage on a single weapon, just to then be repeated all over again. The PVP is a joke. It's so much of a joke that I didn't even mention it in the review. It has some good, scenic moments that makes the average fan soak their panties and can even manage to drop the balls of the non-fans... But that's what it is at last: it's just hype moments. Hype moments and component farms. Wonder why every YouTube Shorts or essay video mostly shows setpieces and scripted events.

You play as a yoked out super soldier ripping aliens in half with your chainsaw sword... what more could you possibly want from a video game?

Anticheat (playing single-player only) and poor performance make this game difficult to enjoy. It's a fun game when it just works, but the aforementioned problems constantly detract from the experience. I wish I could recommend this game, because the gameplay itself is pretty awesome, even if you're not into Warhammer 40K (I don't know a thing about it, but it's not difficult to follow along). I don't care to play online, so it'd be nice if anticheat could stay out of my way, but I guess it's the price we pay for gaming in the modern era. While the game looks pretty, I feel like it vastly underperforms for what it requires to look as it does, struggling to hit triple digit FPS at 4k using an RTX 5090, not even on Ultra. Again, it's the price we pay for gaming in an era where developers don't bother optimizing games anymore, very disappointing.

Absolute cinema. This is the top "I have nothing to lose so Im going to go sacrifice myself" experience.

Pretty neat! had to make some settings at the beginning tho- the requiments to run this game is beyond nasa computers. Had fun tho :D 6/10 - If only the specs wsn't that crazy it couldve been a 10 :)

Not sure what they've done, but my 12gb 5070 can't even get a steady 60fps, no matter what I do with the graphics settings. To top it off, they've decided to not allow us to use Nvidia's DLSS4 tech... So the game is a blurry mess because they've not bothered to sharpen up their upscaling methods and refuse to let us fix it. There's also what seems to be a film grain filter on at all times. Don't get the praise, it's a technological mess.

The main campaign is good but very short (8-9) hours. So unless you are interested in multiplayer missions afterwards that is about it for the game. I got in a -40% sale and it was only just barely worth it, even as a fan. So while I liked the campaign and artwork it is absolutely NOT worth full price.

Since release date the game had absurdly long loading times for me and had a massive stuttering caused by wait for it "Firewall" and only way of resolving it was adding fucking expectation on my antivirus for epic services which is shady as fuck. And after a new update the gave wont even move past loading game logic. My system is perfectly fine for ruing the game and when the game did eventualy loaded it was running smoothly. How ever now i can even play the damn thing and no provided "Fix" by either community or Devs works.