Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Review

Rise; your duty to the Imperium never ends.

Well, it’s official, 2024 can’t get any better. We’ve had some amazing releases, and while they were great, one in particular stands out the most. Looking back into the past, we got the ever-iconic release of Warhammer 40 000: Space Marine in 2011 from Relic Entertainment.

What made it stand out was how much of the original lore it included and the detail level, especially considering the original threat of the Orcs. However, more than a decade later, Saber Interactive wanted to bring us a new round of fighting for the Imperium as a Space Marine.

That’s right, 9 September marks the day we finally got a sequel, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. The new adventure that awaits involves a new enemy, the Tyranids and they are pretty well known for coming in literal swarms.

Luckily, Saber Interactive has just what it takes to make that happen, with their most popular release being World War Z: Aftermath. You know, endless zombie hordes. It has the same effect but is a lot more dangerous in this case since the Tyranid are far from mindless.

As for the world Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, you’ll take on the role of Lieutenant Demetrian Titus, a former Ultramarine. He does come with an unholy mountain of backstory, but to make a long story short, the Inquisition accused him of heresy and vanished shortly after that.

However, his fate isn’t as grim as it seems; all his previous charges were cleared, and he was transformed into a Primaris Space Marine through the Rubicon Surgery, effectively making him a lot more dangerous. There’s a lot more to his story, but that’s a can of worms that involves much more than just his lore; it goes deeper into the whole Warhammer 40,000 universe and its many intricacies.

Starting off, you’ll probably never be fully prepared for what’s to come, but dying isn’t always the end, at least, though you’ll need to learn fast. Now, no Space Marine is ever ready without weapons, and there is a multitude of choices.

You’ll need your basic loadout in the form of a primary, secondary, and melee weapon, which is a pretty standard loadout, right? Unfortunately, it’s not quite as simple because each weapon brings its unique flare to a fight, but keeping your playstyle somewhat fluid can help in the long run.

While the guns in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 are great and pretty versatile, ammo will forever be a massive concern when it comes to the seemingly endless swarms of Tyranid. Your melee weapon is literally going to be your best friend in this regard, but you’ll need to choose wisely, as their stats can differ.

The biggest difference between them is power and speed; more power will naturally come at the cost of speed, but the hammer isn’t always the best bet. As a personal preference, the combat blade might not have much power, but it does make for the easiest parry when it comes to timing.

Now, gunning down the endless swarms of Tyranid and ripping off Heretic heads is fun, but you’re not immortal. You’ll need to keep your health and armor in mind. Armour isn’t really an issue since it regenerates, but health is a pain…

Luckily, you’re covered on healing with a Medicae Stimpack or Righteous Fury. The Stimpack is essentially quick and easy healing, but Righteous Fury is where things take an interesting turn in the form of an ability that gives you a nice damage boost while restoring health passively and with each hit.

Moving on to the best that Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has to offer: gore. Aside from the amazing story and eye-catching scenes, we all love Space Marine for its gratuitous amounts of gore. In this case, the old saying “If it bleeds, it can die” rings a little too true, but between simply parrying or going for execution on a stunned enemy, there’s never a shortage of satisfying deaths to see.

In the spirit of anything Warhammer-related, there will never be a dull moment, especially given how incredibly satisfying and fluid a lot of the movements are. This in itself is a rarity in this day and age, given how slow and sometimes stiff recent releases can be.

There is another major thing to keep an eye on: While there is the main campaign, you can also take part in operations. Here’s the catch: operations still form part of the main story, but these give you a view of what happens on the other side of the story with the away squads.

Look at them as a sort of bonus content while bringing the story full circle, there’s always more to discover and dataslates play the biggest role here. They can be rather few and far between but also give you valuable insight into the people you’re trying to save.

With all that said and done, there’s also the multiplayer aspect of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 to consider. Aside from co-op story mode, you can take a deeper dive as a Space Marine in PvE or PvP matches against the Tyranid and Heretics or other players.

However, it gets even better since you can also change classes and unlock new weapons, skills, and cosmetics. The only downside is that the main story doesn’t get the same treatment; it would’ve been a great addition to being able to mix up your loadout with more than just weapons.

On the visual side of things, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is definitely not shy of blowing you away with the level of detail in the world and the characters. There’s always something interesting to see, and you’ll want to stop and admire the sights when you can between the Tyranid constantly wanting to turn you into their next meal and all. The predecessor was already visually impressive and still is to this day, but so much has changed for the better, and you’re in for a hell of a treat.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 would never be complete without excellent voice acting and sound engineering to match. There’s always something to keep the action going, and just as you think things finally calmed down, the ambient will take a violent shift, and the chaos starts up again.

There is a slight flaw that might annoy a few people, though; while you and the squad will talk during missions, the way the spacial sound was implemented could do with a little more polish. It’s great most of the time, but when your squad mates start talking, you’ll have to turn around to actually hear them.

Overall, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 might actually become the defining release of 2024, given how much detail it has, and any fan of a little chaos will absolutely adore this. There’s never a dull moment between the story and the multiplayer aspects, and things just keep improving with how much there is to discover. Aside from the very slight issue when it comes to your squad talking, it looks like there aren’t even any flaws to be found, and this is likely the rarest thing to see currently.