Sept. 9, 2024, marked the release date of the long-awaited sequel to one of the most beloved video games within the Warhammer 40,000 Community: Space Marine 2. To help you understand how hyped I’ve been for this game, and what it means to me. I need to take you back more than 10 years to when the game’s predecessor was released. 

In 2011, Relic Entertainment broke free from its history of real-time-strategy games and delivered the critically acclaimed third-person hack-and-slash shooter: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. 13 years later it remains a fan favorite, sitting on a “Very Positive” rating on Steam with over 14,000 reviews. Personally I have just over 600 hours in the game, and it sits comfortably among my top 5 favorite video games of all time.

The first game ends on probably one of the most brutal cliffhangers in gaming history. Our protagonist, Captain Demetrian Titus, is arrested on charges of treason for his unexplained ability to resist the mind-altering forces of evil. Then, just a year after its release, THQ —the company that owned Relic— declared bankruptcy, leaving the story unfinished for the next 13 years, and fans begging for closure that we eventually assumed we would never get.

Fortunately for us, we were wrong… On Dec. 9, 2021, a Sequel was revealed at the Game Awards via a cinematic trailer, and fans went crazy. I remember sitting in my room watching the stream on YouTube.
When I saw the title appear on screen, I let out a scream so loud that my dad rushed into my room thinking something was wrong. I literally had to get a new chair because I broke the legs falling backwards out of it.

Now in 2024, I find myself playing the game nonstop. In just 4 weeks since its release I ‘ve already accumulated almost 230 hours in the game and met so many interesting people just as invested in the hobby as I am. The title definitely lives up to its predecessor and is an exciting, fantastical continuation of Captain Titus’ story, ending on another cliffhanger teasing at a 3rd game, hopefully soon to be developed without another decade’s wait.

The campaign features a 3-player co-op mode, which was my top ask for the first game. It lets you take two buddies along for this grand adventure. I ended up playing with my little brother, and one of my friends. We spent 4 days after school slashing through enemies and sending both bugs and traitors to the slaughter. All I remember is constant war cries and using voice changers to sound like we really were Space Marines. We were living our dreams, the game exceeded all our expectations.

While playing the campaign with my friends was incredibly fun, I sometimes found it hard to pay attention to the story and understand what was truly going on, while also balancing communication with my friends and the constant waves of endless enemies. So I restarted the campaign in single-player on the hardest difficulty and streamed the game on Twitch. The experience was dramatically more enjoyable. The game felt longer, more challenging, and more engaging. I could focus on the villains’ monologues, understand their motives, and connect with the characters more deeply.  

Overall, the game is definitely more fun with other players. While I haven’t dived head first into the PvP like many other players have, I have been playing the hell out of the “Operations” game mode, fighting hordes of enemy AI with two other players. While it differs from the first Space Marine’s Horde mode, which was just progressively harder waves of enemies in different areas, I think it does a good job of standing out on its own. I do wish I had both the old and the new versions of horde mode, but I can definitely recognize that Space Marine 2’s horde mode, with thought outside missions interictally connected to the main story,  is much more enjoyable than Space Marine 1.

One of the biggest challenges for the first Space Marine game was creating a fluid combat system that went from melee to ranged combat seamlessly. It was practically the whole selling point of the game from a technical standpoint. Unsurprisingly, this challenge reappeared in Space Marine 2, but the combat now outshines that of the original. It’s seamless, natural, and incredibly responsive, and Sabre’s signature Horde engine, throws you right in the middle of the action, rendering incalculable amounts of enemies on screen with minimal damage to performance.

The online customization is one of the other major positive aspects of the game. I’ve spent a lot of time curating my custom character to try and match my design from the first game, which is modeled after my own custom-painted army for the tabletop game. There have been a few bumps, since the armor patterns aren’t the same as the first game, so I couldn’t get my blue fist or gold face shield, but the customization for Space Marine 2 outshines Space Marine 1 in most ways, and provides players with more than enough options to be creative. On top of that new Cheap DLC’s are releasing often, giving players even more colors and armor pieces to chose from.

“Gamers like me have been waiting 13 years to discover what happened to Titus and to once again don the power armor of a Space Marine.”

Says my dad, who is among those who have been patiently waiting since THQ’s bankruptcy.

“Space Marine 2 captures everything I love about 40K. It delivers exactly the experience I wanted, and to see Titus overcome his betrayal and how his story continues has been the best gaming experience I have had in years.”

“-RB- Blocka”, a user on Steam with 3,476 hours currently in Space Marine 1, and one of the owners and moderators of the Space Marine 1 Community Discord server, shared their thoughts:

“When Space Marine 2 was first announced, I was extremely excited, and thankful that SOMEONE was making a successor to the game I fell in love with. But nothing could prepare me for the experience of playing it myself! From the opening cutscene onward, I played through the most visually impressive, immersive, and gloriously fun, fantasy world, and it felt like I was playing a movie from start to finish. I was the most hyped I have ever been for a game in my life! The future of Space Marine 2 (and possibly 3) is in good hands with the love and care that Saber and Focus have for the series and universe of Warhammer 40k.”

Since its release Space Marine 2 has sold well over 2 million copies, hitting the exact 2 million mark only 2 weeks after its release. The game currently holds an 80% “Very Positive” review rating on Steam out of over 84,000 reviews, and popular YouTubers and streamers like moistCritikal and Nerdforge, who haven’t previously dabbled in the Warhammer franchise, are playing the game and promoting it to their audiences. One player I met on Steam even mentioned that Space Marine 2 was his first interaction with Warhammer, and soon after that conversation I saw that he bought many other games associated with the franchise. He even said he convinced his wife to play Space Marine 2 with him, which for most gamers, usually requires a miracle.

I believe that Sabre Interactive and Focus Entertainment have done a fantastic job capturing everything that made the first game special while leaving their own unique mark on the franchise, and I firmly believe that though there are some parts I dislike, Space Marine 2 has more than proven itself to be a worthy successor to Space Marine 1. Its features are more refined, more polished, and more engaging. This game is clearly not just for those invested in Captain Titus’ story or familiar with the Warhammer setting, it appeals to newcomers to the 40K universe, and has something for all types of gamers. So my message for those looking for an exciting entry point into the franchise, or even just looking for their next game, in my opinion—and the opinions of nearly 85,000 other internet strangers—Space Marine 2 is absolutely worth playing.

Sources:

• Steam Store for Space Marine 1 
• Steam Store for Space Marine 2
• SteamDB for Space Marine 2
• Focus Entertainment’s Twitter

(All images and GIFs were captured by me in my personal copies of Space Marine 1&2.)