Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 on PS5
I should first admit that I’m not super knowledgeable on Warhammer 40Kas a whole. I have played many games set within it, but some of the deeper lore is a little lost on me. While I did feel that Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 started going a little too lore-heavy without giving any sort of glossary, it evened out quickly enough, and the story was enjoyable without knowing everything about the world.
Space Marine 2 picks up around 200 years after the first game ends and continues the story of the first game’s protagonist, Titus. After the first game ended with him taken in by the Inquisition, Titus now serves as part of Deathwatch. They are a group of hardened soldiers who are always the first sent to combat rising threats.
The Tyranids (reptilian-ish creatures) have invaded the planet Kadaku, and the Deathwatch (with Titus as team leader) are sent in to detonate a viral bomb into the atmosphere that will kill them. However, the Tyranids quickly overwhelm their landing ship, and Titus is split from the rest of the squad. Alone and unable to contact anyone, Titus must brave the mission alone while trying to contact the rest of the squad.
Through the results of that mission (no spoilers), Titus is reenlisted into the proper Space Marines and given a new squad but demoted to the rank of Lieutenant. I instantly appreciated the choice in making players complete the prologue solo, as undertaking the first mission with the AI felt like a huge weight off my shoulders.
The AI are incredibly capable on their own, and the characters behind them are a big reason the story is so interesting. Partner AI in games can be hit or miss, but these two were excellent supports, especially in the tougher boss fights. It was rare, but one would occasionally get knocked down. There are some heavy swarms in the game, and you can’t take too much damage, but the other one was always there to revive them, so I didn’t have to risk myself doing it.
Before getting to my negatives, I do want to praise the campaign’s overall design. I was completely taken with the varied environments, as every location is stunning. Yes, even the rather uniform Imperial labs and bunkers have striking features that kept me in awe. Cutscenes are also incredible sights, and I was blown away, especially during late-game cinematics.
As for controls, Space Marine 2 handles incredibly well, perfectly walking the line between shooting and melee without one having a clear superiority. The game feels great to play, with combat feeling excellently smooth and flowy; that was never an issue. I never felt betrayed by the controls, though I did miss a few parries I don’t feel I should have, but that occurred infrequently.
However, even with all of this going for it, I was regularly exhausted with the campaign. For the first decent chunk, there is minimal enemy variance. For the most part, you are fighting two types of enemies. There are the smaller raptor-type that swarm in waves that you can easily hack apart with melee and bigger brutish ones that attack with actual weapons. Both types can join the battle armed with guns, but they aren’t too much of a threat.
For the most part, it’s all pretty routine. You mash R1 through the swarms of little ones and then repeat the same attacks against the bigger enemies until you can perform finishers reminiscent of God of War. While new enemy types get introduced later (not many, though), that same strategy doesn’t really change due to the new enemies filling the same archetype. On top of that, almost every type of Bolt gun feels too similar for there to be much satisfaction in finding new weaponry.
As you journey through levels in Space Marine 2, there are small pods with weapons you can swap between, and they regularly contain equipment you might not have seen yet. However, there are points where the game will just swap out your loadout. The swap usually occurs after a scene transition, but it felt unfair every single time, especially if it got rid of a weapon I was unlikely to find again in that mission.
After you finish the campaign, you can access Operations mode. These Operations are side-story missions that happen concurrently with several story missions, with the related squad having an actual story presence. It’s probably a good thing that the game didn’t give me instant access to Operations, though, as it makes the campaign look incredibly dull in comparison. Within the mode, you can create your own Space Marine from six classes, such as Sniper, Tactical, and Heavy. Each class has a skill tree, as do all weapons. While playing the Operations missions, you are constantly building out your character and gear, making the repetition of the missions actually useful.
What doesn’t quite make sense to me is that, out of the game’s three modes, one of them lacks all replayability. There isn’t any reason to ever do the campaign again once you’ve experienced the whole thing unless you want to clean up the related trophies. Sure, it doesn’t make sense to include the character creation aspect when you are playing as Titus, but the weapon leveling and customisation would’ve at least made it feel a little more worthwhile.
It’s not that I hated the campaign, but it wore a little thin early on. The story itself is exciting and engaging, and that is what kept me going the whole time. It didn’t feel too great to beat it just for the game to show me that the developers wholly understood what would’ve made it better, but they saved it for a separate mode.
For players seeking an additional challenge, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 also offers more traditional PvP. There are a few modes to choose from here, and they serve as nice cooldowns when you want a break from Operations but still want to exert your Space Marine dominance. The PvP modes are great for some extra training using guns because melee is just about impossible to manage without getting turned into Swiss cheese.
Space Marine 2 is a sequel I never expected to happen, but it has indeed done the original justice. I booted my PS3 up once I finished the campaign just for a comparison, as it had been years since I played the original, and I thought the sequel had changed something up. Nope, it is a faithful (and extremely well-made) sequel that fans of the original will certainly enjoy.
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Summary
An unexpected sequel 13 years in the making, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 does the original justice, even if its campaign is not the most robust experience.
