Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 review: a familiar but chaotic and perfectly visualised shooter

There’s something to be celebrated in a game such as Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2 and for a game developer that knows what it wants to achieve, and meets its ambitions, no matter the level of the bar being set.

At a basic level this melee-shooter, released for all the best games consoles, including PS5 (reviewed here) is a replica of Xbox shooter Gears of War, complete with hefty tank-like controls, a brutally bloody chainsaw melee attack and keen co-op gameplay. And why not? The game design of Gears matches with Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K series and, well… it just works.

Just like Gears of War, in Space Marine 2 you need to take on overwhelming hordes of enemies, the Tyranid, with a mix of third-person gunplay and close combat melee attacks with the option to perform perfectly timed counters to stun enemies, leaving them open to one-shot kills or brutal takedowns that revel in over-the-top violence.

Space Marine 2 delivers the spectacle

For the most part level design is straightforward, forcing you down corridors and jungle paths with limited exploration to find new weapons, intel and the occasional secret intel or voice log (often revealing a darkly humorous script). The goal of every level is to eventually funnel your hulking space marine (and team) into epic horde battles, as Sabre employs the same Swarm Engine and tech from its co-op zombie shooter World War Z to flood the screen with rampaging, scurrying creatures creatures; the Xenomorph-like Tyranid are a perfect fit. (This also proves not everything needs to be made in Unreal Engine 5.)

These moments are a test of your crowd control, teamwork and in later stages bring together all of the game’s mechanics to give life to the Warhammer 40K power armour fantasy; you can ignite swathes of enemies into plumes of red and green goo, while countering attacks to win breathing room to juggle the horde.

The spectre of repetition hangs over Space Marine 2; the game’s design rarely strays from its template during the 10 hour story campaign and because it is largely Gears of War in new Games Workshop clothes, the sense of deja vu is hard to shake off.

However, there are moments of slower pace that roll the dice and gamble on offering something a little less chaotic - a stage set inside an abandoned Aliens-like installation where you need to spray fire to hold off an infestation of rat-like creatures while juggling switches to power-up a planet’s defences offers a breather between standard level design. Later, towards the finale, things get a little Dead Space before tipping over into God of War epic-ness, so there is a little give in the template, but not much.

If this sounds a little too me-to, a little too much in hock to Gears of War, then the saving grace, the thing that elevates Space Marine 2 above simply being an imitator, is the level to which Sabre has embraced the visual identity of Warhammer 40K. My 10ft tall walking tank looks as powerful as the game's controls make me feel; its bold and lumbering, the armour is matte and dusted in the heavy shadowing the miniatures are known for.

But just as my Space Marine, Titus, is a giant war machine when fighting alongside the regular Cadian soldiers, the creatures he’s up against are even larger, the architecture of the world grander, the ensuing swarm of tendrilled monstrosities that engulfs my super-human warrior is dense, affording the game a unique sense of scale. Yes, you can live out a ludicrous power fantasy but Sabre has crafted a world of even larger-than-life dangers and pitted them against you, one in which the world itself can feel overwhelming and massive.

The game looks beautiful, too. The incredible detail in every level and the distinct sense of place perfectly replicates the Gothic nature of the Warhammer 40K world. From tabletop to screen, Space Marine 2’s world design is grand and complex, with moments crafted simply to present you with one over-the-top spectacle after another. But even in its quieter moments, when exploring the Space Marines' home battleship you'll stumble on a funeral, because Warhammer 40K is an oddball mix of fantasy, sci-fi and horror, everything is beautifully modelled, lit and presented with a clear direction.

Space Marine 2: when is too much, too much?

The level of graphical detail can occasionally work against the game’s more intricate design ideas. The sheer scale of many of the battles can become overwhelming, and the detail level never drops, resulting in chaotic, often hard to read situations. You become wedded to watching for the ping of blue circles signalling a counter opportunity, or the red, denoting a dodge, and both can sometimes be a little ill-timed making for some frustrating moments, especially on the higher difficulties.

But then the mess of chitinous Tyranid bodies piles high and lay still, and a towering gothic cityscape, ancient and ornate, comes into view and you forget any frustrations and simply grin; this is what a Warhammer 40K game should feel like.

The larger-than-life nonsense continues post-credits in the co-op Operations mode where you can take on the role of Adeptus Astartes and perform some of the missions only heard about during the single-player campaign, These are paired back but more challenging missions, played a little more like Left 4 Dead than the main campaign. Tailored more to survival, team play and tinkering with loadouts, classes and special moves (for example, Auspex Scan highlights hidden enemies and makes them more vulnerable to attacks) Operations could have legs post-launch.

Ultimately, no matter the lack of originality, repetition or occasional frustration with the counter system, Space Marine 2 never fails to raise a smile. This is a joyously overblown, visually arresting shooter that simply gets its source material and has enough of a challenge post campaign, whether solo or in co-op, to keep you pulling on the power armour.

Verdict

Delivering the Warhammer spectacle, Space Marine 2 is graphics showcase tied to tried and trusted game design; hardly original but who cares when it's this much fun?