As a Warhammer 40,000 experience, Space Marine 2 is excellent at many things. The relentless tide of Tyranids. The firing patterns of each individual model of Bolt gun. The way Imperial Guardsmen look up at you as if you are a vengeful angel sent from above. As a video game, though, Space Marine 2 has less to boast about. In fact, it is only truly accomplished at one thing: combat.
This is far from the negative critique it first sounds. Space Marine 2, much like its 2011 predecessor, is built on the bones of Gears of War. It offers spectacle and destruction in equal measure, with linear levels designed purely to funnel you from one bloody battle to the next. Aside from the fun fact that such a singular focus makes it an authentic digital embodiment of space marines (who exist purely to fight in a galaxy-spanning external conflict,) Space Marine 2’s design harks back to the time of the Xbox 360, an era before the bloated, overstuffed ‘everything game’. It’s a modern demonstration that sometimes it’s best to dedicate yourself to one idea rather than attempt shallow versions of every feature currently in vogue.
Developer Saber Interactive has crafted such a brilliant combat system thanks to its deep understanding of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. This isn’t a translation of the tabletop game, rather the conflicts those models represent. In fact, Space Marine 2 feels more like an adaptation of the artwork that adorns the pages of Warhammer manuals – so much so that one late-game sequence feels like a reenactment of a piece painted by renowned Games Workshop artist John Blanche. Blanche’s work often captured both the glory and horror of a final stand against an unending sea of enemies and that same feeling is successfully replicated in Space Marine 2. Your foe, the Tyranids, are space bugs capable of swarming the screen by the hundreds thanks to an upgraded version of Saber’s World War Z horde tech.
Space Marine 2 has one of the smoothest transitions between ranged and melee I have ever seen. That approaching tide of Tyranids is initially the target of your ranged arsenal. Gunplay in Space Marine 2 is magnificently weighty thanks to the thunderous roar of your Pringle can-sized gun barrel and the explosive blood bursts that accompany each round detonating inside your targets. Saber shows a true understanding of the many, many different Bolter types in the 40k universe, and so an arsenal that at first seems like the same gun in seven different formats soon reveals itself to be several discreet weapons with meaningful gameplay applications. There’s the reliable cadence of the Auto Bolter, the quick precision of the Occulus Bolt Carbine, and the unrelenting damage of the Heavy Bolter, among others – all of which have their own effective ranges and damage profiles.
But, as good as those Bolters (and their plasma brethren) feel to fire, it’s when the horde gets within slashing distance that Space Marine 2 really gets into gear. It starts with one of the smoothest transitions between ranged and melee I have ever seen in a game. A pull of the trigger can flow into the swing of a Chainsword in a split second, allowing for rapid response to approaching foes. It works the other way, too, which enables a unique, rapid flow between long and short range encounters.
When melee starts in earnest, it’s much, much more involved than the rifle whacks and contextual knife stabbings of so many other third-person shooters. Against the waves of cannon-fodder Hormagaunts it’s a button-mashing bloodbath as you string together light and heavy attacks to stun and skewer. But when the Tyranids (and, later, the Chaos-worshipping Thousand Sons) bring out their heavy-hitting larger units, the melee reveals itself to be a fully-featured, surprisingly deep sword combat system with dodges, parries, and counters. As the smaller enemies grow in number and begin to chew away at your armour and then your health bar, it becomes vital to hunt down the special enemies that tower above the swarm. Engage them in a brutal melee and a gory execution finisher will replenish your armour and keep you in the fight for another minute. All the way through the campaign, Saber has crafted combat scenarios that push you to the very edge of death. It’s incredibly satisfying (and very Warhammer) for a ribcage-breaking finisher move to be the thing that saves you from the corpse pile.
Outside of this absolutely brilliant combat system, though, Space Marine 2 is largely unremarkable when it comes to many of the other things we value in video games in 2024. The level design is incredibly linear, frequently interrupted by loading screen elevator rides, and features none of the knotty, surprise-hidden pathways we’ve begun to prize over the last decade. It’s also lacking in any kind of mechanical or mission variety – outside of a couple of levels in which you use a jetpack, Space Marine 2 is purely about pushing forward through crowds of enemies. You never drive a tank, and there are no environmental puzzles. There’s not even an on-rails turret section.
There are no mini-games. No underbaked space sections. No endlessly-recycled procedural content in the name of ‘longevity’. While I’d have liked a few moments or set-pieces that explored the wider scope of space marine warfare (a section where you pilot an Invictus Warsuit in a sequel, please,) this singular focus reminds me of the straightforward joys of the Xbox 360 era. Back then we were treated to many ‘B-tier’ games which were similarly honed in on a single killer feature. There was Dark Sector with its gory glaive, Singularity and its enemy-withering time manipulation device, Dark Void’s jetpack combat, and – of course – the original Space Marine with its mass Ork slaughter. Many AAA studios also trod this path, too, notably Epic’s Gears of War with its cover-based shooting (a game Space Marine would later take inspiration from, even if it did resolutely reject the idea of hiding behind walls.)
Such a singular format is in direct contrast to what many AAA studios chase today, in which games are designed to cater to as many gameplay tastes as possible. Ubisoft in particular has fallen foul of this, building open worlds that are bursting with features, many of which feel underbaked or superfluous. The recently released Star Wars Outlaws, for instance, is an open world stealth adventure that also has action combat, an RPG-adjacent gear progression system, faction reputation, and space flight; many of which have been criticised by reviewers and players for feeling anaemic. Prior to Outlaws, Ubisoft had similar over-scoped troubles with Ghost Recon Breakpoint (a blend of tactical combat, stealth, survival mechanics, and looter shooter systems) and Watch Dogs Legion (stealth, hacking, action, and a play-as-anyone mechanic that proved far shallower than its design implied).
It’s not just Ubisoft struggling with such ‘everything games’, though. Bethesda’s attempt to affix a traditional RPG to a procedurally generated galaxy with base building and ship crafting in last year’s Starfield resulted in a game that’s widely considered unsatisfactory in its many individual fields. It’s something we even saw creep into the most recent Gears of War game – linear campaign design was partially shunned in favour of a mostly empty open world, underwhelming side missions, and an unwarranted tech tree for Jack in Gears 5.
Space Marine 2 feels like an antidote to all this. There are no mini-games. No underbaked space sections. No endlessly-recycled procedural content in the name of ‘longevity’. It’s laser-focussed on the mass destruction of humanity’s enemies. Yes, such a narrow focus does come with its downsides; I had hoped Space Marine 2 would have featured stronger mission and level design that cherry-picked a few more esoteric ideas from the Warhammer universe. But despite that, Space Marine 2 is a good reminder of an era when one killer feature was enough. While I certainly love ambitious studios and wouldn’t want to curtail important creativity, in a period where sales are struggling and budgets are soaring, maybe Space Marine 2’s approach is something more studios in the AAA and AAA-adjacent space should consider. The Xbox 360 era wasn’t some dark age of technology to be feared, and something could be learned by looking backward. Space Marine 2’s campaign did just that and the results are worthy of the Omnissiah’s blessings.