Saber Interactive has put out a new video giving an overview of their first post-Embracer release, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II. This time, Saber tries to give fans everything.
The main story campaign continues the story of Ultramarine Lieutenant Demetrian Titus. This was the same Titus who was Firstborn captain and commander to Ultramarines 2nd Company in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. We won’t spoil what happened in that first game, as it’s also explained in this one. But suffice to say there was a reason for his demotion. The reason for this return is much more straightforward: the emergence of a new threat, the Tyranids.
That story campaign offers seamless drop-in / drop-out co-op, as other players can take on the roles of Chairon or Gadriel. However, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II also has separate PVE and PVP modes, referred to as Operations and Eternal War, respectively.
For both of these modes, you get to pick a class (Tactical, Assault, Vanguard, Bulwark, Sniper, and Heavy) and build a character, with their own weapon and armor customization systems. Each class, as you can imagine, will each have their own special abilities. The Vanguards have Grapple Launchers, the Bulwarks have Chapter Banners and Storm Shields, and you can guess what Snipers can do.
Operations mode lets you earn Armory data and experience to upgrade each class to as much as 25 perks. Aside from perks, armor and weapon upgrades, you can also earn all manner of cosmetics, and yes, there are no microtransactions requiring you pay more for these cosmetics.
Eternal War, on the other hand, lets you play as either a Space Marine or their evil Chaos counterparts in six versus six combat. It pays off to play Operations if you’re interested in Eternal War; you can carry over your cosmetics and weapons. But, the character upgrades will stay in Operations mode, obviously for the sake of balance.
There will definitely be fans celebrating that Saber chose to go the traditional route by offering cosmetics and upgrades in-game, without adding a monetization or Season Pass layer on top of it. On the other hand, gamers who don’t have the time may have preferred paying upfront, and that option won’t be available for them.
One could say this game is one geared for traditionalists, but perhaps Saber has put thought into making sure fans won’t just abandon it the moment Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 comes out. Just because it’s not live service doesn’t mean the devs don’t care if the players stop playing. But we’ll see how that plays out soon enough.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II releases on September 9, 2024, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and Windows via Steam. You can watch the trailer below.
