And by the emperor it delivered...with some minor flaws.

When the first trailer came out it hit most Space Marine fans as a huge surprise since nobody
ever expected a sequel to finally arrive myself included, but oh boy we can be all thankful that it did because it's a blast!

I will create a mini section for the 3 main parts of the game, which are the following: The story mode, the co-op operations and PvP.

What is your craft? Death.

It's a little bit on the shorter side but it's quite a ride. I try to remain spoiler free , so you can experience it for yourselves.
The gameplay is a mix of the original space marine paired with the horde system with tyranids and it works wonder for this game.
In the early game, depending on the difficulty you picked might feel slightly weak, but:
1) It's required for a healthy gameplay progression (By the middle, you'll feel a lot more potent with the gear you have, and at the end you'll be straight overpowered with a certain weapon combo), and don't forget that tyranids can rip through Astartes especially Warriors.

There is also a surprise enemy later on, which most of you'll probably expect, but it managed to be something new, a faction we never seen in a 40K game before. A breath of fresh air, a welcome change, you'll see.

I'd recommend taking it slow on the ship and taking in the ambience and mini events that happen between missions, they are 40K perfected. The devs clearly had passion and care about the source material.

And the final level: You are going to love it if you like Warhammer. It starts on a high momentum and keeps going and going until the very end. The boardroom meeting about it must have been like: "How much hype do you want during the last 2 hours?" "Yes."

So yeah, the story mode is roughly 7-8 hours long depending on the difficulty you pick, but it's a ride you'll remember.

The coop mode.

The bread and butter of the game for the devs, the mode they clearly have priority on and want to expand further during the first 4 seasons of the game.
It's a mix of Darktide (With the fixed missions that can randomise) , WWZ with it's progression system and horde mechanics, and Space Marine with it's gameplay loop.

Overally it's really solid and has longevity if you like that kind of stuff, you can upgrade your characters and wargear with branching paths, and it's really really fun especially with friends.

There are only a few downsides as of writing this:

1) Class locks. Understandable but you can matchmake with a certain class selected and get dropped into a match in progress where you are forced to switch or quit.
2) No option to host a public lobby on your own. That's allegedly getting changed "soon". We'll see.
3) Balance. The balance is fine for the most part, there is only one black sheep , the assault class. It's rather weak, or simply doesn't have it's proper plance among the 6 mainline classes. It needs some slight love.

The Pvp mode:

Not much to say, it gives you vibes of a game that's from 2012...but that's a good thing. You have 3 modes, the classic domination mode, team deathmatch and king of the hill. The TTK (Time to kill) is fast as it should be, and the matches are really fast and fun.

Balance seems fine for the most part, i'v played a lot of matches, unlocked some relic armors and never felt like anything needs a nerf. Of course it's early to tell, we have to wait until the community unlocks everything and some time passes, but so far it's solid.

There is only one big negativity when it comes to pvp: The maps. Don't get me wrong, they are good but there are only 3 maps currently in the game. They are adding more later on, but you can't help but feel like there should have been at least a few more on release.

A short summary for the end:
🟩 Pros 🟥 Cons

-An amazing campaign mode, which makes 40k come alive -That is slightly on the shorter side
-A really fun, classic vibe PVP mode -That has little map variety
-The graphics are really nice and works well with the art design -Technical issues on some systems, i had no problems
-The coop mode is a blast especially with friends.
-It's a long awaited sequel to Space Marine 1 and it delivers

If you read through all that, i would like to thank you for taking your time to do so and have a nice day dear reader!
Also thank you for Saber interactive for making such a banger of a sequel!

Campaign: <15 hours of loreful hack n slash fun.
PvE: Fun with friends, but undercooked, linear and clunky
PvP: Fun with friends, but bare bones and unbalanced

I recently replayed Space Marine 1, and the sequel is a much better game. The visuals, sound and feel are all spot on for a Space Marine fantasy. However, it doesn't quite achieve everything it sets out to, and its secondary modes fall short of other similar games.

This is very much a 40k story, with writing reminiscent of a black library novel. That is both good and bad, with the over the top sclock, bravado, action and machismo you'd expect. The grim reality of the Imperium is acknowledged, but on the whole it leans closer to glorification than critique.

The gameplay is a continuation of the first game's mechanics and feel, with chainswords and plasma guns feeling suitably impactful. It is highly linear, without meaningful choice and very little exploration. Being combat oriented and straight to the point is very Astartes, but would have grown wearisome if the campaign were any longer. The scripted executions are similarly timed to stay interesting right up to the end of the campaign, but perhaps not much longer.

There are obvious missed opportunities here. Like the vehicle levels which have placeholder cutscenes but don't let you control them, or terrain destruction which happens all around you, but you can't actually change. its also quite short, at under ten hours if you race through, or perhaps 15 if you take your time and play the optional missions as they unlock.

Still, overall it is an enjoyable romp over a couple of days

This is the bulk of the end game replayability, and the customisation will please many tabletop fans. However it has some key limitations. It doesn't have the visual depth or gunplay of Darktide, nor the endless variety and replayability of Vermintide or Left for Dead. This is a much more linear experience where you replay the same maps over and over. You do get variety from the different classes and upgrades, but progression is largely cosmetic or minor stat buffs.

Beyond the limited number of maps, skills and enemies, there are also pretty limited number of weapons, with quite a few slots having only a single option. You're likely to get dozens of hours of fun here, but maybe not hundreds. The repetition of things like execution animations which started to show in the campaign will become very clear over repeated play throughs of these levels. There is a roadmap with more content, lets hope there is enough in the pipeline to keep the juices flowing.

This is a throwback to a different kind of multiplayer, back to the days of unreal tournament or halo at a LAN party. There is a very low time to kill, and strong reliance on team coordination. There are only three maps with three game modes, so the replayability here is again limited by content availability.

PvP will be fun to play at launch, and if you have a crew together, but may struggle to drag people away from the hero shooters and mobas of the world long term.


This is a fun and brutal distraction for a few dozen hours. For some it will be a realisation of their childhood fantasy, for others it will be a gateway into an addiction they didn't know they wanted. It is a great entry into the set of warhammer games, and a worthy sequel to a fun game. It won't revolutionise the industry, but it does show that going back to basics and delivering what the fans want is a sound strategy for a good time.

Finally, a solid game, with solid gameplay, various modes, and an a variety of customization options, without all the crappy microtransactions. This is my first Warhammer 40k game, I have no idea what's going on lore wise lol (for now) but i'm happy to be a part of this community!