Licensed Computer Games Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II - Q3/Q4 2024

[TrawlingCleaner]

=][= We'll leave the politics of one of the writers there folks and move back towards the discussion on the game -=][=

[Pacific81]

I'll be honest, does it really matter who the writer is for this sort of game? Homer or James Joyce could have written it, it won't change the basic premise of a marine charging forward and cutting a Termagent in half with a chainsaw.

 

Or are we expecting the marine to go charging forward, suddenly stop and then hand the 'Nid some flowers?

[phandaal]

Okay, here is my two cents on the matter, and hopefully this will stay within the scope for this thread (fingers crossed!):

 

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II is an upcoming third-person shooter hack-n-slash video game developed by Saber Interactive and published by Focus Entertainment.

 

A sequel to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (2011), the game is scheduled to be released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X and Series S on 9 September 2024.

[TrawlingCleaner]

17 minutes ago, phandaal said:

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II is an upcoming third-person shooter hack-n-slash video game developed by Saber Interactive and published by Focus Entertainment.

 

A sequel to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (2011), the game is scheduled to be released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X and Series S on 9 September 2024.

 

Well said!

[NovemberIX]

I was gonna skip out on it because I'm not a huge fan of the primaris aesthetic, but now I'm thinking my buddy and I both need to play the co-op, and I'll just hope for a mod down the road that brings back some classic armor.

[Naryn]

I'll wait for reviews and get it if it's good... Dawn of War 3 burned me so I'm leery of a much-later sequel to a beloved game.

[DemonGSides]

6 minutes ago, Naryn said:

I'll wait for reviews and get it if it's good... Dawn of War 3 burned me so I'm leery of a much-later sequel to a beloved game.

 

This is probably the most fair way to look at it.  It definitely could have problems; some of the early stuff shown definitely had some heft problems and some issues with looking a little "generic" in the hud, so I'm hopeful to see some good changes after being given another year to marinate.

[Marshal Rohr]

12 hours ago, Magos Takatus said:

If we get Death Guard skins for the Heretic side we can have a toxic waste ankle-deep in toxic waste. lovely.

I quite enjoyed Space Marine's PvP, it was the endless host transferrals that I didn't like. Dedicated servers or death! 

 

-edit after hearing the screams of apoplectic rage from my nephew's room seems to suggest that Helldivers isn't immune to toxicity either. :p

It’s never toxic to scream at bots and bugs! It’s the foundation of managed democracy! My point was the game won’t have any longevity without a decent coop gameplay loop, and it’ll end up just like last time where trying to play multiplayer was like pulling teeth. I doubt they can or care enough to fix it. 

[Magos Takatus]

19 minutes ago, Marshal Rohr said:

It’s never toxic to scream at bots and bugs! It’s the foundation of managed democracy! My point was the game won’t have any longevity without a decent coop gameplay loop, and it’ll end up just like last time where trying to play multiplayer was like pulling teeth. I doubt they can or care enough to fix it. 

It was his fellow Helldivers that were the subject of his ire. I just hope he was just yelling at the monitor and not actually at his team-mates! Otherwise he probably liberated their ears from the sides of their heads! 

[Lord Marshal]

6 hours ago, phandaal said:

Okay, here is my two cents on the matter, and hopefully this will stay within the scope for this thread (fingers crossed!):

 

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II is an upcoming third-person shooter hack-n-slash video game developed by Saber Interactive and published by Focus Entertainment.

 

A sequel to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (2011), the game is scheduled to be released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X and Series S on 9 September 2024.

 

You don't write for Screen Rant by any chance? 

[Beta galactosidase]

10 hours ago, Pacific81 said:

I'll be honest, does it really matter who the writer is for this sort of game? Homer or James Joyce could have written it, it won't change the basic premise of a marine charging forward and cutting a Termagent in half with a chainsaw.

 

Or are we expecting the marine to go charging forward, suddenly stop and then hand the 'Nid some flowers?

 

The writing in Space Marine 1 gave us something that nothing else in 40k has, which is Leandros being something of an antagonist to an Imperial main characthat.

 

ADB and Abnett haven't done that, Gav, Ward and Cavatore haven't done that.  There are a few characters from background characters who are cruel in a generic way to unnamed civilians, like the Space Sharks or Marines Malevolent.  The Dark Angels were tricked by a daemon into almost attacking fenris,  all in the background.

 

An Ultramarine being an antagonist to a main character Ultramarine is very unusual for 40k.  It's also the minimum standard of writing that we should expect for 40k and don't normally get.

[Nephaston]

Speaking of Leandros; while there is so far no mention of him in the new game, according to some people that got to play for a bit one of the two buddies seemingly follows similar character strokes of by the book and only the book ultramarine, while Titus seems much more curt, especially in regards to his experiences since the last game. It'll be interesting to see how Titus will handle another rules-lawyering nerd breathing down his neck.

Edited May 3 by Nephaston
accidentally a word

[Marshal Rohr]

 

13 hours ago, Beta galactosidase said:

 

The writing in Space Marine 1 gave us something that nothing else in 40k has, which is Leandros being something of an antagonist to an Imperial main characthat.

 

ADB and Abnett haven't done that, Gav, Ward and Cavatore haven't done that.  There are a few characters from background characters who are cruel in a generic way to unnamed civilians, like the Space Sharks or Marines Malevolent.  The Dark Angels were tricked by a daemon into almost attacking fenris,  all in the background.

 

An Ultramarine being an antagonist to a main character Ultramarine is very unusual for 40k.  It's also the minimum standard of writing that we should expect for 40k and don't normally get.

Hey in that “minimum standard of writing” did they ever cover why four space marines were sent out on a whole strike cruiser? What about a lieutenant being the highest ranking person on a whole forge world? Or where the Skitarii were? Or literally any defenses of any kind beside a regiment of Cadians on one the most important forge worlds in the Imperium? 

[Blood Angel Scout]

Saw similar comments re Leandros character from people who got to play the latest and it surprised me in so much as a) too close to previous game/story and b) this is post-Guilliman's return and his attitude towards Codex Astartes as being out dated, need to adapt to current situation etc, why would there be a marine second guessing Titus? 

[SkimaskMohawk]

13 hours ago, Beta galactosidase said:

ADB and Abnett haven't done that, Gav, Ward and Cavatore haven't done that.  There are a few characters from background characters who are cruel in a generic way to unnamed civilians, like the Space Sharks or Marines Malevolent.  The Dark Angels were tricked by a daemon into almost attacking fenris,  all in the background.

 

An Ultramarine being an antagonist to a main character Ultramarine is very unusual for 40k.

 

McNeil did that. He literally had an ultramarine subordinate report his ultramarine superior for not following the codex, resulting in the captain being sent on a penitent quest to the eye of terror. 

 

The concept has been around since 2003.

 

 

 

 

[Beta galactosidase]

1 hour ago, SkimaskMohawk said:

 

McNeil did that. He literally had an ultramarine subordinate report his ultramarine superior for not following the codex, resulting in the captain being sent on a penitent quest to the eye of terror. 

 

The concept has been around since 03.

 

 

 

 

 

 Uriel Ventris does not have an Ultramarine antagonist.  He was not arrested by a squad of black templars, and an inquisitor didn't threaten to hurt  his cheap-sympathy sidekick.

 

It's fine to point out you've read the same novel as most people on this forum.  Are you saying that one character from a novel is the same as a first founding Captain Vinyar, one who does friendly fire on named characters from another first founding instead of on anonymous civilians? Or a first founding version of the Space sharks, but who do the red tithe against named, playable characters from the codex?

 

It's just pointing out there's a similar episode to what leandros did but one that doesn't interact with the rest of the concept.

 

 

[SkimaskMohawk]

1 hour ago, Beta galactosidase said:

Uriel Ventris does not have an Ultramarine antagonist.  He was not arrested by a squad of black templars, and an inquisitor didn't threaten to hurt  his cheap-sympathy sidekick.

 

Lol what? 

 

If leandros is an "antagonist" then so is learchus. Leandros didnt like going against the codex and reported Titus for not being corrupted by the warp power source; Titus gets arrested by the inquisition and interrogated. Learchus didn't like ventris going against the codex and reported him to the chapter command; they get arrested and plead guilty, allowing them to not be executed, but still be completely stripped of being part of the chapter and have a death oath to follow. 

 

It's the same. Theyre both snitched out by their procedure focused subordinate, arrested, and punished harshly. Neither act as an antagonist or even rivals, their betrayals are driven by the exact same intention, and they both take place at the end of their stories. 

[lansalt]

Yeah, Titus story was clearly inspired by the Ventris books. Although thanks to the writing of the game and Mark Strong's voice he became his own character.

I'm not so sure yet about SM2's punished dude bro Titus.

[Marshal Rohr]

3 hours ago, Beta galactosidase said:

 

 Uriel Ventris does not have an Ultramarine antagonist.  He was not arrested by a squad of black templars, and an inquisitor didn't threaten to hurt  his cheap-sympathy sidekick.

 

It's fine to point out you've read the same novel as most people on this forum.  Are you saying that one character from a novel is the same as a first founding Captain Vinyar, one who does friendly fire on named characters from another first founding instead of on anonymous civilians? Or a first founding version of the Space sharks, but who do the red tithe against named, playable characters from the codex?

 

It's just pointing out there's a similar episode to what leandros did but one that doesn't interact with the rest of the concept.

 

 

Still skipped over the fact the space marine story sucks, has zero consistency with the actual 40K lore, and has larger plot holes than the Room. 
 

 

Edited May 3 by Firedrake Cordova
=][= Keep it family-friendly

[Cenobite Terminator]

Some might say that’s typical.

[phandaal]

4 hours ago, Marshal Rohr said:

the Room

 

[Titus walks to the Spire rooftop]

 

Titus: I did not commit heresy, it's not true! I did not!

 

[Throws chainsword]

 

Titus: Oh hi, Thrax!

[Marshal Rohr]

36 minutes ago, phandaal said:

 

[Titus walks to the Spire rooftop]

 

Titus: I did not commit heresy, it's not true! I did not!

 

[Throws chainsword]

 

Titus: Oh hi, Thrax!

This is pretty much that final battle!

[Marshal Rohr]

1 hour ago, Trysanna said:

To be fair, story isn't usually a priority or selling point for hack n slash games of that time. Not that they aren't there, but God of War 1 boils down to 'kill this one dude' and it’s a classic of the genre. Admittedly Space Marines is just kind of fine, but I think it more than made up for it with the visuals. Outside of who the 2nd Company Captain of the Ultramarines is, were there any other big lore breaks? Haven't replayed it in a while but I don't remember anything else jumping out at me. Y'know, there aren't Tau running around with Bolters or anything.

I listed them above. Four marines are sent out on a strike cruiser to one of the main Forge Worlds, everyone on the planet has been killed except a single a Lieutenant who is inexplicably somehow in command over the Adeptus Mechanicus Magos who are still alive, the forge world is undefended except for a single Guard regiment, and an Inquisitor is there because of some macguffin but has no forces of his own besides some Black Templars (who aren’t fond of the Inquisition) that suddenly arrive to arrest a marine from another chapter. An arrest, might I add, for not following the Codex - something only the Ultramarines would have the authority to interpret or enforce. 

[Magos Takatus]

1 hour ago, Trysanna said:

 Outside of who the 2nd Company Captain of the Ultramarines is, were there any other big lore breaks? 

While not a lore break it annoyed me no end that they were fighting over a Forge World and there was not a Tech Priest in sight. It even became a main faction Forge World when the Admech Codex was released. Either they were short of time and didn't model a Tech Priest or they thought having one would detract away from the "obviously sus" Inquisitor, since Tech Priests are some of the more unsettling characters in the Imperium? I'd love to know the motivations for leaving them out. Maybe 40k had already fallen into the "no models, no rules" trap and this was an extension of it?

[KaosRaptor]

1 hour ago, Marshal Rohr said:

I listed them above. Four marines are sent out on a strike cruiser to one of the main Forge Worlds, everyone on the planet has been killed except a single a Lieutenant who is inexplicably somehow in command over the Adeptus Mechanicus Magos who are still alive, the forge world is undefended except for a single Guard regiment, and an Inquisitor is there because of some macguffin but has no forces of his own besides some Black Templars (who aren’t fond of the Inquisition) that suddenly arrive to arrest a marine from another chapter. An arrest, might I add, for not following the Codex - something only the Ultramarines would have the authority to interpret or enforce. 

A couple of things here, I'm not going to go into all of it because you're probably right, the game didn't stick 100% to the lore. Game was fun though, so I didn't care too much. Could've been due to the time it would take to create assets/cutscenes explaining it all.

 

Blood Ravens showed up as part of a liberation fleet to defend the planet, and you fight alongside them during a level. One talking to Titus mentions a squad of Black Templars arrived with the fleet too. So the Black Templars being present at the end didn't come entirely out of nowhere. The Inquisitor probably just requisitioned them when he arrived on-planet or something (whether this is possible in the lore could be debated, but who knows whether the Templars protested or not off-screen).

 

Also, Titus was arrested for possible Chaos-corruption, not defying the Codex. Leandros was certainly miffed about him not sticking to the Codex, that's what started his suspicions, but the arrest was because Titus resisted the effects of Chaos over the course of the game, which Leandros interpreted as being due to Titus being an agent of Chaos.