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

[Nephaston]

15 minutes ago, crimsondave said:

They make a Deathwing DLC, they can just take my bank card.

Terminators as a secret 7th class down the line would be great.

[Nephaston]

Some new images from the steam page. First a breakdown between editions.

 

And the six classes.

[Marshal Rohr]

Riskiest Season Pass since Redfall

[DemonGSides]

1 hour ago, Marshal Rohr said:

Riskiest Season Pass since Redfall

Not even close. 

[crimsondave]

49 minutes ago, DemonGSides said:

Not even close. 

I’m old and barely play games anymore.  What’s the season pass for?

[DemonGSides]

Just now, crimsondave said:

I’m old and barely play games anymore.  What’s the season pass for?

 

A season pass is just "here's all the next one to two years worth of DLC as an upfront cost, usually at some sort of discount (Like, 10-25% off full price).

So not required, and for this game, I would assume that is either extra campaign missions or more co-op missions.  It could also include multiplayer maps, I guess, but now-a-days those are generally given for free and cosmetics are sold, but this game claims to offer a lot of the cosmetics from just playing it, so we will see what actual content is included in the Season Pass (Hopefully closer to release.  NEVER purchase a blind season pass, that's almost always a recipe for failure).

The other offer besides a Season Pass is usually called a Battle Pass, and that's usually an ongoing experience over a "season" (for most games, 3-4 months, some games let them go forever) to unlock cosmetics or other content.  These usually go for around $10 USD, but can be a little pricier (usually not much more since they expect you to buy multiple over a year) and are USUALLY more aimed at ways to bling out your character or unlock new skins, not usually "content" in the sense of new gameplay elements.  These Battle Passes are usually also hinged on an experience mechanic, where playing the game is how you "unlock" things.  You do pay for the full experience, but if you don't finish it, GENERALLY you lose access to those other cosmetics and can't continue to work on them; modern games have started to eschew 'limited' battle passes in favor of allowing you to choose what battlepass to work on (Halo Infinite, and Helldivers 2 both work this way, though Helldivers has a weird battlepass system kinda all its own).

TL;DR: Season Passes are bundles of traditional "expansion" content, battle passes are usually limited event cosmetic things for your character.

[Nephaston]

4 minutes ago, crimsondave said:

I’m old and barely play games anymore.  What’s the season pass for?

Season passes in general are basically all incoming DLC in a bundle for a bit of a discount before the number and contents of the DLC is usually known.

When they work out for the customer it's a good deal, when it doesn't work out, like in the case of the game RedFall, the customer might not get a good deal because the game shuts down before it can complete a DLC-release cycle.

 

 

[DemonGSides]

Also; we don't know if they'll offer a battle pass.  Only thing we know right now is there is a season pass; I don't know if we know anything of what's in it.  I'm not sure why Rohr thinks it's risky; unlike the game they referenced (Redfall), this game actually looks fully content complete, this game has the backing of a company that cares about the IP (Redfall was a brand new IP) and is invested in it's success, and there's an automatic audience built into this game that wouldn't turn away from it unless it was absolute garbage, which from all accounts it was already in at least an "okay" state last year when it was previewed, just having some issues around the HUD being generic and the game having some 'weight' issues in how it feels, things that can be remedied with some TLC.  Battle passes have been introduced to games that didn't launch with them before, so plenty of precedent there.

[Nephaston]

In regards to Battle Passes there is also the occasional game that adopts it as a mechanic without it being monetized. But so far we can only guess if they will include anything of the sort, though if they are smart they might want to avoid it in the first year, as people usually react with distaste to monetized battlepasses in full price titles.

Edited May 24 by Nephaston
accidentally a word

[Nephaston]

Found an interesting article with commentary from the Creative Director.

 

https://www.pcgamesn.com/warhammer-40k-space-marine-2/pve-operations-mode-interview

 

The gist is that the PvE modes missions run parallel to the story campaign and will dress it up that way with cross-communication chatter between Titus and the three marines Acheran gives him. Not too exciting but will probably help sell that this is a campaign, a war fought over multiple fronts.

 

I do like that the Class system here is also designed to sell the MkX dynamic of dressing for the job/ the needs of the mission.

[Marshal Rohr]

23 minutes ago, DemonGSides said:

Also; we don't know if they'll offer a battle pass.  Only thing we know right now is there is a season pass; I don't know if we know anything of what's in it.  I'm not sure why Rohr thinks it's risky; unlike the game they referenced (Redfall), this game actually looks fully content complete, this game has the backing of a company that cares about the IP (Redfall was a brand new IP) and is invested in it's success, and there's an automatic audience built into this game that wouldn't turn away from it unless it was absolute garbage, which from all accounts it was already in at least an "okay" state last year when it was previewed, just having some issues around the HUD being generic and the game having some 'weight' issues in how it feels, things that can be remedied with some TLC.  Battle passes have been introduced to games that didn't launch with them before, so plenty of precedent there.

Darktide looked pretty good too. 

[SkimaskMohawk]

Ya darktide looked great until the early access period rolled.over to launch and the full experience was incredibly lacking. Its another example of a game that basically sold a year-long beta test coupled with it's worst monetization period. 

 

Hopefully this game avoids a lot of the same fate as a non live service, but developer executives love to ruin a good thing with popular trends.

[Marshal Rohr]

Delaying it a year to add in PvP doesn’t bode well for how they view the game

[Nephaston]

1 hour ago, Marshal Rohr said:

Delaying it a year to add in PvP doesn’t bode well for how they view the game

The initial leak of PvP happened in August 2023 three months before the announcement of the delay. So the delay couldn't have been to add the PvP.

Of course we can only speculate, but people slightly more in the know seem to be certain that the delay happened for polishing reasons. I expect we'll have a full picture once NDAs run out.

[Jagus Kumkani]

I got rehype for this game again! That trailer was dope!

[Nephaston]

A little something I noticed after the ~20th rewatch; the descriptions of the video differs between the GW, Saber, and Focus ones. And while the GW and Saber descriptions are standard "click link to learn more" deals, the Focus one goes into more detail.

 

 

Season Pass will be cosmetics, while the "meat" of actual content will be free updates. So if you cannot be bothered about bling the standard version will suit you just fine.

 

Speaking of Steam got some more images in addition to the previous ones, DA, SW, DG, WE, BL, and Power Fist lovers eat your heart out.

 

Oh man I can't stop digging, some extra information images from the home page.

Edited May 24 by Nephaston
Even more info+1

[crimsondave]

8 hours ago, Nephaston said:

A little something I noticed after the ~20th rewatch; the descriptions of the video differs between the GW, Saber, and Focus ones. And while the GW and Saber descriptions are standard "click link to learn more" deals, the Focus one goes into more detail.

 

 

Season Pass will be cosmetics, while the "meat" of actual content will be free updates. So if you cannot be bothered about bling the standard version will suit you just fine.

 

Speaking of Steam got some more images in addition to the previous ones, DA, SW, DG, WE, BL, and Power Fist lovers eat your heart out.

 

Oh man I can't stop digging, some extra information images from the home page.

Omg, that blade guard Dark Angel with the robes is sick!  I know he’s supposed to be Deathwing but I don’t care.  Take my money.

[Cenobite Terminator]

Looks rad!

[Joe]

Saber have confirmed no MTX in Space Marine II in their Steam FAQ - that said, they've gone back on their word before on other games they've developed / published.

[ShibeKing]

That was a really fun trailer. Really excited to see more of the customization options and how deep it goes.

[Nephaston]

Someone I know made a very good point; if you buy digitally per Focus member account you can get the base game 10% off, so for 54 units of currency. That is if it's your first digital purchase with the account.

 

 

[Kastor Krieg]

Reportedly story DLCs are to be free, the Season Pass is for cosmetics only.

[Captain Idaho]

So skins... and not a Slannesh type of thing...

 

Are there skins you can apply to dudes that are older marks of armour and styles? Do we know?

[DemonGSides]

4 hours ago, Captain Idaho said:

So skins... and not a Slannesh type of thing...

 

Are there skins you can apply to dudes that are older marks of armour and styles? Do we know?

 

We don't have anything other than "Cosmetics", but older marks of armor would be a perfect type of thing they could sell to people who want it and other people can just ignore it without detriment besides getting to go all choppy choppy on em.

[SvenIronhand]

5 hours ago, Captain Idaho said:

So skins... and not a Slannesh type of thing...

 

What do you mean by this?