This may sound simple, but the best word I can think of to describe Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II (SMII) is ‘video game’. This isn’t sarcasm. For what Saber Interactive set out to accomplish, calling SMII a video game is the highest compliment I can give it.

SMII feels like a game in the wrong timeline, and this is precisely why it is successful. Despite our highly developed modern interactive entertainment ecosphere, which is always clamoring to sell the latest industry-changing innovations, imagined or otherwise, there's a strong nostalgia for a simpler time of gaming—an era of pure fun, free of terms like ‘live  service,’ ‘microtransaction,’ or ‘pre-order.’

During the early 2000s (and some may find this shocking), games were made for enjoyment and fun. Developers delivered polished, self-contained experiences that fully functioned on release day. Part of the reason for this was that most gamers lacked access to broadband internet, so patching after release wasn’t possible. Version 1.0, the version burned into the disc and distributed on release day, was often the only shot the developers had to connect with their audience. This meant games like Halo: Combat Evolved (2001), Gears of War (2006), and Killzone (2004) had to be good on day one, or they would never get a second chance.

SMII is a throwback to this era, a time that was free of the problematic practices that plague the industry today. Of course, SMII is a modern game with the typical problems we would expect. It is a live service game with DLC and a season pass. It was sold as a pre-gaming by delivering an epic, bombastic campaign, easy-to-understand gameplay mechanics, and engaging multiplayer. SMII stands out for being what so many other pieces of modern interactive entertainment are not: a video game.

In this video game, you play Demetrian Titus, a firstborn space marine. After the events in the first game, Titus is reassigned to the Deathwatch, an elite group of veteran space marines gathered from across the Imperium. After being gravely injured on a mission to release a new biological weapon against a brewing Tyranid invasion, Titus is resuscitated as a Primaris space marine within his old chapter, the Ultramarines. Titus goes on to combat the Tyranid invasion with his new squadmates, Chairon and Gadriel.

SMII’s combat is not new, but it isn’t old, either. I can’t say that I have played anything exactly like this before, but it feels familiar. At its heart, SMII is a third-person shooter that plays like Gears of War without the cover shooting mechanics. As your character becomes overrun with enemies, SMII shifts gears and becomes a souls-like melee fighter hybrid, complete with button combos and parry mechanics.

The combat is not without its issues. For example, hitting parries feels inconsistent. Smaller enemies are no problem, but sometimes, when hitting the blue circle prompts on larger enemies feels like nothing happens, even though I was absolutely hitting the button. If you do happen to hit a parry correctly, then you are awarded a deflection that leaves your enemy open for an immediate counter-attack. Often, this is a satisfying bolter shot to the head, a definite highlight of the combat in SMII.

As pleasing as this can be, the sound design for some of the melee weapons lacks ‘oomph.’ (I don’t think that is a word, but it best describes what I mean, so let’s go with it.) Melee hits with weapons like the Chainsword, Power Sword, and Combat Knife don’t have that meaty thump feedback that I expected. It was not until I started playing with the Thunder Hammer that I really started to enjoy hitting things.

When it comes to ranged combat, I enjoyed shooting things much more than swinging a melee weapon at them. Everything from the standard Bolt Pistol to the Plasma Incinerator felt impactful and fun to shoot. Of all the systems that make up the combat in SMII, the shooting really stands out.

There are many ways to play SMII. Mouse and keyboard are the most accurate and will help you dominate in PvP. But this game really shines on a controller, especially on the Sony DualSense. The DualSense tactile triggers offer resistance when pulling the trigger and pushback when firing. The sensation was odd at first, and I was worried about fatigue during extended play sessions, but the fact that you can feel every round leave your bolter makes any fatigue disappear into my white-knuckle cries of vengeance as I yell at the screen. Vibration feedback isn’t new, but here it works to make the gameplay that much more immersive; I definitely missed it when playing on mouse and keyboard.

For your loadouts, SMII keeps things simple and gives you up to three weapons: a primary, a secondary, and a melee weapon. Most primary weapons have their personalities, and only a few, like the Bolt Rifle and the Auto Bolt Rifle, lack distinction from one another.

The weapons function as you would expect, with no attempt to innovate away from good traditional gunplay. Everything is generally fun to fire, and dumping a mag into an oncoming wall of Tyranids releases a generous amount of dopamine. However, since we are talking about the early 2000s, I do wish they had brought back the active reload system from Gears of War. That was a fun mechanic that could have worked here, but alas, maybe someday.

The health system could also use a rework. Despite being a heavily armored space marine, your character is surprisingly vulnerable: enemy hits inflict significant damage even on lower difficulties, and it's often unclear which one is attacking you; getting swarmed means losing a lot of health quickly if you are not careful.

Executions proved the best way to sustain my fragile health pool; executing weakened enemies restores health and shields through an i-framed animation. This is similar to Doom Eternal's (2020) "enemies-as-resources" system, which encourages continuous engagement rather than searching for resources out of combat.

Yet, due to how fragile the space marines apparently are, I eventually had to accept that my main health bar was always going to be low. Execution farming became the only effective way to stay alive. I even became complacent about picking up health stims to replenish my base health bar. If I didn’t have shields, I would lose health so fast that I was dead anyway, so shields were my only priority.

SMII also borrows the on-the-edge-of-death mechanic from Doom. This occurs when the player can take additional damage at 0 HP that would otherwise be fatal. It’s a fun trick that is designed to create moments of disbelief when players are desperate to survive a no-win situation. Unfortunately, it happens too often in this game to retain its mystery. I felt like I could count on it as an ability at times, which made me care even less about managing my base health bar.

The health system doesn’t detract from the overall experience; the game is entirely fun to play. Still, the squishyness of my space marine, whom I am led to believe is a 12-foot tall tank-like super soldier in adamantium-reinforced power armor, feels out of place.

I would have much preferred a system where my health was more durable, and enemies would chip away at it over time. Health packs could be less common, making finding them more thrilling. I would be forced to manage the overall health bar rather than relying on shields and executions to do most of the heavy lifting.

Despite these minor criticisms, SMII’s combat is great. It hits hard enough to create some really unforgettable moments, in addition to the narrative delivered in the campaign. 

Before I go in-depth on the campaign, a quick note about difficulty scaling: you can play the main campaign solo. However, I recommend playing with friends if you want to take on difficulties higher than normal. The campaign is intended to be played with three players. If you go in solo, you will be playing with the AI companions, who are mostly useless, on a good day. So, do yourself a favor and find a couple of friends to play with.

As with all things related to the Warhammer universe, SMII’s campaign is epic and ridiculous. But this is why it works as well as it does.

The campaign is like going to a museum, but instead of looking at some diorama of a wooly mammoth, it is a colossal battle scene inviting you in. The game frames its vistas in a way that highlights the grandness of this world. When you arrive in an area, it gives you a moment to take it all in before rushing off. This pause provides context for your actions and makes you feel like you are more than just an observer. This isn’t easy to do outside of a cut scene without feeling intrusive and annoying, but SMII is one of the few games that get this right.

The world itself is incredibly beautiful. Running SMII on a 4090, I had no problem rendering the game with all settings on max. There’s more I could say here, but I think it is just best if I let the game speak for itself. Have a look.

As visually stunning as the campaign is, it is relatively short, at around twelve hours on normal difficulty. Saber Interactive has opted for a quality-over-quantity approach with SMII, so what you get in this short frame of time is well worth a playthrough, even two.

The combat sequences are exceptionally well-staged due to the outstanding level design. I never had to wonder what I needed to do when I walked into an area. Most of the time, this involved killing enemies who were climbing a wall or chewing on cables as part of a larger objective. These encounters were always imbued with enough purpose to keep me engaged and interested. 

The campaign doesn’t overstay its welcome and leaves you wanting more, as any good campaign should. The only thing that stood out during my playthrough was that I noticed that I rode a lot of elevators. I know they are loading screens and everything, but you really do ride a lot of elevators in SMII.

Unlike these elevators, the game’s narrative doesn’t waste your time by being overly complex, at least not on its surface. The story can be as complicated or as simplistic as the player needs it to be. The universe of Warhammer 40K is deep, and there are hundreds of rabbit holes you can gleefully dive down if you want, but none are essential to understanding the story unfolding before you. If all you know about the story is that the bug-looking things need to die, you are still going to have a great time.

The Warhammer universe is satire incarnate in a suit of power armor, even if some of the more questionable fans don’t even realize this. Still, SMII really doesn’t care to wander into that territory. There is no overarching socially consequential message or profound meaning to ponder, making the game a nice piece of escapism, which is sadly rare these days.

I respect this approach. Not every piece of media needs to enlighten or die on the altar of political correctness. Sometimes, all I want is a game to make me feel like a kid playing with action figures on the living room carpet; this video game does precisely that.

Overall, the campaign is well-executed and provides some memorable, larger-than-life moments. Even better, thanks to the cooperative missions, there’s still more of the story to see after the campaign.

The coop missions are structured similarly to the primary campaign, except that you can team up with random teammates via matchmaking. These missions are actually the other side of the main story missions but feature different characters besides Titus and his squad. These missions are more challenging than the regular campaign, and to take on the highest difficulties, you have to level your character’s class.

There are six classes to play in both coop missions and PvP: Tactical, Assault, Vanguard, Bulwark, Sniper, and Heavy. Each class features a unique ability to give them an edge in combat: Tactical can expose enemies and highlight their weak points; Bulwark uses a shield to provide cover during advancements and plants a banner that regenerates shields; Sniper uses a cloak to get closer to or escape enemies; and Heavy has an energy shield to block incoming damage.

In coop missions, you can customize your class with perks and weapon augments and adapt your build to your play style. Higher-level classes receive perks like faster recharges on special abilities or increased damage against specific enemies. You can also level up your weapons in coop missions, giving you bonuses like more headshot damage and greater magazine capacity.

There are no class or weapon perks in PvP, but team composition becomes an important consideration since class abilities can counter other class strengths. For example, Tactical can reveal the Sniper through their cloak with their scan ability; Assault can dive behind the Bulwark’s shield to break up the enemy front line; and Vanguard can grapple through the Heavy’s shield (which is also super annoying).

Outside of the fun of mastering all the classes, it will be the extensive cosmetic customization that will keep players coming back. SMII leans heavily into the Warhammer source material here and pulls directly from the extensive Space Marine lore. The best customization options have to be earned and are only available to those who are good enough and are willing to put in the grind.  

There is no skill-based matchmaking in PvP, so you will get lobbies that are completely unbalanced. Most matches were blowouts to one side or the other, and my teammates were either gods or bots. Some matches did feature some genuine back-and-forth drama, but this was mostly the exception. Thankfully, there are no PvP rankings or leaderboards, so you don’t have to care much if you lose.

I only have two minor criticisms for SMII’s multiplayer: The quality of the servers is horrible at times. The lag spikes during fights really ruin the fun. I have died multiple times to enemies that weren’t even on my screen, some even coming around corners almost a full second after they had killed me.

Big red nameplates also appear above your enemy’s head when you ADS at them. This isn’t bad in general practice; it is nice to know if you have been stomping on the same person over and over, but the nameplates last so long that I get a surprising amount of information on their movements, even when they break line of sight.

I have been killed by snipers firing at my nameplate in defilade, using bullet drop to get hits even though they haven’t physically seen me for the last few seconds. The nameplates should just be disabled.

This multiplayer format is a throwback to games like Gears of War and Halo, and I couldn’t be happier to engage with it. SMII’s PvP is approachable and slow-paced enough that it doesn’t feel overwhelming. It also recalls a time when activities like this were not careers, be that creating content or trying to make Dad proud in the pro leagues.

Outside of the game itself, SMII is also another data point in a trend that has arisen in the gaming industry. I hesitate to address this, as I don’t want to jinx it, but it seems like the industry as a whole is moving away from some less-than-honest pricing models.

In the last few years, we have seen significant titles like Elden Ring (2022), Baldur’s Gate III (2023), Black Myth: Wukong (2024), and Helldivers 2 (2024), all released as complete games with a one-time box price, largely free of microtransactions or features hidden behind paywalls. This deserves a much larger discussion than I am willing to go into in this review, but it is heartening to see SMII continue this trend.

To this point, Saber Interactive’s CEO, Matthew Karch, recently commented on a video by YouTuber and homeless person movie extra Asmongold, stating, “I hope that games like Space Marine 2 and Wukong are the start of a reversion to a time when games were simply about fun and immersion.”[1]

This image contains a spoilerYou've been warned.

For its part, SMII delivers a fun and immersive campaign with multiplayer that is a refreshing throwback to simpler times. It reconfirms what is fun and fundamental to video games while remaining mostly free of the negative trends that plague releases today.

SMII doesn’t break ground in any new areas outside of its stellar graphical presentation and is an incredible introduction to the Warhammer universe; still, it serves as an important reminder about what a blockbuster game can be and deserves consideration for Game of the Year.

[1] Space Marine 2 is a reminder of what we lost | Asmongold Reacts, @AsmonTV,  youtu.be/hBUqCUZ0swE?si=ALOcniYHwjs8C602, accessed on 8 Oct 24.