Summary
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2has been a huge success for developer Saber Interactive, attracting plaudits from both players and critics. The short-and-sweet campaign mode can be completed in under 10 hours, something that’s worked in Space Marine 2’s favour, as not every game needs to be an 80-hour grind.
Saber underwent some internal conflict about whether the team wasincluding too much dense Warhammer 40,000 lore, as they didn’t want to alienate players who weren’t as invested in the source material. In the end, a nice balance between accessibility and fan service was struck, to the delight of everyone. However, Space Marine 2’s narrative might have been different at some points if the team didn’t have to account for three-player co-op.
Three’s A Crowd
The game’s three playable characters, Captain Demetrian Titus, Chairon and Gadriel, are inseparable throughout the campaign. This is for gameplay purposes - you can’t have three-player co-op without three characters to pilot at all times. In an interview withGamesRadar+, Saber’s creative director Oliver Hollis-Leick spoke about the narrative difficulties imposed upon the writing team because of the need for these three men to remain together no matter what.
Hollis-Leick says they “could have done way more” without that requirement - “We would have more control over them going off and doing their own thing, and like even becoming a source of conflict during the mission.” This is somewhat teased during the story, where Titus' two comrades begin to suspect him of heresy. However, this brief conflict could only go so far because the three playable characters need to remain as a unit.
“One of the levels where we tried to do that, is where Chairon goes rogue on his own and gets separated from the rest of the squad,” Hollis-Leick said. “That was us really trying to stretch that. So, it felt like they were divided for a time, but, yeah, the closest we could get is for Gadriel and Titus to almost kill each other in a cinematic, and then, we’ve got to go back into battle again as a three-man team. So yeah, the co-op thing makes that tough.”
It’s an interesting point, and ultimately (and correctly), Saber was willing to adjust some of the writing to accommodate three-player co-op. Gears of War adopts a similar strategy of making playable characters inseparable, but these characters didn’t necessarily have to be stoic and uncaring and didn’t need to be in conflict for the series' narrative to work.
Saber Interactive is currently discussing whether itshould make story expansions for Space Marine 2, or just move on to developing Space Marine 3.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II
WHERE TO PLAY
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 again sees you battling for the Emperor, against armies of Tyranid aliens. You must fight to ensure the Imperium’s survival in the face of extinction.
