Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Fans Have a Good Idea Which Enemy Faction They’ll Fight in Space Marine 3

ign.com:

With Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 now over a week old, players have completed its campaign and started to get to grips with the co-op Operations mode and the PvP mode, Eternal War. But already fans are speculating about which enemy faction they’ll go up against in the seemingly inevitable Space Marine 3 — and based on hints in the game, there can be only one pick.

Warning! Spoilers for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 follow.

Space Marine 2 sees Titus of the Ultramarines go up against the Tyranids and the Thousand Suns Traitor Legion in a campaign that ends up with a massive battle against a demon army and even a trip to the warp. With the aid of Ultramarines Chapter Master Marneus Calgar, Titus successfully fends off both enemy factions before he’s sent on a mysterious mission that teases the continuation of the story in another sequel.

This sequel — let’s go with Space Marine 3 given Space Marine 2’s breakout success suggests developer Saber Interactive will indeed make more games in the series — looks certain to feature the Necrons, Warhammer 40,000’s deathless skeletal robot xenos. Why do fans believe the Necrons are next, after Space Marine 1’s Orks and Space Marine 2’s Tyranids and Thousand Sons? There are clear hints that the Necrons are coming buried within Space Marine 2 itself.

To set the stage, one mission that takes Titus and co deep within the bowels of an alien planet shows ancient and mysterious wall markings that are a clear nod to the Necrons.

There’s even a dataslate (Space Marine 2's audio logs) that reveals Necron constructs have been killing Techpriests. You can see these constructs lying about the place (the one below looks like a Canoptek Tomb Stalker to me).

This hint is part of the third act of the campaign, which sees Titus head to a Necron Tomb World packed with Necron buildings and technology. Some players even suspected the xenos would make a surprise appearance as a third enemy faction in the campaign, given the nature of the