Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 - The First Preview | gamescom 2023

ign.com:

The chainsword is one of my favourite weapons in all of science fiction. It has the form factor of a medieval longsword, but the blade is made up of dozens of chainsaw teeth that rip and tear through flesh. In a single strike it captures both the gothic aesthetic and violent excess of Warhammer 40,000. And this weapon is the brutal, snarling heart of the long-awaited Space Marine 2.

I recently played an hour of the sequel to what many consider the best Warhammer 40k action game ever made. And from what I’ve seen it appears new developer Saber Interactive definitely understands what made the 2011 original, created by Relic Entertainment, work so well. Space Marine 2 is a shooter/melee hybrid that falls somewhere between Gears of War and Doom; a linear third-person campaign filled with intense, gory monster battles. And like its predecessor, it appears to be unapologetically straightforward in its pursuit of increasingly bloody encounters against overwhelming odds.

The mission I played, aptly named Invasion, had me carve a path of corpses through jungle swamps and concrete bunkers during the early stages of an alien attack. The invading Tyranids (think Starship Troopers’ bugs as designed by HR Giger) arrive in swarms, courtesy of Saber’s impressive World War Z engine which can render a thousand enemies on screen. A tidal wave of raptor-like Hormagaunts, supported by handfuls of imposing Warriors, crash against barricades and buildings. They even clamber over each other to form writhing towers that scale shear walls. While at range your guns will easily tear these crowds apart, there’s simply not enough ammunition in the galaxy to hose them all down before they break through your line of fire. That’s where Space Marine 2