Warhammer 40, 000: Rogue Trader Releasing December 7th, 2023

Nicosia, Cyprus (September 14, 2023) - Leading cRPG developer Owlcat Games is excited to announce today that its upcoming turn-based cRPG, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, will release on December 7th for PC, Mac, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. The all-new narrative-focused trailer details some of the choices players will make in pursuit of their destiny and features the last companion out of 10 available - Marazhai, one of the Drukhari - a Xenos race famous for feeding on pain and anguish to replenish their threadbare souls.

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is an isometric turn-based roleplaying game where players become one of the galaxy’s most revered privateer voidship captains. While you crusade in the service of the God-Emperor and His Imperium, your loyal and diverse crew crusades for you. Go forth into the Koronus Expanse, where riches and danger await in equal measure. 

“Light your way in the darkness with the pyres of burning heretics!”
- Unknown Priest of the Eccliesiarcy.

Watch the brand new Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Trailer Here:
YouTube

Of course, as the one blessed with the Warrant of Trade, the Rogue Trader is the captain of their own vessel, and their word is law. It is up to you where the ship goes, who of the panoply of potential companions is let aboard, and how you interact with your crew. Perhaps you lead as a suave pirate captain, letting your sweet words do the work for you. Or shall you crusade in His glory, crushing all before you and leading with an iron fish and unshakeable will? Or perhaps you’ll find a new calling. A path of promises, darkness, and the service of a new lord… 

“A man can be convinced to do anything, no matter how abhorrent, with the right motivation.” 
- Lord Erebus, First Chaplain of the Word Bearers.  

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader will release on Windows PC and Mac via Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store, together with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on December 7th, 2023. Fans can become a founder and pre-order the game in digital standard and collector’s editions directly from Owlcat Games to gain instant access to the Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader beta. Multiplayer co-op will be available on day one for the Windows PC version of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader and post-launch for Mac and console versions.

Stay up to date with Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader by following Owlcat Games’ Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Discord, and YouTube. Learn more about the game at https://roguetrader.owlcat.games. 

About Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader

Players will take on the role of a Rogue Trader, a scion of an ancient dynasty of daring privateers who reign over their own trade protectorate and explore the fringes of Imperial space with the blessing of the Emperor Himself. By virtue of their Warrant of Trade, the Rogue Trader is endowed with privileges and power beyond imagination as well as the task of expanding the borders of the Imperium. At their disposal is a gargantuan voidship of immense strength and innumerable personnel ready to follow their leader without question. Show your subjects mercy or disdain, stay faithful to the Emperor, or consort with the enemies of Humanity — the Rogue Trader’s every decision sends ripples across entire star systems, changing the in-game world and those who inhabit it.

Events will unfold in the Koronus Expanse, a dangerous and unexplored region on the farthest frontiers of the Imperium. Many explorers have fallen victim to this dangerous place, never to return.

Remarkable and sophisticated companions are one of the pillars of the cRPG genre, and Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is no exception. A mighty Space Marine, a mercurial Aeldari Ranger, or even a courageous Sister of Battle armed with a bolter and ardent prayers are just a few of the many characters that will join the Rogue Trader during their adventures.

About Owlcat Games

Owlcat Games is a team of developers united by a love of RPGs. From our beginnings as a small group of games industry veterans obsessed with the idea of making our dream games a reality, we have grown into a truly international company, with our headquarters and development in Cyprus and more than 120 employees spread across offices in various countries. We continue to expand and take on new hires from around the world, and we also get together every week to play tabletop games in the office and on Roll20 online.

Article by: Susan N.

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Did you get into the Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader closed Alpha??

Nicosia, Cyprus - 7 December 2022: The Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader closed Alpha test has arrived! Award-winning studio Owlcat Games confirmed that all early founders who pre-purchased the Developer’s Digital Pack or the Collector's Edition will be able to download and play the Alpha from today.

https://roguetrader.owlcat.games/preorder/en#packs

The closed Alpha will eventually transform into the Beta version of the game, and will remain live until Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader‘s release, meaning that anyone who pre-purchases the Developer’s Digital Pack or Collector's Edition will still be able to try the game early starting from today. In-game progress will not be transferred from one version to another

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is the first cRPG set in the legendary grim darkness of the far future of Warhammer 40,000. Set to be released on PC and consoles, the game features turn-based combat and is being produced in close collaboration with Games Workshop.

Owlcat recently unveiled a new gameplay trailer during the PC Gaming Show 2023 Preview, giving viewers a taste of what it truly means to be a Rogue Trader. Together with the trailer Steam and GOG wishlists were opened for the eagerly-anticipated title.

Watch the Gameplay Trailer:

About Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader closed Alpha

Players will visit a number of worlds in the Koronus Expanse, where they can aid the Emperor's loyal subjects, punish heretics, or even show treasonous sympathies and abet renegades. The Alpha features one of five chapters of the game.

Among other signature locations in the Koronus Expanse, brave explorers will be able to plot a course to:

• Footfall – a void station populated by pirates, religious zealots, and common workers. A dangerous place even for a Rogue Trader, but one ripe with opportunity!
• Dargonus – the hive world capital of the player's empire and the Rogue Trader's family seat
• Janus – a jungle-covered agri-world where the player will decide the fate of a conflict between a rebel group and the local governor
• Kiava Gamma – an industrial world where dark and strange things are happening

Among other signature locations in the Koronus Expanse.

Players will travel between worlds through the warp, repel pirate attacks in open space, explore new planets, and found colonies – all from aboard the Rogue Trader's majestic voidship housing thousands of subjects and crew members.

On their journey, the Rogue Trader will receive assistance from their companions - their loyal Seneschal, a Tech-Priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the ship's Navigator, an Interrogator of the Inquisition, a Battle Sister of the Adepta Sororitas, a smuggler, a diviner psyker, and even a xenos. However, it is up to the player to decide if they want to build solid relationships with their crew, help resolve conflicts between party members, or leave them loose!

About Owlcat Games

Owlcat Games is a team of developers united by a love of RPGs. From our beginnings as a small group of games industry veterans obsessed with the idea of making our dream games a reality, we have grown into a truly international company, with our headquarters in Cyprus and more than 120 employees spread across offices in various countries. We are continuing to expand and take on new hires from around the world, and we also get together every week to play tabletop games in the office and on Roll20 online.

About Games Workshop

Games Workshop Group PLC (LSE:GAW.L), based in Nottingham, UK, produces the best fantasy miniatures in the world. Games Workshop designs, manufactures, retails, and distributes its range of Warhammer Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 games, miniatures, novels and model kits through more than 523 of its own stores (branded Games Workshop or Warhammer), its own web store, and independent retail channels in more than 50 countries worldwide. More information about Games Workshop and its other, related, brands and product ranges (including its publishing division ‘Black Library’ and its special resin miniatures studio ‘Forge World’) can be found at www.games-workshop.com

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2022. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, the Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader logo, GW, Games Workshop, Space Marine, 40K, Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, 40,000, the ‘Aquila’ Double-headed Eagle logo, and all associated logos, illustrations, images, names, creatures, races, vehicles, locations, weapons, characters, and the distinctive likeness thereof, are either ® or TM, and/or © Games Workshop Limited, variably registered around the world, and used under licence. All rights reserved to their respective owners.

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Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - Chaos Wastes - PC Review

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 – Chaos Wastes by developer and publisher Fatshark—PC review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

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In a happy bit of news last week, FatShark announced that they were releasing a brand new expansion to Warhammer Vermintide 2, which launches today! This was definitely a pleasant surprise and a great reason to hop back into this fast paced four player coop on a new roguelike styled adventure through what are known as the Chaos Wastes. The best part? The new expansion is free and now ready to be jumped into.

In order to get a headstart on this expansion, we were provided with a separate review build of the new adventure in order to get a head start of knowing what we were in for. While not exactly being able to use my specific characters and their gear, it was easy enough to drop in with the sheer amount of boxes that we had available to open for gear to get right into the thick of things. Even with that said? Your base gear won’t be doing you much good anyways but more on that below!

As always, getting into the thick of things is easy enough as long as you know where to look. Unlike the rest of the additions over the years from the Shadows over Bögenhafen and Back to Ubersreik to the latest Winds of Magic, the Chaos Wastes can be found through another door in your main keep that will lead you into a brand new space. Within this space is a new map on a table to choose where you want to go, a pedestal with your available boxes to open for new gear, and finally a few shrines with information about the other gods that often seem to take a backseat to the forces of chaos.

Once you're ready though, you'll move over to the table and like the rest of Vermintide for facility and familiarity, all the options for joining a quick match or making your own custom private one will be at your fingertips. Starting with only one of the wastes available as you have to earn the right to explore the rest, the path forward will be one of your choosing in a selection process of nodes that have only a fixed start and end point.

What I really enjoyed about the stage selection and voting as a team in order to select which node to move to next is that you’re never really sure of what will be coming next. Each node will present to you specific details on which types of enemies will be primarily present, if there’s an increase or decrease of healing items or special enemy types, or if there is a specific curse that you have to watch out for as the gods of Chaos really don’t want you making it through. Some choices will be easy enough to make while others may be a bit tougher to agree on, but overall, the process is fairly simple and you’ll be quickly racing from one node to the next.

In terms of gameplay, if you’ve played Vermintide or Vermintide 2, you’ll have a pretty good idea as to what to expect. As a party of four, whether all real players or a combination of players and bots, you’ll be traversing various environments and fighting through hordes of Skaven, Chaos and Beastfolk as they complete the objects set out in front of you. Opening up gates, crashing rituals, or simply sticking it to the forces of chaos, there’s more than enough hacking & slashing action to keep your mind on the action.

Where the Chaos Wastes change up this well designed and solid formula is in the addition of roguelike elements that will only exist as a part of your current run. New for your hacking & slashing pleasure are a currency known as pilgrim coins that can be spent on weapons, boons and miracles as you run through the nodes. Weapons are self explanatory and range from one-hundred and fifty coins to about three hundred for various power levels and rarity. The type of weapons available are random, so sometimes you will have to decide if the increase in power is worth changing over to a weapon that you may not be overly comfortable with.

For boons and miracles, boons are basically perks that will give you random bonuses until the end of a run while miracles are more single time uses that you’ll want in case of an emergency or for an event you may want to plan ahead for. Prime examples of these, boons can range from gaining 20% extra health or 60% extra pushback and blocking angles to 30% stamina recovery. These can be bought as mentioned above for a certain amount of pilgrim coins or be given for the successful completion of a node. Miracles on the other hand can do amazing things like changing temporary health into permanent health for the next stage or when the last person in the group falls they will be fully restored. The choices are numerous and eventually both depending on your group and difficulty, you’ll find out what works best for what.

Finally, the addition that I enjoyed the most was perhaps the most brutal. Along with the pilgrim coins, boons and miracles are challenge chests known as Chests of Trials that once engaged, spawn a special type that must be defeated if you want what’s inside. The special types we all know by this point what they can do and it’ll be a toss up to see what kind of hulking mass approaches to try and ruin your day, and if lucky enough, ruin your entire run as like most roguelikes, if you fail, it’s back to the beginning!

Summary

With the news and the anticipation of Fatshark’s Warhammer 40,000: Darktide which I am quite excited for, I thought that I had seen the last of Warhammer Vermintide 2 back with the Winds of Magic. So when I saw that email come into my inbox I was delighted that even with their next project in full development, they haven’t let this current one simply fall off to the wayside which again is one of the reasons that I love Fatshark as a studio. Adding that the latest expansion is completely free for anyone already owning Vermintide 2, and there’s no reason not to jump back in if you’ve taken a break or to jump into something new if you’ve still been playing regularly enough.

Score: 8.5 / 10

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Warhammer: Chaosbane - Slayer Edition - PS5 Review

Warhammer: Chaosbane - Slayer Edition by developer Eko Software and publisher Nacon—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

If there’s one interesting aspect that comes with the territory of reviewing a title, it would be re-reviewing it slightly down the line and on a brand new platform. Having covered Chaosbane on the PC from the original Early Access version, to the updated Beta, then the first full expansion and finally into the new freely added character (Part 1 / Part 2), Chaosbane is back for both the Sony PlayStation 5 and the Microsoft Xbox Series X as the Warhammer Chaosbane - Slayer Edition. Once again diving into this fantasy based Warhammer title, and better with a partner, I’ve dived into combat alongside Izzy while also using the latest addition to the title with the newly added Witch Hunter.

Just in case you’ve missed all of the above coverage, hey it happens the internet is a vast sea of information, Eko Software and Nacon’s Warhammer: Chaosbane is a stage based Hack & Slash adventure that sees a group of heroes set out in order to save the would be Human Emperor Magnus from the curse set upon him by the forces of Chaos that have invaded the Capital. Now totaling six heroes (achievements for only the core four mind you), there's some choice for how you want to tackle the hordes ahead.

Upfront, even with the newest coat of paint and a few new stages and hub layout elements, Chaosbane remains much of the same. You get some dialog, you head out into a stage, finish some objectives, head back to the hub. Rinse. Repeat. Four acts later and you're done the main campaign. By this point you can either head into the only current expansion, the free based stages that were created to introduce the Engineer, or the "end game" content that could keep you busy for a while with all of its challenges.

It's fun in either short bite sized sessions or an entire afternoon with crappy weather outside. That said though, there's still no current overarching plan for longevity such as Diablo 3 or Path of Exiles seasons that keep players coming back for more. There's a fair amount of end game but once you're done, you're done. Playing on the console for the first time as well it felt even more finite as it didn't take very long or that much effort to score a platinum trophy and honestly? It's generally not something that I do but with how close I was I figured why not? I'm now up to 9 "plats" after the introduction of trophies all those years ago on the PS3 compared to Richard's 30 (which mostly consists of 2-300 hour jrpgs) or Izzy's 11 and she just really started playing games this past summer.

One thing that did impress me though was the utilization of the DualSense. The haptic feedback on certain abilities which got stronger as you updated them was neat, but having the triggers lock or get tougher to press while abilities were almost ready was also a nice touch. Is it a gimmick? Yes. Does it make things easier as you don't actually have to look at the cooldowns to use them? It does yes making the whole experience just that little bit more immersive as you're not constantly looking at the cooldowns on your major abilities.

If there's one thing that did bother me this time around it was how small the inventory and skill screens were in local coop. And I mean SMALL with no way to enlarge it to a decent size in order to actually read what's on the screen. While not as important in the beginning, eventually green attack and defense powers aren't enough without knowing what other kinds of bonuses can be found. If you can't read them, you won't be making the right choice as you up the Chaos difficulty especially. Torment levels for Diablo fans.

The other issue with this latest version actually comes from what should have been a bit of an added atmospheric bonus. The hubs are now larger, there are people in it, the people chat and add in some life, BUT, you now have to go even further in between missions to get to your next stage. There's only really one NPC to deal with and with no vendors, the hubs are just empty spaces and having to make you run further while in a campaign is a bit of a pain. I'm still hoping for shops and stuff in an update.

Summary

Otherwise, Eko Software and Nacon's Warhammer Chaosbane - Slayer Edition is still a decent Hack & Slash and it runs fairly well on the PS5 though there were a few crashes here and there in the Fourth Act. Now with six characters for up to four players to dive in together, this is a perfect game if you’ve been looking for an alternative to the other Hack & Slashes that may be between “seasoned” content.

Score: 7.5 / 10

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Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus – PS4 Review

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus by developer Bulwark Studios and publisher Kasedo Games—Sony PlayStation 4 review written by Richard with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus comes to us as a blend of rogue like and turn-based tactics. Explore tombs, fight evil (?) robots, blow yourself up by accident, and purge the planet of the scourge inhabiting it, all from a comfy orbital ship. Now, if you're like me and have very little (read none) knowledge about the warhammer universe, fear not! Mechanicus does a good job of introducing you to what you need to know plot wise.

Essentially, a group who worship technology and "mechanizing" religiously have arrived at a planet following the last known coordinates of a cohort. Upon arriving, they discover that the planet is "inhabited" by Necron, who contrary to their name, appear to be fully robotic being that don't really die, but are warped away upon "death". Cue a sort of religious purging between the two groups, as the Adeptus Mechanicus want to get rid of the Necron, and the Necron view the Adeptus Mechanicus as an affront to their robotic being. The Necron are in a sort of stasis within tombs on the planet, and after the Adeptus Mechanicus investigate a tomb, they begin to wake up.

It is your goal as commander to guide your "tech-priests" into battle in order to stop the Necron from taking over the planet. You do this by investigating tombs at the bequest of your aides and subordinates in the form of missions. But be warned, as the Necron are waking from their stasis, and prolonged time in a tomb just allows them to awaken faster.

You are joined on this expedition by two primary aides: Scaevola and Videx, essentially a researcher and priest respectively. Scaevola has forgone the majority of their human self, now speaking in programming code, and has a very hefty interest in analysis and research into the Necron and their technology. Videx, on the other hand, is fully committed to the religious aspect, opting in favour of a "fire purge" or even ignoring something that could be useful if it has relation to what is viewed as abominable or heresy by their religious standards.

This gives an interesting dynamic, as these two main advisers are more often than not bickering or going against each others plans or ideas, giving the leader, Faustinious, a load of grief. Missions between the two tend to be similar in content, but have very distinctly different narratives. For instance, Videx may have you explore a tomb and bring along an escort able device in order to broadcast their scriptures in binary across the tomb. No, I personally did not believe that would help, but the rewards for the mission were good so I went along with it. Scaevola, on the other hand, basically has you on the cusp of being labeled a heretic purely in terms of what they're willing to do for research. Needless to say, these two don't exactly mesh well, although that just adds more to the story and background information.

So what is this all about in regards to exploring the tombs then? Well, this is where the roguelike element came from. Upon selecting a mission and enetering the tomb, you take a sort of commander role, guiding your troops through rooms on a tomb layout map. Upon entering a room with an event, you are usually requested to make a decision regarding what's in the room. Sometimes this results in nice things, like more resources.

Other times it results in things like losing half your health. Unfortunately, the results are rather arbitrary, so it can be quite detrimental to your cause if things go the shape of the pear. In fact, I lost so much health and time on the Necron awakening counter that I soon just started rushing for the finishing tile, especially since unit health isn't healed between combat.

Which brings me to the point that my rewards were almost never worth the cost of interacting with a room, especially given that the in-tomb counter for awakening level gives bonuses to the enemies, and then that counter gets translated to global awakening level after tomb completion. It also doesn't help that Mechanicus employs quite literally the most awkward method of selecting a destination room I have ever seen.

So how about the combat then? Well, the combat is where we pick back up again a little bit. Combat is done through turn-based play on a grid, where faster units go first in a turn, and slower units go last, with each unit getting an action during the turn. You have a number of tools at your disposal, between physical and energy attacks, as well as how you have outfitted your units will determine your battle strategy. You can run up to enemies to prevent their ranged weapons and hit them, or you can shoot at enemies from a distance.

As you use your weapons, they can gain "machine spirit" that will give them a one-off buff. Also to take note of is "cogitation points", which are required for heavier hitting weapons, and will allow you to deploy extra troops or to move further across the map. The points can be accumulated either by camping out near obelisks, or by defeating enemies and stealing a point off their bodies. Speaking of, Necron are kind of immortal, so you need to attack them after they die to get rid of them, otherwise they will just heal in a few turns and come back to life.

Before beginning a mission, you have access to a few cantrips you can set, as well as the opportunity to augment your units with blackstone, giving them better stats and unlocking new equipment types and abilities. There are multiple "skill trees" you can go through, and you also have the opportunity to go down multiple if you wish to. I chose the minion enhancer and melee specialist when I first started upgrading.

As interesting as Mechanicus is, I have to say it felt super clunky. Menus felt awkward to navigate, some parts of the upgrade system were a little confusing at first, and I didn't even figure out how to use the cantrips for longer than I'd like to admit. The roguelike aspects tend to be more annoying than anything, and I found they offered well more detriments than I had reason to pursue the events in each marked room.

Combat is acceptable, but nothing truly special. Honestly, I found where this game shone wasn't in the gameplay, but instead in the storyline. This felt like more of an interactive book, similar to those Animorphs choose your own adventure books I used to read as a kid, with a decent helping of turn-based tactics to keep you entertained enough to continue. The storytelling was by far the best part, while the combat was fairly average, and the "rogue like" sections more annoying than anything else.

In conclusion, Warhammer: 40,000 Mechanicus feels more like a spiced up novel than a game in many aspects. While the clunky menus and occasional menu interactions may deter newer players or those less patient, you do get used to it after awhile. What I really enjoyed, however, was the banter between characters. Definitely not for everyone, but this just might scratch that turn-based SRPG itch you've been looking to scratch.

Score: 7.5 / 10

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Warhammer Chaosbane – Keela Gunnarsdottir – The Dwarf Engineer – PlayTime Part 2

Warhammer: Chaosbane – Keela Gunnarsdottir – The Dwarf Engineer by developer Eko Software and publisher Nacon—PC (Steam) spotlight article written by Pierre-Yves with a copy originally provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

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Earlier in March, Eko Software and Nacom (originally Bigben Interactive) announced that they would be adding a new character to the roster for Warhammer Chaosbane. Free for anyone that owned any version of the game, what better way to show off this new gameplay than with a return to our Play Time series?

Right below is our second one hour gameplay segment of the Dwarven Engineer Keela Gunnarsdottir who has an interesting blend of melee and ranged weapons with plenty of “fire” power to go along for the ride. Got to love mortar attacks in a hack & slash!

https://youtu.be/Ya9zsDiWHrg

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Warhammer Chaosbane - Keela Gunnarsdottir – The Dwarf Engineer - PlayTime

Warhammer: Chaosbane – Keela Gunnarsdottir – The Dwarf Engineer by developer Eko Software and publisher Nacon—PC (Steam) spotlight article written by Pierre-Yves with a copy originally provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

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Earlier in March, Eko Software and Nacom (originally Bigben Interactive) announced that they would be adding a new character Keela Gunnarsdottir to the roster for Warhammer Chaosbane. Free for anyone that owned any version of the game, what better way to show off this new gameplay than with a return to our Play Time series?

Right below is a one hour gameplay segment of the Dwarven Engineer Keela Gunnarsdottir who has an interesting blend of melee and ranged weapons with plenty of "fire" power to go along for the ride. Got to love mortar attacks in a hack & slash!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOlZlAxGgoE

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Warhammer Chaosbane: Tomb Kings – PC Review

Warhammer Chaosbane: Tomb Kings by developers Eko Software and publisher Bigben Interactive/Nacon—PC review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

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After a few rounds in Early Access, Eko Software and Bigben Interactive’s fantasy based Warhammer Hack & Slash Chaosbane finally hit full release over the past summer. Surprisingly coming out only over six months later, the first expansion has become available changing up a few elements to the core style for the better. Creating a much smoother gaming experience as you run across the desert tomb raiding, it’s time to once again save the world from impending doom.

Available from the main menu to dive right into, the events of Tomb Kings take place after the end of Act 4 of the original story. Magnus has been saved, crowned Emperor, and it was time to follow an expedition out into the middle of a god forsaken desert which soon goes sideways. Doing what you do best, you take out your weapons and you start slaughtering anything that comes near you.

I’ll be up front in that Tomb Kings doesn’t exactly fix the “what’s next” issue that Chaosbane had on launch. While you once went into an area, completed it, went back to the hub and then came back out, you now have one wide open area instead of several mini instances. Having replayed the entire original campaign with another character before diving into Tomb Kings fresh, it was a nice change of pace to have to actually do the footwork instead of just diving into one portal or entrance after another to get back to the slaughtering.

Tomb Kings is designed as a single area with several points of entries into the surrounding tombs. To get from any one point to the other, you’re going to need to run there. It doesn’t take that long but at the same time you do appreciate the core campaign’s portals maybe just a little more as there are no town portals. With new enemies and an increasing difficulty though, the grind of experience points feels natural as long as you didn’t super jack your weapons making you wonder if you shouldn’t up the difficulty a little bit.

This leads me into another observation. I hadn’t actually loaded Chaosbane since finishing up my original review and playthrough back over the summer. Being gifted another code for Robert and then buying the Magnus Edition for Richard for Christmas, we started new characters to go through the original campaign as they hadn’t played and I noticed several new adjustments for the better that carry over to Tomb Kings. While the core skill mechanics are all the same, God skills seem to have gotten a bit of an upgrade. Now having God skills from both the original campaign and Tomb Kings, you can now just use points to gain the rewards and undo them as you please. You don’t need to pay with gold and fragments anymore allowing for you to much more easily set up your various playstyles.

Summary

So mixing in some of the old with the new, and always available to bounce back and forth, Tomb Kings adds a couple new hours to Chaosbane acting as an Act 5. While it doesn’t fix what do you really do next after you finish the campaign and the expansion, it’s still a good dose of quick fun for new and returning players alike.

Score: 7.5 / 10

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Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - Winds of Magic - PC Review

Taking me a bit by surprise, the latest of Fatshark’s expansions to Vermintide 2 is here. Boasting a whole new mode instead of a series of levels, you and three actual other players will be diving into the weave with new weapons and systems to upgrade them. The only catch? Unlike the rest of their work, every player that wants to go weave diving has to pay for it as this one is not free for anyone to jump into as long as the host owns it.

At first I was a bit surprised that the newest content couldn’t be accessed by everyone as long as they joined up to a host that had it. Fatshark has been rather proud about its stance to allow anyone to play as long as one person picked it up but it doesn’t take long to actually understand why. Up until now, most of Fatshark’s work has built upon the base game constantly adding in new stages and challenges to be completed. Adding new levels, and fight against the Skaven and the forces of Chaos just expanded outward allowing you to go further and further when pubbing. That was until the weave which is a whole new mode with its own hub and features separate from the rest.

The easiest way to describe the new mode would be to say that it’s rather akin to Blizzard’s Diablo 3’s Rifts / Great Rifts. You start off at Stage 1 and then keep going through the weaves as things become more and more powerful requiring you to really work with your allies because in this mode? There are no bots. Human players only so if you only go in as two players, then you’re only going about it as two players until someone else jumps into your run. So far on the leaderboard the highest that I’ve seen is Weave 74 (now 120 after editing and I’m sure probably higher by now) which I think is insane because my brother and I got stumped on Weave 11 for a while.

So what exactly is the weave? The weave in this case is another reality that our heroes are diving into in order to collect essences for the resident witch. In this realm, any and all previous gear is useless meaning that super powerful weapon that you’ve been swinging around? Yeah, it’s now useless. To be useful in the weave, you’re going to need to craft new weapons with the essence that you’re picking up for the witch. While at least the first one is on her, it would have been nice to allow you to select which one you wanted instead of having to spend a thousand essense at the start to get what you want. Two thousand essence later, I had the weapon types that I wanted and then I got to upgrading.

Starting off essence is a bit more scarce as you’re getting one to two hundred per completion. Getting into the double digits for stages though and the amounts being dropped are in the thousands so it becomes easier to unlock what you want and to upgrade what you have but it does take a bit to get there so having to drop thousands on the gear types you want can hurt the proverbial wallet just a little. What’s really awesome for this mode though is that you get to customize your gear without having to trial and error craft.

When leveling your gear, not only do the base properties increase, but you both get mastery points for the weapon and slots open up for stat bonuses like +4% Critical Hit Damage. Costing a certain amount of mastery points to be slotted in, the more powerful modifiers will take more mastery points but none of these are permanent. Don’t like your loadout? Reset it. Need more than just extra damage on a critical hit and want to do more damage to skaven in particular? Load those stat bonuses in. The best example that I can give is that my sword for my Inquisitor is loaded so that my blocking takes less stamina, my gun is stacked for critical hit damage that I am guaranteed every 6-10 seconds depending on my traits, and my amulet allows me to resurrect people at least 20% faster.

Poking and prodding at your loadouts is going to take time to get right, especially as you level each item up and have more possibilities to try out. But that’s not why you’re really here. How’s the new mode? Fun. Hard. Fun. Frustrating. Fun. It’s loads of fun but I’ll be damned if it isn’t hard at times and not always because of the cool funky elements that have been added in, but more because you take so much damage from certain enemies that it felt a tad broken in certain stages.

The weaves stages themselves are going to be a bit familiar, but play out quite differently than you would be used to. Taking pieces of previous stages, the weave isn’t over until you’ve collected enough essence to move onto the boss of the stage. Unlike Diablo, the boss doesn't show up once you’ve gotten or collected enough essence. What instead happens is that the final part of the stage will become unlocked and it’s up to the party to make their way over to that portal in order to face off against the boss or the bosslike encounter that you must complete in order to finish the stage.

This change in the stage formula doesn’t sound like much at first, but it’s a lot more than just a re-hashing of previous stage elements. Each “sub-section” of the weave has its own quirks from thorns growing where you’ve killed an enemy which will slow you down and hurt you, to magic circles that will follow you and launch lightning five seconds after they’ve stopped. The dropping of lightning hurts, but if you get a crowd of enemies into them, we’ll their seriously toast especially if you overlay a few of the circles close enough to one another.

What took a little while to find out, as we just weren’t doing them, what that you can also get essence from completing normal stages which takes a bit of pressure off if you can’t seem to complete a weave. We, my brother and his two friends that I’ve played both Vermintide and Vermintide 2 on and off with, found this out while running them through the introductory stage and subsequent travels to the older stages as the boys hadn’t been yet played from the previous expansions. Re-completing a weave gives chump-change. Re-completing any stage, especially if you bring the difficulty up, gives you loads of essence making it a bit more “reasonable” to charge a thousand per weapon unlock and have to upgrade them from level 1.

Between the new gear formula and the stage compositions, Winds of Magic adds a whole new level to FatShark’s Vermintide 2 which really raises the challenge bar and the lifespan of the title. Would I want to see more in the original vein of the game with another storyline? Yes. Am I happy with the Winds of Change and would I like to see more in this vein as well? That is also a yes and I’m looking forward to what comes next.

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Fatshark
Publisher(s):
Fatshark
Genre(s):
First Person Shooter
Cooperative
Mode(s):
Single Player
Multiplayer Coop
Other Platform(s):
N/A

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves (WrathOf314) and played with Marc L. (Frosty)

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Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus - Heretic - PC Review

Back over the Christmas holidays and into the new year I had the chance to sit down to Bulwark Studio’s Turned Based Strategy Warhammer 40K: Mechanicus. Taking control of your troops from the safety of your ship, you got to control them through a holographic table that outlined the planet below where they were deployed. Having just recently added more content, Mechanicus is back with both a new discipline for your Tech Priests and a whole new scenario that has you fighting against your own people on your own ship!

Starting off with perhaps what I thought was the bigger inclusion to Mechanicus is the new discipline for Tech Priests. Basing a discipline straight off of the Necron forces, your new tree to level into provides plenty of restorative possibilities like regenerating health per round or flat out being able to restore several hit points with a permanent skill that goes into cooldown. The catch to all of this hit point regeneration comes at the price of losing hit points for every single attack that the Tech Priest makes. Shooting a weapon that takes no CP or several CP will both knock you down a hit point so if you’re making several attacks in one round make sure that you can actually survive a hit from the surrounding enemies.

The reason that I found the inclusion of the new path the bigger addition to Mechanicus is because it can be used right from the beginning. Restarting your travels and explorations of the Necron world you can go straight into that tree and see how it unfolds over time instead of having to meld into it when the world is halfway or three quarters awakened depending on how far you’ve made it. Side to this new tech tree though is the inclusion of a new scenario that raises the bar a bit as it acts quite differently than the core experience.

Partway through your travels when levels start going from all easy to easy / normal or even normal / hard you’ll have a new option open up at the bottom but don’t trust it when it says that it’s easy. It really isn’t but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t fun even if I got wiped the first time that I tried it as it was clear that it was too early for me to have tried it. Opening up with a new series of dialog that you have defectors on your very own ship that have also taken parts of your troops with them, it’s up to you as to how you want to deal with them but it’ll be a little bit different this time.

Being on your own ship, you won’t exactly be hovering over your table until it’s time to open up a can of whoopass. So instead of moving from room to room, you’ll instead go straight to a series of decisions that can affect the battle ahead. Do you quietly take out a sentry while they aren’t paying attention? Do you send your forces in weapons blazing and blades severing? Or do you just keep on moving. Your first decision will bleed into the next which after a few of these and plenty of dialog between your advisors, it’ll finally be time to launch into combat on your own ship and fighting Tech Priests and your own style of forces? It requires a bit of a different touch than the Necrons on the planet below but at least when you knock your enemy down, they are down and out. Once finished the first part, you go back to your planet exploration until the time that the next part opens up.

The inclusion of this new content is a great addition if you want to start off from scratch and use it to your benefit. While the new class may be a bit harder to incorporate into your battle plans halfway through your exploration or crusade on the planet below, the battles on your own ship are timed perfectly as you should definitely have the gear and your Tech Priests loaded with enough firepower to show to those that defected that it was a bad idea to piss you off.

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Bulwark Studios
Publisher(s):
Kasedo Games
Genre(s):
Turned Based Strategy
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
N/A

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Warhammer Chaosbane - PC Review

Having gone through several beta stages, Eko Software and Bigben Interactive’s Warhammer based Hack & Slash is finally out in the wild. With four characters that each act as their own class, you’ll be going through a mission based structure solo or with others to save the would be Human Emperor Magnus that that just recently beaten back the Chaos hordes when all hope seemed lost.

Chaosbane is fun. There’s no denying that fact. You run around different environments on a mission and you take out a colossal amount of enemies. Between each mission you head back to the hub to sell off unwanted gear or stash gear you want to keep around for later, and then head back out. It’s quick, there’s little to no downtime, and between the four characters there are enough skills with each to create your own forms of subclasses. But then what?

Unlike Diablo 3, Victor Vran, Torchlight or The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, there’s no real “world” to explore. Sure you can leave on what are known as expeditions, but you can’t just head out of town in order to lay a smackdown on the forces of Chaos. Everything has to be selected as a mission so everything has a step-by-step structure making it feel less organic and more procedural. Having taken out the “middleman” works, but at the same time it makes things feel a bit lacking like Neocre’s Warhammer 40k Martyr: Inquisitor. There’s a charm that exists by letting you just run around hacking and slashing things as that is literally the purpose of the genre.

To head out onto these missions you’ll have four separate characters. There’s the Human Warrior, the Dwarven Berserker, the Elven Mage and Ranger. What is neat about these classes is that they all have their own uniqueness for how to approach a situation. Creating classes that are unique enough from one another but just as usable and enjoyable is no short task and I think the developers got it right. Having already experimented with the four in the previous beta, I went with the one that I felt most comfortable. The Elven Ranger of summoning death and destruction through hordes of Dryads! Ok maybe hordes is pushing it… but only slightly.

 Check out our second preview on YouTube for loads of details!

So treating the skill tree a bit like Diablo 3, you unlock new abilities as your level increases and then you can swap then in and out as you see fit. Unlock the previously mentioned however, the abilities that can be set all have point costs from a total pool in order to be used. Generating abilities to use the more powerful ones that have an energy cost start off as free but it doesn’t take long before you need to allocate points from your pool in order to make these skills worth it even in normal combat situations.

The balance of these is a bit touchy. The total amount of points in your pool goes up slowly yet the cost of the abilities is often higher than you can actually afford to have. Where things even out a bit is that you can equip low to mid end abilities in all of your slots or you can sacrifice one or two in order to have one or two high level skills alongside your energy generator. It all comes down to personal preference and how you like to approach the situations.

On that note, side to the skills that you unlock by leveling up, you’ll also have access to a God Tree that you can purchase nodes from in order to make yourself both more powerful and give you access to skills not gained by leveling up. Each node costs both one point gained from leveling up as well as gold and fragments acquired from hacking and slashing your way through hordes of enemies. This is where my horde of Dryads came in as while the Ranger can summon one permanently to the field, there’s a skill in the god tree that allows for four to be summoned, five later once upgraded, for a limited time in order to wreak havoc. Very useful to have around especially when there are tougher mobs on the field and you don’t seem to be making a dent.

All in all, Warhammer Chaosbane is a fun title that is both enjoyable to play alone or with a few friends. While it won’t be winning any awards for treading on unexplored ground, it’s both a solid experience and a tick in the right direction for the Warhammer series that seem to have one good title in every dozen. Well done!

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Eko Software
Publisher(s):
Bigben Interactive
Genre(s):
Hack & Slash
Mode(s):
Single Player
Multiplayer
Other Platform(s):
Sony PlayStation 4
Microsoft Xbox One

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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Warhammer: Chaosbane - Second PC Preview

Having just took a look at Warhammer: Chaosbane's first Beta with Robert, I'm here to give you another look at what the second Beta looked like. Now with all four classes available, I'm definitely looking forward to the full version in June!

Game Information

Platform:
PC
Developer(s):
Eko Software
Publisher(s):
Bigben Interactive
Genre(s):
Hack & Slash
Mode(s):
Single Player
Multiplayer
Other Platform(s):
Sony PlayStation 4 (on Launch)
Microsoft Xbox One (on Launch)

Source:
Provided by Publisher

Article by Pierre-Yves

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