Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II (2024) [PS5] critique

“As I looked into it’s dead black eyes, I saw the terrible sentience it had in place of a soul. Behind that was the steel will of it’s leader. Further still I could feel it’s primogenitor coldly assessing me from the void. And looking back from the deepest resesses of the alien’s mind I preceived what I can describe as an immortal hunger.”

-Ultramarines Chief Librarian Tigurius, Codex Tyranids 5E

Super Catholic alpha males bond over pest control and heresy. Plot points and flying babies may be lost on those who never played the 1st Space Marine or the tabletop war game. Just borrow a codex from your nerdier friends. Unfortunately, in the grim darkness of the far future there is only a brief campaign and Chaos spam (this game needs more Tyranids). Online issues and segmented modes bring down a highly customizable and lore-accurate xenos-purging spectacle of good ol’ Gothic grimdark gore.

Visuals: 9/10

Audio: 9/10

Gameplay: 7.5/10

Narrative: 7.5/10

Online: 4/10

Replayability: 6.5/10

Uniqueness: 6/10

Personal: 8/10

Aggregated Score: 7.2

Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage or Mage Cast.