WARHAMMER 40K: SPACE MARINE 2

Chaos is winning right now, I fear

- Ted Litchfield

In the year 2011, men were men and the terrible affliction of 'Unreal Engine 3 Neck' raged unabated. At this time of peak Xbox, we got the original Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, which paired the gothic grimdark far future of the Imperium of Man with Gears of War-style shooting, minus the knee-high cover everywhere.

Twelve years on, not much has changed in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2, at least going by an hour-long demo level 1 had the chance to sample. I never get tired of seeing those big ol' blue Ultramarine pauldrons, and we're actually pretty starved for straight-up, linear, over-the-shoulder shooter campaigns like this, but unless the full game has some serious surprises in store, it doesn't feel like Space Marine 2 will win the favour of 2023 Ted.

First, the good: despite having to crank the graphics down to medium for a stable 60fps at 1440p on an RTX 3070, Space Marine 2 is a treat to look at. Our big boys' armour nails that almost candy-like look of a well-painted plastic miniature impersonating metal, complete with details like skulls, scrollwork, and my favourite: mud that built up and caked my Ultramarine clodhoppers as I stomped through the demo's swampy jungles.