Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has been out for more than a couple weeks now, with players settling in to their imperial duty. Fighting the scores of hideous insects that are infesting the worlds of Avarax and Kadaku is a ripsnorter of a time, but for those that have completed the games story and proceeded through the co-op missions know that other foes await.
Being a Warhammer 40k game, it’s no surprise that the forces of Chaos are present and being their usual prickish selves – it is within their nature. The issue is that they absolutely represent a very different threat compared to the fleshy bug boys.
So players are feeling an immense amount of vindication when the game director of Space Marine 2, Dmitry Grigorenko, has similar comments that they are indeed a swerve on the gameplay ‘fun’ front.
Fight your way through tenacious enemies! 💪
— Space Marine 2 (@SpaceMarine) August 5, 2024
Adapt your strategy to defeat hordes of Hormagaunts, Raveners, Chaos Cultists and many more!
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In an interview with GamesRadar, Dmitry spoke about how the original Space Marine game had a clear cadence to it – where you go from fighting swarming fodder to suddenly being beset by the forces of Chaos, and the gameplay swiftly changes. This observation actually made it into planning for the sequel, in the hopes that they would avoid making the game ‘not fun’:
‘Okay, so the first game is absolutely amazing when you fight Orks, but when Chaos appears [laughing] it’s not fun anymore. Let’s not repeat their mistakes. Let’s not do this.’ And we kind of fell in the same trap. Even though we knew this was going to happen, we fell into this trap.
Now, saying the game is ‘not fun anymore’ feels a little drastic – Chaos units are manageable, just in a different way. It’s more how hacking through chittering monstrosities is a completely different vibe to trading gunfire with other (more evil) Space Marines. It’s a discussion I have had with close Space Marine 2 playing mates dozens of times, where we state the same old thing over and over – Chaos just needs to be a tad more fun.
Grigorenko’s comments also mention that they seemed aware of this during development of the story, even going so far as to ratchet up the set dressing to make sure the forces of Chaos at least had some great moments to surround them:
We tried to fix this by introducing a lot of unique setpieces that break the repetitiveness, I would say, but overall, you don’t know until you make this stuff.
So hindsight is indeed 20/20 for the Saber team – but the beauty of a game in the modern era is that changes can occur. The setpieces mentioned in the above quote mostly apply to the narrative portion of the game, being that you will be far too busy doing and witnessing awesome shit to really care that the enemy forces you are fighting are less exciting than before, but with the replayability of the games co-op offerings it would behoove the developers to inject a little more pizazz into the other baddies.
The entire interview is a brief one, but quite enjoyable to see the comments of someone who played such a pivotal role in crafting the game. Do head on over to GamesRadar and see the comments in their entirety.
As for my thoughts, I feel that the Chaos baddies don’t need much to be just as fun as the ‘Nids.
And Dmitry, if you are reading this – just let us execute Tzaangors mate. You know you want to.
UPDATE: In a not-so shocking twist, the first major update for Space Marine 2 has dramatically shifted some of the more awful elements of Chaos baddies.
Are you enjoying Space Marine 2? Which enemies do you prefer, the sparkly foes of Chaos – or the slavering hordes of the Tyranids? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
