Written by Morten Haugen
Name: Spacehulk Deathwing (Enhanced Edition)
Developer: Streumon Studio
Publisher:Focus Home Interactive
Released: 22.05.2018
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4
Reviewed on: PlayStation 4
Acquired: A copy of this game was provided from publisher for review purpose
Going into this review I have to be totally honest and say I have never played any of the Warhammer games, neither have I any previous knowledge of this universe, and Spacehulk Deathwing is a part of an enormous universe with tons of lore and to come in to it as a newbie can feel a bit overwhelming and daunting. But I will try to and hopefully enlighten gamers who are in a similar position and are in doubt whether or not to buy this game.
The series came first out as a strategy board game all the way back in 1989 as a part of the 40k Warhammer series. Several other board games and video games have been released and this game released originally in 2016 on PC. Now we have the enhanced edition for both PC and PS4.
STORY
You play the game as a “Librarian” , as one of the tough and dedicated Dark Angels 1st Company Space Marines. Tasked with purging the enormous Spacehulk, a massive derelict spaceship filled with aliens called Genestealers, a nasty race that mutates our genes and creates very dangerous abominations.
Roman and Catholic inspiration is very present in the game, the space marines are basically like holy crusaders in space with massive armours and big guns. The story was done in about ten hours and felt pretty short.
Like most games this is of course best understood and appreciated with the knowledge of the lore but is still enjoyable for new gamers, although I personally had a problem to get any connection to the game and felt it was a pretty standard story arc and nothing stood out as very spectacular in any way.
That said the Warhammer 40k universe is a very dark and mysterious one, with alien races and conflicts that exists in a huge universe and has tons of lore you can read if you want to get a better understanding of events in the history of Warhammer.
You can also find relics and sources of lore scattered around the map.
4/10
GRAPHICS
The graphics in this game are not bad but not great either. What I like is the look and design of your character. A space marine is a huge machine of a man. Since you basically are a human tank, you also look the part, big and bulky with deadly weapons to match. All of it looks great, adorned with roman style like decorations, skulls, wings and gold.
The map does also look good except I was not a fan of the dark ominous setting that the game is set in and after a while I need to see something else just to lighten up a bit.
Some textures here and there are blurry and not that good but for the most part it looks ok enough. The enemies also have a decent number of variations in the way they look although I think maybe I have seen every variation of earth colors by now.
Also, the game is very certain of the theme and shows it off really good in many details around the map, decorations, skeletons, great big halls, all of it fits in very nicely.
But if this had been a new game, I would say the graphics looks a little dated but not to the point that is not playable but today’s games have generally crisper and better details.
7/10
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay here disappointed me a little bit to be honest and I felt the difficulties I had was just the game pouring hordes and hordes of alien scum at you and just overwhelming you with massive amounts of enemies. And that is the problem I have with this game, it is nothing more than a massive Horde mode simulator with increasingly bigger versions of the last enemy you just slaughtered a second ago.
The different weapons you can wield have some redeeming qualities and you also have some psychic powers like shockwaves, lightning bolt that arc through enemies and giant pillars of flame incinerating enemies to mix thing up a little, and they work pretty well to give you different approaches to defeating your enemies. And it comes down to managing your two AI companions who are to put it mildly, a little bit stupid.
One is a healer, and the other is a support gunner and they do not know how place themselves or heal themselves so you must babysit them through the entire game.
I have been told the multiplayer aspect is a better way to enjoy the game because the you would have other players controlling them and that makes for much better gameplay and opportunities to make a more strategic approach to the missions. But I have not had opportunity to play much online so I will not be commenting on that aspect.
As for the mission they are very standard and boring, “go there destroy that” or “pick up that and that item and bring to this place” sort of stuff, “Hold area while you wait for NPC robot to open something”, missions like that and backtracking so much got old very quick.
The “boss fight” sections of the game in particular I found very disappointing,what I mean is where you would normally in a game of this type find a mini boss or a level boss it is simply just more of the biggest enemy version the game has to offer, rather then a dedicated and unique enemy made especially for that encounter, and that is just bad in my opinion.
4/10
CONTROLS
The controls are decent and have good feel to except maybe some clunkiness to the movement. But you are playing a human tank with an enormous armour and the biggest guns you can find in a video game so the controls feel pretty accurate to your character.
Although this is originally a pc game and the controls will be better suited for a keyboard and mouse they managed to do a ok job of adapting it to console and it works to a satisfactory level.
The only thing I found a little difficult was commanding the AI character in a very heated battle, placing them correctly so they don’t immediately die or make him heal the other guy and things like that. Other than that there is not any game mechanics or special detail that comes to mind. Controls are ok.
5/10
REPLAY VALUE
If you find the existing gameplay entertaining and fun the replay value is pretty good i would say. You will not be able to unlock every skill your character is available on a single playthrough and you also have four difficulty settings that you can challenge yourself on.
In addition you have the multiplayer part that allows you to play the whole game with friends online if you want that.
5/10
VERDICT
Going in to this game blind I struggled to connect to the story and characters, the setting are in my taste too dark and I cannot bare many continuous hours in this universe. The game has a long history and a devoted following which this game is obviously made for and I applaud that. But the horde mode style gameplay ruin much in this game for me that could have been more nuanced and varied in the way you interact with the enemies and how the battles are fought. Maybe this is something that are tried being copied from the board games and strategy games but I do not think it very good adapted or makes for much fun gameplay.
I found some fun in using the different weapons you get throughout the game and his psychic abilities was also fun to use but that was just about it. The ending, in particular, was comically bad from a gameplay point of view.
All in all I would not recommend this game if you are not a diehard fan of the franchise already or you simply just love horde mode gameplay. If you are a fan, you probably already will have this game in your collection and are now pissed at this review.
Pros
|
Cons
|
Story: 4/10
Graphics: 7/10
Gameplay: 4/10
Controls: 5/10
Replay Value: 5/10
Total Score: 5/10
“Might want to wait for a sale, some will like this game and others won’t”
You can check out our review policy right here, if you wonder how we set our scores.
-
Story 4
4/10
-
Graphics 7
7/10
-
Gameplay 4
4/10
-
Controls 5
5/10
-
Replay Value 5
5/10
Verdict
Going in to this game blind I struggled to connect to the story and characters, the setting are in my taste too dark and I cannot bare many continuous hours in this universe. The game has a long history and a devoted following which this game is obviously made for and I applaud that. But the horde mode style gameplay ruin much in this game for me that could have been more nuanced and varied in the way you interact with the enemies and how the battles are fought. Maybe this is something that are tried being copied from the board games and strategy games but I do not think it very good adapted or makes for much fun gameplay.
I found some fun in using the different weapons you get throughout the game and his psychic abilities was also fun to use but that was just about it. The ending, in particular, was comically bad from a gameplay point of view.
All in all I would not recommend this game if you are not a diehard fan of the franchise already or you simply just love horde mode gameplay. If you are a fan, you probably already will have this game in your collection and are now pissed at this review.
Overall
5/10
User Review
( votes)Pros
- Graphics
- Good Voice acting
- Fun Weapons
- Bad ass Armours
Cons
- Short campaign
- Repetitiv gameplay
- Load times on console
- Bad AI
- Non existing Boss Fights
