Space Hulk: Deathwing - Enhanced Edition

I'm not a huge Warhammer fan but have played some games. This game interested me when it released on Steam but I didn't buy it. Saw it come to GoG and instantly purchased. It's almost like the Aliens game we never got. There's a bit of tactics here and you AI teammates aren't nearly as bad as they could be. Generally your AI teammates have serious problems in games like these but these guys stay with you pretty well and do what they're supposed to do—shoot shit. You'll battle on pretty large maps and have missions to complete along with submissions and relics to find. I've not really gotten to deep in the relic hunt yet. You earn points to upgrade skills and get new guns. You can choose your load-out before every mission, so there's decent room to experiment it seems. It's also pretty challenging which is nice, at least to me. By the end of the first mission my squad member's health-pack was depleted and we were scraping by for survival. The only thing I don't like is there is no Lan support, but it's cross-play between Steam and Gog and people seem to be playing it. Certainly worth your cash.

Space Hulk Deathwing had the makings of an incredible single player game. Capturing the feeling of being overwhelmed by hordes of aliens, in a squad capable of standing their ground. Placing you in a haunting and visually stunning Warhammer setting, the combination of set piece spawning and random roving swarms of aliens keeps the action nearly constant (although there are occasional periods of complete silence, presumably due to some AI navigational issues upon sealing doors). You could forgive the lack of any instructions, the companion AI for running back through a door you’re about to seal or that the game is difficult to beat even on the easiest setting, were it not for the frustrating restrictions. What is the point of having a skill tree or increasing weapon customisations if only allowing access to these at the end of the game? “Here, have this weapon that is only really useful against 1st level opponents. Welcome to level 12.” Why make it so people cannot choose logical combinations of weapons or are tied to a series of weapons? You can use this gun and sword but this gun that is exactly the same size makes your left hand incapable of carrying anything. Ok, create a first play through restriction that means you can only really use one weapon set and complete one skill tree that either benefits you or your squad, not both. Why not follow something akin to the Prey model and allow people to develop their skill tree further on subsequent play throughs? Also allow them to combine differing weapons, so they can enjoy the same freedom to use them as the developers did in ‘god mode’. So, when I fancy a bit of repetitive, shoot, use spells, use sword, fall back, I might load up Space Hulk Deathwing. Likely, as with the even worse ‘sit and watch the cut scene movies, while waiting to go back and choose the appropriate weapon loadout’ that Metro: Exodus forces people through, it will be consigned to the ‘could have been good’ pile of rarely replayed games.

Pluses: - Fun gameplay - Interesting and complex maps - Beautiful graphics - Tyranids can sometimes hand your a$$ to you and your teamates if you are careless. - Heavy Flamer goes Wooosh! - Requires to apply some weird, never before seen tactics in a coop game. Minuses: - Gameplay, as fun as it can be - gets bored on the same maps - if DEVs would not abonden this one and develope more maps - replayability would be greater. - Clunky and weird moving enemies. - Cannot figure out Tyranid hit mechanics - Multiplayer focused - though you can always find someone to play, or when hosting a game - people would quickly join you. - AI teamates in single player, doing what they are told but require you to give them orders. Why 4 stars? For one this game was developed by studio that untill today consists of around 15 people, who were mostly WH40k fans, so you have to give them credit for that. Though dropped and devs moved to create Necromunda Hired Gun - this game is an unpolished gem that would require more refinement, but I am still playing it, getting swarmed or succeding, and still having fun.

but it is possible to lock a series of doors for crowd control - playing the game with the bare minimum available strategy - and then LOCK YOURSELF OUT. Some doors you lock can be re-opened later, others are shut permanently, and I found no indication of which was which. Thus I was unable to complete mission 3 and would have had to replay the whole darned thing from the start because ALSO : the game has no manual saves and very stingy autosaves. I might have suffered these grave limitations in a much, much, MUCH better game but, with all due respect to Games Workshop, their space marines/death angels/whatever are slow-ass weaklings in tissue-paper-thin cans. I said it. Those first two missions were a CHORE of trying to survive with wholly inadequate tools. And no : it does NOT make sense that the Emperor should send his "Death Angels" on such dangerous, deadly missions armed with weapons that hit anything and everything *except* where I'm aiming while backed (burdened?) by brain-dead squad mates with suicidal tendencies. It looks tremendous, however. Kudos onto my brothers and sisters in the art department : may you find success in better titles! Long live . . . somebody. (This review for the single player campaign)