Space Hulk: Deathwing - Enhanced Edition

This game was a big disappointment to me. The art direction and world building is very good. The 3D models are top notch, the texturing and lighting is amazing and the scale and oppressive feel that you'd expect from a WH40K game is there. Sadly, those are the only good things I can say about it. The plot veneer thin, the game play is janky as hell, the enemy AI is extremely poor, the game is buggy as all buggery and the mission design leaves me wanting. The is pretty much no music in the game, which is a big deal for me; half of my enjoyment of DOOM and Vermintide 2 was to the excellent dynamic atmosphere that dynamically adapted to what was going on in game. This is all too bad, because the potential for a good game is all there.

First things first: None of the screenshots above show actual gameplay. They are all cutscenes or stills. You play an arcade-style first person team shooter where all you see is your HUD, with (in zoom) a non-transparent yellow-ish overlay over your enemies. The one major drawback of the game is long loading times mixed with frequent crashes. For a title that wants to be a casual game, automatic saving of progress with no real manual save option and frequent crashes followed by staring at a loading screen for up to 5 minutes until you are finally (back) in the game, make for a frustrating combo, Its focus on multiplayer co-op unfortunately also leaves singleplayer with much to be desired. The story of its singleplayer campaign is equally kept to a bare minimum, plain vanilla with no interesting twists or turns. The campaign itself plays like a spiritual successor to the 1995 "Space Hulk - Vengeance of the Blood Angels", except with modern graphics and a more arcade touch due to reduced complexity, simplified controls, and streamlined gameplay. The game has no friendly fire, you walk and turn much faster, can even run, may walk through your chapter brothers (no collision detection). Commands you give your brothers are rudimentary and have little in sense of tactics. The game attempts a mix of concepts that in some places contradict each other, and doesn't integrate them into an arcade stlye experience as well as it could have. It neither transports the speed and hectic of a good FPS nor the sluggish "trapped in a tin can" feel and horror of the original "terminators", nor the tactical combat of the board game, but takes too many lessons from all the aforementioned to be the fun casual arcade shooter it wants to be. Is it a bad game? Not really, no. But it's unfortunately it stands in its own way too often and has too many technical issues, to be the fun title that keeps you glued to the screen at the edge of your seat.

I was someone who was really looking forward to playing this back in the day on Xbox, which it was strangely dropped from on release. Picked this up for a fiver on one of the sales and I have to say, it's everything I wanted it to be. I've only been playing single player, not enough mates want to play, but as someone who has loved 40k for 30 years, it really captures the feel of the Space Hulk game and the 40k IP in terms of atmosphere and the power you have. It's unforgiving, it's difficult single player even on easy, the squad AI is easily overrun as they don't seem to watch the radar in regards the hordes coming from behind, but I can forgive that for the near perfect joy of the combat. They've nailed it. It's desperate at times, almost survival horror. You'll feel like a space marine terminator, gunning down dozens of enemies without damage. But they just keep coming. I had kill counts over 500 some games. It's just unrelenting action at times, with atmospheric pauses as you see the blips surrounding your squad. Downside? It's the same for the entire campaign. Every mission is the same design in the same enviorment. Go here - activate this or hold here - oh you think your finished? - now run a gauntlet and escape. The difficulty spikes are also very frustrating at times. It's not an easy game solo, mainly due to the AI, but also that each mission usually has a catch which you won't realise on a first playthrough, though if you're with friends, you probably would negate the issue as you've got reliable firepower to get through and coordinate. I would though recommend at the sale price to anyone who loves 40k, the Space Hulk board game, FPS horde shooters or just loves survival horror sci-fi and wants a bit of a challenge. It doesn't outstay it's welcome and even on solo you're getting a meaty single player campaign, even if it's pretty much one big alien infested spaceship scenario.

Ouch, sad to say this one is officially trash tier. It's a poor shooter (Space Marines are obviously most inacurate shooters in universe), it's SO. PAINFULLY. SLOW. It seems terminator armor can't go at jog speed or, emperor forbid, run, for more than 5 seconds before taking 30 seconds to recharge, so you're slowly walking these massive empty areas with nothing to do. It's bad, it's terribly bad and there's no reason to waste any time on it.

One can't praise the Graphics Team high enough. Whoever was orchestrating that, either in a lead role or by providing just the right assets, must have either been a die hard 40k Fan, or have gotten an excellent understanding of the 40K Universe and especially the grim behemoths, that Space Hulks are supposed to be. The abysmal and vast wreckages of those ill-fated Space Ships Graveyards, aimlessly drifting the Warp and then popping up once in a while in humanity's reality, are excellently crafted and with insane, loving detail. Futuristic, industrial designs are stitched together with medieval Cathedra halls, blending over in just the right way to make it look like something that has been moulded into form, but where the components are yet opposing. The Terminator Suits are designed to point and with awesome details like the "The Emperor protects you" lettering, when peering down hard enough. You actually feel heavy and somewhat protected in those thing, but don't worry, this will go away, once the Tyranids start pouring in. Aaaaand those were the good things of the Game. I actually am grateful that they give you full 10 Minutes to enjoy all of the above, before the action starts, so you can let it sink and again, praise the girls and guys who made this so fantastic. The story never picks up the bleak and sombre tones it sets in the intro again (but hey, this is a FPS in the end.), Sound design is horrible and bland. Where Vermintide 2 uses dramatic Scores when things get nasty to upscale the tension, SH just uses nothing. Weapons sound more or less the same, be it a Bolter or a bigger gun and of course you still encounter the occasional glitch, where one of your fellow marines is stuck into a wall and then you need to restart the whole thing from scratch. Something that is super awesome if you just spent an hour playing a level. Buy it for the visuals and while it's on sale.