I enjoyed this game. Gameplay was straightforward but not too simple. Music and sound design was magnificent, I think the best of any game I've played. The story and lore are present, and are interesting. I enjoyed it's turn-based sort of like XCOM style game play, relaxing while being engaging.
Mandalore Gaming on YouTube has an excellent in depth review of this game if you want to really get an idea about it.
I highly recommend grabbing a copy, it's gonna be fun!
The game is basically an easier X-COM, but it oozes style. The sound design is top-notch -- the VO effects for the tech priests are basically canon now. The writing is spot-on for 40k and always engaging. The music has some real bangers in there too.
The gameplay itself is fairly unremarkable. It's hard for exactly 3 missions, then the game is very easy, even for someone like me who cannot play the original X-COM to save my life. The enemies are all necrons which, although thematic in-universe, are very boring to fight every single mission. There is variety though, but man, I was dying to see an Ork or something once I was 80% through. The Heretik DLC adds dark mechanicum, but that's basically a reskin.
There's also a lot of ways to customize your experience. From melee only, to ironman. I wouldn't do permadeath, though. Once one of your tech priests die you cannot get a fresh one until you would have normally unlocked the next slot.
Over all, I think this game is very worth it for 40k fans. X-COM fans will be bored in minutes, but if you don't mind games with a little more style than substance, I'd give it a shot.
Go in with low expectations.
Something about the mechanics in this game feels way off, like they are too simplistic to create the tactical challenge that one would seek in a game like this.
On the surface it seems like it replicates "darkest dungeon"'s dungeon navigation (which is very bare bones) with an xcom like combat but with 1/4 of the complexity. Dungeons and battle rooms have simple layouts and are randomly generated. There is no cover system and no chance-to-hit, range being the only limiting factor. There is almost no way to reliably avoid being hit so the game relies heavily on healing items.
Enemies look goofy and cartoony contrasting the apparently brooding and dark tone of the game.
It looks like there is a pseudo-storyline that I think maybe could be interesting only for diehard 40k fans.
I dropped it after 12 hours of gameplay but it had already ceased to be interesting since it failed to add anything different from the 2nd hour of gameplay.
OST stands out, check it out on youtube.
Mechanicus is a pretty decent game, but unfortunately, not much more than that.
If you like A) turn-based combat, B) single-player campaigns, and C) Warhammer 40k then I'd recommend getting this game IF THERE IS A SALE.
What it gets right: The 40k atmosphere is spot on. There are a bunch of very talky tech-priests and other AdMech personalities that provide an overall good narrative. It's really fun the first time, easily skippable on later playthroughs. The soundtrack is AMAZING.
What's decent: The gameplay is simple enough to grasp. You probably want to play a few missions, then restart the campaign. If you do, you should be able to play through it with minimal difficulty. The graphics are decent.
What's not so good: The game is HORRIBLY REPETITIVE for all its good sides. Almost every mission is EXACTLY the same, with virtually no variation. Get's really tedious after the first 10 missions. The simplicity of the game system compounds the problem. You can't miss, and most weapons have only a slight damage span. There is no cover and no real tactics beyond focusing down 1 enemy at a time. In addition, the Necrons (the only enemy, but quite a few unit types) are slow AF, dumb AF, and don't do much damage if you invest in some energy armor. After playing through the game once, you definitely don't want to go back in for more.
VERDICT: It's not a horrible game, but it's not a particularly good game either. It can be fun for a few hours but is ultimately let down by its simplicity. Get it on the cheap.
In Warhammer 40k Mechanicus you are the Adeptus Mechanicus. The Adeptus tech-priests are a collection of optical sensors, bionics and implants stitched on the biological remains of a human.
On planet Silva Tenebris, you find long forgotten Necron tombs. Necrons are a dead race, and can be described as zombie terminators. By plundering their tombs for ancient technology you awaken the Necrons.
The sound and music are fantastic. Similarly immersive are the dialogs. Tech-priests say they register emotions, before deciding to contain it, and the destruction of ancient xeno culture is justified by biblical one-liners about the dangers of heretics.
Against this background, it is unfortunate that gameplay is mediocre. In about 30-50 missions you explore chambers. These contain fights, text-driven events or the choose between glyphs (Necron icons). Event text does not provide any clue to the outcome. You can strip crystal, to upgrade tech-priests, from a decorated wall or lose health because the wall crumbles. You can bypass events by save-scumming or look them up online. Or you accept the cruel nature of the WH40k universe, and run into the problem of awakening.
Awakening increases Necron strength during missions and fills up a global campaign meter. The campaign ends when the meter is full, which can easily happen before seeing half of the missions.
The fights are a squad-based tactical encounter with a few Necrons. Cognition (hero) points are used to make extra moves or deploy very powerful weaponry. Understanding this mechanism is fun and make you do crazy things, like clearing half the enemies on the first turn with only one tech-priest. Once understood, Mechanicus becomes far too easy on the default difficulty. I changed the campaign settings to increased awakening to add more Necrons AND disable the awakening campaign meter. This was a choice between immersion and gameplay. "If only I could contain my emotional distress I felt by doing so, like a tech-priest?"
