HORDE MODE

Fight hundreds of alien monsters at once in the bigger, meaner SPACE MARINE 2

- Samantha Greer

Warhammer 40K: Space Marine has a cult following almost as devoted as the game's zealots, and those poor loyalists have been waiting a decad for a sequel to the hack-and-slashing third person shooter. As the faithful no doubt knew all along, the time is finally upon us, and Space Marine 2 is set to deliver unto thee a scale never before seen in the series. But how will it fare against the new wave of Warhammer games, especially the likes of Darktide? To get a sense of how the sequel is shaping up, I sat down to speak with creative director Oliver Hollis-Leick, who was more than happy to dive into how they aim to build upon the original, and what's special about telling stories in the Warhammer 40K setting. "What's most important about this universe is that it's epic," Oliver tells me up front. "Wars don't take place in cities or countries, they take place on planets, solar systems, and even local groups of stars. So what we want is for the player to feel embedded in one of those great Warhammer 40K wars."

A BUG'S DEATH 

Bigger, is definitely the key word. Bigger than its genre brethren, and bigger than its predecessor, promising hundreds of foes on screen as the e sequel confronts returning protagonist Titus with waves and waves of the bug-like tyranids. "We have our own proprietary engine at Saber which allowed us to do things in World War Z that you couldn't get from any other engine, things like 500 enemies on screen at the same time.