CONTROLLED CHAOS

Dealing with cosmic plagues in WARHAMMER 40,000: CHAOS GATE—DAEMONHUNTERS

- Robert Zak

Grand Master Kai looms over my crew via hologram like a Greek cybergod. It’s our bimonthly report and he’s not happy. Our Inquisitor’s desire to procure knowledge about the Nurgle plague has accelerated its spread, and he wants to know who’s responsible. Do I cover up for Inquisitor Vakir and piss off Brother Ectar, or do I throw Vakir under the bus? Whatever I do, someone will be unhappy, and that will have knock-on effects.

I go for the third option: Tell the Grand Master that the mission is going exactly as planned. He buys it, and seeing as we’re doing so well in our campaign (which we’re really not) he diverts our requisitions and armory access to some other chapter that needs them more. My reluctance to attribute blame has meant I’ve stayed onside with my crewmates, but have also ensured that the next two months of our campaign are going to be particularly grueling.

And here I was thinking that Daemonhunters would be a straightforward turn-based tactics game, content to tweak those sturdy XCOM foundations for the marketable mythos of Warhammer 40,000. Yes, you’ll spend most of your time on the battlefield, hopping between planets in four-man squads to combat a cosmic pox propagated by the Plague God Nurgle, but while Daemonhunters executes its combat very well, it also succeeds at all the stuff between the missions.