With Space Marine 2, a new co-op shooter is coming soon in the well-known and vast sci-fi universe of Warhammer 40,000 for PC, PS5, and Xbox. However, Warhammer is known for its ancient, branched, and constantly evolving lore. A potential player wonders how much he needs to know about it – and receives the perfect answer.
What kind of game is Space Marine 2?
- In Space Marine 2, you play as a namesake Space Marine in thick armor with awesome weapons.
- Primarily, the game is a shooter, where you have to defend yourself against huge hordes of bugs – roughly a mix of Helldivers 2 and Doom.
- Space Marine 2 looks like a solid co-op shooter, even if you are not a Warhammer fan. But how much are you missing out on if you know nothing about the lore?
Here you can find out what the first reviews say about Space Marine 2.
What you need to know about the story of Space Marine 2: On Reddit, a user asks: “I know nothing about Space Marines/Warhammer, is this game for me?” He fears that his lack of knowledge might hinder his enjoyment of the game.
While he has always had a casual interest in Warhammer, he has never delved into it deeper. In the very first comment, a player provides a succinct answer along with a summary. He argues that a lack of knowledge is not a problem and explains:
Here’s a bit of lore if you’re interested. You play as a Space Marine, a genetically modified super-soldier who serves the Imperium of Humanity and worships a god named the Emperor. Lieutenant Titus, whom you play as, is the main character of the campaign, one of those Space Marines – specifically, one from the chapter of the Ultramarines (think of the chapters as sub-factions of the Marines, each being different).
[Titus] has the task of reclaiming his rank as Captain after losing it in the events of the first game. Your enemies are Tyranids, a swarm of biological aliens that destroy all biomass in their path to consume it. […]
Your objective: shoot everything that isn’t human. A little extra: the lightly armored humans you see on the ground are the Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum, normal people with weapons on the front line.
Graftyman6 on Reddit
The summary is very brief and quite sparse compared to the entire lore of Warhammer, but for explaining Space Marine 2, it’s more than sufficient. After all, it’s primarily about smashing lots of bugs with big weapons – like in Helldivers 2. And as a nice bonus, there’s a co-op mode.
Warhammer is much more than just bred superhumans
This does not mean that the story in Space Marine 2 is absolutely unimportant. Even in the first part, there was high praise for the storytelling, and there are fans who want to check out part 2 just for the story.
Titus has now become a well-known figure and in Space Marine 2 is part of a Kill Team of the Deathwatch. For all the non-nerds, that’s just a cool title, but Warhammer fans might find such things quickly appetizing.
With a little knowledge of the world, you will find details or information throughout the game that players without knowledge will surely overlook. Whether that diminishes the fun of the game, you’ll have to decide for yourself. If you at least want the basics: Here we explain who the Emperor actually is.
The world of Warhammer 40k is not only made up of Space Marines and other superhumans with superpowers and power armor. There are plenty of aliens (or “Xenos”) with exciting backgrounds and normal humans.
The Imperium itself offers interesting variety to the Space Marines, such as the warrior priestesses of the Adepta Sororitas, the machine priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus, or the Inquisition. And if you want to experience the very special crew of the free traders or Rogue Traders yourself, there’s even a game for that: The latest Warhammer game shows what 40k does really well – forgoing bred superhumans.
