Rogue Trader is currently the only role-playing game for Warhammer 40,000 on Steam. MeinMMO editor and Warhammer expert Benedict Grothaus has attempted a new run and discovered a new option that quickly hit him in the face, with force and twice.
No universe can convey dark dystopias as well as Warhammer, especially Warhammer 40,000. Here there are no “good” guys, everyone is evil in their own way, and you mostly choose the lesser evil, usually just the coolest models and weapons. This world has fascinated me since my youth.
Accordingly, I devoured Rogue Trader right at release; my name can even be found in the game because I purchased the expensive Kickstarter edition back then. Rogue Trader conveys the atmosphere of the world superbly and for that alone I love the game.
Of course, I have completed it as well, my first time with the sobering realization, that there are no happy endings in Warhammer. The second time, I played as a heretic, just to let loose.
Now Owlcat, the creators, have released a new update, and many fans have taken this as an opportunity to take another look at the game. Including me, but as proud as I am, I thought: A little challenge can’t hurt. Spoiler: Yes, it can.
“Grim Darkness” means my… useless NPCs cost me my run in less than 15 minutes
Rogue Trader offers, like many role-playing games, various difficulty levels from: “I just want to experience the story” to: “I want to barely survive every fight, even if I play perfectly.”
There is also an additional selection, the “Grim Darkness” mode. It is like the Honour Mode in Baldur’s Gate 3 or generally like Ironman modes in many other games: There is only one save file, I cannot reload, and if the party is wiped out, the game is over.
Cool, I thought. I had just completed Baldur’s Gate 3 in Honour Mode and the difficulty there with many more boss abilities can’t be worse than Rogue Trader on “hard” (the second highest difficulty) and “Grim Darkness.”
A brief explanation: In Rogue Trader, you play a rogue trader, one of the most powerful nobles of the empire. At first, you are guided through the ship that you will later take over, and some fights and conversations introduce you to the mechanics.
My first attempt failed right at the first fight, where there was only a single (!) enemy present, the second in the second fight just a few minutes later. Both times I was one-shotted by a weak enemy. But that’s not my fault, honestly! It was the NPCs!
Commissioners are not just funny characters!
For my character, I chose to play a commissioner. The Officio Prefectus is one of the most dangerous organizations in the empire and its commissioners are among the most feared officers in the army.
They stand beside or behind their troops and execute anyone who is not brave enough to die in the face of the enemy. Should doubts about morality arise, they can even remove an officer from command and take leadership themselves. Among ordinary people, there are hardly any who are as tough as these guys.
In Rogue Trader, this means that I actually do little myself, but rather “motivate” the other members of my team by shooting them in the back with my las-pistol.
The only problem is that during the tutorial, only NPCs are around, who are not my “companions”, but just NPCs, and in one case, even do absolutely nothing (why will be explained later in the tutorial).
But since I am only armed with a crappy gun and have no combat skills, even weak enemies are a challenge. If you also directly take crits from the enemies and are the only character in the team… that’s just the end.
Revenge will come as soon as I get to be an Inquisitor
I will take another look at the “Grim Darkness” mode someday, just because I want to achieve success and brag about it. Whether that will happen anytime soon, I don’t know yet, because shortly a new RPG about Warhammer 40,000 will launch with Dark Heresy.
On December 16, 2025, a first alpha test will take place, and I have been looking forward to this game since its announcement. Because in Dark Heresy, I play not just a rogue trader, but an Inquisitor – part of the most dangerous organization in the empire.
But it will certainly take a while until Dark Heresy actually releases. However, I can bridge the time well because there is more new content coming for Rogue Trader, where I then want to get my face beaten again: The best role-playing game about Warhammer 40,000 is sending you into a secret vault of the greatest kleptomaniac in the universe in the next DLC
