MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus is a big Warhammer fan and loves role-playing games. Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader is logically one of his highlights of the last few years. The CRPG will receive its first expansion on Steam in August. A good reason to play it again.
Warhammer is one of the best role-playing worlds there is. I like to repeat myself: In a perfect world, the biggest MMORPG today would be World of Warhammer. Rogue Trader is at least a small step in that direction.
The role-playing game was released in December 2023 and had already impressed me immensely then. Instead of genetically engineered superhumans, I play a free trader who has been given a mandate by the Emperor to enforce his will.
For everyone who doesn’t know Warhammer 40k: 40,000 years in the future, humanity has conquered several galaxies and is at war with pretty much all alien species. To this are cosmic forces such as chaos gods, ancient robotic mummies, and all-consuming beetle monsters. For “protection” and conquest, the Imperium of Man has Space Marines, guys who have been genetically engineered to be bigger, stronger, and meaner than any normal man.
However, Rogue Trader largely avoids this trope. Instead, the role-playing game explores other facets of the dystopian world and has captivated me immensely for this reason alone.
250 hours full of decisions with an excellent combat system
I finished my first playthrough after about 180-200 hours and immediately started a second run. Even then, I noticed that Rogue Trader does some things better than genre king Baldur’s Gate 3:
- Classes are not fixed; I build my own builds from various combinations that evolve.
- Through a total of 55 levels, there is always something to improve on the character; it feels like a real journey.
- The combat system is reminiscent of XCOM and comes with a plethora of mechanics like parries, recoil, deflections, and various types of weapons.
Fighting is incredibly fun. Whether with a heavy bolter, a chainsword, or psychic magic: What matters is always who is where and with what combinations the enemies are dealt with. Rogue Trader conveys the strategic aspect that defines Warhammer very well.
But what impressed me the most was the story. The Warhammer role-playing game doesn’t offer as much freedom as Baldur’s Gate 3, but the story still has different facets, depending on the playstyle:
- Iconoclasts help the humans and mainly see scenes in which the people triumph.
- Dogmatists enforce the will of the Emperor and fight against heretics, chaos, and xenos.
- Heretics disregard the values of the Imperium and succumb to chaos – yet that’s not necessarily the “evil” path. Even the “good” ending of the game is terrible.
The first DLC, Shadows of the Void or “Void Shadows”, will be released on August 8. It promises another adventure with 15 hours of gameplay that I want to check out. Together with the bug fixes, that’s a reason to play everything again. But what really excites me is the new companion.
Void Shadow brings one of the world’s most dangerous women into the game
With Void Shadows, Kiballah comes as a character to Rogue Trader. Kiballah is a Death Cult assassin, one of the deadliest sects in Warhammer 40k. The Death Cult is fanatically devoted to the Emperor and sees killings as acts of faith.
Accordingly, the assassins are experts in handling weapons, especially blades of all kinds, and kill, butcher, and stab at a level on par with the best swordsmen of the Eldar. However, they also indulge in somewhat … questionable rituals.
Due to their fanatical desire to kill and shed blood for the Emperor, Death Cult assassins are particularly susceptible to the temptations of the chaos gods Khorne and Slaanesh.
For Rogue Trader, this sounds incredibly exciting: I look forward to seeing if I can take Kiballah as a loyal assassin of the Emperor or if I can completely lead her to chaos along with my heretic.
Again over 100 hours – While I’m still stuck on the predecessor!
The next run in Rogue Trader will keep me occupied for several dozen hours again. I just hope that I will finish the predecessor of the studio before the DLC starts.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous received its final DLC in June and is now complete. Since then, I’ve been stuck again in the huge role-playing game and have to say: Despite many bugs that often plague the games, Owlcat just has a knack for the genre.
Wrath of the Righteous alone captivated me for over 100 hours in the 2 weeks after the release of the last DLC and I’m still not (yet) done with it. In fact, I’m even planning a third playthrough – sometime after Rogue Trader then.
Right now is a really good time for all who love role-playing games. First Pathfinder, then the DLC for Rogue Trader, and later on, the final update for Baldur’s Gate 3 to conclude the epic – even if without new content: Team from Baldur’s Gate 3 was even working on a DLC – the chief explains why the work was stopped.
