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Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – Making a Sequel to a 13-Year Old Game (and How It Could Lead to More)

Joe Skrebels, Xbox Wire Editor-in-Chief

Published

September 5, 2024

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is a rare case of a game increasing in reputation over time – the 2011 third-person shooter arrived amid a swathe of similar games, but its dogged approach to representing the ultra-violent world of Games Workshop’s tabletop universe has seen it steadily become a cult classic. That could quite easily have been all we ever got – Space Marine’s original planned sequels were shelved, and little was heard about a return in the decade-plus since release.

That was until Saber Interactive unexpectedly announced a sequel. The arrival of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – which takes place a full century after the events of the original, and still follows original hero Captain Titus – is a cause of celebration for fans. A true, old-school shooter with some very modern ideas, it’s a marriage of what people loved about the original, with new ideas on how to keep this series not just alive, but thriving.

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But Saber faced a practically unique challenge; how do you approach creating a true sequel to a 13 year-old game – especially when you didn’t work on the original? I caught up with Creative Director Oliver Hollis to find out about the deft work needed to revitalize the world of Space Marine.

“The first step was to look at what everybody’s memories of that first game were,” Hollis explains. “Because as we all know, we play things in our youth and then have slightly rosy memories of them. So, we tried to look at what everybody loved about Space Marine. The key things were embodying the unstoppable force of a Space Marine, the absence of any cover system, or the ability to recover health by doing massive amounts of damage.

How can we take everybody’s memories of what that game was and honor them, while taking them to the next level of current day gaming?

Oliver Hollis, Creative Director

“We then went back and looked at the actual game and, of course, it didn’t quite marry up. All those elements were there, but games have moved on a lot in that time. So then we thought, OK, well, how can we take everybody’s memories of what that game was and honor them, while taking them to the next level of current day gaming?”

The answers are myriad. Space Marine 2 feels gratifyingly similar to the original when it comes to ranged combat – Bolters fire with a satisfying thud, your Marines move with real weight, and enemies arrive thick and fast (and die just as quickly). But Saber has injected action game mechanics into the mix – improved melee, parries, finisher moves, and more. Tweaks have also been made to make the game challenging while still offering the sense of playing as a superhuman soldier:

“We always try to place the Space Marines in a context that makes them seem powerful. We begin the game with manageable enemies – we set the stage with, ‘Wow, this guy’s tough. He can take on 20 enemies at a time and succeed.’ Once we’ve set that tone, we increase the pressure, so it goes from 20 enemies to 50, or 60, or 100. Then we add 2 extra Space Marines – you’re always fighting with two brothers – so then that allows us to increase the pressure even further. Now, you’ve got three guys fighting 200 enemies.”

Saber’s bringing its own experience to bear with those huge numbers – where the first game saw sizeable Ork hordes, the switch to a Tyranid invasion allowed the team to go so, so much further.

“The team that made Space Marine 2 also made World War Z, which was a huge success for us, and introduced the Swarm Engine, our own proprietary engine. When we first pitched this to Games Workshop, we showed them scenes from World War Z and said ‘Imagine that, but with Tyranids.’ And they jumped straight in.”

The result is a game that can have hundreds of enemies onscreen at any one time, wave after wave meeting the business end of your chainsword, Multi-Melta, or good old-fashioned gauntlets. Saber has bridged the gap between playing as a single character, while still feeling like you’re part of a full-scale war worthy of the tabletop game.

Becoming a Primaris is a metaphor for the game as a whole. Space Marine 2 offers a bigger, stronger, more modern version of the original.

As you might expect, Warhammer creator Games Workshop has been heavily involved in helping Saber find that path – and Hollis and his team have had some conversations that’ll be the envy of Warhammer fans.

“Games Workshop were incredibly helpful to us. At the very beginning, they opened up some of their personnel to us, gave us access in a way that they just don’t normally do. So I got to meet Jes Goodwin, the creator of the Space Marine, and he explained how all the armour works, or what each of the little ports does in the armour for injecting combat stims – he was incredible.”

Games Workshop stayed in touch throughout development, explaining things like how Space Marine weapons should be balanced, and even informed the team on deep lore around more obscure elements, like how computers need to be turned on in the world of 40K (“a lot of rites and rituals, incense burnings, offerings, and sacred ointments”). And they also gave Saber the key to telling a new story with the original game’s hero: “We were told from the very beginning that this was a Primaris game.”

Primaris Marines are a new, enhanced breed of Space Marine – introduced to the 8th Edition of the tabletop game in 2017, meaning they hadn’t even been dreamt up when the original Space Marine arrived. In many ways, Titus’ (very violent) ascent to become a Primaris is a metaphor for the game as a whole. Space Marine 2 offers a bigger, stronger, more modern version of the original.

And the benefit of being a modern game is that Space Marine 2 is built to last. Beyond its campaign, there’s a PvP mode, and even what amounts to an entire second campaign designed for 3-player co-op, called Operations. There’s room to expand both.

Saber has already announced a roadmap of updates for the game, and it’s clear that the team is thinking well beyond launch, even in such a generous game. For PvP, new customization options will pop up over time – including, it seems, for the Chaos Marines that act as one of the two teams:

We’ve built so much tech and so many systems to support future stories, that we’re in a really good place to move straight onto another game.

Oliver Hollis, Creative Director

“People love to be bad. We created Chaos Marines not just as a as a tool to make PvP work, but because people love to play them. We’ve built so many systems now that that’s just begging for expansion.”

Similarly, Hollis has plans for PvE to go further than it already does: “Operations is definitely an area that we can continue to explore. If you think about World War 2 movies, there’s always a new one coming out about some crazy operation that was going on under the radar that nobody knew about. That’s the thing about a war – there are so many untold stories.”

But the burning question for fans is, with all this work put in, does Saber see this as not just a return to a long-awaited game, but the rebirth of a series?

“I really believe in this game,” Hollis enthuses. “This is a really, really solid offering – we’ve built so much tech and so many systems to support future stories, that we’re in a really good place to move straight onto another game, if that’s how things work out.”

I’m very hopeful that it won’t take another 13 years for a Space Marine sequel – and in the meantime, Space Marine 2 seems destined to evolve in itself. The Emperor himself would be proud.

Space Marine 2 launches today on Xbox Series X|S for those who pre-order the Gold, Ultra, or Collector’s Editions of the game. The game will see general release on September 9.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – Ultra Edition (Pre-order)

Focus Entertainment

☆☆☆☆☆
21

★★★★★

$109.99

Get it now

Pre-order the Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Ultra Edition to receive the Macragge’s Chosen DLC and play up to 4 days before release.

The Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Ultra Edition includes the base game, the Ultramarines Champion Pack and the Season Pass.

Your Craft is Death.

Embody the superhuman skill and brutality of a Space Marine, the greatest of the Emperor’s warriors. Hold at bay the horrors of the galaxy in epic battles on far-flung planets with your deadly abilities and devastating weaponry. Uncover dark secrets to drive back the everlasting night and prove your ultimate loyalty to humanity.

Crush the Tyranid swarms. Defend humanity.

● Purge the relentless Tyranid swarms as legendary Space Marine Titus in a spectacular new campaign. Play solo or with up to 2 friends in 3 player co-op.
● Enjoy intense, gory and fast-paced third-person action with hundreds of enemies on screen, from the creators of blockbuster co-op shooter World War Z.
● Defend the Imperium as your own Space Marine in an endlessly brutal and replayable PvE missions up to 3 players featuring 6 classes, unlocking new skills and cosmetics.
● Wage eternal war on your enemies in ferocious 6v6 PvP matches and bring glory to your faction!

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – Gold Edition (pre-order)

Focus Entertainment

☆☆☆☆☆
13

★★★★★

$99.99

Get it now

Pre-order the Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Gold Edition to receive the Macragge’s Chosen DLC and play up to 4 days before release.

The Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Gold Edition includes the base game Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 and the Season Pass.

Your Craft is Death.

Crush the Tyranid swarms. Defend humanity.