Alex’s match of the year 2024: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II

If I can’t have Hades II because it’s in Early Access, then my choice for game of the year 2024 comes down to two options. “But what about the metaphor? What about Astro Bot?” I haven’t played them. The same goes for Black Myth: Wukong. Although I put an hour into Stellar Blade, I can’t really put that down with the same quality as other things. I thought Helldivers II would have a chance, but then Arrowhead called in an ordinance on their own head. So here we are. Balatro, or Space Marine II.

I mean, you read the headline. It’s Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II. While I flip and flop between my game of the year on any given day, I think as a Warhammer fan, Saber Interactive just knocked it out of the park with the depiction of the universe and the characters in it. As we slowly got to see and play more of Space Marine II as everything was revealed piece by piece, it looked like a game from the 2010s in all the glory that entails.

3 game modes, a story campaign that loved nothing more than being tough, and a PvP mode that lets you put in more hours after you’ve done all the PvE content? It sounds like a recipe for success to me, and while other games like Metaphor: ReFantazio and Astro Bot may be better on paper, nothing beats the feeling you get later in the campaign in the banner scene.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II is not just a vibes game, though. Saber Interactive has made a serious effort to make a Space Marine – a work of fiction – feel more alive and real than most characters I’ve seen this gaming year. Every pop of a popped enemy skull, every thundering step of your armored boot. It’s all beautifully done to great effect, making me almost glad for the delays because the developers took the time to really get the experience right.

The visuals create the perfect feeling of planetary warfare, with structures beyond your imagination being torn apart by thousands of Tyranids flying almost faster than the eye can catch them. It’s enough to make you wonder how humanity survived this forty thousand years, but then when you go to war as Titus and tear the enemies a new one with your chainsword and Bolter, you realize that humans have some serious weapons up their sleeves, too. As you make your way past Tyranids and the horrors of the creation of Chaos, you encounter some of the most unabashed Warhammer moments you’ll see in a video game. Saber Interactive puts the cinematics and the pure metal nature of it all at 11. It’s not trying to be something, it’s not. It’s Warhammer, and whether you like it or not, that’s what it’s going to be.

The gameplay is thick and fast and can be switched around to be as deadly as you want. The story isn’t exactly Shakespearean stuff, but it is incredibly entertaining, backed by clips that Amazon should study if they want this Henry Cavill show to be a success. It does it all in such a phenomenal way, giving people that action-packed introduction to Warhammer that the hobby and lore so desperately needs. Titus is the new poster boy, as evidenced by his appearance in Secret Level, and I couldn’t be happier for him. The only concern is that as the games and stories progress, I fear he will become so powerful Games Workshop will be forced to remove him from the canon.

In 2024, we have seen the success of games. Games like Astro Bot, Black Myth: Wukong strive to offer players a great platform game or wonderful action/adventure, without the fat that seems to be pasted on many AAA releases now. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II feels very similar. A game that has a lot going for it, and all of it feels equally necessary for its success. It’s just a fun time, and one of the few games this year where I smiled from ear to ear in certain segments.