SPACE MARINE 2

HONOR 

DUTY 

STRENGTH 

COURAGE 

SELF-SACRIFICE

 MASCULINITY

I will be honest and say that I didn’t have much contact with the Warhammer 40K universe until now, as I wasn’t a particular fan. Until now. Space Marine 2 gave me a heavy dose of uncompromising action, a tight story, and heroes who fulfill their function in the plot excellently. Demetrian Titus stands out from the rest. His dedication to the Imperium, to a cause greater than himself, is inspiring and makes you want to see his story through to the end. The episode from the Secret Level series “And They Shall Not Know Fear” is awesome and will give you a little context about Demetrian’s character. You can find it on Amazon Prime Video. The animation and action are perfect. It is better than 90 percent of modern action cinema. The name of one of the trophies in the game is a reference to the episode.

MASCULINITY. This is the word that imposes itself on your mind from the very start screen of Space Marine 2. Demetrian Titus looks at you in his Ultramarine armor with a helmet splashed with blood. This game is testosterone in digital form. It is not afraid to give male gamers what they need today – namely a male power fantasy in which they are the ultimate heroes who stand between order and Chaos. Badasses to the end. The entire Warhammer 40K universe was created with this purpose. In the blessed ’90s, when Warhammer was created, political correctness had not eroded culture and our society so much, and there was still a lot of quality content for normal people. The developers did not succumb to modern politics and did not follow THE MESSAGE.

The story of the game is quite simple, and that is great for its purpose. On one side you have Demetrian and his team of two other Space Marines, Gadriel and Chairon. Demetrian is awakened from stasis to which he was sentenced by the Inquisition on charges of corruption against the Imperium. The Inquisitor who imprisoned Titus is killed during a mission, and among his possessions they find Demetrian and other Space Marines. They release him and hand him over to the Death Watch, who see no corruption in our hero and return him to the service of the Emperor. Death Watch is an elite, secret unit that serves as a small army subordinate to the Inquisition. Titus feels shame because he lives with the feeling that he failed in his duty in the story of the first game. In modern games you don’t encounter many such heroes – real men with a sense of duty and honor. This is another reason why I love Space Marine 2. The chronicles and reports of Titus’s previous missions have been erased by his commanders and he becomes a chapterless blackshield. In Death Watch he rises to squad leader and is entrusted with the extremely important mission to deliver the viral bomb to Cadia. The first level in the game sends you to that very planet, which is attacked by Tyranids. Your goal is to detonate a bio-bomb in the planet’s atmosphere to destroy the swarm of aliens. Very soon after the beginning you are faced with impossible odds for survival… and then the fun begins. The Tyranid hordes flood you, but you crush them and manage to launch the bio-bomb into the planet’s atmosphere. Then a Tyranid monster called Carnifex appears, which looks like the illegitimate son of the Alien Queen from Aliens and some particularly brave praying mantis. The monster stabs Demetrian in the stomach after the boss fight with it. Demetrian dies. At that exact moment the Ultramarines appear and kill the Carnifex. Demetrian’s body is taken to one of the Imperium’s space barges, and he is resurrected through Rubicon surgery, becoming a Primaris Space Marine. In the next moment in the story, two other Space Marines — Gadriel and Chairon — enter under his command and become his team. Gadriel is full of doubts about his new commander because he hates any form of corruption, and he knows that Demetrian was in Death Watch, and he is angry that our hero has taken the position of commander of their team. Chairon is an Ultramarine with an explosive temperament who passionately hates the forces of Chaos, which are the main antagonists in the game. Chairon has also been in stasis, but for 10,000 years. Imurah, the main antagonist of the game, is a corrupted and degenerate former Space Marine corrupted by the forces of Chaos. He wants revenge on Marneus Calgar for banishing him to the Warp. The Warp is a parallel nightmare dimension in the Warhammer universe. And Calgar is the commander of all Space Marines. The secondary villains are the Tyranids, but they have no consciousness or face. I will leave you to discover the rest of the story yourself while playing the game.

GRAPHICS
Saber Interactive, the developers of the game, with their Swarm engine, does an excellent job of transferring the destructive beauty of the Warhammer world into video games. Cadia is a beautiful but deadly jungle. Dark green, brown, and bloody red are the colors that imprint on your irises as you make your way through the vegetation. There is industrial gray in the buildings built by the Imperium. In the jungles of Cadia you feel like Dutch making his way through the jungles of South America, minus the cigar, but you have a bigger gun, and there is something stronger and faster than the ordinary Tyranids that kill marines. During the large-scale battles the destruction and chaos are convincing and alive, without the engine choking or frame rate drops. The blown-up and half-destroyed buildings, the piles of human and alien bodies are so realistic that you can feel the pieces of concrete, molten metal and the stench from the piles of corpses. And on the Imperium’s space barges the engine faithfully recreates the gothic-industrial architecture of Warhammer. It is extremely satisfying when you are in the middle of melee and after a successful attack your screen gets splashed with red sprays of the blood of the hellish creatures. Demetrian’s armor also gets splashed with the blood of enemies when you stab them, cut them, tear them, and shoot them.

Sound, music and voice acting
One of the most important elements for immersion in the world of a game is the sound. Nimrod Fakhrara and Steve Molitz have written an impactful and emotional soundtrack that contributes to the masculine and epic feeling of the game. When you are in the heat of battle, the music pumps you up to fight even more bravely and brutally. The sounds of the weapons are realistic and satisfying. They complement the dark beauty of the symphony of battle and chaos in Space Marine 2. Clive Standen, the voice of Demetrian, is known from the Vikings series. I haven’t watched that show, but he does an excellent job with his role in the game. His performance is stoic, masculine, with a little emotion when needed. The rest of the actors handle their roles satisfactorily.

LEVEL DESIGN
The game’s levels are linear with large and massive arenas where you fight epic battles between transitions from one part of the level to another. The IMPERIAL GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE of Avarax is epic in its scale and dark beauty. In one part of the level, together with your team of marines, you move with an open platform lift, and above are the huge chains driving the device. In the planet’s atmosphere the Imperium’s barges orbit and fight with the Tyranid ships. This is a breathtaking sight. On Cadia in the Severance mission you feel as if you are in the movie Aliens. There are dark corridors lit only by emergency red lamps whose walls are covered with blood, the floors with human and alien corpses, and Tyranid slime. In one of the operations you can perform with other gamers, you are transported to a desert level inspired by Dune, and the final boss is a large Tyranid monster that resembles the Alien Queen that can move underground and attack from under the earth’s surface.

Frozen pieces of reality in timelessness from eons. A place outside of time and space where the forces of Chaos reign. Enemies and allies frozen in eternal battle.

GAMEPLAY
Space Marine 2 has the typical gameplay of a modern third-person action game, but polished to perfection and with some interesting additions that make it original. Contested Health is one of the most interesting and original mechanics I have encountered in a game. When some bastard deals you damage, your health does not decrease immediately, but the part taken from you glows white on your Health meter. If you manage to kill an enemy fast enough, your health is restored. This creates an extremely addictive gameplay loop: fight – healing in the fight itself – using the special ability – fight. This mechanic becomes very important on higher difficulties, when the medicae stim-packs are much fewer throughout the level. As in many games today, after you deal enough damage to some hellish freak, it starts glowing red and you can perform an execution with R3. Executions vary depending on the enemy you kill and sometimes the weapon you have equipped. The executions are super satisfying. After some bastard has sweated you, it is very pleasurable to decapitate him with that special move. When you perform a perfect parry, you can perform a Gun Strike. On the monster whose attack you parried, a red target appears and if you press R2 fast enough, Demetrian shoots it and deals damage.

The battles in the game are like a dance and timing is very important. The correct judgment of when exactly to parry the enemy’s attack is vital. For your convenience, a blue indicator appears around the head of the opponent, which tells you that in a second it will attack. The parry window is small, so you have to be fast.

COMBAT SYSTEM AND MELEE WEAPONS
The game has a great combat system that smoothly combines melee combat with firearms. It is a real pleasure to get into the center of the enemy hordes and unleash with the power sword and turn them into shish kebab. Combos and attacks with cold weapons are performed with R1. They are simple to perform and quite spectacular in execution. There are seven melee weapons in the game, each offering a different gameplay style. The lighter cold tools like the combat knife and power sword make you lighter and more maneuverable during battle. You attack and parry strikes faster, but your attacks do not deal as serious damage to enemies. All weapons have an upgrade tree, including the cold ones. Here is the list of melee weapons:

• Have you ever wanted the chainsaw from Doom to be more lethal and faster? This is a strange thing to dream about if we have to admit, but if so, the Chainsword is a fulfilled dream. It is a combo between a sword and an electric saw. Its design is pure steampunk. On its handle there are small nozzles from which smoke comes out of the miniature engine that drives the teeth on the blade of the sword. Such small details make this game so great.

• Combat Knife is my third favorite cold weapon in the game. It is the fastest melee tool in the game. In its upgrade tree you can choose to make it even faster, or to increase the damage it can do.

• Power Sword is my favorite weapon in the game because it combines powerful attacks with speed and maneuverability. Its design is inspired by ancient Roman gladiator swords – gladii.

• Thunder Hammer is a gift from Thor, the god of thunder. Lightning jumps on the surface of its head while attacking with it, which makes it one of the best-looking weapons in the game. These lightning bolts are not just cosmetic. With the hammer you can deal electrifying strikes to the hellish scum.

• Power Fist — It’s so bad. If you ever wanted to crush demons with Nintendo’s power glove, now is your chance. This is not just a boxing glove on steroids, but a weapon with which, with one straight right, you can crush monsters.

• Power Axe is my second favorite weapon in the game. With this axe you feel like a true god of war. He-he. With this weapon you are fast and maneuverable, but your attacks also deal quite powerful damage.

• Omnissian Axe is another two-handed weapon. Specially added for the Techmarine. It is a bit faster than the Thunder Hammer. After a light attack, if you hold R1 the Techmarine drives the blade of the axe into the ground and then pulls it releasing an explosion of energy that strikes nearby enemies with a spectacular explosion.

FIREARMS
The rifles and pistols in the game are the standard arsenal for a third-person action game, but with some quite pleasant exceptions. Here they are.

HEAVY BOLT RIFLE
This is the light machine gun in the game. It has good rate of fire and impressive firepower. It is very good against Majoris enemies. It is good to upgrade it to max. A great toy.

PLASMA INCINERATOR
The plasma rifle in the game. It fires single shots. The longer you hold your finger on the trigger, the more powerful the charge. The faster you shoot, the faster the gun overheats. If you hold your finger for the maximum time, the marine automatically fires the maximum charge, but the overheating is also at max.

HEAVY PLASMA INCINERATOR
The heavy version of the plasma incinerator is a plasma grenade launcher that fires balls of plasma energy. It is good to aim under or at the ground around enemies. The explosion will do the rest. This is one of my favorite weapons in the game.

PYRECANNON
The Pyrecannon is a flamethrower. I have rarely encountered such a weapon in modern games. This is another small reference to Aliens. Towards the end of the movie Ripley attaches a flamethrower to her pulse rifle and burns several alien eggs. Well, you will use this baby for the same, and on all other enemies. The more you shoot with it, the more it overheats. So you have to slightly release the trigger and wait for it to cool down.

MULTI-MELTA
The Multi-Melta is the super shotgun in Space Marine 2, but even more powerful. With it you are a walking cannon tower. Devastating at close range, ineffective at long range. The playstyle with it is to wait for the enemies to come to you. If you choose Heavy as your favorite class, it is good to upgrade it to Heroic, and unlock all perks.

When you upgrade a weapon, melee or firearm, to max, you get its Heroic version. These are special versions, unlocked with Accolades that have unique effects.

CLASSES
In the campaign Demetrian uses various weapons characteristic of the different classes and jump pack, but when you start playing Operations you will be able to choose which class to play, and there are seven and all are badass in their own way.

1. Tactical — A jack of all trades, master of none. This is the all-rounder class in the game. The Tactical Space Marine is the only class that can carry all eight Primary Weapons at the same time and also the Chainsword, but he is not specialized in anything. His special ability is Auspex Scan. With it you can scan the area around you and reveal enemies. They appear in yellow-green outlines. At first glance it seems an almost useless special ability, but when you start upgrading it, it is not at all. Tactical’s Signature Perks are quite good. Signal Jammer — After you mark an enemy with Auspex Scan, the other bastards cannot call reinforcements, and they explode when they try to do it. This perk is super useful when your health is low.
   Radiating Impact — Melee execution deals damage in a radius of ten meters.
   Marked for Death — If you manage to land a headshot on a Majoris enemy marked with Auspex Scan, he dies on the spot. A perk that is very good in boss fights.

• Playstyle: Universal all-rounder. The most flexible class with access to the most primary weapons (Bolt Rifle, Plasma Incinerator, Melta Rifle, etc.).
• Class Ability: Auspex Scan. Scans an area and marks enemies in it (for about 8 seconds). Marked enemies receive additional damage (about +50% from firearms and melee attacks). Useful for bosses and groups of enemies.
• Armor: Tacticus (medium, 3 bars).
• Strengths: Flexibility, marking weaknesses, good for any situation.
• Weaknesses: Not specialized in anything specific.

1. Assault is another of my favorite classes. When you grab the Thunder Hammer in your right hand and rise above the battlefield with the Jump Pack like an angry god of war and like Thor descend with lightning speed and crush some monster that had the bad luck to be in your way, or a crowd of them and smash them like bowling pins, you understand what power is. You can upgrade the Ground Pound and make it even more powerful. Assault’s Signature perks are:
   Ample Ammunition — When you use the Jump Pack, your ranged weapon reloads automatically and its damage increases by 50% for 10 seconds.
   Ascension — Every time you jump with the Jump Pack you deal damage to enemies around you.
   Commitment — When you perform a perfect Dodge using Jump Pack Dash, your Jump Pack recharges.

2. Vanguard is the ninja of the classes in Space Marine 2 and is probably inspired by Mortal Kombat’s Scorpion “Get over here!”… But in reverse. Even if a huge genetically mutated bodybuilder in metal armor can pass for a ninja, this is the fastest class in the game. Bolt carbine plus Power Axe is the best combination for him. It is a real pleasure to get into the center of the battle with the Grapnel Launcher and unleash with the axe among the hordes of Chaos. Unlike Hanzo Hasashi, the Vanguard does not pull enemies towards himself, but fires his harpoon, embeds it in them, and the chain pulls him towards the creature and he kicks it in its ugly snout. Yeah, this is much more painful than Scorpion’s attack.

His signature perks are:
Tactical Prowess — If any of the bastards has less than 33% health or is incapacitated, you can perform a Finisher with a Grapnel Launcher attack, unless it is a Terminus Level enemy. They are untouchable for this perk. The cool thing is that when you unlock this perk after such an attack, the Grapnel Launcher fully recharges.
Emperor’s Blessing — Have you ever wanted, when you receive Lethal Damage, your armor to fully recover and hit the demons of Chaos with one berserker rush? Well, this perk gives you exactly that opportunity. If you are mortally wounded, your armor fully recovers instead of dying or being incapacitated.

1. Bulwark is the Knight-Templar of the game with Captain America’s shield. This is another way to say that this is the tank of the game. Armed with a shield in the left hand, and in the right you can put Power Sword (recommended), Power Axe, Power Fist, Thunder Hammer or Chainsword. His special ability is to plant a battle flag in the ground which in a certain radius restores the armor of the brothers around him, an extremely useful ability especially in PvE modes of the game on higher difficulty where there are no health pick ups at every step. When you upgrade the shield enough, on a perfect parry of an attack it hits enemies with a shock attack, and when you parry a ranged attack the bastards in a 10 meter radius receive damage. The design of one of the helmets in the Dark Angels Champion armor set for the bulwark, is obviously inspired by the armor of the Polish winged hussars. When the ratio of forces is 50 to 1 in favor of the Tyranid hordes, this beautiful helmet reminds you that it is time to turn on Sabaton and start the dance of death with the Power Sword.

His signature upgrades are:
Emergency Countermeasure — When the creatures reduce your armor to zero, a shock grenade explodes at your location and blinds your enemies, giving you a chance to escape.
Defensive Mastery — If you parry or block an attack from a Majoris or Extremis enemy, he is stunned and an opening appears in his defense for you to attack.
Armored Advance — If you have remaining storm at the moment when some enemy manages to land a Heavy Hit, you do not lose control of your character and the bastard cannot knock you out.

1. Heavy
   If it bleeds, we can kill it.
   The Heavy is another version of the tank, but with firearms. Heavy is the other tank class in the game. He is the only one who can carry the Heavy Bolter. This is the Warhammer version of Jesse Ventura’s Gatling gun from Predator, and this gun will make you a sexy tyrannosaurus. The pleasure is to aim at the densest horde and pull the trigger. The bullets tear and dismember the monsters extremely satisfyingly and spectacularly. His special ability is Iron Halo, a barrier that stops all ranged attacks. This applies to all soldiers in the squad as well.

The signature perks of the Heavy class are:
Offensive Capability: You deal damage to every enemy in a radius of five meters when Iron Halo is active. This perk is super for crowd control of monsters.
Coolant Reserve — Imagine that unfortunately the bastards manage to kill or incapacitate the other two members of your squad, and you need to act fast to revive them. Well, this perk is exactly what you need. When activated, your main weapon does not overheat, and you deal 50 percent more damage, and so you get the chance to attack the enemies around your teammates with a berserker rush and revive them.
Conversion Field — While Iron Halo is active, all squad members in a 20-meter radius regenerate their Ability Charge 50 percent faster. Such perks encourage team play. Other players have motivation to help you if you get into trouble.

1. Sniper
   At first glance the inclusion of a sniper class in a game whose focus is close and medium range battles with large groups of enemies seems superfluous. The sniper, just like Zero from Borderlands, has a cloaking ability that allows him to remain invisible for a certain period of time or until he attacks an enemy. With the sniper you can one-shot kill or seriously weaken stronger enemies before the battle has even started. You can upgrade the power of the sniper shots so that they can pass through the various defensive barriers of the creatures.

The signature upgrades for the sniper are quite useful and badass.
Evasion — After every perfect dodge, your camo cloak activates without spending charge for five seconds.
Emergency Override — When you are hit very badly, your disguise activates automatically and you become immortal for five seconds. So it is good to use this upgrade wisely.
Pattern of Excellence — Three perfect headshots restore your equipment with one point. All perks have a cooldown period.

1. Techmarine — added in Patch 12 (2026), will remind you of Axton from Borderlands 2. If you don’t remember, Axton had the ability to throw a turret with an auto-aiming cannon. The Techmarine has a Servo-gun built into the armor. Gameplay with him is more ranged. It is better to equip the heavy bolt rifle and attack from a distance, and when your special ability — the built-in turret — is charged, approach the enemies and activate it. For close combat I recommend Power Sword or Omnissian Axe, which was specially added with this class in Patch 12.0.

Signature perks:
Decapitating stratagem — When you kill or take out a Majoris bastard or some of its more powerful friends with the Servo Gun, it recharges immediately to 100 percent.
Lethal perimeter — The Servo Gun marks an area around you and automatically attacks enemies when they enter it.
Omnissiah’s Fury — The Servo Gun sets enemies on fire with its bullets. ’Nuff said.

Customization and Progression
In the Armouring Hall of your space barge you can upgrade and customize the different classes. There you can invest the points earned from missions in new perks and experience points in improving your weapons. You can mastercraft and upgrade all weapons. All weapons have a final Heroic version that gives specific bonuses for the individual tools of death. Various cosmetic skins for all weapons. Some of them are very cool and completely in the spirit of Warhammer. Armors, their parts and helmets have many variants for change. Starting from the ready Armour Sets, some of which you can buy as DLC, and the different parts of the armor that you can customize separately: Helm, Pauldrons, Breastplate, Wargear, Gauntlets, Greaves. For all elements of the armor, there are many variants, each more beautiful and badass than the last, and with many historical references. There you can also make up to three loadouts of perks for the different classes. It is a good idea to combine them carefully, because they may be the difference between triumph and failure in a mission.

GAME MODES
In addition to the campaign you have PvE and PvP game modes with several sub-modes.

The campaign is quite short, unfortunately. It makes sense to replay it to collect all collectibles. It has four difficulties:
Easy — Game Journalist difficulty. Here things are quite smooth but the game is quite short. It is like watching an interactive movie in which you participate from time to time.
Normal — A bit greater challenge, in which the difficulty is higher.
Veteran — The intended difficulty of the game. On this difficulty you have to be switched on constantly. The enemies do not forgive and you will often see the Mission Failed screen.
Angel of Death — The highest difficulty, and the greatest challenge. The enemies are even more aggressive and persistent. Recovery after a mistake and taking damage is even more difficult and slow.

In PvE you have Operations: these are levels from the campaign that develop in parallel with Demetrian’s story. In them you take the role of another Ultramarine and you also have two teammates controlled by AI or other players. To a large extent this is the real game, because in Operations you get access to the Armouring Hall, the Classes, and Customization. Some of the most epic, tense, and memorable experiences as a gamer that I have had in recent years have happened in the Operations missions, playing together with other players. At the time of writing this article, you have 13 missions in Operations to choose from. A minus of the game is the repetitive levels and environments. To progress your character, perks, and weapons, you have to replay the missions quite a few times. What you can change is the difficulty, and the higher it is, the more challenging the gameplay becomes. Operations has six threat/difficulty levels.

Minimal — Recommended level for your hero One. There is a lot of ammunition and medikits throughout the levels. The enemies are easy. The second incapacitation deals you a Mortal Wound. The Armoury Data you receive is master-crafted. With it you can upgrade your weapons to the first level of upgrading.
Average — Recommended level for your hero — Five. On this difficulty there is less ammunition and medikits. Medicae stimms are less effective and heal less. The enemies are tougher. When you are incapacitated for the second time you again receive Mortal Wound.
Substantial — Recommended level for your hero 10. Equipment drops are even less. The enemies are even tougher. The first incapacitation deals you Mortal Wound, so you have to be even more careful and ruthless in the missions. The Armoury data is Artificer, which gives you the opportunity to unlock the second level of upgrades.
Ruthless — Recommended level for your hero — 15. This is difficulty for hardcore players. I recommend you have really leveled your hero to the indicated level. Respawn time is even longer. The enemies are deadly. The first incapacitation deals you Mortal Wound. Stimms are less effective. The Armoury data is Relic, which unlocks the third level of weapon upgrades.
Lethal — Recommended level for your hero — 25. The name of the difficulty tells you a lot. The enemies are merciless. Ammo Caches are limited for each Squad Member. The enemies are merciless and even harder to kill. The first incapacitation deals you Mortal Wound. The Armoury data is Relic. When you kill Majoris or tougher enemies, the respawn time for your comrades is longer.
Absolute — The highest difficulty. Recommended level for your hero — 25. It is good to have upgraded all weapons to max, unlocked all perks, and be ready for the most serious challenge. In battles up to 3 Majoris enemies can appear simultaneously, which significantly complicates your life. And on this difficulty, the first incapacitation deals you Mortal Wound. The Armoury data is also Relic. When you kill Majoris or tougher enemies, the respawn time for your comrades is again longer.

Siege is Horde Mode. Waves and waves of monsters that you can kill with bots and/or other gamers. Here too you can choose class and weapons, and the upgrades unlocked in this mode you can of course use in Operations. Here there are only two difficulties: Normal and Hard. And on both a new Atonement/Debuff appears every five waves of monsters, but you will be able to choose one blessing from three possible. You can pay in game currency to re-roll the Atonement. These debuffs are:
Squad Unity: Limits the ability of you and your squad to restore contested health unless you are close to each other.
Hardened skins — Enemies are not staggered after three hits but still receive damage.
Posthumous Proliferation — Killed enemies drop Spores or Chaos Skulls and others.

The rewards you can receive increase according to the chosen difficulty. This mode is quite repetitive and is best played with live people, not with bots.

Stratagems in this mode: you have different modifiers that are fixed and change the conditions of the battle. Some give you a bonus, others limit you. For example in one game you might get Hardened Skins and Technological Revolution: The cooldown time of your special is much shorter. Again there are Normal and Hard difficulties, the difference is in the combination of Stratagems. The maps for Operations, Siege, and Stratagems are the same, so expect repetitiveness. This is one of the few minuses of the game, but the moments of brotherhood and camaraderie with other live players compensate for the identical levels.

PvP is classic multiplayer: Annihilation — Deathmatch, Seize Ground — Domination, Capture & Control — Hardpoint, Helbrute Onslaught — One original and interesting mode in which you have to control one starting point to control the Helbrute, then you have to mark to control rotating zones like in Hardpoint. You score points by controlling the Hardpoints and/or killing the enemy Helbrute.

REFERENCES AND BORROWINGS
The entire Warhammer universe is built from many other science fiction and fantasy worlds: Alien, Predator, Dune, and Star Wars. European history is also an inspiration for the creators of Warhammer and this game. They are in the walls — In the mission on Cadia you and your squad find yourselves trapped in a room, the lights go out and except for the red emergency ones, and one of your marines says “They are in the walls,” which is a direct reference to one of the greatest action movies ever made — Aliens. This action setpiece is excellently made and obviously with a lot of respect for James Cameron’s creation.
https://youtu.be/DJQ_7jKIm24?si=acjIFDd3Y8s3U-KY

ONE UGLY XENOS — In the jungles of Cadia a special Tyranid called Lictor, which kills Space Marines. You and your team cross paths with the monster. It has a cloak ability and uses the trees to attack from ambush. Yeah, from the subtitle you guess that this is a pretty direct reference to the movie Predator. The trophy you get when you kill that ugly motherfucker confirms it. In the armors and helmets of the different classes there are many elements from the battle clothing of warriors from different historical periods: Gladiators, knight-templars, winged hussars, uniforms from the First World War. The helmets and vests of the soldiers of Cadia very much resemble those of the Colonial Marines from Aliens. These references do not reduce the pleasure of the game and are not there only because they are familiar to people. First of all they make the marines of the different classes look cooler and more badass, and are naturally woven into the game.

CONCLUSION
In the times we live in today, masculinity is under constant attack. Space Marine 2 gives you a reason to be proud of being a man. Find and buy this game and enjoy it fully. Space Marine 2 is the best third-person action game released in the last few years, so it would be a big miss if it is not in your collection. The game is worth every penny in 2026.

Godspeed and keep slaying!

Score: 9/10