You’re an 8-foot tall, strolling tank. You’ve been bred for warfare, brainwashed since a baby to kill within the title of a corpse on a throne. You hack and shoot and kill on the orders of an obscene hierarchy, one which sacrifices folks of their hundreds of thousands for the sake of a decrepit, dying society—the Imperium. That’s the central theme, the beating coronary heart of Warhammer 40K. Within the newest sport, Saber Interactive’s Area Marine 2, you’re made to really feel each inch the tremendous solider you play as. By no means does it ask you to interact with its satire.
I’ve lengthy loved Warhammer 40K, however so typically the individuals who write fiction for the setting battle to deal with the black satire that sits on the coronary heart of the setting. It jogs my memory first of a collection of video essays from Lindsay Ellis discussing the Michael Bay Transformers films. In a single video, Ellis broke down the primary movie by casting apart the vacant Sam Witwicky and positioning Mikaela Banes as the true protagonist. Regardless of her company, her arc and character development, the digital camera by no means pans away from displaying the viewers her chest or rear finish. Ellis ends her essay with a quote that may assist us perceive how Area Marine 2 doesn’t do Warhammer’s satire justice.
“Framing and aesthetics supersede the remainder of the textual content—at all times, at all times, at all times.”
I don’t hate the sport. In truth I loved my time with it the entire means by. I loved it as a lot as I did with the primary Area Marine once I performed in highschool. The issue is there’s a non-insignificant sexist, racist, and poisonous portion of the Warhammer fanbase that are likely to suppose the Imperium is right in its strategies. Newcomers would possibly play it and never perceive what the setting is actually about. That might be a disgrace.
In Area Marine 2, you play as Titus, a titular area marine who’s been ousted from his chapter beneath false suspicion of heresy by the zealous and paranoid Imperium. He’s reunited along with his chapter as soon as extra, the Ultramarines, and despatched to cease a splinter fleet of insectoid Tyranids from Hive Fleet Leviathan there to devour a number of planets and all who reside there. The Imperium is much less involved with that as it’s a weapon of such supposed power it’s value not simply blowing up all three planets to cease the invasion there after which.
After which with little preamble, you’re into it. You’re hacking your chainsword by waves of hormagaunts and termagants with little time for the whys. The primary mission you are taking within the sport is to launch a virus bomb into the environment of the primary planet you go to, a jungle world referred to as Kadaku. In 40K, these are terrifying weapons of mass destruction. They don’t simply kill one species of marauding bugs, they destroy and dismantle all life on a planet. Books like Galaxy in Flames and Tallarn present the devastation attributable to these bombs and the “life-eater virus.” However in Area Marine 2, the detonation does nothing to the planet. It solely, supposedly, slows the Tyranids down. It’s a missed alternative to point out the devastation that the Imperium can deploy. It’s too preoccupied with heroic final stands and empty proclamations of brotherhood.
The story of Area Marine 2 continues instantly from the primary sport launched almost 13 years in the past. In that title, Titus is distributed to a unique planet cease an invasion of Orks. Within the course of, he’s betrayed and turns into embroiled in one other invasion by the forces of Chaos, the mortal enemies of the Imperium. After killing virtually each Ork he comes throughout and stopping the ork invasion near-single handedly, as an alternative of being handled as a hero Titus is shamed. He’s taken away by members of the Inquisition—the Imperium’s jackboot intergalactic secret police pressure—just because his compatriots are so paranoid about his supposed resistance to the metaphysical powers manipulated by the forces of Chaos.
The sequel begins with Titus pressured to cover his identification as a blackshield–a member of the Deathwatch, a pan-chapter anti-xenos activity pressure of outcast and penitent Area Marines. He’s reunited along with his chapter, the Ultramarines (within the tabletop, they’re affectionately referred to as “Smurfs”), after he’s gravely injured combating the invading Tyranids. He’s provided one other probability, however those that know his previous stay cautious. It’s refined however gamers can inform our most important character continues to be feeling the sting of betrayal. He’s not forthcoming in any respect with the man members of his squad, however he’s the one one who protests when the Imperium appears bent on recreating the identical superweapon that introduced concerning the chaos invasion from the primary sport.
Titus can by no means query the system that harm him. He can by no means voice his complaints concerning the Inquisition or the chapter that deserted him. As an alternative, the sport is simply too targeted on simply how a lot of a superb area marine Titus is. His arc surrounds him studying to belief his brothers as soon as extra after being castigated for thus lengthy. Within the remaining chapters of the sport, huge Papa Smurf himself, Chapter Grasp Marneus Calgar, comes down like an angel to Titus in his hour of want. He tells our hero that he was certainly proper all alongside, that the explanation he can resist chaos so nicely is as a result of he’s simply so good at being a Area Marine. They win. Titus is honored and is given a spot at Calgar’s facet. Everyone’s blissful.
The story of Area Marine 2 isn’t almost as grand and epic as its arenas, setpieces, and environments. Titus’ voice actor, Clive Standen, gives a efficiency that emphasizes the underlying reserved energy of a centuries-old Area Marine. And but, essentially the most you comprehend of 40K’s satire stems from the spare dataslate audio logs and the few sequences the place you watch common human troopers get shot for daring to run away from the hoard of 8-foot-tall ravenous bug monsters. That entire time, you’re simply shifting from one enviornment to the subsequent, able to kill large murdering bugs or chaos cultists. The framing is heroic. The aesthetic is badassery. It doesn’t matter the context for the sport, even when it have been portrayed successfully.
Different 40K video games, like the primary Daybreak of Battle RTS, handle to deal with the satire barely higher, however I don’t suppose there’s been any higher instance of the right way to do it than with the current Owlcat RPG Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Dealer.
I ran by Rogue Dealer from starting to finish on a Steam Deck earlier than the most recent patches and updates made it, ostensibly, extra playable. It was buggy and unbalanced. The final chapter of the sport was clearly rushed, and half the storylines come to such a tough conclusion it felt like I used to be on the far finish of a practice the place every automotive is simply crashing into the subsequent. However the sport handles each the Imperium and Area Marines with way more nuance than this newest third particular person shooter. The RPG permits you to take three separate tracks. You’re both an imperium sycophant, a chaos worshiper, or an “iconoclast.” In different phrases, you’re an anti-imperial humanist attempting to carve out your personal dominion of a small patch of area.
It’s an Owlcat RPG, so after all you’ve gotten companions you accumulate all through the sport. At one level within the sport, you come throughout Ulfar, an area marine from the Area Wolves chapter. The chapter is coded like Vikings of the ninth and tenth century, they usually typically get to behave as the nice guys in comparison with the Imperium’s obtuse paranoia and xenophobia. In Rogue Dealer, the writers at Owlcat managed to make Ulfar fully alien to you or the remainder of your human companions. His voice actor, Oliver Smith, provided us a deep, rumbling, snarling rendition of an excellent soldier whose humanity is distorted and almost dismantled. The best way to realize his belief is by understanding him and his tradition.
Or, as a superb member of the Imperium, you would decry him and his anarchistic methods. There’s quite a lot of silliness on this sport, and that’s to its profit. Warhammer is a foolish setting. It was born out of the Nineteen Eighties anti-Thatcherism motion. The title of the Ultramarines doesn’t stem from simply how good Area Marines they’re, however from the deep blue coloration of their armor. Warhammer is huge, bombastic, foolish, and always biting. The satire ought to chew tougher than a Tyranid Hive Tyrant or a ripping chainsword. In Area Marine 2, it tries to disregard the problems on the setting’s coronary heart for the sake of a easy energy fantasy.
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