[EDIT] Original review was a meme written after a few hours of playing, so this is updating it to correctly reflect how much I enjoyed the relatively short (but sweet) story. Coming from playing Spacemarine 1 all those years ago, it absolutely smashed my expectations out of the water, it was the same experience but coated with heaps of spicy gameplay and tasty visuals, seasoned to perfection.
There is nothing to hate, you can very well be a pedant and insist that that plot-armoured hulks saving mankind by chasing a bunch of bugs isn't exactly fuel for a complex narrative, but who cares, just let yourself enjoy it, you can literally rip the head off a bug twice the size of you and better yet, you can do it in campaign co-op with friends.

This has also been one of the very few times I've actually gone out of my way to use the photo mode, the game is STUNNING, and I say this entirely from the perspective of a 3D Environment Designer, so it's normally typical that I overlook the visuals to favour level design, but not this time. Oh lord, the amount of times I just stopped to watch ensuing battles in the near distance, or gawped at structures falling apart for no other reason than it looking cool.

The combat takes a little getting used to, but after getting into the rhythm of it it's super gratifying to chain attacks between targets, turning bugs into a fine mist as the bolter lets off a hefty noise every single time you fire. The mission objectives aren't greatly involved, but they are nestled in with enough entertaining story-telling and pretty environments that I just couldn't put the game down, anticipating the next gorgeous location for Titus to get into a pickle at.

If you're genuinely a stickler for good lore, I only know it at a surface level so it perfectly appeased me, it has nice links to various factions, and it of course insists on pushing the Ultramarines and Cadians because they're the fan favourites, but it doesn't go deeper than that... And that's fine! I honestly didn't need any more from a third person shooter. The experience you're getting isn't a deep RPG storyline or novel tier narrative, it's just an excuse to cut loose and shoot some bad guys and feel unstoppable while doing it!

tl;dr game is very good, darktide walked so Spacemarine 2 could run, minor issues with booting the game up initially solved by using the alternative .exe in the game files, otherwise the game runs silky smooth even on my fire hazard of a laptop, gameplay is satisfying and I get to see my beloved titus again <3

[EDIT] Original review was a meme written after a few hours of playing, so this is updating it to correctly reflect how much I enjoyed the relatively short (but sweet) story. Coming from playing Spacemarine 1 all those years ago, it absolutely smashed my expectations out of the water, it was the same experience but coated with heaps of spicy gameplay and tasty visuals, seasoned to perfection. There is nothing to hate, you can very well be a pedant and insist that that plot-armoured hulks saving mankind by chasing a bunch of bugs isn't exactly fuel for a complex narrative, but who cares, just let yourself enjoy it, you can literally rip the head off a bug twice the size of you and better yet, you can do it in campaign co-op with friends. This has also been one of the very few times I've actually gone out of my way to use the photo mode, the game is STUNNING, and I say this entirely from the perspective of a 3D Environment Designer, so it's normally typical that I overlook the visuals to favour level design, but not this time. Oh lord, the amount of times I just stopped to watch ensuing battles in the near distance, or gawped at structures falling apart for no other reason than it looking cool. The combat takes a little getting used to, but after getting into the rhythm of it it's super gratifying to chain attacks between targets, turning bugs into a fine mist as the bolter lets off a hefty noise every single time you fire. The mission objectives aren't greatly involved, but they are nestled in with enough entertaining story-telling and pretty environments that I just couldn't put the game down, anticipating the next gorgeous location for Titus to get into a pickle at. If you're genuinely a stickler for good lore, I only know it at a surface level so it perfectly appeased me, it has nice links to various factions, and it of course insists on pushing the Ultramarines and Cadians because they're the fan favourites, but it doesn't go deeper than that... And that's fine! I honestly didn't need any more from a third person shooter. The experience you're getting isn't a deep RPG storyline or novel tier narrative, it's just an excuse to cut loose and shoot some bad guys and feel unstoppable while doing it! tl;dr game is very good, darktide walked so Spacemarine 2 could run, minor issues with booting the game up initially solved by using the alternative .exe in the game files, otherwise the game runs silky smooth even on my fire hazard of a laptop, gameplay is satisfying and I get to see my beloved titus again <3