Space Marine 2 trailer shows off the sequel no one expected
God-Emperor of War
I was astonished by the announcement of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 at last year's Game Awards, never expecting a sequel to actually happen, so I'm pleased to see a new trailer at this year's Geoffries. This "gameplay reveal trailer" only has a few wee snippets of the game being played, but they're solid. As our boy Spice Maureen stomps through vast Gothic industrial ruins and cuts through hordes of aliens, it's got that 'Dynasty Warriors meets God Of War' look again. But I do already miss the Orks.
Ultramarine lad Lieutenant Titus returns for the sequel, having been transformed into one of those even-bigger Primaris Space Marines but demoted from Captain (presumably due to that whole 'suspected heresy' thing). After mowing down Ork boyz and forces of Chaos in the first game, now he's fighting the Tyranids. He'll be blasting that bolter and swinging his chainsword, force sword, and thunder hammer everywhere from cities to muddy jungle.
While the original game was made by Relic Entertainment, the sequel is coming from Saber Interactive. They've made games including Evil Dead: The Game, World War Z, and SnowRunner, as well as handling quite a few ports. They are not a studio whose name instantly fills me with excitement but I am curious about the return of our big blue boy. And hell, I never expected a sequel after publishers THQ collapsed and Relic were sold to Sega.
Honestly, I'll miss the Orks. Tyranids look neat and are a serious threat to the galaxy, sure, but Orks have such personality. A battle is so much livelier when your enemies are having a grand old time fighting you. And especially when they keep shouting SPOICE MUHREEN and SPICE MAUREEN. Sinister alien hive minds aren't as much fun as fun-loving green cockney lads. I do prefer my 40K to be weird, loud, and mucky, like Darktide.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is due to launch in 2023 on Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Xeriex XS. It's published by Focus.
For more of the latest news and trailers, check out our Game Awards 2022 hub. We also live-blogged the show as it happened right here.