Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Review (Xbox)

I went into Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 eager to stomp across a hostile world built from ruins, with Titus returning as our blunt-force hero from the first game. It wasn’t long before I felt the delightful crunch of my boots on alien terrain and the intense feedback of each weapon tearing through Tyranid swarms. But as I hacked my way through the hordes, a few key design choices dulled the experience.

First off, there are six main missions here, not counting the prologue, each offering a serious grind with plenty of checkpoints along the way, meaning you’re free to pause and return without losing progress. However, Space Marine 2 makes no apologies for its commitment to online play. Even solo campaign mode requires an internet connection, which felt particularly restrictive. I love a good solo mission grind and long gaming marathons at odd hours – it’s my ADHD-fuelled late-night comfort zone. But with everything online, it meant that any internet drop, any unplanned hiccup, led to an unceremonious boot back to the menu. I can’t tell you how many times that happened, and it was unbelievably frustrating, as well as messing with the flow.

Then there’s Operations Mode, a co-op-focused option with six unique missions you unlock as you progress. These PvE missions allow you to choose between six character archetypes and team up with either bots or two real players (if you can find people awake at 3 am to join in). I didn’t brave the online co-op because, well, being a woman online, especially in the Warhammer fandom, can be a little… harrowing. Harassment aside, the practical challenges were there, too; as a neurodivergent Aussie, I game at odd hours, and finding friends who can sync up is no easy feat. So it was just me and my bot squad for this one, and they had a tendency to run directly into my line of sight, eager to aggro enemy swarms before I even lined up a shot. It’s not exactly the squad cohesion I’d hoped for.

The combat, though, is peak Space Marine. Veteran mode offers a solid challenge, especially with medkits (or “Medicare Stimms“) being hard to come by. You do get the “Guardian Relic,” a one-time-use life-saver that kicks in only when you’re downed, giving a bit of that Zelda-esque fairy-in-a-bottle vibe. Ammo packs, thankfully, are in good supply, so I kept my bolter loaded and Chainsword primed.

Space Marine 2 reminds me of classics like Gears of War, with its chunky third-person movement, huge armour, and close-quarters brutality. Those similarities worked in its favour – the game feels deliberately weighty, and every rev of the Chainsword as it tears through Tyranid flesh is intensely satisfying. The animations nail that mix of power and precision; you feel every blow, every thud of boots, every squelchy sound effect paired with crunchy guitars and tribal drum-heavy tracks that tie together the warzone vibes.

And for all the intensity of the combat, the Space Marines’ lack of personality is still here, true to lore but hard to ignore. As a fan of The Horus Heresy books and Warhammer 40k mythos, I get why the Adeptus Astartes are so one-dimensional. They’re Emperor-worshipping tanks on two legs, built as blunt instruments of war. But as Titus, that lack of depth does bleed into overall enjoyment. Without character layers to connect with, those heavy story moments just don’t land as hard.

And the missions? They’re a slog at times. Each one can run well over an hour, with a final mission, “Dawn’s Descent,” that feels like a marathon. There’s no ‘point of no return,’ though, since everything in the Campaign is replayable, letting you go back and re-challenge missions with different difficulties. In Operations Mode, however, leaving a mission mid-game means you lose your progress entirely. No checkpoints here, which only added to the grind. And while the environments are definitely well-detailed, with the gothic, grim-dark architecture that fans of 40k love, it would’ve been fantastic to have subtitles for the “data slate” audio logs scattered throughout, adding some story flavour without forcing me to play in silence or miss key details.

One thing I did enjoy? Photo Mode. The visuals are stunning, and I wanted to snap shots constantly, though a bit more variety in filters and frames would’ve been welcome. The lack of a field of view (FOV) slider? Not ideal for a game that puts you in the boots of a hulking Space Marine.

And speaking of customisations, the cosmetic options, such as Adeptus Astartes chapter factions, armour colourisation and accessories to accent your character type, are disappointingly locked behind in-game experience currency earned through PvE/PvP online Operations/Warzones. Limited to only a few armour types (rare, epic, legendary) and basic colour choices, I expected a bit more variety for a game of this scale.

Space Marine 2 was built with love for Warhammer 40k, and for all its rough edges, I still found myself locked in, playing multiple all-nighters. But eventually, the lack of offline options, repetitive missions, and other missing features got to me. I burned out faster than I expected, despite my deep love for the franchise.

In the end, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 delivers the brutal combat Warhammer fans crave, but the online dependency, limited customisation, and lack of variety hold it back. It’s a faithful entry to the universe but not quite the all-encompassing experience it could’ve been.