Space Hulk: Deathwing

[Chapter Master Valrak]

Old thread was closed due to the game being released, lets move the discussion over here! :)

Just did a full exploration of Chapter one, spent the last hour decoding binary...will have a video up on my channel later tonight :)

[The_son_of_Dorn]

Are the binary logs supposed to be segments from other forces that have been foolish enough to venture into the hulk?

[Dulahan]

Well, that first mission was suitably terrifying.  Wonderful use of music and building tension.

I do need to replay it since I missed a relic somewhere though.  :(   I'd love a map of locations, I don't like 'hunting' games like that.  I'm playing for the story, but when the mission end screen even points out I didn't get enough I feel I'm not playing right.

Regardless, that was intense.  Multiplayer should be interesting too, I'm trying to get a group of friends to get it so I can do such.  Ideally when we're on a LAN, but VOIP will work too.

[Chapter Master Valrak]

Well, that first mission was suitably terrifying.  Wonderful use of music and building tension.

 

I do need to replay it since I missed a relic somewhere though.     I'd love a map of locations, I don't like 'hunting' games like that.  I'm playing for the story, but when the mission end screen even points out I didn't get enough I feel I'm not playing right.

 

Regardless, that was intense.  Multiplayer should be interesting too, I'm trying to get a group of friends to get it so I can do such.  Ideally when we're on a LAN, but VOIP will work too.

 

I was expecting Nids to be on you soon as the walked off the boarding torpedo, the way they did it and gradually brought the enemy in was fantastic.    

[NTaW]

Is the suspense of this game on par with something like Alien: Isolation? I'm thinking about picking this up over the various holiday sales this month. All the gameplay looks like pretty straight shoot 'em up stuff (which is also great).

[Reldn]

So, I'm guessing there's no way of going back to any previous missions to nab any missed relics? Aside from starting the campaign all over again.

[Chapter Master Valrak]

Is the suspense of this game on par with something like Alien: Isolation? I'm thinking about picking this up over the various holiday sales this month. All the gameplay looks like pretty straight shoot 'em up stuff (which is also great).

 

Not really, the first mission was somewhat like that but the rest is smashing hordes of Xenos!

[No Foes Remain]

Best part for me so far is the mission on the Black Templar ship, failed it twice because I ran out of time due to me wandering around and looking at all the pretty things.

[The_son_of_Dorn]

After first mission it's jus pulping xenos.you get attacked dynamically a few times and it's a real "they are comming outa the god dammed walls" moment. But you need to remember your a terminator. God's (Emperors) hardest son of a ditch wearing the best armor (and by dark angels relic standard!) And these bugs ain't nothing to be feared.

[The Red Thirst]

 

 

I was expecting Nids to be on you soon as the walked off the boarding torpedo, the way they did it and gradually brought the enemy in was fantastic.    

 

Well it makes sense, Space Hulks are supposed to be massive, like "thats no moon" massive ;) 

 

Great channel by the way, I thoroughly enjoy your enthusiasm

[HeritorA]

Mission with CAT is horrible. Extraction point doesn't work. :cussing CAT always stuck in some debris or door..... 3 hours of suffering and I left the game.

[Kaldoth]

So, I'm sure quite a few people have purchased, are playing through, or have beaten this game already.  I just finished the campaign this morning, so I figured I'd post up a categorized review from my perspective.  Light spoilers ahead.

 

 

- Look and feel:  Holy crap does the game look gorgeous.  I was fortunate enough to get a new gaming rig for Christmas, so I could actually play this thing on max settings.  The hulk looks AMAZING.  You read plenty of Black Library books and they describe the interior of Imperial ships, but to see them rendered in 3D right before your eyes is awesome, especially with an engine like Unreal 4.  They really couldn't have done a better job creating the Olethros in my opinion. Its creepy, dark, and gothic.  Plus, looking at the subtle differences between each ship that makes up the Olethros as a whole was really cool.  Transitioning between a BT ship to a DA ship... :drool:  The design team definitely did a great job making each part of the Hulk unique, and still flow into one another seamlessly. 

 

- Story line:  Great story line.  There were zero parts in the game that I didn't enjoy as far as the story went.  My only gripe is that this is a Deathwing based game and there are zero Fallen to hunt down!  At least, that's what I'm assuming :P I only played on normal difficulty, so I don't know if there are extra goodies in higher difficulty modes.  If anyone has played it on max difficulty, let us know if there is anything else to find.  All in all, it feels like a Deathwing mission should. 

-AI:  So, for your allies, they aren't half bad.  They can be a little frustrating when opening and closing doorways (I don't know how many times one of them got shut out on the other side of a door I was trying to lock :P), but as long as you preempt any movement by moving them first, it won't be that big of a hassle.  I noticed that if they were equipped with a plasma cannon or assault cannon, when confronted in melee they would just stand there and wait for their weapons to charge instead of power fisting away, which often resulted in them dying. Not sure if that's a bug, as they didn't do that if they had a storm bolter equipped, but it is what it is.  You can't expect AI to be perfect.  As for the 'nids, on Normal difficulty its as good as you could expect it to be.  They try to flank, bob and weave, and they will absolutely sneak up on you if you aren't paying attention.  The only real problem I had with them was the hybrid genestealers.  In their Bestiary entries it says specifically they will avoid melee combat, and yet for some reason they would rush headfirst into my power sword if I was within ten meters of them.  I mean, it makes my job a lot easier :lol: And they're the "cannon fodder" in the game anyway, so it wasn't anything major.  Overall, the 'nids played how I think a nid swarm should play.  Plus, all the different strains were pretty cool to encounter.  The only minus I really have for the Genestealers is being able to see where they spawn on your auspex.  I don't know if you can see their "nodes" on higher difficulty settings, but on normal mode you can see exactly where they're coming from before you get any blips, so it makes progressing through the maze of winding corridors pretty painless when, IMO, it should have had been more surprising.  These are Genestealers we are talking about, after all. 
 

-Combat and controls:  I was a super let down at this point.  For one, the melee combat is absolutely lacking.  You literally have three options: light swing, strong swing, and block.  And I don't know about anyone else, but during those "oh crap" moments when you're ganged up on by three or four warrior/stalker strain Genestealers, blocking and the strong swing just went out the window.  It was pretty much mash the "Q" button or get rekt.  No great effort went into the combat animations either.  Its the same three swing animations no matter what weapon you use.  They could have done a lot more here.  As for shooting, I mean, it's shooting.  You can't really mess that up, so A+ there. As far as being able to hack into turrets and the like, it's a cool concept, but poorly implemented.  Of the hackable turrets in the game, I think I found around three where I could hack into it, use it to clear out a room instead of having to sword and bolter my way through, and then continue the mission.  Most of the rooms with turrets you can hack will be empty until you walk into them, and if you walk into them, you can't use the turrets because... well, Genestealers.  IMO, they should have just made the turrets automated to shoot enemies after you hack them instead of making them either player controlled or inactive.  Last but not least, psychic powers.  They looked cool and felt cool for about the first five minutes.  After that, they kind of became "fire and forget."  I maxxed out the psychic tree just so I could see what they would do when fully powered.  Yeah, they do a lot :P But this isnt necessarily a good thing.  If you max them out and fill your slots with inferno, the reality tear, and then the final psychic passive ability, you can spam inferno every ten seconds and one shot anything but brood lords and the big scythe strains, and the reality tear will kill those on its own.  Serious rebalancing is needed for them, and doing something to make them feel more immersive would have been nice.  Staring at a timer to wait for them to come off of cooldown, hitting a button, and then having the power being done and over with was a little bit of a letdown.  Channeling the lightning ability, being able to control where the inferno went instead of letting it auto path, having to "focus" on the reality tear to keep it open, etc would have made the psychic powers feel like less of a cheap "I win" button.

 

Customization and Progression:  Another part I was let down on.  The plus side is that you get SO MANY COOL WEAPONS.  The negative is that you have no ability to mix and match. Want to use the force sword/axe? You're stuck with the standard storm bolter, even though you get three total variants.  Assault cannon? You get a power fist.  Want to use a lightning claw? Well, no ranged options for you, they're only in pairs.  I don't know if weapon selection options change at higher difficulty, or if I just completely missed some part of picking your equipment, but if not you're stuck with pre set configurations on normal.  And with the lackluster melee combat controls, you'll rarely if ever want to choose lightning claws or the thunder hammer and storm shield.  Additionally, some weapons are just way better than others no matter what the situation.  There wasn't any part of the game I couldn't tackle without the standard assault cannon, the upgraded plasma cannon, and the force sword/storm bolter combo (which is your starting kit, and at endgame going with the psychic talent tree, is the best option for you to use).  The relics you find in the game aren't impactful either.  There are between four and six relics per chapter to get, and they do absolutely nothing for you other than giving you extra upgrade points to spend at the end of each mission.  Picking up that awesome relic staff and bolter got me so excited... And then I found out I couldn't use them <_< Once again, I played on normal difficulty, chose to max out the psychic tree, and missed two relics in the first chapter, so maybe I missed something here? Let me know if I did.

 

Overall impression:  The game is definitely fun, but after the fourth chapter or so, it becomes very rinse and repeat.  The Genestealers rush at you, you've got all the weapons you need to kill them, and by that point you've gotten used to how the AI operates so there are fewer "oh crap, I've just been caught off guard" moments that got you in the first few chapters.  Total play time was pretty short too.  I clocked six hours to beat the game.  Fortunately, I got it on the Steam Winter Sale, so it was around a 30ish dollar price tag.  For the content delivered, that seems about fair.  If you can't get it on sale though, I'd definitely recommend waiting for the price to drop before spending the normal 50+ dollars on it.

 

Cheers,

 

-Kal 

[hushrong]

I have a PS4 and I am guessing it is not available digitally. I have looked in the store and nothing but what appears to be an older space hulk game that looks more like the TTG version.

 

Also, LordValrak, one of your videos on YouTube made me want to pick this up now.

[The Red Thirst]

I have a PS4 and I am guessing it is not available digitally. I have looked in the store and nothing but what appears to be an older space hulk game that looks more like the TTG version.

 

Also, LordValrak, one of your videos on YouTube made me want to pick this up now.

Unfortunately, about 3 months ago a trailer came out with the release date and only mentioned PC, after much uproar from console fans (myself included) about how it was always advertised for both PC and next gen, Focus made a public statement that the console release had been pushed back to a 2017 release with no further clarification or timeframe since. 

 

Seems to be going the way of Vermintide, I just hope its not another 12 months before I can purge xenos in the Emperors name.

[Apothecary Vaddon]

Didn't have a single problem with the CAT mission, tbh, went very smoothly.

[BrotherAtrox]

Been playing through the campaign with no issues. Only complaint is the headbob which bothers me in every first-person game. If anyone wants to do some co-op add me on Steam. http://steamcommunity.com/id/X2P1158

[hushrong]

That explains it. I should maybe have google researched more into the release dates.

 

Well, now I will be playing the waiting game.

[CptMaturin]

I don't know what you guys find in this game, I really feel cheated. It would have been ok at 10E, not 33.
I play at max settings, the game is still ugly.
Controls are meeh (assault canon that is imprecise on middle/long range ? golly gee.
Save system sucks.

Aaaaah, I should have wait for it to be on sale and buy a Deathwing command squad box instead :D

[Chapter Master Valrak]

New update incoming, post a video about it on my YT channel.

[Chapter Master Valrak]

Brand new game mode is out, randomized objectives. I have a video of an entire play through on my YT channel.

[Wolf_Lord_Hardrada]

Anyone still playing and interested in some VOIP MP fun?

[Beef]

Any news about the Xbox or PS version or are co0nsole players not getting this anymore

[The Red Thirst]

Any news about the Xbox or PS version or are co0nsole players not getting this anymore

Were getting the Vermintide treatment, my guess is Christmas this year. Focus has confirm on Social Media that they are looking to release Q4 2017.

[Chapter Master Valrak]

Our next big glimpse into what's coming for Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition. This is going to be released on PC and CONSOLE at the end of the year. 

 

[Jagus Kumkani]

Spacehulk Deathwing will release for consoles November 21st.

The Enhanced Edition on December 5th