It’s been more than a decade since Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine was released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The third-person shooter series skipped an entire generation of consoles — never seeing the light of day on Xbox One or PS4 — to finally resurface this month with Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 for the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. Gamers should be glad it did.

Anyone that missed the first game needn’t worry, as the story being told here doesn’t require in-depth knowledge of the Warhammer universe or the original Space Marine. You play as Demetrian Titus, a Captain in the Ultramarines that is tasked with carrying out a series of dangerous missions in the face of a Tyranid invasion (think bug-like creatures that attack as a swarm) on the planet of Kadaku, which contains a project vital to the war effort.

As Titus, you’ll lead a three-man squad with Chairon and Gadriel, which will either be A.I. teammates or actual humans via online co-op (sadly, couch co-op is not a thing here), into high-intensity combat. The missions themselves are linear, compelling you to go from one target point to the next, but you can explore for hidden recordings, weapons, and ammo. The locations are nicely varied as well, never lingering in the same biome for too long yet still feeling connected within the same world.

There’s less variety when it comes to the combat. Unlike Gears of War, a game you’ll doubtless think of as you play Space Marine 2, there is no cover system. Instead, it’s more similar to recent DOOM games, where you’ll mix ranged and melee combat while managing your health and shields. Injured enemies will stagger in place, allowing you to perform a brutal execution that recharges your shield.

While some enemies do fight at range, most of them want to get up close and personal, so creating space and chipping away at their health is the most common form of combat. Some enemies will have choreographed melee attacks that you can parry if you time your block correctly, and others will have unblockable strikes that must be avoided entirely.

It’s not exactly a fresh take on third-person combat, but it works. Your A.I. squad strikes the right balance of being competent (read: they’re not constantly getting downed) without ever taking too much off your plate, and they’ll drop whatever they’re doing to try and revive you if the need arises. Battles are hectic in a good way, and the introduction of a second enemy force midway through the game changes the encounter structure up in a positive way.

The campaign checks in at around 10 hours, and it contains far more hits than misses. It does have them, though. Perhaps the biggest of which is the game’s tone. It is, from start to finish, relentlessly bleak. Yes, war is hell. We get it. This is one area where the developers should’ve taken inspiration from Gears of War, which is, in and of itself, a dark game set in a brutal war, but the tandem of Cole and Baird are able to at least inject some amount of levity. Here, however, everyone is always serious, and at some point, it simply becomes exhausting.

In addition to the campaign, Space Marine 2 contains a pair of multiplayer modes: Operations and Eternal War. Let’s start with Operations, which is the co-operative version that allows you and two other players (again, these can be online people or bots) to tackle side missions that are referenced during the actual gameplay. In that way, the integration is very clever, as you’ll even get to hear dialogue from Titus that was spoken during the campaign.

Unfortunately, the mode itself is largely forgettable. Yes, it’s worth going through the half-dozen side missions to fully flesh out the campaign and experience the slightly tweaked gameplay loop — here ammo and health are scarcer, and along the linear path you’ll periodically be bombarded with waves of enemies. We’ve seen wave-based modes work in other games, but it doesn’t feel as fun here, as there’s nothing to set up for defensive advantage or interesting tweaks. It’s just a whole bunch of enemies charging right at you.

As it happens, the co-operative side is still the better half of the multiplayer offerings with Eternal War failing to connect. The competitive multiplayer feels very simplistic, offering just three modes and a modest number of maps. That’s not inherently bad if the modes cover the bases and the locations are interesting, but the game misses the mark in both of those departments. The maps are the bigger culprit to be sure as they lack the openness and visual interest the rest of the game delivers.

What really dooms the competitive multiplayer, however, is that it doesn’t find a way to make you feel like you’re a bad ass space marine. You’re no longer able to absorb the kind of punishment you can in the campaign and co-op, and it fosters a gameplay style that’s at odds with everything else — you are reduced to hiding out and watching your health meter rather than wading in and trading bullets with your opponents. Plus, melee combat, which is so important elsewhere, is nearly useless here.

OVERALL (4.25/5)

Despite some less than stellar multiplayer modes, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a game we really enjoyed. The campaign is a good length, features intense combat, and is a visual treat. It’s a great way to spend some gaming sessions with friends.