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Space Marine 2 is the sequel to Space Marine (2011). The gameplay is similar to the original game, with the player controlling an Imperial Space Marine (Adeptus Astartes) in the universe of Warhammer 40,000.

The story begins with a Deathwatch squad, a special missions unit cobbled together with marines from separate chapters, working together for a specific mission under the control of the Inquisition. You initially play one of these marines, a member of an unspecified chapter (the pauldron with the chapter badge is covered to avoid making it too obvious what character you're playing), who survives a crash landing when deployed on a mission.

Spoiler alert, though this is very early in the game, you're actually playing Titus, the same character from the first game. He's been running with the Deathwatch for the last two hundred years, proving his loyalty and purity after the events of the first game. Now, those who are into 40K lore will ask: "So you're playing a regular Space Marine, and not one of the new Primaris Marines?" Yes. At first. Of course, very quickly Titus is reunited with the Ultramarines and put through the "Rubicon Primaris," which is the process by which a regular Space Marine is turned into a Primaris Marine. The story progresses from there.

Gameplay is almost exactly the same as in the original. Titus has access to a variety of melee combat moves and weapons, and also carries ranged weapons, such as a Bolter or Plasma Pistol. Throughout a mission, there are opportunities to change weapons loadout and acquire more ammo.

The game also suffers from the same problem as the first game; you can get good at using all of the special moves, special attacks, dodge, deathblow, etc., and go wild on the battlefield, but if you aren't inclined to do that, you can somewhat get by on just button-mashing.

Ok, I'm not being entirely fair. Learning and using the special moves matters more when you're fighting a boss, but for the regular swarms of bad guys, you can often just button-mash your way through them.

To be honest, the most challenging aspect of writing this review is saying different things from what I said in the original Space Marine game. It very much feels like a continuation of the first game, both in story and in gameplay. That's a good thing if you liked the first game or get annoyed when a game series keeps changing the controls and game mechanics (I'm looking at you, Mass Effect) but on the other hand, if you didn't like the original, you aren't going to like this one either. That is a strange dichotomy. The time between this and the original is over a decade, but it feels so familiar that you might be tempted to complain that the years haven't really added much to the capabilities.

It's basically a movie you play your way through. Each mission reveals more and more of the story, revealing secrets from the past, and there's plenty of worldbuilding. Of course, you'll get a lot more out of the story if you're already familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 universe, but for those coming in for the first time, it's enough. Players returning from the first Space Marine will like being Titus again, but this story doesn't feel narratively connected at all to the first. If you never played the original game, fear not. You won't have any problems diving in here.

Progression through the levels is on rails, which is to say there's exactly one path through each level with the occasional nook where goodies like weapons and power-ups can be found. You get a very limited number of weapons to carry with you, but there are frequent nodes where you can change weapons if you want or need a different loadout.

All just like the first game.

Your health and shields are measured in two separate bars, which run down as you take hits. Shields regenerate on their own after a few seconds, and health is recovered with violence. I mean that literally. Low on health? Kill things. The more death the Space Marine dishes out, the healthier he feels. (Make of that metaphor what you will.)

I played this on the PC, which means the controls are a combination of mouse clicks and key presses. It's pretty par for the course for a PC game and doesn't distinguish itself by being particularly easy or difficult. Younger players will have an easier time with it, but then, that isn't unique either. I'd strongly recommend using a game controller.

Weapons can be fired "from the hip" or aimed carefully for greater accuracy, and some weapons have better aiming than others for this purpose. All of it is surprisingly consistent with the 40K universe, which is another strength. If you expect a particular weapon (like a Bolter) to have iron sights, it has iron sights. A plasma pistol does exactly what you'd expect (without the risk of overheating in the character's hand). Scopes do scope things and so on.

Multiplayer is similar to the first game as well, which I regard as a good thing. As much as I generally prefer campaign mode over multiplayer, Space Marine is the exception. You choose your "class," which, essentially, is what determines your equipment loadout. Scenarios include Team Deathmatch, Hard Point, and Domination. The mechanics encourage fast, aggressive play by rewarding those tactics. If you intend to hang back and snipe at a distance, you're in for a bad time. You can choose your chapter/legion and go nuts. Some scenarios pit Imperial Space Marines against Chaos Marines, which is nice and consistent with the setting. Either way, you're going to play as a Space Marine of one kind or another. No orks or any other aliens as of yet.

The graphics are amazing, which is what you would expect. They do not disappoint. The grimdark 40K universe is rendered in all its glory, which is great if you like lots of blood and guts. Since one of the primary foes in this game is the Tyranids, there are waves of creatures to hack your way through, so there's plenty of blood splatter. The expansive levels are large in just the playable area, but they blend seamlessly into the background, making them feel immense, and objects seen from a distance look realistic and completely believable.

The sound effects and voiceovers are competent and on par with what one would look for. The heavy footsteps, the bark of bolter fire, and the jibbering and growling from monstrous enemies are all vivid and immersive. The music in the game isn't all that memorable. It's fine, but you won't be humming it to yourself later. It does its job in setting the mood, so good enough.

This game is heavy on the system requirements. One of the minimum requirements is a solid-state drive (SSD), and they're not kidding about that. An SSD is an absolute requirement, and the game won't run without one. Believe me, I tried, just to see what would happen if I installed and ran it on a regular hard drive. It wouldn't play. Also, you'll want to have 16GB of RAM and a graphics card and processor to match. I haven't had any issues running it on a Windows 10 system with a Ryzen 5 and 16 GB of RAM.

I know I say this with every 40k game I have ever reviewed on this site, but it's still true and is at least consistent. This is a game set in the grimdark universe of Warhammer 40,000, which means it's violent, bloody, and brutal. The weapons employed by Space Marines sometimes seem specifically designed to generate maximum gore, such as the chainsword, the staple close combat weapon of every rank & file Space Marine. Aliens such as Tyranids have natural weapons mostly focused on slashing and stabbing, so there is no subtlety whatsoever when being in a fight with one, and the aftermath is every bit as bloody and visceral as one would imagine.

This is taken to the next level with the deathblow move, which exercises impressive creativity in how a Space Marine can kill off an enemy.

On the upside, the 40k setting has never been one for any kind of nudity or significant sexual content, and I didn't see any in this game either. (I haven't finished the campaign yet, but I'd be shocked right to my toenails if there is any later on.)

Foul language has never been a major component of this setting or series of games, with nothing you'd be surrpised to hear on broadcast television. What strong language is present is uncommon at any rate.

Again, as is common in the 40k universe, there are occult themes in the form of human Psykers (people who can use psychic abilities) and the Chaos Gods. Also, the Space Marines revere the Emperor of Mankind almost at a godlike level. While not an element present in the game, it is worth noting that all forms of religion from our time have been deliberately and aggressively wiped out from Imperial society, and it shows.

The main character, Titus, represents a paragon of Space Marine martial virtue. His desire to atone for the perceived corruption in him from the previous game is inspiring, though he does take it to the extreme.

Overall, this is a fun game and isn't too difficult to work through, though at times I found myself just mindlessly mashing buttons just to get to the next part of the story. Could I have been more strategic in my use of attacks, weapons, and equipment? Yes, I could have, but it wasn't really necessary most of the time. I found the story to be more interesting than the gameplay. On the other hand, if you're someone who's not all that interested in story but enjoys a very tactical game experience, you'll get that here. The game really is fun and well worth the price, even if the player has not played the original Space Marine. If your style is very tactical and you like to use all of the abilities, or just want to button-mash your way through the story, this game is a solid choice.