"We are the Defenders of Mankind. Against the horrors that dwell in the darkness. While we draw breath, we stand. While we stand, we fight. We are the Angels of Death. We are the blade drawn against the endless night. Nothing will survive our wrath."
— Titus of the Ultramarines
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II is an upcoming Third-Person Shooter based on Warhammer 40,000. A direct sequel to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, the game will be developed by Saber Interactive and published by Focus Home Interactive.
The game will see the return of Titus of the Ultramarines Chapter, who has crossed the Rubicon Primaris and turned into a Primaris Marine (though he has been demoted from Captain to Lieutenant). The game is set during the 4th Tyrannic War, and sees Titus fighting to save the Imperial planets of Avarax and Kadaku against the ravenous Tyranid swarms of Hive Fleet Leviathan.
The game will be available for Playstation 5, Xbox Series X and PC and will be released on September 9, 2024.
Previews: 2021 Game Awards Announcement Trailer
, Foundations of War Dev Video, 2022 Game Awards Gameplay Trailer, 2023 Warhammer Skulls Gameplay Trailer, Co-Op Campaign Trailer, Gamescom 2023 Gameplay Clip, IGN Gameplay Preview, Extended Gameplay Trailer, Release Date Trailer.
This game provides examples of:
- Action Bomb: Tyranid Spore Mines. They are an unintelligent Tyranid species filled with toxins and acids whose sole purpose is to explode upon close contact with a non-Tyranid being. They come in groups and are fast moving, but they go down in one hit (but Emperor help you if you shoot them whilst they are in close-proximity).
- BFG: A Heavy Bolter is a returning weapon from the first game, this time a Primaris version called the Executor Heavy Bolter. The weapon can potentially suffer from overheating due to prolonged fire.
- Big Damn Heroes: The announcement trailer begins with showing some Thunderhawks heading towards the location of a distress call, where Titus drops in from above with two Intercessors to save Guardsmen from being overwhelmed by Tyranids.
- Chainsaw Good: It wouldn't be Warhammer 40,000 without good old fashioned chainswords. Titus wields one like in the first game, but the one he wields is notably not the same chainsword as it is more utilitarian in design.
- Combat Pragmatist: Titus gets out of a Blade Lock with a Tyranid Warrior in the trailer by drawing his pistol with his free hand and shooting out the monster's kneecap.
- Continuity Nod: The Cadian Vox Operator in the announcement trailer visibly has purple eyes. This is a nod to the lore where it is stated that a majority of the Cadian population has purple eyes as a result of their planet's close-proximity to the Eye of Terror.
- Co-Op Multiplayer: A new feature is a Co-Op campaign where players can play as Titus and his two squad mates, Gadriel and Chairon.
- Cthulhumanoid: Lictors are stealthy Tyranids that serve as vanguard organisms for the Tyranid invasion fleets. Their most notable feature are their feeder tendrils that cover the entirety of their lower faces.
- Darker and Edgier: In place of the occasionally comedic Orks are the subversive and merciless Tyranids.
- Death from Above: Like in the first game, Titus can utilize a jump pack (a Primaris version) to leap several feet above the air and Ground Pound his foes.
- Distant Sequel: The game is set in the Indomitus Era and during the 4th Tyrannic War, which sets this game in a century or two (more or less) since the first game.
- Dramatic Unmask: At the end of the announcement trailer, the unnamed Primaris Marine takes off his helmet to reveal he’s none other than an older, more grizzled Titus, and therefore that the trailer is for a sequel to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, which were planned but believed never to be made since the original publisher went out of business.
- The Dreaded: Invoked in the announcement trailer: when Titus takes a step forward, the Hormagaunts facing him snarl and draw back. It takes the Tyranid Warrior leading them to goad them onto the attack.
- Dual Wielding: Melee variants of the Tyranid Warriors are shown to wield dual boneswords.
- The Goomba: Hormagaunts are the most recurring enemy types in the game. On their own or in small groups, they might pose a danger to the regular guardsmen but they are no match for the Astartes. However, the game has scenarios where the player will encounter large swarms of the creatures and will be overwhelmed if not careful.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: One hormagaunt gets vertically sliced in half by Titus's chainsword in the announcement trailer. The Collectors Edition statue has Titus holding a hormagaunt that's missing it's bottom half. One execution animation for the Tyranid Warriors has Titus using his chainsword to slice them in half.
- Healing Potion: Titus can no longer regenerate his health via executions, and the game introduces "healing injectors" that Titus can collect in order to regain his health.
- Horde of Alien Locusts: Shown in the announcement trailer, the primary antagonists this time around are the tyranids, an animalistic, hive-minded species that consumes entire worlds.
- Mook Commander: The Tyranids' psychic Hive Mind is reliant on specialized "synapse" creatures to direct the swarms properly, the most common of these being the muscular Tyranid Warriors found leading packs of Hormagaunts and Termagants. Killing a Warrior causes them to emit a psychic pulse that damages surrounding 'gaunts and causes them to scatter.
- Off with His Head!:
- The announcement trailer has Titus rip a Tyranid Warrior's head off with his bare hands.
- One execution animation with the combat knife has Titus shanking a Tyranid Warrior from behind before cutting it's throat deeply to the point that he slices it's head off.
- Plasma Cannon: Plasma Rifles and Plasma Pistols make a return in both the Extended Gameplay Trailer and Co-Op Campaign Reveal Trailer, firing their iconic blue blasts of superheated plasma.
- Power Floats: Zoanthropes are psychic Tyranid organisms who use their psychic powers to levitate, due to their serpentine bodies and enormous heads being unable to support their weight.
- Redshirt Army: The Imperial Guard generally plays this trope straight although in the reveal trailer it's surprisingly downplayed. As terrifying as the Tyranids are, the rank and file guardsmen are giving them a solid fight even as they're retreating until the Space Marines arrive.
- Shot at Dawn: At some point, we get to witness guardsmen being executed by a firing squad on the grounds of cowardice. And the ones shot are just the first batch of prisoners awaiting the same fate.
- Trailers Always Spoil: Just like the previous game's marketing, the end of the Extended Gameplay Trailer spoils the Thousand Sons appearing as an Outside-Context Problem.
- Zerg Rush: One of the short clips of gameplay we see has Titus carving his way through a horde of Tyranids. Considering the Tyranids are the main enemy, and that the game is being developed by Saber Interactive, the developers of World War Z (2019), moments like these are most likely going to be constant.
