Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition review

Why, oh why, is the gaming industry seemingly incapable of producing a brilliant Warhammer 40K game? I only ask because Games Workshop’s gothic horror sci-fi universe seems tailor-made for the gaming medium.

Here is a space opera in which the galaxy proved so harsh and filled with horror that its human contingent resorted to quasi-religious fascism to simply survive.

The most recognisable standard-bearers of this universe are the Space Marines, and one can see Warhammer’s DNA running through myriad gaming properties, including Gears Of War, Starcraft and Bulletstorm.

In fact, Warhammer’s influence in the gaming space is so huge the list of titles it hasn’t influenced would probably be shorter than the ones it has. So I’ll ask again; why are Warhammer 40K video games so disappointing? When they’re not underwhelming they’re actively bad.

To be fair, Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition is better than most. It’s certainly head and shoulders over Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade and a marked improvement on when it first arrived in 2016. That game was a hot mess of bugs, glitches, exhausting loading times and framerate tear.

The Enhanced Edition clears a lot of these problems up but, unfortunately, it brings through some of the problems contained in the original release.

Since I’ve been bellyaching for most of this review, let me point out some of the game’s highlights. First off, the game looks stunning; the developers are clearly fans of this property because the environments absolute nail the Warhammer 40K aesthetic. Equal parts gothic grandeur and industrial oppression, the game’s visuals are bang on the money.

The plot’s very decent, too; players take on the role of a Space Marine leading a squad of comrades into a derelict ship – the titular Space Hulk – in which they are set upon by foul creatures (known as Genestealers) and uncover some rather dark secrets along the way. It dovetails nicely with the franchise’s lore and is sure to delight ardent fans.

The game has also been spruced up with the addition of some special procedurally generated missions that break up some of the monotony, and improved co-op mode and the survival mode now has a progression system involving weapons, armour, visual customisations, a new class and new enemies.

Unfortunately, though, the single player campaign still has a plodding pace, unimaginative mission design (“go here/kill that”) and an enemy AI that does little more than attack en masse. Furthermore, while some weapons are satisfying to use, occasionally their cool-down time puts players in hot water when the Genestealers swarm over them. The melee weapons aren’t much better and they don’t really carry much heft when used. On top of that, the Space Marine’s movement feels at times like they’re travelling through treacle.

Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition is an improvement, but as it stands what players have now is a decent FPS multiplayer that’s stuck with a lousy campaign. Without the Warhammer licence, most shooter fans wouldn’t bother.

• Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition was reviewed on a PS4. A review code was provided by the publisher.

★★★☆☆