Space Hulk: Deathwing - may the Emperor's legs be OK

[Darth Roxor]

first mishun was a bit of a letdown but i just went through the second one and hory sheet dis game is cool

 

[markec]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/12/15/space-hulk-deathwing-review-pc/

Wot I Think – Space Hulk: Deathwing

SPACE HULK SPACE HU.. no, sorry, best not do that again, eh? This latest pixel-flashing rendition of the revered Games Workshop tabletop game is no boardgame adaptation, but rather a squad-based swarm-shooter in the vein of Left 4 Dead.


I played Space Hulk: Deathwing [official site] alone and had a lousy time. Then I played it with others and ALL GLORY TO THE EMPEROR OF MANKIND! Oops, I did it again.

Deathwing’s been presented as though it’s a singleplayer shooter at least as much as it is a co-op one, and that’s not untrue as such, but its heart just isn’t in solo play. Played alone, it’s an often tedious stomp back and forth across the same set of corridors and antechambers, with the scripts that trigger each new wave of enemies as blindingly obvious as the fact that the guy with the streaming nose and hacking cough is going to choose you to sit next to on the bus.


Played co-op, it’s a backs-against-the-wall, teeth-gritted survival affair, knee-deep in the dead, totally dependent on each other, not caring where you are, what you have and haven’t seen already or where you have to get to – just that you have to stay alive. There is a bleak trade-off, however, and I don’t mean that seeing a Space Marine in Terminator armour who calls himself ‘ShagNasty’ rather ruins the grimdark mood. I’ll get into the critique shortly, but first let me talk about how this thing actually works.

A Space Hulk is an ancient, ruined, enormous ship/floating cathedral left, ladies and gentlemen, floating in space. At some point in the 41st Millenium, some of these great carcasses are discovered by the Adeptus Astartes of the Imperium of Man. You may know these as Space Marines. Some of the Hulks have gained new inhabitants during their long period of abandonment. They are not friendly.

They’re generally referred to as just a type of Tyranid now, but back in the late 80s/early 90s we called ’em Genestealers. They’re Aliens from Aliens, let’s be honest, but with Warhammer 40,000’s typical excess – more spines, claws that can tear through steel, four arms, infinite numbers. I love a Genestealer, me, although I’m disappointed that Deathwing’s are shades of grey, rather than the rich blues and purples of yore.

The most recent Space Hulk videogame was a broadly faithful if divisive recreate of the turn-based boardgame, but years before that we had a pair of EA games which I suppose should still be called first-person shooters, but are very, very different to what we now take that term to mean. Slower, a huge emphasis on vulnerability, and highly tactical – all about how you positioned your small squad of Space Marine Terminators, not really how well you could aim.

Deathwing is somewhere between that and yer Halos. It is about correctly waving a targeting reticule over legions of monsters, but it’s also about working with a squad to make sure all the exits are covered, doling out healing, area of effect psyker magic and hacking doors and turrets.

There are some feints towards the tactical – follow, wait, defend, heal orders, which are followed by your AI chums in singleplayer and may or may not be heeded by human chums in co-op. In either case, you will nonetheless be spending the vast majority of your time either stomping, shooting or stabbing.


The flow of a Deathwing mission is long periods of walking fearfully around dark, maze-like corridors, punctuated by remarkably long and vicious firefights against what can feel like an infinite swarm of beclawed horrors.

It doesn’t always feel quite right – as I mentioned above, often you can see its working, whether it’s because enemies are obviously spawning from fixed places or because it makes you repeatedly criss-cross an area in order to make an environment feel larger than it is. This is essentially a small game wearing big clothes, but what clothes they are.

There is such a thing as Space Hulkiness, and that’s arguably even more important than how well the action or the tactics are realised. Space Hulkiness is science-fiction horror, set in long and twisty corridors which occasionally yield rooms populated by either gruesome or titanic sights – viscera and giant altars, that sort of thing.

Space Hulkiness is Warhammer 40,000’s In The Grim Darkness Of The Far Future There Is Only War mantra distilled to a claustrophobic, paranoid essence – the religious-fascist fervour of the Space Marines, the indefatigable alien horde, the gothic excess of an environment that is both unspeakably huge and oppressively sealed-in.

Deathwing looks like Space Hulk box art come to life. The environments and most especially the lighting is absolutely spectacular. This is not really the sort of game where you can pause to admire the scenery, but I often did. The size, the splendour, the light, the shadow, the dark beauty of it all. Good work, Unreal engine (and artists, obviously). And it sounds like Space Hulk should too – all those sounds of metal, as the monstrously heavy Terminator armour stomps about and Genestealers sneer and snarl from the distance. The constant noise of unseen but almighty engines. The machine spirit, all around.


The downside of this is that my framerate more than halves whenever more than a couple of enemies appear – dramatically, jarringly and often to the point of unplayability, unless I drop settings to minimum even for the copious enemy-free scenes in which it’s running at a happy 60 frames on max settings.

Which sadly means that concept-art-made-flesh aspect rather loses its edge – matters become rather sludgy at lowest settings. Many players report similar framerate problems, many others say it’s absolutely fine, so I guess all we can do is hope that it turns out to be fixable bugs on certain configurations.

This issue aside, in co-op – be it with randoms or chums – the Space Hulkiness is all present and correct. It’s all about staying alive, not about finding out what happens or unlocking new weapons and abilities. The latter is there as option, by turning off Codex Rules in a match, but I much prefer having them on – no progression, everything unlocked, pick your poison. Yes, it removes a certain amount of purpose, but we didn’t need it in Left 4 Dead, did we? Sometimes it’s so much better to enjoy the ride, not get hung up on rewards.

Whatever you choose, you’ll still feel profoundly vulnerable even in your foot-thick armour and with your Lightning Claws and Bolt Guns and Plasma Cannons and Heavy Flamers and the rest of Deathwing’s small but wildly powerful-feeling arsenal.

The shooting and the stabbing or punching or chopping is breathless and intense, battles often lasting long past the point you feel is fair, and then eventually occupying a place which is appropriately Space Hulk. Sudden, punishing death is at least as important to the tone of the game as is victory. Which is not to say that it’s super-hard – unless you pick the hardest difficulty – but that it wants to feel a certain doomy way, not be unqualified slaughter.

The great downsides of multiplayer is that it removes many of the trappings of singleplayer – the cutscenes are lost, even if you have experience points and unlocks on it all gets reset come every new map, a couple of weapons are excised, as is the hacking of turrets and doors. More flesh is cut from the bones of an already lean game.

In grim contrast to that, multiplayer especially is a mess of menus and countdowns and loading screens – so much time is wasted, and even if it’s to mask necessary under-the-hood machinations, it’s done clumsily and frustrating. Once you’re in, OK, fine, but either side of it brace yourself for a whole lot of waiting for things to happen.

Unfortunately, right now Deathwing multiplayer is also prey to random crashes and disconnects, which means you often have to dance the whole dance all over again even in the space of the same play session. Given the framerate problems too, I can’t say that Deathwing is in the rude health it should be.

As for singleplayer, it is b.o.r.i.n.g. Fair play, they’ve stuck cutscenes and VO in there and it’s serviceable if unexceptional – so many 40K videogame struggle with story, as they’re not allowed to screw with the lore or adjust the essential dynamics of the endless war. You also get permanent character upgrades and weapon unlocks to pursue, so there’s a certain push to keep going.

Thing is, I think this compulsion towards progress overrides what the game is actually good at, which is shutting you inside a derelict spaceship and making you fight for your life. That itch to win things interferes with enjoying the moment. When you’ve got a thirst on for some new toy, frustration mounts at constantly retreading the same ground or being interrupted by yet another mammoth wave of ‘Stealers when you’re inches from your destination.

The squad stuff is banal and almost needless too, other than requesting healing – Deathwing can’t really be called a tactical shooter. Singleplayer felt so mechanical, so repetitive – whereas with humans and no unlocks to pursue in multiplayer, it felt tense and organic.

It does, however, effectively do just the one thing, and unless big updates are coming I suspect it’s going to wear thin. Part of me feels as though this is a brilliant, beautiful Space Hulk tech demo blown up and looped, and I’m not sure how long that can hold my interest. It’s a good time for a while, but for a long life its many rough edges need smoothing and more flesh needs adding to its bones.

Space Hulk: Deathwing is out now for Windows, via Steam, for £29.99/$39.99 (discounted to £25.49/$33.99 until Jan 2).

Why do you keep linking to RPS like their opinion is worth anything?

 

[Darth Roxor]

first mishun was a bit of a letdown but i just went through the second one and hory sheet dis game is cool

that said, its absolutely tarded that the hybrids can even harm you with their shitty autoguns

or heavy stubbers that stagger you and wobble your vision, wtf, i'm wearing termie armour not a fucking flak t-shirt

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

can anyone who isn't a raving cuckboy like roxxor post their impressions?

 

[Papa Môlé]

It's basically Vermintide Iiiiin SPEEEEHS. If you like Vermintide's gameplay you will like this. It's not really more complicated than that. There are bugs on release which does normally hurt co-op games but this game has a built in fanbase because of the license that means people will stick around and keep coming back simply because 40k. So I'm not too worried about the player base dying off and most of the non-bug issues just have to do with things like weapon balance which are easily fixable.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

It's basically Vermintide Iiiiin SPEEEEHS

THAT IS
EXACTLY
WHAT
I WAS
AFRAID OF

0/10 will not buy

 

[Lithium Flower]

I don't think calling it "basically Vermintide in space" is very accurate, to be honest. Sure, it shares a lot of elements with it (it is a game with co-op and guns and swarms of enemies) but it also shares those elements with every other co-op shooter out there.

The biggest point of difference is that Vermintide is a multiplayer game, whereas Deathwing was developed first and foremost as a singleplayer game, with a secondary multiplayer component. The singleplayer mechanics alone distinguish it from vermintide, like light tactical/squad command elements, hacking, presence of an actual story, light RPG elements in the form of xp and level-ups, etc.

Secondly, it seems that a lot of people who wrongfully expected this to be Vermintide 40k on less prestigious places like Reddit and Steam forums were really butthurt about the lack of unlawkz and kewl shiny things to be gained in multiplayer. Deathwing has no unlocks to grind in multiplayer, everything is unlocked from the start when using Codex rules, there are no random gear drops. Thank fuck.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I don't think calling it "basically Vermintide in space" is very accurate, to be honest.

maps not being railroads probably being the most important difference

 

[Lithium Flower]

Right, forgot to mention that, thanks Roxor.

Also I should add that another fundamental difference is that Deathwing is class-based, unlike L4D clones like Vermintide where the differences between characters are minimal to non-existent. And that said classes actually have various abilities that one can proc, from healing (apothecary), to spess magic (librarian), to things like combat teleport (assault). Basically the game is much more of a squad-based shooter with light tactical and RPG elements than it is a L4D clone like Vermintide.

 

[Papa Môlé]

I wouldnt say the difference between characters in Vermintide is minimal at all. The only similar characters in vermintide are the dwarf and the soldier.

 

[Lithium Flower]

I wouldnt say the difference between characters in Vermintide is minimal at all. The only similar characters in vermintide are the dwarf and the soldier.

That's fair, though from what I remember in Vermintide the differences is chiefly in arsenal, no? Whereas the classes in Deathwing have their own range of unique active and passive abilities.

By the way - does anyone know if the close support terminator (the one with assault cannon) can hack in multiplayer?

 

[Siel]

Also Vermintide's environments felt uninspired and shallow while it's the main selling point of Deathwing. It might very well be the first game to capture the WH40k atmosphere so well. Imo it is exactly how I imagined a Space Hulk to look like when I read the boardgame rules 10 years ago. I wouldn't mind Streum On making a 'Souls game someday.

 

[Sjukob]

 

[A horse of course]

He complains about performance being fucked and then complains about steam reviews giving low ratings because they "won't wait for the devs to fix it". How the fuck is it reviewers' duty to withhold negative reviews on the entirely hypothetical basis of the devs maybe eventually fixing something that hasn't been fixed since the beta?

 

[Sjukob]

He complains about performance being fucked and then complains about steam reviews giving low ratings because they "won't wait for the devs to fix it". How the fuck is it reviewers' duty to withhold negative reviews on the entirely hypothetical basis of the devs maybe eventually fixing something that hasn't been fixed since the beta?

Yeah , he kinda says stupid shit from time to time , but he acknowledges it . Other than that , I think his reviews give you a good idea of what the games are about .

 

[Lithium Flower]

GG is p. good as far as youtube reviewers go, but yeah, the apologia for the technical state of this game is pretty dumb. Deathwing has huge problems in that regard, even for indie standards. Especially since Streumon now have a publisher (even if that publisher is Cyanide).

 

[TedNugent]

I played the beta and bought the game.

Can't really get into a multiplayer match. Got into 2 on launch day but I was disconnected within an hour.

Singleplayer, some interesting parts - A) the game's story is written by Gav Thorpe - B) there is a Dark Angels ship on the Space Hulk dating back to the Horus Heresy - and I'm inside of it now.

If you give a shit about Dark Angels lore this should give you a boner.

• Networking is gamebreakingly bad
  
• Loading screens are bad experience
  
• Melee combat and psychic powers are p. great
  
• Game runs poorly as expected. Lots of particle effects, very high fidelity textures, lots of AI genestealers cramped into a tiny corridor on UE4 = bad performance -
  
• but all things considered it runs okay on my 4 year old ATI hardware and i7 w/ some jitters and stuttering
  
• Shooting is a bad experience but melee is great for this genre. Power fist really makes you feel like a Terminator.
• Command interface uses a command wheel. Command wheels are garbage and this proves it. Healing your ally when you're about to die is clunky as shit.
• Singleplayer exploration can be tedious and clunky

Wait 4 months for bugs to get sorted. Small dev team of maybe ~5 people.
Not worth buying right now but once they fix the networking issues it's actually gonna be fun to play on multiplayer.

 

[RhodokMasterRaceOfficial]

Command wheels are garbage and this proves it.

All of the commands have hotkeys that let you bypass that menu completely just like in EYE iirc. Healing the apothecary is "0" and healing the devastator is "9", healing yourself is "H"

 

[Jaedar]

Really starting to get into this now, once I unlocked more psy powers, enemies and weapons. A protip is to give brother "I can't count to 3" power clawz, it makes him much more effective.

 

[Darth Roxor]

BROTHER BARACHIEL HAS JOINED THE LION

 

[Infinitron]

http://www.pcgamer.com/space-hulk-deathwing-review/

SPACE HULK: DEATHWING REVIEW

Warhammer 40,000's Imperium of Man does not do things by halves. When it needs a crack team of tomb raiders to investigate a derelict vessel, it sends in terminators. Dressed in huge suits of power armour—part high-tech defensive shell, part sarcophogus—these monstrous genetically-modified humans brandish guns that would crush an ordinary human. Given the tendency of space hulks to gain new passengers as they pass through the parallel hell-dimension known as the warp, these are sensible precautions. A warm engine room makes a lovely nest for the chitinous, clawed Tyranids.

It's an interesting setting for a squad-based first-person shooter, and the game renders the twisting corridors of these haunted wrecks with rare devotion to the source material. Games Workshop's Space Hulk was originally a turn-based tabletop game that simulated the Aliens fantasy in suitably exaggerated Warhammer 40K fashion, and for long-term fans of the fiction it's exciting to see these sinister, anachronistic warrens realised in fine detail. Sometimes you're fighting through hordes of aliens in a ship's maintenance pipes, but you'll just as easily find yourself melting Tyranid warriors at the foot of a huge statue of some long-dead Space Marine lord. Parts look like Alien's Nostromo, but you'll frequently find little macabre scenes. Floating skulls parade the corridors, and in one mission you disable a ship's engine by destroying living human batteries, each wired into a pillar of machinery.

The single player campaign is structured as a series of nine missions, each set in a large maze representing a sub-vessel aboard the game's mega-hulk (sometimes a bunch of ships get mashed together in the warp). You take the role of a chapter Librarian and fight alongside two AI squadmates that take basic move, guard and heal orders, but otherwise fight automatically. As you move between waypoints hordes of Tyranids erupt from floor-vents and unseen nests in the cabled awnings above. In addition to the melee-focused warrior variants, Tyranid/human hybrids can gun you down from range—at great speed if they have a couple of rocket launchers.

Left 4 Dead is an easy comparison, especially when the Tyranids start charging in numbers that flood your vision. Powerful special Tyranid 'strains' serve as enemy champions. There are cloaking aliens, big slow aliens that are deadly in melee and psychic hybrids that can nuke an area with a lightning storm. The rhythm of the game is simple, however: plod through atmospheric corridors, waiting for the next wave, then move back-to-back and mow down charging enemies until you've reached the objective switch.

The addition of skill trees for your librarian adds some light RPG progression, and his psychic abilities (particularly the lightning strike) are fun to use. The real variation comes from weapon pickups, though. Lighting claws or the mace-and-shield combo feel significantly different to the pray-and-spray minigun and the shotgun-esque storm bolter. Melee attacks feel flailing and imprecise, particularly compared to the mighty hammers and blades of the Warhammer fantasy first-person squad game, Vermintide. The rapid-fire guns are better, but the process of fending off Tyranids, and even the hulks themselves, becomes wearying after a few hours. The story, sustained by visions mystic visions and comms chat from your superiors, doesn't help. There are interesting hooks for 40K fans, but to newcomers it's largely gibberish concerning the lost secrets of the Dark Angels chapter.

Surprisingly, the the single-player campaign is the game's main focus. Co-op is available, but feels slightly bolted-on. You can attack any story mission with friends, but in the default mode you have to level up class skills all over again every time you start a session, which is madness—select codex mode instead to get access to all weapon loadout options. Playing with intelligent battle brothers lets you better take advantage of your ability to lock doors and hack turrets. The game is better in co-op, but you can't escape the dull objectives and the oppressive, unrelenting gunmetal palette.

Deathwing has also been running poorly for some players, who have been voicing their concerns en masse on Steam and in the game's forums. Bizarrely the game ran poorly on my work PC but perfectly on my home PC, even though both machines use the same GPU and have similarly powerful CPUs—the twisted work of some Chaos god, surely. The Steam refund function is your friend here, and I can see many players turning to it even without technical hiccups. In co-op especially, when you're huddled together in a dark corner reducing hundreds of aliens to mush, it's good simple fun in a cool setting. If you're not a fan of the fiction, Left 4 Dead 2, Vermintide and Killing Floor 2 will serve you better.

THE VERDICT
60

SPACE HULK: DEATHWING
An accomplished piece of fan service, but the excitement fades fast and performance problems spoil it for some.

 

[tormund]

He complains about performance being fucked and then complains about steam reviews giving low ratings because they "won't wait for the devs to fix it". How the fuck is it reviewers' duty to withhold negative reviews on the entirely hypothetical basis of the devs maybe eventually fixing something that hasn't been fixed since the beta?

Yeah , he kinda says stupid shit from time to time , but he acknowledges it . Other than that , I think his reviews give you a good idea of what the games are about .

He could at least try to be somewhat consistent about it. He made a huge point out of Dishonored 2's performance, placed something like "unoptimized disappointment" in the title of his video, and yet here he attacks those who gave negative reviews due to performance issue despite acknowledging them.

He should pick a stance on technical issues and stick to it, instead of adjusting it based on whether he likes (Deathwing) or dislikes (Dishonored 2) a game.

Why do you keep linking to RPS like their opinion is worth anything?

I guess it's a case of "scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours".
This place still publishes its own news and reviews after all. They would like to have them mentioned by other places from time to time, and that includes being friendly to them and promoting their content.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Horde of jeanstealers incoming.

A hybrid launches a panzerschreck the moment I cast inferno.

The result is a 10-sec-long hiccup that makes me wonder if it's not a crash :russiastronk:

 

[Beowulf]

Command wheels are garbage and this proves it.

All of the commands have hotkeys that let you bypass that menu completely just like in EYE iirc. Healing the apothecary is "0" and healing the devastator is "9", healing yourself is "H"

Command hotkeys can bug out mid-mission and rebinding them won't fix the issue. I don't know if reloading does, on the next level they went back to normal, but I'm afraid of ordering anything than Follow since then.

 

[Lithium Flower]

Command wheels are garbage and this proves it.

All of the commands have hotkeys that let you bypass that menu completely just like in EYE iirc. Healing the apothecary is "0" and healing the devastator is "9", healing yourself is "H"

Command hotkeys can bug out mid-mission and rebinding them won't fix the issue. I don't know if reloading does, on the next level they went back to normal, but I'm afraid of ordering anything than Follow since then.

If a hotkey bugs out, use the command menu (just do 'go there' or something), then they will work again. But yeah, it is kind of a mess.