Warhammer 40k Inquisitor
In the dark future of the 41st millennium there is only early access
Neocore Games has a pretty great track record with indie ARPGs, with the silly but solid Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing series, and hopefully that experience will flow into Martyr. We say hopefully because at the current moment of early access, Martyr, despite having quite a wealth of content isn’t really a game that should be available for purchase. The “Founding” has packages available for purchasing access to the alpha as well as exclusive package related content, for between $39.99 and $999.99, and for that money all players currently get is repetitive missions, a single class and frequent crashes. These problems are problems to be expected with an alpha, but most developers ensure more stability and playability in their early access titles.
One of the reasons the alpha is so rough might be the huge ambition the developers have for Martyr. Some of these ideas are already on show in what is available. Nearly every object in the environment is destructible and physics integrated, and blowing up the environment is a vital aspect of gameplay. Anything that can be hidden behind can be used as cover, with individual objects giving different levels of defence depending on their height, position and the material they are made of. Similarly the larger enemies players will encounter are destructible as well, with well placed shots being able to smash armour and remove limbs – blow off a gun arm and you’ll have an easier fight, remove a leg and your target won’t be able to evade.
No story or campaign mode is currently available in the alpha, but what we do know is that the game world is both huge and an open-ended sandbox. Players will travel from system to system in the Caligari sector of the Segmentum Tempestus, a remote region of Imperial space. The Caligari sector is old, cloaked in rumour and shadow, and plagued by Warpsurges, small, random Warpstorms. This makes the sector a prime breeding ground for heresy, and a staging ground for the minions of chaos. In other words, it’s an ideal place for members of the inquisition to ply their bloody trade. Each system in the sector can have multiple inhabited planets and stations, and each of those can have multiple missions – slaying cultists, hunting
this makes the sector a prime breeding ground for heresy, and a staging ground for the minions of chaos
demons, purging chaos, fighting off an Ork invasion. Completing missions on a planet increases Inquisition influence on the planet and rewards the player with new equipment or money.
Equipment is a vital part of the game as character skills are tied to their gear. At the current stage of the alpha, only the Crusader class is available. This class is broken into three specialisations – melee, assault and heavy weapons. Each has a few set skills and then a set of skills associated with the currently equipped weapon. Each character can carry two weapon sets – a heavy bolter and a plasma cannon for example – and can swap between them as necessary. Rather than ammunition, weapons instead have cooldowns for anything other than standard attacks.
Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr is an ambitious game and one with a lot of potential. Fingers crossed that offering it for sale at such an early stage of development doesn’t do more harm than good.