WARHAMMER 40,000: MECHANICUS
Making good choices
By the end of this game you’re promised a power fantasy, and when that largegunned escapism is built around some of the craziest lore in Warhammer 40K it can’t fail to disappoint. If there’s an XCOMshaped hole in your gaming life, this augmented fleshy RTS could be the turn you’re looking for.
With the most powerful force in the Imperium,
The Adeptus Mechanicus, at your command, an expedition to the planet of Silva Tenebris should be a walk in the park. However, the resident Necrons – Egyptian-like terminators forgotten by time – want to have a say in you plundering their world.
As Magos Dominus Faustinius you never get your feet dirty planetside. Instead you conduct the ensuing massacre from the comfort of your hologram-like Noosphere. Yes, it’s turn-based but Mechanicus delivers its turns with such style and detail you want to keep digging deeper.
BRING IT NECRON
Our demo reveals a Warhammer 40K RTS that manages to side-step many of the flaws of the (many) recent licensed Games Workshop releases. The weird gothic-meets-Borg aesthetic sits just the right side of crazy to keep us engaged. The Tech-Priests, upgraded over the course of the game with blended classes, weapons, and mods, are your boots on the ground leading your fleshy-techy troops. They’ll bicker, as the factions of the Mechanicus rub against one another’s world views: some have removed their humanity and only communicate in equations, another believes ignorance is strength, and Faustinius himself has removed all his followers’ emotions, only allowing them to unlock the feels when it suits.
Where most strategy games are slow affairs with cover, Mechanicus is all-action. Cognition tokens – earned by scanning obelisks and cadavers – power moves, forcing you to always head forwards into danger rather than hide and set traps. It’s a refreshing gear-shift, and along with promised environmental hazards (a force field opens and closes, Episode-1-style, to control one battle) ensures Mechanicus delivers something different.
“THE GOTHIC-MEETS-BORG AESTHETIC SITS JUST THE RIGHT SIDE OF CRAZY.”