The (*3*), coming simply six months after the record-breaking release of Space Marine 2, has definitely bought followers excited. Now the mud has settled on the information, ideas inevitably flip to the place the heroic Demetrian Titus will head subsequent on his third video game journey.
Warning! Spoilers for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 comply with.
Let’s briefly recap the occasions of Space Marine 2 earlier than we go on to invest about what Space Marine 3 may need in retailer.
Space Marine 2 sees Titus of the Ultramarines go up in opposition to the Tyranids and the Thousand Suns Traitor Legion in a marketing campaign that ends up with a huge battle in opposition to a demon military and even a journey to the warp. With the help of Ultramarines Chapter Master Marneus Calgar, Titus efficiently fends off each enemy factions earlier than he’s despatched on a mysterious mission that teases the continuation of the story in a sequel.
Now on to the hypothesis. Space Marine 3 looks certain to feature the Necrons, Warhammer 40,000’s deathless skeletal robot xenos, in some capability. One Space Marine 2 mission that takes Titus deep inside the bowels of an alien planet reveals historic and mysterious wall markings which are a clear nod to the Necrons.
There’s even a dataslate (Space Marine 2's audio logs) that reveals Necron constructs have been killing Techpriests. You can see these constructs mendacity about the place.
Indeed, during the third act of the marketing campaign, Titus heads to a Necron Tomb World filled with Necron buildings and technology. Some gamers thought the xenos would make a shock look as a third enemy faction in the marketing campaign, given the nature of the mission. Alas, they didn’t.
Could different enemy factions additionally flip up in Space Marine 3? Space Marine 2 doesn’t reveal the nature of Titus’ secret new mission (the Warhammer 40,000 animation in Amazon’s Secret Level anthology, which acts as a Space Marine 2 sequel of kinds, doesn’t reveal a lot of something), however with the eternally suspicious Chaplain Leandros retaining a close eye on proceedings simply in case there’s a whiff of corruption, we’re sure Titus might be saved on the straight and slim.
At this level it’s value referring back to an IGN exclusive interview with Saber Interactive Chief Creative Officer Tim Willits, carried out quickly after Space Marine 2 got here out. At the time, Willits stated there was the risk of story DLC, and revealed that concepts had been already floating round for Space Marine 3.
In the interview, Willits teased Space Marine 3 might introduce new chapters in addition to new enemy factions. “There's so many different factions…” he teased, “there are other chapters, too, that are interesting…”
Other chapters, eh? Could Titus go away the Ultramarines behind to affix up with a totally different chapter for his Space Marine 3 journey? If so, it’s nearly unattainable to say at this level which chapters would possibly make the cut. Blood Angels, Dark Angels, and Salamanders are amongst the hottest Space Marine chapters outdoors poster boys the Ultramarines, however in fact there’s a long listing to attract upon. Perhaps we’ll get to affix forces with a towering Adeptus Custodes sooner or later?
And what about an enemy Chaos faction to fight in opposition to? It could be a disgrace to return to preventing the Thousand Suns having executed so in Space Marine 2. How about this time we battle Abaddon the Despoiler’s Black Legion? Or the Death Guard? Or possibly the Emperor's Children? They're a noisy bunch and could be sure to maintain the occasion going.
Meanwhile, what kind of gameplay would possibly we get from Space Marine 3? Games Workshop, writer Focus Entertainment, and developer Saber Interactive aren’t saying a lot at this level, however there’s speak about “introducing large-scale battles which are even more spectacular."
To me, that means vehicle gameplay, something some had hoped to see from Space Marine 2. Could we get to pilot a Dreadnought? A Rhino? A Land Speeder? A Land Raider? An Assault Bike? Upping the scale, a set piece in which you pilot a Thunderhawk during a ground assault would be epic indeed.
As for characters, Space Marine 2 features the aforementioned Ultramarines Chapter Master Marneus Calgar. Could Space Marine 3 go one better and include Ultramarines Primarch Robute Guilliman himself? In the current setting, Dark Angles Primarch Lion El'Jonson is also knocking about the galaxy. Perhaps we’ll run into him.
On the flip side, there are a number of high-profile traitor Primarchs who are currently terrorizing the Imperium in demon form. Maybe one of those will make a cameo (fingers crossed for Mortarion!).
Whatever Games Workshop and Saber Interactive has up its sleeve, it seems we won’t find out for quite a while. Games Workshop has said Space Marine 3 "is probably going years away from release."
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can attain Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].