Warhammer 40,000 Review: Gates of Chaos – Demon Hunters

As a big fan of all things Warhammer 40,000, I couldn’t miss the latest game from Complex Games. Demon Hunters will put you in the role of commander of a special Space Marine – the so-called Gray Knights – who this time again fight against the threats of chaos, in perhaps the best variation of XCOM – this is a tactical turn-based strategy – for many years.

• Platform: PC
• Publication date: May 5, 2022
• Developer: Difficult games
• Genre: tactical strategy
• Czech location: Not
• Multiplayer: Not
• Data to download: 18 GB
• Game time: 20+ hours
• Sales version: Digital (Steam and Epic Store)
• Price: CZK 940 (Epic) or €45 (Steam)

The best video game from W40k University since the first Dawn of War

As stated above, the demon hunters really did well. The game took the best of XCOM 2, added the right atmosphere from the world of “dark gloom” to the mix, and enlivened the battlefield with interactive options. First of all, it should be mentioned that the Gray Knights are Space Marines – superhuman warriors who take part in the hardest military campaigns against the most dangerous threats. They are stronger, faster and smarter than an ordinary soldier and do not know fear. It brings with it all the superhuman qualities you would expect from them and putting them into practice. In addition, the Gray Knights are specific in that they very often use psychic abilities in battle – a sci-fi version of magic. Each map has ammo boxes that can be blown up, pillars that can be knocked over by a knight running against them, or statues that can be blown up from a distance. Especially pillars and statues, whose fall can be directed at will, are great helpers against dominance.

The role of the base from which you send your team of four is played by the spaceship, which you gradually restore from the original damaged state, thereby unlocking various bonuses and abilities. Every Marine gains experience and learns new skills during promotions. After moving your ship to the infected planet using the star map of the sector, you can start the mission. You have the option to take a special challenge with you – like completing a mission in just three or killing a few enemy grenades – if you succeed, more “requisition” points await you at the end of the mission, for which you can buy rewards. If this does not work, your points will be reduced. Rewards are various items of equipment or directly other marines that you can use. RPG elements or variability and personality customization is at a very high level. Whether it’s weapons, skills or just visual.

The spaceship plays the role of a base.

The missions themselves are not long at all. On normal difficulty, most of them took me no more than half an hour, and although, especially in the beginning, their variability does not go off scale, in the later stages of the game it will improve dramatically. During each mission, you can see the warp wave indicator in the middle of the top of the screen, which increases slightly with each turn or each time your knights perform a psychic action. Reaching 100% comes with a random debuff, so it’s not always a good idea to use these abilities one after the other. In the fight against chaos, you can also use the so-called Stratagems, which you research on board the ship and you can take several with you on each mission. Each strategy can be used once per mission and they have a different effect – adding action points, healing, or, for example, a massive teleport of the entire team. All in all, I have to admit that all the factors together make for a very interesting game system that will immediately make any fan of the genre feel right at home, while bringing enough personality to make it more than just another copy.

This is not fast fermentation

Technically the game is in excellent condition. Other than a few tiny graphical glitches, I haven’t had a single issue with the game. I did not find any crash, bug or issue that would affect the course of the campaign. The game does not suffer from any deeper technical ailments – it works very well and at the same time does not visually offend. Only, perhaps, a slightly more comic-like appearance (the faces of the characters, or some kind of demonic minions of Nurgle) only slightly spoils the final impression. However, this is very subjective and I can assume that most players won’t mind too much.

I would probably just point out the confusing AI locations – like the Barracks, or during the pre-mission knight exchange where no weapons are visible unless you click on that paratrooper, or the non-skippable intro animation at the start of each mission. The game also supports ultra-wide resolution without any problems.

Another fun adaptation

If you love turn-based tactical strategy, Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemon Hunters (who came up with the name probably wasn’t the smartest member of the team) is the game for you. You will get the real pleasure you can expect from this type of game. If you are a fan of this universe, like me, you can relax and add another point of authenticity to the final score to the original. The game was a success and it’s definitely not a cash grab. The game mechanics mirror those from the board game in a very sensible way, while sticking to the experienced tropics that everyone is used to from their genre brethren. For good or for worse.