Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Review – A Dark Future Full of Tough Decisions

RPG fans are in for a real treat this year. After the near-perfect Baldur’s Gate 3, the community saw another great game with no shortage of challenging choices. However, in Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader you are not heading into a fantasy universe, but into the distant future, where an endless war rages against all enemies of the human race. The following lines of our review will tell you whether this universe is worth visiting.

Platform: PC (review version), PS5, Xbox Series X/S.
Publication date: 07/12/2023
Developer: Games with owls
Publisher: Games with owls
Genre: Isometric RPG
Czech localization: No
Multiplayer: yes (collaboration)
Download data: 35 GB
Game time: 70 – 100 hours
Price: 1200 CZK (Steam)

Warhammer 40,000 Universe: Rogue Trader Doesn’t Mate You

Baldur’s Gate 3 got off to a wild start. However, what happened aboard the nautiloid was nothing compared to what you’ll encounter when running Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. The spaceship you’re on has become the target of a violent uprising, leaving your chances of survival slim. In addition, you can’t trust anyone, so a lot of unpleasant surprises await you. But as always happens in this genre, you will eventually manage to resolve the situation, after which an exciting adventure will begin, which you will enjoy in the shoes of a captain who has a lot of work ahead of him. Even this universe needs its heroes, willing to risk their lives for the Emperor and humanity.

You can choose your main character from preset characters or create him from scratch, defining not only his appearance, but also individual parameters. Thus, you can create a skilled soldier, a technology expert, a local variety of mage, or one of a number of other alternative professions. It should already be said that your hero is not alone in this. Even if you target him incorrectly, he will still have several characters to support him in battle, and he will focus primarily on talking, knowledge, and working with technology. In our preview, I complained a lot about how the game didn’t start right from the start, which made it difficult for me to connect with other team members.

In the full version of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, you go through an introductory passage with some characters, thanks to which you already form a certain bond with them at this stage, which can then be developed. However, the circle of companions in the finished game is significantly wider than in the previous version, which I played, so that in addition to the initial squad, you will also find other interesting personalities. People’s characters attract attention. Personally, my closest relationship was with a space marine from the Space Wolves Chapter. The impressive Ulfar captivated me both with his personality and the way he could attack enemies the moment he came within contact distance.

But the journey to him turned out to be much longer than to the rest of the staff. However, quality things are rarely free. Sometimes the only way to reach them is to gain a reputation built by sacrificing and taking over worlds in the name of their values. Yes, there is also a component of building structures on planets and collaborating with other entities in this game universe. However, in my opinion, this does not play a very important role.

What a planet, a few stories

The story of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader doesn’t just take place on one world, but takes you straight to multiple planets. Space travel here is complex and in many ways reminiscent of Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. In short, you can never be sure that you won’t get into an accident or even that your ship won’t be attacked. In fact, it happens probably more often than it’s healthy. But when such a situation does arise, you have no choice but to confront demonic creatures or other aggressors. It’s mostly decent mass murder, with demons and aliens using not only traitorous crew members, but corpses as well. The meeting with the crew members, whose bodies always exploded after destruction, was quite tough.

But when you arrive at your destination, a phase of discovery awaits you. The worlds brought to you by the creators of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader have something in common. Each location is a clearly defined corridor, sometimes consisting of several floors. So don’t exactly expect the open world concept presented in Baldur’s Gate 3. But if you like old school RPGs, you definitely won’t mind. There are many special stories waiting for you on individual planets and ships. Very few of them don’t have a dark underlying plot, making this a very dark affair in which you not only decide the fate of completely unknown creatures, but also your own friends. And it must be said that your choice does not always lead to a happy ending. However, there is no other way in this universe.

During conversations with the population of individual worlds, you often have to face moral tests, tests of your physical abilities or your command of the language. Whereas in Baldur’s Gate 3 everything was transparent and could not be faulted in the presentation, here we have a traditional system in which the average player often does not understand the reason why he actually succeeded or failed. In short, it will happen, and he can try his luck on the way to the last save position, or he can just leave it alone and follow the direction in which the plot of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader goes.

You decide your fate one by one

If you accidentally fail a skill or conversation check and don’t reach the last saved loading position, a fight usually breaks out. The combat system here is based on a turn-based format, so fans of XCOM: Enemy Unknown and similar updated projects will find something to their liking. Each character’s initiative is different, so you’ll never play your turn in one moment. Additionally, I found the difficulty itself to be quite high. There aren’t many options for the player to handle the situation “smartly”, so you’re basically forced to take out your opponents one by one.

Their progress is difficult because you rarely have to face the power at your disposal. Fortunately, as the game progresses, the heroes progress and gain more and more effective tools, thanks to which they are able to confront demons or other seemingly terrifying creatures. I found the combat system to be more or less fair, consistently responding to your progress and movements. For example, the use of magic turns the entire world into a rather gloomy appearance, which has more than once attracted a demon into your world, hungry for the flesh of mortals. In my opinion, the enemy AI itself was also quite good. However, what I didn’t like about it was that sometimes more than one enemy was shot through the textures, while it was impossible to hit him myself.

The main problem with Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is the bugs. Considering the fact that the development took place with the support of the community, it cannot be said that this game is completely free from various technical shortcomings. I could probably come to terms with the fact that there was a guard somewhere, even after his death. Visual errors are just something that happens from time to time. But as soon as a game contains elements that clearly interfere with my gaming experience, it’s a problem. During my journey through space, in addition to the turn-based battles in which spaceships collide, I managed to encounter several minor and major bugs that made the passage difficult. Everything did not always go as it should, and several times there were even failures. Additionally, the frequency increased as the story progressed. First of all, therefore, after the entry into the third act. However, in a game of this size, I’m willing to be a little more lenient than in linear projects. However, I hope that the creators will work as a whole and at least remove the most acute shortcomings.

You won’t find a darker RPG than Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader.

There are countless role-playing games on the market that try to offer the world stories full of difficult decisions. However, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is undoubtedly one of the darkest games. The story is set in a dystopian future that doesn’t bother anyone, and more than once your hero is forced to make some truly brutal choices. The combat system is difficult but fair. The space travel itself is worth it, thanks to the presence of well-designed giant ship battles and a wide variety of locations to target.

However, I have a problem with how the developers “managed” to handle the bugs. There are still relatively many of them, which actually forces me to reach for a slightly lower rating than I would objectively like to give. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the authors to finalize their work. For now, I would recommend Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader primarily to fans of the genre who enjoy dark universes where every choice can turn against you. If this is what you’re looking for, be sure to get on board.