Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters, the proven XCOM clone that promises to spark

Firaxis’ XCOM series succeeded in a modern re-read without destroying Gollop’s book of the same name and schooled in the contemporary world of turn-based strategy. He did not invent anything, but he improved and updated the starting formula so much, both in the dynamics of the game and in the interface, that he convinced everyone a little that he received excellent reviews and, above all, excellent sales. , with the latter doing proselytes as usual. How many similar XCOMs have come out in the last few years? It seems that the genre can no longer ignore certain formats that are repeated over and over from title to title if it wants to continue to go public.

This Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters trial Given that there are indeed many touchpoints with the Firaxis series, it cannot exempt itself from this comparison.

game system

There are so many that we immediately felt at home when we started playing. After choosing one of the three available missions (two regular and one boss fight), we found ourselves in a spaceship. Gray Knights, a mysterious Division of Space Marines, capable of performing different actions, first of all to customize our men. Actually, the game includes helmets, part of armor, decorations, etc. It includes a very complete character editor that allows you to change some aesthetic elements without having any direct impact on the gameplay by modifying it. After tinkering with the characters, we went to the deck of the ship to talk to the commander, Brother Ectar, who gave us a lot of information about the mythology of the game and the scenario we encountered.

Our mission is to stop Bloom, a planet-destroying disease loved by many rebels, especially one group possessed and roaming the galaxy. Unfortunately, the few missions available did not allow us to delve deeper into the game. narrative sideGiven that it was entrusted to the author of The Black Library, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, it still promises to be top notch.

With the final version of the game it should be possible to talk to more characters and change the spaceship, as well as the composition of our assault team; all the options that are not in the version we need to try. In fact, we were only allowed to play. three missions In addition to the tutorial (shown separately), the second one is very short, but really intense, because it’s sure to get Warhammer 40,000 fans excited if something happened to you (we’re not telling you what, don’t worry).

However, after chatting and reviewing all the options available to us, we started the first mission where Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters revealed its closeness to the aforementioned XCOM series, thankfully it looks like the best. When we landed on a devastated planet, we placed our men in the starting area, inside a now-depopulated city filled with debris and rubble. Then we had to feel game systemFocusing on spending action points to give orders to our soldiers moving one by one. The game maps are divided into squares and designed with an extremely tactical key. Moving characters means not only keeping them moving forward until the enemy is defeated, but also positioning them to cover all possible sides so as not to be caught off guard.

Then, you move from one cover to the next (which can be full or partial depending on the object you’re behind), creating formations in which the characters overlap each other. At least that’s how we played it, considering our experience with XCOM and other games in the genre like Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden and Phoenix Point. In fact, the game system is very similar to that of XCOM, the only difference being in the skills of the characters, their different and partly progression for each class, obviously it is connected to the world of Warhammer 40,000. The resemblance from the first enemies grew stronger.

at that point gameplay It proved to be the perfect blend of tactics and strategy when the player was asked to lead the party in a way that destroys opponents while taking as little damage as possible.

battle system

This battle system Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters is really interesting as it’s based on mixing hand-to-hand guns and firearms. Enemies encountered in the test version were not a big deal, as they were much weaker than our Gray Knights, who enjoyed slicing them head-on, hammering them if necessary, and ripping them through with long shots. . While it wasn’t without any blunders, the AI ​​seemed pretty reactive to us. This is especially true for cultists, whom we might regard as cannon fodder for the opposing army (at least in their basic form). In fact, we’ve also encountered stronger ones, such as mechanics, who are real sponges for blows, thanks to their very durable armor and massive amounts of health points. What is interesting is the use of precision shots that allow you to aim at individual limbs to have different effects such as buff or support skills as well as the loss of a weapon or limb. Give action points to a single warrior or heal him in case of injury.

Overall, the three missions we faced required us to advance and slaughter enemies, in one case to maintain position inside a dilapidated cathedral, and to destroy Bloom-producing plants at a distant base. Finally there was the counter mission boss, Aeger, The Benevolent is a large pointed horned monster who is too busy spreading the disease across the planet, which we encounter in a completely different way from the other two missions. Basically, we attacked him upside down, aiming to kill him as quickly as possible to avoid being crushed by his strength and huge reinforcements. In short, three different situations in three missions. Not bad, but we don’t think a similar variety will be retained in the last edition.

graphic

Technically speaking, Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters looked well done for the genre it belongs to. The units are all very detailed, like the scenarios, but they pay off for a very obvious lack of style. If it weren’t for the elements taken from the Warhammer 40,000 that gave it a bit of air. expressiveness, visually it seems to get ahead of a somewhat anonymous game. Not bad, sorry, but with a few surprising or intriguing elements. Of course, it must also be said that the genre does not require knowing how to deploy technical resources, and in any case we find ourselves in the presence of a work carried out with great competence. But we’ll see how the final version will look when it hits the market.