Review - Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr/Prophecy ... Crunch-Warp Supreme

 Images courtesy of Neocore Games

Neocore Games has been a favorite game studio of mine since I played their King Arthur: Knights Tale and fell in love with the gameplay, gritty art, and the story of Mordred's foray in Avalon. As such, I've purchased a couple of their games and explored the transitions they've undergone as a company over the years. Perhaps one of their biggest ventures into grandiose territory has been when they cooperated with Games Workshop to create an ARPG in Warhammer 40K's expansive universe.

    This is where Inquisitor comes into play. I'm going to be simply calling it Inquisitor the entire time so that there's no confusion about which version I'm speaking of. The game came out several years ago, and thus it has already gone through several updates and patches and virtually all the DLC has been lumped into the same package. Both Martyr, the original game, and Prophecy, its expansion, are now available as a complete title that tells the story of the ship and its primary inhabitant from start to finish.

    Inquisitor begins with our protagonist, a character with the same job title as the name lays out, exploring the dilapidated wreck of an ancient voidship that has been lost to space and time for a number of years. The systems are still active on the Martyr, and so are the nurgle and other villains within, but after trudging through the chaos we find that the ship has been hiding a secret with the power to either help or hinder the entire Imperium. This is a typical storyline for a game of its ilk. Apocalyptic proportions are given to a seemingly mundane threat, and it is the inquisitor's job to determine exactly how that weapon should be used. Do the ends justify the means in using chaos to protect the Imperium? Or do these chaotic beings deserve to be burned at the stake for their heresy?

The Good

The narrative of the game was actually surprisingly solid. I know I already said I was a fan of Neocore and their writing before, but I feel like so many ARPGs just forego whatever storyline they had in mind because it's just easier to jump into a mission and start slashing every which way. Now don't get me wrong, there's plenty of that which I'll get to in a minute. Pardon my digression as I continue in saying that the storyline is well worth your time. Neocore did their due diligence in checking with Games Workshop on the lore of the product, although ensuring its setting is in a galactic sector that hasn't ever been explored before probably helps with that.

    Gameplay is very fluid, especially if you end up using swords and the like. I tried a couple different characters at the beginning before landing on one I particularly liked. Having played Rogue Trader about a year ago I was already familiar with Death Cults and their assassins. I ultimately chose one of these to be my inquisitor after messing about with the super soldier and the psyker. There was a bit more to it than simply being attracted to her combat style, but that did take up the brunt of my reasoning. The assassin is an absolute show-of-force in every respect. A powerhouse, she mows down hordes of nurgle, Chaos Marines, and simple rebels pushing against imperial influence. Every weapon has its pros and cons, but it didn't take me long before I glommed onto an Arc Sword as having significantly more pros than anything else. That's not to say that other weapons weren't worth exploring. They all have different moves and stat boosts that change up every interaction across the maps.

    Audio in the game is great. The soundtrack alone is very fitting for 40K's universe. Dark and grim, just how Games Workshop likes it, the tones only increase their tempo when the hordes start flooding the corridors. In addition to this, the game is fully voice-acted. There are plenty of pieces of lore that will have to be read (if you want to) when you come across them in cogitators, but every character has their own voice and personality to match it. This is what I was referring to when I was speaking about the differences in inquisitors. The men were good. The female, though? Incredibly talented. Her intellect is on full display with each quote, and there's a layer of sarcasm that gives her a more human feel than most inquisitors are probably supposed to exemplify.

The Bad

There's really not much to be found here. As I said before, the game has been out for several years and is given attention to this day. Even now, Neocore rotates out different bits of seasonal content for those still exploring the warp. For the most part, though, there aren't many flaws to deal with.

    Visually, is the game all that stunning? Not really. There are a lot of recycled maps and avenues that you will traverse as you investigate different aspects of the Alpha Pariah's predicament. They get the job done, and the graphics do too, but nothing would be considered groundbreaking that you're going to see on any of these maps.

Enough Already

Now just because the "Bad" section wasn't too long doesn't necessarily mean this game is next to flawless.

    Far from it.

    Inquisitor checks all the boxes it needs to in order to be a fun game. It has a solid story, but won't jerk a tear from your eye or leave you pondering it after. The gameplay is fun, but like many ARPGs it does get repetitive eventually. The audio is good when you're in a grim darkness mood, but I doubt many will throw the score on afterwards in the same way that Mass Effect or Witcher soundtracks get played. If you're looking for a fun romp through the warp, though, you can do much worse than Inquisitor.

7/10

Good Enough

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