Review - Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters... Chaos Theory in Effect.

Image courtesy of Complex Games

I've definitely gone down a bit of a rabbit hole in the last year or so when it comes to Warhammer 40,000. It started with Owlcat's Rogue Trader and then continued with Neocore's Inquisitor. Now granted, both of these titles were really more brought to my attention because of the respect that I have for the developers. Owlcat has been my favorite studio since the long-gone glory days of BioWare, and Neocore captured my interest with their spin on King Arthur. Nevertheless, these studios have introduced me to the wide world of 40K and everything it entails, and I've been more than intrigued enough to pursue other titles to delve further into the grim darkness of the future.

    Chaos Gate takes Warhammer 40K and puts an XCOM spin on its tactics. We play the newly elevated commander of a ship filled with Space Marines and led by a rigid old commandant, a mouthy tech-priest, and a pushy Inquisitor who will stop at nothing to combat an issue she has homed in on. Each one of these characters represents different aspects of 40K lore and how issues are approached for the glory of the God-Emperor, but it is up to us to determine how things will ultimately be handled. Through combat, trials, and personal tribulations, our commander brings us to edge of the warp and beyond in order to stem the tide of corrupt daemons hell-bent on infecting an entire sector of the galaxy with their foul plagues.

The Good

The lore of Warhammer 40K is one of the best things the franchise has going for it. It's fleshed out and fully formed, and studios like Complex Games are expected to toe the line in regards to what they can and cannot put in game form. Is it canon? Is any of this stuff really, when it gets as massive and convoluted as it is? Hard to say, on that front, especially since the answers online are all over the board. I'm not sure it fully matters, when all is said and done, as Complex was able to come up with a strong narrative in and of itself, here.

    The visuals and art direction of the game are something else to be admired. Chaos Gate takes a different approach to the franchise with a bit more of a cartoonish vibe to the characters and locales, but it works in a way that keeps the player's attention throughout. I liked the character designs, from the tech-priest Lunete to Inquisitor Vakir and every Space Marine filling up my barracks. Things were exaggerated but done so in a way that only serves to make them look even more badass than they're already meant to be.

    Sound is another plus for the game. The soundtrack, compiled by Doyle W. Donehoo, is a gritty mix of organ and heavy bass that fits perfectly in the 40K universe. As such, it flows well whether in the midst of a battle or just traversing the different parts of the ship. Voice acting is decent, in that it gets the job done, but is nothing astounding. I doubt there were any big names on the roster, here.

The Bad

Unfortunately for the strong narrative and other aspects in the game's favor, there are a couple flaws here worth noting. The biggest one is probably the gameplay.

    Now, not all of the gameplay is bad. It's actually a pretty solid set-up in regards to managing resources and bringing some positives towards the ship. The battles are also well-thought out and can be a lot of fun, especially when gambling for extra "seeds" to craft more upgrades and research materials for your troops. The problem lies in the length of the battles. There is a lot of shuffling around from one end of a recycled map to another, and there can be a heavy assortment of chaos Marines and other foes in the way. When each one of these encounters lasts a few rounds, it can turn every venture on a map into a long-winded affair. This can drag the missions out into a slogfest instead of the slugfest they're meant to be.

    Because of these faults, the game actually did begin to overstay its welcome a bit. I was ready for it to be done and over with so I could move on to the next thing in my backlog, but I had to trudge through a couple more missions first. And so we come to the final one. Don't worry, I won't spoil anything. Suffice to say, however, that you'd best be prepared when going into that last jaunt against the forces of Chaos. It's absurdly long-winded and can very easily turn into a mission failure if you don't have all your ducks in a row. The difficulty spike just for that final mission alone was astronomical.

Yeah, Okay...

Overall, I was a bit disappointed by Chaos Gate. I expected more when dealing with a Warhammer title and I was left feeling a little cheated. While some things worked, not enough of them did for me to give it a singing recommendation.

6/10

Better than Some

To try out a TRPG that is fairly successful in what it sets out to do, take a look at Lost Eidolons.