Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate Daemonhunters Review – A Bloody Good Time

Over the last few years, it has seemed impossible to escape Games Workshop’s grim sci-fi/fantasy universe. Each week brought news of yet another 40K video game, many low effort affairs that traded on the name, but some were that diamond in the rough. Finding that diamond though was a nigh-impossible task. Thankfully Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters is one such diamond taking inspiration from the tabletop roots of the game in equal measure as it does from the revitalised X-Com series.

Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate Daemonhunters The Story

The story is your typical 40K fare, your chapter of knights is engaged in endless war at the behest of the immortal emperor against the various forces of darkness. This time you are a part of the Grey Knights, a secretive chapter supposedly (if I understood the opening cutscenes) tasked by the emperor himself with fighting demonic forces and cleansing the universe of all foul creatures related to demons. Sorry fans there are no Orks or Skaven to be found here. The story starts with a taste of what is possible in this game, with the tutorial mission having you lead the head of the chapter against a minion of Nergal, god of death, decay and diseases. Like Phoenix Point bosses can tower over your already large knights making for an impressive and scary encounter. After the mission ends, a mere five minutes later, you are thrust into the thick of the action as the newly appointed chapter head you are now responsible for your ship and brothers as they continue the battle against the forces arrayed against them.

The story is, frankly, absurd but fun. And wholly unnecessary for you to have a damn good time murdering various enemies across the sector you are patrolling. On board your ship, The Baleful Edict, a suitably grim and gothic name you will be faced with numerous base building choices. As your ship is damaged from the opening battle and resources scarce for reasons, you will have to think carefully as to what you prioritise and when. The main base building area thankfully streamlines X-Com’s system. Gone are days wasted excavating and clearing areas and then starting to build. Simply choose from three main tech branches and then choose from four or so sub-branches for areas to repair and upgrade. Like with X-Com you need resources to enact your commands, but in this game, it is simplified further with cash and engineers combined into servitors. Servitors are a finite and fungible resource that you earn via missions and by upgrading the machines that produce them. If like me, you do not repair that machine almost immediately on starting the game, you may find yourself trying to find dangerous missions to be rewarded with servitors in order to get back on track and lose some valuable knights in the process. This game can be vicious when it punishes mistakes.

Research, Research and more Research

Research, too, is simplified. You do not have to research weapon and armour upgrades. These are given to you via requisition points that you earn in battle and through dialogue choices and can spend to requisition materiel from Titan, your home planet.

Research various perks and what are called strategems, basically a mini-card game mechanic that has you build a deck before a mission that will give you a welcome boost in tough battle. Research is led by Vakir an inquisitor focused on researching existential threats to the Imperium. As she is fond of saying, the Grey Knights are the hammer, and she has the duty to decide how to wield that hammer. Subtle this game is not.

Amazing Dialogue

Dialogue is where the game shines in the quiet moments. Vakir is dismissive of the knights and she seems to love needling the rest of your command crew, Ektar your second in command and the tech-priest whose only concern is whether the Baleful Edict is in working order or not. Her constant demands and your need to balance the relationships play out in the dialogue with the choices presented to you gaining your favour as well as different rewards.

Besides the resources needed for upgrades and research the one that you never have enough of is time. Each project takes what seems like too long to complete. So you will have to be careful to strike a balance between powerful rewards from these areas versus the time it takes to complete them.

However, no one plays a 40K game for the dialogue. We want war and blood, and you will get that. Every so often corruption will be detected, and you will be presented with three missions to choose from. Unlike X-Com, until you upgrade your warp engine you are unlikely to be able to reach more than one in the time you have. Each will have rewards for successful completion, but to make the mission extra spicy you can choose to challenge yourself with sub-objectives. The easiest tends to be kill x number of enemies using grenades, ranged or melee weapons. The more difficult challenge you to limit your squad to three knights or not sustain any critical wounds. Do this and you will earn additional requisition points, fail and lose requisition points.

Battle your way to victory

Battle plays out as with any game of this type, move your team forward, seek cover and engage the enemy. Where it differs is in encouraging you to rush forward. Knights are arrogant fanatics, confident in the righteousness of their cause. They feel no fear and thus live to cleanse the battlefield of heretics and chaos. Besides their natural demeanour, you are encouraged to end the battle quickly by the rising bloom counter each turn. Once it hits 100% a random effect is applied to the mission ranging from more enemies to status effects that aid the enemy or hinder you. This is a fun randomised element that throws curveballs at you to keep missions from becoming rote.

Your knights are monsters. Killing machines bred for war and engineered to give no quarter to the enemy. Taking a cue from the Gears Tactics, you can recover action points by executing enemies if your melee attack will kill them. It’s a great mechanic to borrow as it allows you to maintain momentum at crucial points in the battle. The other obvious Gears comparison is that you control burly men in power armour, but that’s just a coincidence.

Warhammer The Art

The art style is something I am in two minds about. On the one hand, the Baleful Edict and the UI on that ship are beautiful. The ship’s interiors are all gothic cathedral inspired and wholly impractical and a waste of space. Mission maps are detailed, but to be honest, they are all the same war-torn, fallen civilisation aesthetic and none are memorable enough to craft a tale around. Each mission map pretty much blends into the other.

Sound

Sound design though shows some imagination with the different menus each sporting its own theme. The baleful chanting and gothic church music immerse you in this weird theocratic insanity that is Warhammer 40K and the Grey Knights.

Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters stands out in an ocean of 40K licensed games and for fans of the tabletop games or squad-based tactics games it is a must-have. You will spend hours rooting out Nergal and his minions and if a few fanatics or demons get in your way that’s their dumb luck.