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2016 · Streum On Studio · Adventure · Beat 'em up

Space Hulk: Deathwing

Space Hulk: Deathwing is a First-Person Shooter experience of Games Workshop's classic Space Hulk boardgame set in the universe of Warhammer 40,000, developed on Unreal Engine 4 by Streum On Studio, the team behind E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy. Published by Focus Home Interactive and co-produced by Cyanide Studio, Space Hulk: Deathwing offers players the chance to experience a desperate battle against Genestealers in the claustrophobic tunnels of a Space Hulk, as they will gain skills, new abilities and new equipment thanks to experience earned during perilous missions.

Released: 2016
Platforms: Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One
Genres: Adventure Beat 'em up First-person shooter Shooter
Developers: Streum On Studio Cyanide
Publishers: Focus Entertainment
Modes: Co-op Multiplayer Single-player
Perspective: First person
Themes: Action Science fiction
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Country: France
Age ratings: ESRB M
Languages: English French German Spanish (Spain)
Time to beat: 8hmain story17hcompletionist

About

Space Hulk: Deathwing is a first-person shooter developed by Streum On Studio with assistance from Cyanide and published by Focus Home Interactive. The game is set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe and based upon the turn-based strategy tabletop miniatures board game Space Hulk. It expands the gameplay environment, beyond the narrow maze-like corridors of the original board game and earlier video games, to include massive space ship interiors such as a cathedral. The story is co-written by Gav Thorpe, a longtime Games Workshop author and games designer. The game was released on December 14, 2016, while the console version was released on March 28, 2018.

›Story

"A colossal mass of derelict ships, asteroids and debris, known as a Space Hulk, has spilled from the Warp. It’s entered into a system where the Imperium is already beset by a Tyranid hive swarm - the immense Space Hulk is dubbed ‘Olethros’.

The Dark Angels Chapter of the Space Marines answer the astropathic emergency calls from beleaguered worlds in the system. However, it’s a more important quest that ultimately draws the Dark Angels to the warzone.

Azrael - Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels - receives dire premonitions from his psychic Librarians and dispatches a strike fleet to Olethros. Belial – Grandmaster of Dark Angels’ 1st Company, the Deathwing – is charged with boarding the Space Hulk.

Azrael’s psykers believe the strange visions emanating from Olethros foretell disaster. Not only this, but they seem intrinsically linked with the distant past of the Dark Angels chapter.

You are the Librarian who has been chosen to enter the Genestealer-infested Space Hulk with your squad. In Space Hulk: Deathwing, you’ll venture deep into Olethros in order to uncover the dark secrets within…"

Players say

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The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Story

In Space Hulk: Deathwing's single-player campaign, the player is a Librarian of the Dark Angels 1st company of Space Marines. The Dark Angels' Deathwing company is unique amongst the rest of their Chapters' companies in being composed of only Terminators. First company veterans in each Space Marine Chapter have earned the right to don the sacred Tactical Dreadnought Armor or Terminator Armor, which provides more powerful weapons and tougher protection than the standard Power Armour donned by most Marines.

Like the Space Hulk series, the main antagonists are Genestealers, an aggressive alien species (similar to the xenomorphs depicted in the Alien franchise) which have made their home aboard a massive derelict space-faring vessel called a Space Hulk, threatening the "Deathwing's" search for artifacts as they try to transform the Space Hulk into their nest. The Genestealers are a part of the overall Tyranid aliens where they serve as the shock troops, although their origins are not related to any other Tyranid broods. The Genestealers also form an infiltration force known as a Genestealer Cult that weakens a target planet, by infecting the local population and causing civil unrest, in advance of the arrival of the main Tyranid Hive Fleet invasion.

Reception

Critical reception for the PC version has been mixed, holding a score of 58 on Metacritic. Reviewers have criticised the game for numerous bugs, a lack of polish and optimization, clunky menus, poor AI, and a lackluster story.

TJ Hafer, reviewing the game for IGN, said that "The glorious moments of fervent xeno-purging are too fleeting, and often left me standing in dark corridors, surrounded by my slain foes, looking for any kind of context or sense of lasting accomplishment . . . [Despite] a lot of potential for simple, squad-based fun in multiplayer, it never moves beyond being a stripped-down and poorly running prototype for the kind of game I wish it had been."