Developer: Herocraft
Publisher: Herocraft
Platform: PC, iOS, Android
Tested on: PC
Warhammer 40.000: Space Wolf – Review
After six months of early access, Warhammer 40.000: Space Wolf gets an official release. This game was already previewed here, but we got the opportunity to look at this game again for the official release. Warhammer 40.000: Space Wolf is a hybrid between tactical turn-based combat and a deck-building card game. This game has been developed and published by Herocraft, and licensed by Games Workshop.
Story
The space wolves are a faction within the Space Marines of the Warhammer 40.000 universe. They are futuristic elite soldiers. At the start of the game you’ll see a space ship being gunned down, then crashing on a planet. This planet in infested by another kind of space marines: corrupted Chaos Marines, which will assault your band of survivors at every step you take.
The introduction you get is shown in a short animation, and after that you’ll immediately start in an tutorial mission, which explains more of what’s happening through conversation with the other characters. During your exploration of the planet your ship crashed on, you’ll meet many more survivors of the Space Wolfs, and together you’ll battle through the ranks of the evil Chaos Marines called the World Bearers.
Graphics
Warhammer 40.000: Space Wolf has originally been developed as a mobile game, with great graphics for mobile platforms. The graphics of this PC version look similar, but have been upgraded to look better on a PC screen. The models and environments have vivid colors, and many interesting details plus lots of pretty light effects and cool looking animations.
The UI is clear and easy to use. You’ll see your characters, your cards representing your actions and the combat order on screen. If you select a card, you’ll see on the screen what the range of that action or item is. You’ll also be able to equip certain items, which makes them re-usable and shows the item on your character’s model. The animations and attacks look good, and every now and then the camera will zoom in to show a close-up view of the action.
Sound
The background music in this game fits the game very well: it’s pretty epic sounding battle music. All the conversation between characters has been narrated, and there’s a lot of conversation in-game! The UI sounds are also fitting and helpful.
Gameplay
Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf is a hybrid of a grid-based tactical turn based combat game and a deck-building card game, with RPG elements. You have different character classes available, each with their own special abilities and an unique deck of cards. These cards represent the actions you can take, and you’ll draw a number of them each turn from your carefully compiled deck. These cards are drawn randomly, so you’re a bit dependent on luck whether or not you’ll get the card you need at that moment.
During a combat mission you’ll move around on a rather extensive map with a grid clearly visible on the floor. Each mission you’ll get a main objective you’ll need to complete, and several bonus objectives which grant you extra loot. You’ll be able to replay a mission at a later time to try to earn bonus objectives if you haven’t completed them the first time. Each map features many bends and turns, making the environment interesting: there are often bottlenecks you’ll need to deal with to fight enemies effectively. If it’s your character’s turn, you’ll be able to either move or use an item. Each card in your hand can be used for movement, even if it’s an item, but be sure to use the cards you have available strategically.
You’ll get two actions each turn, which you can skip if you need to. Skipping actions can be advantageous, because using a card costs effort and your turn in the combat queue will be decided on how much effort you spend during your actions. All cards have a certain effort cost, so you’ll be able to calculate what your position in the combat queue will be based on how much effort you spend.
The game is rather slow-paced, because you won’t be able to move around a lot, but be assured: the waves of enemies won’t let you. You’ll want to keep you team-mates close to each other, to avoid one being cornered by enemies. New enemies get dropped on the map very often, both in front and behind you, and can move in from all directions. If you move out to quickly or take risks, you’ll die pretty fast.
This game is pretty hard, even at the easiest difficulty. You’ll be overwhelmed with wave after wave of enemies dropping in, surrounding you at all times. Of course, you’ll need healing quite often, and luckily, more healing cards seem to have been added since early access. Cards which provide area healing are now available for each armor’s deck. Also, since the newest update before release, the booster packs you’ll earn during the game contain five cards (and a fancy animation) instead of three, greatly increasing the speed of getting rare, epic and legendary cards.
The actions you can use by using the cards vary wildly depending on which card you choose. You’ll have moving skills, like walk, sprint, or even teleport, healing skills, and a LOT of different weapons. All weapons have their own range and pattern of attacking, and there are some you’ll be able to equip, to use then more than once. Additionally, there are many cards which can boost attacks or de-buff enemies that will be used automatically if they are in your current draw of cards, visible on the screen. Cards in your hand or in the enemies had can also be destroyed by certain attacks, and sometimes special attacks can add extra effort point to either your character or an enemy.
You’ll have a lot of choice regarding the cards you use to build your deck, and as you play, your card collection will only grow more expansive. Cards can be earned by completing the missions and for completing bonus objectives during the missions, or they can be crafted using the materials you’ll earn if you complete objectives. If you have two identical cards, you’ll be able to merge them together for a more powerful card, up to a certain level. You’ll also be able to upgrade your character classes, adding new cards to their unique decks.
Next to the story campaign where you’ll play through a lot of missions to unlock more of the story, you’ll also be able to participate in multiplayer PvP combat, or complete challenges. Challenges will place your team in a combat arena where you’ll defeat wave after wave of enemies to earn loads of crafting materials to make new cards. Every now and then there’ll be an event you can participate in, granting unique rewards.
Conclusion
Warhammer 40.000: Space Wolf is a great game, with awesome and challenging tactical mechanics. The combination of grid-based tactical turn based combat and a deck-building works great: the random draw of the cards keeps combat really interesting. Using the many options to earn or craft new cards and in-game currencies, you’ll be able to build both your character classes and your decks perfectly to your liking. There are no micro-transactions in this game, in contrast to the (free) mobile version of Warhammer 40.000: Space Wolf! Buying this game will guarantee you many hours of fun, if you are up for the challenge!
Warhammer 40.000: Space Wolf – Review,
No Comments