Developer: Eko Software
Publisher: Bigben Interactive
Platform: PS4, PC, Xbox One
Tested on: PC
Warhammer: Chaosbane – Review
The Warhammer-series already has a lot of games but they never felt so great as the new game in the series – Warhammer: Chaosbane. For the people who aren’t familiar with the game, it is an Action-RPG that plays similar to the Diablo games. Be prepared to enter a world far more beautiful than you could ever imagine and learn to control deadly attacks which can be launched onto your foes.
Storyline
You start out with a cutscene that tells you the events that happened before. A long time, before you were born an emperor ruled over Nuln and the world finally knew peace. Tragically for you, this was long before you were born. Your father was a swordsman who served the Elector Count of Reikland. When you turned fifteen your father died in battle and his gear was passed onto you. Year after year you fought numerous battles over the same lands, throughout this time you climbed up in the ranks, replacing the men that had tragically fallen in those battles. Soon after word about the Chaos invasion began to spread, people grew afraid even so afraid they began to think of it as the end of the world. Someone had to do something against Kul and his horde…
Then a nobleman named Magnus stepped into the breach and made sure that the elector count gathered against the threat. His army grew and we joined them in the march to Kislev, but no battle could ever prepare you for the horrors there. When all seemed lost, Magnus and his companions launched a deadly attack against the Chaoslord and his bodyguards. You and the others made sure the horde couldn’t come near and that was the moment Asavar Kul had fallen. This was your squads greatest victory but also it last, you were the only survivor. After the dead were buried, Magnus invited you to join him and his man and return back to Nuln. You accepted.
You returned to Nuln and still lived in an age of lawlessness and despair. One night, you could smell the stench of evil because this was a night made for witchery and foul deeds. You couldn’t sleep, the memories of Kislev left you restless and on edge. Lightning strikes and screams fill the courtyard, THE TOWER IS UNDER ATTACK! As you reach the throne room you witness a Chaos sorceress holding down Magnus, the savior of the empire, within her spell. You launch an attack, ready to die for the future emperor, but by the time you regain your senses, the battle has ended.
The sorceress left you and Magnus for dead. Heinrich Voss a well-known witch hunter accuses you of Magnus his murder. You tell him what happened but he won’t listen, threatening to take you to the dungeon. At that moment Teclis, the Loremaster of the high elves interrupts Voss and defends your claim. After he examines Magnus and determines that he is under a dark curse. He lets everyone in the room vow that no one will tell what happened here and work together to find the chaos sorceress and break the curse. The story progresses with the usage of quests with short dialogue windows etc. After the big intro you’ll have to make do with short snippets of story value.
Graphics
The graphics of Warhammer: Chaosbane are absolutely stunning. You can see that the developers and the art team behind the game made sure it stands out in its genre. We have played many games in this genre, such as the more popular Diablo 3, and we can honestly say that this is the best looking dungeon crawler currently available. Like many games in the genre, it does suffer from some monotonous environments and the reuse of enemies, but overall all character models, be it foe or friendly have been designed with a lot of care. We are truly impressed with how the game looks. While the game surely strains a decent gaming PC, things run smoothly, even when the enemies are swarming your character, which is also a commendable feat.
Sound
Sound wise this game has probably everything it needs. The voice acting is pretty good and fits the different characters, without it and the storyteller throughout the cutscenes, the game would feel a lot duller. Warhammer: Chaosbane also provides us with a rich amount of background music, it makes the game feel even darker than it is and also creates an appropriate mood. The only thing that bothers us was the moaning of the character when he/she runs out of her fuel to drive his/her abilities, we could’ve lived our lives without ever hearing it to be fair.
Gameplay
Warhammer: Chaosbane is an Action-RPG set in the Warhammer universe. Your goal in the game is to fight off hordes of foes and ultimately break the curse a Chaos sorceress inflicted upon Magnus, so that the world can know peace again and all the sacrifices Magnus made haven’t been for nothing. You can join his cause, jumping into the shoes of one of the four heroes. The first hero is Konrad Vollen an Imperial soldier, the second is the High-elf Prince Elontir a high-elf mage, the third is Bragi Axebiter a slayer and last we have Elessa a Wood Elf scout.
Each hero has a different playstyle and skill tree. Each class has skills that can be upgraded from tier 1 up to tier 3, these can both be active or passive skills. There are multiple skills to choose from and depending on your playstyle you can equip six active abilities and three passive ones. The basic skills you own mostly generate energy. Of course stronger special skills require energy to cast. Also, there are skills which require certain equipment or reputation.
After the completion of one of the quests, you unlock the god skill tree. The God skill tree grants you strong abilities in exchange for fragments (which can be obtained through killing enemies), gold and skill points. The skills of the God skill tree should be used wisely, they have much longer cool-downs than regular skills and are much more powerful.
Also when you are in combat and you use skills, you can receive bloodlust. When the bloodlust meter is full you can use it to launch the most powerful attacks of the game for a limited amount of time. We recommend saving this bloodlust for boss fights as the bosses are extremely strong in this game and require some level of skill to defeat them.
With all this talk about combat, abilities and bloodlust; you must be wondering about what will happen when you die against a horde of murderous foes. Well, you can quit the quest or pay a fee to resurrect. Most of the time you earn enough money to pay one or two deaths each quest. But sometimes it is wiser to start over.
Like in the Diablo-series you get a big amount of armor and weapon drops. Those can be used to wield and make your hero stronger or to sell and earn money from them or even to donate them and gain reputation which grants you certain effects. The game has also a multiplayer mode where you can enjoy the game with up to three friends!
Conclusion
Although Warhammer: Chaosbane still feels like a Diablo clone, the game is rather unique in terms of gameplay and skill progression and also very beautifully designed. We enjoyed our time playing the game and discovering all its different mechanics. Also, it is one of the better games in the Warhammer-series. Fully voice-acted, a dark mood, amazing graphics, beautiful artwork and wonderful gameplay. If you are into the hack and slash genre or a fan of the Diablo-series, this game is an absolute must-have for your collection.
Warhammer: Chaosbane - Review,
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