Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters – Review
Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters (Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate) is a turn-based tactical strategy game that has been compared to the successful XCOM series. However, in addition to the Warhammer 40K flavour, it eliminates one of XCOM’s main memes: there is no opportunity to hit at random. Both space marines and demons have a knack for hitting their targets. That’s right, commander, you can’t blame your failures this time on a 99 percent likelihood of missing a critical shot.
This isn’t an XCOM clone, and it doesn’t feel like a Warhammer 40K mod for the game. Yes, the gameplay is comparable. As commander, you must outfit teams to eradicate xenos scum while also maintaining a headquarters in a delicate balance of construction and research. However, there aren’t many parallels between the two. Overwatch is present in the game, but it is neither as potent nor as lethal as it was in XCOM. Overwatching will not bring you much glory. Instead, being highly aggressive pays dividends — eliminate all adversaries before they can cause any harm. This is accomplished by combining several systems: action economy, critical hits, stuns, and executions.
Each member of the squad has three action points when they enter a battle. This is used for both attacking and moving. Precision targeting is a fun feature that can be triggered by a melee critical strike or certain special attacks (both melee and ranged). In essence, you can dismember an opponent to prevent them from using an ability or attacking you. This is especially important early on in the game, when killing all foes is more tough. They can instead be extensively neutered. Many opponents have both ranged and melee attacks, but prefer one over the other. As a result, after losing a limb, some foes can become effectively harmless, giving your squad some breathing room before having to clean up the mess the next turn. However, it may be worthwhile to use precise targeting to stun an adversary faster, especially later in the game. The next hit after an enemy is shocked is always a critical strike. The critical strike will also have a new “execution” precise aiming option. This results in a gruesome animation, but it also grants the entire squad a single action point. Encounters become more like puzzles of how to best invest actions to carry off executions in order to feed more actions with some tactical thinking and strong plays. When done correctly, the space marines should be able to conclude an encounter fast and without suffering any injuries.
With the cover system, though, defensive play is still a possibility. Unless flanked, full cover almost guarantees that you will not be wounded. Damage is reduced when only a portion of the roof is covered. There is armour to assist mitigate damage, but it appears to be unstable given that the enemies are Nurgle’s slaves. Because plague is their friend, they frequently ignore armour in favour of poison damage.
Unfortunately, after 30-40 hours of fighting, the battles become tedious and dull. I got my money’s worth, but I don’t have the replayability or desire to go for the maximum score. The same few mission goals recur over and over, and the maps gradually follow suit.
While I adore Warhammer 40K, the games are the source of my knowledge. I’ve never played the board game and haven’t read any of the books. I looked up the names of presumably major characters and demons that appear throughout the novel, and they all appear to be well-known in the lore. So that’s very fantastic, and there might be some cool name drops for individuals who are familiar with the mythos. To me, they’re all badasses and demons that need to be killed.
However, there is a backstory and a reason you’re hunting demons — aside from the fact that it’s your job. The Grey Knights are a special chapter of Space Marines in the game. They are powerful psykers (those who have psychic skills – which, by the way, comes into play in the game!) who hunt demons. This specific company of marines is left hobbling after a recent demon invasion when they are summoned by the Inquisition to examine a troubling situation. As a result, the Grey Knights, commanded by you, and an Inquisitor join forces to unearth a Nurgle scheme and devise a plan to rid the system of its taint.
Outside of battles, this is where the rest of the game takes place. On a star grid, you command your ship to sail from planet to planet. This is where you will eventually locate missions (battles). In between missions, you can choose from several options such as construction, research, and so on. You can also interact with NPCs on board the ship, which reminded me of the campaign in Starcraft 2. That was a fun aspect for me. It’s tough, if not impossible, to complete all of the assignments that come up. On a timer, they ultimately run out of time. As the commander, you must decide which missions to take on based on the level of corruption, proximity, and incentives. Requisitions (money), grimoires (research), and servitors are all possible rewards (construction).
What I didn’t care for were the numerous options for random events that occurred in between missions. The Grey Knights’ leader is a bit of a jerk. The majority of your alternatives will irritate someone. As a result, you never truly feel compensated. Even when the grandmaster praised me and inquired about my desires, it felt like a punishment! Because I stated that I needed extra gear, all future missions for the next 60 days will only award requisition. So, that’s the end of my building efforts for the next 60 days. There will be no servants for me.
