Recent reviews by Datoth Helldiver

Dune Awakening reminds me of Space Marine 2 in that it has an incredible game buried under some frankly baffling design choices. TLDR at the end.

First -- the premise of playing in an alternate universe where Paul wasn't born (Jessica had a girl instead) is a REALLY great idea.

Graphics -- they are basically the new Dune movies in video game form and are excellent.

Gameplay -- the pre-endgame gameplay loop is quite fun. If you have played other survival games you probably won't be surprised by a lot of the game's systems, but the Dune coat of paint really makes for a grand experience. Getting your first flying vehicle (an Ornithopter, straight out of the movies and books) is an accomplishment and really opens up the world.

Base Building -- this is a surprisingly fun aspect of the game and there are some pretty incredible bases out there. You DO have to build bases to progress, but if you just want a box with your fabricators and storage in there you absolutely can do that.

Multiplayer -- here is where things start to become an issue. If you have friends to play with / form a guild, there are great ways to work together to speed up the initial resource accrual and do stuff together. Somehow there is no in-game guild search function. In many cases, other people are impediments rather than something fun.

Note -- this game is very solo-friendly up until the endgame tier. Even then, soloing is possible though verrrrry slow to progress.

Endgame / PvP -- here is where the wheels absolutely fall off the bus. The PvP in this game is a griefer's paradise and Funcom seems completely unable to deal with it. This is particularly boggling since they have another survival game (Age of Conan) so it isn't like any of this is a surprise to them. The PvP issues are further compounded by either technical limitations or absolutely bonkers design decisions. I feel this section of the game will undergo major changes, so hopefully things are better in a few months. (Date of this review is 7/23/2025)

Note: You can COMPLETELY ignore 98% of the PvP if you choose, however. You just won't be able to get much of the final tier of gear/fabrication/etc (or if you do it will be incredibly slow), but there is nothing currently in the PvE game that requires the last tier of gear to handle.

TLDR -- Solo or multiplayer with friends for the first part of the game is EXCELLENT. PvP / endgame is absolute garbage. If you look at the game as the movies in video game form with 50-100+ hours of adventure, resource gathering, base building, and questing you will have PLENTY of fun and get your money's worth. If you like your games to have an engaging endgame, this is absolutely NOT it yet.

TLDR: This game is incredible though horribly flawed in a few ways. It is still worth a buy and playing if this type of game appeals to you.

Note: edited slightly after 8.0 Siege Mode patch

Space Marine 2 gets so many things right that the things it gets wrong are even more frustrating than they otherwise would be. A quick aside -- I enjoy the WH40K universe but I am not a giant lore junkie like some of my friends. That said, I have played a ton of WH games over the years. Being a WH40K fan is not required to enjoy the game.

First off, the things this game does right:
* The entire game is gorgeous, the environments are incredible, and the sound design is fantastic.
* You get to wield a great variety of Space Marine weaponry and most of it slaps HARD.
* There is a TON to unlock after the single-player game is done in Operations mode.
* Combat is INCREDIBLY well-done -- combined with the class, weapon, and heraldry upgrade systems the game loops work together to make an incredibly compelling whole.
* The execution animations are brutal and still fun even after dozens of hours.
* The game can practically be a Space Marine Heraldry Simulator -- there is a TON to unlock.
* Many new things for operations have been added since launch: missions, weapons, and enemy types. More are coming, even a new class and horde mode. (Edit: horde mode is out and it is SO SO GOOD)
* The modding community for this game is AWESOME. Look for the Astartes overhaul mod. You're welcome. :)
* Official mod support virtually guarantees this game will have interesting things to do for years to come, even when the developers wrap up.

Some of the things the game flubs a bit:
* Some of the dialog during the single-player campaign is ... just bad.
* The AI bots are fine for the campaign but they pretty much SUCK in the ongoing operations mode, especially as you increase the difficulty.
* There are several GLARING omissions in the heraldry selection, such as some decals only being available for the left pauldron or the right but not both. I am not an expert, but as I understand most of these omissions are not lore accurate. (Note: this will likely improve with future updates, this review was mostly written around patch 7.2 and later patch notes indicated major improvements are coming here)
* There are some niggling bugs that can be very frustrating, especially at higher difficulties where mistakes are incredibly punishing.

And the things that make this game wildly frustrating:
* Load times are unacceptably bad. Game launch to entering your first Operation can take well over 5 minutes, even on a good PC. I have watched task manager and nothing is particularly busy even though the loading progress bar isn't doing much. (I have had plenty of time to stare at it)
* You have to load into the game FAR too many times. I completely understand a big load when you launch a game, but the game seems to re-load nearly everything every time you return to the Operations hangar. Which you do after every mission. Or after failing to join a multiplayer game. Or after leaving a multiplayer game. You get the idea.
* Multiplayer matchmaking is an absolute travesty. You either start a game with a friend or 2 or you hope you get teamed up with someone. Unless you join a game where the class you wanted to play is already taken. Which you don't find out until AFTER you load into the mission. Or if you don't actually join an in-progress mission and instead show up at another player's hangar but they are AFK. Combine this with the load time issue and it can take up to 10 minutes to get into a game if you have to try several times to successfully join something. Why there isn't a list of games available for you to pick from or the ability to just start your own game is completely beyond me.
* And finally, these issues are intensified by matchmaking that just silently breaks which requires you to either return to the title screen (requiring two long-as-heck load screens) or quit entirely and restart.
* These 3 things combine to make for an INTENSELY frustrating experience. Normally I would just stop playing a game with this many negatives that reinforce each other, but the game is THAT good. It is STILL worth playing.

I want to end on a positive note -- this game is phenomenal. You can get around a lot of the matchmaking stuff by playing solo up to a difficulty you can manage with the AI or with friends / people from the official Discord server. At that point the load times are merely annoying as missions take 20-40 minutes to complete.

You can spend a silly amount of time just enjoying the Heraldry simulator. And then when you find a look that you like you can go punch a Terminid or a Chaos marine with your Power Fist. Or rip them apart with your Chainsword. Or blast them with bolter fire, a melta, or plasma ... your tools for destruction are legion.

This game really hits the 'giant super-soldier killing hordes of enemies' vibe and does an amazing job with the WH40K aesthetic. If this is your type of game, I really hope you pick it up so you can enjoy the carnage.

There are so many reasons to love this game: the gameplay is awesome, the world building is PHENOMENAL, the steady drip of new content, the overall friendly community, the absolute lack of PVP (which likely relates to the friendly community, hah), the fact there is a GM that guides the players through the equivalent of a pre-written tabletop RPG campaign ...

All of that for less than the typical astronomical price tag on a game PLUS this is a live service game that is done without any of the usual predatory/scummy practices (no loot boxes, no FOMO, the premium currency can be earned BY PLAYING THE GAME as well as with real money if you want to give the developers some extra [and you probably will]).

Oh and finally, it is SO clear this game is a labor of love, the dev team is doing a phenominal job despite vastly more success than they expected and despite some recent publisher shenanigans.

Of course everything isn't perfect: Are there bugs us players wish were fixed already? Yup! Are they working on it every week? Also yup! Are there some balance issues many wish were different? Yup! But are any of these game-breaking or so overtuned that there is no choice but to use one or two meta loadouits? Nope!

I hope to see you diving in game with us!

Star Realms is an extremely well-done deck building game. If you're not into deck builders this *may* convert you (it did me). If you can't stand deck builders, you definitely want to pass.

The base game is completely free for solo play, so you can decide whether the game is for you.

The DLC is inexpensive and cross-platform which is pretty incredible. Each comes with campaign missions that give interesting challenges, making this a great solo game on top of everything else.

All in all, there is plenty to the game and it is well worth getting here or on a tablet. Happy fleet building!

This is a solid game for a typical male power fantasy thing. It at least tries to outgrow its roots with a good story (though a bit predictable at times) and some stronger female characters, but it doesn't really get there.

Dual-wielding weapons certainly makes for a lot of fun carnage though. :)

This is definitely worth a play if you enjoy single-player FPS games.

Terribly sad that such an excellent-looking game will have to remain unplayable to me.

Get this -- there is no way to map the movement keys in-game to the keyboard's arrow keys! The arrow keys are dedicated to the game's cell phone controls. I'm fine with having to re-map the cell phone controls, but having them LOCKED to the arrow keys is infuriating.

Sorry Square Enix, it would be better for you to not bother with PC ports if you are going to leave such gaping issues in play for years despite numerous complaints.

Epic. A friend said it best: I wish I could play SR4 for the first time again, it was so good.