Recent reviews by [db.]Rookski

arhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – The Emperor’s Wrath, and Damn Was It Glorious

I bought Space Marine 2 with expectations sky-high, ready to be let down by another overhyped sequel. But instead, I found myself diving into some of the best carnage I've ever experienced in a game. Saber Interactive, hats off—you understood the assignment.

Gameplay – Relentless, Brutal, Perfect
Let’s get straight to it: the gameplay absolutely rips. This is what you want if you’re going to play as a Space Marine—a walking, screaming juggernaut of ultraviolence. You don’t just fight; you annihilate, and every combat sequence makes you feel like an unstoppable force of nature. Saber’s Swarm Engine throws Tyranids at you in numbers that are genuinely intimidating, and the seamless switch from melee to ranged attacks is exactly what this genre needed. You’re either hacking through hordes with your chainsword or blasting away with a bolter, and both feel heavy, impactful, and right. I’ve been waiting for a game that makes every shot count, every swing of my weapon hit like a tank, and this one delivers.

The executions are absolutely savage—Titus tearing Tyranids in half or just flat-out stomping cultists into the ground never gets old. This is Warhammer done right, the kind of spectacle where I’m laughing at the sheer audacity of what’s on screen. But there’s also a finesse to it. When you time a parry just right, or dodge at the last second to follow it up with a riposte—it’s magic. Combat's a dance, just one where the steps are all about delivering pain.

Story – Direct, Effective, and Everything You Want for a Space Marine Game
Look, this is Space Marine, not Rogue Trader. You don’t need a labyrinthine plot with backstabbing politics and deep character drama—you need a strong reason to keep fighting, and that’s exactly what we get here. Titus is back, and while he might not have the most complex character arc, his sheer presence and determination are enough to keep you engaged. There’s something to be said for keeping things straightforward: there's a war happening, Chaos is on the rise, and it’s up to you to stop it. The narrative hits all the right notes for a story about Space Marines: loyalty, duty, the relentless pursuit of the Emperor's justice.

The story has enough nuance to keep it interesting—tensions with the Adeptus Mechanicus, a glimpse into Titus’ past, and a look at how the Imperium's bureaucracy clashes with the battlefield (especially relevant today considering the state of our 'governments' all across the world). It’s not overly complicated, but it doesn’t need to be. It gets you from one epic battle to the next, and that’s precisely what you want from a game like this. It’s effective, straightforward, and has just enough lore to make fans of the universe smile without bogging down the action.

Atmosphere – Grim, Dark, and Glorious
The look and feel of Space Marine 2 is fantastic. This is a grimdark dream brought to life, from the war-torn cityscapes to the claustrophobic interiors of Imperial facilities. And those Tyranid swarms? Absolutely on point. The Swarm Engine does an incredible job of making you feel overwhelmed—hundreds of enemies on screen, a living tide of claws and teeth rushing at you. It’s exactly the kind of spectacle I was hoping for​.

But it’s not just about looks—the sound design deserves credit too. Every shot, every chainsword rev sounds right. The chainsword especially—like some twisted motorcycle engine chewing through a carcass—it’s the stuff of 40K glory. The music, while not groundbreaking, sets the tone, though it doesn’t quite reach the insane, frenetic highs of something like Darktide. Still, it serves its purpose, keeping the energy up when it needs to.

The Verdict – A Space Marine Experience Like No Other
At the end of the day, Space Marine 2 is a fantastic experience for anyone who loves Warhammer 40K or even just well-executed third-person action games. The story isn’t Shakespeare, and it doesn’t need to be—it’s exactly what you want for a game about Space Marines. It’s the combat, the atmosphere, and the overwhelming spectacle that keeps you hooked. This is Warhammer done right: brutal, straightforward, and endlessly entertaining.

If you want to stomp across a battlefield, send enemies flying, and carve a path through hordes of Tyranids in the name of the Emperor, this game delivers in spades.

Glory to Space Hit... I mean the Emperor!

I'd like to start this by saying it's extremely rare for me to write a negative review for a game, because I accept that it might just not be my type; but I have to address the other reviews here and add some sort of balance:

Bought this game because of all the "overwhelmingly positive" reviews. Well, lesson learned: Steam reviews are a joke. Either everyone has collective amnesia, or bots are padding those numbers because, let me tell you, Black Myth: Wukong is absolute trash—technical disaster and storytelling failure wrapped in shiny graphics.

Technical Issues Galore: For a game hyped up to be a "next-level experience," Black Myth: Wukong has more bugs than a swamp in summer. There are consistent reports of serious performance issues on PC despite multiple patches. We're talking random crashes, frame rate stutters, shader loading issues, and a bug preventing players from even achieving 100% completion until a recent patch tried to fix it​. So much for "polished," huh?

Combat Feels Like a Bad Flashback
They talk up the combat as if it’s some revolutionary experience, but honestly, it's as stale as combat from a 20-year-old action RPG. They slap on some flashy effects to distract you, but once that novelty wears off, you’re left mashing a few buttons, cycling the same boring abilities with zero real strategy. I didn’t expect much from a studio making its first major game, but it’s baffling to me that this somehow gets praise while other titles from bigger studios get roasted for far less.

Story—If You Can Even Call It That
Now, let’s talk about the story, or lack thereof. If you like your narratives to be random encounters strung together with no rhyme or reason, congratulations, this is the game for you. They expect you to be familiar with "Journey to the West" and fill in the gaps for yourself because the story provides zero help. No context, no character depth, just cutscenes trying hard to be "epic" while the plot makes as much sense as a fever dream. There are no stakes, no emotional connection to Wukong or any character for that matter. It’s just an incoherent mess of scenes thrown together.

You know how some games pull you in, make you care about the protagonist’s journey, and make every fight feel like it matters? Yeah, Black Myth: Wukong skipped that memo entirely. Instead, I’m here slogging through what feels like an AI-generated sequence of events without any emotional weight. It’s all spectacle and zero substance.

No, wait, I literally made the comment to my mate sitting with me that they should have just run the entire dialogue through GPT 4o and gone with whatever the hell came out. AI would do much better, this game demonstrates the failure of humanity.

"Beautiful Graphics" Are a Cover-Up
People keep mentioning how "beautiful" this game looks. Yeah, graphics are fine, but I’m not spending $100 for a glorified screensaver. It’s like the developers decided, "Hey, if we make the visuals really nice, maybe people won’t notice that the rest of the game is hollow." Visuals are about the only thing it has going for it, but even those are bogged down by all the performance issues—frame drops, and stuttering when loading shaders. I shouldn't need a beast of a GPU just to get a playable frame rate. I'm lucky to have an RTX 4090, but most people aren't. I can only imagine how poorly this runs on regular rigs.

Refunding and Moving On
I fell for the hype, but I won't fall twice. Overwhelmingly positive reviews, my ass. This game is getting refunded, and I hope others aren't fooled into thinking "pretty graphics" equals a good game. There's no heart here, just wasted potential and technical issues that feel like a slap in the face to players who expected something actually worth playing.

Bottom Line: An Overhyped, Half-Baked Mess
You know what's funny? We, as a gaming community, collectively shredded AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077 when it had issues. But Black Myth: Wukong? For some reason, people are willing to turn a blind eye, as if the studio deserves a pass for launching a game that barely functions right for many. Guess what, they don’t. This isn’t some indie darling struggling against all odds; they had the resources to make something decent, and instead delivered a glorified tech demo wrapped in pseudo-philosophical nonsense.

The sad truth is, Black Myth: Wukong is nothing more than style over substance, wrapped up with a shiny bow to trick people into thinking it's something special. It’s all flash and no fire. And you know what? Maybe that works for some people who are easily fooled by pretty particle effects and fancy lighting, but if you value actual gameplay, a cohesive narrative, or anything resembling a finished product, steer clear.

I was tempted to tough it out, to see if the game might have a redeeming arc, some hidden depth. But no. Every minute I played felt like another wasted opportunity by the developers to give this game a soul. No, thank you. I’m done.

Refunding. Moving on. And I won’t be looking back. If you’re still on the fence, let me be clear—don’t fall for the hype.

Possibly the best game I have ever played. Do not believe the salty review-bombers. Most have never played it.

Simply excellent. GOTY and I'm not even a D&D fan!

Great game so far. Plays well. Graphics ARE better than the previous versions contrary to what people think. Audio is far more realistic - coming from someone who has personally fired many of the weapons in the game. I've got a great rig too with an RTX4090 and Audeze Mobius (audiophile for those who don't know) headphones, so my expectations are high.

People don't like change - and yes there are some changes to the style of game, but I really think most of it is coming from players who got used to playing a heavily modded CoH2; modified in the way THEY want the game. Still, I don't understand it as the community was heavily involved throughout testing... so... get over yourselves and stop QQing.

The game will only get better in the coming weeks / months.

I've encountered a couple of bugs, but nothing game-breaking yet.

Pretty good game - story is ultra-weird and metaphoric but still highly engaging. Graphics are stunning on PC and I didn't encounter any game-breaking bugs.

This is how a port should play. Activision, Ubisoft and EA take note.

I'm getting terrible framerates on an RTX 4090, yet the game's textures look like they are from the early '00s. Standard EA I guess.

Refund requested.

Great, deep game. Be warned, you will need to look up guides if you are new to the series as I did - but it isn't too hard to catch onto how to play effectively. It's all extremely logical.

It's like a bit of a mix of an RPG, FPS, RTS, MMO and 4x game. I'm thoroughly enjoying it after 20hrs or so and believe it has excellent replayability.

By far the best, and most comprehensive, content Bungie has ever released for Destiny. If you quit back in the day like me, THIS is worth coming back for. Worth every cent of the $60AUD.

Absolutely excellent. I got bored of the first one pretty quickly, but can't see that happening in this. Few bugs, but no more than expected for a new release. They fixed over 1000 bugs on the first day and I haven't come across many since.

Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 9/10
Story: 9/10
Immersion: 9/10
Difficulty: Scales well - just don't play on easy...