What you need to know before playing Space Marine 2

Space Marine 2 is a highly anticipated title in the upcoming fall lineup, and it even has a coveted spot on the Secret Level animated anthology is coming to Amazon Prime. You might be intrigued by the promise of playing a massive, armored Space Marine, wielding that raw transhuman power, tearing apart group-mind aliens with your bare hands or slamming a chainsword into a treacherous sorcerer’s face. There’s a very immediate and understandable appeal in that kind of rip-and-tear gameplay.

But there is a lot of lore — and we mean a lot — in the Warhammer 40K setting. Fortunately, much of it is irrelevant to the enjoyment you get from this game. We’ll show you what you Doing must know how to get started right away in Titus’ huge armored shoes.

In the Warhammer 40,000 setting, human civilization is united under the banner of the Imperium of Man, which is repeatedly described in the setting as “the cruelest and bloodiest regime imaginable”. The Imperium rules over a million worlds and as such has a number of smaller factions vying for power and position.

Titus is an Adeptus Astartes, also known as a Space Marine, serving in the Ultramarine Chapter. At the end of Space MarineTitus saved the Forge World of Graia from both Orcs and Chaos. However, he did it all a little too at Well, without any ill effects. This was enough for one of Titus’ teammates to become suspicious and report him to the Inquisition, the Imperium’s secret police force responsible for rooting out anyone who might undermine the Imperium’s authority.

Fans wondered if Titus was executed, or simply imprisoned and tortured forever. Until Space Marine 2 was announced, and we saw Titus alive and well in the promotional material. The Ultramarine looks sullen and defeated — a far cry from his relatively cheerful countenance in Space Marine —but a confrontation with the Inquisition and a stint serving in the militant order of Deathwatch do that to a man.

Space Marine 2 opens with a very clear threat: Tyranids. Tyranids are the inspiration for many a sci-fi villain, such as Starcraft’s Zerg, as these space insects love nothing more than to eat anything that can give them even a speck of biomass. Titus must join forces with the lowly Imperial Guard, also known as the Astra Militarum—non-transhuman members of the Imperial military who don’t clad in power armor—on the jungle planet of Kadaku. Titus will also do battle on a Forge World, a planet dedicated to housing manufacturing facilities run by the mysterious Machine God cult known as the Adeptus Mechanicus.

The Imperium may be a terrible place, but the ravenous enemy race of the Tyranids, who seek to consume all intelligent life, are definitely the worse of two evils. Titus will have to stomp, smash, rip, tear, shoot and smash his way through endless hordes of Tyranids, but as in the original game, there is a second enemy faction. In the first game, Titus fought through a weak faction of Chaos Space Marines known as the Chosen of Nemeroth. Chaos Space Marines are former soldiers of the Imperium of Man who have been corrupted by the power of the eldritch Chaos Gods and now fight on their behalf.

In Space Marine 2The Chaos Space Marine faction is a far more powerful and sorcerous one: the Thousand Sons. These 10,000 year old warriors are masters of the arcane and lead legions of Rubric Marines, empty suits of armor filled with dust. Their role in the plot is currently uncertain, but since they serve the cunning Chaos God Tzeentch, there are undoubtedly some secrets afoot.

Space Marine 2 features a single-player and co-op story campaign, and then a selection of PvP modes between squads of highly customizable Space Marines. While there will likely be plenty of other customization elements and Easter eggs from other Space Marine chapters, both heretic and loyal, the core set of those warriors likely won’t be important to the overall plot.

Space Marine 2 will be released on September 9 for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.