Warhammer 40K: Space Wolf PC preview - A decent STCG

«Previous post | Next post»

When I was given the opportunity to review “Warhammer 40K: Space Wolf “I jumped at the chance. Why? Because I was a massive Games Workshop fan in my teen years, and I love trying out any video game conversion of “Warhammer”, as it will most likely bring back a lot of great memories to me. Space Wolf intrigued me most due to its mix of turn-based strategy and trading card elements. I wanted to see if this would work. I hadn’t realised that the game was previously released on mobile devices, but the PC port seems to have been pulled off. Nevertheless, Space Wolf is a great strategy title.

warhammer 40k space wolf its time to die

“Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf” is a card-driven turn-based tactical game which features RPG elements.

The story of “Space Wolf ” follows Valgard Twice Slain and his crew of Space Wolves. They’re forced to crash-land on a hostile planet after being ambushed by the heretical forces of Chaos. It is a three chapter long classic survival-against-a-greater-force story set in the “Warhammer 40,000” universe. There’s enough to both entertain fans of “Warhammer 40,000” as well as those who just enjoy a good strategy game.

The game sets up with standard missions, some with multiple objectives. You’re given a squad of Space Marines of the Space Wolves chapter to complete each task and a set of cards to carry out your actions, much like Hand of Fate. You are dealt cards from a deck of 30, some chain together to create moves. Some are weapons. Some are buffs, and others are movement. If you don’t have any movement cards in your hand you sacrifice one of the other cards, each with their own movement value on them, to move your squad members. The enemies you come up against often have lower health, but there are more of them, so you truly have to think about your strategy, is that side objective really worth the risk? And a huge risk it is, because Space Wolf is seriously hard! But more of that in a minute.

There are quite a few different traits and classes to pick from when you level up. So it’s a good idea to think through your options BEFORE you make any decisions that you might regret later on.

In terms of graphics and sound, Space Wolf is ok, and average at best. Nothing about either aspect of the game really makes it stand out or give you that “wow” factor. I was expecting more voice acting in the game. As in big, meaty voices for the Space Marines would have been great, but they’re not there. The UIis easy to get to grips with and I was up and running in no time. However, given today’s graphical standards, it felt like it was still lagging behind by a few years. Maybe this is as a result of porting it from mobile? Because I’m sure it’d look great on my phone, but on my half-decent gaming PC, it was disappointing to look at.

“Space Wolf” is not for the fainted hearted, as the game is very unforgiving. In other words, one single mistake could cost you dearly.

Then there’s the difficulty, as I’ve mentioned above. This game was rock-hard! Sure, my skills may have let me down at times, and maybe I needed to be a hell of a lot more strategic. Nevertheless, Space Wolf is extremely unforgiving. So I found myself playing some missions several times to try and beat them. My so-called “elite” Space Marines should have wasted the enemies in no time, but no such luck! You see, my soldiers missed their targets on a regular basis. Furthermore, when they did hit their target (s), the impact just didn’t seem to do enough damage to wipe the enemies out, resulting in the numerical advantage counting against me. Simply put, I got swamped very quickly. I’ve noticed a number of people have commented on this, and the developers do seem to be very active in listening to the community, so maybe this will be addressed over time.

warhammer 40k space wolf flamethrower vs meat

There are quite a few different weapons to be used in “Space Wolf”. However, since your units tend to aim even worse than Vic from “Fallout 2”, you tend to end up dead even though you got the superior firepower…

In overall, Space Wolf is a really good game. The port from mobile to PC has been a successful one, if a little lacking on the audio and graphics side. The gameplay is heavy on the strategic side, what I want from a game like this. If you can handle the steep difficulty curve, this is a thoroughly engrossing game and I’d definitely recommend it if you’re a “Warhammer 40K” fan, a strategy games fan or both.

Pros:
+ Deep strategic gameplay
+ Easy to pick up, very intuitive interface
+ Plenty of content
+ You don’t need to be a Warhammer 40K fan to enjoy this

Cons:
– Frustratingly difficult
– Lacking in audio and graphics quality of other PC titles

Gameplay: 4/5
Graphics: 3/5
Sound/music: 3/5
Controls: 4/5
Replay value: 3/5

tgg grade 3.5 out of 5

Verdict: 3.5/5

Title: Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf
Developer: Herocraft
Format: PC
Genre: Turn-Based Strategy and Trading Card
Resolution: 1080p
Release date: 2017-02-17 (still in Early Access)
Difficulty: Hard
Spent time: 24 Hours
Average grade internationally: 69% Metacritic.com (iOS version)
PEGI age rating: Unknown
Price: £8.99 (PC)
Install Size: 3GB