Space Hulk: Deathwing Reviews
Sadly, despite Spacehulk: Deathwing possessing a great atmosphere, I can't recommend the title. At least not in the current state of the game. The single player portion is standard flair that will only appeal to those who are fans of the Warhammer 40K universe. This goes double for the co-op. It's a nice experience but it really doesn't match up to what you find with single player campaign. The technical issues, which is my main concern with this title, simply robs you of any fun. With massive frame rate drops which can plummet on even the most powerful PCs, show the telltale sign of poor optimization. Bugs that can cause all sorts of odd things, including crashing your game also are rampant.
It's a simple enough formula consisting of shooting and completing objectives—usually by shooting
While it still could be saved the technical state of the game is so bad that it cannot be seen for what it does right. Even the good parts of the game are plagued by the negatives and the frequent FPS drops make gameplay vomit inducing.
Space Hulk: Deathwing is a collection of opposites. Its attention to detail is both astonishing and flawed, its shooting hit and miss, and its co-op gameplay both satisfying and frustrating.
As a fan of Warhammer 40,000, it's a shame that Space Hulk: Deathwing has these issues that impede what should have been a great game.
Space Hulk: Deathwing is a squad-based shooter, like Left 4 Dead or Vermentide, but its gameplay lacks innovations and the AI is not cooperative. The situation is saved thanks to the atmosphere and the graphical component.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Like Left 4 Dead without the undead heart or Vermintide without the variety and hooks, Space Hulk Deathwing will satisfy only the most die-hard of Warhammer 40K fans. And even then they shouldn't expect much.
Ultimately, Space Hulk Deathwing is the empty shell of a great game, desperately looking for some substance. It's the perfect game to play for an hour but every moment after this it just gets a little bit more tiresome. The story is gibberish to all but the most ardent of Warhammer 40K fans and ultimately doesn't provide enough variety to propel you through with any certainty. It's Left 4 Dead without the frenetic pace, deep tactics and unpredictable thrills.
Space Hulk: Deathwing is a game full of potential, wasted on terrible creative decisions that pitch the game's strengths directly against one another.
A fun horde-based entry in the Warhammer universe, Deathwing is marred by technical issues and an overall lack of polish.
Space Hulk: Deathwing can't seem to win on either front. As a solo experience, the gameplay is mediocre, the AI is rather inconsistent, and the objectives lack imagination. As a multiplayer game, it is pretty much dead. There's stuff in here for a dedicated Warhammer 40,000 fan to be excited about, especially how the game looks, but it certainly isn't the best outing for the license.
With underwhelming presentation, disappointing gameplay and lots of technical issues, Space Hulk: Deathwing fails to live up to its potential. The game attempts to stay true to the source material, but even so requires players to be familiar with the Warhammer universe.
Getting proper enjoyment out of Space Hulk: Deathwing requires one to jump through some hoops. Luck needs to be on your side so that you won’t run into performance issues, with a good tolerance for repetitive content and, preferably, some friends to play multiplayer with also being required.
In all honesty Space Hulk: Deathwing is a good solid game with plenty to keep you shooting and stabbing your way through wave after wave of aliens for a few good hours at least. Maybe with a little more polish and a few gameplay changes we might have had a real contender in the world of co-op shooters but unfortunately with titans like Left 4 Dead and Gears of War still showing us how it’s done years later, Deathwing just doesn’t bring anything fresh enough to really stand out as anything more than a gimmick. By all means give it a try and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed, but unless you’re a huge fan of Warhammer 40K I just don’t think you’ll be wowed.
I really wanted to enjoy my time with Warhammer 40K Space Hulk: Deathwing - Enhanced Edition but some of the design choices just made it seem long and drawn out. Adding in killer load times, and sometimes it wasn’t worth reloading from a previous save but instead starting the mission over because you didn’t get out of the way of a missile turret fast enough.
Space Hulk is amazingly lore accurate
Space Hulk: Deathwing promised a lot - close quarters tactics, bulky combat, and the ever awesome delights of the dark 40K universe. However, while fulfilling in some of those respects, lacklustre AI and some buggy multiplayer ultimately diminished this experience.
Not even the Emperor's finest would be able to withstand such an uninspired level design and repetitive gameplay
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Sadly, Space Hulk Deathwing is very much a one-trick pony, a trick which others have done much, much better.
There’s a reason that most 40K fans groan at the prospect of the series taking the form of a video game, and it’s because of titles like Space Hulk: Deathwing. Whether technically bad, poorly designed, terribly written, or just flat out no fun to play, there’s almost always something wrong with them, and everything is wrong with SH:D. Despite having Gav Thorpe on hand, the narrative only manages to be interesting in concept, but never in execution. The design is torn between being a traditional Space Hulk game, and wanting to be the 40K Vermintide clone many were hoping for. It’s boring to play, with combat being as uninspired as possible, and the role of the relics being severely under-developed. In many ways, it can’t even get the canon of 40K right, either abandoning it or sticking to it for the sake of design and gameplay in all the wrong places. By Holy Terra, it’s basically heresy! If Space Hulk: Deathwing were a planet, it’d be high time for Exterminatus Extremis because even with the polish that this game is absolutely lacking, it would still be unsalvageable.