It’s official – Space Marine 3 is confirmed to be in development. In a statement released late on Thursday, publisher Focus Entertainment announces that Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 developer Saber Interactive was already at work on the sequel – but promises Space Marine 2 “will maintain an ambitious content roadmap in the coming years, including the upcoming release of the Horde Mode”.
The announcement came with what is most certainly the most boring trailer that has ever incited in me a heart-pumping paroxysm of excitement – showing series protagonist Demetrian Titus looking grim in the rain (watch it below).
Focus’ press statement – which was accompanied by a post on Games Workshop’s Warhammer Community site – includes almost no hard info on what we can expect from Space Marine 3, or how far away its release might be.
But Focus Entertainment Deputy CEO John Bert does give us one morsel, promising the upcoming third instalment will “take the genre to new heights by introducing large-scale battles that are even more spectacular”.
That sounds to me like the much vaunted ‘Swarm’ technology used in SM2 to render vast, undulating hordes of Tyranids is getting an upgrade. Could we see full forces of Space Marines doing battle this time, rather than just a couple squads? I hope so.
Overall, Focus says that Space Marine 3 will feature “an immersive campaign, a multiplayer mode, and innovations that will redefine the standards of third-person action games”. No big surprises there – Space Marine 2 was an instant leader in our list of the best Warhammer 40k games ever, and we’d lay a bet the sequel will be as good.
Importantly (to me at least, as I dearly wish for more co-op missions to play with Tim Linward), Focus and developer Saber say they’re still committed to adding content to Space Marine 2.
In the announcement, Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch promises the developer will “continue to support and grow the Space Marine 2 universe over the coming years”, adding that the team would use “all its learnings” from the success of SM2 and “apply them to an even bigger and more spectacular game for the third instalment”.
But, beyond the already announced Horde Mode – due to drop sometime in late 2025 – we get no new specifics here about what that “ambitious content roadmap” to continue expanding the current game might contain. As soon as we know more, you’ll be able to read about it on Wargamer.
In the meantime, you can always take a dive into Games Workshop’s grimdark galaxy with our detailed guide to all the Warhammer 40k factions, and our compendium of the lives of the Warhammer 40k primarchs.
Source: Wargamer
