Reader, I’m in danger. If the finished version of Warhammer 40k: Mechanicus 2 proves be as juicy as the mid-game preview that publisher Kasedo Games recently treated me to, it’s going to suck me in like I’m Artax in the Swamp of Sadness. The hands-off demo showed gameplay and campaign mechanics for both the Necrons and Adeptus Mechanicus forces, before and during a pivotal story battle for Exveritas Hive, and I came away salivating – and slightly nervous for what this game could do to my free time.
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus 2 is the sequel to 2018’s Mechanicus, a turn based strategy game like XCOM with a well deserved place on Wargamer’s guide to the best Warhammer 40k games. Playing as an acquisitive band of Adeptus Mechanicus tech priests delving into a Necron tomb complex, the original distinguished itself with a compelling story, impeccable soundscape, and compelling turn-based tactics that eschewed percentage-based hit chances in favour of difficult choices between permanently slaying enemies before they could resurrect, controlling the crowd with takedowns, or harvesting the all important Cognition points needed to power up more intense skills.
Mechanicus 2 expands on the original in every direction. There are full campaigns for both the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Necrons, and as well as having very different play styles, the two factions have wildly different progression systems. Instead of abstracted delves into tomb complexes, now you’re battling over a global war map of an entire planet. Veteran Warhammer 40k author Ben Counter is writing the plot, and the characters are fully voice acted – though developer Bulwark Studios is implementing a toggle to convert the dialogue back to the ‘Lingua Technis’ babble the original used.
The moment to moment gameplay was previewed extensively in the game’s Steam Next Fest demo, and the latest preview continues the promising start we saw then – notwithstanding any final balance adjustments, this is a very competent XCOM-like, with a smooth UI, good animations, and great audio-visual feedback.
But the way that the battle layer connects up to the global war map and the persistent upgrade system for your force both thrills and terrifies me – this has every hallmark of being a real life-eater of a game.
The war map shows the world of Hekatus IV broken up into regions, and while some missions might be flagged as the current plot critical mission, you’ve got free reign over where your forces fight.
I didn’t get shown the campaign mechanics for the Necrons, but for the Adeptus Mechanicus, keeping control of hive cities and forge fanes is essential, as they’re the pillar of your economy, and the main source of the requisition resource you use to field troops. While the first act is going to be driven by story missions to ensure players get well grounded in every system, from act two it will include more procedural elements.
Should the Necrons awaken a critical density of tombs around a Hive City, it will be subjected to a high intensity assault. So as well as plot-critical missions you’ll face constant pressure to keep the Xenos in deep sleep, and maintain control of your vital supply lines.
The story mission I was shown was split into skirmishes interspersed with narrative segments. While you purchase an initial complement of troops for a whole mission from your global requisition budget, you can’t bring them all into a skirmish at once, instead picking which units to deploy for each scenario. Injuries and casualties also persist between stages.
At the outset of a mission you’ll also pick one or more Stratagems that can provide greater rewards or in-game bonuses, at the expense of increasing the threat the Necrons pose.
Within missions, both factions have very distinct playstyles. The Ad Mech lean towards ranged firepower and support buffs, and each unit has a unique method of generating Cognition points that tech priest characters can spend to activate their most powerful abilities. The Necrons are relentless: rather than the back-and-forth economy of Cognition points, they have a steadily-increasing Dominion level that rises as they slay enemies, unlocking progressive buffs.
The two forces are even more distinctive off the battlefield, in ways that make the prospect of playing through the twenty to thirty hour campaign from both sides even more tempting – neither of them is particularly ‘basic’. The Ad Mech have three faction-wide tech trees which unlock new units and global upgrades, and each biomechanical priest has a variety of configuration options for each of its bionic weapons and augments, which themselves each have distinct tech trees.
Necron units instead form part of each character’s personal tech tree, and have their own upgrade paths. The Necron’s faction-wide Awakening tree provides universal buffs, equippable relics, and command protocols – cool-down abilities available to all the troops under a leader’s command. And there’s a further layer of buffs to unlock by equipping a character with a relic and command protocol with a matching ‘dynastic resonance’.
Kasedo talked me through a build for the Necron leader Obasis, focused on tanking damage, aggroing enemies, and then converting their aggression into additional Domination points. From the sheer plethora of options, I get the sense they want the game to be really rewarding for the min-maxxers and build tweakers.
I’m more of a dabbler than a min-maxxer. Even so, it seems like Mechanicus 2 has everything it needs to lock me into a never ending cycle of playing ‘just one more turn’, ‘just one more skirmish’, ‘just one more mission’. Win a mission and I’ll have more resources, lose a mission and I’ll know I need to fix something in my strategy – either way, it’s an incentive to tinker with my loadout. But the only way to find out if the changes I’ve made are any good is to fight another mission. Repeat until it’s four am.
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Source: Wargamer
