PC Gamer - UK (2022-07)

I go for the third option: tell the

Grand Master that the mission is

going exactly as planned. He buys it,

and seeing as we’re doing so well in

our campaign (which we’re really

not) he diverts our

requisitions and

armoury access to some

other chapter that

needs them more. My

reluctance to attribute

blame has meant I’ve

stayed onside with my

crewmates, but have

also ensured that the

next two months of our campaign are

going to be particularly gruelling.

And here I was thinking that

Daemonhunters would be a

straightforward turn-based tactics

game, content to tweak those sturdy

XCOM foundations for the

marketable mythos of Warhammer

40,000. Yes, you’ll spend most of your

time on the battlefield, hopping

between planets in four-man squads

to combat a cosmic pox propagated

by the Plague God Nurgle, but while

Daemonhunters executes its combat

very well, it also succeeds at all the

stuff between the missions.

There is

schmoozing, politicking

and appeasement,

space battles, and

text-based events,

research and ship

repair. You pick the

pace at which you

progress through the

campaign, you balance

the conflicting interests of your

frustrated, fractious crew. You’re an

active character in a compelling,

well-written space opera, and your

decisions as commander of the good

ship Baleful Edict are just as

important as your feats in battle.

Each crewmate on the upper

decks of the ship has their own

priorities within the larger conflict.

Brother Ectar is a resolute Grey

Knight veteran who’s fiercely loyal to

his fellow marines, while Vakir is an

arrogant but dedicated (but mostly

arrogant) Inquisitor who believes that

marines are expendable in the

mission to understand and stop the

Bloom. Then there’s Lucete, the

charmingly robotic Tech-Priest who’ll

often interrupt the other two’s

squabbling while preaching the

importance of non-emotion.

There’ll be times, for instance,

when Ectar will insist on observing

Grey Knight traditions, such as

organised fights between Marines or

even dedicated days of meditation.

Going through with these rituals will

boost morale and grant XP buffs for

your Marines, but frustrate the

single-minded Inquisitor, with whom

you’ll suffer a penalty to research

speed. You couldn’t have picked a less

compatible group of people, but even

though they’re all rather aloof and

often too embroiled in their personal

missions to see the bigger picture,

they’re well characterised through

solid writing, plentiful dialogue

options, and surprisingly expressive

cutscenes and animation. Hanging

over these onboard politics are

regular reports to the Grand Master,

with whom you’ll need to tread

carefully if you want to be able to

upgrade your recruits and equipment.

BLOOM TOWN

But the greatest threat is the Bloom,

the Nurgle-driven disease which

breaks out on random star systems as

you travel between them. Should you

fail to reach an outbreak on time and

quell it with your squad, that planet

will gain a point of Corruption, which

will make future missions there

harder and increase the likelihood of

Bloom spreading to other systems.

It’s pretty much the core system of

the board game Pandemic – which

any fan will attest is masterful at

generating tension. With that as a

foundation, and the fact that your

ship is seriously under-equipped at

the start of the game, it makes every

G

rand Master Kai looms over my crew via hologram like a

Greek cybergod. It’s our bimonthly report and he’s not

happy. Our Inquisitor’s desire to procure knowledge about

the Nurgle plague has accelerated its spread, and he wants to

know who’s responsible. Do I cover up for Inquisitor Vakir

and piss off Brother Ectar, or do I throw Vakir under the bus? Whatever I

do, someone will be unhappy, and that will have knock-on effects.

CONTROLLED CHAOS

Dealing with cosmic plagues in WARHAMMER 40,000: CHAOS GATE – DAEMONHUNTERS

By Robert Zak

The greatest

threat is the

Bloom, the

Nurgle-driven

disease

NEED TO KNOW

WHAT IS IT?

A turn-based tactics

game about combating

a cosmic plague.

EXPECT TO PAY

£35

DEVELOPER

Complex Games

PUBLISHER

Frontier Foundry

REVIEWED ON

Ryzen 7 5800H, Nvidia

GeForce 3070 (mobile),

16GB RAM

MULTIPLAYER

No

LINK

chaosgate.com

EVIL EVOLUTION

Warp Surges trigger progressive mutations in the enemy

STAGE 0

An entirely

unmutated cultist of

Nurgle, rather

wishing he didn’t

have to fight Grey

Knights.

STAGE 1

This Plague Marine

has grown a big horn.

May not seem like

much, but it’s the

first step on the path

to greatness.

S T A G E 2

A betentacled hand

and a tumor-ridden

foot – what greater

blessing could a

cultist ask for from

the Lord of Disease?

STAGE 3

Horns and a mouth in

his gut helps this

Plaguebearer stand

out from the crowd

• and eat two lunches
  at once.

S T A G E 4

With a grimacing face

on his shoulder and

an even bigger

stomach-maw, this

guy’s got a lot of

mouths to feed.

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters

REVIEW