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Azhag the Slaughterer

2021-10-15T00:12:54Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Waaagh! Azhag */

{{stub}}
[[File:Azhag the Slaughterer.png|400px|thumb|right|Two minds aren't always better then one]]
'''Azhag the Slaughterer''' is one of the most famous [[Orc]] [[Warboss|Warbosses]] in the history of [[Warhammer Fantasy]], as he lead his massive [[WAAAGH]]! of [[Orcs & Goblins]] to nearly defeat the [[The_Empire_(Warhammer_Fantasy)|Empire]], thanks to the wisdom and sorcerous might he gained due to wearing the haunted crown of [[Nagash]].

==Finding the Crown==
'''Azhag the Slaughterer''' got this freaky piece of jewellery in his college years as a minor Warboss in Troll Country where, after having his ass handed to him by a band of Chaos Warriors, he and his mob ran away into the ruins of Todtheim where they end up fighting a big-ass multi-headed troll. During the fight, a mysterious voice started giving Azhag tips on how to beat the troll. After he won the fight, he followed the voice to the troll's little treasure stash and found a fancy little crown. Which Azhag, in all of his orcish wisdom, put on his head.

Now this wasn't any little crown, but the crown of [[Nagash]] himself; yes, the Bone Daddy bastard who created necromancy and destroyed Nehekhara.

Now, rather than most living being where, upon having a voice suddenly appear in your head saying "Hey bro! Want some help getting out of these ruins", they would throw said crown as far away as possible, all the time going "nope nope nope nope nope nuh-uh" Azhag just thought, "Sweet! Now there are two voices in my head!" and, following the Crown's directions, promptly waddled his demented green ass out of there. Imagine the movie Venom but with the symbiote screaming "no DON'T bit this dude's face off!" at green Tom Hardy.

Now the crown wanted to be reunited with Nagash, and to this end it tried to control Azhag completely. But though Azhag was simple-minded, he was strong-willed - and wasn't undead - so the crown couldn't control him completely. As a result, the crown decided teamwork was the best option.

==The Slaughterer==
From a time, Azhag continued to build up his warband, due to the general cracking heads and kicking ass tried and tested method used by all orcs. And so Azhag would have lived, WAAAAGHED and died happy and green. But then the totally-not-evil crown started going "Hey, have thought of using 'tactics'?" and, after explaining that they were not delightful little minty sweets, started to educate Azhag that running screaming headfirst at the enemy was not a great idea. And by "educate" we mean the crown proved Orcs are somewhat susceptible to ECT.

And so, with battle tactics above that of a 5-year-old and magical powers on behalf of Totally-not-[[Nagash]]-crown Azhag continued to kurb-stomp the entirety of the orc world, recruiting more orcs to his warband, to the point where he garnered so much respect that, from Red-eye night goblins, Azhag was given a [[Wyvern|MASSIVE WYVERN]], which might have been a trap. You see, standard procedure for Orcs getting a wyvern mount is to steal an egg or a hatchling and train them young, because even "tamed" adult Wyverns will spend half their time trying to eat or throw off the Warboss riding them, so imagine how much less cooperative wild ones are.

But to the surprise of every orc and Goblin, Azhag walked up this this massive lizard, looked it dead in the eyes and (with a little help of not-[[Nagash]]-crown), cowed into submission. He immediately hopped onto its back with the Wyvern suddenly as submissive and tame as a faithful pet, becoming known as "Skullmuncha".

== Waaagh! Azhag ==
Eventually (whether this was the decision of Azhag or the Crown) Azhag decided to follow the paths of his ancestors and shouted to his massive Waaagh '''''"OI BOYZ! OI RECKONS WE SHUD GO KRUMP DESE EMPIRE GITS!"''''' And that's what they did.

Now, the Empire was used to WAAAAGHs in the past, the simple fact that Orcs had no plan past "Run screaming towards the guns Zulu style" meant that the orc hordes could be easily out-maneuvered and crushed. So imagine the Empire's surprise when on the field of battle, the Green savages instead used fairly complex strategies (courtesy of totally-not-Nagash-Crown) to utterly decimate the Empire's armies. The crown also gave Azhag a fraction of Nagash's magical ability, which he used in battle, and though his fellow Greenskins disapproved of his "Un-Orcy" magic, they enjoyed the results.

Unfortunately, Azhag's demented jewelry also ended up being his downfall as, despite having a tactical genius as a shiny headband, Azhag was still an orc and so often wanted to just "WAAAAGH WIV DA BOYZ" often to the dismay of the Crown, and the Crown wanted to get back to [[Nagash|the skull it was made to sit on]], so tried to goad Azhag to lead his WAAAGH! towards Nehekhara with mixed results. Still, nothing that a good bit of electric shocks can't do!

So the boyz were often confused at Azhag gurning to fight off the Crown's mental attacks, channeling Dril: [https://twitter.com/dril/status/247222360309121024| Who the fuck is scraeming "USE YOUR BRAIN" inside my head. show yourself, coward. i will never use my brain]. One minute he'd speak with a dry, unnatural voice, the next he'd be back to a proper Orcish growl.

Unfortunately for Azhag, the Crown was like a cat waiting for you to leave your WiP miniatures unattended so it can swipe them off the table. And so, whilst in a particular scrap at the '''Battle of Ostland''', Azhag flew Skullmuncha into the middle of the fight to go krump some of the Knights Panther. The crown was tired of Azhag mucking around with Empire armies, so launched a complex mental battle with Azhag to control him while he was fighting with fully trained knights. Azhag resisted, but the fight left him dazed. As you may expect, the grandmaster of the Knights Panther took advantage of the orc warboss having a mental breakdown in the middle of a battle and quickly cut him down - the other knights lancing Skullmuncha to death for good measure, causing Azhag's waaagh to route from fear and lack of leadership.

== Legacy ==

After the Grand Theogonist saw the crown he demanded that the grandmaster of the Knights Panther hand it over. Despite thinking it would have made a pretty cool trophy, the grandmaster knew better and handed the crown over to the Grand Theogonist who promptly threw the Crown into the deepest vault in the Temple of Sigmar, where it waits to this day, twiddling its non-existent thumbs waiting for papa-[[Nagash]] to save it or just have some moron go "Ooh Shiny!"

In the introduction to Sigmar's blood, [[Mannfred von Carstein]] distracts the Empire special characters by throwing a witch hunter through the window while 3 vargheists break into the vaults and steal the crown. Most secure place in the empire is succeptable to a unit worth less than 150 points.

Yeeeeaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh, the crown did go back to Bone Daddy (the necromancer, not our lord and saviour) and it's staying there for the long run. Even in AoS, Nagash still harbours a strong dislike of greenskins so perhaps he thinks of Azhag like his least favourite ex.

[[Category: Warhammer Fantasy]]

[[Category: Orcs & Goblins]]

{{Orc-Gitz}}

Azhag the Slaughterer

2021-10-15T00:12:19Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Waaagh! Azhag */

{{stub}}
[[File:Azhag the Slaughterer.png|400px|thumb|right|Two minds aren't always better then one]]
'''Azhag the Slaughterer''' is one of the most famous [[Orc]] [[Warboss|Warbosses]] in the history of [[Warhammer Fantasy]], as he lead his massive [[WAAAGH]]! of [[Orcs & Goblins]] to nearly defeat the [[The_Empire_(Warhammer_Fantasy)|Empire]], thanks to the wisdom and sorcerous might he gained due to wearing the haunted crown of [[Nagash]].

==Finding the Crown==
'''Azhag the Slaughterer''' got this freaky piece of jewellery in his college years as a minor Warboss in Troll Country where, after having his ass handed to him by a band of Chaos Warriors, he and his mob ran away into the ruins of Todtheim where they end up fighting a big-ass multi-headed troll. During the fight, a mysterious voice started giving Azhag tips on how to beat the troll. After he won the fight, he followed the voice to the troll's little treasure stash and found a fancy little crown. Which Azhag, in all of his orcish wisdom, put on his head.

Now this wasn't any little crown, but the crown of [[Nagash]] himself; yes, the Bone Daddy bastard who created necromancy and destroyed Nehekhara.

Now, rather than most living being where, upon having a voice suddenly appear in your head saying "Hey bro! Want some help getting out of these ruins", they would throw said crown as far away as possible, all the time going "nope nope nope nope nope nuh-uh" Azhag just thought, "Sweet! Now there are two voices in my head!" and, following the Crown's directions, promptly waddled his demented green ass out of there. Imagine the movie Venom but with the symbiote screaming "no DON'T bit this dude's face off!" at green Tom Hardy.

Now the crown wanted to be reunited with Nagash, and to this end it tried to control Azhag completely. But though Azhag was simple-minded, he was strong-willed - and wasn't undead - so the crown couldn't control him completely. As a result, the crown decided teamwork was the best option.

==The Slaughterer==
From a time, Azhag continued to build up his warband, due to the general cracking heads and kicking ass tried and tested method used by all orcs. And so Azhag would have lived, WAAAAGHED and died happy and green. But then the totally-not-evil crown started going "Hey, have thought of using 'tactics'?" and, after explaining that they were not delightful little minty sweets, started to educate Azhag that running screaming headfirst at the enemy was not a great idea. And by "educate" we mean the crown proved Orcs are somewhat susceptible to ECT.

And so, with battle tactics above that of a 5-year-old and magical powers on behalf of Totally-not-[[Nagash]]-crown Azhag continued to kurb-stomp the entirety of the orc world, recruiting more orcs to his warband, to the point where he garnered so much respect that, from Red-eye night goblins, Azhag was given a [[Wyvern|MASSIVE WYVERN]], which might have been a trap. You see, standard procedure for Orcs getting a wyvern mount is to steal an egg or a hatchling and train them young, because even "tamed" adult Wyverns will spend half their time trying to eat or throw off the Warboss riding them, so imagine how much less cooperative wild ones are.

But to the surprise of every orc and Goblin, Azhag walked up this this massive lizard, looked it dead in the eyes and (with a little help of not-[[Nagash]]-crown), cowed into submission. He immediately hopped onto its back with the Wyvern suddenly as submissive and tame as a faithful pet, becoming known as "Skullmuncha".

== Waaagh! Azhag ==
Eventually (whether this was the decision of Azhag or the Crown) Azhag decided to follow the paths of his ancestors and shouted to his massive Waaagh '''''"OI BOYZ! OI RECKONS WE SHUD GO KRUMP DESE EMPIRE GITS!"''''' And that's what they did.

Now, the Empire was used to WAAAAGHs in the past, the simple fact that Orcs had no plan past "Run screaming towards the guns Zulu style" meant that the orc hordes could be easily out-maneuvered and crushed. So imagine the Empire's surprise when on the field of battle, the Green savages instead used fairly complex strategies (courtesy of totally-not-Nagash-Crown) to utterly decimate the Empires armies. The crown also gave Azhag a fraction of Nagash's magical ability, which he used in battle, and though his fellow Greenskins disapproved of his "Un-Orcy" magic, they enjoyed the results.

Unfortunately, Azhag's demented jewelry also ended up being his downfall as, despite having a tactical genius as a shiny headband, Azhag was still an orc and so often wanted to just "WAAAAGH WIV DA BOYZ" often to the dismay of the Crown, and the Crown wanted to get back to [[Nagash|the skull it was made to sit on]], so tried to goad Azhag to lead his WAAAGH! towards Nehekhara with mixed results. Still, nothing that a good bit of electric shocks can't do!

So the boyz were often confused at Azhag gurning to fight off the Crown's mental attacks, channeling Dril: [https://twitter.com/dril/status/247222360309121024| Who the fuck is scraeming "USE YOUR BRAIN" inside my head. show yourself, coward. i will never use my brain]. One minute he'd speak with a dry, unnatural voice, the next he'd be back to a proper Orcish growl.

Unfortunately for Azhag, the Crown was like a cat waiting for you to leave your WiP miniatures unattended so it can swipe them off the table. And so, whilst in a particular scrap at the '''Battle of Ostland''', Azhag flew Skullmuncha into the middle of the fight to go krump some of the Knights Panther. The crown was tired of Azhag mucking around with Empire armies, so launched a complex mental battle with Azhag to control him while he was fighting with fully trained knights. Azhag resisted, but the fight left him dazed. As you may expect, the grandmaster of the Knights Panther took advantage of the orc warboss having a mental breakdown in the middle of a battle and quickly cut him down - the other knights lancing Skullmuncha to death for good measure, causing Azhag's waaagh to route from fear and lack of leadership.

== Legacy ==

After the Grand Theogonist saw the crown he demanded that the grandmaster of the Knights Panther hand it over. Despite thinking it would have made a pretty cool trophy, the grandmaster knew better and handed the crown over to the Grand Theogonist who promptly threw the Crown into the deepest vault in the Temple of Sigmar, where it waits to this day, twiddling its non-existent thumbs waiting for papa-[[Nagash]] to save it or just have some moron go "Ooh Shiny!"

In the introduction to Sigmar's blood, [[Mannfred von Carstein]] distracts the Empire special characters by throwing a witch hunter through the window while 3 vargheists break into the vaults and steal the crown. Most secure place in the empire is succeptable to a unit worth less than 150 points.

Yeeeeaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh, the crown did go back to Bone Daddy (the necromancer, not our lord and saviour) and it's staying there for the long run. Even in AoS, Nagash still harbours a strong dislike of greenskins so perhaps he thinks of Azhag like his least favourite ex.

[[Category: Warhammer Fantasy]]

[[Category: Orcs & Goblins]]

{{Orc-Gitz}}

Cathay

2021-10-14T22:09:07Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Zhao Ming */

[[File:Cathay-Warhammer-Fantasy-David-Gallagher.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Until recently, this was the only official picture we had of anyone from Cathay.]]
{{Topquote|Goddamn <s>Mongorians</s> Kurgans! Stop tearing down my shitty warr''!|What the Cathayans have to say roughly 12 times every hour or so}}

'''Cathay''' is the uninspired name for the analogue to [[China]] in the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] universe. That said, it is at least marginally more inspired than their name for the Japan analogue (and only because [[Nippon]] is a better-known name for Japan than Cathay is for China in Europe).

[https://www.totalwar.com/blog/total-war-warhammer-iii-faq/ THEY'RE GONNA BE IN TOTAL WAR WARHAMMER 3]

==Geography==
The country is huge (as in the case with a certain real-world country), much bigger than the Empire and the other western lands. To the north is the <s>Mongolian steppes</s> [[Eastern Steppes]] and regions of chaos, which are held at bay by the huge-ass Great <s>Wall</s> Bastion of <s>China</s> Cathay which prevents the hordes from pillaging. Why the Empire never took this up themselves isn't explained.

To the west is the Mountains of Mourn, the [[warpstone]] deserts and the Great Maw. Incidentally, you can blame the Cathayans for the Great Maw’s existence as the Dragon Emperor had his celestial wizards summon the thing to punish the Ogres for eating some of his citizens. Although recently there has been some evidence Tzeentch had a hand in how tits up it went. To the south is a mysterious jungle where the lost city of the old ones is. Eastwards is the sea, with Nippon and the [[Lost Isles of Elithis]].

===Cities and Provinces===

* '''Imperial Cathay''' - Located just south of Northern Provinces. It is a small region ruled by Emperor and Empress directly.
** '''Wei-Jin''' - The Capital of Cathay that normal mortals can enter. Weirdly little lore is available currently.
*** '''The Celestial City''' - in the clouds above Wei-Jin; Home of the Jade Court. Location of the Wu Zing Compass, through which the Emperor directs the winds of magic to strengthen different areas of the empire in need.

* '''Central Provinces''' – Breadbasket of empire. Ruled by Yuan Bo. It is reasonably safe. If you want to live in the Warhammer world, this is a pretty good choice. [[Beastmen|Even here though, forests are risky]].
** '''Shang Wu''' - The most important city in Central Cathay. It is the seat of the Jade Dragon, Yuan Bo, who rules Central Cathay. Shang Wu lies where the Great River and other rivers meet and is also where the Broken Road and the Great Road meet, making it an incredibly important trade hub. The city is located near rich farmland.

* '''Eastern Provinces''' - The wealthiest region, with numerous major cities and lots of trade. It even has a large high elf population, as well as other races from across the world. Home of Dragon Fleets which guard against [[Dark_Elves_(Warhammer_Fantasy)|those pesky emos]] and Nippon.
** '''Fu-Chow''' - A cosmopolitan sea trade city located in the east. The palace of the Sea Dragon is there. This city is full of ghettos for different races. It's possibly the most metropolitan place in the world, eclipsing even Marienburg and Lothern.
** '''Bei Chai''' – Another eastern city, having a dark reputation for harbouring the cults of Tzeentch. Mention of a Cult of the Painted Skin growing here. Other chaos gods struggle to get a foothold in Cathay mainly due to this lot.

* '''Western Provinces''' – Other than the city of Shan Yang and the Iron Dragon, there is a place called the Tower of Ashshair, which was featured all the way back in [[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos]], as well as the warpstone desert. In this desert, caravans have to use [[Sigvald|mirrored shields]] to protect from chaos radiation. Also home of the Great Maw.
** '''Shan Yang''' - It is the largest city in the west, a bustling metropolis full of foreign traders despite its location in the middle of the Warpstone Desert. Sometimes invaded by Ogres, Hobgoblins and Skaven. The door between the Old World and Cathay; Estalians, Tileans and Empire travellers and ambassadors all have permanent quarters within the city. It also draws in cabals of alchemists and hedge wizards, who use the city as a base for their expeditions into the desert. Since it's all unofficial and unsanctioned, a lot of warpstone and other elements get used in ways that aren't exactly the safest. Home of the Iron Dragon.

* '''Northern Provinces''' - Consisting mainly of the Great Bastion and its supplying towns, its other notable aspect is being home to the river that in Cathayan mythos leads to the underworld. Rumoured to be trapped under this river is the lost Spirt Dragon, a child of the Dragon Emperor and the Moon Empress.
**'''Nan-Gau''' – The major city of the north, known as the city of smoke. A fortress city linked to the Great Bastion, it has never fallen to any invader. The Lords of Nan-Gau are not as deferent to the Dragons as the ruling classes in other cities. This is because the city is home to countless forges and workshops that furnish the armies of the empire with weapons and provide countless war machines for the defence of the Great Bastion. So, the Lords are powerful, granted more independence than most and have occasionally even dared to challenge Miao Ying, the Dragon nominally in charge. She does quickly exert her power to make them fall in line when needed.

* '''Southern Provinces''' – lots of foothills rolling into the Mountains of Heaven. It contains lots of tribes and is an unruly region due to the Monkey Kings presence. Also, there is the "[[Furry|occasional tiger man village]]”. Home of the Fire Dragon, Li Dao.
**'''Fu-Hung''' - Known as the chanting city. It is the home of the Phoenix Temple, a great structure shaped as a giant vermilion warbird, close to the Mountains of Heaven. Whilst religion dedicated to deities and the Dragons isn't allowed, ancestor worship and veneration of local items of interest are tolerated. Vermillion warbirds are smaller phoenixes native to Cathay and very important in Cathayan culture.

* '''The Great Bastion''' - The Great Wall of <s>China</s> Cathay. In history there is a mythic telling of how it was built by the dragons: Every brick fashioned by the Iron Dragon, breathed upon by the Fire Dragon, Blessed by the Emperor. In reality, thousands of people were used to build the wall. It has 10 small fortresses built into it, each a miniature city in scale and population. The Dragon Emperor has tied his very essence to the wall, so if it ever fell he would die too. He almost died when [[Lord_Mazdamundi|a certain hypnotoad]] slapped the plates of the planet around, causing the walls to be royally messed up for a while. Ruled by Miao Ying, showing the level of trust and/or favouritism the Dragon Emperor has for his number one daughter.
**'''Dragon Gate ''' –
**'''Snake Gate ''' –
**'''Turtle Gate''' –

*'''The Mountains of Heaven''' - Whilst technically in Cathay, it is functionally an autonomous region ruled by the Monkey King. The only reason for this is due to the constant threat from the [[Kingdoms_of_Ind|Kingdoms of Ind]] and the Naga from [[Khuresh|the Hinterlands of Khuresh]] which mean any invasion to deal with the Monkey King would result in the weakened army being taken out by Cathay's enemies. So he lives [[Farsight#Farsight_Enclaves|as an autonomous zone where the ruling class wish to destroy him. However, they cannot commit to destroying them without foreign invaders capitalising on the new war]].

==Who Rules Cathay?==
The dragon emperor and his wife the moon empress (both of which were around when the Old Ones were alive) are the official rulers of Cathay. The emperor is pretty hands-off. His wife likes to go around pretending to be a regular human to check on things, and also root out cults of Tzeentch (other chaos gods don't seem to have much interest in Cathay). The emperor has 9 children and four are missing. One is strongly hinted to be trapped under a river in the north of Cathay, and another one is hinted to be the one [[Archaon]] ripped apart in older lore. Two Remain completely unaccounted for. The 5 remaining each rule a piece of Cathay.

=== [[Miao Ying]] ===
The Storm Dragon. She rules the north and has the duty of protecting the Great Bastion. She is also daddy's favourite and her siblings are jealous of her. She's known for being cold and aloof, beyond the normal Dragon Children level, which might be from having to watch thousands of her subjects constantly die due to chaos attacking the Great Bastion every other Tuesday.

=== [[Zhao Ming]] ===
The Iron Dragon. This guy rules the west which borders the warpstone desert. He has a green rock in his hat, right over his forehead. During an interview Andy Hall, lead writer of the [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] series, was asked if this rock was jade or [[warpstone]]. Andy refused to say which one it was. While his siblings are quite aloof towards their human subjects, Zhao is far more friendly and sociable to them and most of the Dragon-blooded trace their ancestry to him. Zhao also has an interest in alchemy. Fun fact: Real Life Daoism alchemists were interested in cinnabar (which was a frequent ingredient in their attempts to make an elixir of immortality), so Chinese alchemists messing around with poison stuff in ways they shouldn't does have real-life precedent. Also, Zhao's siblings think his mental health has declined, with his friendliness towards humans being considered some of the evidence of this. Hmmm... He's protected by his mother though, being her favourite. So you end up with a guy snorting lines of warpstone, partying with his subjects and getting it on with cute alchemist girls. A true hero of the Cathayan people.

=== Li Dao ===
The Fire Dragon (master of the burning winds and lord of the phoenix) - Male Ruler of the South, described as bitter that Miao Ying gets all the attention for defending the north when he has the challenging and thankless task of protecting the empire from Ind and Kuresh. Also has to deal with the Monkey King the most out of all the Dragon Siblings, who basically constantly trolls him from Warhammer Nepal. Being stuck as the second best and second favourite behind Miao Ying whilst constantly getting dunked on by some overgrown furry has left him with some [[Rage|unresolved issues]].

=== Yin Yin ===
The Sea Dragon, Female Ruler of the East, admiral of the Grand Dragon Fleet. Apparently, she’s more impulsive than the others and has an oddly expansionist outlook. In the past, she led a failed naval invasion of the Southlands and Lustria, so she was in charge during the old lore where Cathay got absolutely destroyed by Lizardmen. She also got wrecked by Araby when she tried invading them. As a result of wasting so many Cathayan lives, she is the least popular of her siblings with both the parents and her brothers and sister. When not being defeated by every other faction, she spends most of her time dealing with the Dark Elves raiding her coasts and Nippon looking angrily at Cathay.

=== Yuan Bo ===
The Jade Dragon. The boring middle child. He rules over central Cathay and is in charge of the main bureaucracy. He spends most of his time telling the rest of his siblings to shut up and listen to Daddy, whereupon the rest of his siblings tell him to shut his nerd ass up. He then cries to his parents who pretend to listen, and then send him back down because he's the only one who can be bothered to figure out all this 'administration' business that's needed to run a nation. Despite this, he is still the most 'liked' if only because everyone dislikes him equally enough that he isn't anyone's most hated sibling.

==Recent events==
According to the eight ed BRB, the Kurgans once mounted a massive raid on Cathay's Great Bastion. Which is funny, because Kurgans are basically Chaos-Turko Slavs to the Norscan's Chaos Vikings.
In the [[End Times|end times]], they are invaded by Chaos and [[skaven]]. Remarkably, the dragon emperor drives out the Skaven and stalemates the forces of chaos, but ultimately loses to [[Grimgor Ironhide|Grimgor's]] massive WAAAGH! The ruins of Cathay become the stage for an endless battle between the orcs and the remaining forces of chaos. Grimgor himself gets teleported away as he had become Incarnate of Beasts, and when the last effort to save the world fails, Cathay is destroyed along with the rest of the planet, revealed in [[Age of Sigmar]] to have been called Mallus.

==Dammit, Forge World==
''[[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos]]'', a book from [[Forge World|Forge World's]] fantasy line, quite surprisingly contains a battle scene where the forces of Cathay are involved. A chaos sorcerer dupes a Beastman army into attacking the Tower of Ashshair, a Cathayan watchtower outpost at the edge of the [[Ogre Kingdoms]] which it uses to scry on the Old World. Its defenders included fancy bronze cannon that shoot harpoons, "crow-men", stone "temple dogs", elite warriors with back-banners and "thousand-folded" swords, and "Dragon-blooded Shugengan" who wield elemental magics (fire, water, earth, air and wood). In other words, your usual collection of oriental cliches, [[Derp|mostly Japanese]]. And sadly, it's likely the closest thing we'll get to an official Cathay army list along with the mention of them having elementals under their control in the Vampire Genevieve books.

But then, things get interesting when the Tower's garrison started to get overwhelmed by the [[Beastmen]]'s numbers. The Tower turns the tide by dropping a frikking' [[Warhammer_Magic#Celestial: Wind of Azyr, Lore of the Heavens |Comet of Casandora]] into the horde, then starts sending "strange creatures of living stone" that can swim through the ground and minotaur-suplexing "living statues of onyx" to beat the shit out of the survivors. So at least we know that Cathay isn't to be messed with in the Warhammer world.

==[[Total War: WARHAMMER|Total Warhammer 3 AKA: "HOLY SHIT WE'RE ACTUALLY GETTING SOMETHING FOR CATHAY"]]==
[[File:Total-war-cathay trailer map.png|thumb|400 px|A new challenger appear!]]

During the announcement of Total Warhammer 3, CA confirmed that Cathay will be one of the 6 playable factions. They've been working with GW in bringing the faction to life and making them one of the core races in the game. This is also great news for anyone hoping for Cathay in [[Warhammer: The Old World]]. More info will come soon, but this minor faction is finally getting the fleshing out it deserves. Between them and [[Kislev]], this is a lore [[grognard]]'s wet dream.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=033FWxL22A0 With the Reveal trailer], [https://www.totalwar.com/blog/total-war-warhammer-3-grand-cathay-faq/ the first CA FAQ] [https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/09/14/watch-grand-cathay-come-to-life-in-an-epic-collaboration-for-total-war-warhammer-iii/ and GW discussion on Cathay's design + background] we finally get our first proper looks at Cathay.

Front and centre is [[Miao Ying]], daughter of the Celestial Dragon and his wife, and commander of the Northern Bastion (meaning that when Sayl attacked the wall it was her forces that drove him off). She's a dragon that can take a human form like her parents and its been shown that the Celestial Dragon spends his time in the Celestial city and overseeing Cathay while his children take direct control of different provinces (like a certain [[Emperor of Mankind|golden giant]] and his [[Primarch|kids]]) as her brother Zhao Ming commands the western province and will be the other playable lord.

In the trailer we see rocket batteries, war balloons and those suplexing statues from [[Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos|the Tamurkhan book]], in addition to regular human infantry and some lady earth bending. To help establish Cathay's playstyle GW themselves made rules for each unit and for the army (using 8th edition) to aid CA to understand how Cathay should act in-game. [[Rage|Yes there are currently rules for 8th edition Cathay and GW are just sitting on them and not releasing them.]]

An interesting thing to note is that both [[Miao Ying]] and [[Zhao Ming]] seem to be based on the Four Dragons from Chinese mythology, who are four children born to the "King of the Dragons" each of whom were granted their own land in a cardinal direction and are associated with an element. Zhao is The White Iron Dragon and the ruler of the Western province (because metal is an element according to the ancient Chinese) and Miao is the Black Storm Dragon and ruler of the Northern province, both of these line up with the four dragons mythology.

The three other active Dragon children have since been named, while four others have been confirmed to be AWOL and used as juicy plot hooks for any future expansions.

[[File:Cathay Pic.jpeg|center|800px|thumb|Cathay finally arrives on the scene]]

==Canon Lore==

With a recent blog release on the Total War blog, we have official lore on these guys. So once upon a time, The Dragon Emperor and his wife lived on the world before the Old Ones came, where it was mostly a frozen wasteland. Eventually, the space hypnotoads came and did their thing, terraforming the planet and creating all of the little races of the Warhammer World. When humans started to show up, The Dragon Emperor learned to take human shape and gathered a few tribes under his banner. When Chaos eventually came, more tribes flocked to him in order to protect their new empire, eventually creating the Great Bastion himself and instilling a section of his magic in order to prevent the Chaos Hordes from breaking into Cathay. Once Cathay started to take shape, The emperor and his wife decided they were happy with the lands they have and decided to settle down to defend them.

The Dragon pair and their kids would eventually rule over the land and teach them the ways of Harmony, to be one with themselves and the land around them and find their natural place in the world. The Dragons aren't tyrants but act more like teachers and wardens to the humans that are beneath them, as they feel they need the humans on their good side to fight Chaos. They've gotten so used to being with humans that they spend most of their time in human form, only going dragon in an emergency. They don't wish to be worshipped as gods, but it usually happens anyway, and the people of Cathay treat them with such reverence that talking shit about them is a good way to get murdered, especially if you're a foreigner.

Unfortunately for big D, while he seems to have done a decent job of instilling harmony in the people of Cathay, he hasn't done a good job of it with his kids because they all fucking hate each other. There are a confirmed nine children, but four of them are missing who knows where. Miao Ying is the most favoured and powerful of the Dragon kids, which has given her a massive superiority complex, and Zhao Ming is viewed as too experimental with his magic and many fear he is losing his mind due to how much time he spends around the Great Maw, snorting lines of warpstone and actually treating his subjects like human beings. The Dragon of the South is called the Fire Dragon and despises Miao Ying as well. They constantly have to deal with invasions from the Southlands from the Monkey King and Naga. The Dragon of the East is the Azure Dragon, the only one with an expansionist mindset, and the one who fought Dark Elves who made their way over the boiling sea. She also tried conquering Araby and once got stranded in Lustria, so Mrs Worldwide. The Final Dragon we know of is the Jade Dragon who rules the centre of Cathay and spends most of their time hating that they are surrounded by idiots and trying to tell their siblings to listen to Daddy. Evidently, they all spoil for mom and dad's attention and bicker a lot.

There is also the slight problem that Tzeentch cults hold a massive amount of power in the empire and has caused no shortage of problems. Not helping that even humans plot to either gain the favour of the dragons or usurp them. This all came to a head when the Dragon Emperor and his wife disappeared, leaving the kids alone to watch the place. This resulted in Cathay's version of the Warring States, as they fight for the throne while Cathay endures an invasion from the North and South.

Eventually, the Dragon Emperor and his wife came home from their four-century vacation to find their kids fighting, Chaos armies rampaging in their lands and the throne occupied by a god damn monkey.

Oh yeah, The Monkey King is still canon, but not much is known about him other than him taking over Cathay convinced the other Dragon kids to put aside their differences and fight him, until dad came home and won the war.

So on paper, we have a utopian society of harmony where Dragons and Humans act as one and stand defiant against the forces of Chaos in peace and tranquillity. Once you look closer though, we have a landmass led by spoiled children at each other's throats and only held in line by their parents, along with a fanatical population who are willing to kill any who so much as slightly criticize their rule, and is only held together because of the power and charisma of a single, semi god-like being.

In other words, pretty much what the [[Imperium]] would have become if Big E wasn't put on the golden toilet seat.

== Gallery ==
Originally the only images we've had of Cathay and its people were a single picture in the Warhammer rule books and from a White Dwarf article where they showed off somebody's converted army. Suffice to say the converter did a great job, and the pictures are included below. Later on [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]] and [[Total War: Warhammer]] had their own stabs at what Cathay should look at.
<gallery>
Cathay-Page-1.jpg
Cathay-Page-2.jpg
Cathay-Page-3.jpg
Cathay-Page-4.jpg
Cathay-Page-5.jpg
Cathay-Page-6.jpg
File:WFRP 4th-Yabo Chao.png|Yabo Chao, an ambassador from Cathay in [[Altdorf]].
</gallery>

== Links ==
*[https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_Redi9cZJ5iLVNoQWR2MVBQWms/view Cathay fandex]
*[[Warhammer Army Project/Cathay/8th|Tactica of the above fandex]]

{{Regions and areas of the Old World}}
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]

Endless Legend

2021-10-14T21:43:13Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Factions of Endless Legend */

{{/vg/}}
'''Endless Legend''' is a 4X strategy game by Amplitude Studios set on the planet of Auriga. It's also a game with awesome, if vague, lore. It has everything a cliché setting would have, but presents it in a manner that makes everything seem new and amazing. Like [[Eberron]].
Auriga was a laboratory of [[Precursor]] race of Endless, who left their creations (like magic nanomachines, driders, crazed god-robots, gardens of impossibly huge or burning trees, not!tyranids, ruins, dungeons and uplifted dragons) all over the place. It had some kind of weather control that used to keep the climate optimal, but in the timeframe of the game it got wonky, and in a thousand years Auriga will freeze over. Endgame of all factions is fucking off on a spaceship before that occurs. In short: A soft sci-fi take on [[Civilization]] with decent gameplay and worldbuilding.
== The Endless ==
The first to travel far and wide across the stars of the Galaxy, The Endless are a species whose society developed on a large, cool planet that they called Tor. It was the second largest body orbiting a star now known simply as Prime. Long winters and scarce resources made their development very slow, but eventually they spread out through the Galaxy, while the underwater branch of the Endless left on Tor were busy [[Dwarf Fortress|digging too greedily and too deep]]. Eventually, careless and extensive digging caused the home planet to go boom, which was a tragedy for the whole species.

A planet named Kyros was so welcoming and good that it was viewed as a paradise by many religions of the Endless. One of especially charismatic and aggressive cults started a war that resulted in release of a grey goo style weapon that destroyed the planet. This event went down in history as The tragedy of Kyros and made Endless become even more hands-off with colonisation and terraforming. They ended up terminating all religions save one. The Tragedy made already disunified Endless drift even more apart in their philosophies and ways, however.
===Dust===
What started as micro-machines to assist under-oxygenated gills of underwater branch of Endless began to evolve. The nanomachines became ever smaller, ever more mobile, ever more adapted to pulling energy from ambient radiation. Ultimately, they learned to self-network and self-organize, which had the unexpected side effect of creating near-infinite networks of intelligent mechanical nodes.

Therefore, what is now commonly known as "Dust" was a mix of different miniaturized elements that could replicate themselves, self-assemble, and network. Based on technologies of quantum computing and atomic-level miniaturization, Dust was capable of simple physical tasks as well as feats of advanced computing. As large numbers of elements communicated, combined, and interacted, it could even form sophisticated AI systems that were able to achieve advanced levels of reasoning and analysis. Its utility and flexibility became such that Dust was created in enormous volumes and became an integral component of everyday life.

At the time of the Endless Space game, Dust is only known as a rare and priceless resource created by the Endless that appears to give almost god-like incomprehensible powers to its users. For, as the Endless technology to handle it was lost, new races will have to discover the secrets within Dust through experimentation.

On Auriga, in Endless Legend, dust is poorly understood - and incredibly powerful. Capable of anything from facilitating feats of magical might and extending the life of beings which consume it (or very well creating an entire species, ala the Broken Lords) it is the most powerful of all the elements found on the planet. Used as a currency, a material for crafting mighty weapons, and the means by which species such as the Necrophages can become sentient it allows many of the fantastical elements of Endless Legend to exist.
===Schism===
Eventually Dust technology became so developed and so sophisticated that Endless could temporarily upload their minds into computers, and after some time, even completely disassociate their minds from bodies. Those who left bodies behind became known as the Virtual Endless. [[Slaanesh|Once nothing could kill you, why should life have limits? Indulgence and excess rocketed off the scale as vast swathes of the society experimented with lust, gluttony, sadomasochism, the creation of mutants, living toys, extreme self-alteration...]]
Endless society was already highly diverse from stretching all across the Galaxy, but Virtualisation brought upon a schism like never before. Appearance of indulgent Virtuals wasn't universally celebrated, and groups of those named Concrete Endless preached denial of virtualisation. While one side saw no need to invest in biology research and terraforming as the body was no longer necessary, the other clearly sought further breakthroughs in these areas. Splits of budgeting became movements of secession, and the movements of secession eventually broke into open conflict with each other, known after as Dust Wars, cruel, merciless and apocalyptic as they brought upon the downfall of the Endless species...
== Factions of Endless Legend ==
=== Wild Walkers ===
[[File:WildWalkers.jpg|300px|thumb|right|]]
Your usual wood [[elves]] that have HUGE ears with Native American vibe... that used their druidic talents of animal empathy and stone and wood-shaping to build a fucking awesome industry and build masterpieces of architecture. Their talents revolve around The Sharing - animal empathy that they can use to subdue animals, see through their eyes, feel their emotion, or turn into them. The Sharing isn't safe, however: those who Share often can fall into explosive, uncontrollable rages.

Changing of their ways didn't go without pain: a tribe of rebels who dislike cities and say that Gaia will abandon the Walkers for forsaking their tradition rises against the king, but the rebellion is quickly suppressed.
{{clear}}
=== Broken Lords ===
[[File:BrokenLords.jpg|300px|thumb|right|]]
They are [[vampire]] aristocracy combined with [[Rubric Marines]]: they are spirits encased in armor that have to eat souls or consume Dust to survive. Before the incident that made them abandon flesh, they were either mutated Concrete Endless or humans of the Roving Clans. (Or are humans mutated Concretes?) As Auriga dies, as she always does, it becomes more and more clear that the Lords of the Amber Plains find it more and more difficult to produce dust and they struggle with how to handle creation of this life giving substance. Many of them see nothing wrong with simply taking living creatures and draining them of life, but the more noble and honourable of them seek other methods to sustain themselves without being genocidal maniacs.

The Broken Lords are incredibly wealthy, requiring Dust as the currency of the setting to literally buy their own population - this raises some interesting questions about their society and how its built up: Do they straight up create new broken lords from the dust or do they just resurrect some of their dead brethren?

At least one Broken Lord managed to escape the death of Auriga.
{{clear}}

=== Ardent Mages ===
[[File:ArdentMages.png|300px|thumb|right|]]
Originally one of Roving Clans, they are Rage mages of the setting. They derive power from disassociating mind with body (that reminds you of someone, eh?) by going through pain and suffering. BDSM [[wizard]]s are always glad to sacrifice a limb or two for more power and knowledge. Incredibly focused on gathering new knowledge and developing a greater understanding of dust magic and the world around them, the Ardents are willing to go to great lengths to achieve their goals.

For example, the Ardents can facilitate their own production of resources through the construction of huge floating pillars that affect the land around them - in many cases, the Ardents happily strap their own people to these pillars in order to increase their power.
{{clear}}
=== Vaulters ===
[[File:Vaulters.jpg|300px|thumb|right|]]
The "main character" of the series. People that crashed a spaceship on Auriga and lived through numerous cataclysms in underground vaults and tunnels, those created by the Endless or newly dug. Vaulters forgot most of their technology, and so they run around [[Stormcast Eternals|in power armor and armed with crossbows]]. They worship science and metal. They experimented on one of their clans and expelled it when it revolted, thus creating another faction - The Forgotten.

The Vaulters still tell stories of the sky they came from, and for that reason one of their major motivations is to recreate the ship that they crashed on and return to the stars from whence they came - being the canon 'winners' of Endless legend, this creates a great deal of (justified)[[Rage]].
{{clear}}

=== Cultists of Eternal End ===
[[File:CultistsoEE.png|300px|thumb|right|I have no mouth and I must remove Endless]]
Two robots (The Queen and The Unspoken) created by the Endless that weren't shut down properly and went mad from waiting millennia in the darkness. They now hate everything the Endless created and strive to annihilate all traces of the Endless's legacy, first on Auriga, and then across the stars. They build up only one city and from there send preachers, who use charisma and mind control to turn less civilised minor factions into zealous mobs, eager to serve the Queen and to destroy her enemies.

Beings of immense power, the Queen and the Unspoken mindbreak those around them to force them into cooperating - denying their original purpose of uplifting other species and doing a better job of ruling the galaxy than the Endless did. They do make for some incredible characters though, such as Urol the Speaker who was so affected by the psychic raging of The Queen that her subjects could not communicate well, his mind was wiped clean and he could only think of the languages of Auriga.
{{clear}}

=== Drakken ===
[[File:Drakken.jpg|300px|thumb|right|]]
A race of skulky lizardmen that was uplifted by Endless into huge, proud and obedient dragons to serve as stewards of Auriga and fend off the Allayi. They are diplomancers of the setting: they have the most influence on international affairs, contacts with everyone from the turn 1, and their diplomacy does work as mind control.

There is a distinction between winged and unwinged Drakken, and the largest of them are closer to the more traditional winged monsters - though rather than a huge need for hoarding wealth, the Drakken scorn gold and advances of science in the face of history, knowledge of factions and historical artefacts. They're also a quality over quantity kind of race - bringing a few incredibly powerful units into battle rather than the hordes or glass cannons of other races.
{{clear}}
=== Necrophages ===
[[File:Necrophages.jpg|300px|thumb|right|]]
Another species native to Auriga, uplifted by the Endless as well. Carnivorous locusts with low intelligence and iron guts, the Necrophages can't be at peace with anyone and get food from killing enemy units. They carry disease on their blades and jaws, and they are coming to your neighborhood to lay eggs in your sorry hind-leg ass.

Created as a biological weapon, the Necrophages who are sentient are slowly fading back into the madness of the old times - losing what little grasp on their own minds they have and returning to the simple beasts they had been before immersing themselves in dust to gain greater perspective. In their main campaign quest, they see no hope of surviving this end of Auriga - and instead focus on hiding millions of eggs far beneath the surface in hopes of rising again.
{{clear}}
=== Roving Clans ===
[[File:RovingClans.png|300px|thumb|right|More bright colors for the Silk Road!]]
Former relatives (or allies?) of Broken Lords, they are nomadic traders that control the market of Auriga and can exclude anyone they dislike from using it. While being nomadic, they still manage to have cities, carried on backs of giant Setseke beetles. With a society focused on mobility and being able to move across the world, every unit of the roving clans has cavalry speed, and their mighty beetle cities can relocate with minor penalties if needs be.

As the people who see dust most as currency, their mercantile nature prejudices them against war, and for this reason they cannot declare it. However, their natural guile predisposes them towards finding other ways to strike at their enemies and thus they can hire mercenaries to conduct their wars for them entirely anonymously.
{{clear}}
=== Allayi ===
[[File:Allayi.jpg|300px|thumb|right|]]
Fluffy shifter bat-moths and natives of Auriga, and, possibly, creators of The Guardians. They get more powerful in winter, while everyone else gets weaker. They're incredibly in tune with the nature of Auriga and seek to heal her. As highly religious fluffy bat-men, they gain a great personal understanding of Auriga and her seasons.

Worshipping Auriga however comes with a price - specifically, strange and powerful "Pearls" created by the planet's long winters - which they use both to expand their cities with magical Garths, and to gain the blessings of Auriga herself through a temple (though this can be constructed and used by all races). Some of their units and equipment also require these pearls to be created.
{{clear}}

=== Morgawr ===
[[File:Morgawr.jpg|300px|thumb|right|]]
The Endless created in their time many races and lab experiments - the Morgawr are one of the few that truly terrified them. Locked deep in undersea facilities for millennia, [[Cthulhu|the Morgawr are a creepy psychic fish hivemind]] with the only dedicated naval units in the game. Their main goal is to escape the chains that bound them and to survive no matter what. Hivemind isn't actively the best term for them though - to justify Morgawr heroes in game, they're only a 'hive mind' in that they all have a telepathic connection to one another while still being individuals. It just makes them much more likely to act in concert. This technically makes them more like real life Eusocial insects, individuals with the full goal of protecting the colony.

Capable of exercising their psychic might to mind control their enemies, the Morgawr are an incredibly dangerous enemy entirely capable of turning that previously easily ignored minor faction army a province away into a major thorn in your side.
{{clear}}

=== The Forgotten ===
[[File:The_Forgotten.jpg|300px|thumb|right|That guy in the back must be able to create shadow clones.]]
Created by the Vaulters during horrific experiments on their own people, the Forgotten are the bitter mutated remnants of an outcast clan. Adept in espionage and stealth, they excel as assassins and spies - preferring to kill from the shadows and steal what they cannot gather or research themselves.

Decorated with tattoos and piercings, the Forgotten do everything they can to both disassociate with the vaulters who cruelly created them as well as hide their true form. Their abilities in this latter regard go so far as to allow some of them the ability to transform into mist at will, making them incredibly hard to hit and exceptionally good at hitting.
{{clear}}

== Minor factions ==
Less ambitious and less technologically and culturally advanced than major factions. Their role is to pester major factions with wandering units when unpacified and provide work force, nice benefits and unit designs when pacified and assimilated.

===Ceratan===
A melding of arachnid and humanoid, the ceratan are half-spider subterranean creatures with pale skin and hair. Carnivorous and with a taste for blood they prefer warm blooded prey, but can subsist on cold blooded and insectoid food sources. Generally pacifistic, their [[Drider]] units act as police and healers to friendly troops; capable of immobilising their enemy through the use of sticky webs.

===Bos===
Nomadic [[centaur]]s with a culture based on that of the huns, the Bos can be found all across Auriga - speeding across the plains and wading through snow in equal measure, with shaggy coats to protect them from the winter cold. Though generally quite uneducated, the Bos make for excellent sentries, scouts and foragers, and anyone with their support gains a corps of expert foragers, increasing the food income, and excellent unit to annihilate the enemy bowmen.

===Hurnas===
Orcish tribes who follow the herds and crops they rely on depending on the season. Like most orcs, they're belligerent and tough, and incredibly skilled with their bows. Fully capable of both hunting and warfare, the [[Orcs]] of the Hurnas tribes make for excellent skirmishers, hunters and foragers.

===Kazanji===
Demonic in appearance and great lovers of fire, the Kazanji have good reason to be drawn to volcanoes and other natural sources of heat. They do not consume food, instead drawing the energy they need to survive from fire itself, reliant on the dust that melds with flame to create the well defined and incredibly tough skeleton that makes them excellent guards for their holy fire shrines. They are also telepathic, using horrific visions to drive their enemies mad.

===Eyeless Ones===
Blind humanoids with clear Gigerian inspirations in their appearance, focused more on healing than on destruction, the Eyeless Ones focus strongly on that which cannot be seen - this makes for a species that builds simple mud huts to live in, rather than the grander and more decorative structures of the major species.

===[[Sisters of Battle|Sisters of Mercy]]===
Your standard female paladins, the Sisters of Mercy are sworn to commit acts of, well, mercy - be that healing the injured or sick and caring for the needy, or killing those who commit evil acts. Their Justicere units are excellent warriors, as well as healers, who act as front line fighters as any good paladin should.

===[[Dwarves|Delvers]]===
During the civil war of the Endless, when the Virtuals bombed the surface of Auriga to purge their Concrete brethren, the Delvers fled deep underground to survive the flaming apocalypse brought to their world. Now, as they emerge once more, wearing their ceremonial skull masks as a protective charm, their arms, swole from digging their way back up, wield their axes with enough strength to crack even the toughest of armour.

===Jotus===
With their ancestors bred for blood sports, the Jotus are genetically bred to be savage warriors and bloodthirsty killers. Only moderately intelligent, the ferocity of the Jotus are their defining feature; their very society is held together by threat of violence and strength. The Jotus also possess the double edged sword of having two heads; though it can be confusing to have two brains controlling the same body, their perceptive abilities are unmatched.

===[[Ogre|Urces]]===
The Urces are simple minded and humble ogres with the physique of giant pit diggers and labourers. Though they do not often fight, being builders and miners who move from place to place, the Urces can be roused in defence of their homes and in the service of trusted friends turning them into incredibly strong mountains of rage and ferocity. The sweeps of their clubs are devastating in the melee of battle. They higly respect sheep and keep them as pets.

===[[Elemental|Silics]]===
Grown in giant underground Caverns, the Silics pick and choose from the crystal farms those with the most potential to endow with intelligence and animation. Tall and powerful, as well as immeasurably old, the Silics are massively effected by dust around them as well as having such a deep connection to Auriga that they can command the ground itself to immobilise their enemies. They might be a part of The Harmony, crystal people that's as old as the Universe itself and the first alien life form encountered by the Endless.

===Nidya===
As avian as they may look, the Nidya are more similar to their mammalian, humanoid counterparts all over Auriga with live-born young, advanced societies and a strong sense of roles within those societies. Known for the excellent placement of their settlements for defence and the speed of their Arputja warriors, it is difficult to take the Nidya by surprise.

===[[Undead|Haunts]]===
In their war, the Endless saw casualties on both sides of concrete and virtual. The Haunts are the ghostly remnants of the ancient virtual endless who died upon Auriga's surface, still darkening the halls they once saw as workstations and data-vaults, now nothing but spirits to make the ruins all across the world more dangerous. They are kept going by dust, just as the Broken Lords are, and entirely immune to winter's touch.

===Geldirus===
Driven into the Tundra by the Drakken, a pack of dust infected wolves became larger and stronger - their canines developing into massive teeth and their pelts becoming thicker and shaggier, allowing them to ignore the harshest touch of the cold. The snows of winter cannot stop the Ice Wargs of the Geldirus.

===[[Minotaur|Gauran]]===
Large herbivorous minotaurs, the Gauran spend a lot of their lives imitating their bovine ancestors on all fours - generally to eat or travel. But when observing the land around them, fighting, or making use of tools this powerfully built people rear up on their hind legs. The non-alphas of the Gauran herds are often recruited as excellent warriors, holding their heavy two handed weapons high and bellow as they advance in a charging run.

===Erycis===
Large hydras, the Erycis do possess hands and arms to use tools with but prefer to enter battle with only their teeth and powerful jaws as weaponry. However, they are capable of eating almost anything and use this to their advantage; by eating poisons they can transfer the toxic material into a specialised gland that can be used as a weapon unto itself, unleashing a toxic cloud.

===Dorgeshi===
The Dorgeshi are an offshoot of the Roving Clans, having left after a series of feuds and conflicts grew too vicious for them to safely continue their lives of luxury and trading with their nomadic brethren. But, using the old secrets of their people to tame fearsome lizards, the Dorgeshi grew into incredible heavy cavalry troops to defend themselves and any who can earn their service.

===Fomorians===
Seemingly robotic, the Fomorians are the producers of all the ships used by non Morgawr races in Endless Legend. However, they enjoy great feasts and excess - their lore is relatively unknown, but due to their living only on the naval facilities left behind by the Endless, it is possible to assume that they date back to the time when that enigmatic race ruled Auriga and that they were left as caretakers and jailers for the Morgawr. However, they do make for damn annoying pirates in every sea.

== Endless Legend on tabletop ==
Anons attempted to create some homebrew tools to play in this setting on tabletop, but, since lore is quite piece-by-piece and lack of 'canon' Auriga map, it's slightly troublesome.

*D&D 5e: http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/HyYiuuklb - races, http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/H1JbpGixW - equipment
*3.PF: (this anon is still working on it)
*Savage Worlds: https://pastebin.com/1yA2nTEe
*FantasyAGE: https://www.reddit.com/r/EndlessLegend/comments/deh77p

== External links ==
*[https://www.games2gether.com/endless-legend/forum Official forum, where lore, devblogs and speculation can be found]
*[http://endlesslegend.gamepedia.com Wiki for in-game texts and stats]

Video games

2021-10-14T21:23:08Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Miscellaneous */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Bigpong.jpeg|thumb|People playing a large scale version of the iconic Pong video game at the National Videogame Museum]]
Video games are games played with an electronic device, instead of paper, pens, dice, boards, anything traditional, and most of the time omitting your imagination too. It is also true that they do contain amusing game mechanics, can be easily played alone, provide visual and auditory representation, and don't [[Games Workshop|cost hundreds of dollars for a few miniature visual representations]]; however, this does come at the cost of freedom, physical being, social skills, and imagination.

Many traditional or tabletop games (like WH40K and D&D) can now be played as using electronic devices to substitute for their tactile components like maps or minis, proving once again that technology continues to screw up [[Old School Roleplaying|everything that we all wished had remained as it was.]] A [[VASSAL Game Engine|virtual tabletop simulator]] has been released so you may play a tabletop game with friends out of town. Also, we have an article at [[List of Vidya Board Games]] to cover various tabletop adaptions into the digital realm.

Electronic games played by strange, [[what|electronic fa/tg/uys]] have been accepted by /tg/, so that any game can be traditional, and this media fits right in with the old [[Board Game|board games]] and Tabletop [[Wargame]]s we all know and love. Some video games are accepted and enjoyed by /tg/. Many, however, are not. Generally, video game threads, especially games with no corresponding /tg/ version/interest, belong on /v/ instead.

You'll find quite a few /v/ related articles on 1d4chan because some video games have at least some relation to /tg/ and because 1d4chan tends to draw in people who are fans of WH40K universe primarily through [[Dawn of War]], even if these people don't actually play the tabletop game. And lets be honest here, 1d4chan is as much a page for WH40K fans as it is for fa/tg/uys so these people are certainly welcome here.

==Strategy Games ==
[[Image:Keen.gif|right|300px]]
* Simulation/Sandbox
** '''[[Dwarf Fortress]]''' The legend, the lamentation, the...fun.
** '''Aurora 4X, a.k.a Dwarf Fortress in space with MUCH more complicated details'''
** '''Factorio''', a process building game. The player is stuck on an alien world and trying to build a spaceship to get off said world, but the enormous industrial activity necessary to build a spaceship provokes the local wildlife to attack, necessitating more industry to fight them off.
** '''From The Depths'''
** '''Kerbal Space Program''' A aerospace engineer is you, build space vehicles, manage your own space agency and conduct missions kerbaled and automated across a simulated solar system. Bear in mind, this game involves actual rocket science; you're going to have to learn about things like Delta-V and slingshot maneuvers if you're going to plot a course that won't end with your rocket crashing into the ocean.
** '''Space Engineers''' Build space ships, stations and bases.
*** '''Medieval Engineers''' Build castles, villages and siege equipment.
** '''[[Minecraft]]''', for some odd reason.
** '''[[Terraria]]''', for the same odd reason.
** '''Mount and Blade''', it's expandalone Warband, and the new Bannerlord 2. A sandbox medieval setting, you go around either being a bandit or uniting the scattered kingdoms into a grand empire or whatever. Enormous modding community means finding something thematically different if you want, including Warhammer and historical mods. In facts, the mods are a selling point of the whole thing, given there is one for just about '''any''' setting you can think about.
** '''Rimworld''', Dwarf Fortress ''IN SPEHSS'' except dumbed down for the casuals, [[skub|which may or may not be a good thing.]]
** '''[[Space Station 13]]:''' Dwarf Fortress except you play as the dwarves. Has been completely fucking ruined by goons leaking into every other version of the game.
** '''[[Tabletop Simulator]]''', a virtual tabletop for playing Card Games, Board Games, RPGs, etc. online with friends. The game has multiple built-in tools for creating custom games, and the Steam Workshop has thousands of add-ons; a popular choice for playing WH40K online thanks to ripped assets from Dawn of War.
** '''[[VASSAL Game Engine|VASSAL Engine]]'''

* 4X/Grand Strategy
** '''Age of Wonders''' - Take ''Master of Magic'', then make it good. Due to reasons, the most approved is 2nd game, as it strikes balance between being its own unique thing, having good campaign and not sacrificing gameplay in the process.
** '''Civilization I-IV''' - Civilization actually was based on a board game and in a case of coming full circle, ended up creating it's own board game. Civ IV in particular happens to have a highly active modding scene to this very day, and many of those mods are total overhauls with fantasy settings. One of those is a ''Fall from Heaven'' mod, or rather a series of mods with shared setting. Neat stuff.
*** Note: Civs V and VI have design issues that make them difficult to recommend in this list, and are thus explicitly not included--that being said, this exclusion is more on the basis of them being [[Skub]]ish--some people love V and/or VI, while some people hate them.
** '''[[Disciples]]''' (series) - Heroes of Might and Magic made [[Grimdark]].
** '''[[Dominions]]''' - Civilization's and Dwarf Fortress' beautiful love child. Enjoy [[Lovecraft]]'s Father Dagon square up against Ravana from India's Ramayana as they fight for the glory of their respective gods (you and whatever other [[neckbeards]] you are playing with).
** '''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]''' - Turn based strategy of over six main games and expansions where you control a fantasy hero and their legion of men/elves/dwarves/creatures/etc. Special mention goes to second and especially third installments.
**'''Master of Magic''': Take Sid Meier's Civilization. Add fantasy races with their own units, magic in the form of spells and summons, heroes and a very basic isometric battlefield when armies clash, and give dozens of abilities to units according to their species, situation and metal they are armed with (Yes, the metal used can be mithril or adamantite if the building city has any). That's Master of Magic. Still great for when you need to scratch that 'wizard with no sense of right or wrong bent on conquering the world' itch.
** '''Masters of Orion'''
** '''[[Alpha Centauri|Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'''. Despite starting out as "Civ 2: SPACE EDITION", SMAC became one of the more iconic games of the 90s. In the late 21st century Earth goes to sh*t and a colony ship is dispatched to Alpha Centauri to give humanity a new lease on life. Instead, we start fighting before we even get there and the whole thing eventually spirals off into a free-for all (with aliens joining the fun too!) with transcendence to virtual godhood as the ultimate prize. The game was a great joy to play due to gameplay and strategic depth, an interesting array of futuristic techs mostly rooted in semi-hard science and a plethora of interesting factions and various lore blurbs. Game is so tightly written, people discuss its content to this day. When SJGames released a setting book for GURPS 3e, they didn't have to make up anything at all to get 130 pages of lore.
** '''Sengoku Rance''': [[Weeaboo|Hentai game spinoff]] that parodies the long-running ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' series. You play as Rance, [[Slaanesh]]'s very own [[Kharn|fun guy to be around,]] as he unifies Warring States-era Japan under his mighty [[Anal circumference|"hyperweapon."]] Despite the utterly ludicrous premise it's a solid grand strategy game, to the point that the porn is more of a reward for playing well than an end in itself. Comparing this game to Total War was a common troll on /gsg/ when Shogun II was released.
** '''Endless Space 1&2''' The first game is ok and free to play, but the second one is where it's at as it does everything the original did better and then some.
** '''[[Endless Legend]]'''
** '''Distant Worlds'''
** Paradox series: This is the go-to company for nation-ruling Grand Strategy games for different eras such as '''[[Crusader Kings]]''' 800's-1400's, '''[[Europa Universalis]]''' 1400's-1800's, '''[[Victoria]]''' 1820's-1936, or '''[[Hearts of Iron]]''' 1936-1950's.
*** [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=406933979 Warhammer: Geheimnisnacht], a Warhammer Fantasy conversion for Crusader Kings II. Setting predates Winds of Chaos & End Times.
** '''[[Stellaris]]''' Paradox's attempt to fill the gap in the market between their Grand Strategy games and traditional 4X. You can run *any* science fiction staple idea and none would look out of place. A civilisation of individuals ranging from unique megacorporations to generic governments, hive-minded eusocial species, robots and anything in between each have unique playstyles. It also has endgame "crises" of galaxy threatening proportions which needs elaborate teamwork to stop.
*** Excellent 40k mod for Stellaris: https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/WarhammerTotalConversion
*** And yes, there's Star Trek and Star Wars mods.
** '''[[Total War]]''' series: '''Rome Total War''', '''Medieval Total War''', '''Empire Total War''', '''Shogun Total War'''
*** Rome 1 mods: '''Call to Arms: Warhammer''' and '''Fourth Age Total War''' and Medieval 2 mods: '''[[Call of Warhammer]]''', '''Third Age Total War'''

* Real-time Strategy
** '''Age of Empires''' series. Classic RTS with a more Command and Conquer vibe then a 4X, which is more common for historical settings, though pretty much every unit has multiple counters so it tends to be a more complex game then normal fast pace RTSs. There's the original, which is a curiosity at best, the second game that is made of pure gold, Mythology that mixes up the formula well, the third which sadly is more just Mythology with guns and Online which is F2P game and also dead (unless you play Project Celeste, which is still getting updated by fans). First, Second and Mythology have really good HD remasters. First and Second have also 4k remakes (not remaster), called Definitive Editions. Second and Mythology are worth grabbing, but if you had to choose one choose 2. They are currently developing the next game in the series, AoE IV.
** '''Battlezone''', the strategy game not the arcade game. Mixture of real time strategy and hover tank combat while fighting commies on the moon. Clunky, and as balanced as a one legged hippo, but it's uniqueness, concept and immersion make it a classic. Got a second game that was tighter and better balanced but weaker plot and setting. Both got pretty decent HD remasters.
** '''[[Command and Conquer]]''', a franchise with more then four different series running at the time where you control varied forces trying to beat the crap out of each other.
** '''Company of Heroes''' and '''Men of War''' series which are basically RTSs based on the idea of commanding forces as if someone was playing a classic WW2 shooter. While there are hard counters in Company of Heroes it still focuses more on holding chokepoints, piecing defensive lines and utilizing sandbags and barbed wire. Men at War focuses on realistic damage and as such is more the ARMA to Company of Heroes Call of Duty 2.
** '''Cossacks''' series, which covers 17th and 18th century, being the closest to /tg/'s desire to have "pike and shot setting". Most notable for ability to field absolutely gigantic armies of thousands upon thousands of soldiers.
*** '''American Conquest''' is an off-shot mini-series, expanding game mechanics from Cossacks and covering the period between Cortes conquest of Aztec Empire till American Revolutionary War. An expansion is dedicated to American Civil War.
** '''Cultures''' series, but most importantly first two games. A Viking village sim
** '''Dungeon Keeper''', where you play as an evil overlord defending against pesky adventurers and goodie-two-shoes trying to conquer your dungeon, and play it like Sims on crack.
** '''Homeworld''': THE iconic space video game of the early 00's. Basically Battlestar Galactica if the Galactica was tall instead of long. Borrows heavily from the artwork of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Foss Chris Foss].
** '''Original War''', most notable for its unique mix of RPG and RTS elements, with each unit representing an individual character with own backstory, personality and set of skills.
** '''Patrician 3: Rise of the Hansa''' is pretty standard (and good) economic-transport sim, but it makes up with being related with the titular Hansa and the Baltic region during Late Medieval, which rarely show up as a setting despite being what is represented as '''the''' ISO Standard Medieval setting.
** '''Railroad Tycoon 2''' comes with absolutely amazing series of scenarios and an unique, fleshed out post-apo setting. No, not kidding. There are also dozens of fan-made maps further expanding on said setting.
** '''Rise of Nations''' and especially '''Rise of Legends''' which had a steampunk faction and a "totally not the baddies from Stargate" faction
** '''The Settlers''' series, especially the I-IV parts. This is less of a straight RTS and more a space-management game, where you're building the most efficient transport system for your settlement, particularly in first two games, with their iconic flag-and-road system. Plot-wise, S3 and 4 are great kitchen-sink settings and Amazones are hot.
** '''[[Starcraft]]''' and '''[[Warcraft]]''': [[Skub|40K and Fantasy rip-offs respectively]], although they were so successful that from video gamers' perspective <del>the jedi are evil</del> ''GW should be paying Blizzard''.
** '''Supreme Commander''', the closest thing to "modern" remake of ''Total Annihilation'' and of course "the endless war IN SPESS!" setting that everyone loves so much.
** '''Theocracy''', in which you control one of Mesoamerican tribes with a goal of unifying the region.
** '''Total Annihilation''' The game that started it all when it it comes to RTS. Not much of a story but it had great gameplay that laid the foundations for the stuff to come. There was also a fantasy sequel "Kingdoms" that had a great story and lore (rivaling that of Warcraft at the time) but abysmal gameplay.
** '''Transarctica''' A bizzare mix of an economic sim, adventure game and a railroad simulator. After an experiment to slow down global warming caused a new ice-age, there are only massive trains going through the ice wasteland between the handful of surviving cities and coal mines. Your task is to bring Sun back from beyond the thick clouds surrounding Earth. Very atypical gameplay. And if the premise sounds familiar, it has the same source material as ''Snowpiercer''.
** '''Warfront: Turning Point''': WW2, but everyone fielding experimental mecha, pulp super-weapons and other silly things. Notably, defense buildings come with FPS mode (and this can greatly increase their performance), while weather and terrain affect everything in variety of ways.

* Turn-based Strategy
** '''[[Advance Wars|Advance Wars]]''' - It's like Panzer General but [[Anime]]. Except for '''Days of Ruin'''; that game is [[Grimdark]] and thus [[Fist of the North Star|manly]].
** '''[[Fire Emblem]]''' - Advance Wars' twin brother who likes swords and magic rather than guns and tanks. Fire Emblem has heavy RPG elements, tasking you with managing a stable of characters with limited EXP to go around and the specter of permadeath hanging overhead. ''Awakening'' and later installments are not approved for being [[Weeaboo|waifu delivery systems cleverly disguised as strategy games.]]
** '''Jagged Alliance I''' & '''II''', A PMC is you!
** '''[[King of Dragon Pass]]'''
** '''Panzer General''' - The first decent "Tabletop WW2 meets PC" back in '94, it's the second inspiration for [[Nazi Equipment]] and is the Mecca of wehraboo'ism. Spawned an entire series of games.
*** Of note from that series: '''Fantasy General''', which is, other than some rather questionable AI balancing, a fairly fun "D&D Wargame" style affair.
** '''Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale''' a Japanese game about running a shop, which sells and buys items used by dungeon-crawling adventurers. Much more engaging than it sounds and full of cutting humour. Capitalism, ho!
** '''Valkyria Chronicles''' series - JRPG fantasy world version of World War II. Quite a bit of depth and supporting cast of characters.
** The '''UFO: After[X]''' series which is essentially an X-Com made grimdark. How grim? The ''bad'' ending of the first game, ''Aftermath'', is canon.
** The original '''[[X-Com|X-COM: UFO Defense]]'''
** The new '''[[X-Com|XCOM: Enemy Unknown]]''' and its sequel, '''XCOM 2'''.
*** XCOM and XCOM 2 mods: '''The Long War'''. Both versions add dramatically to their respective games, transforming them from comparatively quick, light experiences to fatigue-worn wars. Buckle up. Plays a lot like Valkyria Chronicles except with destructable terrain and lots of chest-high walls.

==Role-Playing Games==
*[[cRPG]]s
** '''Albion''' Duo of space janitors crash-land on a planet that will be soon strip-mined, only to find out there is local, if Iron Age tier population of few intelligent species.
** '''[[Arcanum]]: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura''' Fallout, but set in a fantasy world where magic and technology coexist and fight each other. The story takes your party across the world as you try to unravel a plot that threatens not only the world but the very concept of life itself.
** '''Arx Fatalis''' A decent but pretty generic RPG if not for the fact that you appear in an underground kingdom in a world that had it's sun extinguished and surface turned into frozen waste. The magic system is also unique as you perform gestures with your mouse in order to cast spells, which is as fun as it is inconvenient (mage-knight build is a necessity due to this).
** '''[[Baldur's Gate]] I''' & '''II'''
** '''Battle for Wesnoth''' An Aussie who played too much jRPGs made a hex-based battle mini games that happens to be one of the more balanced things on the market.
** '''Betrayal at Krondor'''
** '''Darklands''' Adventures of a roaming party in the 15th century <s>Holy Roman Empire</s> Germany. Probably the lowest possible low fantasy to still qualify as such, rather than just historical setting.
** '''Deus Ex''' series. THE cyberpunk RPG. So good that it managed to incorporate nearly every conspiracy theory into its story and make them actually work well together.
** '''[[Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box Series]]''' (also includes some Buck Rogers games because of Lorraine Williams)
** '''[[The Elder Scrolls]]''' especially Daggerfall, and Morrowind as the other ones are pretty generic and thus boring.
** '''[[Fallout]]''' series.
** '''[[Icewind Dale]]'''
** '''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'''
** '''Might and Magic from 1 to 8, then X. [[Squats|Might and Magic 9 does not exist.]]
** '''[[Planescape: Torment]]''' Storyfags' and Lorefags' wet dream.
** '''System Shock''' series
** '''The Temple of Elemental Evil'''
** '''[[Ultima]]''' series - see Might & Magic above and retain the "ignore 9" rule.
** '''Underrail''' ''Metro 2033'' (setting) meets classic ''Fallout'' (gameplay) and decides to have a foursome with cosmic horror and space opera. Try it or get dominated, pipeworker.
** '''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]] - ''Bloodlines/Redemption''''' Bloodlines was Troika's last hurrah and after you apply the official and fan patches you will see why. Redemption is also good but not as much as Bl.
** '''Wasteland''' series
** '''[[Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord]]'''

*Modern RPGs
** '''The Banner Saga'''
** '''Dark Souls''', due to its moody [[Berserk]]-inspired atmosphere, emphasis on exploration, and [[Dwarf Fortress|merciless learning curve]]. Compelling story and characters are a major plus, also contains large amounts of death and [[RAGE]]. The tagline isn't 'Prepare to Die' for no reason.
*** To a lesser extent, the other "Souls" games ('''Demon's Souls''', '''Dark Souls 2''', '''Dark Souls 3''', '''Bloodborne''', and '''Sekiro''').
** '''Deus Ex: Human Revolution''' While not nearly as broad or deep as the original, it still manages to capture some of it's essence and is a fine RPG in it's own right.
** '''Dragon Age: Origins''' Much better than later games. Has the added bonus of having an actual conclusion; the sequels tend to end on unsatisfying cliffhangers.
** '''Disco Elysium''' [[Planescape: Torment]], except you're an Alcoholic, deadbeat detective.
** '''Expeditions: Conquistador''' and '''Viking'''
** '''Fallout: New Vegas''' Made by the team that made the classics, and it shows.
** '''Kingdom Come: Deliverance''' A truly generic story of "from zero to hero", involving blacksmith's son climbing the social ladder of medieval society until knighthood. But what makes the game unique is the fact it's a historical RPG, set in specific area of Bohemia during a specific period with autistic levels of research behind it, providing more data about its own setting than your typical edutainment game.
** '''Legend of Grimrock'''
** '''Mass Effect 1 and 2''' Grand space opera to rival that of Star Wars in the levels of epic.
** '''Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor''' A fun uruk/olog hunting/recruiting game with some [[Skub|contentious]] framing, particularly in the sequel ([[Monstergirl]] [[What|Shelob]], among other things). Think of it as "Arkham's Creed: Middle-Earth Edition."
** '''Pillars of Eternity''' Set in the world of Eora where souls are tangible and measurable rather than being metaphysical/religious concepts. With the advance of technology and Animancy (science of souls) the world is set up for some radical upheavals, and that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Billed as a spiritual successor to Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale the game accomplishes - for the most part - what it sets out to do and is one of the better cRPGs in recent times.
** '''Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic''' Both games are very good, the second just needs the Restored Content mod.
** '''State of Decay''', the only good thing that came out of the early 2010s zombie craze. If you ever planned to run a zombie campaign, just rip the whole thing off - unlike other vidya rip-offs, this one works out great. Only the first game is approved.
** '''[[The Witcher]]''' series
** '''Pathfinder [[Kingmaker]]'''
** '''Tyranny''' From the same devs that made ''Pillars of Eternity''. This time you are cast into the world of Terratus, a high-fantasy world which is just about to exit its Bronze Age, and as another twist to the ol' formula, you are a mid-ranking minion of the setting's overlord tasked with mediating conflicts and bringing "justice" through their empire. Story and gameplay are just as good as PoE, but the game was released in a rushed state with many things missing. Still, good for ~20hrs of fun or as an entry-level cRPG.

==Adventure Games==
* '''Animation Arts''': Not the game, but a German game dev studio. If you ever wanted to run a cheesy game that's either pulp or B-movie, look no further for inspiration, since this is their speciality.
* '''Beneath a Steel Sky''': Great cyberpunk themes and rich imagery. Released as freeware by the original developers.
* '''Blade Runner''': It's a Blade Runner game and it's one of the best things that ever happened in the genre, no need for more recommendations.
* '''Broken Sword''' series: Templars, ancient conspiracies, interesting characters and well-written plot that is mineable even for tabletop games
* '''Chains of Satinav''' and '''Memoria''': Exactly how many adventure games you know that are set in [[The_Dark_Eye|Dere]] and are good?
* '''The DIG''': A bunch of astronauts stop an asteroid from hitting earth, only to find out it's really an alien starship that whisks them to a desolate planet on the other side of the galaxy whose inhabitants - who have a huge fetish for the platonic solids - are nowhere to be found. Features a lot of really complex hard-science plot points, difficult-as-fuck puzzles, and Steve Blum as an arrogant German scientist.
* '''Indiana Jones and the Fate Of Atlantis''': One of the classics that you can't just go wrong with. Aside being a good adventure game by itself, comes with kinda-sorta branching plot, so you can approach same situations differently.
* '''King's Quest VI: Heir Today Gone Tomorrow''': Just read the title and ask yourself what the game can be about. This series is downright ancient, so be warned. VI is well regarded as the best one and holds up relatively well, though fan remakes of the older games in the style of VI are also available.
* '''Monkey Island''' series: One of the most definitive things to ever happen to the genre, plus it's a great pirate-themed series that both spoofs and reaffirms a lot of cliches related with own content.
* '''Policenauts''': Early Hideo Kojima makes a game where Lethal Weapon meets cyberpunk.
* '''The Prince and the Coward''': A Polish game that can be best summed up as "ISO Standard Medieval Fantasy gets the ''Monkey Island'' treatment". An excellent fan-translation exists that manages to keep the original tone.
* '''Pathologic''' (also known as '''Pestilence''' or '''Мор. Утопия'''): a truly bizarre and unique Russian game combining adventure, survival, role-playing and lots of nightmarish vibes. Boasts headache-inducing lore and a persistent world, so things roll regardless of the player interfering or not. Got a HD re-release recently with proper translation, so non-Slavs can finally enjoy the game - the previous English translation was a nightmare by itself.
**'''[[Pathologic 2]]''': A remake of the original (or, rather, one storyline of the original), but with updated graphics and mechanics plus a couple of story tweaks. Retains many of the anxiety-inducing survival mechanics and nightmarish atmosphere of the first game and, generally, is a much more streamlined experience. As such, it is generally recommended to newcomers over the original. Only ⅓ of the original game is there, due to limitations in budget; the rest may come depending on how well the game sells (devs have confirmed they are working on the bachelor's campaign, however).
* '''Professor Layton''' series: A refined gentleman investigates mysteries by solving lateral-thinking puzzles. Beautiful watercolor art and solid writing, though the puzzle setups become increasingly absurd as the series goes on. A great series to mine for dungeon puzzles. Any games after the first six are not approved, due to the writing devolving into cliche anime bullshit and a distinct drop in puzzle quality after the death of designer Akira Tago.
* '''[[Star Control]]''' series: A mess of alien races in the grand tradition of Niven et al. kill the shit out of each other. First game is turn-based strategy, second game is somewhere between an RPG and an adventure game; both have a surprisingly deep arcade combat system. The second game was released as open-source software by the developers.
*'''Vangers''': A fuckin' weird Russian game about delivering bugs to other bugs in your bug-like car in a world that's filled with bugs and feels like "A Bug's Life" on a DMT trip. Honestly though, if you're a GM who wants to present their players with a totally alien and incomprehensible setting, then this game does it with flying colours.

==Warhammer Games==
*Strategy
** The old and glorious '''[[Warhammer Epic 40,000: Final Liberation]]''', [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat| '''Shadow of the Horned Rat''', and '''Dark Omen''']]
** [[Warhammer: Mark of Chaos|'''Mark of Chaos''']]
** '''[[Dawn of War|WH40K Dawn of War]]''' and its [[Dawn of War II|sequel]]. As well as the [[Dawn of War III|sequel sequel]]
*** The "True-to-Tabletop" [[Dawn of War Mods|mods]] for DoW that sprung up, such as '''Firestorm over ''Kronus/Kaurava''''', the '''Closer to Codex''' mod. Really, just look at the page to see how many there are.
** '''[[Chapter Master (game)]]'''
** '''[[Mordheim: City Of The Damned]]'''
** '''[[Battlefleet Gothic: Armada]]'''
** '''[[Total War: WARHAMMER]]''' and its [[Total War: Warhammer II|sequel]]
** '''[[Man o' War: Corsair]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach]]''' - A turn base strategy game where you playing as everybody's favourite [[Space Wolves|space wolf viking]] fighting against the Orks in Sanctus Reach. Later DLC allowed you playing as the Ork led by Da Big Red and everybody's favorite [[Imperial Guard|wall of guns]]. Also Imperial Knights, fuck yeah!
**'''[[Space Hulk]]''' in its many iterations, including [[Alien Assault|the unofficial one]].
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War]]'''
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus]]'''
*Other
** '''[[Blood Bowl]] and its sequel'''
** <s>'''[[Warhammer Online|Warhammer Age of Reckoning]]'''</s> Shut down thanks to EA. Go play the private server version!
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade]]'''
** '''[[The End Times: Vermintide]]''' and [[Vermintide 2|its sequel]]
** '''Warhammer 40,000: [[Freeblade]]'''
** '''[[Space Hulk: Deathwing]]'''

==Miscellaneous==
* [[Roguelike|Roguelikes]]
** '''Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead''' a post-apocalyptic top-down survival game that looks like Dwarf Fortress with a texture pack and lets you drive cars into zombies.
** '''Cultist Simulator''' is a grind-heavy, card-based game about being too curious about things that no man should know about and slowly building a cult to some demonic abomination... or die trying.
** '''Curious Expedition''' which pokes fun at the pulp adventure genre; think Hollow Earth as a black comedy
** '''[[Darkest Dungeon]]''' the newest [[H.P. Lovecraft|lovecraftian]] dungeon crawler with grimdark setting and overall edginess.
** '''Don't Starve''' a pretty-looking survival and exploration game that's fun with friends, and does horror like ''The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy''.
** '''[[Dungeon Crawl]] Stone Soup'''
** '''Freespace & Freespace II''': The last major standalone space flight sim, ending the genre that had started with Wing Commander and X-Wing/TIE-Fighter.
** '''Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures''' a random-gen adventure game that almost operates like a dungeon crawler and came 20 years too early to get on the roguelike hype.
** '''Nethack'''
** ''' NEOScavenger''' much like Cataclysm (gameplay, genre, even the setting is similar), an exploration hex-crawl to surpass all hex-crawls.
** '''Pathway''', the closest thing to having Hollow Earth Expedition vidya
** '''Pixel Dungeon and it's forks''' coffee break roguelike optimized for phones. FOSS so there's tons of forks. Shattered Pixel Dungeon is a very good version and is on Android Play Store and F-Droid
** ''' Sunless Sea''' and '''Sunless Skies''' Adventuring out into a WTF eldritch horror setting under the flag of Victorian Britain. Gameplay-wise, the games are just awful grinders, but it's their setting and quests that make them interesting, as long as comically dark settings are your thing.
** '''TEARDOWN''', a Space-Hulk roguelike
** '''WarpRogue''', a 40K-inspired roguelike

*Good FPS games
** '''Amnesia series''', The first game in the series rekindled the survival horror genre and was pants-shittingly scary through a clever use of jumpscares, ingenious mechanics discouraging directly looking at the enemies and an amazing atmosphere of gothic horror which slowly turns into the cosmic variety as the story progresses. Unfortunately the latter sequels became a victim of their own success mostly due to oversaturation of survival horror genre, but are nevertheless fine games in their own right.
** '''Bioshock''' series: Bunch of retro-aesthetics crammed into FPS games with what passes as a rich plot and world-building within the genre. Arguing over its content used to be prime [[skub]] material, now it's mostly forgotten.
** '''Borderlands 2''', a memetic lolsrandom dumb game, but special mention goes to '''Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep''' DLC, as it is a role-playing session involving main characters, with all the crazy hijinks of Borderlands involved.
** '''Crysis''', Three games provide a very moddable engine with a very versatile set of physics combined with a pretty absurdly large modding community that has among other things, created a perfectly workable Mech Warrior game out of Crysis Warhead. Even if you don't care for nanosuit action, the mods alone are worth checking out.
** '''Deep Rock Galactic''' [[Squat]]s the video game. Space Dwarfs armed with big guns go digging into a mineral rich planet infested with [[Tyranid|giant bugs]].
** '''Dishonored''', the spiritual successor to Thief except now you are a supernatural assassin in a <s>proto-dieselpunk edwardian-era-esque</s> steampunk world. Good story and fun gameplay with plenty of assassination options.
** '''[[Doom|DOOM]]''', '''Hexen''', and '''Heretic''': With a vibrant community because the games are easy to mod and has produced no shortage of mods (or WADs as they're called in the community (officially, the file extension 'WAD' means 'Where's All the Data?').) Interestingly, Doom was inspired by a D&D game run with Lead Dev John Carmack as the DM. Director John Romero's character recklessly gave a dark tome to a demon in exchange for the magic Daikatana which caused demons to overrun the material plane and the world to end. Visually, parts of the games (Hexen and Heretic especially) are reminiscent of a gothic dungeon.
** '''Escape From Butcher Bay''' a Riddick-licensed game that combines great stealth elements with even better combat sequences and a slight horror vibe, all in the sauce made off used future aesthetics.
** '''[[EYE: Divine Cybermancy]]''': A really weird FPS/RPG due to its cyberpunk fantasy aesthetics, almost an RPG. Extremely buggy due to being a Source Engine game that wasn't made by Valve. The developers absolutely love Warhammer 40,000, made the setting for EYE a lawyer-friendly clone of 40k, and were eventually hired by GW to [[Space Hulk: Deathwing|make the 40k game they wanted to make in the first place.]]
** '''Far Cry''' series, which has completely different tone depending on installment and is just one huge mine of ideas for extremely pulpy scenarios. Special mention goes to Far Cry 3, which pretty much reinvented the franchise, and its standalone expansion Blood Dragon, which is [[Old School Roleplaying|a hilarious parody of the 80s neon aesthetic.]] Far Cry 4 and later installments are not approved for being either heavily rehashed or just completely unnecessary.
** '''Guns of Icarus''', a steampunk flying team deathmatch with set roles.
** '''Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, and Hand Grenades''' - this VR title is unique for being as close to a true-to-life firearms simulator as you can get, having over 400 accurately modeled and functioning firearms ranging from flintlocks to modern weapons. Its also incredibly goofy, with all enemies being giant sentient hot dogs and a few oddball toys thrown in. It's also effectively Team Fortress 2 VR, as the game includes all the stock weapons from TF2 thanks to a collaboration with Valve.
** '''Iron Storm''' - it's 1964 and the World War I is still going on, with complete stalemate perpetuated by industrialists on both sides. Your mission is to infiltrate and destroy nuclear program of the "bad" side. W40k games ''wish'' they were this good in presenting endless, senseless war.
** '''Penumbra series''': The easiest way to describe it is to call it modern take on At the Mountains of Madness, only set in Greenland and with massive conspiracy looming over the story. Warning, '''very''' tense horror games (while avoiding jump scares) with unique control and physics system, so it might not be your cup of tea.
** '''Quake''': At least the early games, for similar reasons for DOOM (they were both made by the same company). Quake 1 is a good and challenging FPS that takes cues from Lovecraft in terms of environments and monster designs. Quake 2 is somewhat easier, but is deliciously grimdark sci-fi; it's about fighting cyborg aliens that make more of themselves by capturing conquered races and fitting them with cybernetics/forcing them into a hive mind against their will.
** '''Republic Commando''', baby's first tactical shooter, but damn if it isn't a good one
** '''[[Team Fortress 2]]''', a game descended from a Quake mod now over 10 years old and still going strong, is a multiplayer FPS with a 1960s theme where players pick a team, one of 9 different classes, and battle to the death. Also, hats. Two hats in this game are 40k references, allowing you to dress your Heavy up as an Ork.
** '''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.''' series: Roadside Picnic: The Video Game. A nice combination of free roaming, excellent gunplay, tense atmosphere and really freaky lore.
** '''Thief 1 & 2''', the grand daddy of stealth games, with one of the most original settings ever created for games (a combination of industrial - but not steampunk - medieval and pagan elements). Strong story, good characters and makes you feel like a master thief indeed. Third game is good provided you get the Sneaky Update. Reboot from 2014 is unapproved and shunned.
** '''Wolfenstein''' series: Combines sci-fi, fantasy and World War II elements amidst the Nazi-killing. This series is downright ancient, predating DOOM and the FPS genre entirely.

*Good TPS games
** '''Freedom Fighters''' another baby's first tactical shooter to fulfill your ''Red Dawn'' fantasies
** '''Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine''' and '''Emperor's Tomb''' Despite what you might think, it's LucasArt ripping-off Tomb Raider, not the other way around.
** '''Max Payne 1 & 2''' Finest product of the neo-noir genre, especially the second game. Amazingly strong story in both games, with a lot of Norse references in the first one. Also, the game that introduced bullet time as game mechanics.
** '''Prince of Persia''', especially the ''Sands of Time'' trilogy. Accept no substitute for Arabian Nights game.
** '''Severance: Blade of Darkness''' Some eight years before Demon Souls you had Severance, while the setting is somewhat generic-ish blade & sorcery meets LOTR, the moody atmosphere, unforgiving gameplay and fun combat more than make up for it. If you have a thing for Soulslike this is just for you.
** '''Styx series''' Great tps assassination games set in a unique high fantasy setting that has you playing as a goblin of all things. Both games are great though the second one takes itself somewhat less seriously than the first.
** '''Tomb Raider series''' Preferably games created by original studio, Core Design, but anything up to Underworld goes. A swift balance between serious and pulp tone, providing simple plots and a more and more complex locations. Also, good source of creative traps. Reboot from 2013 and what follows are disapproved and shunned, being just generic cover shooter. Comes with its own, massive level-making scene, known collectively as '''TRLE''' (after Tomb Raider Level Editor), which by itself is fantastic source of dungeon design, creative traps and excellent puzzles that are all very minable.
* [[Mechwarrior]], because /tg/ loves [[Battletech]].
** '''MechWarrior I''' is lauded as a classic, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior II''' is lauded as the best
** '''MechWarrior III''' is lauded as the most engrossing storywise, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior IV''' is lauded as the latest and greatest, and thus the best
** '''MechCommander II''' is lauded as most like the tabletop, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior: Living Legend''' is lauded as best for multiplayer, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior Online''' is the worst
** '''MechWarrior V''' is the newest, therefore both the best AND worst
* Classic console games
** '''Jet Set/Grind Radio''' seems to have enthused one orky [[drawfag]] to the highest of possible levels, make of that what you will.
** '''Conker's Bad Fur Day''' Looney Toons for adults, and that's just the start of the batshit craziness.
** '''Dungeons and Dragons Order of the Griffon''', a game for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 set in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Uses Basic D&D rules versus the Gold Box games' AD&D rules.
** '''Legacy of Kain series''' Set in a unique fantasy gothic world, the series takes place over ~2000 year timeline that sees you slain and become a vampire demigod Kain in the first game, have you play as the vampire lieutenant Raziel that gets turned into a sentient time-paradox in the second and third game and then switch between the two on an epic, complex and plot ridden story that sees you jump from future to past to present and back again all the while unraveling a conspiracy that spans the material and spectral realms.
** '''[[Metal Gear]]'''
** '''Oddworld series''' A classic platformer set in a grimdark alien world of Oddworld, you play as Abe, a slave turned accidental revolutionary turned messiah for his people as he fights the industrial evil of Glukkons and other vile profiteering species out to stripmine Oddworld for sweet [[Money|moolah]]. There are 4 games in total, minus the recent remakes. First two games are cult-classics and you should play them, Munch's oddysee was the awkward transition to 3D so ok-ish and Stranger's Wrath picked up the pace but as many a grognard will tell you it does not quite reach the heights of elden times. The New'n Tasty and Soulstorm remakes of the original games are all in all decent.
** '''[[Samus|Metroid]]''', '''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''', '''Kid Icarus''', and '''[[Castlevania]]''' (the four games series (with one exception see above) share so much in common they deserve to be discussed together). Why? The exploration-heavy nature of the games, the feeling of growing more powerful as you collect enough gear and relics to make an adventuring party jealous, the incredibly memorable boss battles, interesting backstories (Metroid immerses you in backstory at your pace, via scans and lore pickups, leaving much up to your imagination), and providing many ideas for sci fi or fantasy RPG session.
** '''Shantae series''' You play as a cute genie girl that can turn into various [[Monstergirls]] (harpy, drider, mermaid, dragon etc.) while platforming and fighting through a colorful middle-east fantasy setting.

==Games that can be used to troll /tg/==
* Most other MMORPGs. [[World of Warcraft]], as the most successful to date, is especially effective. Special points to [[Star Wars: The Old Republic]] for being a massive disappointment for a popular franchise.
* JRPGs, for often recycling the same plots over and over and having identical structure. Along with of course cringy bad character designs in some cases.
* Any of the modern Final Fantasy games, [[Games Workshop|which somehow keep getting sequels despite being financial failures]]. [[This Guy|Some fa/tg/uys]] have a fondness for the early ones, mostly because [[Troll|the first one rips off D&D pretty squarely]].
* [[Skyrim]], a popular well liked meme game that /v/ contrarians and neckbeards with nostalgia goggles will say is shit. Same goes for [[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|Oblivion]], [[Fallout]] 3 and 4, and any future Bethesda RPGs.
* <s>Mentioning the attention Warhammer 40k games have gotten compared to Warhammer Fantasy is a sore spot for Fantasy fans.</s> With the failure that is [[Dawn of War III]] and recent success of [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] and [[Vermintide]], you could say the tables have turned. Actually DoW3 by itself is enough for trolling anyway.
* Sonic The Hedgehog. The fans are everywhere, and the butthurt is unfathomable.
* Nintendo games have ultra-dedicated fanbases, and also hardcore haters, except for series like Metroid, Zelda, Mother, or Kid Icarus which are generally respected. Mentioning Pokemon in a positive light or stating the controller of "the best" console they released is a sex toy may cause an internet fight.
* Games with bad random number generators. Even highly approved of games like Mordheim: City Of The Damned will cause a shitstorm when someone is reminded that a supposed 95% chance to hit can result in four consecutive misses.
* No Man's Sky - such a huge waste of potential, although it got somewhat better with patches. Bringing this game up is a good troll move on /v/ as well, but everything's a good troll move on /v/.
* [[Blizzard]]. JUST. [[Blizzard]]. (''ACTIVISION'' Blizzard now, fuckers! The shit train only goes downhill from here!)

Games that are universally loathed, so you'll probably have to put in some work if you want to troll with:
* Unlike the previous Bethesda RPGs Fallout 76 is actually bad. So if you want to troll people you'll have to pretend to like it. Although, it's so objectively terrible your bait will most likely seem too obvious.
* [[Bioware | Anthem]].
** Almost all "Games as a Service" games released in the wake of Destiny have a similar, if lesser, level of disdain; it's just that Fallout 76 and Anthem were so garbage on release, and had such a CRPG pedigree, that the trolling mines were quickly completely depleted.
* Reminding [[Shadowrun]] fans of the terrible Shadowrun FPS is not going to earn you any goodwill.
* [[Evony]]

==The Game List That People Copypasta==
Every so often, someone posts on /tg/: "Wow, you guys are so smart and cool; can you recommend some [[video games]] to play for those hours when I'm not playing tabletop?". It happens so often that people have made [[copypasta]] for the occasion, even image copypasta.

You will find a lot of those games on [http://www.gog.com/ Good Old Games], DRM free, for 6 or 9 bucks. Or [[Freebooterz|for free if you pirate]], which can often be justified by the original creators leaving the development company so all the [[Profit]] goes to people who don't deserve it. Your choice.

For any video game that someone felt was good enough for a full page on this wiki, see [[:Category:Video_Games|Video Games]]

<center>[[Image:TG_recommended_games1.jpg]]</center>

<center>[[Image:Recommended_vg_2.jpg|900px]]</center>

[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Approved Media]]

Video games

2021-10-14T21:22:00Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Miscellaneous */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Bigpong.jpeg|thumb|People playing a large scale version of the iconic Pong video game at the National Videogame Museum]]
Video games are games played with an electronic device, instead of paper, pens, dice, boards, anything traditional, and most of the time omitting your imagination too. It is also true that they do contain amusing game mechanics, can be easily played alone, provide visual and auditory representation, and don't [[Games Workshop|cost hundreds of dollars for a few miniature visual representations]]; however, this does come at the cost of freedom, physical being, social skills, and imagination.

Many traditional or tabletop games (like WH40K and D&D) can now be played as using electronic devices to substitute for their tactile components like maps or minis, proving once again that technology continues to screw up [[Old School Roleplaying|everything that we all wished had remained as it was.]] A [[VASSAL Game Engine|virtual tabletop simulator]] has been released so you may play a tabletop game with friends out of town. Also, we have an article at [[List of Vidya Board Games]] to cover various tabletop adaptions into the digital realm.

Electronic games played by strange, [[what|electronic fa/tg/uys]] have been accepted by /tg/, so that any game can be traditional, and this media fits right in with the old [[Board Game|board games]] and Tabletop [[Wargame]]s we all know and love. Some video games are accepted and enjoyed by /tg/. Many, however, are not. Generally, video game threads, especially games with no corresponding /tg/ version/interest, belong on /v/ instead.

You'll find quite a few /v/ related articles on 1d4chan because some video games have at least some relation to /tg/ and because 1d4chan tends to draw in people who are fans of WH40K universe primarily through [[Dawn of War]], even if these people don't actually play the tabletop game. And lets be honest here, 1d4chan is as much a page for WH40K fans as it is for fa/tg/uys so these people are certainly welcome here.

==Strategy Games ==
[[Image:Keen.gif|right|300px]]
* Simulation/Sandbox
** '''[[Dwarf Fortress]]''' The legend, the lamentation, the...fun.
** '''Aurora 4X, a.k.a Dwarf Fortress in space with MUCH more complicated details'''
** '''Factorio''', a process building game. The player is stuck on an alien world and trying to build a spaceship to get off said world, but the enormous industrial activity necessary to build a spaceship provokes the local wildlife to attack, necessitating more industry to fight them off.
** '''From The Depths'''
** '''Kerbal Space Program''' A aerospace engineer is you, build space vehicles, manage your own space agency and conduct missions kerbaled and automated across a simulated solar system. Bear in mind, this game involves actual rocket science; you're going to have to learn about things like Delta-V and slingshot maneuvers if you're going to plot a course that won't end with your rocket crashing into the ocean.
** '''Space Engineers''' Build space ships, stations and bases.
*** '''Medieval Engineers''' Build castles, villages and siege equipment.
** '''[[Minecraft]]''', for some odd reason.
** '''[[Terraria]]''', for the same odd reason.
** '''Mount and Blade''', it's expandalone Warband, and the new Bannerlord 2. A sandbox medieval setting, you go around either being a bandit or uniting the scattered kingdoms into a grand empire or whatever. Enormous modding community means finding something thematically different if you want, including Warhammer and historical mods. In facts, the mods are a selling point of the whole thing, given there is one for just about '''any''' setting you can think about.
** '''Rimworld''', Dwarf Fortress ''IN SPEHSS'' except dumbed down for the casuals, [[skub|which may or may not be a good thing.]]
** '''[[Space Station 13]]:''' Dwarf Fortress except you play as the dwarves. Has been completely fucking ruined by goons leaking into every other version of the game.
** '''[[Tabletop Simulator]]''', a virtual tabletop for playing Card Games, Board Games, RPGs, etc. online with friends. The game has multiple built-in tools for creating custom games, and the Steam Workshop has thousands of add-ons; a popular choice for playing WH40K online thanks to ripped assets from Dawn of War.
** '''[[VASSAL Game Engine|VASSAL Engine]]'''

* 4X/Grand Strategy
** '''Age of Wonders''' - Take ''Master of Magic'', then make it good. Due to reasons, the most approved is 2nd game, as it strikes balance between being its own unique thing, having good campaign and not sacrificing gameplay in the process.
** '''Civilization I-IV''' - Civilization actually was based on a board game and in a case of coming full circle, ended up creating it's own board game. Civ IV in particular happens to have a highly active modding scene to this very day, and many of those mods are total overhauls with fantasy settings. One of those is a ''Fall from Heaven'' mod, or rather a series of mods with shared setting. Neat stuff.
*** Note: Civs V and VI have design issues that make them difficult to recommend in this list, and are thus explicitly not included--that being said, this exclusion is more on the basis of them being [[Skub]]ish--some people love V and/or VI, while some people hate them.
** '''[[Disciples]]''' (series) - Heroes of Might and Magic made [[Grimdark]].
** '''[[Dominions]]''' - Civilization's and Dwarf Fortress' beautiful love child. Enjoy [[Lovecraft]]'s Father Dagon square up against Ravana from India's Ramayana as they fight for the glory of their respective gods (you and whatever other [[neckbeards]] you are playing with).
** '''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]''' - Turn based strategy of over six main games and expansions where you control a fantasy hero and their legion of men/elves/dwarves/creatures/etc. Special mention goes to second and especially third installments.
**'''Master of Magic''': Take Sid Meier's Civilization. Add fantasy races with their own units, magic in the form of spells and summons, heroes and a very basic isometric battlefield when armies clash, and give dozens of abilities to units according to their species, situation and metal they are armed with (Yes, the metal used can be mithril or adamantite if the building city has any). That's Master of Magic. Still great for when you need to scratch that 'wizard with no sense of right or wrong bent on conquering the world' itch.
** '''Masters of Orion'''
** '''[[Alpha Centauri|Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'''. Despite starting out as "Civ 2: SPACE EDITION", SMAC became one of the more iconic games of the 90s. In the late 21st century Earth goes to sh*t and a colony ship is dispatched to Alpha Centauri to give humanity a new lease on life. Instead, we start fighting before we even get there and the whole thing eventually spirals off into a free-for all (with aliens joining the fun too!) with transcendence to virtual godhood as the ultimate prize. The game was a great joy to play due to gameplay and strategic depth, an interesting array of futuristic techs mostly rooted in semi-hard science and a plethora of interesting factions and various lore blurbs. Game is so tightly written, people discuss its content to this day. When SJGames released a setting book for GURPS 3e, they didn't have to make up anything at all to get 130 pages of lore.
** '''Sengoku Rance''': [[Weeaboo|Hentai game spinoff]] that parodies the long-running ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' series. You play as Rance, [[Slaanesh]]'s very own [[Kharn|fun guy to be around,]] as he unifies Warring States-era Japan under his mighty [[Anal circumference|"hyperweapon."]] Despite the utterly ludicrous premise it's a solid grand strategy game, to the point that the porn is more of a reward for playing well than an end in itself. Comparing this game to Total War was a common troll on /gsg/ when Shogun II was released.
** '''Endless Space 1&2''' The first game is ok and free to play, but the second one is where it's at as it does everything the original did better and then some.
** '''[[Endless Legend]]'''
** '''Distant Worlds'''
** Paradox series: This is the go-to company for nation-ruling Grand Strategy games for different eras such as '''[[Crusader Kings]]''' 800's-1400's, '''[[Europa Universalis]]''' 1400's-1800's, '''[[Victoria]]''' 1820's-1936, or '''[[Hearts of Iron]]''' 1936-1950's.
*** [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=406933979 Warhammer: Geheimnisnacht], a Warhammer Fantasy conversion for Crusader Kings II. Setting predates Winds of Chaos & End Times.
** '''[[Stellaris]]''' Paradox's attempt to fill the gap in the market between their Grand Strategy games and traditional 4X. You can run *any* science fiction staple idea and none would look out of place. A civilisation of individuals ranging from unique megacorporations to generic governments, hive-minded eusocial species, robots and anything in between each have unique playstyles. It also has endgame "crises" of galaxy threatening proportions which needs elaborate teamwork to stop.
*** Excellent 40k mod for Stellaris: https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/WarhammerTotalConversion
*** And yes, there's Star Trek and Star Wars mods.
** '''[[Total War]]''' series: '''Rome Total War''', '''Medieval Total War''', '''Empire Total War''', '''Shogun Total War'''
*** Rome 1 mods: '''Call to Arms: Warhammer''' and '''Fourth Age Total War''' and Medieval 2 mods: '''[[Call of Warhammer]]''', '''Third Age Total War'''

* Real-time Strategy
** '''Age of Empires''' series. Classic RTS with a more Command and Conquer vibe then a 4X, which is more common for historical settings, though pretty much every unit has multiple counters so it tends to be a more complex game then normal fast pace RTSs. There's the original, which is a curiosity at best, the second game that is made of pure gold, Mythology that mixes up the formula well, the third which sadly is more just Mythology with guns and Online which is F2P game and also dead (unless you play Project Celeste, which is still getting updated by fans). First, Second and Mythology have really good HD remasters. First and Second have also 4k remakes (not remaster), called Definitive Editions. Second and Mythology are worth grabbing, but if you had to choose one choose 2. They are currently developing the next game in the series, AoE IV.
** '''Battlezone''', the strategy game not the arcade game. Mixture of real time strategy and hover tank combat while fighting commies on the moon. Clunky, and as balanced as a one legged hippo, but it's uniqueness, concept and immersion make it a classic. Got a second game that was tighter and better balanced but weaker plot and setting. Both got pretty decent HD remasters.
** '''[[Command and Conquer]]''', a franchise with more then four different series running at the time where you control varied forces trying to beat the crap out of each other.
** '''Company of Heroes''' and '''Men of War''' series which are basically RTSs based on the idea of commanding forces as if someone was playing a classic WW2 shooter. While there are hard counters in Company of Heroes it still focuses more on holding chokepoints, piecing defensive lines and utilizing sandbags and barbed wire. Men at War focuses on realistic damage and as such is more the ARMA to Company of Heroes Call of Duty 2.
** '''Cossacks''' series, which covers 17th and 18th century, being the closest to /tg/'s desire to have "pike and shot setting". Most notable for ability to field absolutely gigantic armies of thousands upon thousands of soldiers.
*** '''American Conquest''' is an off-shot mini-series, expanding game mechanics from Cossacks and covering the period between Cortes conquest of Aztec Empire till American Revolutionary War. An expansion is dedicated to American Civil War.
** '''Cultures''' series, but most importantly first two games. A Viking village sim
** '''Dungeon Keeper''', where you play as an evil overlord defending against pesky adventurers and goodie-two-shoes trying to conquer your dungeon, and play it like Sims on crack.
** '''Homeworld''': THE iconic space video game of the early 00's. Basically Battlestar Galactica if the Galactica was tall instead of long. Borrows heavily from the artwork of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Foss Chris Foss].
** '''Original War''', most notable for its unique mix of RPG and RTS elements, with each unit representing an individual character with own backstory, personality and set of skills.
** '''Patrician 3: Rise of the Hansa''' is pretty standard (and good) economic-transport sim, but it makes up with being related with the titular Hansa and the Baltic region during Late Medieval, which rarely show up as a setting despite being what is represented as '''the''' ISO Standard Medieval setting.
** '''Railroad Tycoon 2''' comes with absolutely amazing series of scenarios and an unique, fleshed out post-apo setting. No, not kidding. There are also dozens of fan-made maps further expanding on said setting.
** '''Rise of Nations''' and especially '''Rise of Legends''' which had a steampunk faction and a "totally not the baddies from Stargate" faction
** '''The Settlers''' series, especially the I-IV parts. This is less of a straight RTS and more a space-management game, where you're building the most efficient transport system for your settlement, particularly in first two games, with their iconic flag-and-road system. Plot-wise, S3 and 4 are great kitchen-sink settings and Amazones are hot.
** '''[[Starcraft]]''' and '''[[Warcraft]]''': [[Skub|40K and Fantasy rip-offs respectively]], although they were so successful that from video gamers' perspective <del>the jedi are evil</del> ''GW should be paying Blizzard''.
** '''Supreme Commander''', the closest thing to "modern" remake of ''Total Annihilation'' and of course "the endless war IN SPESS!" setting that everyone loves so much.
** '''Theocracy''', in which you control one of Mesoamerican tribes with a goal of unifying the region.
** '''Total Annihilation''' The game that started it all when it it comes to RTS. Not much of a story but it had great gameplay that laid the foundations for the stuff to come. There was also a fantasy sequel "Kingdoms" that had a great story and lore (rivaling that of Warcraft at the time) but abysmal gameplay.
** '''Transarctica''' A bizzare mix of an economic sim, adventure game and a railroad simulator. After an experiment to slow down global warming caused a new ice-age, there are only massive trains going through the ice wasteland between the handful of surviving cities and coal mines. Your task is to bring Sun back from beyond the thick clouds surrounding Earth. Very atypical gameplay. And if the premise sounds familiar, it has the same source material as ''Snowpiercer''.
** '''Warfront: Turning Point''': WW2, but everyone fielding experimental mecha, pulp super-weapons and other silly things. Notably, defense buildings come with FPS mode (and this can greatly increase their performance), while weather and terrain affect everything in variety of ways.

* Turn-based Strategy
** '''[[Advance Wars|Advance Wars]]''' - It's like Panzer General but [[Anime]]. Except for '''Days of Ruin'''; that game is [[Grimdark]] and thus [[Fist of the North Star|manly]].
** '''[[Fire Emblem]]''' - Advance Wars' twin brother who likes swords and magic rather than guns and tanks. Fire Emblem has heavy RPG elements, tasking you with managing a stable of characters with limited EXP to go around and the specter of permadeath hanging overhead. ''Awakening'' and later installments are not approved for being [[Weeaboo|waifu delivery systems cleverly disguised as strategy games.]]
** '''Jagged Alliance I''' & '''II''', A PMC is you!
** '''[[King of Dragon Pass]]'''
** '''Panzer General''' - The first decent "Tabletop WW2 meets PC" back in '94, it's the second inspiration for [[Nazi Equipment]] and is the Mecca of wehraboo'ism. Spawned an entire series of games.
*** Of note from that series: '''Fantasy General''', which is, other than some rather questionable AI balancing, a fairly fun "D&D Wargame" style affair.
** '''Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale''' a Japanese game about running a shop, which sells and buys items used by dungeon-crawling adventurers. Much more engaging than it sounds and full of cutting humour. Capitalism, ho!
** '''Valkyria Chronicles''' series - JRPG fantasy world version of World War II. Quite a bit of depth and supporting cast of characters.
** The '''UFO: After[X]''' series which is essentially an X-Com made grimdark. How grim? The ''bad'' ending of the first game, ''Aftermath'', is canon.
** The original '''[[X-Com|X-COM: UFO Defense]]'''
** The new '''[[X-Com|XCOM: Enemy Unknown]]''' and its sequel, '''XCOM 2'''.
*** XCOM and XCOM 2 mods: '''The Long War'''. Both versions add dramatically to their respective games, transforming them from comparatively quick, light experiences to fatigue-worn wars. Buckle up. Plays a lot like Valkyria Chronicles except with destructable terrain and lots of chest-high walls.

==Role-Playing Games==
*[[cRPG]]s
** '''Albion''' Duo of space janitors crash-land on a planet that will be soon strip-mined, only to find out there is local, if Iron Age tier population of few intelligent species.
** '''[[Arcanum]]: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura''' Fallout, but set in a fantasy world where magic and technology coexist and fight each other. The story takes your party across the world as you try to unravel a plot that threatens not only the world but the very concept of life itself.
** '''Arx Fatalis''' A decent but pretty generic RPG if not for the fact that you appear in an underground kingdom in a world that had it's sun extinguished and surface turned into frozen waste. The magic system is also unique as you perform gestures with your mouse in order to cast spells, which is as fun as it is inconvenient (mage-knight build is a necessity due to this).
** '''[[Baldur's Gate]] I''' & '''II'''
** '''Battle for Wesnoth''' An Aussie who played too much jRPGs made a hex-based battle mini games that happens to be one of the more balanced things on the market.
** '''Betrayal at Krondor'''
** '''Darklands''' Adventures of a roaming party in the 15th century <s>Holy Roman Empire</s> Germany. Probably the lowest possible low fantasy to still qualify as such, rather than just historical setting.
** '''Deus Ex''' series. THE cyberpunk RPG. So good that it managed to incorporate nearly every conspiracy theory into its story and make them actually work well together.
** '''[[Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box Series]]''' (also includes some Buck Rogers games because of Lorraine Williams)
** '''[[The Elder Scrolls]]''' especially Daggerfall, and Morrowind as the other ones are pretty generic and thus boring.
** '''[[Fallout]]''' series.
** '''[[Icewind Dale]]'''
** '''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'''
** '''Might and Magic from 1 to 8, then X. [[Squats|Might and Magic 9 does not exist.]]
** '''[[Planescape: Torment]]''' Storyfags' and Lorefags' wet dream.
** '''System Shock''' series
** '''The Temple of Elemental Evil'''
** '''[[Ultima]]''' series - see Might & Magic above and retain the "ignore 9" rule.
** '''Underrail''' ''Metro 2033'' (setting) meets classic ''Fallout'' (gameplay) and decides to have a foursome with cosmic horror and space opera. Try it or get dominated, pipeworker.
** '''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]] - ''Bloodlines/Redemption''''' Bloodlines was Troika's last hurrah and after you apply the official and fan patches you will see why. Redemption is also good but not as much as Bl.
** '''Wasteland''' series
** '''[[Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord]]'''

*Modern RPGs
** '''The Banner Saga'''
** '''Dark Souls''', due to its moody [[Berserk]]-inspired atmosphere, emphasis on exploration, and [[Dwarf Fortress|merciless learning curve]]. Compelling story and characters are a major plus, also contains large amounts of death and [[RAGE]]. The tagline isn't 'Prepare to Die' for no reason.
*** To a lesser extent, the other "Souls" games ('''Demon's Souls''', '''Dark Souls 2''', '''Dark Souls 3''', '''Bloodborne''', and '''Sekiro''').
** '''Deus Ex: Human Revolution''' While not nearly as broad or deep as the original, it still manages to capture some of it's essence and is a fine RPG in it's own right.
** '''Dragon Age: Origins''' Much better than later games. Has the added bonus of having an actual conclusion; the sequels tend to end on unsatisfying cliffhangers.
** '''Disco Elysium''' [[Planescape: Torment]], except you're an Alcoholic, deadbeat detective.
** '''Expeditions: Conquistador''' and '''Viking'''
** '''Fallout: New Vegas''' Made by the team that made the classics, and it shows.
** '''Kingdom Come: Deliverance''' A truly generic story of "from zero to hero", involving blacksmith's son climbing the social ladder of medieval society until knighthood. But what makes the game unique is the fact it's a historical RPG, set in specific area of Bohemia during a specific period with autistic levels of research behind it, providing more data about its own setting than your typical edutainment game.
** '''Legend of Grimrock'''
** '''Mass Effect 1 and 2''' Grand space opera to rival that of Star Wars in the levels of epic.
** '''Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor''' A fun uruk/olog hunting/recruiting game with some [[Skub|contentious]] framing, particularly in the sequel ([[Monstergirl]] [[What|Shelob]], among other things). Think of it as "Arkham's Creed: Middle-Earth Edition."
** '''Pillars of Eternity''' Set in the world of Eora where souls are tangible and measurable rather than being metaphysical/religious concepts. With the advance of technology and Animancy (science of souls) the world is set up for some radical upheavals, and that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Billed as a spiritual successor to Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale the game accomplishes - for the most part - what it sets out to do and is one of the better cRPGs in recent times.
** '''Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic''' Both games are very good, the second just needs the Restored Content mod.
** '''State of Decay''', the only good thing that came out of the early 2010s zombie craze. If you ever planned to run a zombie campaign, just rip the whole thing off - unlike other vidya rip-offs, this one works out great. Only the first game is approved.
** '''[[The Witcher]]''' series
** '''Pathfinder [[Kingmaker]]'''
** '''Tyranny''' From the same devs that made ''Pillars of Eternity''. This time you are cast into the world of Terratus, a high-fantasy world which is just about to exit its Bronze Age, and as another twist to the ol' formula, you are a mid-ranking minion of the setting's overlord tasked with mediating conflicts and bringing "justice" through their empire. Story and gameplay are just as good as PoE, but the game was released in a rushed state with many things missing. Still, good for ~20hrs of fun or as an entry-level cRPG.

==Adventure Games==
* '''Animation Arts''': Not the game, but a German game dev studio. If you ever wanted to run a cheesy game that's either pulp or B-movie, look no further for inspiration, since this is their speciality.
* '''Beneath a Steel Sky''': Great cyberpunk themes and rich imagery. Released as freeware by the original developers.
* '''Blade Runner''': It's a Blade Runner game and it's one of the best things that ever happened in the genre, no need for more recommendations.
* '''Broken Sword''' series: Templars, ancient conspiracies, interesting characters and well-written plot that is mineable even for tabletop games
* '''Chains of Satinav''' and '''Memoria''': Exactly how many adventure games you know that are set in [[The_Dark_Eye|Dere]] and are good?
* '''The DIG''': A bunch of astronauts stop an asteroid from hitting earth, only to find out it's really an alien starship that whisks them to a desolate planet on the other side of the galaxy whose inhabitants - who have a huge fetish for the platonic solids - are nowhere to be found. Features a lot of really complex hard-science plot points, difficult-as-fuck puzzles, and Steve Blum as an arrogant German scientist.
* '''Indiana Jones and the Fate Of Atlantis''': One of the classics that you can't just go wrong with. Aside being a good adventure game by itself, comes with kinda-sorta branching plot, so you can approach same situations differently.
* '''King's Quest VI: Heir Today Gone Tomorrow''': Just read the title and ask yourself what the game can be about. This series is downright ancient, so be warned. VI is well regarded as the best one and holds up relatively well, though fan remakes of the older games in the style of VI are also available.
* '''Monkey Island''' series: One of the most definitive things to ever happen to the genre, plus it's a great pirate-themed series that both spoofs and reaffirms a lot of cliches related with own content.
* '''Policenauts''': Early Hideo Kojima makes a game where Lethal Weapon meets cyberpunk.
* '''The Prince and the Coward''': A Polish game that can be best summed up as "ISO Standard Medieval Fantasy gets the ''Monkey Island'' treatment". An excellent fan-translation exists that manages to keep the original tone.
* '''Pathologic''' (also known as '''Pestilence''' or '''Мор. Утопия'''): a truly bizarre and unique Russian game combining adventure, survival, role-playing and lots of nightmarish vibes. Boasts headache-inducing lore and a persistent world, so things roll regardless of the player interfering or not. Got a HD re-release recently with proper translation, so non-Slavs can finally enjoy the game - the previous English translation was a nightmare by itself.
**'''[[Pathologic 2]]''': A remake of the original (or, rather, one storyline of the original), but with updated graphics and mechanics plus a couple of story tweaks. Retains many of the anxiety-inducing survival mechanics and nightmarish atmosphere of the first game and, generally, is a much more streamlined experience. As such, it is generally recommended to newcomers over the original. Only ⅓ of the original game is there, due to limitations in budget; the rest may come depending on how well the game sells (devs have confirmed they are working on the bachelor's campaign, however).
* '''Professor Layton''' series: A refined gentleman investigates mysteries by solving lateral-thinking puzzles. Beautiful watercolor art and solid writing, though the puzzle setups become increasingly absurd as the series goes on. A great series to mine for dungeon puzzles. Any games after the first six are not approved, due to the writing devolving into cliche anime bullshit and a distinct drop in puzzle quality after the death of designer Akira Tago.
* '''[[Star Control]]''' series: A mess of alien races in the grand tradition of Niven et al. kill the shit out of each other. First game is turn-based strategy, second game is somewhere between an RPG and an adventure game; both have a surprisingly deep arcade combat system. The second game was released as open-source software by the developers.
*'''Vangers''': A fuckin' weird Russian game about delivering bugs to other bugs in your bug-like car in a world that's filled with bugs and feels like "A Bug's Life" on a DMT trip. Honestly though, if you're a GM who wants to present their players with a totally alien and incomprehensible setting, then this game does it with flying colours.

==Warhammer Games==
*Strategy
** The old and glorious '''[[Warhammer Epic 40,000: Final Liberation]]''', [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat| '''Shadow of the Horned Rat''', and '''Dark Omen''']]
** [[Warhammer: Mark of Chaos|'''Mark of Chaos''']]
** '''[[Dawn of War|WH40K Dawn of War]]''' and its [[Dawn of War II|sequel]]. As well as the [[Dawn of War III|sequel sequel]]
*** The "True-to-Tabletop" [[Dawn of War Mods|mods]] for DoW that sprung up, such as '''Firestorm over ''Kronus/Kaurava''''', the '''Closer to Codex''' mod. Really, just look at the page to see how many there are.
** '''[[Chapter Master (game)]]'''
** '''[[Mordheim: City Of The Damned]]'''
** '''[[Battlefleet Gothic: Armada]]'''
** '''[[Total War: WARHAMMER]]''' and its [[Total War: Warhammer II|sequel]]
** '''[[Man o' War: Corsair]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach]]''' - A turn base strategy game where you playing as everybody's favourite [[Space Wolves|space wolf viking]] fighting against the Orks in Sanctus Reach. Later DLC allowed you playing as the Ork led by Da Big Red and everybody's favorite [[Imperial Guard|wall of guns]]. Also Imperial Knights, fuck yeah!
**'''[[Space Hulk]]''' in its many iterations, including [[Alien Assault|the unofficial one]].
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War]]'''
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus]]'''
*Other
** '''[[Blood Bowl]] and its sequel'''
** <s>'''[[Warhammer Online|Warhammer Age of Reckoning]]'''</s> Shut down thanks to EA. Go play the private server version!
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade]]'''
** '''[[The End Times: Vermintide]]''' and [[Vermintide 2|its sequel]]
** '''Warhammer 40,000: [[Freeblade]]'''
** '''[[Space Hulk: Deathwing]]'''

==Miscellaneous==
* [[Roguelike|Roguelikes]]
** '''Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead''' a post-apocalyptic top-down survival game that looks like Dwarf Fortress with a texture pack and lets you drive cars into zombies.
** '''Cultist Simulator''' is a grind-heavy, card-based game about being too curious about things that no man should know about and slowly building a cult to some demonic abomination... or die trying.
** '''Curious Expedition''' which pokes fun at the pulp adventure genre; think Hollow Earth as a black comedy
** '''[[Darkest Dungeon]]''' the newest [[H.P. Lovecraft|lovecraftian]] dungeon crawler with grimdark setting and overall edginess.
** '''Don't Starve''' a pretty-looking survival and exploration game that's fun with friends, and does horror like ''The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy''.
** '''[[Dungeon Crawl]] Stone Soup'''
** '''Freespace & Freespace II''': The last major standalone space flight sim, ending the genre that had started with Wing Commander and X-Wing/TIE-Fighter.
** '''Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures''' a random-gen adventure game that almost operates like a dungeon crawler and came 20 years too early to get on the roguelike hype.
** '''Nethack'''
** ''' NEOScavenger''' much like Cataclysm (gameplay, genre, even the setting is similar), an exploration hex-crawl to surpass all hex-crawls.
** '''Pathway''', the closest thing to having Hollow Earth Expedition vidya
** '''Pixel Dungeon and it's forks''' coffee break roguelike optimized for phones. FOSS so there's tons of forks. Shattered Pixel Dungeon is a very good version and is on Android Play Store and F-Droid
** ''' Sunless Sea''' and '''Sunless Skies''' Adventuring out into a WTF eldritch horror setting under the flag of Victorian Britain. Gameplay-wise, the games are just awful grinders, but it's their setting and quests that make them interesting, as long as comically dark settings are your thing.
** '''TEARDOWN''', a Space-Hulk roguelike
** '''WarpRogue''', a 40K-inspired roguelike

*Good FPS games
** '''Amnesia series''', The first game in the series rekindled the survival horror genre and was pants-shittingly scary through a clever use of jumpscares, ingenious mechanics discouraging directly looking at the enemies and an amazing atmosphere of gothic horror which slowly turns into the cosmic variety as the story progresses. Unfortunately the latter sequels became a victim of their own success mostly due to oversaturation of survival horror genre, but are nevertheless fine games in their own right.
** '''Bioshock''' series: Bunch of retro-aesthetics crammed into FPS games with what passes as a rich plot and world-building within the genre. Arguing over its content used to be prime [[skub]] material, now it's mostly forgotten.
** '''Borderlands 2''', a memetic lolsrandom dumb game, but special mention goes to '''Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep''' DLC, as it is a role-playing session involving main characters, with all the crazy hijinks of Borderlands involved.
** '''Crysis''', Three games provide a very moddable engine with a very versatile set of physics combined with a pretty absurdly large modding community that has among other things, created a perfectly workable Mech Warrior game out of Crysis Warhead. Even if you don't care for nanosuit action, the mods alone are worth checking out.
** '''Deep Rock Galactic''' [[Squat]]s the video game. Space Dwarfs armed with big guns go digging into a mineral rich planet infested with [[Tyranid|giant bugs]].
** '''Dishonored''', the spiritual successor to Thief except now you are a supernatural assassin in a <s>proto-dieselpunk edwardian-era-esque</s> steampunk world. Good story and fun gameplay with plenty of assassination options.
** '''[[Doom|DOOM]]''', '''Hexen''', and '''Heretic''': With a vibrant community because the games are easy to mod and has produced no shortage of mods (or WADs as they're called in the community (officially, the file extension 'WAD' means 'Where's All the Data?').) Interestingly, Doom was inspired by a D&D game run with Lead Dev John Carmack as the DM. Director John Romero's character recklessly gave a dark tome to a demon in exchange for the magic Daikatana which caused demons to overrun the material plane and the world to end. Visually, parts of the games (Hexen and Heretic especially) are reminiscent of a gothic dungeon.
** '''Escape From Butcher Bay''' a Riddick-licensed game that combines great stealth elements with even better combat sequences and a slight horror vibe, all in the sauce made off used future aesthetics.
** '''[[EYE: Divine Cybermancy]]''': A really weird FPS/RPG due to its cyberpunk fantasy aesthetics, almost an RPG. Extremely buggy due to being a Source Engine game that wasn't made by Valve. The developers absolutely love Warhammer 40,000, made the setting for EYE a lawyer-friendly clone of 40k, and were eventually hired by GW to [[Space Hulk: Deathwing|make the 40k game they wanted to make in the first place.]]
** '''Far Cry''' series, which has completely different tone depending on installment and is just one huge mine of ideas for extremely pulpy scenarios. Special mention goes to Far Cry 3, which pretty much reinvented the franchise, and its standalone expansion Blood Dragon, which is [[Old School Roleplaying|a hilarious parody of the 80s neon aesthetic.]] Far Cry 4 and later installments are not approved for being either heavily rehashed or just completely unnecessary.
** '''Guns of Icarus''', a steampunk flying team deathmatch with set roles.
** '''Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, and Hand Grenades''' - this VR title is unique for being as close to a true-to-life firearms simulator as you can get, having over 400 accurately modeled and functioning firearms ranging from flintlocks to modern weapons. Its also incredibly goofy, with all enemies being giant sentient hot dogs and a few oddball toys thrown in. It's also effectively Team Fortress 2 VR, as the game includes all the stock weapons from TF2 thanks to a collaboration with Valve.
** '''Iron Storm''' - it's 1964 and the World War I is still going on, with complete stalemate perpetuated by industrialists on both sides. Your mission is to infiltrate and destroy nuclear program of the "bad" side. W40k games ''wish'' they were this good in presenting endless, senseless war.
** '''Penumbra series''': The easiest way to describe it is to call it modern take on At the Mountains of Madness, only set in Greenland and with massive conspiracy looming over the story. Warning, '''very''' tense horror games (while avoiding jump scares) with unique control and physics system, so it might not be your cup of tea.
** '''Quake''': At least the early games, for similar reasons for DOOM (they were both made by the same company). Quake 1 is a good and challenging FPS that takes cues from Lovecraft in terms of environments and monster designs. Quake 2 is somewhat easier, but is deliciously grimdark sci-fi; it's about fighting cyborg aliens that make more of themselves by capturing conquered races and fitting them with cybernetics/forcing them into a hive mind against their will.
** '''Republic Commando''', baby's first tactical shooter, but damn if it isn't a good one
** '''[[Team Fortress 2]]''', a game descended from a Quake mod now over 10 years old and still going strong, is a multiplayer FPS with a 1960s theme where players pick a team, one of 9 different classes, and battle to the death. Also, hats. Two hats in this game are 40k references, allowing you to dress your Heavy up as an Ork.
** '''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.''' series: Roadside Picnic: The Video Game. A nice combination of free roaming, excellent gunplay, tense atmosphere and really freaky lore.
** '''Thief 1 & 2''', the grand daddy of stealth games, with one of the most original settings ever created for games (a combination of industrial - but not steampunk - medieval and pagan elements). Strong story, good characters and makes you feel like a master thief indeed. Third game is good provided you get the Sneaky Update. Reboot from 2014 is unapproved and shunned.
** '''Wolfenstein''' series: Combines sci-fi, fantasy and World War II elements amidst the Nazi-killing. This series is downright ancient, predating DOOM and the FPS genre entirely.

*Good TPS games
** '''Freedom Fighters''' another baby's first tactical shooter to fulfill your ''Red Dawn'' fantasies
** '''Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine''' and '''Emperor's Tomb''' Despite what you might think, it's LucasArt ripping-off Tomb Raider, not the other way around.
** '''Max Payne 1 & 2''' Finest product of the neo-noir genre, especially the second game. Amazingly strong story in both games, with a lot of Norse references in the first one. Also, the game that introduced bullet time as game mechanics.
** '''Prince of Persia''', especially the ''Sands of Time'' trilogy. Accept no substitute for Arabian Nights game.
** '''Severance: Blade of Darkness''' Some eight years before Demon Souls you had Severance, while the setting is somewhat generic-ish blade & sorcery meets LOTR, the moody atmosphere, unforgiving gameplay and fun combat more than make up for it. If you have a thing for Soulslike this is just for you.
** '''Styx series''' Great tps assassination games set in a unique high fantasy setting that has you playing as a goblin of all things. Both games are great though the second one takes itself somewhat less seriously than the first.
** '''Tomb Raider series''' Preferably games created by original studio, Core Design, but anything up to Underworld goes. A swift balance between serious and pulp tone, providing simple plots and a more and more complex locations. Also, good source of creative traps. Reboot from 2013 and what follows are disapproved and shunned, being just generic cover shooter. Comes with its own, massive level-making scene, known collectively as '''TRLE''' (after Tomb Raider Level Editor), which by itself is fantastic source of dungeon design, creative traps and excellent puzzles that are all very minable.
* [[Mechwarrior]], because /tg/ loves [[Battletech]].
** '''MechWarrior I''' is lauded as a classic, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior II''' is lauded as the best
** '''MechWarrior III''' is lauded as the most engrossing storywise, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior IV''' is lauded as the latest and greatest, and thus the best
** '''MechCommander II''' is lauded as most like the tabletop, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior: Living Legend''' is lauded as best for multiplayer, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior Online''' is the worst
** '''MechWarrior V''' is the newest, therefore both the best AND worst
* Classic console games
** '''Jet Set/Grind Radio''' seems to have enthused one orky [[drawfag]] to the highest of possible levels, make of that what you will.
** '''Conker's Bad Fur Day''' Looney Toons for adults, and that's just the start of the batshit craziness.
** '''Dungeons and Dragons Order of the Griffon''', a game for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 set in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Uses Basic D&D rules versus the Gold Box games' AD&D rules.
** '''Legacy of Kain series''' Set in a unique fantasy gothic world, the series takes place over ~2000 year timeline that sees you slain and become a vampire demigod Kain in the first game, have you play as the vampire lieutenant Raziel that gets turned into a sentient time-paradox in the second and third game and then switch between the two on an epic, complex and plot ridden story that sees you jump from future to past to present and back again all the while unraveling a conspiracy that spans the material and spectral realms.
** '''[[Metal Gear]]'''
** '''Oddworld series''' A classic platformer set in a grimdark alien world of Oddworld, you play as Abe, a slave turned accidental revolutionary turned messiah for his people as he fights the industrial evil of Glukkons and other vile profiteering species out to stripmine Oddworld for sweet [[Money|moolah]]. There are 4 games in total, minus the recent remakes. First two games are cult-classics and you should play them, Munch's oddysee was the awkward transition to 3D so ok-ish and Stranger's Wrath picked up the pace but as many a grognard will tell you it does not quite reach the heights of elden times. The New'n Tasty and Soulstorm remakes of the original games are all in all decent.
** '''[[Samus|Metroid]]''', '''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''', '''Kid Icarus''', and '''[[Castlevania]]''' (the four games series (with one exception see above) share so much in common they deserve to be discussed together). Why? The exploration-heavy nature of the games, the feeling of growing more powerful as you collect enough gear and relics to make an adventuring party jealous, the incredibly memorable boss battles, interesting backstories (Metroid immerses you in backstory at your pace, via scans and lore pickups, leaving much up to your imagination), and providing many ideas for sci fi or fantasy RPG session.
** '''Shantae series''' You play as a cute genie girl that can turn into various [[Monstergirls]] (harpy, dridder, mermaid, dragon etc.) while platforming and fighting through a colorful middle-east fantasy setting.

==Games that can be used to troll /tg/==
* Most other MMORPGs. [[World of Warcraft]], as the most successful to date, is especially effective. Special points to [[Star Wars: The Old Republic]] for being a massive disappointment for a popular franchise.
* JRPGs, for often recycling the same plots over and over and having identical structure. Along with of course cringy bad character designs in some cases.
* Any of the modern Final Fantasy games, [[Games Workshop|which somehow keep getting sequels despite being financial failures]]. [[This Guy|Some fa/tg/uys]] have a fondness for the early ones, mostly because [[Troll|the first one rips off D&D pretty squarely]].
* [[Skyrim]], a popular well liked meme game that /v/ contrarians and neckbeards with nostalgia goggles will say is shit. Same goes for [[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|Oblivion]], [[Fallout]] 3 and 4, and any future Bethesda RPGs.
* <s>Mentioning the attention Warhammer 40k games have gotten compared to Warhammer Fantasy is a sore spot for Fantasy fans.</s> With the failure that is [[Dawn of War III]] and recent success of [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] and [[Vermintide]], you could say the tables have turned. Actually DoW3 by itself is enough for trolling anyway.
* Sonic The Hedgehog. The fans are everywhere, and the butthurt is unfathomable.
* Nintendo games have ultra-dedicated fanbases, and also hardcore haters, except for series like Metroid, Zelda, Mother, or Kid Icarus which are generally respected. Mentioning Pokemon in a positive light or stating the controller of "the best" console they released is a sex toy may cause an internet fight.
* Games with bad random number generators. Even highly approved of games like Mordheim: City Of The Damned will cause a shitstorm when someone is reminded that a supposed 95% chance to hit can result in four consecutive misses.
* No Man's Sky - such a huge waste of potential, although it got somewhat better with patches. Bringing this game up is a good troll move on /v/ as well, but everything's a good troll move on /v/.
* [[Blizzard]]. JUST. [[Blizzard]]. (''ACTIVISION'' Blizzard now, fuckers! The shit train only goes downhill from here!)

Games that are universally loathed, so you'll probably have to put in some work if you want to troll with:
* Unlike the previous Bethesda RPGs Fallout 76 is actually bad. So if you want to troll people you'll have to pretend to like it. Although, it's so objectively terrible your bait will most likely seem too obvious.
* [[Bioware | Anthem]].
** Almost all "Games as a Service" games released in the wake of Destiny have a similar, if lesser, level of disdain; it's just that Fallout 76 and Anthem were so garbage on release, and had such a CRPG pedigree, that the trolling mines were quickly completely depleted.
* Reminding [[Shadowrun]] fans of the terrible Shadowrun FPS is not going to earn you any goodwill.
* [[Evony]]

==The Game List That People Copypasta==
Every so often, someone posts on /tg/: "Wow, you guys are so smart and cool; can you recommend some [[video games]] to play for those hours when I'm not playing tabletop?". It happens so often that people have made [[copypasta]] for the occasion, even image copypasta.

You will find a lot of those games on [http://www.gog.com/ Good Old Games], DRM free, for 6 or 9 bucks. Or [[Freebooterz|for free if you pirate]], which can often be justified by the original creators leaving the development company so all the [[Profit]] goes to people who don't deserve it. Your choice.

For any video game that someone felt was good enough for a full page on this wiki, see [[:Category:Video_Games|Video Games]]

<center>[[Image:TG_recommended_games1.jpg]]</center>

<center>[[Image:Recommended_vg_2.jpg|900px]]</center>

[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Approved Media]]

Video games

2021-10-14T21:20:36Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Miscellaneous */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Bigpong.jpeg|thumb|People playing a large scale version of the iconic Pong video game at the National Videogame Museum]]
Video games are games played with an electronic device, instead of paper, pens, dice, boards, anything traditional, and most of the time omitting your imagination too. It is also true that they do contain amusing game mechanics, can be easily played alone, provide visual and auditory representation, and don't [[Games Workshop|cost hundreds of dollars for a few miniature visual representations]]; however, this does come at the cost of freedom, physical being, social skills, and imagination.

Many traditional or tabletop games (like WH40K and D&D) can now be played as using electronic devices to substitute for their tactile components like maps or minis, proving once again that technology continues to screw up [[Old School Roleplaying|everything that we all wished had remained as it was.]] A [[VASSAL Game Engine|virtual tabletop simulator]] has been released so you may play a tabletop game with friends out of town. Also, we have an article at [[List of Vidya Board Games]] to cover various tabletop adaptions into the digital realm.

Electronic games played by strange, [[what|electronic fa/tg/uys]] have been accepted by /tg/, so that any game can be traditional, and this media fits right in with the old [[Board Game|board games]] and Tabletop [[Wargame]]s we all know and love. Some video games are accepted and enjoyed by /tg/. Many, however, are not. Generally, video game threads, especially games with no corresponding /tg/ version/interest, belong on /v/ instead.

You'll find quite a few /v/ related articles on 1d4chan because some video games have at least some relation to /tg/ and because 1d4chan tends to draw in people who are fans of WH40K universe primarily through [[Dawn of War]], even if these people don't actually play the tabletop game. And lets be honest here, 1d4chan is as much a page for WH40K fans as it is for fa/tg/uys so these people are certainly welcome here.

==Strategy Games ==
[[Image:Keen.gif|right|300px]]
* Simulation/Sandbox
** '''[[Dwarf Fortress]]''' The legend, the lamentation, the...fun.
** '''Aurora 4X, a.k.a Dwarf Fortress in space with MUCH more complicated details'''
** '''Factorio''', a process building game. The player is stuck on an alien world and trying to build a spaceship to get off said world, but the enormous industrial activity necessary to build a spaceship provokes the local wildlife to attack, necessitating more industry to fight them off.
** '''From The Depths'''
** '''Kerbal Space Program''' A aerospace engineer is you, build space vehicles, manage your own space agency and conduct missions kerbaled and automated across a simulated solar system. Bear in mind, this game involves actual rocket science; you're going to have to learn about things like Delta-V and slingshot maneuvers if you're going to plot a course that won't end with your rocket crashing into the ocean.
** '''Space Engineers''' Build space ships, stations and bases.
*** '''Medieval Engineers''' Build castles, villages and siege equipment.
** '''[[Minecraft]]''', for some odd reason.
** '''[[Terraria]]''', for the same odd reason.
** '''Mount and Blade''', it's expandalone Warband, and the new Bannerlord 2. A sandbox medieval setting, you go around either being a bandit or uniting the scattered kingdoms into a grand empire or whatever. Enormous modding community means finding something thematically different if you want, including Warhammer and historical mods. In facts, the mods are a selling point of the whole thing, given there is one for just about '''any''' setting you can think about.
** '''Rimworld''', Dwarf Fortress ''IN SPEHSS'' except dumbed down for the casuals, [[skub|which may or may not be a good thing.]]
** '''[[Space Station 13]]:''' Dwarf Fortress except you play as the dwarves. Has been completely fucking ruined by goons leaking into every other version of the game.
** '''[[Tabletop Simulator]]''', a virtual tabletop for playing Card Games, Board Games, RPGs, etc. online with friends. The game has multiple built-in tools for creating custom games, and the Steam Workshop has thousands of add-ons; a popular choice for playing WH40K online thanks to ripped assets from Dawn of War.
** '''[[VASSAL Game Engine|VASSAL Engine]]'''

* 4X/Grand Strategy
** '''Age of Wonders''' - Take ''Master of Magic'', then make it good. Due to reasons, the most approved is 2nd game, as it strikes balance between being its own unique thing, having good campaign and not sacrificing gameplay in the process.
** '''Civilization I-IV''' - Civilization actually was based on a board game and in a case of coming full circle, ended up creating it's own board game. Civ IV in particular happens to have a highly active modding scene to this very day, and many of those mods are total overhauls with fantasy settings. One of those is a ''Fall from Heaven'' mod, or rather a series of mods with shared setting. Neat stuff.
*** Note: Civs V and VI have design issues that make them difficult to recommend in this list, and are thus explicitly not included--that being said, this exclusion is more on the basis of them being [[Skub]]ish--some people love V and/or VI, while some people hate them.
** '''[[Disciples]]''' (series) - Heroes of Might and Magic made [[Grimdark]].
** '''[[Dominions]]''' - Civilization's and Dwarf Fortress' beautiful love child. Enjoy [[Lovecraft]]'s Father Dagon square up against Ravana from India's Ramayana as they fight for the glory of their respective gods (you and whatever other [[neckbeards]] you are playing with).
** '''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]''' - Turn based strategy of over six main games and expansions where you control a fantasy hero and their legion of men/elves/dwarves/creatures/etc. Special mention goes to second and especially third installments.
**'''Master of Magic''': Take Sid Meier's Civilization. Add fantasy races with their own units, magic in the form of spells and summons, heroes and a very basic isometric battlefield when armies clash, and give dozens of abilities to units according to their species, situation and metal they are armed with (Yes, the metal used can be mithril or adamantite if the building city has any). That's Master of Magic. Still great for when you need to scratch that 'wizard with no sense of right or wrong bent on conquering the world' itch.
** '''Masters of Orion'''
** '''[[Alpha Centauri|Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'''. Despite starting out as "Civ 2: SPACE EDITION", SMAC became one of the more iconic games of the 90s. In the late 21st century Earth goes to sh*t and a colony ship is dispatched to Alpha Centauri to give humanity a new lease on life. Instead, we start fighting before we even get there and the whole thing eventually spirals off into a free-for all (with aliens joining the fun too!) with transcendence to virtual godhood as the ultimate prize. The game was a great joy to play due to gameplay and strategic depth, an interesting array of futuristic techs mostly rooted in semi-hard science and a plethora of interesting factions and various lore blurbs. Game is so tightly written, people discuss its content to this day. When SJGames released a setting book for GURPS 3e, they didn't have to make up anything at all to get 130 pages of lore.
** '''Sengoku Rance''': [[Weeaboo|Hentai game spinoff]] that parodies the long-running ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' series. You play as Rance, [[Slaanesh]]'s very own [[Kharn|fun guy to be around,]] as he unifies Warring States-era Japan under his mighty [[Anal circumference|"hyperweapon."]] Despite the utterly ludicrous premise it's a solid grand strategy game, to the point that the porn is more of a reward for playing well than an end in itself. Comparing this game to Total War was a common troll on /gsg/ when Shogun II was released.
** '''Endless Space 1&2''' The first game is ok and free to play, but the second one is where it's at as it does everything the original did better and then some.
** '''[[Endless Legend]]'''
** '''Distant Worlds'''
** Paradox series: This is the go-to company for nation-ruling Grand Strategy games for different eras such as '''[[Crusader Kings]]''' 800's-1400's, '''[[Europa Universalis]]''' 1400's-1800's, '''[[Victoria]]''' 1820's-1936, or '''[[Hearts of Iron]]''' 1936-1950's.
*** [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=406933979 Warhammer: Geheimnisnacht], a Warhammer Fantasy conversion for Crusader Kings II. Setting predates Winds of Chaos & End Times.
** '''[[Stellaris]]''' Paradox's attempt to fill the gap in the market between their Grand Strategy games and traditional 4X. You can run *any* science fiction staple idea and none would look out of place. A civilisation of individuals ranging from unique megacorporations to generic governments, hive-minded eusocial species, robots and anything in between each have unique playstyles. It also has endgame "crises" of galaxy threatening proportions which needs elaborate teamwork to stop.
*** Excellent 40k mod for Stellaris: https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/WarhammerTotalConversion
*** And yes, there's Star Trek and Star Wars mods.
** '''[[Total War]]''' series: '''Rome Total War''', '''Medieval Total War''', '''Empire Total War''', '''Shogun Total War'''
*** Rome 1 mods: '''Call to Arms: Warhammer''' and '''Fourth Age Total War''' and Medieval 2 mods: '''[[Call of Warhammer]]''', '''Third Age Total War'''

* Real-time Strategy
** '''Age of Empires''' series. Classic RTS with a more Command and Conquer vibe then a 4X, which is more common for historical settings, though pretty much every unit has multiple counters so it tends to be a more complex game then normal fast pace RTSs. There's the original, which is a curiosity at best, the second game that is made of pure gold, Mythology that mixes up the formula well, the third which sadly is more just Mythology with guns and Online which is F2P game and also dead (unless you play Project Celeste, which is still getting updated by fans). First, Second and Mythology have really good HD remasters. First and Second have also 4k remakes (not remaster), called Definitive Editions. Second and Mythology are worth grabbing, but if you had to choose one choose 2. They are currently developing the next game in the series, AoE IV.
** '''Battlezone''', the strategy game not the arcade game. Mixture of real time strategy and hover tank combat while fighting commies on the moon. Clunky, and as balanced as a one legged hippo, but it's uniqueness, concept and immersion make it a classic. Got a second game that was tighter and better balanced but weaker plot and setting. Both got pretty decent HD remasters.
** '''[[Command and Conquer]]''', a franchise with more then four different series running at the time where you control varied forces trying to beat the crap out of each other.
** '''Company of Heroes''' and '''Men of War''' series which are basically RTSs based on the idea of commanding forces as if someone was playing a classic WW2 shooter. While there are hard counters in Company of Heroes it still focuses more on holding chokepoints, piecing defensive lines and utilizing sandbags and barbed wire. Men at War focuses on realistic damage and as such is more the ARMA to Company of Heroes Call of Duty 2.
** '''Cossacks''' series, which covers 17th and 18th century, being the closest to /tg/'s desire to have "pike and shot setting". Most notable for ability to field absolutely gigantic armies of thousands upon thousands of soldiers.
*** '''American Conquest''' is an off-shot mini-series, expanding game mechanics from Cossacks and covering the period between Cortes conquest of Aztec Empire till American Revolutionary War. An expansion is dedicated to American Civil War.
** '''Cultures''' series, but most importantly first two games. A Viking village sim
** '''Dungeon Keeper''', where you play as an evil overlord defending against pesky adventurers and goodie-two-shoes trying to conquer your dungeon, and play it like Sims on crack.
** '''Homeworld''': THE iconic space video game of the early 00's. Basically Battlestar Galactica if the Galactica was tall instead of long. Borrows heavily from the artwork of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Foss Chris Foss].
** '''Original War''', most notable for its unique mix of RPG and RTS elements, with each unit representing an individual character with own backstory, personality and set of skills.
** '''Patrician 3: Rise of the Hansa''' is pretty standard (and good) economic-transport sim, but it makes up with being related with the titular Hansa and the Baltic region during Late Medieval, which rarely show up as a setting despite being what is represented as '''the''' ISO Standard Medieval setting.
** '''Railroad Tycoon 2''' comes with absolutely amazing series of scenarios and an unique, fleshed out post-apo setting. No, not kidding. There are also dozens of fan-made maps further expanding on said setting.
** '''Rise of Nations''' and especially '''Rise of Legends''' which had a steampunk faction and a "totally not the baddies from Stargate" faction
** '''The Settlers''' series, especially the I-IV parts. This is less of a straight RTS and more a space-management game, where you're building the most efficient transport system for your settlement, particularly in first two games, with their iconic flag-and-road system. Plot-wise, S3 and 4 are great kitchen-sink settings and Amazones are hot.
** '''[[Starcraft]]''' and '''[[Warcraft]]''': [[Skub|40K and Fantasy rip-offs respectively]], although they were so successful that from video gamers' perspective <del>the jedi are evil</del> ''GW should be paying Blizzard''.
** '''Supreme Commander''', the closest thing to "modern" remake of ''Total Annihilation'' and of course "the endless war IN SPESS!" setting that everyone loves so much.
** '''Theocracy''', in which you control one of Mesoamerican tribes with a goal of unifying the region.
** '''Total Annihilation''' The game that started it all when it it comes to RTS. Not much of a story but it had great gameplay that laid the foundations for the stuff to come. There was also a fantasy sequel "Kingdoms" that had a great story and lore (rivaling that of Warcraft at the time) but abysmal gameplay.
** '''Transarctica''' A bizzare mix of an economic sim, adventure game and a railroad simulator. After an experiment to slow down global warming caused a new ice-age, there are only massive trains going through the ice wasteland between the handful of surviving cities and coal mines. Your task is to bring Sun back from beyond the thick clouds surrounding Earth. Very atypical gameplay. And if the premise sounds familiar, it has the same source material as ''Snowpiercer''.
** '''Warfront: Turning Point''': WW2, but everyone fielding experimental mecha, pulp super-weapons and other silly things. Notably, defense buildings come with FPS mode (and this can greatly increase their performance), while weather and terrain affect everything in variety of ways.

* Turn-based Strategy
** '''[[Advance Wars|Advance Wars]]''' - It's like Panzer General but [[Anime]]. Except for '''Days of Ruin'''; that game is [[Grimdark]] and thus [[Fist of the North Star|manly]].
** '''[[Fire Emblem]]''' - Advance Wars' twin brother who likes swords and magic rather than guns and tanks. Fire Emblem has heavy RPG elements, tasking you with managing a stable of characters with limited EXP to go around and the specter of permadeath hanging overhead. ''Awakening'' and later installments are not approved for being [[Weeaboo|waifu delivery systems cleverly disguised as strategy games.]]
** '''Jagged Alliance I''' & '''II''', A PMC is you!
** '''[[King of Dragon Pass]]'''
** '''Panzer General''' - The first decent "Tabletop WW2 meets PC" back in '94, it's the second inspiration for [[Nazi Equipment]] and is the Mecca of wehraboo'ism. Spawned an entire series of games.
*** Of note from that series: '''Fantasy General''', which is, other than some rather questionable AI balancing, a fairly fun "D&D Wargame" style affair.
** '''Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale''' a Japanese game about running a shop, which sells and buys items used by dungeon-crawling adventurers. Much more engaging than it sounds and full of cutting humour. Capitalism, ho!
** '''Valkyria Chronicles''' series - JRPG fantasy world version of World War II. Quite a bit of depth and supporting cast of characters.
** The '''UFO: After[X]''' series which is essentially an X-Com made grimdark. How grim? The ''bad'' ending of the first game, ''Aftermath'', is canon.
** The original '''[[X-Com|X-COM: UFO Defense]]'''
** The new '''[[X-Com|XCOM: Enemy Unknown]]''' and its sequel, '''XCOM 2'''.
*** XCOM and XCOM 2 mods: '''The Long War'''. Both versions add dramatically to their respective games, transforming them from comparatively quick, light experiences to fatigue-worn wars. Buckle up. Plays a lot like Valkyria Chronicles except with destructable terrain and lots of chest-high walls.

==Role-Playing Games==
*[[cRPG]]s
** '''Albion''' Duo of space janitors crash-land on a planet that will be soon strip-mined, only to find out there is local, if Iron Age tier population of few intelligent species.
** '''[[Arcanum]]: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura''' Fallout, but set in a fantasy world where magic and technology coexist and fight each other. The story takes your party across the world as you try to unravel a plot that threatens not only the world but the very concept of life itself.
** '''Arx Fatalis''' A decent but pretty generic RPG if not for the fact that you appear in an underground kingdom in a world that had it's sun extinguished and surface turned into frozen waste. The magic system is also unique as you perform gestures with your mouse in order to cast spells, which is as fun as it is inconvenient (mage-knight build is a necessity due to this).
** '''[[Baldur's Gate]] I''' & '''II'''
** '''Battle for Wesnoth''' An Aussie who played too much jRPGs made a hex-based battle mini games that happens to be one of the more balanced things on the market.
** '''Betrayal at Krondor'''
** '''Darklands''' Adventures of a roaming party in the 15th century <s>Holy Roman Empire</s> Germany. Probably the lowest possible low fantasy to still qualify as such, rather than just historical setting.
** '''Deus Ex''' series. THE cyberpunk RPG. So good that it managed to incorporate nearly every conspiracy theory into its story and make them actually work well together.
** '''[[Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box Series]]''' (also includes some Buck Rogers games because of Lorraine Williams)
** '''[[The Elder Scrolls]]''' especially Daggerfall, and Morrowind as the other ones are pretty generic and thus boring.
** '''[[Fallout]]''' series.
** '''[[Icewind Dale]]'''
** '''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'''
** '''Might and Magic from 1 to 8, then X. [[Squats|Might and Magic 9 does not exist.]]
** '''[[Planescape: Torment]]''' Storyfags' and Lorefags' wet dream.
** '''System Shock''' series
** '''The Temple of Elemental Evil'''
** '''[[Ultima]]''' series - see Might & Magic above and retain the "ignore 9" rule.
** '''Underrail''' ''Metro 2033'' (setting) meets classic ''Fallout'' (gameplay) and decides to have a foursome with cosmic horror and space opera. Try it or get dominated, pipeworker.
** '''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]] - ''Bloodlines/Redemption''''' Bloodlines was Troika's last hurrah and after you apply the official and fan patches you will see why. Redemption is also good but not as much as Bl.
** '''Wasteland''' series
** '''[[Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord]]'''

*Modern RPGs
** '''The Banner Saga'''
** '''Dark Souls''', due to its moody [[Berserk]]-inspired atmosphere, emphasis on exploration, and [[Dwarf Fortress|merciless learning curve]]. Compelling story and characters are a major plus, also contains large amounts of death and [[RAGE]]. The tagline isn't 'Prepare to Die' for no reason.
*** To a lesser extent, the other "Souls" games ('''Demon's Souls''', '''Dark Souls 2''', '''Dark Souls 3''', '''Bloodborne''', and '''Sekiro''').
** '''Deus Ex: Human Revolution''' While not nearly as broad or deep as the original, it still manages to capture some of it's essence and is a fine RPG in it's own right.
** '''Dragon Age: Origins''' Much better than later games. Has the added bonus of having an actual conclusion; the sequels tend to end on unsatisfying cliffhangers.
** '''Disco Elysium''' [[Planescape: Torment]], except you're an Alcoholic, deadbeat detective.
** '''Expeditions: Conquistador''' and '''Viking'''
** '''Fallout: New Vegas''' Made by the team that made the classics, and it shows.
** '''Kingdom Come: Deliverance''' A truly generic story of "from zero to hero", involving blacksmith's son climbing the social ladder of medieval society until knighthood. But what makes the game unique is the fact it's a historical RPG, set in specific area of Bohemia during a specific period with autistic levels of research behind it, providing more data about its own setting than your typical edutainment game.
** '''Legend of Grimrock'''
** '''Mass Effect 1 and 2''' Grand space opera to rival that of Star Wars in the levels of epic.
** '''Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor''' A fun uruk/olog hunting/recruiting game with some [[Skub|contentious]] framing, particularly in the sequel ([[Monstergirl]] [[What|Shelob]], among other things). Think of it as "Arkham's Creed: Middle-Earth Edition."
** '''Pillars of Eternity''' Set in the world of Eora where souls are tangible and measurable rather than being metaphysical/religious concepts. With the advance of technology and Animancy (science of souls) the world is set up for some radical upheavals, and that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Billed as a spiritual successor to Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale the game accomplishes - for the most part - what it sets out to do and is one of the better cRPGs in recent times.
** '''Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic''' Both games are very good, the second just needs the Restored Content mod.
** '''State of Decay''', the only good thing that came out of the early 2010s zombie craze. If you ever planned to run a zombie campaign, just rip the whole thing off - unlike other vidya rip-offs, this one works out great. Only the first game is approved.
** '''[[The Witcher]]''' series
** '''Pathfinder [[Kingmaker]]'''
** '''Tyranny''' From the same devs that made ''Pillars of Eternity''. This time you are cast into the world of Terratus, a high-fantasy world which is just about to exit its Bronze Age, and as another twist to the ol' formula, you are a mid-ranking minion of the setting's overlord tasked with mediating conflicts and bringing "justice" through their empire. Story and gameplay are just as good as PoE, but the game was released in a rushed state with many things missing. Still, good for ~20hrs of fun or as an entry-level cRPG.

==Adventure Games==
* '''Animation Arts''': Not the game, but a German game dev studio. If you ever wanted to run a cheesy game that's either pulp or B-movie, look no further for inspiration, since this is their speciality.
* '''Beneath a Steel Sky''': Great cyberpunk themes and rich imagery. Released as freeware by the original developers.
* '''Blade Runner''': It's a Blade Runner game and it's one of the best things that ever happened in the genre, no need for more recommendations.
* '''Broken Sword''' series: Templars, ancient conspiracies, interesting characters and well-written plot that is mineable even for tabletop games
* '''Chains of Satinav''' and '''Memoria''': Exactly how many adventure games you know that are set in [[The_Dark_Eye|Dere]] and are good?
* '''The DIG''': A bunch of astronauts stop an asteroid from hitting earth, only to find out it's really an alien starship that whisks them to a desolate planet on the other side of the galaxy whose inhabitants - who have a huge fetish for the platonic solids - are nowhere to be found. Features a lot of really complex hard-science plot points, difficult-as-fuck puzzles, and Steve Blum as an arrogant German scientist.
* '''Indiana Jones and the Fate Of Atlantis''': One of the classics that you can't just go wrong with. Aside being a good adventure game by itself, comes with kinda-sorta branching plot, so you can approach same situations differently.
* '''King's Quest VI: Heir Today Gone Tomorrow''': Just read the title and ask yourself what the game can be about. This series is downright ancient, so be warned. VI is well regarded as the best one and holds up relatively well, though fan remakes of the older games in the style of VI are also available.
* '''Monkey Island''' series: One of the most definitive things to ever happen to the genre, plus it's a great pirate-themed series that both spoofs and reaffirms a lot of cliches related with own content.
* '''Policenauts''': Early Hideo Kojima makes a game where Lethal Weapon meets cyberpunk.
* '''The Prince and the Coward''': A Polish game that can be best summed up as "ISO Standard Medieval Fantasy gets the ''Monkey Island'' treatment". An excellent fan-translation exists that manages to keep the original tone.
* '''Pathologic''' (also known as '''Pestilence''' or '''Мор. Утопия'''): a truly bizarre and unique Russian game combining adventure, survival, role-playing and lots of nightmarish vibes. Boasts headache-inducing lore and a persistent world, so things roll regardless of the player interfering or not. Got a HD re-release recently with proper translation, so non-Slavs can finally enjoy the game - the previous English translation was a nightmare by itself.
**'''[[Pathologic 2]]''': A remake of the original (or, rather, one storyline of the original), but with updated graphics and mechanics plus a couple of story tweaks. Retains many of the anxiety-inducing survival mechanics and nightmarish atmosphere of the first game and, generally, is a much more streamlined experience. As such, it is generally recommended to newcomers over the original. Only ⅓ of the original game is there, due to limitations in budget; the rest may come depending on how well the game sells (devs have confirmed they are working on the bachelor's campaign, however).
* '''Professor Layton''' series: A refined gentleman investigates mysteries by solving lateral-thinking puzzles. Beautiful watercolor art and solid writing, though the puzzle setups become increasingly absurd as the series goes on. A great series to mine for dungeon puzzles. Any games after the first six are not approved, due to the writing devolving into cliche anime bullshit and a distinct drop in puzzle quality after the death of designer Akira Tago.
* '''[[Star Control]]''' series: A mess of alien races in the grand tradition of Niven et al. kill the shit out of each other. First game is turn-based strategy, second game is somewhere between an RPG and an adventure game; both have a surprisingly deep arcade combat system. The second game was released as open-source software by the developers.
*'''Vangers''': A fuckin' weird Russian game about delivering bugs to other bugs in your bug-like car in a world that's filled with bugs and feels like "A Bug's Life" on a DMT trip. Honestly though, if you're a GM who wants to present their players with a totally alien and incomprehensible setting, then this game does it with flying colours.

==Warhammer Games==
*Strategy
** The old and glorious '''[[Warhammer Epic 40,000: Final Liberation]]''', [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat| '''Shadow of the Horned Rat''', and '''Dark Omen''']]
** [[Warhammer: Mark of Chaos|'''Mark of Chaos''']]
** '''[[Dawn of War|WH40K Dawn of War]]''' and its [[Dawn of War II|sequel]]. As well as the [[Dawn of War III|sequel sequel]]
*** The "True-to-Tabletop" [[Dawn of War Mods|mods]] for DoW that sprung up, such as '''Firestorm over ''Kronus/Kaurava''''', the '''Closer to Codex''' mod. Really, just look at the page to see how many there are.
** '''[[Chapter Master (game)]]'''
** '''[[Mordheim: City Of The Damned]]'''
** '''[[Battlefleet Gothic: Armada]]'''
** '''[[Total War: WARHAMMER]]''' and its [[Total War: Warhammer II|sequel]]
** '''[[Man o' War: Corsair]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach]]''' - A turn base strategy game where you playing as everybody's favourite [[Space Wolves|space wolf viking]] fighting against the Orks in Sanctus Reach. Later DLC allowed you playing as the Ork led by Da Big Red and everybody's favorite [[Imperial Guard|wall of guns]]. Also Imperial Knights, fuck yeah!
**'''[[Space Hulk]]''' in its many iterations, including [[Alien Assault|the unofficial one]].
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War]]'''
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus]]'''
*Other
** '''[[Blood Bowl]] and its sequel'''
** <s>'''[[Warhammer Online|Warhammer Age of Reckoning]]'''</s> Shut down thanks to EA. Go play the private server version!
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade]]'''
** '''[[The End Times: Vermintide]]''' and [[Vermintide 2|its sequel]]
** '''Warhammer 40,000: [[Freeblade]]'''
** '''[[Space Hulk: Deathwing]]'''

==Miscellaneous==
* [[Roguelike|Roguelikes]]
** '''Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead''' a post-apocalyptic top-down survival game that looks like Dwarf Fortress with a texture pack and lets you drive cars into zombies.
** '''Cultist Simulator''' is a grind-heavy, card-based game about being too curious about things that no man should know about and slowly building a cult to some demonic abomination... or die trying.
** '''Curious Expedition''' which pokes fun at the pulp adventure genre; think Hollow Earth as a black comedy
** '''[[Darkest Dungeon]]''' the newest [[H.P. Lovecraft|lovecraftian]] dungeon crawler with grimdark setting and overall edginess.
** '''Don't Starve''' a pretty-looking survival and exploration game that's fun with friends, and does horror like ''The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy''.
** '''[[Dungeon Crawl]] Stone Soup'''
** '''Freespace & Freespace II''': The last major standalone space flight sim, ending the genre that had started with Wing Commander and X-Wing/TIE-Fighter.
** '''Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures''' a random-gen adventure game that almost operates like a dungeon crawler and came 20 years too early to get on the roguelike hype.
** '''Nethack'''
** ''' NEOScavenger''' much like Cataclysm (gameplay, genre, even the setting is similar), an exploration hex-crawl to surpass all hex-crawls.
** '''Pathway''', the closest thing to having Hollow Earth Expedition vidya
** '''Pixel Dungeon and it's forks''' coffee break roguelike optimized for phones. FOSS so there's tons of forks. Shattered Pixel Dungeon is a very good version and is on Android Play Store and F-Droid
** ''' Sunless Sea''' and '''Sunless Skies''' Adventuring out into a WTF eldritch horror setting under the flag of Victorian Britain. Gameplay-wise, the games are just awful grinders, but it's their setting and quests that make them interesting, as long as comically dark settings are your thing.
** '''TEARDOWN''', a Space-Hulk roguelike
** '''WarpRogue''', a 40K-inspired roguelike

*Good FPS games
** '''Amnesia series''', The first game in the series rekindled the survival horror genre and was pants-shittingly scary through a clever use of jumpscares, ingenious mechanics discouraging directly looking at the enemies and an amazing atmosphere of gothic horror which slowly turns into the cosmic variety as the story progresses. Unfortunately the latter sequels became a victim of their own success mostly due to oversaturation of survival horror genre, but are nevertheless fine games in their own right.
** '''Bioshock''' series: Bunch of retro-aesthetics crammed into FPS games with what passes as a rich plot and world-building within the genre. Arguing over its content used to be prime [[skub]] material, now it's mostly forgotten.
** '''Borderlands 2''', a memetic lolsrandom dumb game, but special mention goes to '''Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep''' DLC, as it is a role-playing session involving main characters, with all the crazy hijinks of Borderlands involved.
** '''Crysis''', Three games provide a very moddable engine with a very versatile set of physics combined with a pretty absurdly large modding community that has among other things, created a perfectly workable Mech Warrior game out of Crysis Warhead. Even if you don't care for nanosuit action, the mods alone are worth checking out.
** '''Deep Rock Galactic''' [[Squat]]s the video game. Space Dwarfs armed with big guns go digging into a mineral rich planet infested with [[Tyranid|giant bugs]].
** '''Dishonored''', the spiritual successor to Thief except now you are a supernatural assassin in a <s>proto-dieselpunk edwardian-era-esque</s> steampunk world. Good story and fun gameplay with plenty of assassination options.
** '''[[Doom|DOOM]]''', '''Hexen''', and '''Heretic''': With a vibrant community because the games are easy to mod and has produced no shortage of mods (or WADs as they're called in the community (officially, the file extension 'WAD' means 'Where's All the Data?').) Interestingly, Doom was inspired by a D&D game run with Lead Dev John Carmack as the DM. Director John Romero's character recklessly gave a dark tome to a demon in exchange for the magic Daikatana which caused demons to overrun the material plane and the world to end. Visually, parts of the games (Hexen and Heretic especially) are reminiscent of a gothic dungeon.
** '''Escape From Butcher Bay''' a Riddick-licensed game that combines great stealth elements with even better combat sequences and a slight horror vibe, all in the sauce made off used future aesthetics.
** '''[[EYE: Divine Cybermancy]]''': A really weird FPS/RPG due to its cyberpunk fantasy aesthetics, almost an RPG. Extremely buggy due to being a Source Engine game that wasn't made by Valve. The developers absolutely love Warhammer 40,000, made the setting for EYE a lawyer-friendly clone of 40k, and were eventually hired by GW to [[Space Hulk: Deathwing|make the 40k game they wanted to make in the first place.]]
** '''Far Cry''' series, which has completely different tone depending on installment and is just one huge mine of ideas for extremely pulpy scenarios. Special mention goes to Far Cry 3, which pretty much reinvented the franchise, and its standalone expansion Blood Dragon, which is [[Old School Roleplaying|a hilarious parody of the 80s neon aesthetic.]] Far Cry 4 and later installments are not approved for being either heavily rehashed or just completely unnecessary.
** '''Guns of Icarus''', a steampunk flying team deathmatch with set roles.
** '''Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, and Hand Grenades''' - this VR title is unique for being as close to a true-to-life firearms simulator as you can get, having over 400 accurately modeled and functioning firearms ranging from flintlocks to modern weapons. Its also incredibly goofy, with all enemies being giant sentient hot dogs and a few oddball toys thrown in. It's also effectively Team Fortress 2 VR, as the game includes all the stock weapons from TF2 thanks to a collaboration with Valve.
** '''Iron Storm''' - it's 1964 and the World War I is still going on, with complete stalemate perpetuated by industrialists on both sides. Your mission is to infiltrate and destroy nuclear program of the "bad" side. W40k games ''wish'' they were this good in presenting endless, senseless war.
** '''Penumbra series''': The easiest way to describe it is to call it modern take on At the Mountains of Madness, only set in Greenland and with massive conspiracy looming over the story. Warning, '''very''' tense horror games (while avoiding jump scares) with unique control and physics system, so it might not be your cup of tea.
** '''Quake''': At least the early games, for similar reasons for DOOM (they were both made by the same company). Quake 1 is a good and challenging FPS that takes cues from Lovecraft in terms of environments and monster designs. Quake 2 is somewhat easier, but is deliciously grimdark sci-fi; it's about fighting cyborg aliens that make more of themselves by capturing conquered races and fitting them with cybernetics/forcing them into a hive mind against their will.
** '''Republic Commando''', baby's first tactical shooter, but damn if it isn't a good one
** '''[[Team Fortress 2]]''', a game descended from a Quake mod now over 10 years old and still going strong, is a multiplayer FPS with a 1960s theme where players pick a team, one of 9 different classes, and battle to the death. Also, hats. Two hats in this game are 40k references, allowing you to dress your Heavy up as an Ork.
** '''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.''' series: Roadside Picnic: The Video Game. A nice combination of free roaming, excellent gunplay, tense atmosphere and really freaky lore.
** '''Thief 1 & 2''', the grand daddy of stealth games, with one of the most original settings ever created for games (a combination of industrial - but not steampunk - medieval and pagan elements). Strong story, good characters and makes you feel like a master thief indeed. Third game is good provided you get the Sneaky Update. Reboot from 2014 is unapproved and shunned.
** '''Wolfenstein''' series: Combines sci-fi, fantasy and World War II elements amidst the Nazi-killing. This series is downright ancient, predating DOOM and the FPS genre entirely.

*Good TPS games
** '''Freedom Fighters''' another baby's first tactical shooter to fulfill your ''Red Dawn'' fantasies
** '''Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine''' and '''Emperor's Tomb''' Despite what you might think, it's LucasArt ripping-off Tomb Raider, not the other way around.
** '''Max Payne 1 & 2''' Finest product of the neo-noir genre, especially the second game. Amazingly strong story in both games, with a lot of Norse references in the first one. Also, the game that introduced bullet time as game mechanics.
** '''Prince of Persia''', especially the ''Sands of Time'' trilogy. Accept no substitute for Arabian Nights game.
** '''Severance: Blade of Darkness''' Some eight years before Demon Souls you had Severance, while the setting is somewhat generic-ish blade & sorcery meets LOTR, the moody atmosphere, unforgiving gameplay and fun combat more than make up for it. If you have a thing for Soulslike this is just for you.
** '''Styx series''' Great tps assassination games set in a unique high fantasy setting that has you playing as a goblin of all things. Both games are great though the second one takes itself somewhat less seriously than the first.
** '''Tomb Raider series''' Preferably games created by original studio, Core Design, but anything up to Underworld goes. A swift balance between serious and pulp tone, providing simple plots and a more and more complex locations. Also, good source of creative traps. Reboot from 2013 and what follows are disapproved and shunned, being just generic cover shooter. Comes with its own, massive level-making scene, known collectively as '''TRLE''' (after Tomb Raider Level Editor), which by itself is fantastic source of dungeon design, creative traps and excellent puzzles that are all very minable.
* [[Mechwarrior]], because /tg/ loves [[Battletech]].
** '''MechWarrior I''' is lauded as a classic, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior II''' is lauded as the best
** '''MechWarrior III''' is lauded as the most engrossing storywise, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior IV''' is lauded as the latest and greatest, and thus the best
** '''MechCommander II''' is lauded as most like the tabletop, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior: Living Legend''' is lauded as best for multiplayer, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior Online''' is the worst
** '''MechWarrior V''' is the newest, therefore both the best AND worst
* Classic console games
** '''Jet Set/Grind Radio''' seems to have enthused one orky [[drawfag]] to the highest of possible levels, make of that what you will.
** '''Conker's Bad Fur Day''' Looney Toons for adults, and that's just the start of the batshit craziness.
** '''Dungeons and Dragons Order of the Griffon''', a game for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 set in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Uses Basic D&D rules versus the Gold Box games' AD&D rules.
** '''Legacy of Kain series''' Set in a unique fantasy gothic world, the series takes place over ~2000 year timeline that sees you slain and become a vampire demigod Kain in the first game, have you play as the vampire lieutenant Raziel that gets turned into a sentient time-paradox in the second and third game and then switch between the two on an epic, complex and plot ridden story that sees you jump from future to past to present and back again all the while unraveling a conspiracy that spans the material and spectral realms.
** '''[[Metal Gear]]'''
** '''Oddworld series''' A classic platformer set in a grimdark alien world of Oddworld, you play as Abe, a slave turned accidental revolutionary turned messiah for his people as he fights the industrial evil of Glukkons and other vile profiteering species out to stripmine Oddworld for sweet [[Money|moolah]]. There are 4 games in total, minus the recent remakes. First two games are cult-classics and you should play them, Munch's oddysee was the awkward transition to 3D so ok-ish and Stranger's Wrath picked up the pace but as many a grognard will tell you it does not quite reach the heights of elden times. The New'n Tasty and Soulstorm remakes of the original games and are all in all decent.
** '''[[Samus|Metroid]]''', '''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''', '''Kid Icarus''', and '''[[Castlevania]]''' (the four games series (with one exception see above) share so much in common they deserve to be discussed together). Why? The exploration-heavy nature of the games, the feeling of growing more powerful as you collect enough gear and relics to make an adventuring party jealous, the incredibly memorable boss battles, interesting backstories (Metroid immerses you in backstory at your pace, via scans and lore pickups, leaving much up to your imagination), and providing many ideas for sci fi or fantasy RPG session.
** '''Shantae series''' You play as a cute genie girl that can turn into various [[Monstergirls]] (harpy, dridder, mermaid, dragon etc.) while platforming and fighting through a colorful middle-east fantasy setting.

==Games that can be used to troll /tg/==
* Most other MMORPGs. [[World of Warcraft]], as the most successful to date, is especially effective. Special points to [[Star Wars: The Old Republic]] for being a massive disappointment for a popular franchise.
* JRPGs, for often recycling the same plots over and over and having identical structure. Along with of course cringy bad character designs in some cases.
* Any of the modern Final Fantasy games, [[Games Workshop|which somehow keep getting sequels despite being financial failures]]. [[This Guy|Some fa/tg/uys]] have a fondness for the early ones, mostly because [[Troll|the first one rips off D&D pretty squarely]].
* [[Skyrim]], a popular well liked meme game that /v/ contrarians and neckbeards with nostalgia goggles will say is shit. Same goes for [[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|Oblivion]], [[Fallout]] 3 and 4, and any future Bethesda RPGs.
* <s>Mentioning the attention Warhammer 40k games have gotten compared to Warhammer Fantasy is a sore spot for Fantasy fans.</s> With the failure that is [[Dawn of War III]] and recent success of [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] and [[Vermintide]], you could say the tables have turned. Actually DoW3 by itself is enough for trolling anyway.
* Sonic The Hedgehog. The fans are everywhere, and the butthurt is unfathomable.
* Nintendo games have ultra-dedicated fanbases, and also hardcore haters, except for series like Metroid, Zelda, Mother, or Kid Icarus which are generally respected. Mentioning Pokemon in a positive light or stating the controller of "the best" console they released is a sex toy may cause an internet fight.
* Games with bad random number generators. Even highly approved of games like Mordheim: City Of The Damned will cause a shitstorm when someone is reminded that a supposed 95% chance to hit can result in four consecutive misses.
* No Man's Sky - such a huge waste of potential, although it got somewhat better with patches. Bringing this game up is a good troll move on /v/ as well, but everything's a good troll move on /v/.
* [[Blizzard]]. JUST. [[Blizzard]]. (''ACTIVISION'' Blizzard now, fuckers! The shit train only goes downhill from here!)

Games that are universally loathed, so you'll probably have to put in some work if you want to troll with:
* Unlike the previous Bethesda RPGs Fallout 76 is actually bad. So if you want to troll people you'll have to pretend to like it. Although, it's so objectively terrible your bait will most likely seem too obvious.
* [[Bioware | Anthem]].
** Almost all "Games as a Service" games released in the wake of Destiny have a similar, if lesser, level of disdain; it's just that Fallout 76 and Anthem were so garbage on release, and had such a CRPG pedigree, that the trolling mines were quickly completely depleted.
* Reminding [[Shadowrun]] fans of the terrible Shadowrun FPS is not going to earn you any goodwill.
* [[Evony]]

==The Game List That People Copypasta==
Every so often, someone posts on /tg/: "Wow, you guys are so smart and cool; can you recommend some [[video games]] to play for those hours when I'm not playing tabletop?". It happens so often that people have made [[copypasta]] for the occasion, even image copypasta.

You will find a lot of those games on [http://www.gog.com/ Good Old Games], DRM free, for 6 or 9 bucks. Or [[Freebooterz|for free if you pirate]], which can often be justified by the original creators leaving the development company so all the [[Profit]] goes to people who don't deserve it. Your choice.

For any video game that someone felt was good enough for a full page on this wiki, see [[:Category:Video_Games|Video Games]]

<center>[[Image:TG_recommended_games1.jpg]]</center>

<center>[[Image:Recommended_vg_2.jpg|900px]]</center>

[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Approved Media]]

Video games

2021-10-14T21:14:23Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Miscellaneous */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Bigpong.jpeg|thumb|People playing a large scale version of the iconic Pong video game at the National Videogame Museum]]
Video games are games played with an electronic device, instead of paper, pens, dice, boards, anything traditional, and most of the time omitting your imagination too. It is also true that they do contain amusing game mechanics, can be easily played alone, provide visual and auditory representation, and don't [[Games Workshop|cost hundreds of dollars for a few miniature visual representations]]; however, this does come at the cost of freedom, physical being, social skills, and imagination.

Many traditional or tabletop games (like WH40K and D&D) can now be played as using electronic devices to substitute for their tactile components like maps or minis, proving once again that technology continues to screw up [[Old School Roleplaying|everything that we all wished had remained as it was.]] A [[VASSAL Game Engine|virtual tabletop simulator]] has been released so you may play a tabletop game with friends out of town. Also, we have an article at [[List of Vidya Board Games]] to cover various tabletop adaptions into the digital realm.

Electronic games played by strange, [[what|electronic fa/tg/uys]] have been accepted by /tg/, so that any game can be traditional, and this media fits right in with the old [[Board Game|board games]] and Tabletop [[Wargame]]s we all know and love. Some video games are accepted and enjoyed by /tg/. Many, however, are not. Generally, video game threads, especially games with no corresponding /tg/ version/interest, belong on /v/ instead.

You'll find quite a few /v/ related articles on 1d4chan because some video games have at least some relation to /tg/ and because 1d4chan tends to draw in people who are fans of WH40K universe primarily through [[Dawn of War]], even if these people don't actually play the tabletop game. And lets be honest here, 1d4chan is as much a page for WH40K fans as it is for fa/tg/uys so these people are certainly welcome here.

==Strategy Games ==
[[Image:Keen.gif|right|300px]]
* Simulation/Sandbox
** '''[[Dwarf Fortress]]''' The legend, the lamentation, the...fun.
** '''Aurora 4X, a.k.a Dwarf Fortress in space with MUCH more complicated details'''
** '''Factorio''', a process building game. The player is stuck on an alien world and trying to build a spaceship to get off said world, but the enormous industrial activity necessary to build a spaceship provokes the local wildlife to attack, necessitating more industry to fight them off.
** '''From The Depths'''
** '''Kerbal Space Program''' A aerospace engineer is you, build space vehicles, manage your own space agency and conduct missions kerbaled and automated across a simulated solar system. Bear in mind, this game involves actual rocket science; you're going to have to learn about things like Delta-V and slingshot maneuvers if you're going to plot a course that won't end with your rocket crashing into the ocean.
** '''Space Engineers''' Build space ships, stations and bases.
*** '''Medieval Engineers''' Build castles, villages and siege equipment.
** '''[[Minecraft]]''', for some odd reason.
** '''[[Terraria]]''', for the same odd reason.
** '''Mount and Blade''', it's expandalone Warband, and the new Bannerlord 2. A sandbox medieval setting, you go around either being a bandit or uniting the scattered kingdoms into a grand empire or whatever. Enormous modding community means finding something thematically different if you want, including Warhammer and historical mods. In facts, the mods are a selling point of the whole thing, given there is one for just about '''any''' setting you can think about.
** '''Rimworld''', Dwarf Fortress ''IN SPEHSS'' except dumbed down for the casuals, [[skub|which may or may not be a good thing.]]
** '''[[Space Station 13]]:''' Dwarf Fortress except you play as the dwarves. Has been completely fucking ruined by goons leaking into every other version of the game.
** '''[[Tabletop Simulator]]''', a virtual tabletop for playing Card Games, Board Games, RPGs, etc. online with friends. The game has multiple built-in tools for creating custom games, and the Steam Workshop has thousands of add-ons; a popular choice for playing WH40K online thanks to ripped assets from Dawn of War.
** '''[[VASSAL Game Engine|VASSAL Engine]]'''

* 4X/Grand Strategy
** '''Age of Wonders''' - Take ''Master of Magic'', then make it good. Due to reasons, the most approved is 2nd game, as it strikes balance between being its own unique thing, having good campaign and not sacrificing gameplay in the process.
** '''Civilization I-IV''' - Civilization actually was based on a board game and in a case of coming full circle, ended up creating it's own board game. Civ IV in particular happens to have a highly active modding scene to this very day, and many of those mods are total overhauls with fantasy settings. One of those is a ''Fall from Heaven'' mod, or rather a series of mods with shared setting. Neat stuff.
*** Note: Civs V and VI have design issues that make them difficult to recommend in this list, and are thus explicitly not included--that being said, this exclusion is more on the basis of them being [[Skub]]ish--some people love V and/or VI, while some people hate them.
** '''[[Disciples]]''' (series) - Heroes of Might and Magic made [[Grimdark]].
** '''[[Dominions]]''' - Civilization's and Dwarf Fortress' beautiful love child. Enjoy [[Lovecraft]]'s Father Dagon square up against Ravana from India's Ramayana as they fight for the glory of their respective gods (you and whatever other [[neckbeards]] you are playing with).
** '''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]''' - Turn based strategy of over six main games and expansions where you control a fantasy hero and their legion of men/elves/dwarves/creatures/etc. Special mention goes to second and especially third installments.
**'''Master of Magic''': Take Sid Meier's Civilization. Add fantasy races with their own units, magic in the form of spells and summons, heroes and a very basic isometric battlefield when armies clash, and give dozens of abilities to units according to their species, situation and metal they are armed with (Yes, the metal used can be mithril or adamantite if the building city has any). That's Master of Magic. Still great for when you need to scratch that 'wizard with no sense of right or wrong bent on conquering the world' itch.
** '''Masters of Orion'''
** '''[[Alpha Centauri|Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'''. Despite starting out as "Civ 2: SPACE EDITION", SMAC became one of the more iconic games of the 90s. In the late 21st century Earth goes to sh*t and a colony ship is dispatched to Alpha Centauri to give humanity a new lease on life. Instead, we start fighting before we even get there and the whole thing eventually spirals off into a free-for all (with aliens joining the fun too!) with transcendence to virtual godhood as the ultimate prize. The game was a great joy to play due to gameplay and strategic depth, an interesting array of futuristic techs mostly rooted in semi-hard science and a plethora of interesting factions and various lore blurbs. Game is so tightly written, people discuss its content to this day. When SJGames released a setting book for GURPS 3e, they didn't have to make up anything at all to get 130 pages of lore.
** '''Sengoku Rance''': [[Weeaboo|Hentai game spinoff]] that parodies the long-running ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' series. You play as Rance, [[Slaanesh]]'s very own [[Kharn|fun guy to be around,]] as he unifies Warring States-era Japan under his mighty [[Anal circumference|"hyperweapon."]] Despite the utterly ludicrous premise it's a solid grand strategy game, to the point that the porn is more of a reward for playing well than an end in itself. Comparing this game to Total War was a common troll on /gsg/ when Shogun II was released.
** '''Endless Space 1&2''' The first game is ok and free to play, but the second one is where it's at as it does everything the original did better and then some.
** '''[[Endless Legend]]'''
** '''Distant Worlds'''
** Paradox series: This is the go-to company for nation-ruling Grand Strategy games for different eras such as '''[[Crusader Kings]]''' 800's-1400's, '''[[Europa Universalis]]''' 1400's-1800's, '''[[Victoria]]''' 1820's-1936, or '''[[Hearts of Iron]]''' 1936-1950's.
*** [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=406933979 Warhammer: Geheimnisnacht], a Warhammer Fantasy conversion for Crusader Kings II. Setting predates Winds of Chaos & End Times.
** '''[[Stellaris]]''' Paradox's attempt to fill the gap in the market between their Grand Strategy games and traditional 4X. You can run *any* science fiction staple idea and none would look out of place. A civilisation of individuals ranging from unique megacorporations to generic governments, hive-minded eusocial species, robots and anything in between each have unique playstyles. It also has endgame "crises" of galaxy threatening proportions which needs elaborate teamwork to stop.
*** Excellent 40k mod for Stellaris: https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/WarhammerTotalConversion
*** And yes, there's Star Trek and Star Wars mods.
** '''[[Total War]]''' series: '''Rome Total War''', '''Medieval Total War''', '''Empire Total War''', '''Shogun Total War'''
*** Rome 1 mods: '''Call to Arms: Warhammer''' and '''Fourth Age Total War''' and Medieval 2 mods: '''[[Call of Warhammer]]''', '''Third Age Total War'''

* Real-time Strategy
** '''Age of Empires''' series. Classic RTS with a more Command and Conquer vibe then a 4X, which is more common for historical settings, though pretty much every unit has multiple counters so it tends to be a more complex game then normal fast pace RTSs. There's the original, which is a curiosity at best, the second game that is made of pure gold, Mythology that mixes up the formula well, the third which sadly is more just Mythology with guns and Online which is F2P game and also dead (unless you play Project Celeste, which is still getting updated by fans). First, Second and Mythology have really good HD remasters. First and Second have also 4k remakes (not remaster), called Definitive Editions. Second and Mythology are worth grabbing, but if you had to choose one choose 2. They are currently developing the next game in the series, AoE IV.
** '''Battlezone''', the strategy game not the arcade game. Mixture of real time strategy and hover tank combat while fighting commies on the moon. Clunky, and as balanced as a one legged hippo, but it's uniqueness, concept and immersion make it a classic. Got a second game that was tighter and better balanced but weaker plot and setting. Both got pretty decent HD remasters.
** '''[[Command and Conquer]]''', a franchise with more then four different series running at the time where you control varied forces trying to beat the crap out of each other.
** '''Company of Heroes''' and '''Men of War''' series which are basically RTSs based on the idea of commanding forces as if someone was playing a classic WW2 shooter. While there are hard counters in Company of Heroes it still focuses more on holding chokepoints, piecing defensive lines and utilizing sandbags and barbed wire. Men at War focuses on realistic damage and as such is more the ARMA to Company of Heroes Call of Duty 2.
** '''Cossacks''' series, which covers 17th and 18th century, being the closest to /tg/'s desire to have "pike and shot setting". Most notable for ability to field absolutely gigantic armies of thousands upon thousands of soldiers.
*** '''American Conquest''' is an off-shot mini-series, expanding game mechanics from Cossacks and covering the period between Cortes conquest of Aztec Empire till American Revolutionary War. An expansion is dedicated to American Civil War.
** '''Cultures''' series, but most importantly first two games. A Viking village sim
** '''Dungeon Keeper''', where you play as an evil overlord defending against pesky adventurers and goodie-two-shoes trying to conquer your dungeon, and play it like Sims on crack.
** '''Homeworld''': THE iconic space video game of the early 00's. Basically Battlestar Galactica if the Galactica was tall instead of long. Borrows heavily from the artwork of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Foss Chris Foss].
** '''Original War''', most notable for its unique mix of RPG and RTS elements, with each unit representing an individual character with own backstory, personality and set of skills.
** '''Patrician 3: Rise of the Hansa''' is pretty standard (and good) economic-transport sim, but it makes up with being related with the titular Hansa and the Baltic region during Late Medieval, which rarely show up as a setting despite being what is represented as '''the''' ISO Standard Medieval setting.
** '''Railroad Tycoon 2''' comes with absolutely amazing series of scenarios and an unique, fleshed out post-apo setting. No, not kidding. There are also dozens of fan-made maps further expanding on said setting.
** '''Rise of Nations''' and especially '''Rise of Legends''' which had a steampunk faction and a "totally not the baddies from Stargate" faction
** '''The Settlers''' series, especially the I-IV parts. This is less of a straight RTS and more a space-management game, where you're building the most efficient transport system for your settlement, particularly in first two games, with their iconic flag-and-road system. Plot-wise, S3 and 4 are great kitchen-sink settings and Amazones are hot.
** '''[[Starcraft]]''' and '''[[Warcraft]]''': [[Skub|40K and Fantasy rip-offs respectively]], although they were so successful that from video gamers' perspective <del>the jedi are evil</del> ''GW should be paying Blizzard''.
** '''Supreme Commander''', the closest thing to "modern" remake of ''Total Annihilation'' and of course "the endless war IN SPESS!" setting that everyone loves so much.
** '''Theocracy''', in which you control one of Mesoamerican tribes with a goal of unifying the region.
** '''Total Annihilation''' The game that started it all when it it comes to RTS. Not much of a story but it had great gameplay that laid the foundations for the stuff to come. There was also a fantasy sequel "Kingdoms" that had a great story and lore (rivaling that of Warcraft at the time) but abysmal gameplay.
** '''Transarctica''' A bizzare mix of an economic sim, adventure game and a railroad simulator. After an experiment to slow down global warming caused a new ice-age, there are only massive trains going through the ice wasteland between the handful of surviving cities and coal mines. Your task is to bring Sun back from beyond the thick clouds surrounding Earth. Very atypical gameplay. And if the premise sounds familiar, it has the same source material as ''Snowpiercer''.
** '''Warfront: Turning Point''': WW2, but everyone fielding experimental mecha, pulp super-weapons and other silly things. Notably, defense buildings come with FPS mode (and this can greatly increase their performance), while weather and terrain affect everything in variety of ways.

* Turn-based Strategy
** '''[[Advance Wars|Advance Wars]]''' - It's like Panzer General but [[Anime]]. Except for '''Days of Ruin'''; that game is [[Grimdark]] and thus [[Fist of the North Star|manly]].
** '''[[Fire Emblem]]''' - Advance Wars' twin brother who likes swords and magic rather than guns and tanks. Fire Emblem has heavy RPG elements, tasking you with managing a stable of characters with limited EXP to go around and the specter of permadeath hanging overhead. ''Awakening'' and later installments are not approved for being [[Weeaboo|waifu delivery systems cleverly disguised as strategy games.]]
** '''Jagged Alliance I''' & '''II''', A PMC is you!
** '''[[King of Dragon Pass]]'''
** '''Panzer General''' - The first decent "Tabletop WW2 meets PC" back in '94, it's the second inspiration for [[Nazi Equipment]] and is the Mecca of wehraboo'ism. Spawned an entire series of games.
*** Of note from that series: '''Fantasy General''', which is, other than some rather questionable AI balancing, a fairly fun "D&D Wargame" style affair.
** '''Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale''' a Japanese game about running a shop, which sells and buys items used by dungeon-crawling adventurers. Much more engaging than it sounds and full of cutting humour. Capitalism, ho!
** '''Valkyria Chronicles''' series - JRPG fantasy world version of World War II. Quite a bit of depth and supporting cast of characters.
** The '''UFO: After[X]''' series which is essentially an X-Com made grimdark. How grim? The ''bad'' ending of the first game, ''Aftermath'', is canon.
** The original '''[[X-Com|X-COM: UFO Defense]]'''
** The new '''[[X-Com|XCOM: Enemy Unknown]]''' and its sequel, '''XCOM 2'''.
*** XCOM and XCOM 2 mods: '''The Long War'''. Both versions add dramatically to their respective games, transforming them from comparatively quick, light experiences to fatigue-worn wars. Buckle up. Plays a lot like Valkyria Chronicles except with destructable terrain and lots of chest-high walls.

==Role-Playing Games==
*[[cRPG]]s
** '''Albion''' Duo of space janitors crash-land on a planet that will be soon strip-mined, only to find out there is local, if Iron Age tier population of few intelligent species.
** '''[[Arcanum]]: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura''' Fallout, but set in a fantasy world where magic and technology coexist and fight each other. The story takes your party across the world as you try to unravel a plot that threatens not only the world but the very concept of life itself.
** '''Arx Fatalis''' A decent but pretty generic RPG if not for the fact that you appear in an underground kingdom in a world that had it's sun extinguished and surface turned into frozen waste. The magic system is also unique as you perform gestures with your mouse in order to cast spells, which is as fun as it is inconvenient (mage-knight build is a necessity due to this).
** '''[[Baldur's Gate]] I''' & '''II'''
** '''Battle for Wesnoth''' An Aussie who played too much jRPGs made a hex-based battle mini games that happens to be one of the more balanced things on the market.
** '''Betrayal at Krondor'''
** '''Darklands''' Adventures of a roaming party in the 15th century <s>Holy Roman Empire</s> Germany. Probably the lowest possible low fantasy to still qualify as such, rather than just historical setting.
** '''Deus Ex''' series. THE cyberpunk RPG. So good that it managed to incorporate nearly every conspiracy theory into its story and make them actually work well together.
** '''[[Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box Series]]''' (also includes some Buck Rogers games because of Lorraine Williams)
** '''[[The Elder Scrolls]]''' especially Daggerfall, and Morrowind as the other ones are pretty generic and thus boring.
** '''[[Fallout]]''' series.
** '''[[Icewind Dale]]'''
** '''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'''
** '''Might and Magic from 1 to 8, then X. [[Squats|Might and Magic 9 does not exist.]]
** '''[[Planescape: Torment]]''' Storyfags' and Lorefags' wet dream.
** '''System Shock''' series
** '''The Temple of Elemental Evil'''
** '''[[Ultima]]''' series - see Might & Magic above and retain the "ignore 9" rule.
** '''Underrail''' ''Metro 2033'' (setting) meets classic ''Fallout'' (gameplay) and decides to have a foursome with cosmic horror and space opera. Try it or get dominated, pipeworker.
** '''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]] - ''Bloodlines/Redemption''''' Bloodlines was Troika's last hurrah and after you apply the official and fan patches you will see why. Redemption is also good but not as much as Bl.
** '''Wasteland''' series
** '''[[Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord]]'''

*Modern RPGs
** '''The Banner Saga'''
** '''Dark Souls''', due to its moody [[Berserk]]-inspired atmosphere, emphasis on exploration, and [[Dwarf Fortress|merciless learning curve]]. Compelling story and characters are a major plus, also contains large amounts of death and [[RAGE]]. The tagline isn't 'Prepare to Die' for no reason.
*** To a lesser extent, the other "Souls" games ('''Demon's Souls''', '''Dark Souls 2''', '''Dark Souls 3''', '''Bloodborne''', and '''Sekiro''').
** '''Deus Ex: Human Revolution''' While not nearly as broad or deep as the original, it still manages to capture some of it's essence and is a fine RPG in it's own right.
** '''Dragon Age: Origins''' Much better than later games. Has the added bonus of having an actual conclusion; the sequels tend to end on unsatisfying cliffhangers.
** '''Disco Elysium''' [[Planescape: Torment]], except you're an Alcoholic, deadbeat detective.
** '''Expeditions: Conquistador''' and '''Viking'''
** '''Fallout: New Vegas''' Made by the team that made the classics, and it shows.
** '''Kingdom Come: Deliverance''' A truly generic story of "from zero to hero", involving blacksmith's son climbing the social ladder of medieval society until knighthood. But what makes the game unique is the fact it's a historical RPG, set in specific area of Bohemia during a specific period with autistic levels of research behind it, providing more data about its own setting than your typical edutainment game.
** '''Legend of Grimrock'''
** '''Mass Effect 1 and 2''' Grand space opera to rival that of Star Wars in the levels of epic.
** '''Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor''' A fun uruk/olog hunting/recruiting game with some [[Skub|contentious]] framing, particularly in the sequel ([[Monstergirl]] [[What|Shelob]], among other things). Think of it as "Arkham's Creed: Middle-Earth Edition."
** '''Pillars of Eternity''' Set in the world of Eora where souls are tangible and measurable rather than being metaphysical/religious concepts. With the advance of technology and Animancy (science of souls) the world is set up for some radical upheavals, and that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Billed as a spiritual successor to Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale the game accomplishes - for the most part - what it sets out to do and is one of the better cRPGs in recent times.
** '''Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic''' Both games are very good, the second just needs the Restored Content mod.
** '''State of Decay''', the only good thing that came out of the early 2010s zombie craze. If you ever planned to run a zombie campaign, just rip the whole thing off - unlike other vidya rip-offs, this one works out great. Only the first game is approved.
** '''[[The Witcher]]''' series
** '''Pathfinder [[Kingmaker]]'''
** '''Tyranny''' From the same devs that made ''Pillars of Eternity''. This time you are cast into the world of Terratus, a high-fantasy world which is just about to exit its Bronze Age, and as another twist to the ol' formula, you are a mid-ranking minion of the setting's overlord tasked with mediating conflicts and bringing "justice" through their empire. Story and gameplay are just as good as PoE, but the game was released in a rushed state with many things missing. Still, good for ~20hrs of fun or as an entry-level cRPG.

==Adventure Games==
* '''Animation Arts''': Not the game, but a German game dev studio. If you ever wanted to run a cheesy game that's either pulp or B-movie, look no further for inspiration, since this is their speciality.
* '''Beneath a Steel Sky''': Great cyberpunk themes and rich imagery. Released as freeware by the original developers.
* '''Blade Runner''': It's a Blade Runner game and it's one of the best things that ever happened in the genre, no need for more recommendations.
* '''Broken Sword''' series: Templars, ancient conspiracies, interesting characters and well-written plot that is mineable even for tabletop games
* '''Chains of Satinav''' and '''Memoria''': Exactly how many adventure games you know that are set in [[The_Dark_Eye|Dere]] and are good?
* '''The DIG''': A bunch of astronauts stop an asteroid from hitting earth, only to find out it's really an alien starship that whisks them to a desolate planet on the other side of the galaxy whose inhabitants - who have a huge fetish for the platonic solids - are nowhere to be found. Features a lot of really complex hard-science plot points, difficult-as-fuck puzzles, and Steve Blum as an arrogant German scientist.
* '''Indiana Jones and the Fate Of Atlantis''': One of the classics that you can't just go wrong with. Aside being a good adventure game by itself, comes with kinda-sorta branching plot, so you can approach same situations differently.
* '''King's Quest VI: Heir Today Gone Tomorrow''': Just read the title and ask yourself what the game can be about. This series is downright ancient, so be warned. VI is well regarded as the best one and holds up relatively well, though fan remakes of the older games in the style of VI are also available.
* '''Monkey Island''' series: One of the most definitive things to ever happen to the genre, plus it's a great pirate-themed series that both spoofs and reaffirms a lot of cliches related with own content.
* '''Policenauts''': Early Hideo Kojima makes a game where Lethal Weapon meets cyberpunk.
* '''The Prince and the Coward''': A Polish game that can be best summed up as "ISO Standard Medieval Fantasy gets the ''Monkey Island'' treatment". An excellent fan-translation exists that manages to keep the original tone.
* '''Pathologic''' (also known as '''Pestilence''' or '''Мор. Утопия'''): a truly bizarre and unique Russian game combining adventure, survival, role-playing and lots of nightmarish vibes. Boasts headache-inducing lore and a persistent world, so things roll regardless of the player interfering or not. Got a HD re-release recently with proper translation, so non-Slavs can finally enjoy the game - the previous English translation was a nightmare by itself.
**'''[[Pathologic 2]]''': A remake of the original (or, rather, one storyline of the original), but with updated graphics and mechanics plus a couple of story tweaks. Retains many of the anxiety-inducing survival mechanics and nightmarish atmosphere of the first game and, generally, is a much more streamlined experience. As such, it is generally recommended to newcomers over the original. Only ⅓ of the original game is there, due to limitations in budget; the rest may come depending on how well the game sells (devs have confirmed they are working on the bachelor's campaign, however).
* '''Professor Layton''' series: A refined gentleman investigates mysteries by solving lateral-thinking puzzles. Beautiful watercolor art and solid writing, though the puzzle setups become increasingly absurd as the series goes on. A great series to mine for dungeon puzzles. Any games after the first six are not approved, due to the writing devolving into cliche anime bullshit and a distinct drop in puzzle quality after the death of designer Akira Tago.
* '''[[Star Control]]''' series: A mess of alien races in the grand tradition of Niven et al. kill the shit out of each other. First game is turn-based strategy, second game is somewhere between an RPG and an adventure game; both have a surprisingly deep arcade combat system. The second game was released as open-source software by the developers.
*'''Vangers''': A fuckin' weird Russian game about delivering bugs to other bugs in your bug-like car in a world that's filled with bugs and feels like "A Bug's Life" on a DMT trip. Honestly though, if you're a GM who wants to present their players with a totally alien and incomprehensible setting, then this game does it with flying colours.

==Warhammer Games==
*Strategy
** The old and glorious '''[[Warhammer Epic 40,000: Final Liberation]]''', [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat| '''Shadow of the Horned Rat''', and '''Dark Omen''']]
** [[Warhammer: Mark of Chaos|'''Mark of Chaos''']]
** '''[[Dawn of War|WH40K Dawn of War]]''' and its [[Dawn of War II|sequel]]. As well as the [[Dawn of War III|sequel sequel]]
*** The "True-to-Tabletop" [[Dawn of War Mods|mods]] for DoW that sprung up, such as '''Firestorm over ''Kronus/Kaurava''''', the '''Closer to Codex''' mod. Really, just look at the page to see how many there are.
** '''[[Chapter Master (game)]]'''
** '''[[Mordheim: City Of The Damned]]'''
** '''[[Battlefleet Gothic: Armada]]'''
** '''[[Total War: WARHAMMER]]''' and its [[Total War: Warhammer II|sequel]]
** '''[[Man o' War: Corsair]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach]]''' - A turn base strategy game where you playing as everybody's favourite [[Space Wolves|space wolf viking]] fighting against the Orks in Sanctus Reach. Later DLC allowed you playing as the Ork led by Da Big Red and everybody's favorite [[Imperial Guard|wall of guns]]. Also Imperial Knights, fuck yeah!
**'''[[Space Hulk]]''' in its many iterations, including [[Alien Assault|the unofficial one]].
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War]]'''
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus]]'''
*Other
** '''[[Blood Bowl]] and its sequel'''
** <s>'''[[Warhammer Online|Warhammer Age of Reckoning]]'''</s> Shut down thanks to EA. Go play the private server version!
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade]]'''
** '''[[The End Times: Vermintide]]''' and [[Vermintide 2|its sequel]]
** '''Warhammer 40,000: [[Freeblade]]'''
** '''[[Space Hulk: Deathwing]]'''

==Miscellaneous==
* [[Roguelike|Roguelikes]]
** '''Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead''' a post-apocalyptic top-down survival game that looks like Dwarf Fortress with a texture pack and lets you drive cars into zombies.
** '''Cultist Simulator''' is a grind-heavy, card-based game about being too curious about things that no man should know about and slowly building a cult to some demonic abomination... or die trying.
** '''Curious Expedition''' which pokes fun at the pulp adventure genre; think Hollow Earth as a black comedy
** '''[[Darkest Dungeon]]''' the newest [[H.P. Lovecraft|lovecraftian]] dungeon crawler with grimdark setting and overall edginess.
** '''Don't Starve''' a pretty-looking survival and exploration game that's fun with friends, and does horror like ''The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy''.
** '''[[Dungeon Crawl]] Stone Soup'''
** '''Freespace & Freespace II''': The last major standalone space flight sim, ending the genre that had started with Wing Commander and X-Wing/TIE-Fighter.
** '''Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures''' a random-gen adventure game that almost operates like a dungeon crawler and came 20 years too early to get on the roguelike hype.
** '''Nethack'''
** ''' NEOScavenger''' much like Cataclysm (gameplay, genre, even the setting is similar), an exploration hex-crawl to surpass all hex-crawls.
** '''Pathway''', the closest thing to having Hollow Earth Expedition vidya
** '''Pixel Dungeon and it's forks''' coffee break roguelike optimized for phones. FOSS so there's tons of forks. Shattered Pixel Dungeon is a very good version and is on Android Play Store and F-Droid
** ''' Sunless Sea''' and '''Sunless Skies''' Adventuring out into a WTF eldritch horror setting under the flag of Victorian Britain. Gameplay-wise, the games are just awful grinders, but it's their setting and quests that make them interesting, as long as comically dark settings are your thing.
** '''TEARDOWN''', a Space-Hulk roguelike
** '''WarpRogue''', a 40K-inspired roguelike

*Good FPS games
** '''Amnesia series''', The first game in the series rekindled the survival horror genre and was pants-shittingly scary through a clever use of jumpscares, ingenious mechanics discouraging directly looking at the enemies and an amazing atmosphere of gothic horror which slowly turns into the cosmic variety as the story progresses. Unfortunately the latter sequels became a victim of their own success mostly due to oversaturation of survival horror genre, but are nevertheless fine games in their own right.
** '''Bioshock''' series: Bunch of retro-aesthetics crammed into FPS games with what passes as a rich plot and world-building within the genre. Arguing over its content used to be prime [[skub]] material, now it's mostly forgotten.
** '''Borderlands 2''', a memetic lolsrandom dumb game, but special mention goes to '''Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep''' DLC, as it is a role-playing session involving main characters, with all the crazy hijinks of Borderlands involved.
** '''Crysis''', Three games provide a very moddable engine with a very versatile set of physics combined with a pretty absurdly large modding community that has among other things, created a perfectly workable Mech Warrior game out of Crysis Warhead. Even if you don't care for nanosuit action, the mods alone are worth checking out.
** '''Deep Rock Galactic''' [[Squat]]s the video game. Space Dwarfs armed with big guns go digging into a mineral rich planet infested with [[Tyranid|giant bugs]].
** '''Dishonored''', the spiritual successor to Thief except now you are a supernatural assassin in a <s>proto-dieselpunk edwardian-era-esque</s> steampunk world. Good story and fun gameplay with plenty of assassination options.
** '''[[Doom|DOOM]]''', '''Hexen''', and '''Heretic''': With a vibrant community because the games are easy to mod and has produced no shortage of mods (or WADs as they're called in the community (officially, the file extension 'WAD' means 'Where's All the Data?').) Interestingly, Doom was inspired by a D&D game run with Lead Dev John Carmack as the DM. Director John Romero's character recklessly gave a dark tome to a demon in exchange for the magic Daikatana which caused demons to overrun the material plane and the world to end. Visually, parts of the games (Hexen and Heretic especially) are reminiscent of a gothic dungeon.
** '''Escape From Butcher Bay''' a Riddick-licensed game that combines great stealth elements with even better combat sequences and a slight horror vibe, all in the sauce made off used future aesthetics.
** '''[[EYE: Divine Cybermancy]]''': A really weird FPS/RPG due to its cyberpunk fantasy aesthetics, almost an RPG. Extremely buggy due to being a Source Engine game that wasn't made by Valve. The developers absolutely love Warhammer 40,000, made the setting for EYE a lawyer-friendly clone of 40k, and were eventually hired by GW to [[Space Hulk: Deathwing|make the 40k game they wanted to make in the first place.]]
** '''Far Cry''' series, which has completely different tone depending on installment and is just one huge mine of ideas for extremely pulpy scenarios. Special mention goes to Far Cry 3, which pretty much reinvented the franchise, and its standalone expansion Blood Dragon, which is [[Old School Roleplaying|a hilarious parody of the 80s neon aesthetic.]] Far Cry 4 and later installments are not approved for being either heavily rehashed or just completely unnecessary.
** '''Guns of Icarus''', a steampunk flying team deathmatch with set roles.
** '''Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, and Hand Grenades''' - this VR title is unique for being as close to a true-to-life firearms simulator as you can get, having over 400 accurately modeled and functioning firearms ranging from flintlocks to modern weapons. Its also incredibly goofy, with all enemies being giant sentient hot dogs and a few oddball toys thrown in. It's also effectively Team Fortress 2 VR, as the game includes all the stock weapons from TF2 thanks to a collaboration with Valve.
** '''Iron Storm''' - it's 1964 and the World War I is still going on, with complete stalemate perpetuated by industrialists on both sides. Your mission is to infiltrate and destroy nuclear program of the "bad" side. W40k games ''wish'' they were this good in presenting endless, senseless war.
** '''Penumbra series''': The easiest way to describe it is to call it modern take on At the Mountains of Madness, only set in Greenland and with massive conspiracy looming over the story. Warning, '''very''' tense horror games (while avoiding jump scares) with unique control and physics system, so it might not be your cup of tea.
** '''Quake''': At least the early games, for similar reasons for DOOM (they were both made by the same company). Quake 1 is a good and challenging FPS that takes cues from Lovecraft in terms of environments and monster designs. Quake 2 is somewhat easier, but is deliciously grimdark sci-fi; it's about fighting cyborg aliens that make more of themselves by capturing conquered races and fitting them with cybernetics/forcing them into a hive mind against their will.
** '''Republic Commando''', baby's first tactical shooter, but damn if it isn't a good one
** '''[[Team Fortress 2]]''', a game descended from a Quake mod now over 10 years old and still going strong, is a multiplayer FPS with a 1960s theme where players pick a team, one of 9 different classes, and battle to the death. Also, hats. Two hats in this game are 40k references, allowing you to dress your Heavy up as an Ork.
** '''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.''' series: Roadside Picnic: The Video Game. A nice combination of free roaming, excellent gunplay, tense atmosphere and really freaky lore.
** '''Thief 1 & 2''', the grand daddy of stealth games, with one of the most original settings ever created for games (a combination of industrial - but not steampunk - medieval and pagan elements). Strong story, good characters and makes you feel like a master thief indeed. Third game is good provided you get the Sneaky Update. Reboot from 2014 is unapproved and shunned.
** '''Wolfenstein''' series: Combines sci-fi, fantasy and World War II elements amidst the Nazi-killing. This series is downright ancient, predating DOOM and the FPS genre entirely.

*Good TPS games
** '''Freedom Fighters''' another baby's first tactical shooter to fulfill your ''Red Dawn'' fantasies
** '''Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine''' and '''Emperor's Tomb''' Despite what you might think, it's LucasArt ripping-off Tomb Raider, not the other way around.
** '''Max Payne 1 & 2''' Finest product of the neo-noir genre, especially the second game. Amazingly strong story in both games, with a lot of Norse references in the first one. Also, the game that introduced bullet time as game mechanics.
** '''Prince of Persia''', especially the ''Sands of Time'' trilogy. Accept no substitute for Arabian Nights game.
** '''Severance: Blade of Darkness''' Some eight years before Demon Souls you had Severance, while the setting is somewhat generic-ish blade & sorcery meets LOTR, the moody atmosphere, unforgiving gameplay and fun combat more than make up for it. If you have a thing for Soulslike this is just for you.
** '''Styx series''' Great tps assassination games set in a unique high fantasy setting that has you playing as a goblin of all things. Both games are great though the second one takes itself somewhat less seriously than the first.
** '''Tomb Raider series''' Preferably games created by original studio, Core Design, but anything up to Underworld goes. A swift balance between serious and pulp tone, providing simple plots and a more and more complex locations. Also, good source of creative traps. Reboot from 2013 and what follows are disapproved and shunned, being just generic cover shooter. Comes with its own, massive level-making scene, known collectively as '''TRLE''' (after Tomb Raider Level Editor), which by itself is fantastic source of dungeon design, creative traps and excellent puzzles that are all very minable.
* [[Mechwarrior]], because /tg/ loves [[Battletech]].
** '''MechWarrior I''' is lauded as a classic, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior II''' is lauded as the best
** '''MechWarrior III''' is lauded as the most engrossing storywise, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior IV''' is lauded as the latest and greatest, and thus the best
** '''MechCommander II''' is lauded as most like the tabletop, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior: Living Legend''' is lauded as best for multiplayer, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior Online''' is the worst
** '''MechWarrior V''' is the newest, therefore both the best AND worst
* Classic console games
** '''Jet Set/Grind Radio''' seems to have enthused one orky [[drawfag]] to the highest of possible levels, make of that what you will.
** '''Conker's Bad Fur Day''' Looney Toons for adults, and that's just the start of the batshit craziness.
** '''Dungeons and Dragons Order of the Griffon''', a game for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 set in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Uses Basic D&D rules versus the Gold Box games' AD&D rules.
** '''Legacy of Kain series''' Set in a unique fantasy gothic world, the series takes place over ~2000 year timeline that sees you slain and become a vampire demigod Kain in the first game, have you play as the vampire lieutenant Raziel that gets turned into a sentient time-paradox in the second and third game and then switch between the two on an epic, complex and plot ridden story that sees you jump from future to past to present and back again all the while unraveling a conspiracy that spans the material and spectral realms.
** '''[[Metal Gear]]'''
** '''Oddworld series''' A classic platformer set in a grimdark alien world of Oddworld, you play as Abe, a slave turned accidental revolutionary turned messiah for his people as he fights the industrial evil of Glukkons and other vile profiteering species out to stripmine Oddworld for sweet moolah. There are 4 games in total, minus the recent remakes. First two games are cult-classics and you should play them, Munch's oddysee was the awkward transition to 3D so ok-ish and Stranger's Wrath picked up the pace but as many a grognard will tell you it does not quite reach the heights of elden times. The New'n Tasty and Soulstorm remakes of the original games and are all in all decent.
** '''[[Samus|Metroid]]''', '''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''', '''Kid Icarus''', and '''[[Castlevania]]''' (the four games series (with one exception see above) share so much in common they deserve to be discussed together). Why? The exploration-heavy nature of the games, the feeling of growing more powerful as you collect enough gear and relics to make an adventuring party jealous, the incredibly memorable boss battles, interesting backstories (Metroid immerses you in backstory at your pace, via scans and lore pickups, leaving much up to your imagination), and providing many ideas for sci fi or fantasy RPG session.
** '''Shantae series''' You play as a cute genie girl that can turn into various [[Monstergirls]] (harpy, dridder, mermaid, dragon etc.) while platforming and fighting through a colorful middle-east fantasy setting.

==Games that can be used to troll /tg/==
* Most other MMORPGs. [[World of Warcraft]], as the most successful to date, is especially effective. Special points to [[Star Wars: The Old Republic]] for being a massive disappointment for a popular franchise.
* JRPGs, for often recycling the same plots over and over and having identical structure. Along with of course cringy bad character designs in some cases.
* Any of the modern Final Fantasy games, [[Games Workshop|which somehow keep getting sequels despite being financial failures]]. [[This Guy|Some fa/tg/uys]] have a fondness for the early ones, mostly because [[Troll|the first one rips off D&D pretty squarely]].
* [[Skyrim]], a popular well liked meme game that /v/ contrarians and neckbeards with nostalgia goggles will say is shit. Same goes for [[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|Oblivion]], [[Fallout]] 3 and 4, and any future Bethesda RPGs.
* <s>Mentioning the attention Warhammer 40k games have gotten compared to Warhammer Fantasy is a sore spot for Fantasy fans.</s> With the failure that is [[Dawn of War III]] and recent success of [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] and [[Vermintide]], you could say the tables have turned. Actually DoW3 by itself is enough for trolling anyway.
* Sonic The Hedgehog. The fans are everywhere, and the butthurt is unfathomable.
* Nintendo games have ultra-dedicated fanbases, and also hardcore haters, except for series like Metroid, Zelda, Mother, or Kid Icarus which are generally respected. Mentioning Pokemon in a positive light or stating the controller of "the best" console they released is a sex toy may cause an internet fight.
* Games with bad random number generators. Even highly approved of games like Mordheim: City Of The Damned will cause a shitstorm when someone is reminded that a supposed 95% chance to hit can result in four consecutive misses.
* No Man's Sky - such a huge waste of potential, although it got somewhat better with patches. Bringing this game up is a good troll move on /v/ as well, but everything's a good troll move on /v/.
* [[Blizzard]]. JUST. [[Blizzard]]. (''ACTIVISION'' Blizzard now, fuckers! The shit train only goes downhill from here!)

Games that are universally loathed, so you'll probably have to put in some work if you want to troll with:
* Unlike the previous Bethesda RPGs Fallout 76 is actually bad. So if you want to troll people you'll have to pretend to like it. Although, it's so objectively terrible your bait will most likely seem too obvious.
* [[Bioware | Anthem]].
** Almost all "Games as a Service" games released in the wake of Destiny have a similar, if lesser, level of disdain; it's just that Fallout 76 and Anthem were so garbage on release, and had such a CRPG pedigree, that the trolling mines were quickly completely depleted.
* Reminding [[Shadowrun]] fans of the terrible Shadowrun FPS is not going to earn you any goodwill.
* [[Evony]]

==The Game List That People Copypasta==
Every so often, someone posts on /tg/: "Wow, you guys are so smart and cool; can you recommend some [[video games]] to play for those hours when I'm not playing tabletop?". It happens so often that people have made [[copypasta]] for the occasion, even image copypasta.

You will find a lot of those games on [http://www.gog.com/ Good Old Games], DRM free, for 6 or 9 bucks. Or [[Freebooterz|for free if you pirate]], which can often be justified by the original creators leaving the development company so all the [[Profit]] goes to people who don't deserve it. Your choice.

For any video game that someone felt was good enough for a full page on this wiki, see [[:Category:Video_Games|Video Games]]

<center>[[Image:TG_recommended_games1.jpg]]</center>

<center>[[Image:Recommended_vg_2.jpg|900px]]</center>

[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Approved Media]]

Video games

2021-10-14T21:05:04Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Role-Playing Games */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Bigpong.jpeg|thumb|People playing a large scale version of the iconic Pong video game at the National Videogame Museum]]
Video games are games played with an electronic device, instead of paper, pens, dice, boards, anything traditional, and most of the time omitting your imagination too. It is also true that they do contain amusing game mechanics, can be easily played alone, provide visual and auditory representation, and don't [[Games Workshop|cost hundreds of dollars for a few miniature visual representations]]; however, this does come at the cost of freedom, physical being, social skills, and imagination.

Many traditional or tabletop games (like WH40K and D&D) can now be played as using electronic devices to substitute for their tactile components like maps or minis, proving once again that technology continues to screw up [[Old School Roleplaying|everything that we all wished had remained as it was.]] A [[VASSAL Game Engine|virtual tabletop simulator]] has been released so you may play a tabletop game with friends out of town. Also, we have an article at [[List of Vidya Board Games]] to cover various tabletop adaptions into the digital realm.

Electronic games played by strange, [[what|electronic fa/tg/uys]] have been accepted by /tg/, so that any game can be traditional, and this media fits right in with the old [[Board Game|board games]] and Tabletop [[Wargame]]s we all know and love. Some video games are accepted and enjoyed by /tg/. Many, however, are not. Generally, video game threads, especially games with no corresponding /tg/ version/interest, belong on /v/ instead.

You'll find quite a few /v/ related articles on 1d4chan because some video games have at least some relation to /tg/ and because 1d4chan tends to draw in people who are fans of WH40K universe primarily through [[Dawn of War]], even if these people don't actually play the tabletop game. And lets be honest here, 1d4chan is as much a page for WH40K fans as it is for fa/tg/uys so these people are certainly welcome here.

==Strategy Games ==
[[Image:Keen.gif|right|300px]]
* Simulation/Sandbox
** '''[[Dwarf Fortress]]''' The legend, the lamentation, the...fun.
** '''Aurora 4X, a.k.a Dwarf Fortress in space with MUCH more complicated details'''
** '''Factorio''', a process building game. The player is stuck on an alien world and trying to build a spaceship to get off said world, but the enormous industrial activity necessary to build a spaceship provokes the local wildlife to attack, necessitating more industry to fight them off.
** '''From The Depths'''
** '''Kerbal Space Program''' A aerospace engineer is you, build space vehicles, manage your own space agency and conduct missions kerbaled and automated across a simulated solar system. Bear in mind, this game involves actual rocket science; you're going to have to learn about things like Delta-V and slingshot maneuvers if you're going to plot a course that won't end with your rocket crashing into the ocean.
** '''Space Engineers''' Build space ships, stations and bases.
*** '''Medieval Engineers''' Build castles, villages and siege equipment.
** '''[[Minecraft]]''', for some odd reason.
** '''[[Terraria]]''', for the same odd reason.
** '''Mount and Blade''', it's expandalone Warband, and the new Bannerlord 2. A sandbox medieval setting, you go around either being a bandit or uniting the scattered kingdoms into a grand empire or whatever. Enormous modding community means finding something thematically different if you want, including Warhammer and historical mods. In facts, the mods are a selling point of the whole thing, given there is one for just about '''any''' setting you can think about.
** '''Rimworld''', Dwarf Fortress ''IN SPEHSS'' except dumbed down for the casuals, [[skub|which may or may not be a good thing.]]
** '''[[Space Station 13]]:''' Dwarf Fortress except you play as the dwarves. Has been completely fucking ruined by goons leaking into every other version of the game.
** '''[[Tabletop Simulator]]''', a virtual tabletop for playing Card Games, Board Games, RPGs, etc. online with friends. The game has multiple built-in tools for creating custom games, and the Steam Workshop has thousands of add-ons; a popular choice for playing WH40K online thanks to ripped assets from Dawn of War.
** '''[[VASSAL Game Engine|VASSAL Engine]]'''

* 4X/Grand Strategy
** '''Age of Wonders''' - Take ''Master of Magic'', then make it good. Due to reasons, the most approved is 2nd game, as it strikes balance between being its own unique thing, having good campaign and not sacrificing gameplay in the process.
** '''Civilization I-IV''' - Civilization actually was based on a board game and in a case of coming full circle, ended up creating it's own board game. Civ IV in particular happens to have a highly active modding scene to this very day, and many of those mods are total overhauls with fantasy settings. One of those is a ''Fall from Heaven'' mod, or rather a series of mods with shared setting. Neat stuff.
*** Note: Civs V and VI have design issues that make them difficult to recommend in this list, and are thus explicitly not included--that being said, this exclusion is more on the basis of them being [[Skub]]ish--some people love V and/or VI, while some people hate them.
** '''[[Disciples]]''' (series) - Heroes of Might and Magic made [[Grimdark]].
** '''[[Dominions]]''' - Civilization's and Dwarf Fortress' beautiful love child. Enjoy [[Lovecraft]]'s Father Dagon square up against Ravana from India's Ramayana as they fight for the glory of their respective gods (you and whatever other [[neckbeards]] you are playing with).
** '''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]''' - Turn based strategy of over six main games and expansions where you control a fantasy hero and their legion of men/elves/dwarves/creatures/etc. Special mention goes to second and especially third installments.
**'''Master of Magic''': Take Sid Meier's Civilization. Add fantasy races with their own units, magic in the form of spells and summons, heroes and a very basic isometric battlefield when armies clash, and give dozens of abilities to units according to their species, situation and metal they are armed with (Yes, the metal used can be mithril or adamantite if the building city has any). That's Master of Magic. Still great for when you need to scratch that 'wizard with no sense of right or wrong bent on conquering the world' itch.
** '''Masters of Orion'''
** '''[[Alpha Centauri|Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'''. Despite starting out as "Civ 2: SPACE EDITION", SMAC became one of the more iconic games of the 90s. In the late 21st century Earth goes to sh*t and a colony ship is dispatched to Alpha Centauri to give humanity a new lease on life. Instead, we start fighting before we even get there and the whole thing eventually spirals off into a free-for all (with aliens joining the fun too!) with transcendence to virtual godhood as the ultimate prize. The game was a great joy to play due to gameplay and strategic depth, an interesting array of futuristic techs mostly rooted in semi-hard science and a plethora of interesting factions and various lore blurbs. Game is so tightly written, people discuss its content to this day. When SJGames released a setting book for GURPS 3e, they didn't have to make up anything at all to get 130 pages of lore.
** '''Sengoku Rance''': [[Weeaboo|Hentai game spinoff]] that parodies the long-running ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' series. You play as Rance, [[Slaanesh]]'s very own [[Kharn|fun guy to be around,]] as he unifies Warring States-era Japan under his mighty [[Anal circumference|"hyperweapon."]] Despite the utterly ludicrous premise it's a solid grand strategy game, to the point that the porn is more of a reward for playing well than an end in itself. Comparing this game to Total War was a common troll on /gsg/ when Shogun II was released.
** '''Endless Space 1&2''' The first game is ok and free to play, but the second one is where it's at as it does everything the original did better and then some.
** '''[[Endless Legend]]'''
** '''Distant Worlds'''
** Paradox series: This is the go-to company for nation-ruling Grand Strategy games for different eras such as '''[[Crusader Kings]]''' 800's-1400's, '''[[Europa Universalis]]''' 1400's-1800's, '''[[Victoria]]''' 1820's-1936, or '''[[Hearts of Iron]]''' 1936-1950's.
*** [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=406933979 Warhammer: Geheimnisnacht], a Warhammer Fantasy conversion for Crusader Kings II. Setting predates Winds of Chaos & End Times.
** '''[[Stellaris]]''' Paradox's attempt to fill the gap in the market between their Grand Strategy games and traditional 4X. You can run *any* science fiction staple idea and none would look out of place. A civilisation of individuals ranging from unique megacorporations to generic governments, hive-minded eusocial species, robots and anything in between each have unique playstyles. It also has endgame "crises" of galaxy threatening proportions which needs elaborate teamwork to stop.
*** Excellent 40k mod for Stellaris: https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/WarhammerTotalConversion
*** And yes, there's Star Trek and Star Wars mods.
** '''[[Total War]]''' series: '''Rome Total War''', '''Medieval Total War''', '''Empire Total War''', '''Shogun Total War'''
*** Rome 1 mods: '''Call to Arms: Warhammer''' and '''Fourth Age Total War''' and Medieval 2 mods: '''[[Call of Warhammer]]''', '''Third Age Total War'''

* Real-time Strategy
** '''Age of Empires''' series. Classic RTS with a more Command and Conquer vibe then a 4X, which is more common for historical settings, though pretty much every unit has multiple counters so it tends to be a more complex game then normal fast pace RTSs. There's the original, which is a curiosity at best, the second game that is made of pure gold, Mythology that mixes up the formula well, the third which sadly is more just Mythology with guns and Online which is F2P game and also dead (unless you play Project Celeste, which is still getting updated by fans). First, Second and Mythology have really good HD remasters. First and Second have also 4k remakes (not remaster), called Definitive Editions. Second and Mythology are worth grabbing, but if you had to choose one choose 2. They are currently developing the next game in the series, AoE IV.
** '''Battlezone''', the strategy game not the arcade game. Mixture of real time strategy and hover tank combat while fighting commies on the moon. Clunky, and as balanced as a one legged hippo, but it's uniqueness, concept and immersion make it a classic. Got a second game that was tighter and better balanced but weaker plot and setting. Both got pretty decent HD remasters.
** '''[[Command and Conquer]]''', a franchise with more then four different series running at the time where you control varied forces trying to beat the crap out of each other.
** '''Company of Heroes''' and '''Men of War''' series which are basically RTSs based on the idea of commanding forces as if someone was playing a classic WW2 shooter. While there are hard counters in Company of Heroes it still focuses more on holding chokepoints, piecing defensive lines and utilizing sandbags and barbed wire. Men at War focuses on realistic damage and as such is more the ARMA to Company of Heroes Call of Duty 2.
** '''Cossacks''' series, which covers 17th and 18th century, being the closest to /tg/'s desire to have "pike and shot setting". Most notable for ability to field absolutely gigantic armies of thousands upon thousands of soldiers.
*** '''American Conquest''' is an off-shot mini-series, expanding game mechanics from Cossacks and covering the period between Cortes conquest of Aztec Empire till American Revolutionary War. An expansion is dedicated to American Civil War.
** '''Cultures''' series, but most importantly first two games. A Viking village sim
** '''Dungeon Keeper''', where you play as an evil overlord defending against pesky adventurers and goodie-two-shoes trying to conquer your dungeon, and play it like Sims on crack.
** '''Homeworld''': THE iconic space video game of the early 00's. Basically Battlestar Galactica if the Galactica was tall instead of long. Borrows heavily from the artwork of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Foss Chris Foss].
** '''Original War''', most notable for its unique mix of RPG and RTS elements, with each unit representing an individual character with own backstory, personality and set of skills.
** '''Patrician 3: Rise of the Hansa''' is pretty standard (and good) economic-transport sim, but it makes up with being related with the titular Hansa and the Baltic region during Late Medieval, which rarely show up as a setting despite being what is represented as '''the''' ISO Standard Medieval setting.
** '''Railroad Tycoon 2''' comes with absolutely amazing series of scenarios and an unique, fleshed out post-apo setting. No, not kidding. There are also dozens of fan-made maps further expanding on said setting.
** '''Rise of Nations''' and especially '''Rise of Legends''' which had a steampunk faction and a "totally not the baddies from Stargate" faction
** '''The Settlers''' series, especially the I-IV parts. This is less of a straight RTS and more a space-management game, where you're building the most efficient transport system for your settlement, particularly in first two games, with their iconic flag-and-road system. Plot-wise, S3 and 4 are great kitchen-sink settings and Amazones are hot.
** '''[[Starcraft]]''' and '''[[Warcraft]]''': [[Skub|40K and Fantasy rip-offs respectively]], although they were so successful that from video gamers' perspective <del>the jedi are evil</del> ''GW should be paying Blizzard''.
** '''Supreme Commander''', the closest thing to "modern" remake of ''Total Annihilation'' and of course "the endless war IN SPESS!" setting that everyone loves so much.
** '''Theocracy''', in which you control one of Mesoamerican tribes with a goal of unifying the region.
** '''Total Annihilation''' The game that started it all when it it comes to RTS. Not much of a story but it had great gameplay that laid the foundations for the stuff to come. There was also a fantasy sequel "Kingdoms" that had a great story and lore (rivaling that of Warcraft at the time) but abysmal gameplay.
** '''Transarctica''' A bizzare mix of an economic sim, adventure game and a railroad simulator. After an experiment to slow down global warming caused a new ice-age, there are only massive trains going through the ice wasteland between the handful of surviving cities and coal mines. Your task is to bring Sun back from beyond the thick clouds surrounding Earth. Very atypical gameplay. And if the premise sounds familiar, it has the same source material as ''Snowpiercer''.
** '''Warfront: Turning Point''': WW2, but everyone fielding experimental mecha, pulp super-weapons and other silly things. Notably, defense buildings come with FPS mode (and this can greatly increase their performance), while weather and terrain affect everything in variety of ways.

* Turn-based Strategy
** '''[[Advance Wars|Advance Wars]]''' - It's like Panzer General but [[Anime]]. Except for '''Days of Ruin'''; that game is [[Grimdark]] and thus [[Fist of the North Star|manly]].
** '''[[Fire Emblem]]''' - Advance Wars' twin brother who likes swords and magic rather than guns and tanks. Fire Emblem has heavy RPG elements, tasking you with managing a stable of characters with limited EXP to go around and the specter of permadeath hanging overhead. ''Awakening'' and later installments are not approved for being [[Weeaboo|waifu delivery systems cleverly disguised as strategy games.]]
** '''Jagged Alliance I''' & '''II''', A PMC is you!
** '''[[King of Dragon Pass]]'''
** '''Panzer General''' - The first decent "Tabletop WW2 meets PC" back in '94, it's the second inspiration for [[Nazi Equipment]] and is the Mecca of wehraboo'ism. Spawned an entire series of games.
*** Of note from that series: '''Fantasy General''', which is, other than some rather questionable AI balancing, a fairly fun "D&D Wargame" style affair.
** '''Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale''' a Japanese game about running a shop, which sells and buys items used by dungeon-crawling adventurers. Much more engaging than it sounds and full of cutting humour. Capitalism, ho!
** '''Valkyria Chronicles''' series - JRPG fantasy world version of World War II. Quite a bit of depth and supporting cast of characters.
** The '''UFO: After[X]''' series which is essentially an X-Com made grimdark. How grim? The ''bad'' ending of the first game, ''Aftermath'', is canon.
** The original '''[[X-Com|X-COM: UFO Defense]]'''
** The new '''[[X-Com|XCOM: Enemy Unknown]]''' and its sequel, '''XCOM 2'''.
*** XCOM and XCOM 2 mods: '''The Long War'''. Both versions add dramatically to their respective games, transforming them from comparatively quick, light experiences to fatigue-worn wars. Buckle up. Plays a lot like Valkyria Chronicles except with destructable terrain and lots of chest-high walls.

==Role-Playing Games==
*[[cRPG]]s
** '''Albion''' Duo of space janitors crash-land on a planet that will be soon strip-mined, only to find out there is local, if Iron Age tier population of few intelligent species.
** '''[[Arcanum]]: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura''' Fallout, but set in a fantasy world where magic and technology coexist and fight each other. The story takes your party across the world as you try to unravel a plot that threatens not only the world but the very concept of life itself.
** '''Arx Fatalis''' A decent but pretty generic RPG if not for the fact that you appear in an underground kingdom in a world that had it's sun extinguished and surface turned into frozen waste. The magic system is also unique as you perform gestures with your mouse in order to cast spells, which is as fun as it is inconvenient (mage-knight build is a necessity due to this).
** '''[[Baldur's Gate]] I''' & '''II'''
** '''Battle for Wesnoth''' An Aussie who played too much jRPGs made a hex-based battle mini games that happens to be one of the more balanced things on the market.
** '''Betrayal at Krondor'''
** '''Darklands''' Adventures of a roaming party in the 15th century <s>Holy Roman Empire</s> Germany. Probably the lowest possible low fantasy to still qualify as such, rather than just historical setting.
** '''Deus Ex''' series. THE cyberpunk RPG. So good that it managed to incorporate nearly every conspiracy theory into its story and make them actually work well together.
** '''[[Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box Series]]''' (also includes some Buck Rogers games because of Lorraine Williams)
** '''[[The Elder Scrolls]]''' especially Daggerfall, and Morrowind as the other ones are pretty generic and thus boring.
** '''[[Fallout]]''' series.
** '''[[Icewind Dale]]'''
** '''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'''
** '''Might and Magic from 1 to 8, then X. [[Squats|Might and Magic 9 does not exist.]]
** '''[[Planescape: Torment]]''' Storyfags' and Lorefags' wet dream.
** '''System Shock''' series
** '''The Temple of Elemental Evil'''
** '''[[Ultima]]''' series - see Might & Magic above and retain the "ignore 9" rule.
** '''Underrail''' ''Metro 2033'' (setting) meets classic ''Fallout'' (gameplay) and decides to have a foursome with cosmic horror and space opera. Try it or get dominated, pipeworker.
** '''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]] - ''Bloodlines/Redemption''''' Bloodlines was Troika's last hurrah and after you apply the official and fan patches you will see why. Redemption is also good but not as much as Bl.
** '''Wasteland''' series
** '''[[Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord]]'''

*Modern RPGs
** '''The Banner Saga'''
** '''Dark Souls''', due to its moody [[Berserk]]-inspired atmosphere, emphasis on exploration, and [[Dwarf Fortress|merciless learning curve]]. Compelling story and characters are a major plus, also contains large amounts of death and [[RAGE]]. The tagline isn't 'Prepare to Die' for no reason.
*** To a lesser extent, the other "Souls" games ('''Demon's Souls''', '''Dark Souls 2''', '''Dark Souls 3''', '''Bloodborne''', and '''Sekiro''').
** '''Deus Ex: Human Revolution''' While not nearly as broad or deep as the original, it still manages to capture some of it's essence and is a fine RPG in it's own right.
** '''Dragon Age: Origins''' Much better than later games. Has the added bonus of having an actual conclusion; the sequels tend to end on unsatisfying cliffhangers.
** '''Disco Elysium''' [[Planescape: Torment]], except you're an Alcoholic, deadbeat detective.
** '''Expeditions: Conquistador''' and '''Viking'''
** '''Fallout: New Vegas''' Made by the team that made the classics, and it shows.
** '''Kingdom Come: Deliverance''' A truly generic story of "from zero to hero", involving blacksmith's son climbing the social ladder of medieval society until knighthood. But what makes the game unique is the fact it's a historical RPG, set in specific area of Bohemia during a specific period with autistic levels of research behind it, providing more data about its own setting than your typical edutainment game.
** '''Legend of Grimrock'''
** '''Mass Effect 1 and 2''' Grand space opera to rival that of Star Wars in the levels of epic.
** '''Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor''' A fun uruk/olog hunting/recruiting game with some [[Skub|contentious]] framing, particularly in the sequel ([[Monstergirl]] [[What|Shelob]], among other things). Think of it as "Arkham's Creed: Middle-Earth Edition."
** '''Pillars of Eternity''' Set in the world of Eora where souls are tangible and measurable rather than being metaphysical/religious concepts. With the advance of technology and Animancy (science of souls) the world is set up for some radical upheavals, and that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Billed as a spiritual successor to Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale the game accomplishes - for the most part - what it sets out to do and is one of the better cRPGs in recent times.
** '''Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic''' Both games are very good, the second just needs the Restored Content mod.
** '''State of Decay''', the only good thing that came out of the early 2010s zombie craze. If you ever planned to run a zombie campaign, just rip the whole thing off - unlike other vidya rip-offs, this one works out great. Only the first game is approved.
** '''[[The Witcher]]''' series
** '''Pathfinder [[Kingmaker]]'''
** '''Tyranny''' From the same devs that made ''Pillars of Eternity''. This time you are cast into the world of Terratus, a high-fantasy world which is just about to exit its Bronze Age, and as another twist to the ol' formula, you are a mid-ranking minion of the setting's overlord tasked with mediating conflicts and bringing "justice" through their empire. Story and gameplay are just as good as PoE, but the game was released in a rushed state with many things missing. Still, good for ~20hrs of fun or as an entry-level cRPG.

==Adventure Games==
* '''Animation Arts''': Not the game, but a German game dev studio. If you ever wanted to run a cheesy game that's either pulp or B-movie, look no further for inspiration, since this is their speciality.
* '''Beneath a Steel Sky''': Great cyberpunk themes and rich imagery. Released as freeware by the original developers.
* '''Blade Runner''': It's a Blade Runner game and it's one of the best things that ever happened in the genre, no need for more recommendations.
* '''Broken Sword''' series: Templars, ancient conspiracies, interesting characters and well-written plot that is mineable even for tabletop games
* '''Chains of Satinav''' and '''Memoria''': Exactly how many adventure games you know that are set in [[The_Dark_Eye|Dere]] and are good?
* '''The DIG''': A bunch of astronauts stop an asteroid from hitting earth, only to find out it's really an alien starship that whisks them to a desolate planet on the other side of the galaxy whose inhabitants - who have a huge fetish for the platonic solids - are nowhere to be found. Features a lot of really complex hard-science plot points, difficult-as-fuck puzzles, and Steve Blum as an arrogant German scientist.
* '''Indiana Jones and the Fate Of Atlantis''': One of the classics that you can't just go wrong with. Aside being a good adventure game by itself, comes with kinda-sorta branching plot, so you can approach same situations differently.
* '''King's Quest VI: Heir Today Gone Tomorrow''': Just read the title and ask yourself what the game can be about. This series is downright ancient, so be warned. VI is well regarded as the best one and holds up relatively well, though fan remakes of the older games in the style of VI are also available.
* '''Monkey Island''' series: One of the most definitive things to ever happen to the genre, plus it's a great pirate-themed series that both spoofs and reaffirms a lot of cliches related with own content.
* '''Policenauts''': Early Hideo Kojima makes a game where Lethal Weapon meets cyberpunk.
* '''The Prince and the Coward''': A Polish game that can be best summed up as "ISO Standard Medieval Fantasy gets the ''Monkey Island'' treatment". An excellent fan-translation exists that manages to keep the original tone.
* '''Pathologic''' (also known as '''Pestilence''' or '''Мор. Утопия'''): a truly bizarre and unique Russian game combining adventure, survival, role-playing and lots of nightmarish vibes. Boasts headache-inducing lore and a persistent world, so things roll regardless of the player interfering or not. Got a HD re-release recently with proper translation, so non-Slavs can finally enjoy the game - the previous English translation was a nightmare by itself.
**'''[[Pathologic 2]]''': A remake of the original (or, rather, one storyline of the original), but with updated graphics and mechanics plus a couple of story tweaks. Retains many of the anxiety-inducing survival mechanics and nightmarish atmosphere of the first game and, generally, is a much more streamlined experience. As such, it is generally recommended to newcomers over the original. Only ⅓ of the original game is there, due to limitations in budget; the rest may come depending on how well the game sells (devs have confirmed they are working on the bachelor's campaign, however).
* '''Professor Layton''' series: A refined gentleman investigates mysteries by solving lateral-thinking puzzles. Beautiful watercolor art and solid writing, though the puzzle setups become increasingly absurd as the series goes on. A great series to mine for dungeon puzzles. Any games after the first six are not approved, due to the writing devolving into cliche anime bullshit and a distinct drop in puzzle quality after the death of designer Akira Tago.
* '''[[Star Control]]''' series: A mess of alien races in the grand tradition of Niven et al. kill the shit out of each other. First game is turn-based strategy, second game is somewhere between an RPG and an adventure game; both have a surprisingly deep arcade combat system. The second game was released as open-source software by the developers.
*'''Vangers''': A fuckin' weird Russian game about delivering bugs to other bugs in your bug-like car in a world that's filled with bugs and feels like "A Bug's Life" on a DMT trip. Honestly though, if you're a GM who wants to present their players with a totally alien and incomprehensible setting, then this game does it with flying colours.

==Warhammer Games==
*Strategy
** The old and glorious '''[[Warhammer Epic 40,000: Final Liberation]]''', [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat| '''Shadow of the Horned Rat''', and '''Dark Omen''']]
** [[Warhammer: Mark of Chaos|'''Mark of Chaos''']]
** '''[[Dawn of War|WH40K Dawn of War]]''' and its [[Dawn of War II|sequel]]. As well as the [[Dawn of War III|sequel sequel]]
*** The "True-to-Tabletop" [[Dawn of War Mods|mods]] for DoW that sprung up, such as '''Firestorm over ''Kronus/Kaurava''''', the '''Closer to Codex''' mod. Really, just look at the page to see how many there are.
** '''[[Chapter Master (game)]]'''
** '''[[Mordheim: City Of The Damned]]'''
** '''[[Battlefleet Gothic: Armada]]'''
** '''[[Total War: WARHAMMER]]''' and its [[Total War: Warhammer II|sequel]]
** '''[[Man o' War: Corsair]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach]]''' - A turn base strategy game where you playing as everybody's favourite [[Space Wolves|space wolf viking]] fighting against the Orks in Sanctus Reach. Later DLC allowed you playing as the Ork led by Da Big Red and everybody's favorite [[Imperial Guard|wall of guns]]. Also Imperial Knights, fuck yeah!
**'''[[Space Hulk]]''' in its many iterations, including [[Alien Assault|the unofficial one]].
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War]]'''
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus]]'''
*Other
** '''[[Blood Bowl]] and its sequel'''
** <s>'''[[Warhammer Online|Warhammer Age of Reckoning]]'''</s> Shut down thanks to EA. Go play the private server version!
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade]]'''
** '''[[The End Times: Vermintide]]''' and [[Vermintide 2|its sequel]]
** '''Warhammer 40,000: [[Freeblade]]'''
** '''[[Space Hulk: Deathwing]]'''

==Miscellaneous==
* [[Roguelike|Roguelikes]]
** '''Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead''' a post-apocalyptic top-down survival game that looks like Dwarf Fortress with a texture pack and lets you drive cars into zombies.
** '''Cultist Simulator''' is a grind-heavy, card-based game about being too curious about things that no man should know about and slowly building a cult to some demonic abomination... or die trying.
** '''Curious Expedition''' which pokes fun at the pulp adventure genre; think Hollow Earth as a black comedy
** '''[[Darkest Dungeon]]''' the newest [[H.P. Lovecraft|lovecraftian]] dungeon crawler with grimdark setting and overall edginess.
** '''Don't Starve''' a pretty-looking survival and exploration game that's fun with friends, and does horror like ''The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy''.
** '''[[Dungeon Crawl]] Stone Soup'''
** '''Freespace & Freespace II''': The last major standalone space flight sim, ending the genre that had started with Wing Commander and X-Wing/TIE-Fighter.
** '''Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures''' a random-gen adventure game that almost operates like a dungeon crawler and came 20 years too early to get on the roguelike hype.
** '''Nethack'''
** ''' NEOScavenger''' much like Cataclysm (gameplay, genre, even the setting is similar), an exploration hex-crawl to surpass all hex-crawls.
** '''Pathway''', the closest thing to having Hollow Earth Expedition vidya
** '''Pixel Dungeon and it's forks''' coffee break roguelike optimized for phones. FOSS so there's tons of forks. Shattered Pixel Dungeon is a very good version and is on Android Play Store and F-Droid
** ''' Sunless Sea''' and '''Sunless Skies''' Adventuring out into a WTF eldritch horror setting under the flag of Victorian Britain. Gameplay-wise, the games are just awful grinders, but it's their setting and quests that make them interesting, as long as comically dark settings are your thing.
** '''TEARDOWN''', a Space-Hulk roguelike
** '''WarpRogue''', a 40K-inspired roguelike

*Good FPS games
** '''Amnesia series''', The first game in the series rekindled the survival horror genre and was pants-shittingly scary through a clever use of jumpscares, ingenious mechanics discouraging directly looking at the enemies and an amazing atmosphere of gothic horror which slowly turns into the cosmic variety as the story progresses. Unfortunately the latter sequels became a victim of their own success mostly due to oversaturation of survival horror genre, but are nevertheless fine games in their own right.
** '''Bioshock''' series: Bunch of retro-aesthetics crammed into FPS games with what passes as a rich plot and world-building within the genre. Arguing over its content used to be prime [[skub]] material, now it's mostly forgotten.
** '''Borderlands 2''', a memetic lolsrandom dumb game, but special mention goes to '''Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep''' DLC, as it is a role-playing session involving main characters, with all the crazy hijinks of Borderlands involved.
** '''Crysis''', Three games provide a very moddable engine with a very versatile set of physics combined with a pretty absurdly large modding community that has among other things, created a perfectly workable Mech Warrior game out of Crysis Warhead. Even if you don't care for nanosuit action, the mods alone are worth checking out.
** '''Deep Rock Galactic''' [[Squat]]s the video game. Space Dwarfs armed with big guns go digging into a mineral rich planet infested with [[Tyranid|giant bugs]].
** '''Dishonored''', the spiritual successor to Thief except now you are a supernatural assassin in a <s>proto-dieselpunk edwardian-era-esque</s> steampunk world. Good story and fun gameplay with plenty of assassination options.
** '''[[Doom|DOOM]]''', '''Hexen''', and '''Heretic''': With a vibrant community because the games are easy to mod and has produced no shortage of mods (or WADs as they're called in the community (officially, the file extension 'WAD' means 'Where's All the Data?').) Interestingly, Doom was inspired by a D&D game run with Lead Dev John Carmack as the DM. Director John Romero's character recklessly gave a dark tome to a demon in exchange for the magic Daikatana which caused demons to overrun the material plane and the world to end. Visually, parts of the games (Hexen and Heretic especially) are reminiscent of a gothic dungeon.
** '''Escape From Butcher Bay''' a Riddick-licensed game that combines great stealth elements with even better combat sequences and a slight horror vibe, all in the sauce made off used future aesthetics.
** '''[[EYE: Divine Cybermancy]]''': A really weird FPS/RPG due to its cyberpunk fantasy aesthetics, almost an RPG. Extremely buggy due to being a Source Engine game that wasn't made by Valve. The developers absolutely love Warhammer 40,000, made the setting for EYE a lawyer-friendly clone of 40k, and were eventually hired by GW to [[Space Hulk: Deathwing|make the 40k game they wanted to make in the first place.]]
** '''Far Cry''' series, which has completely different tone depending on installment and is just one huge mine of ideas for extremely pulpy scenarios. Special mention goes to Far Cry 3, which pretty much reinvented the franchise, and its standalone expansion Blood Dragon, which is [[Old School Roleplaying|a hilarious parody of the 80s neon aesthetic.]] ''Primal'' and later installments are not approved for being either heavily rehashed or just completely unnecessary.
** '''Guns of Icarus''', a steampunk flying team deathmatch with set roles.
** '''Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, and Hand Grenades''' - this VR title is unique for being as close to a true-to-life firearms simulator as you can get, having over 400 accurately modeled and functioning firearms ranging from flintlocks to modern weapons. Its also incredibly goofy, with all enemies being giant sentient hot dogs and a few oddball toys thrown in. It's also effectively Team Fortress 2 VR, as the game includes all the stock weapons from TF2 thanks to a collaboration with Valve.
** '''Iron Storm''' - it's 1964 and the World War I is still going on, with complete stalemate perpetuated by industrialists on both sides. Your mission is to infiltrate and destroy nuclear program of the "bad" side. W40k games ''wish'' they were this good in presenting endless, senseless war.
** '''Penumbra series''': The easiest way to describe it is to call it modern take on At the Mountains of Madness, only set in Greenland and with massive conspiracy looming over the story. Warning, '''very''' tense horror games (while avoiding jump scares) with unique control and physics system, so it might not be your cup of tea.
** '''Quake''': At least the early games, for similar reasons for DOOM (they were both made by the same company). Quake 1 is a good and challenging FPS that takes cues from Lovecraft in terms of environments and monster designs. Quake 2 is somewhat easier, but is deliciously grimdark sci-fi; it's about fighting cyborg aliens that make more of themselves by capturing conquered races and fitting them with cybernetics/forcing them into a hive mind against their will.
** '''Republic Commando''', baby's first tactical shooter, but damn if it isn't a good one
** '''[[Team Fortress 2]]''', a game descended from a Quake mod now over 10 years old and still going strong, is a multiplayer FPS with a 1960s theme where players pick a team, one of 9 different classes, and battle to the death. Also, hats. Two hats in this game are 40k references, allowing you to dress your Heavy up as an Ork.
** '''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.''' series: Roadside Picnic: The Video Game. A nice combination of free roaming, excellent gunplay, tense atmosphere and really freaky lore.
** '''Thief 1 & 2''', the grand daddy of stealth games, with one of the most original settings ever created for games (a combination of industrial - but not steampunk - medieval and pagan elements). Strong story, good characters and makes you feel like a master thief indeed. Third game is good provided you get the Sneaky Update. Reboot from 2014 is unapproved and shunned.
** '''Wolfenstein''' series: Combines sci-fi, fantasy and World War II elements amidst the Nazi-killing. This series is downright ancient, predating DOOM and the FPS genre entirely.

*Good TPS games
** '''Freedom Fighters''' another baby's first tactical shooter to fulfill your ''Red Dawn'' fantasies
** '''Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine''' and '''Emperor's Tomb''' Despite what you might think, it's LucasArt ripping-off Tomb Raider, not the other way around.
** '''Max Payne 1 & 2''' Finest product of the neo-noir genre, especially the second game. Amazingly strong story in both games, with a lot of Norse references in the first one. Also, the game that introduced bullet time as game mechanics.
** '''Prince of Persia''', especially the ''Sands of Time'' trilogy. Accept no substitute for Arabian Nights game.
** '''Severance: Blade of Darkness''' Some eight years before Demon Souls you had Severance, while the setting is somewhat generic-ish blade & sorcery meets LOTR, the moody atmosphere, unforgiving gameplay and fun combat more than make up for it. If you have a thing for Soulslike this is just for you.
** '''Styx series''' Great tps assassination games set in a unique high fantasy setting that has you playing as a goblin of all things. Both games are great though the second one takes itself somewhat less seriously than the first.
** '''Tomb Raider series''' Preferably games created by original studio, Core Design, but anything up to Underworld goes. A swift balance between serious and pulp tone, providing simple plots and a more and more complex locations. Also, good source of creative traps. Reboot from 2013 and what follows are disapproved and shunned, being just generic cover shooter. Comes with its own, massive level-making scene, known collectively as '''TRLE''' (after Tomb Raider Level Editor), which by itself is fantastic source of dungeon design, creative traps and excellent puzzles that are all very minable.
* [[Mechwarrior]], because /tg/ loves [[Battletech]].
** '''MechWarrior I''' is lauded as a classic, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior II''' is lauded as the best
** '''MechWarrior III''' is lauded as the most engrossing storywise, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior IV''' is lauded as the latest and greatest, and thus the best
** '''MechCommander II''' is lauded as most like the tabletop, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior: Living Legend''' is lauded as best for multiplayer, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior Online''' is the worst
** '''MechWarrior V''' is the newest, therefore both the best AND worst
* Classic console games
** '''Jet Set/Grind Radio''' seems to have enthused one orky [[drawfag]] to the highest of possible levels, make of that what you will.
** '''Conker's Bad Fur Day''' Looney Toons for adults, and that's just the start of the batshit craziness.
** '''Dungeons and Dragons Order of the Griffon''', a game for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 set in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Uses Basic D&D rules versus the Gold Box games' AD&D rules.
** '''Legacy of Kain series''' Set in a unique fantasy gothic world, the series takes place over ~2000 year timeline that sees you slain and become a vampire demigod Kain in the first game, have you play as the vampire lieutenant Raziel that gets turned into a sentient time-paradox in the second and third game and then switch between the two on an epic, complex and plot ridden story that sees you jump from future to past to present and back again all the while unraveling a conspiracy that spans the material and spectral realms.
** '''[[Metal Gear]]'''
** '''Oddworld series''' A classic platformer set in a grimdark alien world of Oddworld, you play as Abe, a slave turned accidental revolutionary turned messiah for his people as he fights the industrial evil of Glukkons and other vile profiteering species out to stripmine Oddworld for sweet moolah. There are 4 games in total, minus the recent remakes. First two games are cult-classics and you should play them, Munch's oddysee was the awkward transition to 3D so ok-ish and Stranger's Wrath picked up the pace but as many a grognard will tell you it does not quite reach the heights of elden times. The New'n Tasty and Soulstorm remakes of the original games and are all in all decent.
** '''[[Samus|Metroid]]''', '''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''', '''Kid Icarus''', and '''[[Castlevania]]''' (the four games series (with one exception see above) share so much in common they deserve to be discussed together). Why? The exploration-heavy nature of the games, the feeling of growing more powerful as you collect enough gear and relics to make an adventuring party jealous, the incredibly memorable boss battles, interesting backstories (Metroid immerses you in backstory at your pace, via scans and lore pickups, leaving much up to your imagination), and providing many ideas for sci fi or fantasy RPG session.
** '''Shantae series''' You play as a cute genie girl that can turn into various [[Monstergirls]] (harpy, dridder, mermaid, dragon etc.) while platforming and fighting through a colorful middle-east fantasy setting.

==Games that can be used to troll /tg/==
* Most other MMORPGs. [[World of Warcraft]], as the most successful to date, is especially effective. Special points to [[Star Wars: The Old Republic]] for being a massive disappointment for a popular franchise.
* JRPGs, for often recycling the same plots over and over and having identical structure. Along with of course cringy bad character designs in some cases.
* Any of the modern Final Fantasy games, [[Games Workshop|which somehow keep getting sequels despite being financial failures]]. [[This Guy|Some fa/tg/uys]] have a fondness for the early ones, mostly because [[Troll|the first one rips off D&D pretty squarely]].
* [[Skyrim]], a popular well liked meme game that /v/ contrarians and neckbeards with nostalgia goggles will say is shit. Same goes for [[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|Oblivion]], [[Fallout]] 3 and 4, and any future Bethesda RPGs.
* <s>Mentioning the attention Warhammer 40k games have gotten compared to Warhammer Fantasy is a sore spot for Fantasy fans.</s> With the failure that is [[Dawn of War III]] and recent success of [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] and [[Vermintide]], you could say the tables have turned. Actually DoW3 by itself is enough for trolling anyway.
* Sonic The Hedgehog. The fans are everywhere, and the butthurt is unfathomable.
* Nintendo games have ultra-dedicated fanbases, and also hardcore haters, except for series like Metroid, Zelda, Mother, or Kid Icarus which are generally respected. Mentioning Pokemon in a positive light or stating the controller of "the best" console they released is a sex toy may cause an internet fight.
* Games with bad random number generators. Even highly approved of games like Mordheim: City Of The Damned will cause a shitstorm when someone is reminded that a supposed 95% chance to hit can result in four consecutive misses.
* No Man's Sky - such a huge waste of potential, although it got somewhat better with patches. Bringing this game up is a good troll move on /v/ as well, but everything's a good troll move on /v/.
* [[Blizzard]]. JUST. [[Blizzard]]. (''ACTIVISION'' Blizzard now, fuckers! The shit train only goes downhill from here!)

Games that are universally loathed, so you'll probably have to put in some work if you want to troll with:
* Unlike the previous Bethesda RPGs Fallout 76 is actually bad. So if you want to troll people you'll have to pretend to like it. Although, it's so objectively terrible your bait will most likely seem too obvious.
* [[Bioware | Anthem]].
** Almost all "Games as a Service" games released in the wake of Destiny have a similar, if lesser, level of disdain; it's just that Fallout 76 and Anthem were so garbage on release, and had such a CRPG pedigree, that the trolling mines were quickly completely depleted.
* Reminding [[Shadowrun]] fans of the terrible Shadowrun FPS is not going to earn you any goodwill.
* [[Evony]]

==The Game List That People Copypasta==
Every so often, someone posts on /tg/: "Wow, you guys are so smart and cool; can you recommend some [[video games]] to play for those hours when I'm not playing tabletop?". It happens so often that people have made [[copypasta]] for the occasion, even image copypasta.

You will find a lot of those games on [http://www.gog.com/ Good Old Games], DRM free, for 6 or 9 bucks. Or [[Freebooterz|for free if you pirate]], which can often be justified by the original creators leaving the development company so all the [[Profit]] goes to people who don't deserve it. Your choice.

For any video game that someone felt was good enough for a full page on this wiki, see [[:Category:Video_Games|Video Games]]

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[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Approved Media]]

Video games

2021-10-14T20:55:52Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Role-Playing Games */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Bigpong.jpeg|thumb|People playing a large scale version of the iconic Pong video game at the National Videogame Museum]]
Video games are games played with an electronic device, instead of paper, pens, dice, boards, anything traditional, and most of the time omitting your imagination too. It is also true that they do contain amusing game mechanics, can be easily played alone, provide visual and auditory representation, and don't [[Games Workshop|cost hundreds of dollars for a few miniature visual representations]]; however, this does come at the cost of freedom, physical being, social skills, and imagination.

Many traditional or tabletop games (like WH40K and D&D) can now be played as using electronic devices to substitute for their tactile components like maps or minis, proving once again that technology continues to screw up [[Old School Roleplaying|everything that we all wished had remained as it was.]] A [[VASSAL Game Engine|virtual tabletop simulator]] has been released so you may play a tabletop game with friends out of town. Also, we have an article at [[List of Vidya Board Games]] to cover various tabletop adaptions into the digital realm.

Electronic games played by strange, [[what|electronic fa/tg/uys]] have been accepted by /tg/, so that any game can be traditional, and this media fits right in with the old [[Board Game|board games]] and Tabletop [[Wargame]]s we all know and love. Some video games are accepted and enjoyed by /tg/. Many, however, are not. Generally, video game threads, especially games with no corresponding /tg/ version/interest, belong on /v/ instead.

You'll find quite a few /v/ related articles on 1d4chan because some video games have at least some relation to /tg/ and because 1d4chan tends to draw in people who are fans of WH40K universe primarily through [[Dawn of War]], even if these people don't actually play the tabletop game. And lets be honest here, 1d4chan is as much a page for WH40K fans as it is for fa/tg/uys so these people are certainly welcome here.

==Strategy Games ==
[[Image:Keen.gif|right|300px]]
* Simulation/Sandbox
** '''[[Dwarf Fortress]]''' The legend, the lamentation, the...fun.
** '''Aurora 4X, a.k.a Dwarf Fortress in space with MUCH more complicated details'''
** '''Factorio''', a process building game. The player is stuck on an alien world and trying to build a spaceship to get off said world, but the enormous industrial activity necessary to build a spaceship provokes the local wildlife to attack, necessitating more industry to fight them off.
** '''From The Depths'''
** '''Kerbal Space Program''' A aerospace engineer is you, build space vehicles, manage your own space agency and conduct missions kerbaled and automated across a simulated solar system. Bear in mind, this game involves actual rocket science; you're going to have to learn about things like Delta-V and slingshot maneuvers if you're going to plot a course that won't end with your rocket crashing into the ocean.
** '''Space Engineers''' Build space ships, stations and bases.
*** '''Medieval Engineers''' Build castles, villages and siege equipment.
** '''[[Minecraft]]''', for some odd reason.
** '''[[Terraria]]''', for the same odd reason.
** '''Mount and Blade''', it's expandalone Warband, and the new Bannerlord 2. A sandbox medieval setting, you go around either being a bandit or uniting the scattered kingdoms into a grand empire or whatever. Enormous modding community means finding something thematically different if you want, including Warhammer and historical mods. In facts, the mods are a selling point of the whole thing, given there is one for just about '''any''' setting you can think about.
** '''Rimworld''', Dwarf Fortress ''IN SPEHSS'' except dumbed down for the casuals, [[skub|which may or may not be a good thing.]]
** '''[[Space Station 13]]:''' Dwarf Fortress except you play as the dwarves. Has been completely fucking ruined by goons leaking into every other version of the game.
** '''[[Tabletop Simulator]]''', a virtual tabletop for playing Card Games, Board Games, RPGs, etc. online with friends. The game has multiple built-in tools for creating custom games, and the Steam Workshop has thousands of add-ons; a popular choice for playing WH40K online thanks to ripped assets from Dawn of War.
** '''[[VASSAL Game Engine|VASSAL Engine]]'''

* 4X/Grand Strategy
** '''Age of Wonders''' - Take ''Master of Magic'', then make it good. Due to reasons, the most approved is 2nd game, as it strikes balance between being its own unique thing, having good campaign and not sacrificing gameplay in the process.
** '''Civilization I-IV''' - Civilization actually was based on a board game and in a case of coming full circle, ended up creating it's own board game. Civ IV in particular happens to have a highly active modding scene to this very day, and many of those mods are total overhauls with fantasy settings. One of those is a ''Fall from Heaven'' mod, or rather a series of mods with shared setting. Neat stuff.
*** Note: Civs V and VI have design issues that make them difficult to recommend in this list, and are thus explicitly not included--that being said, this exclusion is more on the basis of them being [[Skub]]ish--some people love V and/or VI, while some people hate them.
** '''[[Disciples]]''' (series) - Heroes of Might and Magic made [[Grimdark]].
** '''[[Dominions]]''' - Civilization's and Dwarf Fortress' beautiful love child. Enjoy [[Lovecraft]]'s Father Dagon square up against Ravana from India's Ramayana as they fight for the glory of their respective gods (you and whatever other [[neckbeards]] you are playing with).
** '''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]''' - Turn based strategy of over six main games and expansions where you control a fantasy hero and their legion of men/elves/dwarves/creatures/etc. Special mention goes to second and especially third installments.
**'''Master of Magic''': Take Sid Meier's Civilization. Add fantasy races with their own units, magic in the form of spells and summons, heroes and a very basic isometric battlefield when armies clash, and give dozens of abilities to units according to their species, situation and metal they are armed with (Yes, the metal used can be mithril or adamantite if the building city has any). That's Master of Magic. Still great for when you need to scratch that 'wizard with no sense of right or wrong bent on conquering the world' itch.
** '''Masters of Orion'''
** '''[[Alpha Centauri|Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'''. Despite starting out as "Civ 2: SPACE EDITION", SMAC became one of the more iconic games of the 90s. In the late 21st century Earth goes to sh*t and a colony ship is dispatched to Alpha Centauri to give humanity a new lease on life. Instead, we start fighting before we even get there and the whole thing eventually spirals off into a free-for all (with aliens joining the fun too!) with transcendence to virtual godhood as the ultimate prize. The game was a great joy to play due to gameplay and strategic depth, an interesting array of futuristic techs mostly rooted in semi-hard science and a plethora of interesting factions and various lore blurbs. Game is so tightly written, people discuss its content to this day. When SJGames released a setting book for GURPS 3e, they didn't have to make up anything at all to get 130 pages of lore.
** '''Sengoku Rance''': [[Weeaboo|Hentai game spinoff]] that parodies the long-running ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' series. You play as Rance, [[Slaanesh]]'s very own [[Kharn|fun guy to be around,]] as he unifies Warring States-era Japan under his mighty [[Anal circumference|"hyperweapon."]] Despite the utterly ludicrous premise it's a solid grand strategy game, to the point that the porn is more of a reward for playing well than an end in itself. Comparing this game to Total War was a common troll on /gsg/ when Shogun II was released.
** '''Endless Space 1&2''' The first game is ok and free to play, but the second one is where it's at as it does everything the original did better and then some.
** '''[[Endless Legend]]'''
** '''Distant Worlds'''
** Paradox series: This is the go-to company for nation-ruling Grand Strategy games for different eras such as '''[[Crusader Kings]]''' 800's-1400's, '''[[Europa Universalis]]''' 1400's-1800's, '''[[Victoria]]''' 1820's-1936, or '''[[Hearts of Iron]]''' 1936-1950's.
*** [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=406933979 Warhammer: Geheimnisnacht], a Warhammer Fantasy conversion for Crusader Kings II. Setting predates Winds of Chaos & End Times.
** '''[[Stellaris]]''' Paradox's attempt to fill the gap in the market between their Grand Strategy games and traditional 4X. You can run *any* science fiction staple idea and none would look out of place. A civilisation of individuals ranging from unique megacorporations to generic governments, hive-minded eusocial species, robots and anything in between each have unique playstyles. It also has endgame "crises" of galaxy threatening proportions which needs elaborate teamwork to stop.
*** Excellent 40k mod for Stellaris: https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/WarhammerTotalConversion
*** And yes, there's Star Trek and Star Wars mods.
** '''[[Total War]]''' series: '''Rome Total War''', '''Medieval Total War''', '''Empire Total War''', '''Shogun Total War'''
*** Rome 1 mods: '''Call to Arms: Warhammer''' and '''Fourth Age Total War''' and Medieval 2 mods: '''[[Call of Warhammer]]''', '''Third Age Total War'''

* Real-time Strategy
** '''Age of Empires''' series. Classic RTS with a more Command and Conquer vibe then a 4X, which is more common for historical settings, though pretty much every unit has multiple counters so it tends to be a more complex game then normal fast pace RTSs. There's the original, which is a curiosity at best, the second game that is made of pure gold, Mythology that mixes up the formula well, the third which sadly is more just Mythology with guns and Online which is F2P game and also dead (unless you play Project Celeste, which is still getting updated by fans). First, Second and Mythology have really good HD remasters. First and Second have also 4k remakes (not remaster), called Definitive Editions. Second and Mythology are worth grabbing, but if you had to choose one choose 2. They are currently developing the next game in the series, AoE IV.
** '''Battlezone''', the strategy game not the arcade game. Mixture of real time strategy and hover tank combat while fighting commies on the moon. Clunky, and as balanced as a one legged hippo, but it's uniqueness, concept and immersion make it a classic. Got a second game that was tighter and better balanced but weaker plot and setting. Both got pretty decent HD remasters.
** '''[[Command and Conquer]]''', a franchise with more then four different series running at the time where you control varied forces trying to beat the crap out of each other.
** '''Company of Heroes''' and '''Men of War''' series which are basically RTSs based on the idea of commanding forces as if someone was playing a classic WW2 shooter. While there are hard counters in Company of Heroes it still focuses more on holding chokepoints, piecing defensive lines and utilizing sandbags and barbed wire. Men at War focuses on realistic damage and as such is more the ARMA to Company of Heroes Call of Duty 2.
** '''Cossacks''' series, which covers 17th and 18th century, being the closest to /tg/'s desire to have "pike and shot setting". Most notable for ability to field absolutely gigantic armies of thousands upon thousands of soldiers.
*** '''American Conquest''' is an off-shot mini-series, expanding game mechanics from Cossacks and covering the period between Cortes conquest of Aztec Empire till American Revolutionary War. An expansion is dedicated to American Civil War.
** '''Cultures''' series, but most importantly first two games. A Viking village sim
** '''Dungeon Keeper''', where you play as an evil overlord defending against pesky adventurers and goodie-two-shoes trying to conquer your dungeon, and play it like Sims on crack.
** '''Homeworld''': THE iconic space video game of the early 00's. Basically Battlestar Galactica if the Galactica was tall instead of long. Borrows heavily from the artwork of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Foss Chris Foss].
** '''Original War''', most notable for its unique mix of RPG and RTS elements, with each unit representing an individual character with own backstory, personality and set of skills.
** '''Patrician 3: Rise of the Hansa''' is pretty standard (and good) economic-transport sim, but it makes up with being related with the titular Hansa and the Baltic region during Late Medieval, which rarely show up as a setting despite being what is represented as '''the''' ISO Standard Medieval setting.
** '''Railroad Tycoon 2''' comes with absolutely amazing series of scenarios and an unique, fleshed out post-apo setting. No, not kidding. There are also dozens of fan-made maps further expanding on said setting.
** '''Rise of Nations''' and especially '''Rise of Legends''' which had a steampunk faction and a "totally not the baddies from Stargate" faction
** '''The Settlers''' series, especially the I-IV parts. This is less of a straight RTS and more a space-management game, where you're building the most efficient transport system for your settlement, particularly in first two games, with their iconic flag-and-road system. Plot-wise, S3 and 4 are great kitchen-sink settings and Amazones are hot.
** '''[[Starcraft]]''' and '''[[Warcraft]]''': [[Skub|40K and Fantasy rip-offs respectively]], although they were so successful that from video gamers' perspective <del>the jedi are evil</del> ''GW should be paying Blizzard''.
** '''Supreme Commander''', the closest thing to "modern" remake of ''Total Annihilation'' and of course "the endless war IN SPESS!" setting that everyone loves so much.
** '''Theocracy''', in which you control one of Mesoamerican tribes with a goal of unifying the region.
** '''Total Annihilation''' The game that started it all when it it comes to RTS. Not much of a story but it had great gameplay that laid the foundations for the stuff to come. There was also a fantasy sequel "Kingdoms" that had a great story and lore (rivaling that of Warcraft at the time) but abysmal gameplay.
** '''Transarctica''' A bizzare mix of an economic sim, adventure game and a railroad simulator. After an experiment to slow down global warming caused a new ice-age, there are only massive trains going through the ice wasteland between the handful of surviving cities and coal mines. Your task is to bring Sun back from beyond the thick clouds surrounding Earth. Very atypical gameplay. And if the premise sounds familiar, it has the same source material as ''Snowpiercer''.
** '''Warfront: Turning Point''': WW2, but everyone fielding experimental mecha, pulp super-weapons and other silly things. Notably, defense buildings come with FPS mode (and this can greatly increase their performance), while weather and terrain affect everything in variety of ways.

* Turn-based Strategy
** '''[[Advance Wars|Advance Wars]]''' - It's like Panzer General but [[Anime]]. Except for '''Days of Ruin'''; that game is [[Grimdark]] and thus [[Fist of the North Star|manly]].
** '''[[Fire Emblem]]''' - Advance Wars' twin brother who likes swords and magic rather than guns and tanks. Fire Emblem has heavy RPG elements, tasking you with managing a stable of characters with limited EXP to go around and the specter of permadeath hanging overhead. ''Awakening'' and later installments are not approved for being [[Weeaboo|waifu delivery systems cleverly disguised as strategy games.]]
** '''Jagged Alliance I''' & '''II''', A PMC is you!
** '''[[King of Dragon Pass]]'''
** '''Panzer General''' - The first decent "Tabletop WW2 meets PC" back in '94, it's the second inspiration for [[Nazi Equipment]] and is the Mecca of wehraboo'ism. Spawned an entire series of games.
*** Of note from that series: '''Fantasy General''', which is, other than some rather questionable AI balancing, a fairly fun "D&D Wargame" style affair.
** '''Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale''' a Japanese game about running a shop, which sells and buys items used by dungeon-crawling adventurers. Much more engaging than it sounds and full of cutting humour. Capitalism, ho!
** '''Valkyria Chronicles''' series - JRPG fantasy world version of World War II. Quite a bit of depth and supporting cast of characters.
** The '''UFO: After[X]''' series which is essentially an X-Com made grimdark. How grim? The ''bad'' ending of the first game, ''Aftermath'', is canon.
** The original '''[[X-Com|X-COM: UFO Defense]]'''
** The new '''[[X-Com|XCOM: Enemy Unknown]]''' and its sequel, '''XCOM 2'''.
*** XCOM and XCOM 2 mods: '''The Long War'''. Both versions add dramatically to their respective games, transforming them from comparatively quick, light experiences to fatigue-worn wars. Buckle up. Plays a lot like Valkyria Chronicles except with destructable terrain and lots of chest-high walls.

==Role-Playing Games==
*[[cRPG]]s
** '''Albion''' Duo of space janitors crash-land on a planet that will be soon strip-mined, only to find out there is local, if Iron Age tier population of few intelligent species.
** '''[[Arcanum]]: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura''' Fallout, but set in a fantasy world where magic and technology coexist and fight each other. The story takes your party across the world as you try to unravel a plot that threatens not only the world but the very concept of life itself.
** '''Arx Fatalis''' A decent but pretty generic RPG if not for the fact that you appear in an underground kingdom in a world that had it's sun extinguished and surface turned into frozen waste. The magic system is also unique as you perform gestures with your mouse in order to cast spells, which is as fun as it is inconvenient (mage-knight build is a necessity due to this).
** '''[[Baldur's Gate]] I''' & '''II'''
** '''Battle for Wesnoth''' An Aussie who played too much jRPGs made a hex-based battle mini games that happens to be one of the more balanced things on the market.
** '''Betrayal at Krondor'''
** '''Darklands''' Adventures of a roaming party in the 15th century <s>Holy Roman Empire</s> Germany. Probably the lowest possible low fantasy to still qualify as such, rather than just historical setting.
** '''Deus Ex''' series. THE cyberpunk RPG. So good that it managed to incorporate nearly every conspiracy theory into its story and make them actually work well together.
** '''[[Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box Series]]''' (also includes some Buck Rogers games because of Lorraine Williams)
** '''[[The Elder Scrolls]]''' especially Daggerfall, and Morrowind as the other ones are pretty generic and thus boring.
** '''[[Fallout]]''' series.
** '''[[Icewind Dale]]'''
** '''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'''
** '''Might and Magic from 1 to 8, then X. [[Squats|Might and Magic 9 does not exist.]]
** '''[[Planescape: Torment]]''' Storyfags' and Lorefags' wet dream.
** '''System Shock''' series
** '''The Temple of Elemental Evil'''
** '''[[Ultima]]''' series - see Might & Magic above and retain the "ignore 9" rule.
** '''Underrail''' ''Metro 2033'' (setting) meets classic ''Fallout'' (gameplay) and decides to have a foursome with cosmic horror and space opera. Try it or get dominated, pipeworker.
** '''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]] - ''Bloodlines/Redemption''''' Bloodlines was Troika's last hurrah and after you apply the official and fan patches you will see why. Redemption is also good but not as much as Bl.
** '''Wasteland''' series
** '''[[Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord]]'''

*Modern RPGs
** '''The Banner Saga'''
** '''Dark Souls''', due to its moody [[Berserk]]-inspired atmosphere, emphasis on exploration, and [[Dwarf Fortress|merciless learning curve]]. Compelling story and characters are a major plus, also contains large amounts of death and [[RAGE]]. The tagline isn't 'Prepare to Die' for no reason.
*** To a lesser extent, the other "Souls" games ('''Demon's Souls''', '''Dark Souls 2''', '''Dark Souls 3''', '''Bloodborne''', and '''Sekiro''').
** '''Deus Ex: Human Revolution''' While not nearly as broad or deep as the original, it still manages to capture some of it's essence and is a fine RPG in it's own right.
** '''Dragon Age: Origins''' Much better than later games. Has the added bonus of having an actual conclusion; the sequels tend to end on unsatisfying cliffhangers.
** '''Disco Elysium''' [[Planescape: Torment]], except you're an Alcoholic, deadbeat detective.
** '''Expeditions: Conquistador''' and '''Viking'''
** '''Fallout: New Vegas''' Made by the team that made the classics, and it shows. Basically what Fallout 3 - the real, Van Buren, Fallout 3 - should have been.
** '''Kingdom Come: Deliverance''' A truly generic story of "from zero to hero", involving blacksmith's son climbing the social ladder of medieval society until knighthood. But what makes the game unique is the fact it's a historical RPG, set in specific area of Bohemia during a specific period with autistic levels of research behind it, providing more data about its own setting than your typical edutainment game.
** '''Legend of Grimrock'''
** '''Mass Effect 1 and 2''' Grand space opera to rival that of Star Wars in the levels of epic.
** '''Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor''' A fun uruk/olog hunting/recruiting game with some [[Skub|contentious]] framing, particularly in the sequel ([[Monstergirl]] [[What|Shelob]], among other things). Think of it as "Arkham's Creed: Middle-Earth Edition."
** '''Pillars of Eternity''' Set in a world of Eora where souls are tangible and measurable rather than being metaphysical/religious concepts. With the advance of technology and Animancy (science of souls) the world is set up for some radical upheavals, and that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Billed as a spiritual successor to Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale the game accomplishes - for the most part - what it sets out to do and is one of the better cRPGs in recent times.
** '''Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic''' Both games are very good, the second just needs the Restored Content mod.
** '''State of Decay''', the only good thing that came out of the early 2010s zombie craze. If you ever planned to run a zombie campaign, just rip the whole thing off - unlike other vidya rip-offs, this one works out great. Only the first game is approved.
** '''[[The Witcher]]''' series
** '''Pathfinder [[Kingmaker]]'''
** '''Tyranny''' From the same devs that made ''Pillars of Eternity''. This time you are cast into the world of Terratus, a high-fantasy world which is just about to exit it's Bronze Age, and as another twist to the ol' formula, you are a mid-ranking minion of the setting's overlord tasked with mediating conflicts and bringing "justice" through their empire. Story and gameplay are just as good as PoE, but the game was released in a rushed state with many things missing. Still, good for ~20hrs of fun or as an entry-level cRPG.

==Adventure Games==
* '''Animation Arts''': Not the game, but a German game dev studio. If you ever wanted to run a cheesy game that's either pulp or B-movie, look no further for inspiration, since this is their speciality.
* '''Beneath a Steel Sky''': Great cyberpunk themes and rich imagery. Released as freeware by the original developers.
* '''Blade Runner''': It's a Blade Runner game and it's one of the best things that ever happened in the genre, no need for more recommendations.
* '''Broken Sword''' series: Templars, ancient conspiracies, interesting characters and well-written plot that is mineable even for tabletop games
* '''Chains of Satinav''' and '''Memoria''': Exactly how many adventure games you know that are set in [[The_Dark_Eye|Dere]] and are good?
* '''The DIG''': A bunch of astronauts stop an asteroid from hitting earth, only to find out it's really an alien starship that whisks them to a desolate planet on the other side of the galaxy whose inhabitants - who have a huge fetish for the platonic solids - are nowhere to be found. Features a lot of really complex hard-science plot points, difficult-as-fuck puzzles, and Steve Blum as an arrogant German scientist.
* '''Indiana Jones and the Fate Of Atlantis''': One of the classics that you can't just go wrong with. Aside being a good adventure game by itself, comes with kinda-sorta branching plot, so you can approach same situations differently.
* '''King's Quest VI: Heir Today Gone Tomorrow''': Just read the title and ask yourself what the game can be about. This series is downright ancient, so be warned. VI is well regarded as the best one and holds up relatively well, though fan remakes of the older games in the style of VI are also available.
* '''Monkey Island''' series: One of the most definitive things to ever happen to the genre, plus it's a great pirate-themed series that both spoofs and reaffirms a lot of cliches related with own content.
* '''Policenauts''': Early Hideo Kojima makes a game where Lethal Weapon meets cyberpunk.
* '''The Prince and the Coward''': A Polish game that can be best summed up as "ISO Standard Medieval Fantasy gets the ''Monkey Island'' treatment". An excellent fan-translation exists that manages to keep the original tone.
* '''Pathologic''' (also known as '''Pestilence''' or '''Мор. Утопия'''): a truly bizarre and unique Russian game combining adventure, survival, role-playing and lots of nightmarish vibes. Boasts headache-inducing lore and a persistent world, so things roll regardless of the player interfering or not. Got a HD re-release recently with proper translation, so non-Slavs can finally enjoy the game - the previous English translation was a nightmare by itself.
**'''[[Pathologic 2]]''': A remake of the original (or, rather, one storyline of the original), but with updated graphics and mechanics plus a couple of story tweaks. Retains many of the anxiety-inducing survival mechanics and nightmarish atmosphere of the first game and, generally, is a much more streamlined experience. As such, it is generally recommended to newcomers over the original. Only ⅓ of the original game is there, due to limitations in budget; the rest may come depending on how well the game sells (devs have confirmed they are working on the bachelor's campaign, however).
* '''Professor Layton''' series: A refined gentleman investigates mysteries by solving lateral-thinking puzzles. Beautiful watercolor art and solid writing, though the puzzle setups become increasingly absurd as the series goes on. A great series to mine for dungeon puzzles. Any games after the first six are not approved, due to the writing devolving into cliche anime bullshit and a distinct drop in puzzle quality after the death of designer Akira Tago.
* '''[[Star Control]]''' series: A mess of alien races in the grand tradition of Niven et al. kill the shit out of each other. First game is turn-based strategy, second game is somewhere between an RPG and an adventure game; both have a surprisingly deep arcade combat system. The second game was released as open-source software by the developers.
*'''Vangers''': A fuckin' weird Russian game about delivering bugs to other bugs in your bug-like car in a world that's filled with bugs and feels like "A Bug's Life" on a DMT trip. Honestly though, if you're a GM who wants to present their players with a totally alien and incomprehensible setting, then this game does it with flying colours.

==Warhammer Games==
*Strategy
** The old and glorious '''[[Warhammer Epic 40,000: Final Liberation]]''', [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat| '''Shadow of the Horned Rat''', and '''Dark Omen''']]
** [[Warhammer: Mark of Chaos|'''Mark of Chaos''']]
** '''[[Dawn of War|WH40K Dawn of War]]''' and its [[Dawn of War II|sequel]]. As well as the [[Dawn of War III|sequel sequel]]
*** The "True-to-Tabletop" [[Dawn of War Mods|mods]] for DoW that sprung up, such as '''Firestorm over ''Kronus/Kaurava''''', the '''Closer to Codex''' mod. Really, just look at the page to see how many there are.
** '''[[Chapter Master (game)]]'''
** '''[[Mordheim: City Of The Damned]]'''
** '''[[Battlefleet Gothic: Armada]]'''
** '''[[Total War: WARHAMMER]]''' and its [[Total War: Warhammer II|sequel]]
** '''[[Man o' War: Corsair]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach]]''' - A turn base strategy game where you playing as everybody's favourite [[Space Wolves|space wolf viking]] fighting against the Orks in Sanctus Reach. Later DLC allowed you playing as the Ork led by Da Big Red and everybody's favorite [[Imperial Guard|wall of guns]]. Also Imperial Knights, fuck yeah!
**'''[[Space Hulk]]''' in its many iterations, including [[Alien Assault|the unofficial one]].
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War]]'''
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus]]'''
*Other
** '''[[Blood Bowl]] and its sequel'''
** <s>'''[[Warhammer Online|Warhammer Age of Reckoning]]'''</s> Shut down thanks to EA. Go play the private server version!
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade]]'''
** '''[[The End Times: Vermintide]]''' and [[Vermintide 2|its sequel]]
** '''Warhammer 40,000: [[Freeblade]]'''
** '''[[Space Hulk: Deathwing]]'''

==Miscellaneous==
* [[Roguelike|Roguelikes]]
** '''Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead''' a post-apocalyptic top-down survival game that looks like Dwarf Fortress with a texture pack and lets you drive cars into zombies.
** '''Cultist Simulator''' is a grind-heavy, card-based game about being too curious about things that no man should know about and slowly building a cult to some demonic abomination... or die trying.
** '''Curious Expedition''' which pokes fun at the pulp adventure genre; think Hollow Earth as a black comedy
** '''[[Darkest Dungeon]]''' the newest [[H.P. Lovecraft|lovecraftian]] dungeon crawler with grimdark setting and overall edginess.
** '''Don't Starve''' a pretty-looking survival and exploration game that's fun with friends, and does horror like ''The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy''.
** '''[[Dungeon Crawl]] Stone Soup'''
** '''Freespace & Freespace II''': The last major standalone space flight sim, ending the genre that had started with Wing Commander and X-Wing/TIE-Fighter.
** '''Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures''' a random-gen adventure game that almost operates like a dungeon crawler and came 20 years too early to get on the roguelike hype.
** '''Nethack'''
** ''' NEOScavenger''' much like Cataclysm (gameplay, genre, even the setting is similar), an exploration hex-crawl to surpass all hex-crawls.
** '''Pathway''', the closest thing to having Hollow Earth Expedition vidya
** '''Pixel Dungeon and it's forks''' coffee break roguelike optimized for phones. FOSS so there's tons of forks. Shattered Pixel Dungeon is a very good version and is on Android Play Store and F-Droid
** ''' Sunless Sea''' and '''Sunless Skies''' Adventuring out into a WTF eldritch horror setting under the flag of Victorian Britain. Gameplay-wise, the games are just awful grinders, but it's their setting and quests that make them interesting, as long as comically dark settings are your thing.
** '''TEARDOWN''', a Space-Hulk roguelike
** '''WarpRogue''', a 40K-inspired roguelike

*Good FPS games
** '''Amnesia series''', The first game in the series rekindled the survival horror genre and was pants-shittingly scary through a clever use of jumpscares, ingenious mechanics discouraging directly looking at the enemies and an amazing atmosphere of gothic horror which slowly turns into the cosmic variety as the story progresses. Unfortunately the latter sequels became a victim of their own success mostly due to oversaturation of survival horror genre, but are nevertheless fine games in their own right.
** '''Bioshock''' series: Bunch of retro-aesthetics crammed into FPS games with what passes as a rich plot and world-building within the genre. Arguing over its content used to be prime [[skub]] material, now it's mostly forgotten.
** '''Borderlands 2''', a memetic lolsrandom dumb game, but special mention goes to '''Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep''' DLC, as it is a role-playing session involving main characters, with all the crazy hijinks of Borderlands involved.
** '''Crysis''', Three games provide a very moddable engine with a very versatile set of physics combined with a pretty absurdly large modding community that has among other things, created a perfectly workable Mech Warrior game out of Crysis Warhead. Even if you don't care for nanosuit action, the mods alone are worth checking out.
** '''Deep Rock Galactic''' [[Squat]]s the video game. Space Dwarfs armed with big guns go digging into a mineral rich planet infested with [[Tyranid|giant bugs]].
** '''Dishonored''', the spiritual successor to Thief except now you are a supernatural assassin in a <s>proto-dieselpunk edwardian-era-esque</s> steampunk world. Good story and fun gameplay with plenty of assassination options.
** '''[[Doom|DOOM]]''', '''Hexen''', and '''Heretic''': With a vibrant community because the games are easy to mod and has produced no shortage of mods (or WADs as they're called in the community (officially, the file extension 'WAD' means 'Where's All the Data?').) Interestingly, Doom was inspired by a D&D game run with Lead Dev John Carmack as the DM. Director John Romero's character recklessly gave a dark tome to a demon in exchange for the magic Daikatana which caused demons to overrun the material plane and the world to end. Visually, parts of the games (Hexen and Heretic especially) are reminiscent of a gothic dungeon.
** '''Escape From Butcher Bay''' a Riddick-licensed game that combines great stealth elements with even better combat sequences and a slight horror vibe, all in the sauce made off used future aesthetics.
** '''[[EYE: Divine Cybermancy]]''': A really weird FPS/RPG due to its cyberpunk fantasy aesthetics, almost an RPG. Extremely buggy due to being a Source Engine game that wasn't made by Valve. The developers absolutely love Warhammer 40,000, made the setting for EYE a lawyer-friendly clone of 40k, and were eventually hired by GW to [[Space Hulk: Deathwing|make the 40k game they wanted to make in the first place.]]
** '''Far Cry''' series, which has completely different tone depending on installment and is just one huge mine of ideas for extremely pulpy scenarios. Special mention goes to Far Cry 3, which pretty much reinvented the franchise, and its standalone expansion Blood Dragon, which is [[Old School Roleplaying|a hilarious parody of the 80s neon aesthetic.]] ''Primal'' and later installments are not approved for being either heavily rehashed or just completely unnecessary.
** '''Guns of Icarus''', a steampunk flying team deathmatch with set roles.
** '''Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, and Hand Grenades''' - this VR title is unique for being as close to a true-to-life firearms simulator as you can get, having over 400 accurately modeled and functioning firearms ranging from flintlocks to modern weapons. Its also incredibly goofy, with all enemies being giant sentient hot dogs and a few oddball toys thrown in. It's also effectively Team Fortress 2 VR, as the game includes all the stock weapons from TF2 thanks to a collaboration with Valve.
** '''Iron Storm''' - it's 1964 and the World War I is still going on, with complete stalemate perpetuated by industrialists on both sides. Your mission is to infiltrate and destroy nuclear program of the "bad" side. W40k games ''wish'' they were this good in presenting endless, senseless war.
** '''Penumbra series''': The easiest way to describe it is to call it modern take on At the Mountains of Madness, only set in Greenland and with massive conspiracy looming over the story. Warning, '''very''' tense horror games (while avoiding jump scares) with unique control and physics system, so it might not be your cup of tea.
** '''Quake''': At least the early games, for similar reasons for DOOM (they were both made by the same company). Quake 1 is a good and challenging FPS that takes cues from Lovecraft in terms of environments and monster designs. Quake 2 is somewhat easier, but is deliciously grimdark sci-fi; it's about fighting cyborg aliens that make more of themselves by capturing conquered races and fitting them with cybernetics/forcing them into a hive mind against their will.
** '''Republic Commando''', baby's first tactical shooter, but damn if it isn't a good one
** '''[[Team Fortress 2]]''', a game descended from a Quake mod now over 10 years old and still going strong, is a multiplayer FPS with a 1960s theme where players pick a team, one of 9 different classes, and battle to the death. Also, hats. Two hats in this game are 40k references, allowing you to dress your Heavy up as an Ork.
** '''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.''' series: Roadside Picnic: The Video Game. A nice combination of free roaming, excellent gunplay, tense atmosphere and really freaky lore.
** '''Thief 1 & 2''', the grand daddy of stealth games, with one of the most original settings ever created for games (a combination of industrial - but not steampunk - medieval and pagan elements). Strong story, good characters and makes you feel like a master thief indeed. Third game is good provided you get the Sneaky Update. Reboot from 2014 is unapproved and shunned.
** '''Wolfenstein''' series: Combines sci-fi, fantasy and World War II elements amidst the Nazi-killing. This series is downright ancient, predating DOOM and the FPS genre entirely.

*Good TPS games
** '''Freedom Fighters''' another baby's first tactical shooter to fulfill your ''Red Dawn'' fantasies
** '''Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine''' and '''Emperor's Tomb''' Despite what you might think, it's LucasArt ripping-off Tomb Raider, not the other way around.
** '''Max Payne 1 & 2''' Finest product of the neo-noir genre, especially the second game. Amazingly strong story in both games, with a lot of Norse references in the first one. Also, the game that introduced bullet time as game mechanics.
** '''Prince of Persia''', especially the ''Sands of Time'' trilogy. Accept no substitute for Arabian Nights game.
** '''Severance: Blade of Darkness''' Some eight years before Demon Souls you had Severance, while the setting is somewhat generic-ish blade & sorcery meets LOTR, the moody atmosphere, unforgiving gameplay and fun combat more than make up for it. If you have a thing for Soulslike this is just for you.
** '''Styx series''' Great tps assassination games set in a unique high fantasy setting that has you playing as a goblin of all things. Both games are great though the second one takes itself somewhat less seriously than the first.
** '''Tomb Raider series''' Preferably games created by original studio, Core Design, but anything up to Underworld goes. A swift balance between serious and pulp tone, providing simple plots and a more and more complex locations. Also, good source of creative traps. Reboot from 2013 and what follows are disapproved and shunned, being just generic cover shooter. Comes with its own, massive level-making scene, known collectively as '''TRLE''' (after Tomb Raider Level Editor), which by itself is fantastic source of dungeon design, creative traps and excellent puzzles that are all very minable.
* [[Mechwarrior]], because /tg/ loves [[Battletech]].
** '''MechWarrior I''' is lauded as a classic, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior II''' is lauded as the best
** '''MechWarrior III''' is lauded as the most engrossing storywise, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior IV''' is lauded as the latest and greatest, and thus the best
** '''MechCommander II''' is lauded as most like the tabletop, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior: Living Legend''' is lauded as best for multiplayer, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior Online''' is the worst
** '''MechWarrior V''' is the newest, therefore both the best AND worst
* Classic console games
** '''Jet Set/Grind Radio''' seems to have enthused one orky [[drawfag]] to the highest of possible levels, make of that what you will.
** '''Conker's Bad Fur Day''' Looney Toons for adults, and that's just the start of the batshit craziness.
** '''Dungeons and Dragons Order of the Griffon''', a game for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 set in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Uses Basic D&D rules versus the Gold Box games' AD&D rules.
** '''Legacy of Kain series''' Set in a unique fantasy gothic world, the series takes place over ~2000 year timeline that sees you slain and become a vampire demigod Kain in the first game, have you play as the vampire lieutenant Raziel that gets turned into a sentient time-paradox in the second and third game and then switch between the two on an epic, complex and plot ridden story that sees you jump from future to past to present and back again all the while unraveling a conspiracy that spans the material and spectral realms.
** '''[[Metal Gear]]'''
** '''Oddworld series''' A classic platformer set in a grimdark alien world of Oddworld, you play as Abe, a slave turned accidental revolutionary turned messiah for his people as he fights the industrial evil of Glukkons and other vile profiteering species out to stripmine Oddworld for sweet moolah. There are 4 games in total, minus the recent remakes. First two games are cult-classics and you should play them, Munch's oddysee was the awkward transition to 3D so ok-ish and Stranger's Wrath picked up the pace but as many a grognard will tell you it does not quite reach the heights of elden times. The New'n Tasty and Soulstorm remakes of the original games and are all in all decent.
** '''[[Samus|Metroid]]''', '''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''', '''Kid Icarus''', and '''[[Castlevania]]''' (the four games series (with one exception see above) share so much in common they deserve to be discussed together). Why? The exploration-heavy nature of the games, the feeling of growing more powerful as you collect enough gear and relics to make an adventuring party jealous, the incredibly memorable boss battles, interesting backstories (Metroid immerses you in backstory at your pace, via scans and lore pickups, leaving much up to your imagination), and providing many ideas for sci fi or fantasy RPG session.
** '''Shantae series''' You play as a cute genie girl that can turn into various [[Monstergirls]] (harpy, dridder, mermaid, dragon etc.) while platforming and fighting through a colorful middle-east fantasy setting.

==Games that can be used to troll /tg/==
* Most other MMORPGs. [[World of Warcraft]], as the most successful to date, is especially effective. Special points to [[Star Wars: The Old Republic]] for being a massive disappointment for a popular franchise.
* JRPGs, for often recycling the same plots over and over and having identical structure. Along with of course cringy bad character designs in some cases.
* Any of the modern Final Fantasy games, [[Games Workshop|which somehow keep getting sequels despite being financial failures]]. [[This Guy|Some fa/tg/uys]] have a fondness for the early ones, mostly because [[Troll|the first one rips off D&D pretty squarely]].
* [[Skyrim]], a popular well liked meme game that /v/ contrarians and neckbeards with nostalgia goggles will say is shit. Same goes for [[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|Oblivion]], [[Fallout]] 3 and 4, and any future Bethesda RPGs.
* <s>Mentioning the attention Warhammer 40k games have gotten compared to Warhammer Fantasy is a sore spot for Fantasy fans.</s> With the failure that is [[Dawn of War III]] and recent success of [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] and [[Vermintide]], you could say the tables have turned. Actually DoW3 by itself is enough for trolling anyway.
* Sonic The Hedgehog. The fans are everywhere, and the butthurt is unfathomable.
* Nintendo games have ultra-dedicated fanbases, and also hardcore haters, except for series like Metroid, Zelda, Mother, or Kid Icarus which are generally respected. Mentioning Pokemon in a positive light or stating the controller of "the best" console they released is a sex toy may cause an internet fight.
* Games with bad random number generators. Even highly approved of games like Mordheim: City Of The Damned will cause a shitstorm when someone is reminded that a supposed 95% chance to hit can result in four consecutive misses.
* No Man's Sky - such a huge waste of potential, although it got somewhat better with patches. Bringing this game up is a good troll move on /v/ as well, but everything's a good troll move on /v/.
* [[Blizzard]]. JUST. [[Blizzard]]. (''ACTIVISION'' Blizzard now, fuckers! The shit train only goes downhill from here!)

Games that are universally loathed, so you'll probably have to put in some work if you want to troll with:
* Unlike the previous Bethesda RPGs Fallout 76 is actually bad. So if you want to troll people you'll have to pretend to like it. Although, it's so objectively terrible your bait will most likely seem too obvious.
* [[Bioware | Anthem]].
** Almost all "Games as a Service" games released in the wake of Destiny have a similar, if lesser, level of disdain; it's just that Fallout 76 and Anthem were so garbage on release, and had such a CRPG pedigree, that the trolling mines were quickly completely depleted.
* Reminding [[Shadowrun]] fans of the terrible Shadowrun FPS is not going to earn you any goodwill.
* [[Evony]]

==The Game List That People Copypasta==
Every so often, someone posts on /tg/: "Wow, you guys are so smart and cool; can you recommend some [[video games]] to play for those hours when I'm not playing tabletop?". It happens so often that people have made [[copypasta]] for the occasion, even image copypasta.

You will find a lot of those games on [http://www.gog.com/ Good Old Games], DRM free, for 6 or 9 bucks. Or [[Freebooterz|for free if you pirate]], which can often be justified by the original creators leaving the development company so all the [[Profit]] goes to people who don't deserve it. Your choice.

For any video game that someone felt was good enough for a full page on this wiki, see [[:Category:Video_Games|Video Games]]

<center>[[Image:TG_recommended_games1.jpg]]</center>

<center>[[Image:Recommended_vg_2.jpg|900px]]</center>

[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Approved Media]]

Video games

2021-10-14T20:47:11Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Strategy Games */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Bigpong.jpeg|thumb|People playing a large scale version of the iconic Pong video game at the National Videogame Museum]]
Video games are games played with an electronic device, instead of paper, pens, dice, boards, anything traditional, and most of the time omitting your imagination too. It is also true that they do contain amusing game mechanics, can be easily played alone, provide visual and auditory representation, and don't [[Games Workshop|cost hundreds of dollars for a few miniature visual representations]]; however, this does come at the cost of freedom, physical being, social skills, and imagination.

Many traditional or tabletop games (like WH40K and D&D) can now be played as using electronic devices to substitute for their tactile components like maps or minis, proving once again that technology continues to screw up [[Old School Roleplaying|everything that we all wished had remained as it was.]] A [[VASSAL Game Engine|virtual tabletop simulator]] has been released so you may play a tabletop game with friends out of town. Also, we have an article at [[List of Vidya Board Games]] to cover various tabletop adaptions into the digital realm.

Electronic games played by strange, [[what|electronic fa/tg/uys]] have been accepted by /tg/, so that any game can be traditional, and this media fits right in with the old [[Board Game|board games]] and Tabletop [[Wargame]]s we all know and love. Some video games are accepted and enjoyed by /tg/. Many, however, are not. Generally, video game threads, especially games with no corresponding /tg/ version/interest, belong on /v/ instead.

You'll find quite a few /v/ related articles on 1d4chan because some video games have at least some relation to /tg/ and because 1d4chan tends to draw in people who are fans of WH40K universe primarily through [[Dawn of War]], even if these people don't actually play the tabletop game. And lets be honest here, 1d4chan is as much a page for WH40K fans as it is for fa/tg/uys so these people are certainly welcome here.

==Strategy Games ==
[[Image:Keen.gif|right|300px]]
* Simulation/Sandbox
** '''[[Dwarf Fortress]]''' The legend, the lamentation, the...fun.
** '''Aurora 4X, a.k.a Dwarf Fortress in space with MUCH more complicated details'''
** '''Factorio''', a process building game. The player is stuck on an alien world and trying to build a spaceship to get off said world, but the enormous industrial activity necessary to build a spaceship provokes the local wildlife to attack, necessitating more industry to fight them off.
** '''From The Depths'''
** '''Kerbal Space Program''' A aerospace engineer is you, build space vehicles, manage your own space agency and conduct missions kerbaled and automated across a simulated solar system. Bear in mind, this game involves actual rocket science; you're going to have to learn about things like Delta-V and slingshot maneuvers if you're going to plot a course that won't end with your rocket crashing into the ocean.
** '''Space Engineers''' Build space ships, stations and bases.
*** '''Medieval Engineers''' Build castles, villages and siege equipment.
** '''[[Minecraft]]''', for some odd reason.
** '''[[Terraria]]''', for the same odd reason.
** '''Mount and Blade''', it's expandalone Warband, and the new Bannerlord 2. A sandbox medieval setting, you go around either being a bandit or uniting the scattered kingdoms into a grand empire or whatever. Enormous modding community means finding something thematically different if you want, including Warhammer and historical mods. In facts, the mods are a selling point of the whole thing, given there is one for just about '''any''' setting you can think about.
** '''Rimworld''', Dwarf Fortress ''IN SPEHSS'' except dumbed down for the casuals, [[skub|which may or may not be a good thing.]]
** '''[[Space Station 13]]:''' Dwarf Fortress except you play as the dwarves. Has been completely fucking ruined by goons leaking into every other version of the game.
** '''[[Tabletop Simulator]]''', a virtual tabletop for playing Card Games, Board Games, RPGs, etc. online with friends. The game has multiple built-in tools for creating custom games, and the Steam Workshop has thousands of add-ons; a popular choice for playing WH40K online thanks to ripped assets from Dawn of War.
** '''[[VASSAL Game Engine|VASSAL Engine]]'''

* 4X/Grand Strategy
** '''Age of Wonders''' - Take ''Master of Magic'', then make it good. Due to reasons, the most approved is 2nd game, as it strikes balance between being its own unique thing, having good campaign and not sacrificing gameplay in the process.
** '''Civilization I-IV''' - Civilization actually was based on a board game and in a case of coming full circle, ended up creating it's own board game. Civ IV in particular happens to have a highly active modding scene to this very day, and many of those mods are total overhauls with fantasy settings. One of those is a ''Fall from Heaven'' mod, or rather a series of mods with shared setting. Neat stuff.
*** Note: Civs V and VI have design issues that make them difficult to recommend in this list, and are thus explicitly not included--that being said, this exclusion is more on the basis of them being [[Skub]]ish--some people love V and/or VI, while some people hate them.
** '''[[Disciples]]''' (series) - Heroes of Might and Magic made [[Grimdark]].
** '''[[Dominions]]''' - Civilization's and Dwarf Fortress' beautiful love child. Enjoy [[Lovecraft]]'s Father Dagon square up against Ravana from India's Ramayana as they fight for the glory of their respective gods (you and whatever other [[neckbeards]] you are playing with).
** '''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]''' - Turn based strategy of over six main games and expansions where you control a fantasy hero and their legion of men/elves/dwarves/creatures/etc. Special mention goes to second and especially third installments.
**'''Master of Magic''': Take Sid Meier's Civilization. Add fantasy races with their own units, magic in the form of spells and summons, heroes and a very basic isometric battlefield when armies clash, and give dozens of abilities to units according to their species, situation and metal they are armed with (Yes, the metal used can be mithril or adamantite if the building city has any). That's Master of Magic. Still great for when you need to scratch that 'wizard with no sense of right or wrong bent on conquering the world' itch.
** '''Masters of Orion'''
** '''[[Alpha Centauri|Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'''. Despite starting out as "Civ 2: SPACE EDITION", SMAC became one of the more iconic games of the 90s. In the late 21st century Earth goes to sh*t and a colony ship is dispatched to Alpha Centauri to give humanity a new lease on life. Instead, we start fighting before we even get there and the whole thing eventually spirals off into a free-for all (with aliens joining the fun too!) with transcendence to virtual godhood as the ultimate prize. The game was a great joy to play due to gameplay and strategic depth, an interesting array of futuristic techs mostly rooted in semi-hard science and a plethora of interesting factions and various lore blurbs. Game is so tightly written, people discuss its content to this day. When SJGames released a setting book for GURPS 3e, they didn't have to make up anything at all to get 130 pages of lore.
** '''Sengoku Rance''': [[Weeaboo|Hentai game spinoff]] that parodies the long-running ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' series. You play as Rance, [[Slaanesh]]'s very own [[Kharn|fun guy to be around,]] as he unifies Warring States-era Japan under his mighty [[Anal circumference|"hyperweapon."]] Despite the utterly ludicrous premise it's a solid grand strategy game, to the point that the porn is more of a reward for playing well than an end in itself. Comparing this game to Total War was a common troll on /gsg/ when Shogun II was released.
** '''Endless Space 1&2''' The first game is ok and free to play, but the second one is where it's at as it does everything the original did better and then some.
** '''[[Endless Legend]]'''
** '''Distant Worlds'''
** Paradox series: This is the go-to company for nation-ruling Grand Strategy games for different eras such as '''[[Crusader Kings]]''' 800's-1400's, '''[[Europa Universalis]]''' 1400's-1800's, '''[[Victoria]]''' 1820's-1936, or '''[[Hearts of Iron]]''' 1936-1950's.
*** [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=406933979 Warhammer: Geheimnisnacht], a Warhammer Fantasy conversion for Crusader Kings II. Setting predates Winds of Chaos & End Times.
** '''[[Stellaris]]''' Paradox's attempt to fill the gap in the market between their Grand Strategy games and traditional 4X. You can run *any* science fiction staple idea and none would look out of place. A civilisation of individuals ranging from unique megacorporations to generic governments, hive-minded eusocial species, robots and anything in between each have unique playstyles. It also has endgame "crises" of galaxy threatening proportions which needs elaborate teamwork to stop.
*** Excellent 40k mod for Stellaris: https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/WarhammerTotalConversion
*** And yes, there's Star Trek and Star Wars mods.
** '''[[Total War]]''' series: '''Rome Total War''', '''Medieval Total War''', '''Empire Total War''', '''Shogun Total War'''
*** Rome 1 mods: '''Call to Arms: Warhammer''' and '''Fourth Age Total War''' and Medieval 2 mods: '''[[Call of Warhammer]]''', '''Third Age Total War'''

* Real-time Strategy
** '''Age of Empires''' series. Classic RTS with a more Command and Conquer vibe then a 4X, which is more common for historical settings, though pretty much every unit has multiple counters so it tends to be a more complex game then normal fast pace RTSs. There's the original, which is a curiosity at best, the second game that is made of pure gold, Mythology that mixes up the formula well, the third which sadly is more just Mythology with guns and Online which is F2P game and also dead (unless you play Project Celeste, which is still getting updated by fans). First, Second and Mythology have really good HD remasters. First and Second have also 4k remakes (not remaster), called Definitive Editions. Second and Mythology are worth grabbing, but if you had to choose one choose 2. They are currently developing the next game in the series, AoE IV.
** '''Battlezone''', the strategy game not the arcade game. Mixture of real time strategy and hover tank combat while fighting commies on the moon. Clunky, and as balanced as a one legged hippo, but it's uniqueness, concept and immersion make it a classic. Got a second game that was tighter and better balanced but weaker plot and setting. Both got pretty decent HD remasters.
** '''[[Command and Conquer]]''', a franchise with more then four different series running at the time where you control varied forces trying to beat the crap out of each other.
** '''Company of Heroes''' and '''Men of War''' series which are basically RTSs based on the idea of commanding forces as if someone was playing a classic WW2 shooter. While there are hard counters in Company of Heroes it still focuses more on holding chokepoints, piecing defensive lines and utilizing sandbags and barbed wire. Men at War focuses on realistic damage and as such is more the ARMA to Company of Heroes Call of Duty 2.
** '''Cossacks''' series, which covers 17th and 18th century, being the closest to /tg/'s desire to have "pike and shot setting". Most notable for ability to field absolutely gigantic armies of thousands upon thousands of soldiers.
*** '''American Conquest''' is an off-shot mini-series, expanding game mechanics from Cossacks and covering the period between Cortes conquest of Aztec Empire till American Revolutionary War. An expansion is dedicated to American Civil War.
** '''Cultures''' series, but most importantly first two games. A Viking village sim
** '''Dungeon Keeper''', where you play as an evil overlord defending against pesky adventurers and goodie-two-shoes trying to conquer your dungeon, and play it like Sims on crack.
** '''Homeworld''': THE iconic space video game of the early 00's. Basically Battlestar Galactica if the Galactica was tall instead of long. Borrows heavily from the artwork of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Foss Chris Foss].
** '''Original War''', most notable for its unique mix of RPG and RTS elements, with each unit representing an individual character with own backstory, personality and set of skills.
** '''Patrician 3: Rise of the Hansa''' is pretty standard (and good) economic-transport sim, but it makes up with being related with the titular Hansa and the Baltic region during Late Medieval, which rarely show up as a setting despite being what is represented as '''the''' ISO Standard Medieval setting.
** '''Railroad Tycoon 2''' comes with absolutely amazing series of scenarios and an unique, fleshed out post-apo setting. No, not kidding. There are also dozens of fan-made maps further expanding on said setting.
** '''Rise of Nations''' and especially '''Rise of Legends''' which had a steampunk faction and a "totally not the baddies from Stargate" faction
** '''The Settlers''' series, especially the I-IV parts. This is less of a straight RTS and more a space-management game, where you're building the most efficient transport system for your settlement, particularly in first two games, with their iconic flag-and-road system. Plot-wise, S3 and 4 are great kitchen-sink settings and Amazones are hot.
** '''[[Starcraft]]''' and '''[[Warcraft]]''': [[Skub|40K and Fantasy rip-offs respectively]], although they were so successful that from video gamers' perspective <del>the jedi are evil</del> ''GW should be paying Blizzard''.
** '''Supreme Commander''', the closest thing to "modern" remake of ''Total Annihilation'' and of course "the endless war IN SPESS!" setting that everyone loves so much.
** '''Theocracy''', in which you control one of Mesoamerican tribes with a goal of unifying the region.
** '''Total Annihilation''' The game that started it all when it it comes to RTS. Not much of a story but it had great gameplay that laid the foundations for the stuff to come. There was also a fantasy sequel "Kingdoms" that had a great story and lore (rivaling that of Warcraft at the time) but abysmal gameplay.
** '''Transarctica''' A bizzare mix of an economic sim, adventure game and a railroad simulator. After an experiment to slow down global warming caused a new ice-age, there are only massive trains going through the ice wasteland between the handful of surviving cities and coal mines. Your task is to bring Sun back from beyond the thick clouds surrounding Earth. Very atypical gameplay. And if the premise sounds familiar, it has the same source material as ''Snowpiercer''.
** '''Warfront: Turning Point''': WW2, but everyone fielding experimental mecha, pulp super-weapons and other silly things. Notably, defense buildings come with FPS mode (and this can greatly increase their performance), while weather and terrain affect everything in variety of ways.

* Turn-based Strategy
** '''[[Advance Wars|Advance Wars]]''' - It's like Panzer General but [[Anime]]. Except for '''Days of Ruin'''; that game is [[Grimdark]] and thus [[Fist of the North Star|manly]].
** '''[[Fire Emblem]]''' - Advance Wars' twin brother who likes swords and magic rather than guns and tanks. Fire Emblem has heavy RPG elements, tasking you with managing a stable of characters with limited EXP to go around and the specter of permadeath hanging overhead. ''Awakening'' and later installments are not approved for being [[Weeaboo|waifu delivery systems cleverly disguised as strategy games.]]
** '''Jagged Alliance I''' & '''II''', A PMC is you!
** '''[[King of Dragon Pass]]'''
** '''Panzer General''' - The first decent "Tabletop WW2 meets PC" back in '94, it's the second inspiration for [[Nazi Equipment]] and is the Mecca of wehraboo'ism. Spawned an entire series of games.
*** Of note from that series: '''Fantasy General''', which is, other than some rather questionable AI balancing, a fairly fun "D&D Wargame" style affair.
** '''Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale''' a Japanese game about running a shop, which sells and buys items used by dungeon-crawling adventurers. Much more engaging than it sounds and full of cutting humour. Capitalism, ho!
** '''Valkyria Chronicles''' series - JRPG fantasy world version of World War II. Quite a bit of depth and supporting cast of characters.
** The '''UFO: After[X]''' series which is essentially an X-Com made grimdark. How grim? The ''bad'' ending of the first game, ''Aftermath'', is canon.
** The original '''[[X-Com|X-COM: UFO Defense]]'''
** The new '''[[X-Com|XCOM: Enemy Unknown]]''' and its sequel, '''XCOM 2'''.
*** XCOM and XCOM 2 mods: '''The Long War'''. Both versions add dramatically to their respective games, transforming them from comparatively quick, light experiences to fatigue-worn wars. Buckle up. Plays a lot like Valkyria Chronicles except with destructable terrain and lots of chest-high walls.

==Role-Playing Games==
*[[cRPG]]s
** '''Albion''' Duo of space janitors crash-land on a planet that will be soon strip-mined, only to find out there is local, if Iron Age tier population of few intelligent species.
** '''[[Arcanum]]: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura''' Fallout, but set in a fantasy world where magic and technology coexist and fight each other. The story takes your party across the world as you try to unravel a plot that threatens not only the world but the very concept of life itself.
** '''Arx Fatalis''' A decent but pretty generic RPG if not for the fact that you appear in an underground kingdom in a world that had it's sun extinguished and surface turned into frozen waste. The magic system is also unique as you perform gestures with your mouse in order to cast spells, which is as fun as it is inconvenient (mage-knight build is a necessity due to this).
** '''[[Baldur's Gate]] I''' & '''II'''
** '''Battle for Wesnoth''' An Aussie who played too much jRPGs made a hex-based battle mini games that happens to be one of the more balanced things on the market.
** '''Betrayal at Krondor'''
** '''Darklands''' Adventures of a roaming party in the 15th century <s>Holy Roman Empire</s> Germany. Probably the lowest possible low fantasy to still qualify as such, rather than just historical setting.
** '''Deus Ex''' series. THE cyberpunk RPG. So good that it managed to incorporate nearly every conspiracy theory into it's story and make them actually work well together.
** '''[[Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box Series]]''' (also includes some Buck Rogers games because of Lorraine Williams)
** '''[[The Elder Scrolls]]''' especially Daggerfall, and Morrowind as the other ones are pretty generic and thus boring.
** '''[[Fallout]]''' series.
** '''[[Icewind Dale]]'''
** '''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'''
** '''Might and Magic from 1 to 8, then X. [[Squats|Might and Magic 9 does not exist.]]
** '''[[Planescape: Torment]]''' Storyfags' and Lorefags' wet dream.
** '''System Shock''' series
** '''The Temple of Elemental Evil'''
** '''[[Ultima]]''' series - see Might & Magic above and retain the "ignore 9" rule.
** '''Underrail''' ''Metro 2033'' (setting) meets classic ''Fallout'' (gameplay) and decides to have a foursome with cosmic horror and space opera. Try it or get dominated, pipeworker.
** '''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]] - ''Bloodlines/Redemption''''' Bloodlines was Troika's last hurrah and after you apply the official and fan patches you will see why. Redemption is also good but not as much as Bl.
** '''Wasteland''' series
** '''[[Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord]]'''

*Modern RPGs
** '''The Banner Saga'''
** '''Dark Souls''', due to its moody [[Berserk]]-inspired atmosphere, emphasis on exploration, and [[Dwarf Fortress|merciless learning curve]]. Compelling story and characters are a major plus, also contains large amounts of death and [[RAGE]]. The tagline isn't 'Prepare to Die' for no reason.
*** To a lesser extent, the other "Souls" games ('''Demon's Souls''', '''Dark Souls 2''', '''Dark Souls 3''', '''Bloodborne''', and '''Sekiro''').
** '''Deus Ex: Human Revolution''' While not nearly as broad or deep as the original, it still manages to capture some of it's essence and is a fine RPG in it's own right.
** '''Dragon Age: Origins''' Much better than later games. Has the added bonus of having an actual conclusion; the sequels tend to end on unsatisfying cliffhangers.
** '''Disco Elysium''' [[Planescape: Torment]], except you're an Alcoholic, deadbeat detective.
** '''Expeditions: Conquistador''' and '''Viking'''
** '''Fallout: New Vegas''' Made by the team that made the classics, and it shows. Basically what Fallout 3 - the real, Van Buren, Fallout 3 - should have been.
** '''Kingdom Come: Deliverance''' A truly generic story of "from zero to hero", involving blacksmith's son climbing the social ladder of medieval society until knighthood. But what makes the game unique is the fact it's a historical RPG, set in specific area of Bohemia during a specific period with autistic levels of research behind it, providing more data about its own setting than your typical edutainment game.
** '''Legend of Grimrock'''
** '''Mass Effect 1 and 2''' Grand space opera to rival that of Star Wars in the levels of epic.
** '''Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor''' A fun uruk/olog hunting/recruiting game with some [[Skub|contentious]] framing, particularly in the sequel ([[Monstergirl]] [[What|Shelob]], among other things). Think of it as "Arkham's Creed: Middle-Earth Edition."
** '''Pillars of Eternity''' Set in a world of Eora where souls are tangible and measurable rather than being metaphysical/religious concepts. With the advance of technology and Animancy (science of souls) the world is set up for some radical upheavals, and that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Billed as a spiritual successor to Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale the game accomplishes - for the most part - what it sets out to do and is one of the better cRPGs in recent times.
** '''Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic''' Both games are very good, the second just needs the Restored Content mod.
** '''State of Decay''', the only good thing that came out of the early 2010s zombie craze. If you ever planned to run a zombie campaign, just rip the whole thing off - unlike other vidya rip-offs, this one works out great. Only the first game is approved.
** '''[[The Witcher]]''' series
** '''Pathfinder [[Kingmaker]]'''
** '''Tyranny''' From the same devs that made ''Pillars of Eternity''. This time you are cast into the world of Terratus, a high-fantasy world which is just about to exit it's Bronze Age, and as another twist to the ol' formula, you are a mid-ranking minion of the setting's overlord tasked with mediating conflicts and bringing "justice" through their empire. Story and gameplay are just as good as PoE, but the game was released in a rushed state with many things missing. Still, good for ~20hrs of fun or as an entry-level cRPG.

==Adventure Games==
* '''Animation Arts''': Not the game, but a German game dev studio. If you ever wanted to run a cheesy game that's either pulp or B-movie, look no further for inspiration, since this is their speciality.
* '''Beneath a Steel Sky''': Great cyberpunk themes and rich imagery. Released as freeware by the original developers.
* '''Blade Runner''': It's a Blade Runner game and it's one of the best things that ever happened in the genre, no need for more recommendations.
* '''Broken Sword''' series: Templars, ancient conspiracies, interesting characters and well-written plot that is mineable even for tabletop games
* '''Chains of Satinav''' and '''Memoria''': Exactly how many adventure games you know that are set in [[The_Dark_Eye|Dere]] and are good?
* '''The DIG''': A bunch of astronauts stop an asteroid from hitting earth, only to find out it's really an alien starship that whisks them to a desolate planet on the other side of the galaxy whose inhabitants - who have a huge fetish for the platonic solids - are nowhere to be found. Features a lot of really complex hard-science plot points, difficult-as-fuck puzzles, and Steve Blum as an arrogant German scientist.
* '''Indiana Jones and the Fate Of Atlantis''': One of the classics that you can't just go wrong with. Aside being a good adventure game by itself, comes with kinda-sorta branching plot, so you can approach same situations differently.
* '''King's Quest VI: Heir Today Gone Tomorrow''': Just read the title and ask yourself what the game can be about. This series is downright ancient, so be warned. VI is well regarded as the best one and holds up relatively well, though fan remakes of the older games in the style of VI are also available.
* '''Monkey Island''' series: One of the most definitive things to ever happen to the genre, plus it's a great pirate-themed series that both spoofs and reaffirms a lot of cliches related with own content.
* '''Policenauts''': Early Hideo Kojima makes a game where Lethal Weapon meets cyberpunk.
* '''The Prince and the Coward''': A Polish game that can be best summed up as "ISO Standard Medieval Fantasy gets the ''Monkey Island'' treatment". An excellent fan-translation exists that manages to keep the original tone.
* '''Pathologic''' (also known as '''Pestilence''' or '''Мор. Утопия'''): a truly bizarre and unique Russian game combining adventure, survival, role-playing and lots of nightmarish vibes. Boasts headache-inducing lore and a persistent world, so things roll regardless of the player interfering or not. Got a HD re-release recently with proper translation, so non-Slavs can finally enjoy the game - the previous English translation was a nightmare by itself.
**'''[[Pathologic 2]]''': A remake of the original (or, rather, one storyline of the original), but with updated graphics and mechanics plus a couple of story tweaks. Retains many of the anxiety-inducing survival mechanics and nightmarish atmosphere of the first game and, generally, is a much more streamlined experience. As such, it is generally recommended to newcomers over the original. Only ⅓ of the original game is there, due to limitations in budget; the rest may come depending on how well the game sells (devs have confirmed they are working on the bachelor's campaign, however).
* '''Professor Layton''' series: A refined gentleman investigates mysteries by solving lateral-thinking puzzles. Beautiful watercolor art and solid writing, though the puzzle setups become increasingly absurd as the series goes on. A great series to mine for dungeon puzzles. Any games after the first six are not approved, due to the writing devolving into cliche anime bullshit and a distinct drop in puzzle quality after the death of designer Akira Tago.
* '''[[Star Control]]''' series: A mess of alien races in the grand tradition of Niven et al. kill the shit out of each other. First game is turn-based strategy, second game is somewhere between an RPG and an adventure game; both have a surprisingly deep arcade combat system. The second game was released as open-source software by the developers.
*'''Vangers''': A fuckin' weird Russian game about delivering bugs to other bugs in your bug-like car in a world that's filled with bugs and feels like "A Bug's Life" on a DMT trip. Honestly though, if you're a GM who wants to present their players with a totally alien and incomprehensible setting, then this game does it with flying colours.

==Warhammer Games==
*Strategy
** The old and glorious '''[[Warhammer Epic 40,000: Final Liberation]]''', [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat| '''Shadow of the Horned Rat''', and '''Dark Omen''']]
** [[Warhammer: Mark of Chaos|'''Mark of Chaos''']]
** '''[[Dawn of War|WH40K Dawn of War]]''' and its [[Dawn of War II|sequel]]. As well as the [[Dawn of War III|sequel sequel]]
*** The "True-to-Tabletop" [[Dawn of War Mods|mods]] for DoW that sprung up, such as '''Firestorm over ''Kronus/Kaurava''''', the '''Closer to Codex''' mod. Really, just look at the page to see how many there are.
** '''[[Chapter Master (game)]]'''
** '''[[Mordheim: City Of The Damned]]'''
** '''[[Battlefleet Gothic: Armada]]'''
** '''[[Total War: WARHAMMER]]''' and its [[Total War: Warhammer II|sequel]]
** '''[[Man o' War: Corsair]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach]]''' - A turn base strategy game where you playing as everybody's favourite [[Space Wolves|space wolf viking]] fighting against the Orks in Sanctus Reach. Later DLC allowed you playing as the Ork led by Da Big Red and everybody's favorite [[Imperial Guard|wall of guns]]. Also Imperial Knights, fuck yeah!
**'''[[Space Hulk]]''' in its many iterations, including [[Alien Assault|the unofficial one]].
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War]]'''
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus]]'''
*Other
** '''[[Blood Bowl]] and its sequel'''
** <s>'''[[Warhammer Online|Warhammer Age of Reckoning]]'''</s> Shut down thanks to EA. Go play the private server version!
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade]]'''
** '''[[The End Times: Vermintide]]''' and [[Vermintide 2|its sequel]]
** '''Warhammer 40,000: [[Freeblade]]'''
** '''[[Space Hulk: Deathwing]]'''

==Miscellaneous==
* [[Roguelike|Roguelikes]]
** '''Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead''' a post-apocalyptic top-down survival game that looks like Dwarf Fortress with a texture pack and lets you drive cars into zombies.
** '''Cultist Simulator''' is a grind-heavy, card-based game about being too curious about things that no man should know about and slowly building a cult to some demonic abomination... or die trying.
** '''Curious Expedition''' which pokes fun at the pulp adventure genre; think Hollow Earth as a black comedy
** '''[[Darkest Dungeon]]''' the newest [[H.P. Lovecraft|lovecraftian]] dungeon crawler with grimdark setting and overall edginess.
** '''Don't Starve''' a pretty-looking survival and exploration game that's fun with friends, and does horror like ''The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy''.
** '''[[Dungeon Crawl]] Stone Soup'''
** '''Freespace & Freespace II''': The last major standalone space flight sim, ending the genre that had started with Wing Commander and X-Wing/TIE-Fighter.
** '''Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures''' a random-gen adventure game that almost operates like a dungeon crawler and came 20 years too early to get on the roguelike hype.
** '''Nethack'''
** ''' NEOScavenger''' much like Cataclysm (gameplay, genre, even the setting is similar), an exploration hex-crawl to surpass all hex-crawls.
** '''Pathway''', the closest thing to having Hollow Earth Expedition vidya
** '''Pixel Dungeon and it's forks''' coffee break roguelike optimized for phones. FOSS so there's tons of forks. Shattered Pixel Dungeon is a very good version and is on Android Play Store and F-Droid
** ''' Sunless Sea''' and '''Sunless Skies''' Adventuring out into a WTF eldritch horror setting under the flag of Victorian Britain. Gameplay-wise, the games are just awful grinders, but it's their setting and quests that make them interesting, as long as comically dark settings are your thing.
** '''TEARDOWN''', a Space-Hulk roguelike
** '''WarpRogue''', a 40K-inspired roguelike

*Good FPS games
** '''Amnesia series''', The first game in the series rekindled the survival horror genre and was pants-shittingly scary through a clever use of jumpscares, ingenious mechanics discouraging directly looking at the enemies and an amazing atmosphere of gothic horror which slowly turns into the cosmic variety as the story progresses. Unfortunately the latter sequels became a victim of their own success mostly due to oversaturation of survival horror genre, but are nevertheless fine games in their own right.
** '''Bioshock''' series: Bunch of retro-aesthetics crammed into FPS games with what passes as a rich plot and world-building within the genre. Arguing over its content used to be prime [[skub]] material, now it's mostly forgotten.
** '''Borderlands 2''', a memetic lolsrandom dumb game, but special mention goes to '''Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep''' DLC, as it is a role-playing session involving main characters, with all the crazy hijinks of Borderlands involved.
** '''Crysis''', Three games provide a very moddable engine with a very versatile set of physics combined with a pretty absurdly large modding community that has among other things, created a perfectly workable Mech Warrior game out of Crysis Warhead. Even if you don't care for nanosuit action, the mods alone are worth checking out.
** '''Deep Rock Galactic''' [[Squat]]s the video game. Space Dwarfs armed with big guns go digging into a mineral rich planet infested with [[Tyranid|giant bugs]].
** '''Dishonored''', the spiritual successor to Thief except now you are a supernatural assassin in a <s>proto-dieselpunk edwardian-era-esque</s> steampunk world. Good story and fun gameplay with plenty of assassination options.
** '''[[Doom|DOOM]]''', '''Hexen''', and '''Heretic''': With a vibrant community because the games are easy to mod and has produced no shortage of mods (or WADs as they're called in the community (officially, the file extension 'WAD' means 'Where's All the Data?').) Interestingly, Doom was inspired by a D&D game run with Lead Dev John Carmack as the DM. Director John Romero's character recklessly gave a dark tome to a demon in exchange for the magic Daikatana which caused demons to overrun the material plane and the world to end. Visually, parts of the games (Hexen and Heretic especially) are reminiscent of a gothic dungeon.
** '''Escape From Butcher Bay''' a Riddick-licensed game that combines great stealth elements with even better combat sequences and a slight horror vibe, all in the sauce made off used future aesthetics.
** '''[[EYE: Divine Cybermancy]]''': A really weird FPS/RPG due to its cyberpunk fantasy aesthetics, almost an RPG. Extremely buggy due to being a Source Engine game that wasn't made by Valve. The developers absolutely love Warhammer 40,000, made the setting for EYE a lawyer-friendly clone of 40k, and were eventually hired by GW to [[Space Hulk: Deathwing|make the 40k game they wanted to make in the first place.]]
** '''Far Cry''' series, which has completely different tone depending on installment and is just one huge mine of ideas for extremely pulpy scenarios. Special mention goes to Far Cry 3, which pretty much reinvented the franchise, and its standalone expansion Blood Dragon, which is [[Old School Roleplaying|a hilarious parody of the 80s neon aesthetic.]] ''Primal'' and later installments are not approved for being either heavily rehashed or just completely unnecessary.
** '''Guns of Icarus''', a steampunk flying team deathmatch with set roles.
** '''Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, and Hand Grenades''' - this VR title is unique for being as close to a true-to-life firearms simulator as you can get, having over 400 accurately modeled and functioning firearms ranging from flintlocks to modern weapons. Its also incredibly goofy, with all enemies being giant sentient hot dogs and a few oddball toys thrown in. It's also effectively Team Fortress 2 VR, as the game includes all the stock weapons from TF2 thanks to a collaboration with Valve.
** '''Iron Storm''' - it's 1964 and the World War I is still going on, with complete stalemate perpetuated by industrialists on both sides. Your mission is to infiltrate and destroy nuclear program of the "bad" side. W40k games ''wish'' they were this good in presenting endless, senseless war.
** '''Penumbra series''': The easiest way to describe it is to call it modern take on At the Mountains of Madness, only set in Greenland and with massive conspiracy looming over the story. Warning, '''very''' tense horror games (while avoiding jump scares) with unique control and physics system, so it might not be your cup of tea.
** '''Quake''': At least the early games, for similar reasons for DOOM (they were both made by the same company). Quake 1 is a good and challenging FPS that takes cues from Lovecraft in terms of environments and monster designs. Quake 2 is somewhat easier, but is deliciously grimdark sci-fi; it's about fighting cyborg aliens that make more of themselves by capturing conquered races and fitting them with cybernetics/forcing them into a hive mind against their will.
** '''Republic Commando''', baby's first tactical shooter, but damn if it isn't a good one
** '''[[Team Fortress 2]]''', a game descended from a Quake mod now over 10 years old and still going strong, is a multiplayer FPS with a 1960s theme where players pick a team, one of 9 different classes, and battle to the death. Also, hats. Two hats in this game are 40k references, allowing you to dress your Heavy up as an Ork.
** '''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.''' series: Roadside Picnic: The Video Game. A nice combination of free roaming, excellent gunplay, tense atmosphere and really freaky lore.
** '''Thief 1 & 2''', the grand daddy of stealth games, with one of the most original settings ever created for games (a combination of industrial - but not steampunk - medieval and pagan elements). Strong story, good characters and makes you feel like a master thief indeed. Third game is good provided you get the Sneaky Update. Reboot from 2014 is unapproved and shunned.
** '''Wolfenstein''' series: Combines sci-fi, fantasy and World War II elements amidst the Nazi-killing. This series is downright ancient, predating DOOM and the FPS genre entirely.

*Good TPS games
** '''Freedom Fighters''' another baby's first tactical shooter to fulfill your ''Red Dawn'' fantasies
** '''Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine''' and '''Emperor's Tomb''' Despite what you might think, it's LucasArt ripping-off Tomb Raider, not the other way around.
** '''Max Payne 1 & 2''' Finest product of the neo-noir genre, especially the second game. Amazingly strong story in both games, with a lot of Norse references in the first one. Also, the game that introduced bullet time as game mechanics.
** '''Prince of Persia''', especially the ''Sands of Time'' trilogy. Accept no substitute for Arabian Nights game.
** '''Severance: Blade of Darkness''' Some eight years before Demon Souls you had Severance, while the setting is somewhat generic-ish blade & sorcery meets LOTR, the moody atmosphere, unforgiving gameplay and fun combat more than make up for it. If you have a thing for Soulslike this is just for you.
** '''Styx series''' Great tps assassination games set in a unique high fantasy setting that has you playing as a goblin of all things. Both games are great though the second one takes itself somewhat less seriously than the first.
** '''Tomb Raider series''' Preferably games created by original studio, Core Design, but anything up to Underworld goes. A swift balance between serious and pulp tone, providing simple plots and a more and more complex locations. Also, good source of creative traps. Reboot from 2013 and what follows are disapproved and shunned, being just generic cover shooter. Comes with its own, massive level-making scene, known collectively as '''TRLE''' (after Tomb Raider Level Editor), which by itself is fantastic source of dungeon design, creative traps and excellent puzzles that are all very minable.
* [[Mechwarrior]], because /tg/ loves [[Battletech]].
** '''MechWarrior I''' is lauded as a classic, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior II''' is lauded as the best
** '''MechWarrior III''' is lauded as the most engrossing storywise, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior IV''' is lauded as the latest and greatest, and thus the best
** '''MechCommander II''' is lauded as most like the tabletop, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior: Living Legend''' is lauded as best for multiplayer, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior Online''' is the worst
** '''MechWarrior V''' is the newest, therefore both the best AND worst
* Classic console games
** '''Jet Set/Grind Radio''' seems to have enthused one orky [[drawfag]] to the highest of possible levels, make of that what you will.
** '''Conker's Bad Fur Day''' Looney Toons for adults, and that's just the start of the batshit craziness.
** '''Dungeons and Dragons Order of the Griffon''', a game for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 set in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Uses Basic D&D rules versus the Gold Box games' AD&D rules.
** '''Legacy of Kain series''' Set in a unique fantasy gothic world, the series takes place over ~2000 year timeline that sees you slain and become a vampire demigod Kain in the first game, have you play as the vampire lieutenant Raziel that gets turned into a sentient time-paradox in the second and third game and then switch between the two on an epic, complex and plot ridden story that sees you jump from future to past to present and back again all the while unraveling a conspiracy that spans the material and spectral realms.
** '''[[Metal Gear]]'''
** '''Oddworld series''' A classic platformer set in a grimdark alien world of Oddworld, you play as Abe, a slave turned accidental revolutionary turned messiah for his people as he fights the industrial evil of Glukkons and other vile profiteering species out to stripmine Oddworld for sweet moolah. There are 4 games in total, minus the recent remakes. First two games are cult-classics and you should play them, Munch's oddysee was the awkward transition to 3D so ok-ish and Stranger's Wrath picked up the pace but as many a grognard will tell you it does not quite reach the heights of elden times. The New'n Tasty and Soulstorm remakes of the original games and are all in all decent.
** '''[[Samus|Metroid]]''', '''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''', '''Kid Icarus''', and '''[[Castlevania]]''' (the four games series (with one exception see above) share so much in common they deserve to be discussed together). Why? The exploration-heavy nature of the games, the feeling of growing more powerful as you collect enough gear and relics to make an adventuring party jealous, the incredibly memorable boss battles, interesting backstories (Metroid immerses you in backstory at your pace, via scans and lore pickups, leaving much up to your imagination), and providing many ideas for sci fi or fantasy RPG session.
** '''Shantae series''' You play as a cute genie girl that can turn into various [[Monstergirls]] (harpy, dridder, mermaid, dragon etc.) while platforming and fighting through a colorful middle-east fantasy setting.

==Games that can be used to troll /tg/==
* Most other MMORPGs. [[World of Warcraft]], as the most successful to date, is especially effective. Special points to [[Star Wars: The Old Republic]] for being a massive disappointment for a popular franchise.
* JRPGs, for often recycling the same plots over and over and having identical structure. Along with of course cringy bad character designs in some cases.
* Any of the modern Final Fantasy games, [[Games Workshop|which somehow keep getting sequels despite being financial failures]]. [[This Guy|Some fa/tg/uys]] have a fondness for the early ones, mostly because [[Troll|the first one rips off D&D pretty squarely]].
* [[Skyrim]], a popular well liked meme game that /v/ contrarians and neckbeards with nostalgia goggles will say is shit. Same goes for [[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|Oblivion]], [[Fallout]] 3 and 4, and any future Bethesda RPGs.
* <s>Mentioning the attention Warhammer 40k games have gotten compared to Warhammer Fantasy is a sore spot for Fantasy fans.</s> With the failure that is [[Dawn of War III]] and recent success of [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] and [[Vermintide]], you could say the tables have turned. Actually DoW3 by itself is enough for trolling anyway.
* Sonic The Hedgehog. The fans are everywhere, and the butthurt is unfathomable.
* Nintendo games have ultra-dedicated fanbases, and also hardcore haters, except for series like Metroid, Zelda, Mother, or Kid Icarus which are generally respected. Mentioning Pokemon in a positive light or stating the controller of "the best" console they released is a sex toy may cause an internet fight.
* Games with bad random number generators. Even highly approved of games like Mordheim: City Of The Damned will cause a shitstorm when someone is reminded that a supposed 95% chance to hit can result in four consecutive misses.
* No Man's Sky - such a huge waste of potential, although it got somewhat better with patches. Bringing this game up is a good troll move on /v/ as well, but everything's a good troll move on /v/.
* [[Blizzard]]. JUST. [[Blizzard]]. (''ACTIVISION'' Blizzard now, fuckers! The shit train only goes downhill from here!)

Games that are universally loathed, so you'll probably have to put in some work if you want to troll with:
* Unlike the previous Bethesda RPGs Fallout 76 is actually bad. So if you want to troll people you'll have to pretend to like it. Although, it's so objectively terrible your bait will most likely seem too obvious.
* [[Bioware | Anthem]].
** Almost all "Games as a Service" games released in the wake of Destiny have a similar, if lesser, level of disdain; it's just that Fallout 76 and Anthem were so garbage on release, and had such a CRPG pedigree, that the trolling mines were quickly completely depleted.
* Reminding [[Shadowrun]] fans of the terrible Shadowrun FPS is not going to earn you any goodwill.
* [[Evony]]

==The Game List That People Copypasta==
Every so often, someone posts on /tg/: "Wow, you guys are so smart and cool; can you recommend some [[video games]] to play for those hours when I'm not playing tabletop?". It happens so often that people have made [[copypasta]] for the occasion, even image copypasta.

You will find a lot of those games on [http://www.gog.com/ Good Old Games], DRM free, for 6 or 9 bucks. Or [[Freebooterz|for free if you pirate]], which can often be justified by the original creators leaving the development company so all the [[Profit]] goes to people who don't deserve it. Your choice.

For any video game that someone felt was good enough for a full page on this wiki, see [[:Category:Video_Games|Video Games]]

<center>[[Image:TG_recommended_games1.jpg]]</center>

<center>[[Image:Recommended_vg_2.jpg|900px]]</center>

[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Approved Media]]

Video games

2021-10-14T20:40:32Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Strategy Games */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Bigpong.jpeg|thumb|People playing a large scale version of the iconic Pong video game at the National Videogame Museum]]
Video games are games played with an electronic device, instead of paper, pens, dice, boards, anything traditional, and most of the time omitting your imagination too. It is also true that they do contain amusing game mechanics, can be easily played alone, provide visual and auditory representation, and don't [[Games Workshop|cost hundreds of dollars for a few miniature visual representations]]; however, this does come at the cost of freedom, physical being, social skills, and imagination.

Many traditional or tabletop games (like WH40K and D&D) can now be played as using electronic devices to substitute for their tactile components like maps or minis, proving once again that technology continues to screw up [[Old School Roleplaying|everything that we all wished had remained as it was.]] A [[VASSAL Game Engine|virtual tabletop simulator]] has been released so you may play a tabletop game with friends out of town. Also, we have an article at [[List of Vidya Board Games]] to cover various tabletop adaptions into the digital realm.

Electronic games played by strange, [[what|electronic fa/tg/uys]] have been accepted by /tg/, so that any game can be traditional, and this media fits right in with the old [[Board Game|board games]] and Tabletop [[Wargame]]s we all know and love. Some video games are accepted and enjoyed by /tg/. Many, however, are not. Generally, video game threads, especially games with no corresponding /tg/ version/interest, belong on /v/ instead.

You'll find quite a few /v/ related articles on 1d4chan because some video games have at least some relation to /tg/ and because 1d4chan tends to draw in people who are fans of WH40K universe primarily through [[Dawn of War]], even if these people don't actually play the tabletop game. And lets be honest here, 1d4chan is as much a page for WH40K fans as it is for fa/tg/uys so these people are certainly welcome here.

==Strategy Games ==
[[Image:Keen.gif|right|300px]]
* Simulation/Sandbox
** '''[[Dwarf Fortress]]''' The legend, the lamentation, the...fun.
** '''Aurora 4X, a.k.a Dwarf Fortress in space with MUCH more complicated details'''
** '''Factorio''', a process building game. The player is stuck on an alien world and trying to build a spaceship to get off said world, but the enormous industrial activity necessary to build a spaceship provokes the local wildlife to attack, necessitating more industry to fight them off.
** '''From The Depths'''
** '''Kerbal Space Program''' A aerospace engineer is you, build space vehicles, manage your own space agency and conduct missions kerbaled and automated across a simulated solar system. Bear in mind, this game involves actual rocket science; you're going to have to learn about things like Delta-V and slingshot maneuvers if you're going to plot a course that won't end with your rocket crashing into the ocean.
** '''Space Engineers''' Build space ships, stations and bases.
*** '''Medieval Engineers''' Build castles, villages and siege equipment.
** '''[[Minecraft]]''', for some odd reason.
** '''[[Terraria]]''', for the same odd reason.
** '''Mount and Blade''', it's expandalone Warband, and the new Bannerlord 2. A sandbox medieval setting, you go around either being a bandit or uniting the scattered kingdoms into a grand empire or whatever. Enormous modding community means finding something thematically different if you want, including Warhammer and historical mods. In facts, the mods are a selling point of the whole thing, given there is one for just about '''any''' setting you can think about.
** '''Rimworld''', Dwarf Fortress ''IN SPEHSS'' except dumbed down for the casuals, [[skub|which may or may not be a good thing.]]
** '''[[Space Station 13]]:''' Dwarf Fortress except you play as the dwarves. Has been completely fucking ruined by goons leaking into every other version of the game.
** '''[[Tabletop Simulator]]''', a virtual tabletop for playing Card Games, Board Games, RPGs, etc. online with friends. The game has multiple built-in tools for creating custom games, and the Steam Workshop has thousands of add-ons; a popular choice for playing WH40K online thanks to ripped assets from Dawn of War.
** '''[[VASSAL Game Engine|VASSAL Engine]]'''

* 4X/Grand Strategy
** '''Age of Wonders''' - Take ''Master of Magic'', then make it good. Due to reasons, the most approved is 2nd game, as it strikes balance between being its own unique thing, having good campaign and not sacrificing gameplay in the process.
** '''Civilization I-IV''' - Civilization actually was based on a board game and in a case of coming full circle, ended up creating it's own board game. Civ IV in particular happens to have a highly active modding scene to this very day, and many of those mods are total overhauls with fantasy settings. One of those is a ''Fall from Heaven'' mod, or rather a series of mods with shared setting. Neat stuff.
*** Note: Civs V and VI have design issues that make them difficult to recommend in this list, and are thus explicitly not included--that being said, this exclusion is more on the basis of them being [[Skub]]ish--some people love V and/or VI, while some people hate them.
** '''[[Disciples]]''' (series) - Heroes of Might and Magic made [[Grimdark]].
** '''[[Dominions]]''' - Civilization's and Dwarf Fortress' beautiful love child. Enjoy [[Lovecraft]]'s Father Dagon square up against Ravana from India's Ramayana as they fight for the glory of their respective gods (you and whatever other [[neckbeards]] you are playing with).
** '''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]''' - Turn based strategy of over six main games and expansions where you control a fantasy hero and their legion of men/elves/dwarves/creatures/etc. Special mention goes to second and especially third installments.
**'''Master of Magic''': Take Sid Meier's Civilization. Add fantasy races with their own units, magic in the form of spells and summons, heroes and a very basic isometric battlefield when armies clash, and give dozens of abilities to units according to their species, situation and metal they are armed with (Yes, the metal used can be mithril or adamantite if the building city has any). That's Master of Magic. Still great for when you need to scratch that 'wizard with no sense of right or wrong bent on conquering the world' itch.
** '''Masters of Orion'''
** '''[[Alpha Centauri|Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'''. Despite starting out as "Civ 2: SPACE EDITION", SMAC became one of the more iconic games of the 90s. In the late 21st century Earth goes to sh*t and a colony ship is dispatched to Alpha Centauri to give humanity a new lease on life. Instead, we start fighting before we even get there and the whole thing eventually spirals off into a free-for all (with aliens joining the fun too!) with transcendence to virtual godhood as the ultimate prize. The game was a great joy to play due to gameplay and strategic depth, an interesting array of futuristic techs mostly rooted in semi-hard science and a plethora of interesting factions and various lore blurbs. Game is so tightly written, people discuss its content to this day. When SJGames released a setting book for GURPS 3e, they didn't have to make up anything at all to get 130 pages of lore.
** '''Sengoku Rance''': [[Weeaboo|Hentai game spinoff]] that parodies the long-running ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' series. You play as Rance, [[Slaanesh]]'s very own [[Kharn|fun guy to be around,]] as he unifies Warring States-era Japan under his mighty [[Anal circumference|"hyperweapon."]] Despite the utterly ludicrous premise it's a solid grand strategy game, to the point that the porn is more of a reward for playing well than an end in itself. Comparing this game to Total War was a common troll on /gsg/ when Shogun II was released.
** '''Endless Space 1&2''' The first game is ok and free to play, but the second one is where it's at as it does everything the original did better and then some.
** '''[[Endless Legend]]'''
** '''Distant Worlds'''
** Paradox series: This is the go-to company for nation-ruling Grand Strategy games for different eras such as '''[[Crusader Kings]]''' 800's-1400's, '''[[Europa Universalis]]''' 1400's-1800's, '''[[Victoria]]''' 1820's-1936, or '''[[Hearts of Iron]]''' 1936-1950's.
*** [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=406933979 Warhammer: Geheimnisnacht], a Warhammer Fantasy conversion for Crusader Kings II. Setting predates Winds of Chaos & End Times.
** '''[[Stellaris]]''' Paradox's attempt to fill the gap in the market between their Grand Strategy games and traditional 4X. You can run *any* science fiction staple idea and none would look out of place. A civilisation of individuals ranging from unique megacorporations to generic governments, hive-minded eusocial species, robots and anything in between have each unique playstyles. It also has endgame "crises" of galaxy threatening proportions which needs elaborate teamwork to stop.
*** Excellent 40k mod for Stellaris: https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/WarhammerTotalConversion
*** And yes, there's Star Trek and Star Wars mods.
** '''[[Total War]]''' series: '''Rome Total War''', '''Medieval Total War''', '''Empire Total War''', '''Shogun Total War'''
*** Rome 1 mods: '''Call to Arms: Warhammer''' and '''Fourth Age Total War''' and Medieval 2 mods: '''[[Call of Warhammer]]''', '''Third Age Total War'''

* Real-time Strategy
** '''Age of Empires''' series. Classic RTS with a more Command and Conquer vibe then a 4X, which is more common for historical settings, though pretty much every unit has multiple counters so it tends to be a more complex game then normal fast pace RTSs. There's the original, which is a curiosity at best, the second game that is made of pure gold, Mythology that mixes up the formula well, the third which sadly is more just Mythology with guns and Online which is F2P game and also dead (unless you play Project Celeste, which is still getting updated by fans). First, Second and Mythology have really good HD remasters. First and Second have also 4k remakes (not remaster), called Definitive Editions. Second and Mythology are worth grabbing, but if you had to choose one choose 2. They are currently developing the next game in the series, AoE IV.
** '''Battlezone''', the strategy game not the arcade game. Mixture of real time strategy and hover tank combat while fighting commies on the moon. Clunky, and as balanced as a one legged hippo, but it's uniqueness, concept and immersion make it a classic. Got a second game that was tighter and better balanced but weaker plot and setting. Both got pretty decent HD remasters.
** '''[[Command and Conquer]]''', a franchise with more then four different series running at the time where you control varied forces trying to beat the crap out of each other.
** '''Company of Heroes''' and '''Men of War''' series which are basically RTSs based on the idea of commanding forces as if someone was playing a classic WW2 shooter. While there are hard counters in Company of Heroes it still focuses more on holding chokepoints, piecing defensive lines and utilizing sandbags and barbed wire. Men at War focuses on realistic damage and as such is more the ARMA to Company of Heroes Call of Duty 2.
** '''Cossacks''' series, which covers 17th and 18th century, being the closest to /tg/'s desire to have "pike and shot setting". Most notable for ability to field absolutely gigantic armies of thousands upon thousands of soldiers.
*** '''American Conquest''' is an off-shot mini-series, expanding game mechanics from Cossacks and covering the period between Cortes conquest of Aztec Empire till American Revolutionary War. An expansion is dedicated to American Civil War.
** '''Cultures''' series, but most importantly first two games. A Viking village sim
** '''Dungeon Keeper''', where you play as an evil overlord defending against pesky adventurers and goodie-two-shoes trying to conquer your dungeon, and play it like Sims on crack.
** '''Homeworld''': THE iconic space video game of the early 00's. Basically Battlestar Galactica if the Galactica was tall instead of long. Borrows heavily from the artwork of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Foss Chris Foss].
** '''Original War''', most notable for its unique mix of RPG and RTS elements, with each unit representing an individual character with own backstory, personality and set of skills.
** '''Patrician 3: Rise of the Hansa''' is pretty standard (and good) economic-transport sim, but it makes up with being related with the titular Hansa and the Baltic region during Late Medieval, which rarely show up as a setting despite being what is represented as '''the''' ISO Standard Medieval setting.
** '''Railroad Tycoon 2''' comes with absolutely amazing series of scenarios and an unique, fleshed out post-apo setting. No, not kidding. There are also dozens of fan-made maps further expanding on said setting.
** '''Rise of Nations''' and especially '''Rise of Legends''' which had a steampunk faction and a "totally not the baddies from Stargate" faction
** '''The Settlers''' series, especially the I-IV parts. This is less of a straight RTS and more a space-management game, where you're building the most efficient transport system for your settlement, particularly in first two games, with their iconic flag-and-road system. Plot-wise, S3 and 4 are great kitchen-sink settings and Amazones are hot.
** '''[[Starcraft]]''' and '''[[Warcraft]]''': [[Skub|40K and Fantasy rip-offs respectively]], although they were so successful that from video gamers' perspective <del>the jedi are evil</del> ''GW should be paying Blizzard''.
** '''Supreme Commander''', the closest thing to "modern" remake of ''Total Annihilation'' and of course "the endless war IN SPESS!" setting that everyone loves so much.
** '''Theocracy''', in which you control one of Mesoamerican tribes with a goal of unifying the region.
** '''Total Annihilation''' The game that started it all when it it comes to RTS. Not much of a story but it had great gameplay that laid the foundations for the stuff to come. There was also a fantasy sequel "Kingdoms" that had a great story and lore (rivaling that of Warcraft at the time) but abysmal gameplay.
** '''Transarctica''' A bizzare mix of an economic sim, adventure game and a railroad simulator. After an experiment to slow down global warming caused a new ice-age, there are only massive trains going through the ice wasteland between the handful of surviving cities and coal mines. Your task is to bring Sun back from beyond the thick clouds surrounding Earth. Very atypical gameplay. And if the premise sounds familiar, it has the same source material as ''Snowpiercer''.
** '''Warfront: Turning Point''': WW2, but everyone fielding experimental mecha, pulp super-weapons and other silly things. Notably, defense buildings come with FPS mode (and this can greatly increase their performance), while weather and terrain affect everything in variety of ways.

* Turn-based Strategy
** '''[[Advance Wars|Advance Wars]]''' - It's like Panzer General but [[Anime]]. Except for '''Days of Ruin'''; that game is [[Grimdark]] and thus [[Fist of the North Star|manly]].
** '''[[Fire Emblem]]''' - Advance Wars' twin brother who likes swords and magic rather than guns and tanks. Fire Emblem has heavy RPG elements, tasking you with managing a stable of characters with limited EXP to go around and the specter of permadeath hanging overhead. ''Awakening'' and later installments are not approved for being [[Weeaboo|waifu delivery systems cleverly disguised as strategy games.]]
** '''Jagged Alliance I''' & '''II''', A PMC is you!
** '''[[King of Dragon Pass]]'''
** '''Panzer General''' - The first decent "Tabletop WW2 meets PC" back in '94, it's the second inspiration for [[Nazi Equipment]] and is the Mecca of wehraboo'ism. Spawned an entire series of games.
*** Of note from that series: '''Fantasy General''', which is, other than some rather questionable AI balancing, a fairly fun "D&D Wargame" style affair.
** '''Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale''' a Japanese game about running a shop, which sells and buys items used by dungeon-crawling adventurers. Much more engaging than it sounds and full of cutting humour. Capitalism, ho!
** '''Valkyria Chronicles''' series - JRPG fantasy world version of World War II. Quite a bit of depth and supporting cast of characters.
** The '''UFO: After[X]''' series which is essentially an X-Com made grimdark. How grim? The ''bad'' ending of the first game, ''Aftermath'', is canon.
** The original '''[[X-Com|X-COM: UFO Defense]]'''
** The new '''[[X-Com|XCOM: Enemy Unknown]]''' and its sequel, '''XCOM 2'''.
*** XCOM and XCOM 2 mods: '''The Long War'''. Both versions add dramatically to their respective games, transforming them from comparatively quick, light experiences to fatigue-worn wars. Buckle up. Plays a lot like Valkyria Chronicles except with destructable terrain and lots of chest-high walls.

==Role-Playing Games==
*[[cRPG]]s
** '''Albion''' Duo of space janitors crash-land on a planet that will be soon strip-mined, only to find out there is local, if Iron Age tier population of few intelligent species.
** '''[[Arcanum]]: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura''' Fallout, but set in a fantasy world where magic and technology coexist and fight each other. The story takes your party across the world as you try to unravel a plot that threatens not only the world but the very concept of life itself.
** '''Arx Fatalis''' A decent but pretty generic RPG if not for the fact that you appear in an underground kingdom in a world that had it's sun extinguished and surface turned into frozen waste. The magic system is also unique as you perform gestures with your mouse in order to cast spells, which is as fun as it is inconvenient (mage-knight build is a necessity due to this).
** '''[[Baldur's Gate]] I''' & '''II'''
** '''Battle for Wesnoth''' An Aussie who played too much jRPGs made a hex-based battle mini games that happens to be one of the more balanced things on the market.
** '''Betrayal at Krondor'''
** '''Darklands''' Adventures of a roaming party in the 15th century <s>Holy Roman Empire</s> Germany. Probably the lowest possible low fantasy to still qualify as such, rather than just historical setting.
** '''Deus Ex''' series. THE cyberpunk RPG. So good that it managed to incorporate nearly every conspiracy theory into it's story and make them actually work well together.
** '''[[Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box Series]]''' (also includes some Buck Rogers games because of Lorraine Williams)
** '''[[The Elder Scrolls]]''' especially Daggerfall, and Morrowind as the other ones are pretty generic and thus boring.
** '''[[Fallout]]''' series.
** '''[[Icewind Dale]]'''
** '''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'''
** '''Might and Magic from 1 to 8, then X. [[Squats|Might and Magic 9 does not exist.]]
** '''[[Planescape: Torment]]''' Storyfags' and Lorefags' wet dream.
** '''System Shock''' series
** '''The Temple of Elemental Evil'''
** '''[[Ultima]]''' series - see Might & Magic above and retain the "ignore 9" rule.
** '''Underrail''' ''Metro 2033'' (setting) meets classic ''Fallout'' (gameplay) and decides to have a foursome with cosmic horror and space opera. Try it or get dominated, pipeworker.
** '''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]] - ''Bloodlines/Redemption''''' Bloodlines was Troika's last hurrah and after you apply the official and fan patches you will see why. Redemption is also good but not as much as Bl.
** '''Wasteland''' series
** '''[[Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord]]'''

*Modern RPGs
** '''The Banner Saga'''
** '''Dark Souls''', due to its moody [[Berserk]]-inspired atmosphere, emphasis on exploration, and [[Dwarf Fortress|merciless learning curve]]. Compelling story and characters are a major plus, also contains large amounts of death and [[RAGE]]. The tagline isn't 'Prepare to Die' for no reason.
*** To a lesser extent, the other "Souls" games ('''Demon's Souls''', '''Dark Souls 2''', '''Dark Souls 3''', '''Bloodborne''', and '''Sekiro''').
** '''Deus Ex: Human Revolution''' While not nearly as broad or deep as the original, it still manages to capture some of it's essence and is a fine RPG in it's own right.
** '''Dragon Age: Origins''' Much better than later games. Has the added bonus of having an actual conclusion; the sequels tend to end on unsatisfying cliffhangers.
** '''Disco Elysium''' [[Planescape: Torment]], except you're an Alcoholic, deadbeat detective.
** '''Expeditions: Conquistador''' and '''Viking'''
** '''Fallout: New Vegas''' Made by the team that made the classics, and it shows. Basically what Fallout 3 - the real, Van Buren, Fallout 3 - should have been.
** '''Kingdom Come: Deliverance''' A truly generic story of "from zero to hero", involving blacksmith's son climbing the social ladder of medieval society until knighthood. But what makes the game unique is the fact it's a historical RPG, set in specific area of Bohemia during a specific period with autistic levels of research behind it, providing more data about its own setting than your typical edutainment game.
** '''Legend of Grimrock'''
** '''Mass Effect 1 and 2''' Grand space opera to rival that of Star Wars in the levels of epic.
** '''Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor''' A fun uruk/olog hunting/recruiting game with some [[Skub|contentious]] framing, particularly in the sequel ([[Monstergirl]] [[What|Shelob]], among other things). Think of it as "Arkham's Creed: Middle-Earth Edition."
** '''Pillars of Eternity''' Set in a world of Eora where souls are tangible and measurable rather than being metaphysical/religious concepts. With the advance of technology and Animancy (science of souls) the world is set up for some radical upheavals, and that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Billed as a spiritual successor to Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale the game accomplishes - for the most part - what it sets out to do and is one of the better cRPGs in recent times.
** '''Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic''' Both games are very good, the second just needs the Restored Content mod.
** '''State of Decay''', the only good thing that came out of the early 2010s zombie craze. If you ever planned to run a zombie campaign, just rip the whole thing off - unlike other vidya rip-offs, this one works out great. Only the first game is approved.
** '''[[The Witcher]]''' series
** '''Pathfinder [[Kingmaker]]'''
** '''Tyranny''' From the same devs that made ''Pillars of Eternity''. This time you are cast into the world of Terratus, a high-fantasy world which is just about to exit it's Bronze Age, and as another twist to the ol' formula, you are a mid-ranking minion of the setting's overlord tasked with mediating conflicts and bringing "justice" through their empire. Story and gameplay are just as good as PoE, but the game was released in a rushed state with many things missing. Still, good for ~20hrs of fun or as an entry-level cRPG.

==Adventure Games==
* '''Animation Arts''': Not the game, but a German game dev studio. If you ever wanted to run a cheesy game that's either pulp or B-movie, look no further for inspiration, since this is their speciality.
* '''Beneath a Steel Sky''': Great cyberpunk themes and rich imagery. Released as freeware by the original developers.
* '''Blade Runner''': It's a Blade Runner game and it's one of the best things that ever happened in the genre, no need for more recommendations.
* '''Broken Sword''' series: Templars, ancient conspiracies, interesting characters and well-written plot that is mineable even for tabletop games
* '''Chains of Satinav''' and '''Memoria''': Exactly how many adventure games you know that are set in [[The_Dark_Eye|Dere]] and are good?
* '''The DIG''': A bunch of astronauts stop an asteroid from hitting earth, only to find out it's really an alien starship that whisks them to a desolate planet on the other side of the galaxy whose inhabitants - who have a huge fetish for the platonic solids - are nowhere to be found. Features a lot of really complex hard-science plot points, difficult-as-fuck puzzles, and Steve Blum as an arrogant German scientist.
* '''Indiana Jones and the Fate Of Atlantis''': One of the classics that you can't just go wrong with. Aside being a good adventure game by itself, comes with kinda-sorta branching plot, so you can approach same situations differently.
* '''King's Quest VI: Heir Today Gone Tomorrow''': Just read the title and ask yourself what the game can be about. This series is downright ancient, so be warned. VI is well regarded as the best one and holds up relatively well, though fan remakes of the older games in the style of VI are also available.
* '''Monkey Island''' series: One of the most definitive things to ever happen to the genre, plus it's a great pirate-themed series that both spoofs and reaffirms a lot of cliches related with own content.
* '''Policenauts''': Early Hideo Kojima makes a game where Lethal Weapon meets cyberpunk.
* '''The Prince and the Coward''': A Polish game that can be best summed up as "ISO Standard Medieval Fantasy gets the ''Monkey Island'' treatment". An excellent fan-translation exists that manages to keep the original tone.
* '''Pathologic''' (also known as '''Pestilence''' or '''Мор. Утопия'''): a truly bizarre and unique Russian game combining adventure, survival, role-playing and lots of nightmarish vibes. Boasts headache-inducing lore and a persistent world, so things roll regardless of the player interfering or not. Got a HD re-release recently with proper translation, so non-Slavs can finally enjoy the game - the previous English translation was a nightmare by itself.
**'''[[Pathologic 2]]''': A remake of the original (or, rather, one storyline of the original), but with updated graphics and mechanics plus a couple of story tweaks. Retains many of the anxiety-inducing survival mechanics and nightmarish atmosphere of the first game and, generally, is a much more streamlined experience. As such, it is generally recommended to newcomers over the original. Only ⅓ of the original game is there, due to limitations in budget; the rest may come depending on how well the game sells (devs have confirmed they are working on the bachelor's campaign, however).
* '''Professor Layton''' series: A refined gentleman investigates mysteries by solving lateral-thinking puzzles. Beautiful watercolor art and solid writing, though the puzzle setups become increasingly absurd as the series goes on. A great series to mine for dungeon puzzles. Any games after the first six are not approved, due to the writing devolving into cliche anime bullshit and a distinct drop in puzzle quality after the death of designer Akira Tago.
* '''[[Star Control]]''' series: A mess of alien races in the grand tradition of Niven et al. kill the shit out of each other. First game is turn-based strategy, second game is somewhere between an RPG and an adventure game; both have a surprisingly deep arcade combat system. The second game was released as open-source software by the developers.
*'''Vangers''': A fuckin' weird Russian game about delivering bugs to other bugs in your bug-like car in a world that's filled with bugs and feels like "A Bug's Life" on a DMT trip. Honestly though, if you're a GM who wants to present their players with a totally alien and incomprehensible setting, then this game does it with flying colours.

==Warhammer Games==
*Strategy
** The old and glorious '''[[Warhammer Epic 40,000: Final Liberation]]''', [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat| '''Shadow of the Horned Rat''', and '''Dark Omen''']]
** [[Warhammer: Mark of Chaos|'''Mark of Chaos''']]
** '''[[Dawn of War|WH40K Dawn of War]]''' and its [[Dawn of War II|sequel]]. As well as the [[Dawn of War III|sequel sequel]]
*** The "True-to-Tabletop" [[Dawn of War Mods|mods]] for DoW that sprung up, such as '''Firestorm over ''Kronus/Kaurava''''', the '''Closer to Codex''' mod. Really, just look at the page to see how many there are.
** '''[[Chapter Master (game)]]'''
** '''[[Mordheim: City Of The Damned]]'''
** '''[[Battlefleet Gothic: Armada]]'''
** '''[[Total War: WARHAMMER]]''' and its [[Total War: Warhammer II|sequel]]
** '''[[Man o' War: Corsair]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach]]''' - A turn base strategy game where you playing as everybody's favourite [[Space Wolves|space wolf viking]] fighting against the Orks in Sanctus Reach. Later DLC allowed you playing as the Ork led by Da Big Red and everybody's favorite [[Imperial Guard|wall of guns]]. Also Imperial Knights, fuck yeah!
**'''[[Space Hulk]]''' in its many iterations, including [[Alien Assault|the unofficial one]].
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War]]'''
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus]]'''
*Other
** '''[[Blood Bowl]] and its sequel'''
** <s>'''[[Warhammer Online|Warhammer Age of Reckoning]]'''</s> Shut down thanks to EA. Go play the private server version!
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade]]'''
** '''[[The End Times: Vermintide]]''' and [[Vermintide 2|its sequel]]
** '''Warhammer 40,000: [[Freeblade]]'''
** '''[[Space Hulk: Deathwing]]'''

==Miscellaneous==
* [[Roguelike|Roguelikes]]
** '''Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead''' a post-apocalyptic top-down survival game that looks like Dwarf Fortress with a texture pack and lets you drive cars into zombies.
** '''Cultist Simulator''' is a grind-heavy, card-based game about being too curious about things that no man should know about and slowly building a cult to some demonic abomination... or die trying.
** '''Curious Expedition''' which pokes fun at the pulp adventure genre; think Hollow Earth as a black comedy
** '''[[Darkest Dungeon]]''' the newest [[H.P. Lovecraft|lovecraftian]] dungeon crawler with grimdark setting and overall edginess.
** '''Don't Starve''' a pretty-looking survival and exploration game that's fun with friends, and does horror like ''The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy''.
** '''[[Dungeon Crawl]] Stone Soup'''
** '''Freespace & Freespace II''': The last major standalone space flight sim, ending the genre that had started with Wing Commander and X-Wing/TIE-Fighter.
** '''Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures''' a random-gen adventure game that almost operates like a dungeon crawler and came 20 years too early to get on the roguelike hype.
** '''Nethack'''
** ''' NEOScavenger''' much like Cataclysm (gameplay, genre, even the setting is similar), an exploration hex-crawl to surpass all hex-crawls.
** '''Pathway''', the closest thing to having Hollow Earth Expedition vidya
** '''Pixel Dungeon and it's forks''' coffee break roguelike optimized for phones. FOSS so there's tons of forks. Shattered Pixel Dungeon is a very good version and is on Android Play Store and F-Droid
** ''' Sunless Sea''' and '''Sunless Skies''' Adventuring out into a WTF eldritch horror setting under the flag of Victorian Britain. Gameplay-wise, the games are just awful grinders, but it's their setting and quests that make them interesting, as long as comically dark settings are your thing.
** '''TEARDOWN''', a Space-Hulk roguelike
** '''WarpRogue''', a 40K-inspired roguelike

*Good FPS games
** '''Amnesia series''', The first game in the series rekindled the survival horror genre and was pants-shittingly scary through a clever use of jumpscares, ingenious mechanics discouraging directly looking at the enemies and an amazing atmosphere of gothic horror which slowly turns into the cosmic variety as the story progresses. Unfortunately the latter sequels became a victim of their own success mostly due to oversaturation of survival horror genre, but are nevertheless fine games in their own right.
** '''Bioshock''' series: Bunch of retro-aesthetics crammed into FPS games with what passes as a rich plot and world-building within the genre. Arguing over its content used to be prime [[skub]] material, now it's mostly forgotten.
** '''Borderlands 2''', a memetic lolsrandom dumb game, but special mention goes to '''Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep''' DLC, as it is a role-playing session involving main characters, with all the crazy hijinks of Borderlands involved.
** '''Crysis''', Three games provide a very moddable engine with a very versatile set of physics combined with a pretty absurdly large modding community that has among other things, created a perfectly workable Mech Warrior game out of Crysis Warhead. Even if you don't care for nanosuit action, the mods alone are worth checking out.
** '''Deep Rock Galactic''' [[Squat]]s the video game. Space Dwarfs armed with big guns go digging into a mineral rich planet infested with [[Tyranid|giant bugs]].
** '''Dishonored''', the spiritual successor to Thief except now you are a supernatural assassin in a <s>proto-dieselpunk edwardian-era-esque</s> steampunk world. Good story and fun gameplay with plenty of assassination options.
** '''[[Doom|DOOM]]''', '''Hexen''', and '''Heretic''': With a vibrant community because the games are easy to mod and has produced no shortage of mods (or WADs as they're called in the community (officially, the file extension 'WAD' means 'Where's All the Data?').) Interestingly, Doom was inspired by a D&D game run with Lead Dev John Carmack as the DM. Director John Romero's character recklessly gave a dark tome to a demon in exchange for the magic Daikatana which caused demons to overrun the material plane and the world to end. Visually, parts of the games (Hexen and Heretic especially) are reminiscent of a gothic dungeon.
** '''Escape From Butcher Bay''' a Riddick-licensed game that combines great stealth elements with even better combat sequences and a slight horror vibe, all in the sauce made off used future aesthetics.
** '''[[EYE: Divine Cybermancy]]''': A really weird FPS/RPG due to its cyberpunk fantasy aesthetics, almost an RPG. Extremely buggy due to being a Source Engine game that wasn't made by Valve. The developers absolutely love Warhammer 40,000, made the setting for EYE a lawyer-friendly clone of 40k, and were eventually hired by GW to [[Space Hulk: Deathwing|make the 40k game they wanted to make in the first place.]]
** '''Far Cry''' series, which has completely different tone depending on installment and is just one huge mine of ideas for extremely pulpy scenarios. Special mention goes to Far Cry 3, which pretty much reinvented the franchise, and its standalone expansion Blood Dragon, which is [[Old School Roleplaying|a hilarious parody of the 80s neon aesthetic.]] ''Primal'' and later installments are not approved for being either heavily rehashed or just completely unnecessary.
** '''Guns of Icarus''', a steampunk flying team deathmatch with set roles.
** '''Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, and Hand Grenades''' - this VR title is unique for being as close to a true-to-life firearms simulator as you can get, having over 400 accurately modeled and functioning firearms ranging from flintlocks to modern weapons. Its also incredibly goofy, with all enemies being giant sentient hot dogs and a few oddball toys thrown in. It's also effectively Team Fortress 2 VR, as the game includes all the stock weapons from TF2 thanks to a collaboration with Valve.
** '''Iron Storm''' - it's 1964 and the World War I is still going on, with complete stalemate perpetuated by industrialists on both sides. Your mission is to infiltrate and destroy nuclear program of the "bad" side. W40k games ''wish'' they were this good in presenting endless, senseless war.
** '''Penumbra series''': The easiest way to describe it is to call it modern take on At the Mountains of Madness, only set in Greenland and with massive conspiracy looming over the story. Warning, '''very''' tense horror games (while avoiding jump scares) with unique control and physics system, so it might not be your cup of tea.
** '''Quake''': At least the early games, for similar reasons for DOOM (they were both made by the same company). Quake 1 is a good and challenging FPS that takes cues from Lovecraft in terms of environments and monster designs. Quake 2 is somewhat easier, but is deliciously grimdark sci-fi; it's about fighting cyborg aliens that make more of themselves by capturing conquered races and fitting them with cybernetics/forcing them into a hive mind against their will.
** '''Republic Commando''', baby's first tactical shooter, but damn if it isn't a good one
** '''[[Team Fortress 2]]''', a game descended from a Quake mod now over 10 years old and still going strong, is a multiplayer FPS with a 1960s theme where players pick a team, one of 9 different classes, and battle to the death. Also, hats. Two hats in this game are 40k references, allowing you to dress your Heavy up as an Ork.
** '''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.''' series: Roadside Picnic: The Video Game. A nice combination of free roaming, excellent gunplay, tense atmosphere and really freaky lore.
** '''Thief 1 & 2''', the grand daddy of stealth games, with one of the most original settings ever created for games (a combination of industrial - but not steampunk - medieval and pagan elements). Strong story, good characters and makes you feel like a master thief indeed. Third game is good provided you get the Sneaky Update. Reboot from 2014 is unapproved and shunned.
** '''Wolfenstein''' series: Combines sci-fi, fantasy and World War II elements amidst the Nazi-killing. This series is downright ancient, predating DOOM and the FPS genre entirely.

*Good TPS games
** '''Freedom Fighters''' another baby's first tactical shooter to fulfill your ''Red Dawn'' fantasies
** '''Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine''' and '''Emperor's Tomb''' Despite what you might think, it's LucasArt ripping-off Tomb Raider, not the other way around.
** '''Max Payne 1 & 2''' Finest product of the neo-noir genre, especially the second game. Amazingly strong story in both games, with a lot of Norse references in the first one. Also, the game that introduced bullet time as game mechanics.
** '''Prince of Persia''', especially the ''Sands of Time'' trilogy. Accept no substitute for Arabian Nights game.
** '''Severance: Blade of Darkness''' Some eight years before Demon Souls you had Severance, while the setting is somewhat generic-ish blade & sorcery meets LOTR, the moody atmosphere, unforgiving gameplay and fun combat more than make up for it. If you have a thing for Soulslike this is just for you.
** '''Styx series''' Great tps assassination games set in a unique high fantasy setting that has you playing as a goblin of all things. Both games are great though the second one takes itself somewhat less seriously than the first.
** '''Tomb Raider series''' Preferably games created by original studio, Core Design, but anything up to Underworld goes. A swift balance between serious and pulp tone, providing simple plots and a more and more complex locations. Also, good source of creative traps. Reboot from 2013 and what follows are disapproved and shunned, being just generic cover shooter. Comes with its own, massive level-making scene, known collectively as '''TRLE''' (after Tomb Raider Level Editor), which by itself is fantastic source of dungeon design, creative traps and excellent puzzles that are all very minable.
* [[Mechwarrior]], because /tg/ loves [[Battletech]].
** '''MechWarrior I''' is lauded as a classic, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior II''' is lauded as the best
** '''MechWarrior III''' is lauded as the most engrossing storywise, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior IV''' is lauded as the latest and greatest, and thus the best
** '''MechCommander II''' is lauded as most like the tabletop, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior: Living Legend''' is lauded as best for multiplayer, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior Online''' is the worst
** '''MechWarrior V''' is the newest, therefore both the best AND worst
* Classic console games
** '''Jet Set/Grind Radio''' seems to have enthused one orky [[drawfag]] to the highest of possible levels, make of that what you will.
** '''Conker's Bad Fur Day''' Looney Toons for adults, and that's just the start of the batshit craziness.
** '''Dungeons and Dragons Order of the Griffon''', a game for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 set in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Uses Basic D&D rules versus the Gold Box games' AD&D rules.
** '''Legacy of Kain series''' Set in a unique fantasy gothic world, the series takes place over ~2000 year timeline that sees you slain and become a vampire demigod Kain in the first game, have you play as the vampire lieutenant Raziel that gets turned into a sentient time-paradox in the second and third game and then switch between the two on an epic, complex and plot ridden story that sees you jump from future to past to present and back again all the while unraveling a conspiracy that spans the material and spectral realms.
** '''[[Metal Gear]]'''
** '''Oddworld series''' A classic platformer set in a grimdark alien world of Oddworld, you play as Abe, a slave turned accidental revolutionary turned messiah for his people as he fights the industrial evil of Glukkons and other vile profiteering species out to stripmine Oddworld for sweet moolah. There are 4 games in total, minus the recent remakes. First two games are cult-classics and you should play them, Munch's oddysee was the awkward transition to 3D so ok-ish and Stranger's Wrath picked up the pace but as many a grognard will tell you it does not quite reach the heights of elden times. The New'n Tasty and Soulstorm remakes of the original games and are all in all decent.
** '''[[Samus|Metroid]]''', '''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''', '''Kid Icarus''', and '''[[Castlevania]]''' (the four games series (with one exception see above) share so much in common they deserve to be discussed together). Why? The exploration-heavy nature of the games, the feeling of growing more powerful as you collect enough gear and relics to make an adventuring party jealous, the incredibly memorable boss battles, interesting backstories (Metroid immerses you in backstory at your pace, via scans and lore pickups, leaving much up to your imagination), and providing many ideas for sci fi or fantasy RPG session.
** '''Shantae series''' You play as a cute genie girl that can turn into various [[Monstergirls]] (harpy, dridder, mermaid, dragon etc.) while platforming and fighting through a colorful middle-east fantasy setting.

==Games that can be used to troll /tg/==
* Most other MMORPGs. [[World of Warcraft]], as the most successful to date, is especially effective. Special points to [[Star Wars: The Old Republic]] for being a massive disappointment for a popular franchise.
* JRPGs, for often recycling the same plots over and over and having identical structure. Along with of course cringy bad character designs in some cases.
* Any of the modern Final Fantasy games, [[Games Workshop|which somehow keep getting sequels despite being financial failures]]. [[This Guy|Some fa/tg/uys]] have a fondness for the early ones, mostly because [[Troll|the first one rips off D&D pretty squarely]].
* [[Skyrim]], a popular well liked meme game that /v/ contrarians and neckbeards with nostalgia goggles will say is shit. Same goes for [[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|Oblivion]], [[Fallout]] 3 and 4, and any future Bethesda RPGs.
* <s>Mentioning the attention Warhammer 40k games have gotten compared to Warhammer Fantasy is a sore spot for Fantasy fans.</s> With the failure that is [[Dawn of War III]] and recent success of [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] and [[Vermintide]], you could say the tables have turned. Actually DoW3 by itself is enough for trolling anyway.
* Sonic The Hedgehog. The fans are everywhere, and the butthurt is unfathomable.
* Nintendo games have ultra-dedicated fanbases, and also hardcore haters, except for series like Metroid, Zelda, Mother, or Kid Icarus which are generally respected. Mentioning Pokemon in a positive light or stating the controller of "the best" console they released is a sex toy may cause an internet fight.
* Games with bad random number generators. Even highly approved of games like Mordheim: City Of The Damned will cause a shitstorm when someone is reminded that a supposed 95% chance to hit can result in four consecutive misses.
* No Man's Sky - such a huge waste of potential, although it got somewhat better with patches. Bringing this game up is a good troll move on /v/ as well, but everything's a good troll move on /v/.
* [[Blizzard]]. JUST. [[Blizzard]]. (''ACTIVISION'' Blizzard now, fuckers! The shit train only goes downhill from here!)

Games that are universally loathed, so you'll probably have to put in some work if you want to troll with:
* Unlike the previous Bethesda RPGs Fallout 76 is actually bad. So if you want to troll people you'll have to pretend to like it. Although, it's so objectively terrible your bait will most likely seem too obvious.
* [[Bioware | Anthem]].
** Almost all "Games as a Service" games released in the wake of Destiny have a similar, if lesser, level of disdain; it's just that Fallout 76 and Anthem were so garbage on release, and had such a CRPG pedigree, that the trolling mines were quickly completely depleted.
* Reminding [[Shadowrun]] fans of the terrible Shadowrun FPS is not going to earn you any goodwill.
* [[Evony]]

==The Game List That People Copypasta==
Every so often, someone posts on /tg/: "Wow, you guys are so smart and cool; can you recommend some [[video games]] to play for those hours when I'm not playing tabletop?". It happens so often that people have made [[copypasta]] for the occasion, even image copypasta.

You will find a lot of those games on [http://www.gog.com/ Good Old Games], DRM free, for 6 or 9 bucks. Or [[Freebooterz|for free if you pirate]], which can often be justified by the original creators leaving the development company so all the [[Profit]] goes to people who don't deserve it. Your choice.

For any video game that someone felt was good enough for a full page on this wiki, see [[:Category:Video_Games|Video Games]]

<center>[[Image:TG_recommended_games1.jpg]]</center>

<center>[[Image:Recommended_vg_2.jpg|900px]]</center>

[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Approved Media]]

Magitek

2021-10-14T20:27:26Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Non-/tg/ Examples */

[[File:Pulp.jpeg|thumb|right|A [[Warforged|robot]] jumping from a [[Airship|helicopter]] into a train. Except everything is powered by magic, welcome to [[Eberron]].]]
'''Magitek''' is a setting aesthetic based on the idea of melding magic and technology together in some fashion. If this sounds rather vague, that's because there's at least four different ways of doing this that commonly appear, but all share this basic aesthetic.

Method one is where you start with an existing technological device and then either add magic to it or use it to interact with magic in some way. For example, a PDA or computer hard drive that doubles as a magical grimoire, a gun enchanted to produce an endless array of bullets, or a car that can fly. This is particularly common in "urban fantasy" settings, since they tend to have magic existing alongside but hidden from "the real world". It's also a common feature in more "kludge-up" settings since, again, you have magic and technology existing side by side, so somebody's going to see if they can be brought together.

Method two is where you have something that looks scientific, but really runs off of magic. This is more common in "lower-tech aesthetic" settings like [[Clockpunk]], [[Steampunk]], and [[Dieselpunk]], as it allows the technology to equal or exceed the capabilities of real-world tech despite using a much more primitive set of base technology. This is perhaps the rarest form of magitek, as most such settings don't really want to admit that their "technology" is really Magic-Powered Pseudo-Science. Slightly more common in alternate universes to our universe itself as a way to justify alternative technology paths that obviously won't work in real life or would be too ineffective by the time it can be made to work.

Method three is where you meld magical and technological components together to achieve a greater whole - this is perhaps the most iconic form of magitek, as it clearly respects both halves of their "make-up". Neither aspect functions alone, but only together do they shine. If the setting can be simultaneously science fiction and fantasy, this will be the cremé dé la cremé of manufactured goods, with an magically nanoforged antimatter beam cannon to fuck up eldritch horrors and super heavy tanks in one shot each being an example, while method one is a more common alternative like a simply enchanted assault rifle.

Method four is where you have magic being industrialized; it's so common and ubiquitous that it has developed to take the place of technology entirely, even if the viewers can still see the roles; crystal ball networks replacing telephones/videophones/radio/the internet, enchanted carriages replacing real-life vehicles, enchanted bows or blaster-wands replacing guns, and so forth. Frequently appears in more modern works in the fantasy genre due to general rebellion against the overdone [[Medieval Stasis]] phenomenon.

Common long-running plot hooks for such settings involve [[mana]] or some other vital magical resource running out, or otherwise being fought over, and common magical devices turning against their users (especially if bound demons are involved).

== Examples ==
This is actually a fairly popular aesthetic for fantasy settings, and so there's quite a few examples out there, both directly /tg/ related and otherwise.

===/tg/ Examples===
* [[Dungeons & Dragons]] in general has built up a huge list of "industrialized magic" examples across the many settings and over the years. However, due to [[Medieval Stasis]], either the setting totally runs with it ([[Spelljammer]], [[Eberron]]), or else it tends to be restricted to lost civilizations or out-of-the-way places ([[Forgotten Realms]], [[Mystara]]).
* The Half-Golem is a template-race from [[Dungeons & Dragons]] 3rd edition that is essentially a magitek cyborg.
* The [[Warforged]] is a sapient golem, making it essentially a fantasy robot race, which has led to a stigma that they cannot shake off.
* In the [[Hollow World]] subsetting of [[Mystara]], the various technological items are actually running off of divinely granted magic, making them little more than enchanted items with funny appearances. This is intended to enforce the [[Medieval Stasis]] of the setting, as each "advanced" culture in the Hollow World is the last remaining preserve of a civilization that wiped itself out earlier.
* The [[Deadlands]] setting makes use of types one through three. The various [[Steampunk]] technology draws its power from burning Ghost Rock, which is literally the spirits of the damned compressed into magical coal. This also allows it to warp reality to allow things like clockwork-based cybernetic implants to function. The Mad Scientist class ''thinks'' it's doing science, when in reality their inventions are powered/given to them by demons whispering schematics and arcane secrets into their brains whilst they sleep. The Metal Mage archetype is a case of Deadlands [[multiclassing]] where you combine a Mad Scientist with a Huckster, and which invented a lot of spells specifically relating to technology (from being able to conjure simple gadgets to more rapidly build gadgets to dismantling gadgets in the field).
* [[RIFTS]] has the Techno-Mage class, which is an engineer-wizard who specializes in enchanting existing technology and building technological items that run off of/incorporate magic.
* [[Iron Kingdoms]] distinguishes itself by the fact all of the super-tech it uses is shamelessly powered by/based on magic.
* [[Exalted]] has a lot of examples of the "science and sorcery combined" style, reaching its peak in 2nd edition (magic-powered [[power armour]] and fighter jets, artificial limbs, and clockwork-based golem-androids) before it was dialed down in 3rd edition as lost technology from before a literal 90% of existence died to a plague.
* [[D20 Modern]] quite obviously uses the "enchanting existing tech" approach, given it's the epitome of urban fantasy gaming with a D&D origin. The Techno-Mage class in particular embraces this, blending science and magic to do things like cast spells through phones.
* There's too many examples of the "enchant existing tech" approach in the [[World of Darkness]] to count, but [[Mage: The Ascension]] stands out for using the "magic powered pseudo-science" approach, having the world-lore that technology is just another style of magic which came to dominate the "reality paradigm".
* [[CthulhuTech]] blends science and sorcery together so hard that it's impossible to tell where the difference actually lies. Fitting, given that [[H.P. Lovecraft]] basically stated that "magic" in his stories was merely a hyper-dimensional science that humanity doesn't understand.
* [[Warhammer Fantasy]] has two factions that both use the "meld magic and tech" style together; the [[Skaven]] have elaborate electrical engines fueled by [[warpstone]], which is essentially [[daemon]]-possessed plutonium, whilst the [[Chaos Dwarves]] build elaborate machines that only work due to being possessed by daemons. Of the two, it's hard to tell whose tech has more inherent issues. Chaos Dwarf tech demands blood sacrifice to run and wants to kill its operatives even when fed, Skaven tech just has a tendency to explode.
* Magitek is rather prevalent throughout the [[Warhammer 40000]] universe, as many of the most advanced technology draws upon the [[Warp]] in some form or another. Of course, this is a [[grimdark]] universe and Warp energy corrupts the fuck out of everything, so great pains must be taken to use said technology with due precautions/as little as possible. Or alternatively embrace the corruption and become a slave to darkness, but that's another bag of dicks.
* [[Shadowrun]] is what happens when you add type 1 magitek to a [[cyberpunk]] world.
* In [[Starfinder]], the term "Hybrid" is used to designate any item that combines technology and magic, although it's noted that these come in varying levels of interconnection, from a hologrammatic card shuffler programmed to emulate a [[diviner]] [[tarot]] deck to an ammo bandolier that incorporates the enchantments of a Bag of Holding.

===Non-/tg/ Examples===
* Magitek gets its name from Final Fantasy 6. Magitek is used in two ways. The first is Magitek armor. For the player it allows them to select three elemental attacks and a one person healing ability. While a half-esper gets a bio-blast, the ability to confuse the enemy party, a missile attack or an instant kill ability against non bosses. There are also Magitek soldiers, created by sucking the life out of Espers (The summon monsters of the game) and infusing it into humans. The two female main protagonists Terra (the half-esper) and Celes are examples. They will gain magic without needing magicite (Esper corpses, [[What|including Terra's father]]). The primary antagonist Kefka also went through the process and came out mentally insane because of it. Gau can also use Magitek from certain enemies but their abilities are not useful unless the player knows what they do before hand.
* Harry Turtledove's "Darkness" series is an Alternate History/Low Fantasy hybrid series of books concerning an analogue to [[/tg/ History#Shit Sandwich II: All You Can Eat Buffet (1939–1945)|World War II]] being fought by civilizations wielding industrialized magic; D&D style energy-throwing "sticks" as guns, [[dragon]]s carrying alchemy-filled "eggs" as fighter jets and fighter-bombers, enormous rhino-like "Behemoths" as tanks, sea-serpent-like "Leviathans" as submarines, and so forth.
* The Escaflowne anime is famous for its Guymelefs, giant mecha consisting of giant armor suits with clockwork innards powered by the crystalline hearts of dragons.
* Harry Dresden, being a archetypical urban fantasy setting, has lots of examples of magic enchantments being applied to standard technology.
** Same thing happens in Harry Potter as well.
* The [[Discworld]] setting makes at least some use of the industrialized magic variety; the most prominent examples are the cameras, which use little imps to paint pictures instead of photoreactive chemicals, and a magical supercomputer named HEX.
* The Iron Dragon's Daughter is a very dark faerie-tale themed fantasy setting using industrialized magic. For example, as the title suggests, dragons are clockwork-bodied monsters built by elves as their equivalent to fighter jets.
* The novel ''Megami Tensei'' has the main character create a computer program that automates demon summoning rituals ("Demon" in the Greek sense of any supernatural being, not necessarily fallen angels) in an attempt to get back at the elites of his school that goes horribly wrong. The Shin Megami Tensei video game series descended from the novel continues this with most non-Persona, non-Avatar Tuner main characters using such a program. The prominent exceptions are the hero of the third game (who has a demonic parasite), and Raidou Kuzunoha (who, being from the 1920s, must use comparatively primitive substitutes but still has plenty of magitek due to a local mad scientist). It often expands beyond that with modern demons based on myths around things such as haunted cars.

[[Category: Gamer Slang]]
[[Category: Setting Aesthetics]]

Magitek

2021-10-14T20:26:59Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Non-/tg/ Examples */

[[File:Pulp.jpeg|thumb|right|A [[Warforged|robot]] jumping from a [[Airship|helicopter]] into a train. Except everything is powered by magic, welcome to [[Eberron]].]]
'''Magitek''' is a setting aesthetic based on the idea of melding magic and technology together in some fashion. If this sounds rather vague, that's because there's at least four different ways of doing this that commonly appear, but all share this basic aesthetic.

Method one is where you start with an existing technological device and then either add magic to it or use it to interact with magic in some way. For example, a PDA or computer hard drive that doubles as a magical grimoire, a gun enchanted to produce an endless array of bullets, or a car that can fly. This is particularly common in "urban fantasy" settings, since they tend to have magic existing alongside but hidden from "the real world". It's also a common feature in more "kludge-up" settings since, again, you have magic and technology existing side by side, so somebody's going to see if they can be brought together.

Method two is where you have something that looks scientific, but really runs off of magic. This is more common in "lower-tech aesthetic" settings like [[Clockpunk]], [[Steampunk]], and [[Dieselpunk]], as it allows the technology to equal or exceed the capabilities of real-world tech despite using a much more primitive set of base technology. This is perhaps the rarest form of magitek, as most such settings don't really want to admit that their "technology" is really Magic-Powered Pseudo-Science. Slightly more common in alternate universes to our universe itself as a way to justify alternative technology paths that obviously won't work in real life or would be too ineffective by the time it can be made to work.

Method three is where you meld magical and technological components together to achieve a greater whole - this is perhaps the most iconic form of magitek, as it clearly respects both halves of their "make-up". Neither aspect functions alone, but only together do they shine. If the setting can be simultaneously science fiction and fantasy, this will be the cremé dé la cremé of manufactured goods, with an magically nanoforged antimatter beam cannon to fuck up eldritch horrors and super heavy tanks in one shot each being an example, while method one is a more common alternative like a simply enchanted assault rifle.

Method four is where you have magic being industrialized; it's so common and ubiquitous that it has developed to take the place of technology entirely, even if the viewers can still see the roles; crystal ball networks replacing telephones/videophones/radio/the internet, enchanted carriages replacing real-life vehicles, enchanted bows or blaster-wands replacing guns, and so forth. Frequently appears in more modern works in the fantasy genre due to general rebellion against the overdone [[Medieval Stasis]] phenomenon.

Common long-running plot hooks for such settings involve [[mana]] or some other vital magical resource running out, or otherwise being fought over, and common magical devices turning against their users (especially if bound demons are involved).

== Examples ==
This is actually a fairly popular aesthetic for fantasy settings, and so there's quite a few examples out there, both directly /tg/ related and otherwise.

===/tg/ Examples===
* [[Dungeons & Dragons]] in general has built up a huge list of "industrialized magic" examples across the many settings and over the years. However, due to [[Medieval Stasis]], either the setting totally runs with it ([[Spelljammer]], [[Eberron]]), or else it tends to be restricted to lost civilizations or out-of-the-way places ([[Forgotten Realms]], [[Mystara]]).
* The Half-Golem is a template-race from [[Dungeons & Dragons]] 3rd edition that is essentially a magitek cyborg.
* The [[Warforged]] is a sapient golem, making it essentially a fantasy robot race, which has led to a stigma that they cannot shake off.
* In the [[Hollow World]] subsetting of [[Mystara]], the various technological items are actually running off of divinely granted magic, making them little more than enchanted items with funny appearances. This is intended to enforce the [[Medieval Stasis]] of the setting, as each "advanced" culture in the Hollow World is the last remaining preserve of a civilization that wiped itself out earlier.
* The [[Deadlands]] setting makes use of types one through three. The various [[Steampunk]] technology draws its power from burning Ghost Rock, which is literally the spirits of the damned compressed into magical coal. This also allows it to warp reality to allow things like clockwork-based cybernetic implants to function. The Mad Scientist class ''thinks'' it's doing science, when in reality their inventions are powered/given to them by demons whispering schematics and arcane secrets into their brains whilst they sleep. The Metal Mage archetype is a case of Deadlands [[multiclassing]] where you combine a Mad Scientist with a Huckster, and which invented a lot of spells specifically relating to technology (from being able to conjure simple gadgets to more rapidly build gadgets to dismantling gadgets in the field).
* [[RIFTS]] has the Techno-Mage class, which is an engineer-wizard who specializes in enchanting existing technology and building technological items that run off of/incorporate magic.
* [[Iron Kingdoms]] distinguishes itself by the fact all of the super-tech it uses is shamelessly powered by/based on magic.
* [[Exalted]] has a lot of examples of the "science and sorcery combined" style, reaching its peak in 2nd edition (magic-powered [[power armour]] and fighter jets, artificial limbs, and clockwork-based golem-androids) before it was dialed down in 3rd edition as lost technology from before a literal 90% of existence died to a plague.
* [[D20 Modern]] quite obviously uses the "enchanting existing tech" approach, given it's the epitome of urban fantasy gaming with a D&D origin. The Techno-Mage class in particular embraces this, blending science and magic to do things like cast spells through phones.
* There's too many examples of the "enchant existing tech" approach in the [[World of Darkness]] to count, but [[Mage: The Ascension]] stands out for using the "magic powered pseudo-science" approach, having the world-lore that technology is just another style of magic which came to dominate the "reality paradigm".
* [[CthulhuTech]] blends science and sorcery together so hard that it's impossible to tell where the difference actually lies. Fitting, given that [[H.P. Lovecraft]] basically stated that "magic" in his stories was merely a hyper-dimensional science that humanity doesn't understand.
* [[Warhammer Fantasy]] has two factions that both use the "meld magic and tech" style together; the [[Skaven]] have elaborate electrical engines fueled by [[warpstone]], which is essentially [[daemon]]-possessed plutonium, whilst the [[Chaos Dwarves]] build elaborate machines that only work due to being possessed by daemons. Of the two, it's hard to tell whose tech has more inherent issues. Chaos Dwarf tech demands blood sacrifice to run and wants to kill its operatives even when fed, Skaven tech just has a tendency to explode.
* Magitek is rather prevalent throughout the [[Warhammer 40000]] universe, as many of the most advanced technology draws upon the [[Warp]] in some form or another. Of course, this is a [[grimdark]] universe and Warp energy corrupts the fuck out of everything, so great pains must be taken to use said technology with due precautions/as little as possible. Or alternatively embrace the corruption and become a slave to darkness, but that's another bag of dicks.
* [[Shadowrun]] is what happens when you add type 1 magitek to a [[cyberpunk]] world.
* In [[Starfinder]], the term "Hybrid" is used to designate any item that combines technology and magic, although it's noted that these come in varying levels of interconnection, from a hologrammatic card shuffler programmed to emulate a [[diviner]] [[tarot]] deck to an ammo bandolier that incorporates the enchantments of a Bag of Holding.

===Non-/tg/ Examples===
* Magitek gets its name from Final Fantasy 6. Magitek is used in two ways. The first is Magitek armor. For the player it allows them to select three elemental attacks and a one person healing ability. While a half-esper gets a bio-blast, the ability to confuse the enemy party, a missile attack or an instant kill ability against non bosses. There are also Magitek soldiers, created by sucking the life out of Espers (The summon monsters of the game) and infusing it into humans. The two female main protagonists Terra (the half-esper) and Celes are examples. They will gain magic without needing magicite (Esper corpses,[[What|including Terra's father]]). The primary antagonist Kefka also went through the process and came out mentally insane because of it. Gau can also use Magitek from certain enemies but their abilities are not useful unless the player knows what they do before hand.
* Harry Turtledove's "Darkness" series is an Alternate History/Low Fantasy hybrid series of books concerning an analogue to [[/tg/ History#Shit Sandwich II: All You Can Eat Buffet (1939–1945)|World War II]] being fought by civilizations wielding industrialized magic; D&D style energy-throwing "sticks" as guns, [[dragon]]s carrying alchemy-filled "eggs" as fighter jets and fighter-bombers, enormous rhino-like "Behemoths" as tanks, sea-serpent-like "Leviathans" as submarines, and so forth.
* The Escaflowne anime is famous for its Guymelefs, giant mecha consisting of giant armor suits with clockwork innards powered by the crystalline hearts of dragons.
* Harry Dresden, being a archetypical urban fantasy setting, has lots of examples of magic enchantments being applied to standard technology.
** Same thing happens in Harry Potter as well.
* The [[Discworld]] setting makes at least some use of the industrialized magic variety; the most prominent examples are the cameras, which use little imps to paint pictures instead of photoreactive chemicals, and a magical supercomputer named HEX.
* The Iron Dragon's Daughter is a very dark faerie-tale themed fantasy setting using industrialized magic. For example, as the title suggests, dragons are clockwork-bodied monsters built by elves as their equivalent to fighter jets.
* The novel ''Megami Tensei'' has the main character create a computer program that automates demon summoning rituals ("Demon" in the Greek sense of any supernatural being, not necessarily fallen angels) in an attempt to get back at the elites of his school that goes horribly wrong. The Shin Megami Tensei video game series descended from the novel continues this with most non-Persona, non-Avatar Tuner main characters using such a program. The prominent exceptions are the hero of the third game (who has a demonic parasite), and Raidou Kuzunoha (who, being from the 1920s, must use comparatively primitive substitutes but still has plenty of magitek due to a local mad scientist). It often expands beyond that with modern demons based on myths around things such as haunted cars.

[[Category: Gamer Slang]]
[[Category: Setting Aesthetics]]

Magitek

2021-10-14T20:26:18Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Non-/tg/ Examples */

[[File:Pulp.jpeg|thumb|right|A [[Warforged|robot]] jumping from a [[Airship|helicopter]] into a train. Except everything is powered by magic, welcome to [[Eberron]].]]
'''Magitek''' is a setting aesthetic based on the idea of melding magic and technology together in some fashion. If this sounds rather vague, that's because there's at least four different ways of doing this that commonly appear, but all share this basic aesthetic.

Method one is where you start with an existing technological device and then either add magic to it or use it to interact with magic in some way. For example, a PDA or computer hard drive that doubles as a magical grimoire, a gun enchanted to produce an endless array of bullets, or a car that can fly. This is particularly common in "urban fantasy" settings, since they tend to have magic existing alongside but hidden from "the real world". It's also a common feature in more "kludge-up" settings since, again, you have magic and technology existing side by side, so somebody's going to see if they can be brought together.

Method two is where you have something that looks scientific, but really runs off of magic. This is more common in "lower-tech aesthetic" settings like [[Clockpunk]], [[Steampunk]], and [[Dieselpunk]], as it allows the technology to equal or exceed the capabilities of real-world tech despite using a much more primitive set of base technology. This is perhaps the rarest form of magitek, as most such settings don't really want to admit that their "technology" is really Magic-Powered Pseudo-Science. Slightly more common in alternate universes to our universe itself as a way to justify alternative technology paths that obviously won't work in real life or would be too ineffective by the time it can be made to work.

Method three is where you meld magical and technological components together to achieve a greater whole - this is perhaps the most iconic form of magitek, as it clearly respects both halves of their "make-up". Neither aspect functions alone, but only together do they shine. If the setting can be simultaneously science fiction and fantasy, this will be the cremé dé la cremé of manufactured goods, with an magically nanoforged antimatter beam cannon to fuck up eldritch horrors and super heavy tanks in one shot each being an example, while method one is a more common alternative like a simply enchanted assault rifle.

Method four is where you have magic being industrialized; it's so common and ubiquitous that it has developed to take the place of technology entirely, even if the viewers can still see the roles; crystal ball networks replacing telephones/videophones/radio/the internet, enchanted carriages replacing real-life vehicles, enchanted bows or blaster-wands replacing guns, and so forth. Frequently appears in more modern works in the fantasy genre due to general rebellion against the overdone [[Medieval Stasis]] phenomenon.

Common long-running plot hooks for such settings involve [[mana]] or some other vital magical resource running out, or otherwise being fought over, and common magical devices turning against their users (especially if bound demons are involved).

== Examples ==
This is actually a fairly popular aesthetic for fantasy settings, and so there's quite a few examples out there, both directly /tg/ related and otherwise.

===/tg/ Examples===
* [[Dungeons & Dragons]] in general has built up a huge list of "industrialized magic" examples across the many settings and over the years. However, due to [[Medieval Stasis]], either the setting totally runs with it ([[Spelljammer]], [[Eberron]]), or else it tends to be restricted to lost civilizations or out-of-the-way places ([[Forgotten Realms]], [[Mystara]]).
* The Half-Golem is a template-race from [[Dungeons & Dragons]] 3rd edition that is essentially a magitek cyborg.
* The [[Warforged]] is a sapient golem, making it essentially a fantasy robot race, which has led to a stigma that they cannot shake off.
* In the [[Hollow World]] subsetting of [[Mystara]], the various technological items are actually running off of divinely granted magic, making them little more than enchanted items with funny appearances. This is intended to enforce the [[Medieval Stasis]] of the setting, as each "advanced" culture in the Hollow World is the last remaining preserve of a civilization that wiped itself out earlier.
* The [[Deadlands]] setting makes use of types one through three. The various [[Steampunk]] technology draws its power from burning Ghost Rock, which is literally the spirits of the damned compressed into magical coal. This also allows it to warp reality to allow things like clockwork-based cybernetic implants to function. The Mad Scientist class ''thinks'' it's doing science, when in reality their inventions are powered/given to them by demons whispering schematics and arcane secrets into their brains whilst they sleep. The Metal Mage archetype is a case of Deadlands [[multiclassing]] where you combine a Mad Scientist with a Huckster, and which invented a lot of spells specifically relating to technology (from being able to conjure simple gadgets to more rapidly build gadgets to dismantling gadgets in the field).
* [[RIFTS]] has the Techno-Mage class, which is an engineer-wizard who specializes in enchanting existing technology and building technological items that run off of/incorporate magic.
* [[Iron Kingdoms]] distinguishes itself by the fact all of the super-tech it uses is shamelessly powered by/based on magic.
* [[Exalted]] has a lot of examples of the "science and sorcery combined" style, reaching its peak in 2nd edition (magic-powered [[power armour]] and fighter jets, artificial limbs, and clockwork-based golem-androids) before it was dialed down in 3rd edition as lost technology from before a literal 90% of existence died to a plague.
* [[D20 Modern]] quite obviously uses the "enchanting existing tech" approach, given it's the epitome of urban fantasy gaming with a D&D origin. The Techno-Mage class in particular embraces this, blending science and magic to do things like cast spells through phones.
* There's too many examples of the "enchant existing tech" approach in the [[World of Darkness]] to count, but [[Mage: The Ascension]] stands out for using the "magic powered pseudo-science" approach, having the world-lore that technology is just another style of magic which came to dominate the "reality paradigm".
* [[CthulhuTech]] blends science and sorcery together so hard that it's impossible to tell where the difference actually lies. Fitting, given that [[H.P. Lovecraft]] basically stated that "magic" in his stories was merely a hyper-dimensional science that humanity doesn't understand.
* [[Warhammer Fantasy]] has two factions that both use the "meld magic and tech" style together; the [[Skaven]] have elaborate electrical engines fueled by [[warpstone]], which is essentially [[daemon]]-possessed plutonium, whilst the [[Chaos Dwarves]] build elaborate machines that only work due to being possessed by daemons. Of the two, it's hard to tell whose tech has more inherent issues. Chaos Dwarf tech demands blood sacrifice to run and wants to kill its operatives even when fed, Skaven tech just has a tendency to explode.
* Magitek is rather prevalent throughout the [[Warhammer 40000]] universe, as many of the most advanced technology draws upon the [[Warp]] in some form or another. Of course, this is a [[grimdark]] universe and Warp energy corrupts the fuck out of everything, so great pains must be taken to use said technology with due precautions/as little as possible. Or alternatively embrace the corruption and become a slave to darkness, but that's another bag of dicks.
* [[Shadowrun]] is what happens when you add type 1 magitek to a [[cyberpunk]] world.
* In [[Starfinder]], the term "Hybrid" is used to designate any item that combines technology and magic, although it's noted that these come in varying levels of interconnection, from a hologrammatic card shuffler programmed to emulate a [[diviner]] [[tarot]] deck to an ammo bandolier that incorporates the enchantments of a Bag of Holding.

===Non-/tg/ Examples===
* Magitek gets its name from Final Fantasy 6. Magitek is used in two ways. The first is Magitek armor. For the player it allows them to select three elemental attacks and a one person healing ability. While a half-esper gets a bio-blast, the ability to confuse the enemy party, a missile attack or an instant kill ability against non bosses. There are also Magitek soldiers. Created by sucking the life out of Espers (The summon monsters of the game) and infusing it into humans. The two female main protagonists Terra (the half-esper) and Celes are examples. They will gain magic without needing magicite (Esper corpses,[[What|including Terra's father]]). The primary antagonist Kefka also went through the process and came out mentally insane because of it. Gau can also use Magitek from certain enemies but their abilities are not useful unless the player knows what they do before hand.
* Harry Turtledove's "Darkness" series is an Alternate History/Low Fantasy hybrid series of books concerning an analogue to [[/tg/ History#Shit Sandwich II: All You Can Eat Buffet (1939–1945)|World War II]] being fought by civilizations wielding industrialized magic; D&D style energy-throwing "sticks" as guns, [[dragon]]s carrying alchemy-filled "eggs" as fighter jets and fighter-bombers, enormous rhino-like "Behemoths" as tanks, sea-serpent-like "Leviathans" as submarines, and so forth.
* The Escaflowne anime is famous for its Guymelefs, giant mecha consisting of giant armor suits with clockwork innards powered by the crystalline hearts of dragons.
* Harry Dresden, being a archetypical urban fantasy setting, has lots of examples of magic enchantments being applied to standard technology.
** Same thing happens in Harry Potter as well.
* The [[Discworld]] setting makes at least some use of the industrialized magic variety; the most prominent examples are the cameras, which use little imps to paint pictures instead of photoreactive chemicals, and a magical supercomputer named HEX.
* The Iron Dragon's Daughter is a very dark faerie-tale themed fantasy setting using industrialized magic. For example, as the title suggests, dragons are clockwork-bodied monsters built by elves as their equivalent to fighter jets.
* The novel ''Megami Tensei'' has the main character create a computer program that automates demon summoning rituals ("Demon" in the Greek sense of any supernatural being, not necessarily fallen angels) in an attempt to get back at the elites of his school that goes horribly wrong. The Shin Megami Tensei video game series descended from the novel continues this with most non-Persona, non-Avatar Tuner main characters using such a program. The prominent exceptions are the hero of the third game (who has a demonic parasite), and Raidou Kuzunoha (who, being from the 1920s, must use comparatively primitive substitutes but still has plenty of magitek due to a local mad scientist). It often expands beyond that with modern demons based on myths around things such as haunted cars.

[[Category: Gamer Slang]]
[[Category: Setting Aesthetics]]

Magitek

2021-10-14T20:17:15Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73:

[[File:Pulp.jpeg|thumb|right|A [[Warforged|robot]] jumping from a [[Airship|helicopter]] into a train. Except everything is powered by magic, welcome to [[Eberron]].]]
'''Magitek''' is a setting aesthetic based on the idea of melding magic and technology together in some fashion. If this sounds rather vague, that's because there's at least four different ways of doing this that commonly appear, but all share this basic aesthetic.

Method one is where you start with an existing technological device and then either add magic to it or use it to interact with magic in some way. For example, a PDA or computer hard drive that doubles as a magical grimoire, a gun enchanted to produce an endless array of bullets, or a car that can fly. This is particularly common in "urban fantasy" settings, since they tend to have magic existing alongside but hidden from "the real world". It's also a common feature in more "kludge-up" settings since, again, you have magic and technology existing side by side, so somebody's going to see if they can be brought together.

Method two is where you have something that looks scientific, but really runs off of magic. This is more common in "lower-tech aesthetic" settings like [[Clockpunk]], [[Steampunk]], and [[Dieselpunk]], as it allows the technology to equal or exceed the capabilities of real-world tech despite using a much more primitive set of base technology. This is perhaps the rarest form of magitek, as most such settings don't really want to admit that their "technology" is really Magic-Powered Pseudo-Science. Slightly more common in alternate universes to our universe itself as a way to justify alternative technology paths that obviously won't work in real life or would be too ineffective by the time it can be made to work.

Method three is where you meld magical and technological components together to achieve a greater whole - this is perhaps the most iconic form of magitek, as it clearly respects both halves of their "make-up". Neither aspect functions alone, but only together do they shine. If the setting can be simultaneously science fiction and fantasy, this will be the cremé dé la cremé of manufactured goods, with an magically nanoforged antimatter beam cannon to fuck up eldritch horrors and super heavy tanks in one shot each being an example, while method one is a more common alternative like a simply enchanted assault rifle.

Method four is where you have magic being industrialized; it's so common and ubiquitous that it has developed to take the place of technology entirely, even if the viewers can still see the roles; crystal ball networks replacing telephones/videophones/radio/the internet, enchanted carriages replacing real-life vehicles, enchanted bows or blaster-wands replacing guns, and so forth. Frequently appears in more modern works in the fantasy genre due to general rebellion against the overdone [[Medieval Stasis]] phenomenon.

Common long-running plot hooks for such settings involve [[mana]] or some other vital magical resource running out, or otherwise being fought over, and common magical devices turning against their users (especially if bound demons are involved).

== Examples ==
This is actually a fairly popular aesthetic for fantasy settings, and so there's quite a few examples out there, both directly /tg/ related and otherwise.

===/tg/ Examples===
* [[Dungeons & Dragons]] in general has built up a huge list of "industrialized magic" examples across the many settings and over the years. However, due to [[Medieval Stasis]], either the setting totally runs with it ([[Spelljammer]], [[Eberron]]), or else it tends to be restricted to lost civilizations or out-of-the-way places ([[Forgotten Realms]], [[Mystara]]).
* The Half-Golem is a template-race from [[Dungeons & Dragons]] 3rd edition that is essentially a magitek cyborg.
* The [[Warforged]] is a sapient golem, making it essentially a fantasy robot race, which has led to a stigma that they cannot shake off.
* In the [[Hollow World]] subsetting of [[Mystara]], the various technological items are actually running off of divinely granted magic, making them little more than enchanted items with funny appearances. This is intended to enforce the [[Medieval Stasis]] of the setting, as each "advanced" culture in the Hollow World is the last remaining preserve of a civilization that wiped itself out earlier.
* The [[Deadlands]] setting makes use of types one through three. The various [[Steampunk]] technology draws its power from burning Ghost Rock, which is literally the spirits of the damned compressed into magical coal. This also allows it to warp reality to allow things like clockwork-based cybernetic implants to function. The Mad Scientist class ''thinks'' it's doing science, when in reality their inventions are powered/given to them by demons whispering schematics and arcane secrets into their brains whilst they sleep. The Metal Mage archetype is a case of Deadlands [[multiclassing]] where you combine a Mad Scientist with a Huckster, and which invented a lot of spells specifically relating to technology (from being able to conjure simple gadgets to more rapidly build gadgets to dismantling gadgets in the field).
* [[RIFTS]] has the Techno-Mage class, which is an engineer-wizard who specializes in enchanting existing technology and building technological items that run off of/incorporate magic.
* [[Iron Kingdoms]] distinguishes itself by the fact all of the super-tech it uses is shamelessly powered by/based on magic.
* [[Exalted]] has a lot of examples of the "science and sorcery combined" style, reaching its peak in 2nd edition (magic-powered [[power armour]] and fighter jets, artificial limbs, and clockwork-based golem-androids) before it was dialed down in 3rd edition as lost technology from before a literal 90% of existence died to a plague.
* [[D20 Modern]] quite obviously uses the "enchanting existing tech" approach, given it's the epitome of urban fantasy gaming with a D&D origin. The Techno-Mage class in particular embraces this, blending science and magic to do things like cast spells through phones.
* There's too many examples of the "enchant existing tech" approach in the [[World of Darkness]] to count, but [[Mage: The Ascension]] stands out for using the "magic powered pseudo-science" approach, having the world-lore that technology is just another style of magic which came to dominate the "reality paradigm".
* [[CthulhuTech]] blends science and sorcery together so hard that it's impossible to tell where the difference actually lies. Fitting, given that [[H.P. Lovecraft]] basically stated that "magic" in his stories was merely a hyper-dimensional science that humanity doesn't understand.
* [[Warhammer Fantasy]] has two factions that both use the "meld magic and tech" style together; the [[Skaven]] have elaborate electrical engines fueled by [[warpstone]], which is essentially [[daemon]]-possessed plutonium, whilst the [[Chaos Dwarves]] build elaborate machines that only work due to being possessed by daemons. Of the two, it's hard to tell whose tech has more inherent issues. Chaos Dwarf tech demands blood sacrifice to run and wants to kill its operatives even when fed, Skaven tech just has a tendency to explode.
* Magitek is rather prevalent throughout the [[Warhammer 40000]] universe, as many of the most advanced technology draws upon the [[Warp]] in some form or another. Of course, this is a [[grimdark]] universe and Warp energy corrupts the fuck out of everything, so great pains must be taken to use said technology with due precautions/as little as possible. Or alternatively embrace the corruption and become a slave to darkness, but that's another bag of dicks.
* [[Shadowrun]] is what happens when you add type 1 magitek to a [[cyberpunk]] world.
* In [[Starfinder]], the term "Hybrid" is used to designate any item that combines technology and magic, although it's noted that these come in varying levels of interconnection, from a hologrammatic card shuffler programmed to emulate a [[diviner]] [[tarot]] deck to an ammo bandolier that incorporates the enchantments of a Bag of Holding.

===Non-/tg/ Examples===
* Magitek gets its name from Final Fantasy 6. Magitek is used in two ways. The first is Magitek armor. For the player it allows them to select three elemental attacks and a one person healing ability. While a half-esper gets a bio-blast, the ability to confuse the enemy party, a missile attack or an instant kill ability against non bosses. There are also Magitek soldiers. Created by sucking the life out of Espers( The summon monsters of the game) and infusing it into humans. The two female main protagonists Terra (the half-esper) and Celes are examples. They will gain magic without needing magicite (Esper corpses,[[What|including Terra's father]]). The primary antagonist Kefka also went through the process and came out mentally insane because of it. Gau can also use Magitek from certain enemies but their abilities are not useful unless the player knows what they do before hand.
* Harry Turtledove's "Darkness" series is an Alternate History/Low Fantasy hybrid series of books concerning an analogue to [[/tg/ History#Shit Sandwich II: All You Can Eat Buffet (1939–1945)|World War II]] being fought by civilizations wielding industrialized magic; D&D style energy-throwing "sticks" as guns, [[dragon]]s carrying alchemy-filled "eggs" as fighter jets and fighter-bombers, enormous rhino-like "Behemoths" as tanks, sea-serpent-like "Leviathans" as submarines, and so forth.
* The Escaflowne anime is famous for its Guymelefs, giant mecha consisting of giant armor suits with clockwork innards powered by the crystalline hearts of dragons.
* Harry Dresden, being a archetypical urban fantasy setting, has lots of examples of magic enchantments being applied to standard technology.
** Same thing happens in Harry Potter as well.
* The [[Discworld]] setting makes at least some use of the industrialized magic variety; the most prominent examples are the cameras, which use little imps to paint pictures instead of photoreactive chemicals, and a magical supercomputer named HEX.
* The Iron Dragon's Daughter is a very dark faerie-tale themed fantasy setting using industrialized magic. For example, as the title suggests, dragons are clockwork-bodied monsters built by elves as their equivalent to fighter jets.
* The novel ''Megami Tensei'' has the main character create a computer program that automates demon summoning rituals ("Demon" in the Greek sense of any supernatural being, not necessarily fallen angels) in an attempt to get back at the elites of his school that goes horribly wrong. The Shin Megami Tensei video game series descended from the novel continues this with most non-Persona, non-Avatar Tuner main characters using such a program. The prominent exceptions are the hero of the third game (who has a demonic parasite), and Raidou Kuzunoha (who, being from the 1920s, must use comparatively primitive substitutes but still has plenty of magitek due to a local mad scientist). It often expands beyond that with modern demons based on myths around things such as haunted cars.

[[Category: Gamer Slang]]
[[Category: Setting Aesthetics]]

Vermintide 2

2021-10-14T20:01:41Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Enemies */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:DPuLc-pX4AA3ba3.png|745px|center|thumb|HAHA! ASININE MORTALS!! TIME TO EMBRACE THE TRUE LOVE FROM OUR [[Nurgle|FATHER]]!! [[Skaven|YES-YES, WEAK MAN-THINGS DIE FROM VERMIN POX-DISEASE, YES!]]]]

'''Vermintide 2''' is the sequel to [[The End Times: Vermintide]], made possibly due to the fact that the first game surpassed expectations and did pretty fucking well for a relatively niche title (2 million fucking copies sold!). Fatshark sensibly shortened the name from "Warhammer The End Times: Vermintide 2" to avoid sounding like a Japanese light novel, much to the joy of nerds who [[skub|hate]] The End Times (pretty much everyone).

On October 10th, Vermintide 2 was announced, bringing a host of new additions. Most notably the Warriors of Chaos are being added as an enemy type. [[Nurgle|Specifically the jolly ones that don't mind being pox bloated messes]]. Along with the new enemy race, the Skaven also have a few new additions, such as the Stormfiends and Warpfire Throwers. They've also announced that [[Beastmen|everyone's favorite non-Welsh sheep shaggers]] will be added in sometime this summer.

The game was released on March 8, 2018, and quickly surpassed its prequel's success with 1 million sales in its first month alone.

The game became truly playable after a patch was released on April 12, 2018 to which [https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/30503110/c2428ecfc6ae3dbbb902a008f702bcf510ebb399.png brought back Saltzpyre's signature voiceline] (''actual'' [https://steamcommunity.com/games/552500/announcements/detail/1654386143023879919 patch notes banner]).

It is [[Awesome]].

== Setting ==

Vermintide 2 is set during the End Times, an indeterminate amount of time since the ending of the previous game. After falling into Rasknitt's trap (and thus letting Ubersreik fall), the Ubersreik Five (or Four, doesn't matter) have ended up in their own castle and banded together again to face the Skaven forces of [[Clan Fester]], along with their new allies: a Chaos Warband dedicated to [[Nurgle]] known as The Rotbloods. Both forces came together as the Pactsworn, their eyes gazed on the fortress town of Helmgart (the border town Bretonnia always conquers within the first 10 turns of an Empire [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] campaign).

Lohner has dialogue indicating [[Anal Circumference|the timeline is smack dab in the middle of the End Times as Louen Leoncouer is already dead]] (Please have mercy [[Matt Ward]])! Due to the presence of a Nurgle-aligned warband, it is possible that the game is set during/after the Fall of Marienburg. The Skaven are up to their usual hijinks (Pillaging, slaughter, slavery... You know, a normal day in Warhammer). Their main objective is trying to build something called the Skittergate [https://youtu.be/uOd7HQoKxcU?t=45| (it's different from that movie which they have never seen, so how would they copy it?)], a portal between Norsca and Helmgart, explaining how the Skaven and their new allies overran the region. The Rotbloods are here to help the Skaven with murder-fucking everyone in the Reikland and bringing great death-death to poor Helmgart. Clan Fester's also out for blood as payback for Ubersreik, even though Ubersreik apparently fell anyway.

There are a total of thirteen maps in the base campaign. These span: the town of Helmgart itself, where the heroes create a diversion at the Temple of Sigmar before the Hammerman himself purges it of vikings and rats; an Elven temple ruin in the woods where the gang uses a slow-moving puzzle to raise a magic shield; Ussingen, a farming town where the heroes rescue prisoners and later blow up a Chaos supply cache; a Nurgle-blighted canyon with a fortified Chaos Lord's tomb, which the gang destroys to stop the Rotbloods from harvesting his energy; a dense swamp, where the heroes assault the Rotbloods' main war camp and slay their leader, a Nurgle Champion; and quite a lot more besides, culminating in a double assault on the Skittergate and the Rotblood hometown in Norsca, obliterating both of them and saving Helmgart, or what's left of it. The gang is so badass that the shitty army left at Ubersreik was enough to take over while a Skaven-Rotblood alliance couldn't do jack to them. Such is life as a video game protagonist.

The ''Shadows Over Bögenhafen'' DLC has the gang end up in the titular town where they wipe out the Pactsworn a second time and keep a scary daemon sword out of Nurgle's grubby hands over two more maps. ''Back To Ubersreik'' has them enter a magic simulation of Ubersreik being run by Olesya to try to locate some mysterious runes of power in the ''real'' Ubersreik, re-defeating the Skaven in it because she's trying to keep it as "believable" as possible (and also the Rotbloods, who either found a way to break into the simulation or are part of the simulation because Olesya likes messing with our heroes), with three levels from the previous game and a secret fourth you can try out after finding runes from the past levels through a series of tedious puzzles. In the Winds of Magic DLC the Beastmen get involved because the increasingly fucked Reikland now has a meteor crash onto it, and the angry goats surge out of the woods to make a herdstone out of it. Then there's the roguelike ''Chaos Wastes'', given for free to everyone who got the game, wherein Saltzpyre sets up a pilgrimage through the wastes to assuage his waning faith.

An event for the 1 year anniversary (March 2019) gave us "A Quiet Drink," in which the party decides they've done a very good job so far, and deserve a night on the town! Worth playing just for the many custom voice lines for the utterly sloshed characters. ("Queen Kerillian demands MORE ALE!") ("It wouldn't be the same! It wouldn't have the whistle!") While the map was only available on the official realm during the event, it can still be played [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1694820325 through a mod].

Where the storyline doesn't advance as much through the game, more details can be found on the main site's dev blogs by way of the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", where the old bartender writes down his musings about current events.

== Gameplay ==

The good old Vermintide core gameplay remains intact, which means that the game still has a robust and surprisingly skill-based melee system at its core. Rather than fuck with anything that was already functional, Vermintide 2 focuses instead on adding more content to play around with. Light attacks, heavy attacks, blocking, dodging, pushing, etc., are all still here. All weapons also now have a "push attack" which is performed by holding down the attack button while blocking, causing an attack after you push.

Aside from the new enemy types, there are a couple of other new features, such as specializations for the classes (referred to as "careers"), each representing different possible paths the heroes took after Ubersreik. For example, the Dwarf can be a Slayer or an Ironbreaker, or the Wood Elf can be a Shade or Handmaiden of Isha, each one with diffferent passive abilities and active "Career Skill". This comes packaged along with a talent tree for each character and new weapons to go around for everyone. Each talent tree also comes with talents for granting temporary health (Health that's both easily lost and generated, basically allowing you to endure until the next heal) and stagger bonuses (damage bonuses against enemies you get off-balance). Alternatively, you can heal others when you use a potion on yourself, or gain more power to replace these talents.

The loot system got an overhaul too, with the devs acknowledging the first game's system was kind of bullshit. We now have [[rage|lootboxes]] like every other dev under the sun, but entirely earned through gameplay and they come unlocked, so it's basically just normal random loot drops with a loot box skin slapped on. A "Heroic Deeds" system has also been implemented, consisting of consumable quests that mix gameplay up by dramatically changing objectives, mix of enemies faced or limiting your own tools (many combinations of which are pure [[Anal Circumference]]), along with a Challenge system that's basically an alternative achievements system, rewarding you when you finish missions or sets of missions with certain difficulties, different heroes and/or harder conditions, tracking other milestones and more. These give you more chests, skins, frames for your portraits, and other goodies.

Aside from those additions,and quality of life improvements it seems to mostly be the same game, which is okay since most people just wanted it to be the first one with more stuff to begin with. For the cherry on top, the game also supports modding to the point that the devs maintain a list of "Sanctioned Mods" which can be safely used with the base game, a lot of which are pretty sweet. There's also entirely separate "Realms" for the base game and modded games. On the negative side, there's no dedicated server, instead relying on peer-to-peer connection. Better hope your host has good internet...

Two DLC campaigns are currently out: the first one, '''Shadows over Bögenhafen''', has the heroes searching for a runesword in the titular city, while '''Back to Ubersreik''' features remade versions of some of the original Vermintide missions along with new melee weapons as the Heroes of Ubersreik head off to an illusionary copy of the city to find a hidden set of runes for Olesya. The third DLC, '''Winds of Magic''', added Beastmen, a higher level cap and difficulty level, and a set of endgame challenges in the "Winds of Magic" mode. The fourth, '''Chaos Wastes''' (released for free) added another game mode which has the Ubersreik <s>Five</s><s>Four</s>It Doesn't Matter go on expedition into the titular wastes, choosing to go through a number of randomized locations with roguelike elements, allowing players to exchange or power up their equipment and get special boons while going through areas cursed with various dangers and debuffs.

==The Ubersreik Five and Careers==

Each character now has three different Careers, which affect their weapon choices, abilities, and talent trees, allowing a great deal of customization for each one. Lore-wise, the three careers are based on how each of the heroes might have reacted to the fall of Ubersreik: Either they barely changed at all (The starter career), were inspired for a higher calling, or became traumatized and jaded. The exception is Markus, whose three careers all end up being good for him.

A fourth career is on the way for each character, though it's locked behind DLC. So far, Markus, Bardin and Kerillian have their fourth class, with the other two on the way.

===Victor Saltzpyre===
The Witch-Hunteriest Witch Hunter continues to hunt... More Skaven and Rotbloods than witches, but he hunts all the same. After the Ubersreik campaign, the Order of the Silver Hammer still [[Derp| stupidly tried to deny the existence of the ratmen]], spinning the invasion as a myth. How "Salty" he was in his reaction formed the crux of his future: Either he gained more political power in the chaos, allowing him to secretly fight the ratmen (The canonical choice), spoke out against the stupidity and abandoned the order to become a bounty hunter, or he lost faith in humanity entirely and relished in fanatical worship of Sigmar. As the events of the game go on however, even this faith in Sigmar is shaken, and he organizes a pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes to assuage his fears. Journals reveal that he's coming on more to preaching and thinking on the Eternal Flame...
*'''Witch Hunter Captain''': The deaths of several Captains over the course of the End Times has allowed Victor to rise in rank, but he has had to accept that the Witch Hunters won’t recognize the fact that there’s an entire fucking empire of ratmen just below their cities; Saltzpyre now uses his new political position to fight the menace in secret. In addition to a fancier hat, Victor as a Witch Hunter Captain can do everything he could in the first game and also gets some abilities that help him support his allies.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Witch Hunt''- Enemies pinged by Victor take extra damage
***''Eternal Guard''- Blocking light frontal attacks does not consume stamina
***''Killing Shot''- Crit headshots, melee or ranged, instantly kill human-sized enemies (i.e. any non-boss enemy smaller than a Chaos Warrior)
**Unique active ability: ''Animosity''- Victor screams lets out his [[RAGE]]. All nearby allies have their critical rate enhanced for 6 seconds, and nearby enemies are knocked back. Can be upgraded to give yourself guaranteed crits, refund 40% cooldown if the shout hits ten enemies, or ping everyone hit by it with Witch Hunt.
*'''Bounty Hunter''': When his order attempted to cover up what happened at Ubersreik, Salty removed his heraldry to fight the Skaven himself, taking odd-jobs on the side to pay for his endeavors. While officially he's still a witch hunter, he doesn't associate much with other witch hunters anymore after the threats they made in response to Saltzpyre snapping and speaking his mind about the Skaven. He's less of a religious fanatic and more pragmatic as a result. As a Bounty Hunter, Victor focuses on ranged weaponry to blast away Skaven and Chaos Warriors alike. He also dressed in a similar appearance with [[C.L.Werner|Brunner]], a canon bounty hunter.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blessed Shots''- Guaranteed ranged critical every 10 seconds
***''Ammo Pouches''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Quick Release''- Improved reload rate
**Unique active ability: ''Locked and Loaded''- Fires a powerful shot that pierces multiple enemies...and potentially allies too, so everyone involved really should try to be careful with the Bounty Hunter around. Can be upgraded to have massive cooldown reduction on headshot, get more pellets on the next shot based on the number hit on the current shot, or have ranged crits reduce the cooldown by 20%.
*'''Zealot''': The horrors of Ubersreik and the Witch Hunters' refusal to admit the threat the Skaven pose have caused Victor to give up on earthly organizations entirely and place his trust in Sigmar alone, with the rest of the world fit only to be cleansed in righteous fire. Victor as a Zealot favors vicious melee combat, and not only is his armor some of the best in the game even without the Flagellant talent (which is mandatory while playing the class), a heaping helping of faith and holy rage makes him even more dangerous as he loses health - after all, the end is upon us, why not shed as much blood as possible before it goes? As a nice bonus, picking up grimoires will count towards his health-based attack boosts.
** Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Fiery Faith''- Attack power increased by 5% for every 25 health lost (up to 20%)
***''Unswerving Strikes''- Heavy attacks cannot be interrupted by enemy attacks.
***''Heart of Iron''- Ignores death upon taking lethal damage (long cooldown)
**Unique active ability: ''Holy Fervor''- Charge forward and gain 25% attack speed boost for 5 seconds. Can be upgraded to be unkillable during the skill, or gain stacks that either reduce cooldown or increase attack power.

===Markus Kruber (aka Markus de Mandelot)===
[[This Guy|Faithful, dependable Markus]], always willing to help out, continues to serve against the Ratmen for both coin and conscience. The universe seems to have rewarded him for being a nice, simple guy because none of his careers turn out badly for him. Either he gets deeper into merc life (the canon choice), he takes some time off to breathe as a Huntsman, or he's recognized for his achievements and gets inducted into the Order of the Reikhammer as a Foot Knight. Later in the story, his ancient bloodline is revealed and he becomes an official Grail Knight of Bretonnia. This means he somehow made the journey to Bretonnia, fought all manner of beasts and monsters (while drunk) and even [[Awesome|proved himself to]] [[The Green Knight]] before finally sipping some <strike>[[Lileath|elven goddess]]</strike>[[Lady of the Lake|Lake Lady]] bathwater, gaining the requisite powers, stupid French accent and... [[Troll|"chivalric" manner]]. Let's just hope his good luck continues to hold, eh?
*'''Mercenary''': The life of a mercenary has suited Markus well, in no small part due to not having to answer to incompetent leaders like he used to. Being a Mercenary allows Markus a good degree of versatility, with medium armor that grants protection without losing maneuverability and a focus on using sweeping attacks to clear out hordes.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Paced Strikes''- Hitting 3 enemies in 1 swing boosts attack speed by 10% for 6 seconds
***''Hitting the Sweet Spot''- 25% more cleave (attacks hit more enemies at once)
***''No More Laughin' Now''- Critical hit rate improved by +5%
**Unique active ability: ''Morale Boost''- Staggers nearby enemies and grants nearby allies temporary bonus health. Can be upgraded to give a defense buff for all alies, reduce the cooldown or immediately revive allies.
*'''Huntsman''': After Ubersreik, Markus found a degree of inner peace by devoting himself to Taal and Rhya, the gods of nature (though not devoted enough such that gunpowder weaponry is disallowed on him). As a Huntsman, Markus trades away his access to heavier armor for greater proficiency with ranged weapons of all kinds. He also gets to use a bow, a ranged weapon unique to the Huntsman career that, while much slower than Kerillian's, holds a lot of ammunition and does considerable damage. Had a hilarious bug that [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKoqArJjYIo pretty much gave him an AK-47] and absolutely melted bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Waste Not, Want Not''- Ranged headshots return 1 ammo
***''Poacher's Mark''- Effective range for ranged weapons doubled
***''Call Out Weakness'' - Aura that boosts critical rate by +5%
***''Deep Pockets'' - +50% ammo capacity
**Unique active ability: ''Hunter's Prowl'': Become invisible for a short time; automatically reloads ranged weapon for no ammo cost, improves reload speed, and adds 1.5x damage multiplier to ranged attacks while invisible. Can be upgraded to reduce the cooldown, increase the duration or have ranged attacks not break stealth.
*'''Foot Knight''': For his part in the defense of Ubersreik, Markus was made a Knight of the Order of the Reikshammer. Markus may not have been aiming for the position, but his heavy armor, protective aura, and highly disruptive ultimate make him an excellent tank as a Foot Knight.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''Protective Presence''- Aura that reduces damage taken by 15%
***''Taal's Fortitude'' - Extra stamina shield
***''No Guts, No Glory'' - Reduces damage taken by 10%
**Unique active ability: ''Valiant Charge''- Charges forward, knocking back any enemies hit by the charge. Also interrupts and stuns bosses and specials. Can be upgraded to make Kruber temporarily invincible, have increased size and the ability to knock over greater enemies, or grant increased attack speed for every enemy hit.
*'''Grail Knight''': MOTHERFUCKING GRAIL KNIGHT!!! The first unique class introduced and locked behind a DLC wall. It was revealed one day Kruber found out his Bretonnian lineage after he received a mysterious letter that was addressed to him with the '''de Mandelot''' surname. According to Lohner, he used his huge information network to traced back Kruber's bloodline and found out his father was actually a Bretonnian! but not just any Bretonnian: '''Foricarl de Mandelot'''! who used to be a well-known grail knight in Parravon after he saved the city from a dragon with style! He was widely worshiped since then with arts, music, and clothes referencing him. It wasn't until the duke's son, an arsehole by the name ''Willibald'' who is jealous of the hero's deed that he killed his father, the duke of Parravon, and framed Foricarl for it. The lady had to intervene herself and turned the fucktard into a frog but it was all too late, for Foricarl had already self-exiled in shame. Despite that, he continued to slay beasts and killing chaos shit like a badass until he finally settled at '''Ubersreik Hills''' and impregnated Kruber's mama, only to leave her before Kruber was even born. With the lady's blessing, Kruber is now '''Markus de Mandelot'''! And he now has [[troll|the privilege call his teammates peasants, acting cockier and mightier than even Kerilian, while Bretonnian dancing all the way to the waystone, one-shotting any foe he came across with his magical sword ability]] (a voiceline while waiting to start on a Chaos Wastes expedition ''really'' has him imply he's been talking down to Saltzpyre after becoming a Grail Knight just to be a troll). Just like Slayer Bardin Markus can't use ranged weapons in this career (because peasant weapon dislike and chivalry bullshit), and he doesn't even have the option of throwing axes like Slayer Bardin does (again, see above), but his special buffs, move speed and ability make him a fantastic boss killer and crowd controller.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''The Lady's Duty''- Get 2 random quests that grant buffs to the party when completed, lasting until the mission is over. Can be upgraded to have a third quest, stronger buffs, or a repeatable quest that grants a potion of strength each time.
***''Knight's Challenge'' - 25% extra damage to the first enemy hit.
***''Thirst for Glory'' - 10% move speed increase
***''Bastion of Bretonnia'' - Your shields can now block Warpfire
**Unique active ability: ''Blessed Blade''- Smite a target with a holy blade. Can be upgraded to deal even more single target damage with a slash and stab, change into a horizontal crowd cleaver or stay the same and increase movement speed upon kill.

===Kerillian===
The elf continues to be a standoffish, if slightly nicer, jerk, though her sensitivity masks hidden scars. Her faith forms the crux of her careers, whether remaining a faithful, if conflicted, Waystalker (This is canon), a Handmaiden more devoted to Isha and protecting others, or losing herself to bloodlust and becoming a Shade of [[Khaine]]. The Drachenfels DLC reveals that Kerillian basically has the biggest impact on the story out of the whole party, with consequences reaching to the rest of Warhammer. She received a vision about how Ubersreik MIGHT have to do with the fall of Athel Loren. With pride and without any thought, she ambushed two regiments of soldiers from Nuln meant to reinforce the city, leaving it undefended... From the Skaven. That's right, [[Fail|because of her pride, she's responsible for ALL of the slaughter and death caused by the Vermintide, and contributed more than a fair bit to bringing about the End Times]].This explains her biting behavior, a shield to her own failures. The pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes broke her resolve and caused her to question her faith, giving up her regrets to Isha and becoming a Sister of the Thorn, losing part of herself and becoming more cynical than ever.
*'''Waystalker''': Frustrated with the clumsiness of her companions, Kerillian has resolved to further hone her skills to compensate further for the "lumberfoots". As a Waystalker, Kerillian further specializes in her longbow, both for precision sniping and for raining arrows on enemies.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Amaranthe''- Automatically regenerate health (3 health per 10 seconds, up to a maximum of half your total hit points)
***''Arrow-Storm''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Waywatcher's Bow''- Effective range for ranged weapons is doubled
**Unique active ability: ''Trueflight Volley''- Fires a volley of homing arrows. Can be upgraded to fire one more arrow, refund ammunition when killing specials, or turn into a single piercing arrow that deals massive damage and has no cooldown when you get a headshot.
*'''Handmaiden''': Through the subtle guidance of the Everqueen, Kerillian came across a long-lost shrine to Isha and gave herself up to serve her. Kerillian's Handmaiden Career focuses primarily on dancing around enemies in direct melee combat, and is her most durable career option through both maximum health, stamina, and mobility. The career for players that are allergic to standing still.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''The Dance of Seasons''- 15% longer dodge distance
***''Aura of Renewal''- Aura that increases stamina regeneration speed by 100%
***''Ariel's Benison''- Cannot be interrupted when reviving allies
**Unique active ability: ''Dash''- Quickly dash forward through enemies, stunning enemies that are hit and causing them to bleed. Has a hilariously low cooldown, the lowest of all of the game's abilities. Can be upgraded to become invisible after the dash, make anyone you hit bleed or gain crit chance based on how many enemies you hit.
*'''Shade''': One of Kerillian's dreams spoke of an ancestor of hers who dwelled in Clar Karond, and with it came the voice of [[Khaine]] urging her to reclaim the mantle of her ancestor. Kerillian as a Shade is an assassin, focused on rapidly killing elite, special, and boss enemies. She also gains access to the volley crossbow in this career. This is the class to play if you really like killing the absolute shit out of Chaos Warriors and bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Murderous Prowess''- 50% damage bonus when attacking enemies from behind
***''Assassin's Blade''- Critical hit backstabs instantly kill man-sized enemies
**Unique active ability: ''Infiltrate''- Become invisible and intangible for 10 seconds, or until performing an attack. Also has a unlisted effect where any melee attack that ends Infiltrate gets a massive damage boost; depending on the weapon this can increase the power of Kerillian's melee attacks to the point where they 1-hit kill a Chaos Warrior on Legendary difficulty, and can even reach the maximum damage value possible for a single attack. Can be upgraded to have less cooldown and grant more crit chance after it ends at the cost of losing the damage bonus, cause her to blink forward while damaging enemies, or allowing her to attack without breaking stealth exactly one time.
*'''Sisters of the Thorn''': The 3rd microtransaction DLC career. In truth, Kerillian has been losing faith in her goddess Lileath for some times, and it finally reached a critical point after the '''Citadel of Eternity''' shenanigan where the said goddess did not answer her. Hoping to rededicate herself to the weaves once more, she began courting other goddesses (even [[Ereth Khial]], the kind of goddess only the mentally ill elf would worship). She ended up going back to Athel Loran to seek answers, and offered up her uncertainty and regrets to the forest. Doing so allowed her to become a '''Sister of the Thorn''' , a handmaiden of Isha who can raise up a thorn bush wall to block enemies (or just turn them into a deadly thorn spike that bleeds anyone it targets) as well as providing extra healing to her teammates, leeching extra temporary health from them in exchange. She now also calls her teammates "meat", as if [[Ferrus Manus|flesh is weaker]] compared to her, a superior plant fused being.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''A Cluster of Radiants''- Gain a radiance charge that allows free use of your active every 60 seconds.
***''A Murder of Sprites''- Deals more damage to wounded units depending on their remaining health, up to 50%.
***''A Sustenance of Leeches''- Gain temp health if a party member gains temp health when they're at full health.
***''An Attendance of Munificents''- +25% healing for everyone.
**Unique active ability: ''Thornwake''- Raise a thornwall that blocks movement. Can be upgraded to last longer, deal more damage and apply bleed at the cost of duration or explode with poison when it expires, increasing damage dealt to enemies caught.

===Bardin Goreksson===
Short, stout and sure to stomp your arse, Bardin is here to help out his dawris and slaughter some rakis (and anything else that comes in the way). Either he continued his quest for Karak Zorn as a Ranger Veteran (Which is canon), returned to his roots as an Ironbreaker, or forsook life in pursuit of honorable death as a [[Slayer]]. After the trip to Drachenfels however, the regrets that surfaced made him look to his old passions of becoming an Engineer, and thus, became an Outcast Engineer. Life STILL isn't smooth sailing for him, as Lohner's journals reveal that his daughter has gone missing. Whether she'll be found is anyone's guess...
*'''Ranger Veteran''': Karak Zorn is yet to be found, but the defense of Reikland currently comes first for Bardin. Bardin the Ranger Veteran favors the use of ranged weaponry to punish foes from a distance, but he's more than able to hold his own in melee if a hail of crossbow bolts doesn't do the trick. Cousin Okri would be proud. While this used to be the least powerful of the range-focused careers due to lacking a consistent means of generating ammo for itself, recent balance updates have made it into an extremely versatile and powerful support class. Of particular note is a talent that gives a chance for every special enemy you kill to drop a bomb, which is just hilariously strong.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Survivalist''- Special enemies drop ammo on death
***''Loaded for Battle''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Fast Hands''- Increased reload speed
***''Ingenious Improvisation'' - 10% chance to not consume health items, potions, or bombs on use
**Unique active ability: ''Disengage''- Drops a smoke bomb that staggers enemies and turns Bardin invisible as long as he remains within the cloud. Lasts ten seconds. While invisible, Bardin gains increased ranged attack power. Can be upgraded to remain stealthed even outside the cloud, grant everyone attack speed and temp health while in it, or basically allowing you a free bomb throw.
*'''Ironbreaker''': Bardin used to be an Ironbreaker in Kazak Norn, and following the defense of Ubersreik he took up his old oaths and gromril armor once more. The heavy armor and shield of the Ironbreaker makes Bardin a superb tank that can take whatever the enemy can dish out, and then return it in kind. In addition, he gains access to a drakegun and drakefire pistols, which let him spew out gouts of flame. Like in the first game, they do not use ammo and instead use a heat meter, like Sienna. Be mindful that this also means that they'll kill you if the heat gauge maxes out.
**Unique passive abilities:
** Base Health: 150
***''Gromril Armor''- Negates all damage from 1 hit every 20 seconds.
***''Dwarf-Forged''- Reduces damage taken by 30%
***''Doughty''- Grants an extra stamina shield
***''Resilient''- Decreases stun duration after getting hit by an attack by 50%
**Unique active ability: ''Impenetrable''- Briefly staggers nearby enemies, then forces all man-sized enemies among them to attack Bardin exclusively. Bardin also takes no stamina damage while blocking for the duration, and can block normally unblockable attacks. Can be upgraded to give everyone a power increase, increase its range and duration, or the ability to affect even monsters.
*'''[[Slayer]]''': Bardin had been carrying a secret burden in his heart even before Ubersreik, and by the time the Skaven came to Helmgart he had taken up the Slayer's Oath in the hopes of an honorable death. As a Slayer, Bardin can't use ranged weapons at all but becomes a melee powerhouse, with exclusive access to the Dual Axes weapon and the ability to take a second melee weapon to replace his ranged weapon slot. Despite his deceptively low base health, he's one of the tankiest things in the game due to his Oblivious to Pain talent, which is practically mandatory while playing the class. He even has another talent that can increase his base health, as if this weren't enough.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Trophy Hunter''- Stacking damage buff gained upon hitting an enemy
***''Path of Carnage''- +7.5% attack speed
**Unique active ability: ''Leap''- Leap forward, stunning enemies and gaining a temporary boost to attack speed.
*'''Outcast Engineer''': Bardin's fourth unique DLC locked class (chronologically the 2nd paid class DLC). Ever since he returned from castle [[Drachenfels]], Bardin has been busy locking himself alone studying machinery. According to Lohner, his uncle '''Drakki Dagsson''' used to be an engineer whom Bardin looked up to, much to the dismay of his traditionalist dad '''Gorrek Dagsson''' who shuns technology and often came to disagreements with his brother Drakki. Upon learning Bardin was going to become an apprentice engineer, Dagsson went to disengage pneumatic supports at the mine out of anger and caused an earthquake, which also happened at the same time when Bardin was about to receive his apprenticeship. Dagsson managed to get most of the Dwarf to safety before the debris and stones swallowed him alive with the remaining Dwarfs. This forced Bardin to quit his passion to follow in his father's footsteps, becoming an Ironbreaker, and good ol' Drakki took the blame for the mining accident and became a slayer out of guilt (because of how heroic Dagsson was) and died in a troll cave. Still, tragedy did not end there for Bardin for he would later fail to defend his home, his family and his beardling son just because he wasn't strong enough to fight off a gutter runner, even led his entire team of sentry died saving him in the process. Filled with grief, Bardin decided to leave his hold and search for Karak Zorn as an excuse to exile himself (because seeker sounds better than exile) but ended up joining Victor's anti-ratman crusade at Ubersreik instead. The demon living in castle [[Drachenfels]] read everyone like an open book, including a magic resistant Dwarf, and it sarcastically mocked Bardin of his old shame. Having realized maybe he should never have followed his father's path and perhapes he was never suited for being an Ironbreaker, he went back to his old tinkering passion. With Lohner's help, Bardin acquired materials, minerals needed for his various tools of destruction like his signature crank gun (read: [[Awesome|handheld Gatling gun, or handheld super repeater handgun because Richard Jordan Gatling doesn't exist in the Warhammer world]]) and is now out to destroy all those Thaggrakis and Dumals with it!
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Build Pressure''- Holding reload with the crank gun equipped builds pressure, gradually restoring the ability bar. Stacks are lost when you fire.
***''Gunsmith''- +50% Max ammo.
***''Spotter''- +10% Ranged Power to nearby allies.
***''Utility Belt''- Allows you to carry three different bombs, cycling through them with the bomb key.
**Unique active ability: ''Steam-Assisted Crank Gun (mk2)''- An interesting active ability that's more like a third weapon, activating Bardin's special gun. Switching to the gun doesn't use up the bar, nor does it build up automatically. You "Reload" the gun in order to fill up your ability bar over time, and you can fire it as long as you have "ammo" in it. Can be upgraded to fire slower but stronger slugs, immediately start out firing at full speed, or have a longer ability bar that temporarily isn't used when you kill a special.

===Sienna Fuegonasus===
As fiery and feisty as ever, the U5's witch is here to blaze a trail through rat and rot alike. How she does it forms the basis of her paths in life: She either made an attempt to discipline herself as a Battle Wizard (Canon), split between freedom and control as a Pyromancer or lost herself to the flame as an Unchained. It's eventually revealed in Lohner's journals that Sienna "had" a sister named Sofia. They weren't on the best terms, but they were family, so when Sofia was accused of being a [[Necromancer]], Sienna burned the town responsible for accusing her. [[Fail|And then it turns out she WAS a necromancer, so Sienna burned her too]]. Note the quotation marks, as Lohner recently got a letter from someone claiming to be Sofia, blackmailing him to do her a favor or else some of his unsavory secrets would be revealed. This fiasco looks to blow up in everyone's faces, which, really, fits anything to do with Sienna.
*'''Battle Wizard''': Ubersreik taught Sienna the value of self-control, and while she was reluctant to do so she has learned to control the flame for the first time. The greater degree of self-discipline Sienna has as a Battle Wizard allows her to focus on perfecting her spellcasting, letting her cast spells more quickly, more often, and for more damage.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Tranquility''- Passively vents overcharge after 6 seconds of not casting spells
***''Reckless Haste''- Overcharge increases spell charge rate
***''Pyromantic Surge''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''Fire Walk''- Quickly teleport forward, leaving a trail of fire behind you. Can be upgraded to have lower cooldown, a bigger and stronger explosion with no more fire trail, or the ability to double-cast within 10 seconds.
*'''Pyromancer''': While far from having the control of a proper Battle Wizard, Sienna has enough self-awareness to restrain herself from the most ostentatious of fire magic. Sienna the Pyromancer trades in the consistency of her Battle Wizard career for more explosive moments of burst damage. Of special note is a talent which lets her activated ability also instantly clear all overcharge.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Critical Mass''- Critical chance increases based on overcharge level
***''Searing Focus''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''The Burning Head''- A powerful fire blast that initially travels directly forward, but after a short time it will attempt to home in on the closest enemy; holding the active ability key down allows the user to designate a target for the fire blast to home in on instead. It will jump from foe to foe, killing until it runs out of power. Anything not killed by the blast is staggered, including bosses. Can be upgraded to refund cooldown on crit, vent her overcharge on cast or give her temporary health.
*'''Unchained''': Sienna's addiction to magic has finally overwhelmed her, and now she lives only from one magical high to the next. As an Unchained, Sienna favors magically-boosted melee, with a focus on generating as much overcharge as possible before moving in for the kill.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blood Magic''- 50% of damage received is converted to overcharge. Do not get hit while at high levels of overcharge, lest you accidentally [[Fail|explode yourself like a dunce]].
***''Slave to Aqshy''- No overcharge slowdown
***''Unstable Strength''- High overcharge increases melee attack power up to 60%
**Unique active ability: ''Living Bomb''- Expends all overcharge to produce a massive explosion centered on Sienna, dealing heavy damage to all nearby enemies. Fortunately, this can be done even while beginning to explode from too much overcharge. Can be upgraded to increase power based on how many you hit, gain a scorching aura after it's finished or give everyone temp health.

== Other Characters ==
*'''Franz Lohner''': The bartender of the Red Moon Inn, transferring over to the Taal's Horn Keep. You guys do the heavy lifting, he does most of the behind the scenes stuff: Keeping your home nice and cozy, getting intel, stocking up on supplies, you get the drill. Unfortunately, he also runs the Emporium of Wonders, aka, [[Rage|the microtransaction shop]]. Seemingly knows everything and everyone, including any secrets your own characters have. Talking to him has him rattle off various nods to the lore of Warhammer and more specifically, [[The End Times]]. The devs also use him to write journals and story bits about the game through the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", which are tidbits for his journal. Journal entries and random conversations heavily imply that he's [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat|Morgan Bernhardt from Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omen.]]
*'''Olesya Pimenova''': The carriage handler from the first game turned out to be a Gray Witch. Whod've thunk? As usual, your ride in and out of your jobs, this time using a Bridge of Shadows teleporter instead of horses. Helps make plans along with Lohner while occasionally working alongside you on your missions, secretly doing magic stuff while you not-so-secretly kill everything. Heavily implied to be the true form of the Grey Wizard Christoph Engel from the first game. She also has the hots for Kruber, a fact which he's unfortunately aware of.
*'''Catrinne of Aldenstein''': The artist making all the paintings you can decorate the keep with once you find three pieces of Ravaged Art in a mission. You never see her, but you can sometimes hear her. She's haunted by visions which inspire her paintings, but Lohner's wary of how ominous she describes them. She apparently has a crush on Saltzpyre (A fact which Salty himself doesn't know, but hilariously enough, Kruber does), and she sometimes has to fight off Bardin from eating her brushes because he finds them delicious.

== Enemies ==

'''Bosses'''
* '''Grey Seer Rasknitt:''' The same asshole in charge of invading Ubersreik is back, and he's the final boss of the main campaign. Having captured the heroes in the first game, he attempts to sacrifice them to fuel the Skittergate, a portal contraption capable of bringing in huge armies in a flash. With it, he and the Rotbloods swarmed Helmgart and the countryside, though as is typical of technology made by mice, it breaks in the prologue. It's fixed soon after though, and much of the game is dedicated to destroying it. During the final showdown, he sent his precious Stormfiend called Deathrattler (who uses dual-ratling guns instead of the flamethrowers) against you, only to call it a worthless piece of junk after the heroes killed it. He then attacks the heroes with his Skaven magic, teleports around at lightning speed while summoning special Skaven of all types, then is blown the fuck up once the rat bastard's health is at its end. You then get his helmet as a trophy for the Keep, and the fact that it has voices whispering into it explains MUCH about how insane this rat-bastard is.
* '''Chaos Champion Bödvarr Ribspreader:''' Here to spread ribs and smiles in Papa Nurgle's name, Ribspreader is a Champion of Chaos and the scary dude on the box cover. The leader of the Rotbloods, who are said to be insane even by Chaos Warbands' standards, he's here to slaughter and destroy, and has allied himself with Rasknitt for that purpose. He berates the Grey Seer for the portal's failure, but interestingly enough ''doesn't'' rip his spine out for it, though it's probably because Rasknitt is more powerful than he is. Figures mainly into Act 3, where the gang messes with everything he has. After hitting a breaking point as the heroes foil his plans and kill his men and free his slaves, he sends out most of his army to scout for and attack the Keep, but thanks to Olesya reading the script, they learn about this, attack his under-staffed camp, and kill him in his own arena. Despite claiming that he can take care of the heroes all by himself, he displays cowardice, [[Carron|ranting and bawwing about the precious slaves and loots he lost to the Ubersreik Five/Four/Doesn't Matter]] when he starts losing and calls his warriors for aid, with a horde attacking as he loses health. Interesting to note that despite being a Nurgle worshipper, he has a magic axe (which the axe itself is alive, noted by the growing eye skull on the axe) that he can call back to him if he ever throws it out against the players. Saltzpyre would often refer to it as "flying axe witch" whenever it was thrown. You gain this axe as a trophy for the keep, and study of it reveals that Ribby is just one of many, many Chaos Warriors who wielded the thing.
* '''Burblespue Halescourge:''' The Nurgle sorcerer lord that the Skaven met back at Stromdorf, and the boss of Act 1. Has a good manner like papa Nurgle himself and he can do everything that the Nurgle sorcerer can do in the game (AKA life drain & Nurgle Vortex) only tougher and more AOE green plague in the oxygen, with a couple of unique abilities like summoning a swarm of flies to chase and stun one of the players, summon green images of himself to attack the players as well as erect an even bigger green vortex in the center of the battlefield. He will absolutely make you fucking rage with his lack of visual cues for his attacks, his billion and one hit points, and his habit of teleporting around like a fucking asshole whenever someone so much as sneezes on the fucker. Has a large number of very angry nicknames from the fandom, several of which have even made it into official patch notes (e.g. "Bunglesnatch Humbledink", "Vorpalblade Noobhurl", "Hailstorm Barbeque", "Bubbly-Spurge" and "Bubblespit Halleberry", among many others). You get his staff and tome from killing him, and you find out the latter was made from human skin and inked in blood. Lovely.
* '''Skarrik Spinemanglr:''' The "Scary" Skaven Warlord in charge, and the boss of Act 2. Seem to be heavily inspired by Queek Headtaker in both his looks, size, and unskavenly bravery, although he uses a more traditional halberd alongside dual shortswords. Just like Queek, he is the largest non-monster Skaven of them all, towering over the players. He will regularly summon Stormvermin and Skavenslaves, if you don't take care of them quickly it can snowball into a horde no player could ever hope to kill. He is also fully armored like Ribspreader, but unlike him, Skarrik is much faster, forcing the player to have a frustrating time of chipping his health away with their seemly ineffective charge attack. Also, he calls you [[What|cat fondlers]] and is responsible for Saltzpyre's lost eye. After he dies, civil war and general chaos erupts throughout the Skaven underground, decreasing the amount of forces guarding the Skittergate. You also get his armor and spears for the keep.
* '''Nurgloth the Eternal:''' A new boss for the new Drachenfels DLC map and another one of Nurgle's stinky boy. He used to be the chief rival of shitstorm sorcerer from above, and has been trying to take over his rival's throne. Like every dumbass heretical sorcerer, he went after old Drachenfels' castle in search of his old research about demons and other crazy shit to make himself even more powerful, which he did and was possessed or at least is in contract with a demon, but was driven mad after he glimpsed the realm of chaos. Still, it allows him to see a bit of future sight as well as gaining much higher power than before. After our heroes defeated the two walking-toilets above, he began his no-good operation in Drachenfels' castle and started to sacrifice captured villagers from nearby for his ritual. His little scheme didn't go unnoticed under Lohner's ear and was dealt with by our heroes after a trilogy of missions. In combat, he wields a giant scythe for slicing while he hovers (only the last phase), shoots flies that explode and snare the player, summons his rotblood minions, and using a magic attack that resembles an AoE ability from a typical MOBA game. Currently the hardest boss due to the amount of health he has and the bullshit last phase where he seeks out players and knocks them to his magic fart zone with his rotblood minions still roaming around him. He also explodes when you kill him, and you acquire his scythe and armor for your victory.
* '''Gatekeeper Nagfahr:''' A Ribspreader look-alike, even shares the same axe design....until the recent patch came and changed its entire outlook. He now only uses a normal axe with his head exposed: [[Eliphas the Inheritor| pale bald head]], probably the only chaos warriors that showed his face in the game. Responsible for guarding the skittergate key staff. Was [[chaos|blessed]] during the battle and turned into...[[Chaos Spawn|It-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named]]. Far easier than Ribspreader, being a level's mid-boss to build up to the final battle with Rasknitt.
* '''Baron Justus Francke:''' Not an enemy you fight but nonetheless important to the plot. Besides the Skaven having a portal underneath Helmgart, Fucko Francke is the other reason Ussingen and the countryside were overrun so quickly. It's revealed he made some kind of deal with the Rotbloods and Clan Fester, and like a lot of shitty nobles, might've been in league with the Chaos Gods even before the invasion. His fortified mansion, the only undamaged building in Ussingen, is blown up accordingly by the heroes. His fate is unknown.

'''Skaven'''
 Clan Fester's back, and they're pissed. Sore after getting thwarted at Ubersreik, they want revenge. They almost managed to get it by capturing the heroes and finally managing to capture Ubersreik, and with the Rotblood alliance for constructing a Skittergate portal to Norsca, things seem to be in the bag... Until [[Fail|it malfunctions and frees Kruber, leading him to free everyone else]]. Still, they're stronger now, with Clan Pestilens rats joining their ranks and being just as determined as ever to spread the power of the warp and stave off their extinction.
* '''Skavenslaves:''' Still the most piss-poor enemies in the game. Even though they come in huge swarms they're only dangerous if they blindside you or if you're too busy dealing with actual threats.
* '''Clanrats:''' Rank and file of clan Fester, only slightly better than slaves. Now come with a shield and hand weapon variant that could hopefully block one or two hits from the front and make dealing with the horde slightly more difficult.
* '''Plague Monks:''' A more durable Skaven with fast attacks designed to exhaust the player's stamina. Weak to ranged fire but hit like a freight train and knock you back. They let out a loud howl when they charge, but can be hard to spot in a swarm. Usually, spawn in triplets and tend to focus a single target just to make sure even 7+ stamina would not be enough to withstand their attack.
* '''Stormvermin''' - The most common breed of Special Skaven, Stormvermin will spawn at random among the crowds of Clanrats seeded throughout the various levels. Unlike the rest of their ratty brethren, the Stormvermin have actual armor, actual weapons, and actual training, making them a serious threat. Their halberds do more damage than the standard Clanrat improvised weaponry, and hits against them that don't aim for the head (or have the Armor Piercing trait) will glance off their armor. Even blocking their attacks is difficult, since they do significant Stamina damage and therefore have a high chance of breaking your block and putting you into stun, making you an easy kill. At higher difficulties, they become one of the most significant threats in the game, and require careful combat to take down safely or make ranged weapons good at taking them down quick very desirable.
* '''Stormvermin''' (Sword & Shield): Elite troops who still sound vaguely like Bane, except some of them now have swords and shields that give them multiple attacks and near-immunity to frontal hits (but mercifully deals less damage than the halberd wielders), plus their shields are metal and can't be broken. All around assholes, and a definite reason to consider having a handgun on the team since it's one of the only ranged weapons capable of easily handling them from the front.
* '''The Stormvermin Patrol''' - Once or twice per map, if you're listening carefully, you'll hear the sound of rats shouting out a ratty little marching drill. And if you're smart, you'll hide. If you're not smart, you'll die, because the Patrol is a massive mob of Stormvermin that all aggro at once if they spot any of the heroes, and will never back down from a fight. Their numbers are slightly randomized, but rule of thumb is for +5 rats for each difficulty level, so at Legendary difficulty you're facing patrol sizes that wouldn't be out of place in an actual game of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Yeah. [[Anal Circumference|Have fun with that]].
* '''Gutter Runner''' - Representing Clan Eshin, we have these stabby little ninja rats with warp-dust coated knives strapped to their hands. They lurk in the shadows, trying to find a hero that's cut off from the rest of the group or waiting for you to be otherwise distracted, then pounce and pin one hero to the ground while they stab and stab and stab until the puny man-thing stops moving. Once you're pinned (but you ''can'' hope to dodge their jumps at you by dodging to a side), you're helpless. It's up to the rest of the team to save you. So if you hear that strange whispering in the distance, make sure to stay close to your team.
* '''Packmaster''' - Clan Moulder's representatives, the Packmasters have taken up capturing humans for slaving. To this end, they cart around giant spiked collars on poles; if they get close enough, they'll snap that collar shut around your neck, disabling you like the Gutter Runner. The good news is that the collar doesn't hurt nearly as much as the knives and you can dodge it if you time it right. The ''bad'' news is that the Packmaster will drag you off into the distance, probably through a mob of Clanrats, and then hang you up to die - or at least for the rest of their companions to stab while you wriggle helplessly.
* '''Poison Wind Globadier''' - A Skryre-rat in a gas mask, with a miniature plague factory on its back. At a distance, it will constantly lob spheres full of gas so poisonous that it eats into the skin like acid, covering the battlefield in green clouds of death. The good news is that these are as poisonous to the other Skaven as they are to our heroes. The bad news is that you'll still die like a bitch if you stand in one. And if you get too close, they'll rig the tanks on their backs to explode, taking you with them in one final kamikaze assault.
* '''Ratling Gunner''' - Clan Skryre is pulling overtime here. This rat's got a miniaturized, one-man version of the tabletop Ratling Gun strapped to its back, and the rest of its body is covered in heavy armor. When it finds a good firing line, it'll wind up that gun and then unleash a hellstorm of warp-shot onto one of the heroes, tracking them as best as it can. The good news is that it's not very accurate, kills Skaven who enter its firing line, and tends to jam after a while. The bad news is that it's firing so many bullets that it's probably going to hit you anyway, and while it's not as powerful as a full-sized "kill both knight and his horse with a single bullet" ratling gun it still hurts a lot. Got a significant buff compared to the original game by taking body amour and revving up his gun quite a bit faster.
* '''Warpfire Thrower:''' Another Skryre-rat, now with a flamethrower strapped to its back, which it uses to spew out gouts of green fire at anything in range. The good news is that it has a shorter range compared to the Ratling Gunner and gives even less fucks about torching other Skaven and Rotbloods in its path. Bad news is it hurts even more than the Ratling Gunner, knocks you back, and blocks your vision as well - not a Special you'd want to see while you're out of ammo. The warpstone crystal on its back is its weak spot, but it violently explodes if said weak spot is hit, leaving a sizeable puddle of the flaming warpstone on the ground. While it can take out a lot of enemies with the explosion, it also makes engaging it in melee even more suicidal, especially if you use wide-sweeping weapons.
* '''Barrel Rat:''' Special Skaven enemy type that exists only in special game modes like the Weave or in Weekly Events. Their role is simple: SUICIDE BOMBER! Try to shoot them down before they reach you! A bane to melee only characters like Bardin's Slayer (without the throwing axe) and Kruber's Grail Knight.
* '''Rat Ogre''' - The triumph of Clan Moulder's scientific prowess. The Rat Ogre, like the Stormvermin Patrol, is a once-a-map event, barring special mission rules, and is always announced by a throat-peeling bellow of rage. It's a giant, hulking brute that rampages across the battlefield, pummeling and punching its way through any heroes it can find. It ''is'' possible to kite the Ogre, but the problem is that it's rarely alone; the true difficulty arises in managing the Ogre and the accompanying Clanrats at the same time, since they limit your mobility just by existing.
* '''Stormfiend:''' If you thought the Rat Ogres were a huge pain in the ass, say hello to their upgraded cousins, the masterwork of Clan Moulder and Clan Skyre! They are clad in heavy armor from the front and wield twin warp-fire throwers attached to their arms. Unlike the warpfire throwers on regular Skaven, these ones leave a burning trail on the ground for quite a time, turning a battlefield into a maze of green fire if you let it disengage and rain fire on you from distance - it's worth it to backtrack to more open areas if you come across a Stormfield because of this. Their major weakness is the smaller Skaven acting as a second brain that's stuck on their backs.
*'''Sack Rat''' - A Skaven with a big sack full of loot. Pretty rare to spawn. It doesn't attack on its own, [[Fail|but kills teams anyway as the people in it tunnel vision on it before being killed by all the other enemies in the level]] (seriously, a loading screen tip jokingly tells you to do this). If you can kill it before it runs off you'll get to claim its stuff. One of its notable dialogues is '''MINE! MINE! MINE!''' whenever it walks, so it's easy to spot it from such obvious dialogue.

'''Warriors of Chaos'''
 The Rotbloods, a Nurgle Warband so fanatical to the Rot-Father that they make typical fanatics look tame. They're in league with Clan Fester to work on the Skittergate while plundering Reikland's countryside. They're generally tougher and hit harder compared to Skaven, but come in smaller groups, are slower on flat ground, even slower at climbing vertical obstacles, and most importantly spawn from the same points rather than crawling out from every nook and cranny including those on the ceiling.
* '''Nurgle Cultists:''' Your typical cannon fodder of Nurgle about as tough as a Clanrat. Fill the same role as Skaven slaves in the Chaos horde, though they might last an extra hit compared to slaves.
* '''Chaos Marauders:''' Plague-ridden warriors that come in four flavors:
**'''Raiders''' (hand weapon) and '''Bulwarks''' (hand weapon and shield) are the basic units for the Chaos Forces and fulfill a similar role to Clanrats, but they are significantly more durable than the former.
**'''Savages(Frothers)''' (dual-wielding weapons) are pretty much carbon copies of Plague Monks and work exactly the same except its attacks aren't as fast.
**'''Maulers''' (great weapons) huge guys with huge axes and huge horned helmets. Fill the niche of a Stormvermin in the Chaos horde, leading packs of marauders and acting as a primary threat in them, except they hit even harder, depleting all the stamina in one hit, are only armored on the head and ''heavily so'' (seriously, it's not worth shooting them there with non-guns), and have more health.
* '''Chaos Warriors:''' ASININE MORTALS!! The great axe variant. The toughest non-boss enemy in the game. Has nearly three times as much health as a Stormvermin, and their armor is so thick that even headshots from guns hardly faze them. They can down you in a hit or two from full health but are very slow targets, and they'll trash talk one of you to let you know who they're aiming for. For extra fun, they sometimes spawn two or three at a time.
* '''Chaos Patrol:''' when you thought Stormvermin patrol was bad, these guys come in with their chaosy march song... Include at least '''SIX''' Warriors and Maulers even at the lowest difficulty with the rest filled with Raiders and Bulwarks. A tougher patrol by far compared to the Stormvermin's.
* '''Chaos Sorcerers of Nurgle:''' Come in two variants - the Lifeleech (also known as "[[/d/|Chester the molester]]" by many players), who teleports around and attempt to bind a character to leech their health, and the Blightstormer, who casts a Nurgle-flavored green vortex spell that sucks in both the enemies and player characters, damaging and preventing them from moving. (The Blightstormer also likes to talk about how Papa blessed them with sniffles and brings forth much joy.)
* '''Bile Trolls:''' Chaos Trolls of Nurgle. Wield huge blunt weapons and spew acidic bile that slows you and drains your stamina as long as you're exposed to it, much like Stormfields it's absolutely worth turning around to a more open part of the map to be able to better avoid the puke. They can also attempt to heal themselves over time, both as a passive effect and as an ability they channel when their health is low. When this happens, they fall to their knees and gain a temp health bar. You and everyone else better start [[Rape|dogpiling the FUCK out of it]] to empty it and prevent full health regen, or life will only suck harder.
* '''[[Chaos Spawn|The Unnameable Beasts]]:''' Tough boss monsters that like to chew you to regain their health. They are also probably the worst thing to face with pubbies, as they devour you, smack you into other players damaging and potentially downing them, and each snack they grab heals them. You will definitely want to use your bombs and any other knockback abilities you have to stop their chow time. Oh and they are about one of the fastest boss enemies just like the rat ogres with the exception being their head isn't as noticeable, therefore harder to deal big damage with headshots. Have fun with that.

'''Beastmen'''
 The Cloven Ones are an enemy faction that premiered in the "Winds of Magic" expansion pack. They are the true children of Chaos, born amidst the collapse of the Polar Warp Gates and the subsequent release of Chaos energy into the world. As such, they serve the Chaos Gods without question, as their souls are forfeit to Chaos at the moment of their conception. Although the Beastmen vary in appearance, as true to their Chaos heritage, they are mainly comprised of humanoid mutants and abominations with bestial features such as cloven hooves, horns, and goatlike heads. Warpstone meteor falling into Reikland got their attention, and now they seek to claim it as a Herdstone. Afterwards, they have a chance to appear in any mission.
* '''Ungors:''' Ungors are the weakest and most humanlike of the Beastmen, with most possessing diminutive horns or no horns at all. However, they are no less hateful and repulsive than their larger cousins. They use spears and bows, making them the first common enemy type to have a ranged attack.
* ''' Ungor Raiders:''' The weakest specials in the game, they look similar to regular Ungors but have much darker skin and white body paint across their upper body. Despite falling over in a stiff breeze, their arrows do lowish damage and they have an average rate of fire. The real threat is when you're caught out of cover by large packs of 8~10+ Ungor Raiders who will sustain fire their arrows so there's no safe opening to close the gap, and being exposed leads to a lot of damage quickly. Since they often shoot from far away at an area where melee can't reach them like a balcony or a cliff, they must be taken out with ranged weapons, which is a required waste of ammunition for some characters, unless the player is an Ironbreaker armed with a drakepistol, Bardin with a throwing axe, a Huntsman Kruber with a knack for headshots, or Sienna.
* '''Gors:''' The most common of the Beastmen, Gors form the backbone of the Beastmen Brayherd. Each Gor is recognized for their resplendent rack of horns, with larger horns denoting higher status within the Beastmen hierarchy. Prerelease screenshots and artwork show Gors wielding Man-cleavers and two-handed axes, although more variations are possible.
* '''Bestigors:''' Bestigors are the elite of the Brayherd as their name would imply. They can use a charge attack to knock down players and are heavily armored (not as much as chaos warriors despite being chaos and is more akin to Stormvermin armor), though this charge attack can be interrupted by a good hit/shot to them while charging to trip them or dodged.
* '''Standard Bearers:''' Beastmen who carry foul standards into battle to increase the Brayherds morale. They can place their magical standards to buff their comrades with a buffer of temporary health on top of their max health, and regeneration of their base health which can make fights take longer if players don't finish off enemies. Best to fight your way to the flag and smash it before things get harder.
* '''Beastmen Patrol''' - The patrol for the Beastmen. Unlike the previous two patrols, it contains some Ungor Raiders for ranged fire support and two standard-bearers with the rest filled with Bestigors.
* '''Minotaurs:''' A new monster-boss enemy, Minotaurs are the most Beastmen-like of Beastmen: extremely strong, extremely ferocious, and extremely dumb. Minotaurs are more aggressive than any other boss type, beelining for the nearest hero and attacking them relentlessly. They have a charge ability like the Stormfiend and can deal serious damage to players and enemies alike in their path. One of the nastier differences is that Minotaurs get the healing benefits of Battle Standards, but not the bonus health. This isn't too noticeable on Recruit or Veteran, but Champion and above the health regeneration makes it the hardest boss when both enemies are present together. Oh, and they're bigger than the other regular bosses, meaning more reach and having to aim higher for the head. Have fun.

== Gameplay Tips (aka How To Avoid Dying Like An Asshole) ==

1. Don't be That Guy who wanders off alone and dies due to getting incapacitated due to the half-dozen or so methods an enemy can do such a thing. I don't care how badass you think you are, nothing actually makes you immune to being pounced by a Gutter Runner, hooked by a Packmaster, yote by a Blightstormer, et cetera. Seriously, wandering off alone is one of the certain ways you can get kicked from a match, along with going AFK during horde or boss attacks.

2. If someone starts grabbing Tomes and Grimoires, fucking follow them and hope they know where to show you where the others are. Because if you are not grabbing them, you're not optimizing your loot and XP gain, thus you are shit and should uninstall this game (and/or kill yourself). Or don't, whatever, I'm not [[Asmodai]].

3. If you play Sienna and overheat more than twice in a match, don't be butthurt when you get kicked. Learn to manage your overheat, or learn to play anything else. (Same goes for playing an Ironbreaker with drakefire guns.)

4. The game is actually really great about audio clues for your enemies; if you hear something suspicious, start looking around for the source of the sound. Nine times out of ten, you can spot a Gutter Runner or other special enemy fast enough to kill it. The other tenth time? Hope your buddies didn't rush forward and leave you for dead.

5. Consider taking weapons with Shield Breaking and/or Armor Piercing if you're consistently getting fucked up by the heavier enemies. Instead of having to charge up a heavy attack, you just make regular attacks as fast as you can and watch enemies like Stormvermin and Chaos Warriors get fucked up.

6. Mix in side-dodges and pushes with your melee swings in order to defend yourself. The different weapons each have optimal attack/push/dodge patterns unique to them. Learn yours. Blind offense is a good way to get yourself killed by stray hits from trash mobs. Side-dodging repeatedly also has the benefit of helping you not get surrounded as the hordes have to relocate to you.

8. Trying to outrace other players for DPS is only going to get everyone killed, which means nobody gets loot and very little XP. Don't be that asshole who tries to "prove" something to the others by trying to outperform them. The only stat that matters is how much damage you took. Kills will happen eventually. Focus on keeping yourself alive and healthy first and foremost.

9. This is a fucking co-op game. Heal other people, leave stuff they need behind, try to watch their backs. If you can't handle this concept, then you really need to try a different game; "lone wolf" types are wasting both their time and everyone else's.

10. When the coast isn't clear, don't make forward progress in the map. You don't want to trigger a boss fight while knee deep in a horde. While dealing with shit and you have to move around, go backwards, not forwards.

11. Don't be afraid to use those bombs and potions the moment things are beginning to look dicey. One thing (horde, patrol, special) can be handled without too much trouble, but the multiples are what kills teams. Also, Strength potions oddly enough do affect ranged weapons and bombs.

12. Dash abilities (such as Foot Knight's or Zealot's abilities) can be canceled part of the way by blocking, allowing you to gain value from them while not charging away from your group if you're already with them.

13. You can block-cancel other things too, depending on your weapon. Attacks, pushes and other actions can be stopped with a block either for defense or speeding up your combos.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Ranger Veteran.png
File:Ironbreaker.png
File:Slayer.png
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper.png|[[Glottkin|HELLO I'M FUCKING FAT TOO]]
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper2.png|[[Ogre|WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SWAMP???]]
File:Lumberfoots only by a20t43c.png|How Kerillian came to live in a tent.
</gallery>

== Links ==

* [http://www.vermintide.com/ Website]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AovSuioMM2w&t=105s Announcement Trailer plus a little bit of gameplay]

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]

Vermintide 2

2021-10-14T19:29:51Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Bardin Goreksson */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:DPuLc-pX4AA3ba3.png|745px|center|thumb|HAHA! ASININE MORTALS!! TIME TO EMBRACE THE TRUE LOVE FROM OUR [[Nurgle|FATHER]]!! [[Skaven|YES-YES, WEAK MAN-THINGS DIE FROM VERMIN POX-DISEASE, YES!]]]]

'''Vermintide 2''' is the sequel to [[The End Times: Vermintide]], made possibly due to the fact that the first game surpassed expectations and did pretty fucking well for a relatively niche title (2 million fucking copies sold!). Fatshark sensibly shortened the name from "Warhammer The End Times: Vermintide 2" to avoid sounding like a Japanese light novel, much to the joy of nerds who [[skub|hate]] The End Times (pretty much everyone).

On October 10th, Vermintide 2 was announced, bringing a host of new additions. Most notably the Warriors of Chaos are being added as an enemy type. [[Nurgle|Specifically the jolly ones that don't mind being pox bloated messes]]. Along with the new enemy race, the Skaven also have a few new additions, such as the Stormfiends and Warpfire Throwers. They've also announced that [[Beastmen|everyone's favorite non-Welsh sheep shaggers]] will be added in sometime this summer.

The game was released on March 8, 2018, and quickly surpassed its prequel's success with 1 million sales in its first month alone.

The game became truly playable after a patch was released on April 12, 2018 to which [https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/30503110/c2428ecfc6ae3dbbb902a008f702bcf510ebb399.png brought back Saltzpyre's signature voiceline] (''actual'' [https://steamcommunity.com/games/552500/announcements/detail/1654386143023879919 patch notes banner]).

It is [[Awesome]].

== Setting ==

Vermintide 2 is set during the End Times, an indeterminate amount of time since the ending of the previous game. After falling into Rasknitt's trap (and thus letting Ubersreik fall), the Ubersreik Five (or Four, doesn't matter) have ended up in their own castle and banded together again to face the Skaven forces of [[Clan Fester]], along with their new allies: a Chaos Warband dedicated to [[Nurgle]] known as The Rotbloods. Both forces came together as the Pactsworn, their eyes gazed on the fortress town of Helmgart (the border town Bretonnia always conquers within the first 10 turns of an Empire [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] campaign).

Lohner has dialogue indicating [[Anal Circumference|the timeline is smack dab in the middle of the End Times as Louen Leoncouer is already dead]] (Please have mercy [[Matt Ward]])! Due to the presence of a Nurgle-aligned warband, it is possible that the game is set during/after the Fall of Marienburg. The Skaven are up to their usual hijinks (Pillaging, slaughter, slavery... You know, a normal day in Warhammer). Their main objective is trying to build something called the Skittergate [https://youtu.be/uOd7HQoKxcU?t=45| (it's different from that movie which they have never seen, so how would they copy it?)], a portal between Norsca and Helmgart, explaining how the Skaven and their new allies overran the region. The Rotbloods are here to help the Skaven with murder-fucking everyone in the Reikland and bringing great death-death to poor Helmgart. Clan Fester's also out for blood as payback for Ubersreik, even though Ubersreik apparently fell anyway.

There are a total of thirteen maps in the base campaign. These span: the town of Helmgart itself, where the heroes create a diversion at the Temple of Sigmar before the Hammerman himself purges it of vikings and rats; an Elven temple ruin in the woods where the gang uses a slow-moving puzzle to raise a magic shield; Ussingen, a farming town where the heroes rescue prisoners and later blow up a Chaos supply cache; a Nurgle-blighted canyon with a fortified Chaos Lord's tomb, which the gang destroys to stop the Rotbloods from harvesting his energy; a dense swamp, where the heroes assault the Rotbloods' main war camp and slay their leader, a Nurgle Champion; and quite a lot more besides, culminating in a double assault on the Skittergate and the Rotblood hometown in Norsca, obliterating both of them and saving Helmgart, or what's left of it. The gang is so badass that the shitty army left at Ubersreik was enough to take over while a Skaven-Rotblood alliance couldn't do jack to them. Such is life as a video game protagonist.

The ''Shadows Over Bögenhafen'' DLC has the gang end up in the titular town where they wipe out the Pactsworn a second time and keep a scary daemon sword out of Nurgle's grubby hands over two more maps. ''Back To Ubersreik'' has them enter a magic simulation of Ubersreik being run by Olesya to try to locate some mysterious runes of power in the ''real'' Ubersreik, re-defeating the Skaven in it because she's trying to keep it as "believable" as possible (and also the Rotbloods, who either found a way to break into the simulation or are part of the simulation because Olesya likes messing with our heroes), with three levels from the previous game and a secret fourth you can try out after finding runes from the past levels through a series of tedious puzzles. In the Winds of Magic DLC the Beastmen get involved because the increasingly fucked Reikland now has a meteor crash onto it, and the angry goats surge out of the woods to make a herdstone out of it. Then there's the roguelike ''Chaos Wastes'', given for free to everyone who got the game, wherein Saltzpyre sets up a pilgrimage through the wastes to assuage his waning faith.

An event for the 1 year anniversary (March 2019) gave us "A Quiet Drink," in which the party decides they've done a very good job so far, and deserve a night on the town! Worth playing just for the many custom voice lines for the utterly sloshed characters. ("Queen Kerillian demands MORE ALE!") ("It wouldn't be the same! It wouldn't have the whistle!") While the map was only available on the official realm during the event, it can still be played [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1694820325 through a mod].

Where the storyline doesn't advance as much through the game, more details can be found on the main site's dev blogs by way of the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", where the old bartender writes down his musings about current events.

== Gameplay ==

The good old Vermintide core gameplay remains intact, which means that the game still has a robust and surprisingly skill-based melee system at its core. Rather than fuck with anything that was already functional, Vermintide 2 focuses instead on adding more content to play around with. Light attacks, heavy attacks, blocking, dodging, pushing, etc., are all still here. All weapons also now have a "push attack" which is performed by holding down the attack button while blocking, causing an attack after you push.

Aside from the new enemy types, there are a couple of other new features, such as specializations for the classes (referred to as "careers"), each representing different possible paths the heroes took after Ubersreik. For example, the Dwarf can be a Slayer or an Ironbreaker, or the Wood Elf can be a Shade or Handmaiden of Isha, each one with diffferent passive abilities and active "Career Skill". This comes packaged along with a talent tree for each character and new weapons to go around for everyone. Each talent tree also comes with talents for granting temporary health (Health that's both easily lost and generated, basically allowing you to endure until the next heal) and stagger bonuses (damage bonuses against enemies you get off-balance). Alternatively, you can heal others when you use a potion on yourself, or gain more power to replace these talents.

The loot system got an overhaul too, with the devs acknowledging the first game's system was kind of bullshit. We now have [[rage|lootboxes]] like every other dev under the sun, but entirely earned through gameplay and they come unlocked, so it's basically just normal random loot drops with a loot box skin slapped on. A "Heroic Deeds" system has also been implemented, consisting of consumable quests that mix gameplay up by dramatically changing objectives, mix of enemies faced or limiting your own tools (many combinations of which are pure [[Anal Circumference]]), along with a Challenge system that's basically an alternative achievements system, rewarding you when you finish missions or sets of missions with certain difficulties, different heroes and/or harder conditions, tracking other milestones and more. These give you more chests, skins, frames for your portraits, and other goodies.

Aside from those additions,and quality of life improvements it seems to mostly be the same game, which is okay since most people just wanted it to be the first one with more stuff to begin with. For the cherry on top, the game also supports modding to the point that the devs maintain a list of "Sanctioned Mods" which can be safely used with the base game, a lot of which are pretty sweet. There's also entirely separate "Realms" for the base game and modded games. On the negative side, there's no dedicated server, instead relying on peer-to-peer connection. Better hope your host has good internet...

Two DLC campaigns are currently out: the first one, '''Shadows over Bögenhafen''', has the heroes searching for a runesword in the titular city, while '''Back to Ubersreik''' features remade versions of some of the original Vermintide missions along with new melee weapons as the Heroes of Ubersreik head off to an illusionary copy of the city to find a hidden set of runes for Olesya. The third DLC, '''Winds of Magic''', added Beastmen, a higher level cap and difficulty level, and a set of endgame challenges in the "Winds of Magic" mode. The fourth, '''Chaos Wastes''' (released for free) added another game mode which has the Ubersreik <s>Five</s><s>Four</s>It Doesn't Matter go on expedition into the titular wastes, choosing to go through a number of randomized locations with roguelike elements, allowing players to exchange or power up their equipment and get special boons while going through areas cursed with various dangers and debuffs.

==The Ubersreik Five and Careers==

Each character now has three different Careers, which affect their weapon choices, abilities, and talent trees, allowing a great deal of customization for each one. Lore-wise, the three careers are based on how each of the heroes might have reacted to the fall of Ubersreik: Either they barely changed at all (The starter career), were inspired for a higher calling, or became traumatized and jaded. The exception is Markus, whose three careers all end up being good for him.

A fourth career is on the way for each character, though it's locked behind DLC. So far, Markus, Bardin and Kerillian have their fourth class, with the other two on the way.

===Victor Saltzpyre===
The Witch-Hunteriest Witch Hunter continues to hunt... More Skaven and Rotbloods than witches, but he hunts all the same. After the Ubersreik campaign, the Order of the Silver Hammer still [[Derp| stupidly tried to deny the existence of the ratmen]], spinning the invasion as a myth. How "Salty" he was in his reaction formed the crux of his future: Either he gained more political power in the chaos, allowing him to secretly fight the ratmen (The canonical choice), spoke out against the stupidity and abandoned the order to become a bounty hunter, or he lost faith in humanity entirely and relished in fanatical worship of Sigmar. As the events of the game go on however, even this faith in Sigmar is shaken, and he organizes a pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes to assuage his fears. Journals reveal that he's coming on more to preaching and thinking on the Eternal Flame...
*'''Witch Hunter Captain''': The deaths of several Captains over the course of the End Times has allowed Victor to rise in rank, but he has had to accept that the Witch Hunters won’t recognize the fact that there’s an entire fucking empire of ratmen just below their cities; Saltzpyre now uses his new political position to fight the menace in secret. In addition to a fancier hat, Victor as a Witch Hunter Captain can do everything he could in the first game and also gets some abilities that help him support his allies.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Witch Hunt''- Enemies pinged by Victor take extra damage
***''Eternal Guard''- Blocking light frontal attacks does not consume stamina
***''Killing Shot''- Crit headshots, melee or ranged, instantly kill human-sized enemies (i.e. any non-boss enemy smaller than a Chaos Warrior)
**Unique active ability: ''Animosity''- Victor screams lets out his [[RAGE]]. All nearby allies have their critical rate enhanced for 6 seconds, and nearby enemies are knocked back. Can be upgraded to give yourself guaranteed crits, refund 40% cooldown if the shout hits ten enemies, or ping everyone hit by it with Witch Hunt.
*'''Bounty Hunter''': When his order attempted to cover up what happened at Ubersreik, Salty removed his heraldry to fight the Skaven himself, taking odd-jobs on the side to pay for his endeavors. While officially he's still a witch hunter, he doesn't associate much with other witch hunters anymore after the threats they made in response to Saltzpyre snapping and speaking his mind about the Skaven. He's less of a religious fanatic and more pragmatic as a result. As a Bounty Hunter, Victor focuses on ranged weaponry to blast away Skaven and Chaos Warriors alike. He also dressed in a similar appearance with [[C.L.Werner|Brunner]], a canon bounty hunter.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blessed Shots''- Guaranteed ranged critical every 10 seconds
***''Ammo Pouches''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Quick Release''- Improved reload rate
**Unique active ability: ''Locked and Loaded''- Fires a powerful shot that pierces multiple enemies...and potentially allies too, so everyone involved really should try to be careful with the Bounty Hunter around. Can be upgraded to have massive cooldown reduction on headshot, get more pellets on the next shot based on the number hit on the current shot, or have ranged crits reduce the cooldown by 20%.
*'''Zealot''': The horrors of Ubersreik and the Witch Hunters' refusal to admit the threat the Skaven pose have caused Victor to give up on earthly organizations entirely and place his trust in Sigmar alone, with the rest of the world fit only to be cleansed in righteous fire. Victor as a Zealot favors vicious melee combat, and not only is his armor some of the best in the game even without the Flagellant talent (which is mandatory while playing the class), a heaping helping of faith and holy rage makes him even more dangerous as he loses health - after all, the end is upon us, why not shed as much blood as possible before it goes? As a nice bonus, picking up grimoires will count towards his health-based attack boosts.
** Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Fiery Faith''- Attack power increased by 5% for every 25 health lost (up to 20%)
***''Unswerving Strikes''- Heavy attacks cannot be interrupted by enemy attacks.
***''Heart of Iron''- Ignores death upon taking lethal damage (long cooldown)
**Unique active ability: ''Holy Fervor''- Charge forward and gain 25% attack speed boost for 5 seconds. Can be upgraded to be unkillable during the skill, or gain stacks that either reduce cooldown or increase attack power.

===Markus Kruber (aka Markus de Mandelot)===
[[This Guy|Faithful, dependable Markus]], always willing to help out, continues to serve against the Ratmen for both coin and conscience. The universe seems to have rewarded him for being a nice, simple guy because none of his careers turn out badly for him. Either he gets deeper into merc life (the canon choice), he takes some time off to breathe as a Huntsman, or he's recognized for his achievements and gets inducted into the Order of the Reikhammer as a Foot Knight. Later in the story, his ancient bloodline is revealed and he becomes an official Grail Knight of Bretonnia. This means he somehow made the journey to Bretonnia, fought all manner of beasts and monsters (while drunk) and even [[Awesome|proved himself to]] [[The Green Knight]] before finally sipping some <strike>[[Lileath|elven goddess]]</strike>[[Lady of the Lake|Lake Lady]] bathwater, gaining the requisite powers, stupid French accent and... [[Troll|"chivalric" manner]]. Let's just hope his good luck continues to hold, eh?
*'''Mercenary''': The life of a mercenary has suited Markus well, in no small part due to not having to answer to incompetent leaders like he used to. Being a Mercenary allows Markus a good degree of versatility, with medium armor that grants protection without losing maneuverability and a focus on using sweeping attacks to clear out hordes.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Paced Strikes''- Hitting 3 enemies in 1 swing boosts attack speed by 10% for 6 seconds
***''Hitting the Sweet Spot''- 25% more cleave (attacks hit more enemies at once)
***''No More Laughin' Now''- Critical hit rate improved by +5%
**Unique active ability: ''Morale Boost''- Staggers nearby enemies and grants nearby allies temporary bonus health. Can be upgraded to give a defense buff for all alies, reduce the cooldown or immediately revive allies.
*'''Huntsman''': After Ubersreik, Markus found a degree of inner peace by devoting himself to Taal and Rhya, the gods of nature (though not devoted enough such that gunpowder weaponry is disallowed on him). As a Huntsman, Markus trades away his access to heavier armor for greater proficiency with ranged weapons of all kinds. He also gets to use a bow, a ranged weapon unique to the Huntsman career that, while much slower than Kerillian's, holds a lot of ammunition and does considerable damage. Had a hilarious bug that [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKoqArJjYIo pretty much gave him an AK-47] and absolutely melted bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Waste Not, Want Not''- Ranged headshots return 1 ammo
***''Poacher's Mark''- Effective range for ranged weapons doubled
***''Call Out Weakness'' - Aura that boosts critical rate by +5%
***''Deep Pockets'' - +50% ammo capacity
**Unique active ability: ''Hunter's Prowl'': Become invisible for a short time; automatically reloads ranged weapon for no ammo cost, improves reload speed, and adds 1.5x damage multiplier to ranged attacks while invisible. Can be upgraded to reduce the cooldown, increase the duration or have ranged attacks not break stealth.
*'''Foot Knight''': For his part in the defense of Ubersreik, Markus was made a Knight of the Order of the Reikshammer. Markus may not have been aiming for the position, but his heavy armor, protective aura, and highly disruptive ultimate make him an excellent tank as a Foot Knight.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''Protective Presence''- Aura that reduces damage taken by 15%
***''Taal's Fortitude'' - Extra stamina shield
***''No Guts, No Glory'' - Reduces damage taken by 10%
**Unique active ability: ''Valiant Charge''- Charges forward, knocking back any enemies hit by the charge. Also interrupts and stuns bosses and specials. Can be upgraded to make Kruber temporarily invincible, have increased size and the ability to knock over greater enemies, or grant increased attack speed for every enemy hit.
*'''Grail Knight''': MOTHERFUCKING GRAIL KNIGHT!!! The first unique class introduced and locked behind a DLC wall. It was revealed one day Kruber found out his Bretonnian lineage after he received a mysterious letter that was addressed to him with the '''de Mandelot''' surname. According to Lohner, he used his huge information network to traced back Kruber's bloodline and found out his father was actually a Bretonnian! but not just any Bretonnian: '''Foricarl de Mandelot'''! who used to be a well-known grail knight in Parravon after he saved the city from a dragon with style! He was widely worshiped since then with arts, music, and clothes referencing him. It wasn't until the duke's son, an arsehole by the name ''Willibald'' who is jealous of the hero's deed that he killed his father, the duke of Parravon, and framed Foricarl for it. The lady had to intervene herself and turned the fucktard into a frog but it was all too late, for Foricarl had already self-exiled in shame. Despite that, he continued to slay beasts and killing chaos shit like a badass until he finally settled at '''Ubersreik Hills''' and impregnated Kruber's mama, only to leave her before Kruber was even born. With the lady's blessing, Kruber is now '''Markus de Mandelot'''! And he now has [[troll|the privilege call his teammates peasants, acting cockier and mightier than even Kerilian, while Bretonnian dancing all the way to the waystone, one-shotting any foe he came across with his magical sword ability]] (a voiceline while waiting to start on a Chaos Wastes expedition ''really'' has him imply he's been talking down to Saltzpyre after becoming a Grail Knight just to be a troll). Just like Slayer Bardin Markus can't use ranged weapons in this career (because peasant weapon dislike and chivalry bullshit), and he doesn't even have the option of throwing axes like Slayer Bardin does (again, see above), but his special buffs, move speed and ability make him a fantastic boss killer and crowd controller.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''The Lady's Duty''- Get 2 random quests that grant buffs to the party when completed, lasting until the mission is over. Can be upgraded to have a third quest, stronger buffs, or a repeatable quest that grants a potion of strength each time.
***''Knight's Challenge'' - 25% extra damage to the first enemy hit.
***''Thirst for Glory'' - 10% move speed increase
***''Bastion of Bretonnia'' - Your shields can now block Warpfire
**Unique active ability: ''Blessed Blade''- Smite a target with a holy blade. Can be upgraded to deal even more single target damage with a slash and stab, change into a horizontal crowd cleaver or stay the same and increase movement speed upon kill.

===Kerillian===
The elf continues to be a standoffish, if slightly nicer, jerk, though her sensitivity masks hidden scars. Her faith forms the crux of her careers, whether remaining a faithful, if conflicted, Waystalker (This is canon), a Handmaiden more devoted to Isha and protecting others, or losing herself to bloodlust and becoming a Shade of [[Khaine]]. The Drachenfels DLC reveals that Kerillian basically has the biggest impact on the story out of the whole party, with consequences reaching to the rest of Warhammer. She received a vision about how Ubersreik MIGHT have to do with the fall of Athel Loren. With pride and without any thought, she ambushed two regiments of soldiers from Nuln meant to reinforce the city, leaving it undefended... From the Skaven. That's right, [[Fail|because of her pride, she's responsible for ALL of the slaughter and death caused by the Vermintide, and contributed more than a fair bit to bringing about the End Times]].This explains her biting behavior, a shield to her own failures. The pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes broke her resolve and caused her to question her faith, giving up her regrets to Isha and becoming a Sister of the Thorn, losing part of herself and becoming more cynical than ever.
*'''Waystalker''': Frustrated with the clumsiness of her companions, Kerillian has resolved to further hone her skills to compensate further for the "lumberfoots". As a Waystalker, Kerillian further specializes in her longbow, both for precision sniping and for raining arrows on enemies.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Amaranthe''- Automatically regenerate health (3 health per 10 seconds, up to a maximum of half your total hit points)
***''Arrow-Storm''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Waywatcher's Bow''- Effective range for ranged weapons is doubled
**Unique active ability: ''Trueflight Volley''- Fires a volley of homing arrows. Can be upgraded to fire one more arrow, refund ammunition when killing specials, or turn into a single piercing arrow that deals massive damage and has no cooldown when you get a headshot.
*'''Handmaiden''': Through the subtle guidance of the Everqueen, Kerillian came across a long-lost shrine to Isha and gave herself up to serve her. Kerillian's Handmaiden Career focuses primarily on dancing around enemies in direct melee combat, and is her most durable career option through both maximum health, stamina, and mobility. The career for players that are allergic to standing still.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''The Dance of Seasons''- 15% longer dodge distance
***''Aura of Renewal''- Aura that increases stamina regeneration speed by 100%
***''Ariel's Benison''- Cannot be interrupted when reviving allies
**Unique active ability: ''Dash''- Quickly dash forward through enemies, stunning enemies that are hit and causing them to bleed. Has a hilariously low cooldown, the lowest of all of the game's abilities. Can be upgraded to become invisible after the dash, make anyone you hit bleed or gain crit chance based on how many enemies you hit.
*'''Shade''': One of Kerillian's dreams spoke of an ancestor of hers who dwelled in Clar Karond, and with it came the voice of [[Khaine]] urging her to reclaim the mantle of her ancestor. Kerillian as a Shade is an assassin, focused on rapidly killing elite, special, and boss enemies. She also gains access to the volley crossbow in this career. This is the class to play if you really like killing the absolute shit out of Chaos Warriors and bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Murderous Prowess''- 50% damage bonus when attacking enemies from behind
***''Assassin's Blade''- Critical hit backstabs instantly kill man-sized enemies
**Unique active ability: ''Infiltrate''- Become invisible and intangible for 10 seconds, or until performing an attack. Also has a unlisted effect where any melee attack that ends Infiltrate gets a massive damage boost; depending on the weapon this can increase the power of Kerillian's melee attacks to the point where they 1-hit kill a Chaos Warrior on Legendary difficulty, and can even reach the maximum damage value possible for a single attack. Can be upgraded to have less cooldown and grant more crit chance after it ends at the cost of losing the damage bonus, cause her to blink forward while damaging enemies, or allowing her to attack without breaking stealth exactly one time.
*'''Sisters of the Thorn''': The 3rd microtransaction DLC career. In truth, Kerillian has been losing faith in her goddess Lileath for some times, and it finally reached a critical point after the '''Citadel of Eternity''' shenanigan where the said goddess did not answer her. Hoping to rededicate herself to the weaves once more, she began courting other goddesses (even [[Ereth Khial]], the kind of goddess only the mentally ill elf would worship). She ended up going back to Athel Loran to seek answers, and offered up her uncertainty and regrets to the forest. Doing so allowed her to become a '''Sister of the Thorn''' , a handmaiden of Isha who can raise up a thorn bush wall to block enemies (or just turn them into a deadly thorn spike that bleeds anyone it targets) as well as providing extra healing to her teammates, leeching extra temporary health from them in exchange. She now also calls her teammates "meat", as if [[Ferrus Manus|flesh is weaker]] compared to her, a superior plant fused being.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''A Cluster of Radiants''- Gain a radiance charge that allows free use of your active every 60 seconds.
***''A Murder of Sprites''- Deals more damage to wounded units depending on their remaining health, up to 50%.
***''A Sustenance of Leeches''- Gain temp health if a party member gains temp health when they're at full health.
***''An Attendance of Munificents''- +25% healing for everyone.
**Unique active ability: ''Thornwake''- Raise a thornwall that blocks movement. Can be upgraded to last longer, deal more damage and apply bleed at the cost of duration or explode with poison when it expires, increasing damage dealt to enemies caught.

===Bardin Goreksson===
Short, stout and sure to stomp your arse, Bardin is here to help out his dawris and slaughter some rakis (and anything else that comes in the way). Either he continued his quest for Karak Zorn as a Ranger Veteran (Which is canon), returned to his roots as an Ironbreaker, or forsook life in pursuit of honorable death as a [[Slayer]]. After the trip to Drachenfels however, the regrets that surfaced made him look to his old passions of becoming an Engineer, and thus, became an Outcast Engineer. Life STILL isn't smooth sailing for him, as Lohner's journals reveal that his daughter has gone missing. Whether she'll be found is anyone's guess...
*'''Ranger Veteran''': Karak Zorn is yet to be found, but the defense of Reikland currently comes first for Bardin. Bardin the Ranger Veteran favors the use of ranged weaponry to punish foes from a distance, but he's more than able to hold his own in melee if a hail of crossbow bolts doesn't do the trick. Cousin Okri would be proud. While this used to be the least powerful of the range-focused careers due to lacking a consistent means of generating ammo for itself, recent balance updates have made it into an extremely versatile and powerful support class. Of particular note is a talent that gives a chance for every special enemy you kill to drop a bomb, which is just hilariously strong.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Survivalist''- Special enemies drop ammo on death
***''Loaded for Battle''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Fast Hands''- Increased reload speed
***''Ingenious Improvisation'' - 10% chance to not consume health items, potions, or bombs on use
**Unique active ability: ''Disengage''- Drops a smoke bomb that staggers enemies and turns Bardin invisible as long as he remains within the cloud. Lasts ten seconds. While invisible, Bardin gains increased ranged attack power. Can be upgraded to remain stealthed even outside the cloud, grant everyone attack speed and temp health while in it, or basically allowing you a free bomb throw.
*'''Ironbreaker''': Bardin used to be an Ironbreaker in Kazak Norn, and following the defense of Ubersreik he took up his old oaths and gromril armor once more. The heavy armor and shield of the Ironbreaker makes Bardin a superb tank that can take whatever the enemy can dish out, and then return it in kind. In addition, he gains access to a drakegun and drakefire pistols, which let him spew out gouts of flame. Like in the first game, they do not use ammo and instead use a heat meter, like Sienna. Be mindful that this also means that they'll kill you if the heat gauge maxes out.
**Unique passive abilities:
** Base Health: 150
***''Gromril Armor''- Negates all damage from 1 hit every 20 seconds.
***''Dwarf-Forged''- Reduces damage taken by 30%
***''Doughty''- Grants an extra stamina shield
***''Resilient''- Decreases stun duration after getting hit by an attack by 50%
**Unique active ability: ''Impenetrable''- Briefly staggers nearby enemies, then forces all man-sized enemies among them to attack Bardin exclusively. Bardin also takes no stamina damage while blocking for the duration, and can block normally unblockable attacks. Can be upgraded to give everyone a power increase, increase its range and duration, or the ability to affect even monsters.
*'''[[Slayer]]''': Bardin had been carrying a secret burden in his heart even before Ubersreik, and by the time the Skaven came to Helmgart he had taken up the Slayer's Oath in the hopes of an honorable death. As a Slayer, Bardin can't use ranged weapons at all but becomes a melee powerhouse, with exclusive access to the Dual Axes weapon and the ability to take a second melee weapon to replace his ranged weapon slot. Despite his deceptively low base health, he's one of the tankiest things in the game due to his Oblivious to Pain talent, which is practically mandatory while playing the class. He even has another talent that can increase his base health, as if this weren't enough.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Trophy Hunter''- Stacking damage buff gained upon hitting an enemy
***''Path of Carnage''- +7.5% attack speed
**Unique active ability: ''Leap''- Leap forward, stunning enemies and gaining a temporary boost to attack speed.
*'''Outcast Engineer''': Bardin's fourth unique DLC locked class (chronologically the 2nd paid class DLC). Ever since he returned from castle [[Drachenfels]], Bardin has been busy locking himself alone studying machinery. According to Lohner, his uncle '''Drakki Dagsson''' used to be an engineer whom Bardin looked up, much dismay to his traditionalist dad '''Gorrek Dagsson''' who shuns technology and often came to an disagreement with his brother Drakki. Upon learning Bardin is going to become a apprentice engineer, Dagsson went to disengaged pneumatic supports at the mine out of anger and cause an earthquake, which also happened at the same time when Bardin is about to receive his apprenticeship. Dagsson managed to get most of the Dwarf to safety before the debris and stones swallowed him alive with the remaining Dwarfs. This forced Bardin to quit his passion to follow his father's footstep, becoming an Ironbreaker, and the good ol' Drakki took the blame for the mining accident and becoming a slayer out of guilt (because of how heroic Dagsson was) and died in a troll cave. Still, tragedy did not end there for Bardin for he would later failed to defend his home, his family and his beardling son just because he wasn't strong enough to fight off a gutter runner, even led his entire team of sentry died saving him in the process. Filled with grief, Bardin decided to leave his hold and search for Karak Zorn as an excuse to exile himself (because seeker sounds better than exile) but ended up joining Victor's anti-ratman crusade at Ubersreik instead. The demon living in castle [[Drachenfels]] read everyone like an open book, including a magic resistant Dwarf, and it sarcastically mocked Bardin of his old shame. Having realized maybe he should never followed his father's path and perhapes he was never suited for being an Ironbreaker, he went back to his old tinkering passion. With Lohner's help, Bardin acquired materials, minerals needed for his various tools of destruction like his signature crank gun (read: [[Awesome|handheld Gatling gun, or handheld super repeater handgun because Richard Jordan Gatling doesn't exist in Warhammer world]]) and is now out to destroy all those Thaggrakis and Dumals with it!
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Build Pressure''- Holding reload with the crank gun equipped builds pressure, gradually restoring the ability bar. Stacks are lost when you fire.
***''Gunsmith''- +50% Max ammo.
***''Spotter''- +10% Ranged Power to nearby allies.
***''Utility Belt''- Allows you to carry three different bombs, cycling through them with the bomb key.
**Unique active ability: ''Steam-Assisted Crank Gun (mk2)''- An interesting active ability that's more like a third weapon, activating Bardin's special gun. Switching to the gun doesn't use up the bar, nor does it build up automatically. You "Reload" the gun in order to fill up your ability bar over time, and you can fire it as long as you have "ammo" in it. Can be upgraded to fire slower but stronger slugs, immediately start out firing at full speed, or have a longer ability bar that temporarily isn't used when you kill a special.

===Sienna Fuegonasus===
As fiery and feisty as ever, the U5's witch is here to blaze a trail through rat and rot alike. How she does it forms the basis of her paths in life: She either made an attempt to discipline herself as a Battle Wizard (Canon), split between freedom and control as a Pyromancer or lost herself to the flame as an Unchained. It's eventually revealed in Lohner's journals that Sienna "had" a sister named Sofia. They weren't on the best terms, but they were family, so when Sofia was accused of being a [[Necromancer]], Sienna burned the town responsible for accusing her. [[Fail|And then it turns out she WAS a necromancer, so Sienna burned her too]]. Note the quotation marks, as Lohner recently got a letter from someone claiming to be Sofia, blackmailing him to do her a favor or else some of his unsavory secrets would be revealed. This fiasco looks to blow up in everyone's faces, which, really, fits anything to do with Sienna.
*'''Battle Wizard''': Ubersreik taught Sienna the value of self-control, and while she was reluctant to do so she has learned to control the flame for the first time. The greater degree of self-discipline Sienna has as a Battle Wizard allows her to focus on perfecting her spellcasting, letting her cast spells more quickly, more often, and for more damage.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Tranquility''- Passively vents overcharge after 6 seconds of not casting spells
***''Reckless Haste''- Overcharge increases spell charge rate
***''Pyromantic Surge''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''Fire Walk''- Quickly teleport forward, leaving a trail of fire behind you. Can be upgraded to have lower cooldown, a bigger and stronger explosion with no more fire trail, or the ability to double-cast within 10 seconds.
*'''Pyromancer''': While far from having the control of a proper Battle Wizard, Sienna has enough self-awareness to restrain herself from the most ostentatious of fire magic. Sienna the Pyromancer trades in the consistency of her Battle Wizard career for more explosive moments of burst damage. Of special note is a talent which lets her activated ability also instantly clear all overcharge.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Critical Mass''- Critical chance increases based on overcharge level
***''Searing Focus''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''The Burning Head''- A powerful fire blast that initially travels directly forward, but after a short time it will attempt to home in on the closest enemy; holding the active ability key down allows the user to designate a target for the fire blast to home in on instead. It will jump from foe to foe, killing until it runs out of power. Anything not killed by the blast is staggered, including bosses. Can be upgraded to refund cooldown on crit, vent her overcharge on cast or give her temporary health.
*'''Unchained''': Sienna's addiction to magic has finally overwhelmed her, and now she lives only from one magical high to the next. As an Unchained, Sienna favors magically-boosted melee, with a focus on generating as much overcharge as possible before moving in for the kill.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blood Magic''- 50% of damage received is converted to overcharge. Do not get hit while at high levels of overcharge, lest you accidentally [[Fail|explode yourself like a dunce]].
***''Slave to Aqshy''- No overcharge slowdown
***''Unstable Strength''- High overcharge increases melee attack power up to 60%
**Unique active ability: ''Living Bomb''- Expends all overcharge to produce a massive explosion centered on Sienna, dealing heavy damage to all nearby enemies. Fortunately, this can be done even while beginning to explode from too much overcharge. Can be upgraded to increase power based on how many you hit, gain a scorching aura after it's finished or give everyone temp health.

== Other Characters ==
*'''Franz Lohner''': The bartender of the Red Moon Inn, transferring over to the Taal's Horn Keep. You guys do the heavy lifting, he does most of the behind the scenes stuff: Keeping your home nice and cozy, getting intel, stocking up on supplies, you get the drill. Unfortunately, he also runs the Emporium of Wonders, aka, [[Rage|the microtransaction shop]]. Seemingly knows everything and everyone, including any secrets your own characters have. Talking to him has him rattle off various nods to the lore of Warhammer and more specifically, [[The End Times]]. The devs also use him to write journals and story bits about the game through the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", which are tidbits for his journal. Journal entries and random conversations heavily imply that he's [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat|Morgan Bernhardt from Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omen.]]
*'''Olesya Pimenova''': The carriage handler from the first game turned out to be a Gray Witch. Whod've thunk? As usual, your ride in and out of your jobs, this time using a Bridge of Shadows teleporter instead of horses. Helps make plans along with Lohner while occasionally working alongside you on your missions, secretly doing magic stuff while you not-so-secretly kill everything. Heavily implied to be the true form of the Grey Wizard Christoph Engel from the first game. She also has the hots for Kruber, a fact which he's unfortunately aware of.
*'''Catrinne of Aldenstein''': The artist making all the paintings you can decorate the keep with once you find three pieces of Ravaged Art in a mission. You never see her, but you can sometimes hear her. She's haunted by visions which inspire her paintings, but Lohner's wary of how ominous she describes them. She apparently has a crush on Saltzpyre (A fact which Salty himself doesn't know, but hilariously enough, Kruber does), and she sometimes has to fight off Bardin from eating her brushes because he finds them delicious.

== Enemies ==

'''Bosses'''
* '''Grey Seer Rasknitt:''' The same asshole in charge of invading Ubersreik is back, and he's the final boss of the main campaign. Having captured the heroes in the first game, he attempts to sacrifice them to fuel the Skittergate, a portal contraption capable of bringing in huge armies in a flash. With it, he and the Rotbloods swarmed Helmgart and the countryside, though as is typical of technology made by mice, it breaks in the prologue. It's fixed soon after though, and much of the game is dedicated to destroying it. During the final showdown, he sent his precious Stormfiend called Deathrattler (who uses dual-ratling guns instead of the flamethrowers) against you, only to call it a worthless piece of junk after the heroes killed it. He then attacks the heroes with his Skaven magic, teleports around at lightning speed while summoning special Skaven of all types, then is blown the fuck up once the rat bastard's health is at its end. You then get his helmet as a trophy for the Keep, and the fact that it has voices whispering into it explains MUCH about how insane this rat-bastard is.
* '''Chaos Champion Bödvarr Ribspreader:''' Here to spread ribs and smiles in Papa Nurgle's name, Ribspreader is a Champion of Chaos and the scary dude on the box cover. The leader of the Rotbloods, who are said to be insane even by Chaos Warbands' standards, he's here to slaughter and destroy, and has allied himself with Rasknitt for that purpose. He berates the Grey Seer for the portal's failure, but interestingly enough ''doesn't'' rip his spine out for it, though it's probably because Rasknitt is more powerful than he is. Figures mainly into Act 3, where the gang messes with everything he has. After hitting a breaking point as the heroes foil his plans and kill his men and free his slaves, he sends out most of his army to scout for and attack the Keep, but thanks to Olesya reading the script, they learn about this, attack his under-staffed camp, and kill him in his own arena. Despite claiming that he can take care of the heroes all by himself, he displays cowardice, [[Carron|ranting and bawwing about the precious slaves and loots he lost to the Ubersreik Five/Four/Doesn't Matter]] when he starts losing and calls his warriors for aid, with a horde attacking as he loses health. Interesting to note that despite being a Nurgle worshipper, he has a magic axe (which the axe itself is alive, noted by the growing eye skull on the axe) that he can call back to him if he ever throws it out against the players. Saltzpyre would often refer to it as "flying axe witch" whenever it was thrown. You gain this axe as a trophy for the keep, and study of it reveals that Ribby is just one of many, many Chaos Warriors who wielded the thing.
* '''Burblespue Halescourge:''' The Nurgle sorcerer lord that the Skaven met back at Stromdorf, and the boss of Act 1. Has a good manner like papa Nurgle himself and he can do everything that the Nurgle sorcerer can do in the game (AKA life drain & Nurgle Vortex) only tougher and more AOE green plague in the oxygen, with a couple of unique abilities like summoning a swarm of flies to chase and stun one of the players, summon green images of himself to attack the players as well as erect an even bigger green vortex in the center of the battlefield. He will absolutely make you fucking rage with his lack of visual cues for his attacks, his billion and one hit points, and his habit of teleporting around like a fucking asshole whenever someone so much as sneezes on the fucker. Has a large number of very angry nicknames from the fandom, several of which have even made it into official patch notes (e.g. "Bunglesnatch Humbledink", "Vorpalblade Noobhurl", "Hailstorm Barbeque", "Bubbly-Spurge" and "Bubblespit Halleberry", among many others). You get his staff and tome from killing him, and you find out the latter was made from human skin and inked in blood. Lovely.
* '''Skarrik Spinemanglr:''' The "Scary" Skaven Warlord in charge, and the boss of Act 2. Seem to be heavily inspired by Queek Headtaker in both his looks, size, and unskavenly bravery, although he uses a more traditional halberd alongside dual shortswords. Just like Queek, he is the largest non-monster Skaven of them all, towering over the players. He will regularly summon Stormvermin and Skavenslaves, if you don't take care of them quickly it can snowball into a horde no player could ever hope to kill. He is also fully armored like Ribspreader, but unlike him, Skarrik is much faster, forcing the player to have a frustrating time of chipping his health away with their seemly ineffective charge attack. Also, he calls you [[What|cat fondlers]] and is responsible for Saltzpyre's lost eye. After he dies, civil war and general chaos erupts throughout the Skaven underground, decreasing the amount of forces guarding the Skittergate. You also get his armor and spears for the keep.
* '''Nurgloth the Eternal:''' A new boss for the new Drachenfels DLC map and another one of Nurgle's stinky boy. He used to be the chief rival of shitstorm sorcerer from above, and has been trying to take over his rival's throne. Like every dumbass heretical sorcerer, he went after old Drachenfels' castle in search of his old research about demons and other crazy shit to make himself even more powerful, which he did and was possessed or at least is in contract with a demon, but was driven mad after he glimpsed the realm of chaos. Still, it allows him to see a bit of future sight as well as gaining much higher power than before. After our heroes defeated the two walking-toilets above, he began his no-good operation in Drachenfels' castle and started to sacrifice captured villagers from nearby for his ritual. His little scheme didn't go unnoticed under Lohner's ear and was dealt with by our heroes after a trilogy of missions. In combat, he wields a giant scythe for slicing while he hovers (only the last phase), shoots flies that explode and snare the player, summons his rotblood minions, and using a magic attack that resembles an AoE ability from a typical MOBA game. Currently the hardest boss due to the amount of health he has and the bullshit last phase where he seeks out players and knocks them to his magic fart zone with his rotblood minions still roaming around him. He also explodes when you kill him, and you acquire his scythe and armor for your victory.
* '''Gatekeeper Nagfahr:''' A Ribspreader look-alike, even shares the same axe design....until the recent patch came and changed its entire outlook. He now only uses a normal axe with his head exposed: [[Eliphas the Inheritor| pale bald head]], probably the only chaos warriors that showed his face in the game. Responsible for guarding the skittergate key staff. Was [[chaos|blessed]] during the battle and turned into...[[Chaos Spawn|It-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named]]. Far easier than Ribspreader, being a level's mid-boss to build up to the final battle with Rasknitt.
* '''Baron Justus Francke:''' Not an enemy you fight but nonetheless important to the plot. Besides the Skaven having a portal underneath Helmgart, Fucko Francke is the other reason Ussingen and the countryside were overrun so quickly. It's revealed he made some kind of deal with the Rotbloods and Clan Fester, and like a lot of shitty nobles, might've been in league with the Chaos Gods even before the invasion. His fortified mansion, the only undamaged building in Ussingen, is blown up accordingly by the heroes. His fate is unknown.

'''Skaven'''
 Clan Fester's back, and they're pissed. Sore after getting thwarted at Ubersreik, they want revenge. They almost managed to get it by capturing the heroes and finally managing to capture Ubersreik, and with the Rotblood alliance for constructing a Skittergate portal to Norsca, things seem to be in the bag... Until [[Fail|it malfunctions and frees Kruber, leading him to free everyone else]]. Still, they're stronger now, with Clan Pestilens rats joining their ranks and being just as determined as ever to spread the power of the warp and stave off their extinction.
* '''Skavenslaves:''' Still the most piss-poor enemies in the game. Even though they come in huge swarms they're only dangerous if they blindside you or if you're too busy dealing with actual threats.
* '''Clanrats:''' Rank and file of clan Fester, only slightly better than slaves. Now come with a shield and hand weapon variant that could hopefully block one or two hits from the front and make dealing with the horde slightly more difficult.
* '''Plague Monks:''' A more durable Skaven with fast attacks designed to exhaust the player's stamina. Weak to ranged fire but hit like a freight train and knock you back. They let out a loud howl when they charge, but can be hard to spot in a swarm. Usually, spawn in triplets and tend to focus a single target just to make sure even 7+ stamina would not be enough to withstand their attack.
* '''Stormvermin''' - The most common breed of Special Skaven, Stormvermin will spawn at random among the crowds of Clanrats seeded throughout the various levels. Unlike the rest of their ratty brethren, the Stormvermin have actual armor, actual weapons, and actual training, making them a serious threat. Their halberds do more damage than the standard Clanrat improvised weaponry, and hits against them that don't aim for the head (or have the Armor Piercing trait) will glance off their armor. Even blocking their attacks is difficult, since they do significant Stamina damage and therefore have a high chance of breaking your block and putting you into stun, making you an easy kill. At higher difficulties, they become one of the most significant threats in the game, and require careful combat to take down safely or make ranged weapons good at taking them down quick very desirable.
* '''Stormvermin''' (Sword & Shield): Elite troops who still sound vaguely like Bane, except some of them now have swords and shields that give them multiple attacks and near-immunity to frontal hits (but mercifully deals less damage than the halberd wielders), plus their shields are metal and can't be broken. All around assholes, and a definite reason to consider having a handgun on the team since it's one of the only ranged weapons capable of easily handling them from the front.
* '''The Stormvermin Patrol''' - Once or twice per map, if you're listening carefully, you'll hear the sound of rats shouting out a ratty little marching drill. And if you're smart, you'll hide. If you're not smart, you'll die, because the Patrol is a massive mob of Stormvermin that all aggro at once if they spot any of the heroes, and will never back down from a fight. Their numbers are slightly randomized, but rule of thumb is for +5 rats for each difficulty level, so at Legendary difficulty you're facing patrol sizes that wouldn't be out of place in an actual game of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Yeah. [[Anal Circumference|Have fun with that]].
* '''Gutter Runner''' - Representing Clan Eshin, we have these stabby little ninja rats with warp-dust coated knives strapped to their hands. They lurk in the shadows, trying to find a hero that's cut off from the rest of the group or waiting for you to be otherwise distracted, then pounce and pin one hero to the ground while they stab and stab and stab until the puny man-thing stops moving. Once you're pinned (but you ''can'' hope to dodge their jumps at you by dodging to a side), you're helpless. It's up to the rest of the team to save you. So if you hear that strange whispering in the distance, make sure to stay close to your team.
* '''Packmaster''' - Clan Moulder's representatives, the Packmasters have taken up capturing humans for slaving. To this end, they cart around giant spiked collars on poles; if they get close enough, they'll snap that collar shut around your neck, disabling you like the Gutter Runner. The good news is that the collar doesn't hurt nearly as much as the knives and you can dodge it if you time it right. The ''bad'' news is that the Packmaster will drag you off into the distance, probably through a mob of Clanrats, and then hang you up to die - or at least for the rest of their companions to stab while you wriggle helplessly.
* '''Poison Wind Globadier''' - A Skryre-rat in a gas mask, with a miniature plague factory on its back. At a distance, it will constantly lob spheres full of gas so poisonous that it eats into the skin like acid, covering the battlefield in green clouds of death. The good news is that these are as poisonous to the other Skaven as they are to our heroes. The bad news is that you'll still die like a bitch if you stand in one. And if you get too close, they'll rig the tanks on their backs to explode, taking you with them in one final kamikaze assault.
* '''Ratling Gunner''' - Clan Skryre is pulling overtime here. This rat's got a miniaturized, one-man version of the tabletop Ratling Gun strapped to its back, and the rest of its body is covered in heavy armor. When it finds a good firing line, it'll wind up that gun and then unleash a hellstorm of warp-shot onto one of the heroes, tracking them as best as it can. The good news is that it's not very accurate, kills Skaven who enter its firing line, and tends to jam after a while. The bad news is that it's firing so many bullets that it's probably going to hit you anyway, and while it's not as powerful as a full-sized "kill both knight and his horse with a single bullet" ratling gun it still hurts a lot. Got a significant buff compared to the original game by taking body amour and revving up his gun quite a bit faster.
* '''Warpfire Thrower:''' Another Skryre-rat, now with a flamethrower strapped to its back, which it uses to spew out gouts of green fire at anything in range. The good news is that it has a shorter range compared to the Ratling Gunner and gives even less fucks about torching other Skaven and Rotbloods in its path. Bad news is it hurts even more than the Ratling Gunner, knocks you back, and blocks your vision as well - not a Special you'd want to see while you're out of ammo. The warpstone crystal on its back is its weak spot, but it violently explodes if said weak spot is hit, leaving a sizeable puddle of the flaming warpstone on the ground. While it can take out a lot of enemies with the explosion, it also makes engaging it in melee even more suicidal, especially if you use wide-sweeping weapons.
* '''Barrel Rat:''' Special Skaven enemy type that exists only in special game modes like the Weave or in Weekly Events. Their role is simple: SUICIDE BOMBER! Try to shoot them down before they reach you! A bane to melee only characters like Bardin's Slayer (without the throwing axe) and Kruber's Grail Knight.
* '''Rat Ogre''' - The triumph of Clan Moulder's scientific prowess. The Rat Ogre, like the Stormvermin Patrol, is a once-a-map event, barring special mission rules, and is always announced by a throat-peeling bellow of rage. It's a giant, hulking brute that rampages across the battlefield, pummeling and punching its way through any heroes it can find. It ''is'' possible to kite the Ogre, but the problem is that it's rarely alone; the true difficulty arises in managing the Ogre and the accompanying Clanrats at the same time, since they limit your mobility just by existing.
* '''Stormfiend:''' If you thought the Rat Ogres were a huge pain in the ass, say hello to their upgraded cousins, the masterwork of Clan Moulder and Clan Skyre! They are clad in heavy armor from the front and wield twin warp-fire throwers attached to their arms. Unlike the warpfire throwers on regular Skaven, these ones leave a burning trail on the ground for quite a time, turning a battlefield into a maze of green fire if you let it disengage and rain fire on you from distance - it's worth it to backtrack to more open areas if you come across a Stormfield because of this. Their major weakness is the smaller Skaven acting as a second brain that's stuck on their backs.
*'''Sack Rat''' - A Skaven with a big sack full of loot. Pretty rare to spawn. It doesn't attack on its own, [[Fail|but kills teams anyway as the people in it tunnel vision on it before being killed by all the other enemies in the level]] (seriously, a loading screen tip jokingly tells you to do this). If you can kill it before it runs off you'll get to claim its stuff. One of its notable dialogues is '''MINE! MINE! MINE!''' whenever it walks, so it's easy to spot it from such obvious dialogue.

'''Warriors of Chaos'''
 The Rotbloods, a Nurgle Warband so fanatical to the Rot-Father that they make typical fanatics look tame. They're in league with Clan Fester to work on the Skittergate while plundering Reikland's countryside. They're generally tougher and hit harder compared to Skaven, but come in smaller groups, are slower on flat ground, even slower at climbing vertical obstacles, and most importantly spawn from the same points rather than crawling out from every nook and cranny including those on the ceiling.
* '''Nurgle Cultists:''' Your typical cannon fodder of Nurgle about as tough as a Clanrat. Fill the same role as Skaven slaves in the Chaos horde, though they might last an extra hit compared to slaves.
* '''Chaos Marauders:''' Plague-ridden warriors that come in four flavors:
**'''Raiders''' (hand weapon) and '''Bulwarks''' (hand weapon and shield) are the basic units for the Chaos Forces and fulfill a similar role to Clanrats, but they are significantly more durable than the former.
**'''Savages(Frothers)''' (dual-wielding weapons) are pretty much carbon copies of Plague Monks and work exactly the same except its attacks aren't as fast.
**'''Maulers''' (great weapons) huge guys with huge axes and huge horned helmets. Fill the niche of a Stormvermin in the Chaos horde, leading packs of marauders and acting as a primary threat in them, except they hit even harder, depleting all the stamina in one hit, are only armored on the head and ''heavily so'' (seriously, it's not worth shooting them there with non-guns), and have more health.
* '''Chaos Warriors:''' ASININE MORTALS!! The great axe variant. The toughest non-boss enemy in the game. Has nearly three times as much health as a Stormvermin, and their armor is so thick that even headshots from guns hardly faze them. They can down you in a hit or two from full health but are very slow targets, and they'll trash talk one of you to let you know who they're aiming for. For extra fun, they sometimes spawn two or three at a time.
* '''Chaos Patrol:''' when you thought Stormvermin patrol was bad, these guys come in with their chaosy march song... Include at least '''SIX''' Warriors and Maulers even at the lowest difficulty with the rest filled with Raiders and Bulwarks. A tougher patrol by far compared to the Stormvermin's.
* '''Chaos Sorcerers of Nurgle:''' Come in two variants - the Lifeleech (also known as "[[/d/|Chester the molester]]" by many players), who teleports around and attempt to bind a character to leech their health, and the Blightstormer, who casts a Nurgle-flavored green vortex spell that sucks in both the enemies and player characters, damaging and preventing them from moving. (The Blightstormer also likes to talk about how Papa blessed them with sniffles and brings forth much joy.)
* '''Bile Trolls:''' Chaos Trolls of Nurgle. Wield huge blunt weapons and spew acidic bile that slows you and drains your stamina as long as you're exposed to it, much like Stormfields it's absolutely worth turning around to a more open part of the map to be able to better avoid the puke. They can also attempt to heal themselves over time, both as a passive effect and as an ability they channel when their health is low. When this happens, they fall to their knees and gain a temp health bar. You and everyone else better start [[Rape|dogpiling the FUCK out of it]] to empty it and prevent full health regen, or life will only suck harder.
* '''[[Chaos Spawn|The Unnameable Beasts]]:''' Tough boss monsters that like to chew you to regain their health. They are also probably the worst thing to face with pubbies, as they devour you, smack you into other players damaging and potentially downing them, and each snack they grab heals them. You will definitely want to use your bombs and any other knockback abilities you have to stop their chow time. Oh and they are about one of the fastest boss enemies just like the rat ogres with the exception being their head isn't as noticeable, therefore harder to deal big damage with headshots. Have fun with that.

'''Beastmen'''
 The Cloven Ones are an enemy faction that premieredin the "Winds of Magic" expansion pack. They are the true children of Chaos, born amidst the collapse of the Polar Warp Gates and the subsequent release of Chaos energy into the world. As such, they serve the Chaos Gods without question, as their souls are forfeit to Chaos at the moment of their conception. Although the Beastmen vary in appearance, as true to their Chaos heritage, they are mainly comprised of humanoid mutants and abominations with bestial features such as cloven hooves, horns, and goatlike heads. Warpstone meteor falling into Reikland got their attention, and now they seek to claim it as a Herdstone. Afterwards, they have a chance to appear in any mission.
* '''Ungors:''' Ungors are the weakest and most humanlike of the Beastmen, with most possessing diminutive horns or no horns at all. However, they are no less hateful and repulsive than their larger cousins. They use spears and bows, making them the first common enemy type to have a ranged attack.
* ''' Ungor Raiders:''' The weakest specials in the game, they look similar to regular Ungors but have much darker skin and white body paint across their upper body. Despite falling over in a stiff breeze, their arrows do lowish damage and they have an average rate of fire. The real threat is when you're caught out of cover by large packs of 8~10+ Ungor Raiders who will sustain fire their arrows so there's no safe opening to close the gap, and being exposed leads to a lot of damage quickly. Since they often shoot from far away at an area where melee can't reach them like a balcony or a cliff, they must be taken out with ranged weapons, which is a required waste of ammunition for some characters, unless the player is an Ironbreaker armed with a drakepistol, Bardin with a throwing axe, a Huntsman Kruber with a knack for headshots, or Sienna.
* '''Gors:''' The most common of the Beastmen, Gors form the backbone of the Beastmen Brayherd. Each Gor is recognized for their resplendent rack of horns, with larger horns denoting higher status within the Beastmen hierarchy. Prerelease screenshots and artwork show Gors wielding Man-cleavers and two-handed axes, although more variations are possible.
* '''Bestigors:''' Bestigors are the elite of the Brayherd as their name would imply. They can use a charge attack to knock down players and are heavily armored (not as much as chaos warriors despite being chaos and is more akin to Stormvermin armor), though this charge attack can be interrupted by a good hit/shot to them while charging to trip them or dodged.
* '''Standard Bearers:''' Beastmen who carry foul standards into battle to increase the Brayherds morale. They can place their magical standards to buff their comrades with a buffer of temporary health on top of their max health, and regeneration of their base health which can make fights take longer if players don't finish off enemies. Best to fight your way to the flag and smash it before things get harder.
* '''Beastmen Patrol''' - The patrol for the Beastmen. Unlike the previous two patrols, it contains some Ungor Raiders for ranged fire support and two standard-bearers with the rest filled with Bestigors.
* '''Minotaurs:''' A new monster-boss enemy, Minotaurs are the most Beastmen-like of Beastmen: extremely strong, extremely ferocious, and extremely dumb. Minotaurs are more aggressive than any other boss type, beelining for the nearest hero and attacking them relentlessly. They have a charge ability like the Stormfiend and can deal serious damage to players and enemies alike in their path. One of the nastier differences is that Minotaurs get the healing benefits of Battle Standards, but not the bonus health. This isn't too noticeable on Recruit or Veteran, but Champion and above the health regeneration makes it the hardest boss when both enemies are present together. Oh, and they're bigger than the other regular bosses, meaning more reach and having to aim higher for the head. Have fun.

== Gameplay Tips (aka How To Avoid Dying Like An Asshole) ==

1. Don't be That Guy who wanders off alone and dies due to getting incapacitated due to the half-dozen or so methods an enemy can do such a thing. I don't care how badass you think you are, nothing actually makes you immune to being pounced by a Gutter Runner, hooked by a Packmaster, yote by a Blightstormer, et cetera. Seriously, wandering off alone is one of the certain ways you can get kicked from a match, along with going AFK during horde or boss attacks.

2. If someone starts grabbing Tomes and Grimoires, fucking follow them and hope they know where to show you where the others are. Because if you are not grabbing them, you're not optimizing your loot and XP gain, thus you are shit and should uninstall this game (and/or kill yourself). Or don't, whatever, I'm not [[Asmodai]].

3. If you play Sienna and overheat more than twice in a match, don't be butthurt when you get kicked. Learn to manage your overheat, or learn to play anything else. (Same goes for playing an Ironbreaker with drakefire guns.)

4. The game is actually really great about audio clues for your enemies; if you hear something suspicious, start looking around for the source of the sound. Nine times out of ten, you can spot a Gutter Runner or other special enemy fast enough to kill it. The other tenth time? Hope your buddies didn't rush forward and leave you for dead.

5. Consider taking weapons with Shield Breaking and/or Armor Piercing if you're consistently getting fucked up by the heavier enemies. Instead of having to charge up a heavy attack, you just make regular attacks as fast as you can and watch enemies like Stormvermin and Chaos Warriors get fucked up.

6. Mix in side-dodges and pushes with your melee swings in order to defend yourself. The different weapons each have optimal attack/push/dodge patterns unique to them. Learn yours. Blind offense is a good way to get yourself killed by stray hits from trash mobs. Side-dodging repeatedly also has the benefit of helping you not get surrounded as the hordes have to relocate to you.

8. Trying to outrace other players for DPS is only going to get everyone killed, which means nobody gets loot and very little XP. Don't be that asshole who tries to "prove" something to the others by trying to outperform them. The only stat that matters is how much damage you took. Kills will happen eventually. Focus on keeping yourself alive and healthy first and foremost.

9. This is a fucking co-op game. Heal other people, leave stuff they need behind, try to watch their backs. If you can't handle this concept, then you really need to try a different game; "lone wolf" types are wasting both their time and everyone else's.

10. When the coast isn't clear, don't make forward progress in the map. You don't want to trigger a boss fight while knee deep in a horde. While dealing with shit and you have to move around, go backwards, not forwards.

11. Don't be afraid to use those bombs and potions the moment things are beginning to look dicey. One thing (horde, patrol, special) can be handled without too much trouble, but the multiples are what kills teams. Also, Strength potions oddly enough do affect ranged weapons and bombs.

12. Dash abilities (such as Foot Knight's or Zealot's abilities) can be canceled part of the way by blocking, allowing you to gain value from them while not charging away from your group if you're already with them.

13. You can block-cancel other things too, depending on your weapon. Attacks, pushes and other actions can be stopped with a block either for defense or speeding up your combos.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Ranger Veteran.png
File:Ironbreaker.png
File:Slayer.png
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper.png|[[Glottkin|HELLO I'M FUCKING FAT TOO]]
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper2.png|[[Ogre|WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SWAMP???]]
File:Lumberfoots only by a20t43c.png|How Kerillian came to live in a tent.
</gallery>

== Links ==

* [http://www.vermintide.com/ Website]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AovSuioMM2w&t=105s Announcement Trailer plus a little bit of gameplay]

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]

Vermintide 2

2021-10-14T19:29:00Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Kerillian */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:DPuLc-pX4AA3ba3.png|745px|center|thumb|HAHA! ASININE MORTALS!! TIME TO EMBRACE THE TRUE LOVE FROM OUR [[Nurgle|FATHER]]!! [[Skaven|YES-YES, WEAK MAN-THINGS DIE FROM VERMIN POX-DISEASE, YES!]]]]

'''Vermintide 2''' is the sequel to [[The End Times: Vermintide]], made possibly due to the fact that the first game surpassed expectations and did pretty fucking well for a relatively niche title (2 million fucking copies sold!). Fatshark sensibly shortened the name from "Warhammer The End Times: Vermintide 2" to avoid sounding like a Japanese light novel, much to the joy of nerds who [[skub|hate]] The End Times (pretty much everyone).

On October 10th, Vermintide 2 was announced, bringing a host of new additions. Most notably the Warriors of Chaos are being added as an enemy type. [[Nurgle|Specifically the jolly ones that don't mind being pox bloated messes]]. Along with the new enemy race, the Skaven also have a few new additions, such as the Stormfiends and Warpfire Throwers. They've also announced that [[Beastmen|everyone's favorite non-Welsh sheep shaggers]] will be added in sometime this summer.

The game was released on March 8, 2018, and quickly surpassed its prequel's success with 1 million sales in its first month alone.

The game became truly playable after a patch was released on April 12, 2018 to which [https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/30503110/c2428ecfc6ae3dbbb902a008f702bcf510ebb399.png brought back Saltzpyre's signature voiceline] (''actual'' [https://steamcommunity.com/games/552500/announcements/detail/1654386143023879919 patch notes banner]).

It is [[Awesome]].

== Setting ==

Vermintide 2 is set during the End Times, an indeterminate amount of time since the ending of the previous game. After falling into Rasknitt's trap (and thus letting Ubersreik fall), the Ubersreik Five (or Four, doesn't matter) have ended up in their own castle and banded together again to face the Skaven forces of [[Clan Fester]], along with their new allies: a Chaos Warband dedicated to [[Nurgle]] known as The Rotbloods. Both forces came together as the Pactsworn, their eyes gazed on the fortress town of Helmgart (the border town Bretonnia always conquers within the first 10 turns of an Empire [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] campaign).

Lohner has dialogue indicating [[Anal Circumference|the timeline is smack dab in the middle of the End Times as Louen Leoncouer is already dead]] (Please have mercy [[Matt Ward]])! Due to the presence of a Nurgle-aligned warband, it is possible that the game is set during/after the Fall of Marienburg. The Skaven are up to their usual hijinks (Pillaging, slaughter, slavery... You know, a normal day in Warhammer). Their main objective is trying to build something called the Skittergate [https://youtu.be/uOd7HQoKxcU?t=45| (it's different from that movie which they have never seen, so how would they copy it?)], a portal between Norsca and Helmgart, explaining how the Skaven and their new allies overran the region. The Rotbloods are here to help the Skaven with murder-fucking everyone in the Reikland and bringing great death-death to poor Helmgart. Clan Fester's also out for blood as payback for Ubersreik, even though Ubersreik apparently fell anyway.

There are a total of thirteen maps in the base campaign. These span: the town of Helmgart itself, where the heroes create a diversion at the Temple of Sigmar before the Hammerman himself purges it of vikings and rats; an Elven temple ruin in the woods where the gang uses a slow-moving puzzle to raise a magic shield; Ussingen, a farming town where the heroes rescue prisoners and later blow up a Chaos supply cache; a Nurgle-blighted canyon with a fortified Chaos Lord's tomb, which the gang destroys to stop the Rotbloods from harvesting his energy; a dense swamp, where the heroes assault the Rotbloods' main war camp and slay their leader, a Nurgle Champion; and quite a lot more besides, culminating in a double assault on the Skittergate and the Rotblood hometown in Norsca, obliterating both of them and saving Helmgart, or what's left of it. The gang is so badass that the shitty army left at Ubersreik was enough to take over while a Skaven-Rotblood alliance couldn't do jack to them. Such is life as a video game protagonist.

The ''Shadows Over Bögenhafen'' DLC has the gang end up in the titular town where they wipe out the Pactsworn a second time and keep a scary daemon sword out of Nurgle's grubby hands over two more maps. ''Back To Ubersreik'' has them enter a magic simulation of Ubersreik being run by Olesya to try to locate some mysterious runes of power in the ''real'' Ubersreik, re-defeating the Skaven in it because she's trying to keep it as "believable" as possible (and also the Rotbloods, who either found a way to break into the simulation or are part of the simulation because Olesya likes messing with our heroes), with three levels from the previous game and a secret fourth you can try out after finding runes from the past levels through a series of tedious puzzles. In the Winds of Magic DLC the Beastmen get involved because the increasingly fucked Reikland now has a meteor crash onto it, and the angry goats surge out of the woods to make a herdstone out of it. Then there's the roguelike ''Chaos Wastes'', given for free to everyone who got the game, wherein Saltzpyre sets up a pilgrimage through the wastes to assuage his waning faith.

An event for the 1 year anniversary (March 2019) gave us "A Quiet Drink," in which the party decides they've done a very good job so far, and deserve a night on the town! Worth playing just for the many custom voice lines for the utterly sloshed characters. ("Queen Kerillian demands MORE ALE!") ("It wouldn't be the same! It wouldn't have the whistle!") While the map was only available on the official realm during the event, it can still be played [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1694820325 through a mod].

Where the storyline doesn't advance as much through the game, more details can be found on the main site's dev blogs by way of the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", where the old bartender writes down his musings about current events.

== Gameplay ==

The good old Vermintide core gameplay remains intact, which means that the game still has a robust and surprisingly skill-based melee system at its core. Rather than fuck with anything that was already functional, Vermintide 2 focuses instead on adding more content to play around with. Light attacks, heavy attacks, blocking, dodging, pushing, etc., are all still here. All weapons also now have a "push attack" which is performed by holding down the attack button while blocking, causing an attack after you push.

Aside from the new enemy types, there are a couple of other new features, such as specializations for the classes (referred to as "careers"), each representing different possible paths the heroes took after Ubersreik. For example, the Dwarf can be a Slayer or an Ironbreaker, or the Wood Elf can be a Shade or Handmaiden of Isha, each one with diffferent passive abilities and active "Career Skill". This comes packaged along with a talent tree for each character and new weapons to go around for everyone. Each talent tree also comes with talents for granting temporary health (Health that's both easily lost and generated, basically allowing you to endure until the next heal) and stagger bonuses (damage bonuses against enemies you get off-balance). Alternatively, you can heal others when you use a potion on yourself, or gain more power to replace these talents.

The loot system got an overhaul too, with the devs acknowledging the first game's system was kind of bullshit. We now have [[rage|lootboxes]] like every other dev under the sun, but entirely earned through gameplay and they come unlocked, so it's basically just normal random loot drops with a loot box skin slapped on. A "Heroic Deeds" system has also been implemented, consisting of consumable quests that mix gameplay up by dramatically changing objectives, mix of enemies faced or limiting your own tools (many combinations of which are pure [[Anal Circumference]]), along with a Challenge system that's basically an alternative achievements system, rewarding you when you finish missions or sets of missions with certain difficulties, different heroes and/or harder conditions, tracking other milestones and more. These give you more chests, skins, frames for your portraits, and other goodies.

Aside from those additions,and quality of life improvements it seems to mostly be the same game, which is okay since most people just wanted it to be the first one with more stuff to begin with. For the cherry on top, the game also supports modding to the point that the devs maintain a list of "Sanctioned Mods" which can be safely used with the base game, a lot of which are pretty sweet. There's also entirely separate "Realms" for the base game and modded games. On the negative side, there's no dedicated server, instead relying on peer-to-peer connection. Better hope your host has good internet...

Two DLC campaigns are currently out: the first one, '''Shadows over Bögenhafen''', has the heroes searching for a runesword in the titular city, while '''Back to Ubersreik''' features remade versions of some of the original Vermintide missions along with new melee weapons as the Heroes of Ubersreik head off to an illusionary copy of the city to find a hidden set of runes for Olesya. The third DLC, '''Winds of Magic''', added Beastmen, a higher level cap and difficulty level, and a set of endgame challenges in the "Winds of Magic" mode. The fourth, '''Chaos Wastes''' (released for free) added another game mode which has the Ubersreik <s>Five</s><s>Four</s>It Doesn't Matter go on expedition into the titular wastes, choosing to go through a number of randomized locations with roguelike elements, allowing players to exchange or power up their equipment and get special boons while going through areas cursed with various dangers and debuffs.

==The Ubersreik Five and Careers==

Each character now has three different Careers, which affect their weapon choices, abilities, and talent trees, allowing a great deal of customization for each one. Lore-wise, the three careers are based on how each of the heroes might have reacted to the fall of Ubersreik: Either they barely changed at all (The starter career), were inspired for a higher calling, or became traumatized and jaded. The exception is Markus, whose three careers all end up being good for him.

A fourth career is on the way for each character, though it's locked behind DLC. So far, Markus, Bardin and Kerillian have their fourth class, with the other two on the way.

===Victor Saltzpyre===
The Witch-Hunteriest Witch Hunter continues to hunt... More Skaven and Rotbloods than witches, but he hunts all the same. After the Ubersreik campaign, the Order of the Silver Hammer still [[Derp| stupidly tried to deny the existence of the ratmen]], spinning the invasion as a myth. How "Salty" he was in his reaction formed the crux of his future: Either he gained more political power in the chaos, allowing him to secretly fight the ratmen (The canonical choice), spoke out against the stupidity and abandoned the order to become a bounty hunter, or he lost faith in humanity entirely and relished in fanatical worship of Sigmar. As the events of the game go on however, even this faith in Sigmar is shaken, and he organizes a pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes to assuage his fears. Journals reveal that he's coming on more to preaching and thinking on the Eternal Flame...
*'''Witch Hunter Captain''': The deaths of several Captains over the course of the End Times has allowed Victor to rise in rank, but he has had to accept that the Witch Hunters won’t recognize the fact that there’s an entire fucking empire of ratmen just below their cities; Saltzpyre now uses his new political position to fight the menace in secret. In addition to a fancier hat, Victor as a Witch Hunter Captain can do everything he could in the first game and also gets some abilities that help him support his allies.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Witch Hunt''- Enemies pinged by Victor take extra damage
***''Eternal Guard''- Blocking light frontal attacks does not consume stamina
***''Killing Shot''- Crit headshots, melee or ranged, instantly kill human-sized enemies (i.e. any non-boss enemy smaller than a Chaos Warrior)
**Unique active ability: ''Animosity''- Victor screams lets out his [[RAGE]]. All nearby allies have their critical rate enhanced for 6 seconds, and nearby enemies are knocked back. Can be upgraded to give yourself guaranteed crits, refund 40% cooldown if the shout hits ten enemies, or ping everyone hit by it with Witch Hunt.
*'''Bounty Hunter''': When his order attempted to cover up what happened at Ubersreik, Salty removed his heraldry to fight the Skaven himself, taking odd-jobs on the side to pay for his endeavors. While officially he's still a witch hunter, he doesn't associate much with other witch hunters anymore after the threats they made in response to Saltzpyre snapping and speaking his mind about the Skaven. He's less of a religious fanatic and more pragmatic as a result. As a Bounty Hunter, Victor focuses on ranged weaponry to blast away Skaven and Chaos Warriors alike. He also dressed in a similar appearance with [[C.L.Werner|Brunner]], a canon bounty hunter.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blessed Shots''- Guaranteed ranged critical every 10 seconds
***''Ammo Pouches''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Quick Release''- Improved reload rate
**Unique active ability: ''Locked and Loaded''- Fires a powerful shot that pierces multiple enemies...and potentially allies too, so everyone involved really should try to be careful with the Bounty Hunter around. Can be upgraded to have massive cooldown reduction on headshot, get more pellets on the next shot based on the number hit on the current shot, or have ranged crits reduce the cooldown by 20%.
*'''Zealot''': The horrors of Ubersreik and the Witch Hunters' refusal to admit the threat the Skaven pose have caused Victor to give up on earthly organizations entirely and place his trust in Sigmar alone, with the rest of the world fit only to be cleansed in righteous fire. Victor as a Zealot favors vicious melee combat, and not only is his armor some of the best in the game even without the Flagellant talent (which is mandatory while playing the class), a heaping helping of faith and holy rage makes him even more dangerous as he loses health - after all, the end is upon us, why not shed as much blood as possible before it goes? As a nice bonus, picking up grimoires will count towards his health-based attack boosts.
** Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Fiery Faith''- Attack power increased by 5% for every 25 health lost (up to 20%)
***''Unswerving Strikes''- Heavy attacks cannot be interrupted by enemy attacks.
***''Heart of Iron''- Ignores death upon taking lethal damage (long cooldown)
**Unique active ability: ''Holy Fervor''- Charge forward and gain 25% attack speed boost for 5 seconds. Can be upgraded to be unkillable during the skill, or gain stacks that either reduce cooldown or increase attack power.

===Markus Kruber (aka Markus de Mandelot)===
[[This Guy|Faithful, dependable Markus]], always willing to help out, continues to serve against the Ratmen for both coin and conscience. The universe seems to have rewarded him for being a nice, simple guy because none of his careers turn out badly for him. Either he gets deeper into merc life (the canon choice), he takes some time off to breathe as a Huntsman, or he's recognized for his achievements and gets inducted into the Order of the Reikhammer as a Foot Knight. Later in the story, his ancient bloodline is revealed and he becomes an official Grail Knight of Bretonnia. This means he somehow made the journey to Bretonnia, fought all manner of beasts and monsters (while drunk) and even [[Awesome|proved himself to]] [[The Green Knight]] before finally sipping some <strike>[[Lileath|elven goddess]]</strike>[[Lady of the Lake|Lake Lady]] bathwater, gaining the requisite powers, stupid French accent and... [[Troll|"chivalric" manner]]. Let's just hope his good luck continues to hold, eh?
*'''Mercenary''': The life of a mercenary has suited Markus well, in no small part due to not having to answer to incompetent leaders like he used to. Being a Mercenary allows Markus a good degree of versatility, with medium armor that grants protection without losing maneuverability and a focus on using sweeping attacks to clear out hordes.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Paced Strikes''- Hitting 3 enemies in 1 swing boosts attack speed by 10% for 6 seconds
***''Hitting the Sweet Spot''- 25% more cleave (attacks hit more enemies at once)
***''No More Laughin' Now''- Critical hit rate improved by +5%
**Unique active ability: ''Morale Boost''- Staggers nearby enemies and grants nearby allies temporary bonus health. Can be upgraded to give a defense buff for all alies, reduce the cooldown or immediately revive allies.
*'''Huntsman''': After Ubersreik, Markus found a degree of inner peace by devoting himself to Taal and Rhya, the gods of nature (though not devoted enough such that gunpowder weaponry is disallowed on him). As a Huntsman, Markus trades away his access to heavier armor for greater proficiency with ranged weapons of all kinds. He also gets to use a bow, a ranged weapon unique to the Huntsman career that, while much slower than Kerillian's, holds a lot of ammunition and does considerable damage. Had a hilarious bug that [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKoqArJjYIo pretty much gave him an AK-47] and absolutely melted bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Waste Not, Want Not''- Ranged headshots return 1 ammo
***''Poacher's Mark''- Effective range for ranged weapons doubled
***''Call Out Weakness'' - Aura that boosts critical rate by +5%
***''Deep Pockets'' - +50% ammo capacity
**Unique active ability: ''Hunter's Prowl'': Become invisible for a short time; automatically reloads ranged weapon for no ammo cost, improves reload speed, and adds 1.5x damage multiplier to ranged attacks while invisible. Can be upgraded to reduce the cooldown, increase the duration or have ranged attacks not break stealth.
*'''Foot Knight''': For his part in the defense of Ubersreik, Markus was made a Knight of the Order of the Reikshammer. Markus may not have been aiming for the position, but his heavy armor, protective aura, and highly disruptive ultimate make him an excellent tank as a Foot Knight.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''Protective Presence''- Aura that reduces damage taken by 15%
***''Taal's Fortitude'' - Extra stamina shield
***''No Guts, No Glory'' - Reduces damage taken by 10%
**Unique active ability: ''Valiant Charge''- Charges forward, knocking back any enemies hit by the charge. Also interrupts and stuns bosses and specials. Can be upgraded to make Kruber temporarily invincible, have increased size and the ability to knock over greater enemies, or grant increased attack speed for every enemy hit.
*'''Grail Knight''': MOTHERFUCKING GRAIL KNIGHT!!! The first unique class introduced and locked behind a DLC wall. It was revealed one day Kruber found out his Bretonnian lineage after he received a mysterious letter that was addressed to him with the '''de Mandelot''' surname. According to Lohner, he used his huge information network to traced back Kruber's bloodline and found out his father was actually a Bretonnian! but not just any Bretonnian: '''Foricarl de Mandelot'''! who used to be a well-known grail knight in Parravon after he saved the city from a dragon with style! He was widely worshiped since then with arts, music, and clothes referencing him. It wasn't until the duke's son, an arsehole by the name ''Willibald'' who is jealous of the hero's deed that he killed his father, the duke of Parravon, and framed Foricarl for it. The lady had to intervene herself and turned the fucktard into a frog but it was all too late, for Foricarl had already self-exiled in shame. Despite that, he continued to slay beasts and killing chaos shit like a badass until he finally settled at '''Ubersreik Hills''' and impregnated Kruber's mama, only to leave her before Kruber was even born. With the lady's blessing, Kruber is now '''Markus de Mandelot'''! And he now has [[troll|the privilege call his teammates peasants, acting cockier and mightier than even Kerilian, while Bretonnian dancing all the way to the waystone, one-shotting any foe he came across with his magical sword ability]] (a voiceline while waiting to start on a Chaos Wastes expedition ''really'' has him imply he's been talking down to Saltzpyre after becoming a Grail Knight just to be a troll). Just like Slayer Bardin Markus can't use ranged weapons in this career (because peasant weapon dislike and chivalry bullshit), and he doesn't even have the option of throwing axes like Slayer Bardin does (again, see above), but his special buffs, move speed and ability make him a fantastic boss killer and crowd controller.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''The Lady's Duty''- Get 2 random quests that grant buffs to the party when completed, lasting until the mission is over. Can be upgraded to have a third quest, stronger buffs, or a repeatable quest that grants a potion of strength each time.
***''Knight's Challenge'' - 25% extra damage to the first enemy hit.
***''Thirst for Glory'' - 10% move speed increase
***''Bastion of Bretonnia'' - Your shields can now block Warpfire
**Unique active ability: ''Blessed Blade''- Smite a target with a holy blade. Can be upgraded to deal even more single target damage with a slash and stab, change into a horizontal crowd cleaver or stay the same and increase movement speed upon kill.

===Kerillian===
The elf continues to be a standoffish, if slightly nicer, jerk, though her sensitivity masks hidden scars. Her faith forms the crux of her careers, whether remaining a faithful, if conflicted, Waystalker (This is canon), a Handmaiden more devoted to Isha and protecting others, or losing herself to bloodlust and becoming a Shade of [[Khaine]]. The Drachenfels DLC reveals that Kerillian basically has the biggest impact on the story out of the whole party, with consequences reaching to the rest of Warhammer. She received a vision about how Ubersreik MIGHT have to do with the fall of Athel Loren. With pride and without any thought, she ambushed two regiments of soldiers from Nuln meant to reinforce the city, leaving it undefended... From the Skaven. That's right, [[Fail|because of her pride, she's responsible for ALL of the slaughter and death caused by the Vermintide, and contributed more than a fair bit to bringing about the End Times]].This explains her biting behavior, a shield to her own failures. The pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes broke her resolve and caused her to question her faith, giving up her regrets to Isha and becoming a Sister of the Thorn, losing part of herself and becoming more cynical than ever.
*'''Waystalker''': Frustrated with the clumsiness of her companions, Kerillian has resolved to further hone her skills to compensate further for the "lumberfoots". As a Waystalker, Kerillian further specializes in her longbow, both for precision sniping and for raining arrows on enemies.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Amaranthe''- Automatically regenerate health (3 health per 10 seconds, up to a maximum of half your total hit points)
***''Arrow-Storm''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Waywatcher's Bow''- Effective range for ranged weapons is doubled
**Unique active ability: ''Trueflight Volley''- Fires a volley of homing arrows. Can be upgraded to fire one more arrow, refund ammunition when killing specials, or turn into a single piercing arrow that deals massive damage and has no cooldown when you get a headshot.
*'''Handmaiden''': Through the subtle guidance of the Everqueen, Kerillian came across a long-lost shrine to Isha and gave herself up to serve her. Kerillian's Handmaiden Career focuses primarily on dancing around enemies in direct melee combat, and is her most durable career option through both maximum health, stamina, and mobility. The career for players that are allergic to standing still.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''The Dance of Seasons''- 15% longer dodge distance
***''Aura of Renewal''- Aura that increases stamina regeneration speed by 100%
***''Ariel's Benison''- Cannot be interrupted when reviving allies
**Unique active ability: ''Dash''- Quickly dash forward through enemies, stunning enemies that are hit and causing them to bleed. Has a hilariously low cooldown, the lowest of all of the game's abilities. Can be upgraded to become invisible after the dash, make anyone you hit bleed or gain crit chance based on how many enemies you hit.
*'''Shade''': One of Kerillian's dreams spoke of an ancestor of hers who dwelled in Clar Karond, and with it came the voice of [[Khaine]] urging her to reclaim the mantle of her ancestor. Kerillian as a Shade is an assassin, focused on rapidly killing elite, special, and boss enemies. She also gains access to the volley crossbow in this career. This is the class to play if you really like killing the absolute shit out of Chaos Warriors and bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Murderous Prowess''- 50% damage bonus when attacking enemies from behind
***''Assassin's Blade''- Critical hit backstabs instantly kill man-sized enemies
**Unique active ability: ''Infiltrate''- Become invisible and intangible for 10 seconds, or until performing an attack. Also has a unlisted effect where any melee attack that ends Infiltrate gets a massive damage boost; depending on the weapon this can increase the power of Kerillian's melee attacks to the point where they 1-hit kill a Chaos Warrior on Legendary difficulty, and can even reach the maximum damage value possible for a single attack. Can be upgraded to have less cooldown and grant more crit chance after it ends at the cost of losing the damage bonus, cause her to blink forward while damaging enemies, or allowing her to attack without breaking stealth exactly one time.
*'''Sisters of the Thorn''': The 3rd microtransaction DLC career. In truth, Kerillian has been losing faith in her goddess Lileath for some times, and it finally reached a critical point after the '''Citadel of Eternity''' shenanigan where the said goddess did not answer her. Hoping to rededicate herself to the weaves once more, she began courting other goddesses (even [[Ereth Khial]], the kind of goddess only the mentally ill elf would worship). She ended up going back to Athel Loran to seek answers, and offered up her uncertainty and regrets to the forest. Doing so allowed her to become a '''Sister of the Thorn''' , a handmaiden of Isha who can raise up a thorn bush wall to block enemies (or just turn them into a deadly thorn spike that bleeds anyone it targets) as well as providing extra healing to her teammates, leeching extra temporary health from them in exchange. She now also calls her teammates "meat", as if [[Ferrus Manus|flesh is weaker]] compared to her, a superior plant fused being.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''A Cluster of Radiants''- Gain a radiance charge that allows free use of your active every 60 seconds.
***''A Murder of Sprites''- Deals more damage to wounded units depending on their remaining health, up to 50%.
***''A Sustenance of Leeches''- Gain temp health if a party member gains temp health when they're at full health.
***''An Attendance of Munificents''- +25% healing for everyone.
**Unique active ability: ''Thornwake''- Raise a thornwall that blocks movement. Can be upgraded to last longer, deal more damage and apply bleed at the cost of duration or explode with poison when it expires, increasing damage dealt to enemies caught.

===Bardin Goreksson===
Short, stout and sure to stomp your arse, Bardin is here to help out his dawris and slaughter some rakis (and anything else that comes in the way. Either he continued his quest for Karak Zorn as a Ranger Veteran (Which is canon), returned to his roots as an Ironbreaker, or forsook life in pursuit of honorable death as a [[Slayer]]. After the trip to Drachenfels however, the regrets that surfaced made him look to his old passions of becoming an Engineer, and thus, became an Outcast Engineer. Life STILL isn't smooth sailing for him, as Lohner's journals reveal that his daughter has gone missing. Whether she'll be found is anyone's guess...
*'''Ranger Veteran''': Karak Zorn is yet to be found, but the defense of Reikland currently comes first for Bardin. Bardin the Ranger Veteran favors the use of ranged weaponry to punish foes from a distance, but he's more than able to hold his own in melee if a hail of crossbow bolts doesn't do the trick. Cousin Okri would be proud. While this used to be the least powerful of the range-focused careers due to lacking a consistent means of generating ammo for itself, recent balance updates have made it into an extremely versatile and powerful support class. Of particular note is a talent that gives a chance for every special enemy you kill to drop a bomb, which is just hilariously strong.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Survivalist''- Special enemies drop ammo on death
***''Loaded for Battle''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Fast Hands''- Increased reload speed
***''Ingenious Improvisation'' - 10% chance to not consume health items, potions, or bombs on use
**Unique active ability: ''Disengage''- Drops a smoke bomb that staggers enemies and turns Bardin invisible as long as he remains within the cloud. Lasts ten seconds. While invisible, Bardin gains increased ranged attack power. Can be upgraded to remain stealthed even outside the cloud, grant everyone attack speed and temp health while in it, or basically allowing you a free bomb throw.
*'''Ironbreaker''': Bardin used to be an Ironbreaker in Kazak Norn, and following the defense of Ubersreik he took up his old oaths and gromril armor once more. The heavy armor and shield of the Ironbreaker makes Bardin a superb tank that can take whatever the enemy can dish out, and then return it in kind. In addition, he gains access to a drakegun and drakefire pistols, which let him spew out gouts of flame. Like in the first game, they do not use ammo and instead use a heat meter, like Sienna. Be mindful that this also means that they'll kill you if the heat gauge maxes out.
**Unique passive abilities:
** Base Health: 150
***''Gromril Armor''- Negates all damage from 1 hit every 20 seconds.
***''Dwarf-Forged''- Reduces damage taken by 30%
***''Doughty''- Grants an extra stamina shield
***''Resilient''- Decreases stun duration after getting hit by an attack by 50%
**Unique active ability: ''Impenetrable''- Briefly staggers nearby enemies, then forces all man-sized enemies among them to attack Bardin exclusively. Bardin also takes no stamina damage while blocking for the duration, and can block normally unblockable attacks. Can be upgraded to give everyone a power increase, increase its range and duration, or the ability to affect even monsters.
*'''[[Slayer]]''': Bardin had been carrying a secret burden in his heart even before Ubersreik, and by the time the Skaven came to Helmgart he had taken up the Slayer's Oath in the hopes of an honorable death. As a Slayer, Bardin can't use ranged weapons at all but becomes a melee powerhouse, with exclusive access to the Dual Axes weapon and the ability to take a second melee weapon to replace his ranged weapon slot. Despite his deceptively low base health, he's one of the tankiest things in the game due to his Oblivious to Pain talent, which is practically mandatory while playing the class. He even has another talent that can increase his base health, as if this weren't enough.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Trophy Hunter''- Stacking damage buff gained upon hitting an enemy
***''Path of Carnage''- +7.5% attack speed
**Unique active ability: ''Leap''- Leap forward, stunning enemies and gaining a temporary boost to attack speed.
*'''Outcast Engineer''': Bardin's fourth unique DLC locked class (chronologically the 2nd paid class DLC). Ever since he returned from castle [[Drachenfels]], Bardin has been busy locking himself alone studying machinery. According to Lohner, his uncle '''Drakki Dagsson''' used to be an engineer whom Bardin looked up, much dismay to his traditionalist dad '''Gorrek Dagsson''' who shuns technology and often came to an disagreement with his brother Drakki. Upon learning Bardin is going to become a apprentice engineer, Dagsson went to disengaged pneumatic supports at the mine out of anger and cause an earthquake, which also happened at the same time when Bardin is about to receive his apprenticeship. Dagsson managed to get most of the Dwarf to safety before the debris and stones swallowed him alive with the remaining Dwarfs. This forced Bardin to quit his passion to follow his father's footstep, becoming an Ironbreaker, and the good ol' Drakki took the blame for the mining accident and becoming a slayer out of guilt (because of how heroic Dagsson was) and died in a troll cave. Still, tragedy did not end there for Bardin for he would later failed to defend his home, his family and his beardling son just because he wasn't strong enough to fight off a gutter runner, even led his entire team of sentry died saving him in the process. Filled with grief, Bardin decided to leave his hold and search for Karak Zorn as an excuse to exile himself (because seeker sounds better than exile) but ended up joining Victor's anti-ratman crusade at Ubersreik instead. The demon living in castle [[Drachenfels]] read everyone like an open book, including a magic resistant Dwarf, and it sarcastically mocked Bardin of his old shame. Having realized maybe he should never followed his father's path and perhapes he was never suited for being an Ironbreaker, he went back to his old tinkering passion. With Lohner's help, Bardin acquired materials, minerals needed for his various tools of destruction like his signature crank gun (read: [[Awesome|handheld Gatling gun, or handheld super repeater handgun because Richard Jordan Gatling doesn't exist in Warhammer world]]) and is now out to destroy all those Thaggrakis and Dumals with it!
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Build Pressure''- Holding reload with the crank gun equipped builds pressure, gradually restoring the ability bar. Stacks are lost when you fire.
***''Gunsmith''- +50% Max ammo.
***''Spotter''- +10% Ranged Power to nearby allies.
***''Utility Belt''- Allows you to carry three different bombs, cycling through them with the bomb key.
**Unique active ability: ''Steam-Assisted Crank Gun (mk2)''- An interesting active ability that's more like a third weapon, activating Bardin's special gun. Switching to the gun doesn't use up the bar, nor does it build up automatically. You "Reload" the gun in order to fill up your ability bar over time, and you can fire it as long as you have "ammo" in it. Can be upgraded to fire slower but stronger slugs, immediately start out firing at full speed, or have a longer ability bar that temporarily isn't used when you kill a special.

===Sienna Fuegonasus===
As fiery and feisty as ever, the U5's witch is here to blaze a trail through rat and rot alike. How she does it forms the basis of her paths in life: She either made an attempt to discipline herself as a Battle Wizard (Canon), split between freedom and control as a Pyromancer or lost herself to the flame as an Unchained. It's eventually revealed in Lohner's journals that Sienna "had" a sister named Sofia. They weren't on the best terms, but they were family, so when Sofia was accused of being a [[Necromancer]], Sienna burned the town responsible for accusing her. [[Fail|And then it turns out she WAS a necromancer, so Sienna burned her too]]. Note the quotation marks, as Lohner recently got a letter from someone claiming to be Sofia, blackmailing him to do her a favor or else some of his unsavory secrets would be revealed. This fiasco looks to blow up in everyone's faces, which, really, fits anything to do with Sienna.
*'''Battle Wizard''': Ubersreik taught Sienna the value of self-control, and while she was reluctant to do so she has learned to control the flame for the first time. The greater degree of self-discipline Sienna has as a Battle Wizard allows her to focus on perfecting her spellcasting, letting her cast spells more quickly, more often, and for more damage.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Tranquility''- Passively vents overcharge after 6 seconds of not casting spells
***''Reckless Haste''- Overcharge increases spell charge rate
***''Pyromantic Surge''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''Fire Walk''- Quickly teleport forward, leaving a trail of fire behind you. Can be upgraded to have lower cooldown, a bigger and stronger explosion with no more fire trail, or the ability to double-cast within 10 seconds.
*'''Pyromancer''': While far from having the control of a proper Battle Wizard, Sienna has enough self-awareness to restrain herself from the most ostentatious of fire magic. Sienna the Pyromancer trades in the consistency of her Battle Wizard career for more explosive moments of burst damage. Of special note is a talent which lets her activated ability also instantly clear all overcharge.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Critical Mass''- Critical chance increases based on overcharge level
***''Searing Focus''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''The Burning Head''- A powerful fire blast that initially travels directly forward, but after a short time it will attempt to home in on the closest enemy; holding the active ability key down allows the user to designate a target for the fire blast to home in on instead. It will jump from foe to foe, killing until it runs out of power. Anything not killed by the blast is staggered, including bosses. Can be upgraded to refund cooldown on crit, vent her overcharge on cast or give her temporary health.
*'''Unchained''': Sienna's addiction to magic has finally overwhelmed her, and now she lives only from one magical high to the next. As an Unchained, Sienna favors magically-boosted melee, with a focus on generating as much overcharge as possible before moving in for the kill.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blood Magic''- 50% of damage received is converted to overcharge. Do not get hit while at high levels of overcharge, lest you accidentally [[Fail|explode yourself like a dunce]].
***''Slave to Aqshy''- No overcharge slowdown
***''Unstable Strength''- High overcharge increases melee attack power up to 60%
**Unique active ability: ''Living Bomb''- Expends all overcharge to produce a massive explosion centered on Sienna, dealing heavy damage to all nearby enemies. Fortunately, this can be done even while beginning to explode from too much overcharge. Can be upgraded to increase power based on how many you hit, gain a scorching aura after it's finished or give everyone temp health.

== Other Characters ==
*'''Franz Lohner''': The bartender of the Red Moon Inn, transferring over to the Taal's Horn Keep. You guys do the heavy lifting, he does most of the behind the scenes stuff: Keeping your home nice and cozy, getting intel, stocking up on supplies, you get the drill. Unfortunately, he also runs the Emporium of Wonders, aka, [[Rage|the microtransaction shop]]. Seemingly knows everything and everyone, including any secrets your own characters have. Talking to him has him rattle off various nods to the lore of Warhammer and more specifically, [[The End Times]]. The devs also use him to write journals and story bits about the game through the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", which are tidbits for his journal. Journal entries and random conversations heavily imply that he's [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat|Morgan Bernhardt from Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omen.]]
*'''Olesya Pimenova''': The carriage handler from the first game turned out to be a Gray Witch. Whod've thunk? As usual, your ride in and out of your jobs, this time using a Bridge of Shadows teleporter instead of horses. Helps make plans along with Lohner while occasionally working alongside you on your missions, secretly doing magic stuff while you not-so-secretly kill everything. Heavily implied to be the true form of the Grey Wizard Christoph Engel from the first game. She also has the hots for Kruber, a fact which he's unfortunately aware of.
*'''Catrinne of Aldenstein''': The artist making all the paintings you can decorate the keep with once you find three pieces of Ravaged Art in a mission. You never see her, but you can sometimes hear her. She's haunted by visions which inspire her paintings, but Lohner's wary of how ominous she describes them. She apparently has a crush on Saltzpyre (A fact which Salty himself doesn't know, but hilariously enough, Kruber does), and she sometimes has to fight off Bardin from eating her brushes because he finds them delicious.

== Enemies ==

'''Bosses'''
* '''Grey Seer Rasknitt:''' The same asshole in charge of invading Ubersreik is back, and he's the final boss of the main campaign. Having captured the heroes in the first game, he attempts to sacrifice them to fuel the Skittergate, a portal contraption capable of bringing in huge armies in a flash. With it, he and the Rotbloods swarmed Helmgart and the countryside, though as is typical of technology made by mice, it breaks in the prologue. It's fixed soon after though, and much of the game is dedicated to destroying it. During the final showdown, he sent his precious Stormfiend called Deathrattler (who uses dual-ratling guns instead of the flamethrowers) against you, only to call it a worthless piece of junk after the heroes killed it. He then attacks the heroes with his Skaven magic, teleports around at lightning speed while summoning special Skaven of all types, then is blown the fuck up once the rat bastard's health is at its end. You then get his helmet as a trophy for the Keep, and the fact that it has voices whispering into it explains MUCH about how insane this rat-bastard is.
* '''Chaos Champion Bödvarr Ribspreader:''' Here to spread ribs and smiles in Papa Nurgle's name, Ribspreader is a Champion of Chaos and the scary dude on the box cover. The leader of the Rotbloods, who are said to be insane even by Chaos Warbands' standards, he's here to slaughter and destroy, and has allied himself with Rasknitt for that purpose. He berates the Grey Seer for the portal's failure, but interestingly enough ''doesn't'' rip his spine out for it, though it's probably because Rasknitt is more powerful than he is. Figures mainly into Act 3, where the gang messes with everything he has. After hitting a breaking point as the heroes foil his plans and kill his men and free his slaves, he sends out most of his army to scout for and attack the Keep, but thanks to Olesya reading the script, they learn about this, attack his under-staffed camp, and kill him in his own arena. Despite claiming that he can take care of the heroes all by himself, he displays cowardice, [[Carron|ranting and bawwing about the precious slaves and loots he lost to the Ubersreik Five/Four/Doesn't Matter]] when he starts losing and calls his warriors for aid, with a horde attacking as he loses health. Interesting to note that despite being a Nurgle worshipper, he has a magic axe (which the axe itself is alive, noted by the growing eye skull on the axe) that he can call back to him if he ever throws it out against the players. Saltzpyre would often refer to it as "flying axe witch" whenever it was thrown. You gain this axe as a trophy for the keep, and study of it reveals that Ribby is just one of many, many Chaos Warriors who wielded the thing.
* '''Burblespue Halescourge:''' The Nurgle sorcerer lord that the Skaven met back at Stromdorf, and the boss of Act 1. Has a good manner like papa Nurgle himself and he can do everything that the Nurgle sorcerer can do in the game (AKA life drain & Nurgle Vortex) only tougher and more AOE green plague in the oxygen, with a couple of unique abilities like summoning a swarm of flies to chase and stun one of the players, summon green images of himself to attack the players as well as erect an even bigger green vortex in the center of the battlefield. He will absolutely make you fucking rage with his lack of visual cues for his attacks, his billion and one hit points, and his habit of teleporting around like a fucking asshole whenever someone so much as sneezes on the fucker. Has a large number of very angry nicknames from the fandom, several of which have even made it into official patch notes (e.g. "Bunglesnatch Humbledink", "Vorpalblade Noobhurl", "Hailstorm Barbeque", "Bubbly-Spurge" and "Bubblespit Halleberry", among many others). You get his staff and tome from killing him, and you find out the latter was made from human skin and inked in blood. Lovely.
* '''Skarrik Spinemanglr:''' The "Scary" Skaven Warlord in charge, and the boss of Act 2. Seem to be heavily inspired by Queek Headtaker in both his looks, size, and unskavenly bravery, although he uses a more traditional halberd alongside dual shortswords. Just like Queek, he is the largest non-monster Skaven of them all, towering over the players. He will regularly summon Stormvermin and Skavenslaves, if you don't take care of them quickly it can snowball into a horde no player could ever hope to kill. He is also fully armored like Ribspreader, but unlike him, Skarrik is much faster, forcing the player to have a frustrating time of chipping his health away with their seemly ineffective charge attack. Also, he calls you [[What|cat fondlers]] and is responsible for Saltzpyre's lost eye. After he dies, civil war and general chaos erupts throughout the Skaven underground, decreasing the amount of forces guarding the Skittergate. You also get his armor and spears for the keep.
* '''Nurgloth the Eternal:''' A new boss for the new Drachenfels DLC map and another one of Nurgle's stinky boy. He used to be the chief rival of shitstorm sorcerer from above, and has been trying to take over his rival's throne. Like every dumbass heretical sorcerer, he went after old Drachenfels' castle in search of his old research about demons and other crazy shit to make himself even more powerful, which he did and was possessed or at least is in contract with a demon, but was driven mad after he glimpsed the realm of chaos. Still, it allows him to see a bit of future sight as well as gaining much higher power than before. After our heroes defeated the two walking-toilets above, he began his no-good operation in Drachenfels' castle and started to sacrifice captured villagers from nearby for his ritual. His little scheme didn't go unnoticed under Lohner's ear and was dealt with by our heroes after a trilogy of missions. In combat, he wields a giant scythe for slicing while he hovers (only the last phase), shoots flies that explode and snare the player, summons his rotblood minions, and using a magic attack that resembles an AoE ability from a typical MOBA game. Currently the hardest boss due to the amount of health he has and the bullshit last phase where he seeks out players and knocks them to his magic fart zone with his rotblood minions still roaming around him. He also explodes when you kill him, and you acquire his scythe and armor for your victory.
* '''Gatekeeper Nagfahr:''' A Ribspreader look-alike, even shares the same axe design....until the recent patch came and changed its entire outlook. He now only uses a normal axe with his head exposed: [[Eliphas the Inheritor| pale bald head]], probably the only chaos warriors that showed his face in the game. Responsible for guarding the skittergate key staff. Was [[chaos|blessed]] during the battle and turned into...[[Chaos Spawn|It-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named]]. Far easier than Ribspreader, being a level's mid-boss to build up to the final battle with Rasknitt.
* '''Baron Justus Francke:''' Not an enemy you fight but nonetheless important to the plot. Besides the Skaven having a portal underneath Helmgart, Fucko Francke is the other reason Ussingen and the countryside were overrun so quickly. It's revealed he made some kind of deal with the Rotbloods and Clan Fester, and like a lot of shitty nobles, might've been in league with the Chaos Gods even before the invasion. His fortified mansion, the only undamaged building in Ussingen, is blown up accordingly by the heroes. His fate is unknown.

'''Skaven'''
 Clan Fester's back, and they're pissed. Sore after getting thwarted at Ubersreik, they want revenge. They almost managed to get it by capturing the heroes and finally managing to capture Ubersreik, and with the Rotblood alliance for constructing a Skittergate portal to Norsca, things seem to be in the bag... Until [[Fail|it malfunctions and frees Kruber, leading him to free everyone else]]. Still, they're stronger now, with Clan Pestilens rats joining their ranks and being just as determined as ever to spread the power of the warp and stave off their extinction.
* '''Skavenslaves:''' Still the most piss-poor enemies in the game. Even though they come in huge swarms they're only dangerous if they blindside you or if you're too busy dealing with actual threats.
* '''Clanrats:''' Rank and file of clan Fester, only slightly better than slaves. Now come with a shield and hand weapon variant that could hopefully block one or two hits from the front and make dealing with the horde slightly more difficult.
* '''Plague Monks:''' A more durable Skaven with fast attacks designed to exhaust the player's stamina. Weak to ranged fire but hit like a freight train and knock you back. They let out a loud howl when they charge, but can be hard to spot in a swarm. Usually, spawn in triplets and tend to focus a single target just to make sure even 7+ stamina would not be enough to withstand their attack.
* '''Stormvermin''' - The most common breed of Special Skaven, Stormvermin will spawn at random among the crowds of Clanrats seeded throughout the various levels. Unlike the rest of their ratty brethren, the Stormvermin have actual armor, actual weapons, and actual training, making them a serious threat. Their halberds do more damage than the standard Clanrat improvised weaponry, and hits against them that don't aim for the head (or have the Armor Piercing trait) will glance off their armor. Even blocking their attacks is difficult, since they do significant Stamina damage and therefore have a high chance of breaking your block and putting you into stun, making you an easy kill. At higher difficulties, they become one of the most significant threats in the game, and require careful combat to take down safely or make ranged weapons good at taking them down quick very desirable.
* '''Stormvermin''' (Sword & Shield): Elite troops who still sound vaguely like Bane, except some of them now have swords and shields that give them multiple attacks and near-immunity to frontal hits (but mercifully deals less damage than the halberd wielders), plus their shields are metal and can't be broken. All around assholes, and a definite reason to consider having a handgun on the team since it's one of the only ranged weapons capable of easily handling them from the front.
* '''The Stormvermin Patrol''' - Once or twice per map, if you're listening carefully, you'll hear the sound of rats shouting out a ratty little marching drill. And if you're smart, you'll hide. If you're not smart, you'll die, because the Patrol is a massive mob of Stormvermin that all aggro at once if they spot any of the heroes, and will never back down from a fight. Their numbers are slightly randomized, but rule of thumb is for +5 rats for each difficulty level, so at Legendary difficulty you're facing patrol sizes that wouldn't be out of place in an actual game of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Yeah. [[Anal Circumference|Have fun with that]].
* '''Gutter Runner''' - Representing Clan Eshin, we have these stabby little ninja rats with warp-dust coated knives strapped to their hands. They lurk in the shadows, trying to find a hero that's cut off from the rest of the group or waiting for you to be otherwise distracted, then pounce and pin one hero to the ground while they stab and stab and stab until the puny man-thing stops moving. Once you're pinned (but you ''can'' hope to dodge their jumps at you by dodging to a side), you're helpless. It's up to the rest of the team to save you. So if you hear that strange whispering in the distance, make sure to stay close to your team.
* '''Packmaster''' - Clan Moulder's representatives, the Packmasters have taken up capturing humans for slaving. To this end, they cart around giant spiked collars on poles; if they get close enough, they'll snap that collar shut around your neck, disabling you like the Gutter Runner. The good news is that the collar doesn't hurt nearly as much as the knives and you can dodge it if you time it right. The ''bad'' news is that the Packmaster will drag you off into the distance, probably through a mob of Clanrats, and then hang you up to die - or at least for the rest of their companions to stab while you wriggle helplessly.
* '''Poison Wind Globadier''' - A Skryre-rat in a gas mask, with a miniature plague factory on its back. At a distance, it will constantly lob spheres full of gas so poisonous that it eats into the skin like acid, covering the battlefield in green clouds of death. The good news is that these are as poisonous to the other Skaven as they are to our heroes. The bad news is that you'll still die like a bitch if you stand in one. And if you get too close, they'll rig the tanks on their backs to explode, taking you with them in one final kamikaze assault.
* '''Ratling Gunner''' - Clan Skryre is pulling overtime here. This rat's got a miniaturized, one-man version of the tabletop Ratling Gun strapped to its back, and the rest of its body is covered in heavy armor. When it finds a good firing line, it'll wind up that gun and then unleash a hellstorm of warp-shot onto one of the heroes, tracking them as best as it can. The good news is that it's not very accurate, kills Skaven who enter its firing line, and tends to jam after a while. The bad news is that it's firing so many bullets that it's probably going to hit you anyway, and while it's not as powerful as a full-sized "kill both knight and his horse with a single bullet" ratling gun it still hurts a lot. Got a significant buff compared to the original game by taking body amour and revving up his gun quite a bit faster.
* '''Warpfire Thrower:''' Another Skryre-rat, now with a flamethrower strapped to its back, which it uses to spew out gouts of green fire at anything in range. The good news is that it has a shorter range compared to the Ratling Gunner and gives even less fucks about torching other Skaven and Rotbloods in its path. Bad news is it hurts even more than the Ratling Gunner, knocks you back, and blocks your vision as well - not a Special you'd want to see while you're out of ammo. The warpstone crystal on its back is its weak spot, but it violently explodes if said weak spot is hit, leaving a sizeable puddle of the flaming warpstone on the ground. While it can take out a lot of enemies with the explosion, it also makes engaging it in melee even more suicidal, especially if you use wide-sweeping weapons.
* '''Barrel Rat:''' Special Skaven enemy type that exists only in special game modes like the Weave or in Weekly Events. Their role is simple: SUICIDE BOMBER! Try to shoot them down before they reach you! A bane to melee only characters like Bardin's Slayer (without the throwing axe) and Kruber's Grail Knight.
* '''Rat Ogre''' - The triumph of Clan Moulder's scientific prowess. The Rat Ogre, like the Stormvermin Patrol, is a once-a-map event, barring special mission rules, and is always announced by a throat-peeling bellow of rage. It's a giant, hulking brute that rampages across the battlefield, pummeling and punching its way through any heroes it can find. It ''is'' possible to kite the Ogre, but the problem is that it's rarely alone; the true difficulty arises in managing the Ogre and the accompanying Clanrats at the same time, since they limit your mobility just by existing.
* '''Stormfiend:''' If you thought the Rat Ogres were a huge pain in the ass, say hello to their upgraded cousins, the masterwork of Clan Moulder and Clan Skyre! They are clad in heavy armor from the front and wield twin warp-fire throwers attached to their arms. Unlike the warpfire throwers on regular Skaven, these ones leave a burning trail on the ground for quite a time, turning a battlefield into a maze of green fire if you let it disengage and rain fire on you from distance - it's worth it to backtrack to more open areas if you come across a Stormfield because of this. Their major weakness is the smaller Skaven acting as a second brain that's stuck on their backs.
*'''Sack Rat''' - A Skaven with a big sack full of loot. Pretty rare to spawn. It doesn't attack on its own, [[Fail|but kills teams anyway as the people in it tunnel vision on it before being killed by all the other enemies in the level]] (seriously, a loading screen tip jokingly tells you to do this). If you can kill it before it runs off you'll get to claim its stuff. One of its notable dialogues is '''MINE! MINE! MINE!''' whenever it walks, so it's easy to spot it from such obvious dialogue.

'''Warriors of Chaos'''
 The Rotbloods, a Nurgle Warband so fanatical to the Rot-Father that they make typical fanatics look tame. They're in league with Clan Fester to work on the Skittergate while plundering Reikland's countryside. They're generally tougher and hit harder compared to Skaven, but come in smaller groups, are slower on flat ground, even slower at climbing vertical obstacles, and most importantly spawn from the same points rather than crawling out from every nook and cranny including those on the ceiling.
* '''Nurgle Cultists:''' Your typical cannon fodder of Nurgle about as tough as a Clanrat. Fill the same role as Skaven slaves in the Chaos horde, though they might last an extra hit compared to slaves.
* '''Chaos Marauders:''' Plague-ridden warriors that come in four flavors:
**'''Raiders''' (hand weapon) and '''Bulwarks''' (hand weapon and shield) are the basic units for the Chaos Forces and fulfill a similar role to Clanrats, but they are significantly more durable than the former.
**'''Savages(Frothers)''' (dual-wielding weapons) are pretty much carbon copies of Plague Monks and work exactly the same except its attacks aren't as fast.
**'''Maulers''' (great weapons) huge guys with huge axes and huge horned helmets. Fill the niche of a Stormvermin in the Chaos horde, leading packs of marauders and acting as a primary threat in them, except they hit even harder, depleting all the stamina in one hit, are only armored on the head and ''heavily so'' (seriously, it's not worth shooting them there with non-guns), and have more health.
* '''Chaos Warriors:''' ASININE MORTALS!! The great axe variant. The toughest non-boss enemy in the game. Has nearly three times as much health as a Stormvermin, and their armor is so thick that even headshots from guns hardly faze them. They can down you in a hit or two from full health but are very slow targets, and they'll trash talk one of you to let you know who they're aiming for. For extra fun, they sometimes spawn two or three at a time.
* '''Chaos Patrol:''' when you thought Stormvermin patrol was bad, these guys come in with their chaosy march song... Include at least '''SIX''' Warriors and Maulers even at the lowest difficulty with the rest filled with Raiders and Bulwarks. A tougher patrol by far compared to the Stormvermin's.
* '''Chaos Sorcerers of Nurgle:''' Come in two variants - the Lifeleech (also known as "[[/d/|Chester the molester]]" by many players), who teleports around and attempt to bind a character to leech their health, and the Blightstormer, who casts a Nurgle-flavored green vortex spell that sucks in both the enemies and player characters, damaging and preventing them from moving. (The Blightstormer also likes to talk about how Papa blessed them with sniffles and brings forth much joy.)
* '''Bile Trolls:''' Chaos Trolls of Nurgle. Wield huge blunt weapons and spew acidic bile that slows you and drains your stamina as long as you're exposed to it, much like Stormfields it's absolutely worth turning around to a more open part of the map to be able to better avoid the puke. They can also attempt to heal themselves over time, both as a passive effect and as an ability they channel when their health is low. When this happens, they fall to their knees and gain a temp health bar. You and everyone else better start [[Rape|dogpiling the FUCK out of it]] to empty it and prevent full health regen, or life will only suck harder.
* '''[[Chaos Spawn|The Unnameable Beasts]]:''' Tough boss monsters that like to chew you to regain their health. They are also probably the worst thing to face with pubbies, as they devour you, smack you into other players damaging and potentially downing them, and each snack they grab heals them. You will definitely want to use your bombs and any other knockback abilities you have to stop their chow time. Oh and they are about one of the fastest boss enemies just like the rat ogres with the exception being their head isn't as noticeable, therefore harder to deal big damage with headshots. Have fun with that.

'''Beastmen'''
 The Cloven Ones are an enemy faction that premieredin the "Winds of Magic" expansion pack. They are the true children of Chaos, born amidst the collapse of the Polar Warp Gates and the subsequent release of Chaos energy into the world. As such, they serve the Chaos Gods without question, as their souls are forfeit to Chaos at the moment of their conception. Although the Beastmen vary in appearance, as true to their Chaos heritage, they are mainly comprised of humanoid mutants and abominations with bestial features such as cloven hooves, horns, and goatlike heads. Warpstone meteor falling into Reikland got their attention, and now they seek to claim it as a Herdstone. Afterwards, they have a chance to appear in any mission.
* '''Ungors:''' Ungors are the weakest and most humanlike of the Beastmen, with most possessing diminutive horns or no horns at all. However, they are no less hateful and repulsive than their larger cousins. They use spears and bows, making them the first common enemy type to have a ranged attack.
* ''' Ungor Raiders:''' The weakest specials in the game, they look similar to regular Ungors but have much darker skin and white body paint across their upper body. Despite falling over in a stiff breeze, their arrows do lowish damage and they have an average rate of fire. The real threat is when you're caught out of cover by large packs of 8~10+ Ungor Raiders who will sustain fire their arrows so there's no safe opening to close the gap, and being exposed leads to a lot of damage quickly. Since they often shoot from far away at an area where melee can't reach them like a balcony or a cliff, they must be taken out with ranged weapons, which is a required waste of ammunition for some characters, unless the player is an Ironbreaker armed with a drakepistol, Bardin with a throwing axe, a Huntsman Kruber with a knack for headshots, or Sienna.
* '''Gors:''' The most common of the Beastmen, Gors form the backbone of the Beastmen Brayherd. Each Gor is recognized for their resplendent rack of horns, with larger horns denoting higher status within the Beastmen hierarchy. Prerelease screenshots and artwork show Gors wielding Man-cleavers and two-handed axes, although more variations are possible.
* '''Bestigors:''' Bestigors are the elite of the Brayherd as their name would imply. They can use a charge attack to knock down players and are heavily armored (not as much as chaos warriors despite being chaos and is more akin to Stormvermin armor), though this charge attack can be interrupted by a good hit/shot to them while charging to trip them or dodged.
* '''Standard Bearers:''' Beastmen who carry foul standards into battle to increase the Brayherds morale. They can place their magical standards to buff their comrades with a buffer of temporary health on top of their max health, and regeneration of their base health which can make fights take longer if players don't finish off enemies. Best to fight your way to the flag and smash it before things get harder.
* '''Beastmen Patrol''' - The patrol for the Beastmen. Unlike the previous two patrols, it contains some Ungor Raiders for ranged fire support and two standard-bearers with the rest filled with Bestigors.
* '''Minotaurs:''' A new monster-boss enemy, Minotaurs are the most Beastmen-like of Beastmen: extremely strong, extremely ferocious, and extremely dumb. Minotaurs are more aggressive than any other boss type, beelining for the nearest hero and attacking them relentlessly. They have a charge ability like the Stormfiend and can deal serious damage to players and enemies alike in their path. One of the nastier differences is that Minotaurs get the healing benefits of Battle Standards, but not the bonus health. This isn't too noticeable on Recruit or Veteran, but Champion and above the health regeneration makes it the hardest boss when both enemies are present together. Oh, and they're bigger than the other regular bosses, meaning more reach and having to aim higher for the head. Have fun.

== Gameplay Tips (aka How To Avoid Dying Like An Asshole) ==

1. Don't be That Guy who wanders off alone and dies due to getting incapacitated due to the half-dozen or so methods an enemy can do such a thing. I don't care how badass you think you are, nothing actually makes you immune to being pounced by a Gutter Runner, hooked by a Packmaster, yote by a Blightstormer, et cetera. Seriously, wandering off alone is one of the certain ways you can get kicked from a match, along with going AFK during horde or boss attacks.

2. If someone starts grabbing Tomes and Grimoires, fucking follow them and hope they know where to show you where the others are. Because if you are not grabbing them, you're not optimizing your loot and XP gain, thus you are shit and should uninstall this game (and/or kill yourself). Or don't, whatever, I'm not [[Asmodai]].

3. If you play Sienna and overheat more than twice in a match, don't be butthurt when you get kicked. Learn to manage your overheat, or learn to play anything else. (Same goes for playing an Ironbreaker with drakefire guns.)

4. The game is actually really great about audio clues for your enemies; if you hear something suspicious, start looking around for the source of the sound. Nine times out of ten, you can spot a Gutter Runner or other special enemy fast enough to kill it. The other tenth time? Hope your buddies didn't rush forward and leave you for dead.

5. Consider taking weapons with Shield Breaking and/or Armor Piercing if you're consistently getting fucked up by the heavier enemies. Instead of having to charge up a heavy attack, you just make regular attacks as fast as you can and watch enemies like Stormvermin and Chaos Warriors get fucked up.

6. Mix in side-dodges and pushes with your melee swings in order to defend yourself. The different weapons each have optimal attack/push/dodge patterns unique to them. Learn yours. Blind offense is a good way to get yourself killed by stray hits from trash mobs. Side-dodging repeatedly also has the benefit of helping you not get surrounded as the hordes have to relocate to you.

8. Trying to outrace other players for DPS is only going to get everyone killed, which means nobody gets loot and very little XP. Don't be that asshole who tries to "prove" something to the others by trying to outperform them. The only stat that matters is how much damage you took. Kills will happen eventually. Focus on keeping yourself alive and healthy first and foremost.

9. This is a fucking co-op game. Heal other people, leave stuff they need behind, try to watch their backs. If you can't handle this concept, then you really need to try a different game; "lone wolf" types are wasting both their time and everyone else's.

10. When the coast isn't clear, don't make forward progress in the map. You don't want to trigger a boss fight while knee deep in a horde. While dealing with shit and you have to move around, go backwards, not forwards.

11. Don't be afraid to use those bombs and potions the moment things are beginning to look dicey. One thing (horde, patrol, special) can be handled without too much trouble, but the multiples are what kills teams. Also, Strength potions oddly enough do affect ranged weapons and bombs.

12. Dash abilities (such as Foot Knight's or Zealot's abilities) can be canceled part of the way by blocking, allowing you to gain value from them while not charging away from your group if you're already with them.

13. You can block-cancel other things too, depending on your weapon. Attacks, pushes and other actions can be stopped with a block either for defense or speeding up your combos.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Ranger Veteran.png
File:Ironbreaker.png
File:Slayer.png
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper.png|[[Glottkin|HELLO I'M FUCKING FAT TOO]]
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper2.png|[[Ogre|WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SWAMP???]]
File:Lumberfoots only by a20t43c.png|How Kerillian came to live in a tent.
</gallery>

== Links ==

* [http://www.vermintide.com/ Website]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AovSuioMM2w&t=105s Announcement Trailer plus a little bit of gameplay]

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]

Vermintide 2

2021-10-14T19:19:15Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Markus Kruber (aka Markus de Mandelot) */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:DPuLc-pX4AA3ba3.png|745px|center|thumb|HAHA! ASININE MORTALS!! TIME TO EMBRACE THE TRUE LOVE FROM OUR [[Nurgle|FATHER]]!! [[Skaven|YES-YES, WEAK MAN-THINGS DIE FROM VERMIN POX-DISEASE, YES!]]]]

'''Vermintide 2''' is the sequel to [[The End Times: Vermintide]], made possibly due to the fact that the first game surpassed expectations and did pretty fucking well for a relatively niche title (2 million fucking copies sold!). Fatshark sensibly shortened the name from "Warhammer The End Times: Vermintide 2" to avoid sounding like a Japanese light novel, much to the joy of nerds who [[skub|hate]] The End Times (pretty much everyone).

On October 10th, Vermintide 2 was announced, bringing a host of new additions. Most notably the Warriors of Chaos are being added as an enemy type. [[Nurgle|Specifically the jolly ones that don't mind being pox bloated messes]]. Along with the new enemy race, the Skaven also have a few new additions, such as the Stormfiends and Warpfire Throwers. They've also announced that [[Beastmen|everyone's favorite non-Welsh sheep shaggers]] will be added in sometime this summer.

The game was released on March 8, 2018, and quickly surpassed its prequel's success with 1 million sales in its first month alone.

The game became truly playable after a patch was released on April 12, 2018 to which [https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/30503110/c2428ecfc6ae3dbbb902a008f702bcf510ebb399.png brought back Saltzpyre's signature voiceline] (''actual'' [https://steamcommunity.com/games/552500/announcements/detail/1654386143023879919 patch notes banner]).

It is [[Awesome]].

== Setting ==

Vermintide 2 is set during the End Times, an indeterminate amount of time since the ending of the previous game. After falling into Rasknitt's trap (and thus letting Ubersreik fall), the Ubersreik Five (or Four, doesn't matter) have ended up in their own castle and banded together again to face the Skaven forces of [[Clan Fester]], along with their new allies: a Chaos Warband dedicated to [[Nurgle]] known as The Rotbloods. Both forces came together as the Pactsworn, their eyes gazed on the fortress town of Helmgart (the border town Bretonnia always conquers within the first 10 turns of an Empire [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] campaign).

Lohner has dialogue indicating [[Anal Circumference|the timeline is smack dab in the middle of the End Times as Louen Leoncouer is already dead]] (Please have mercy [[Matt Ward]])! Due to the presence of a Nurgle-aligned warband, it is possible that the game is set during/after the Fall of Marienburg. The Skaven are up to their usual hijinks (Pillaging, slaughter, slavery... You know, a normal day in Warhammer). Their main objective is trying to build something called the Skittergate [https://youtu.be/uOd7HQoKxcU?t=45| (it's different from that movie which they have never seen, so how would they copy it?)], a portal between Norsca and Helmgart, explaining how the Skaven and their new allies overran the region. The Rotbloods are here to help the Skaven with murder-fucking everyone in the Reikland and bringing great death-death to poor Helmgart. Clan Fester's also out for blood as payback for Ubersreik, even though Ubersreik apparently fell anyway.

There are a total of thirteen maps in the base campaign. These span: the town of Helmgart itself, where the heroes create a diversion at the Temple of Sigmar before the Hammerman himself purges it of vikings and rats; an Elven temple ruin in the woods where the gang uses a slow-moving puzzle to raise a magic shield; Ussingen, a farming town where the heroes rescue prisoners and later blow up a Chaos supply cache; a Nurgle-blighted canyon with a fortified Chaos Lord's tomb, which the gang destroys to stop the Rotbloods from harvesting his energy; a dense swamp, where the heroes assault the Rotbloods' main war camp and slay their leader, a Nurgle Champion; and quite a lot more besides, culminating in a double assault on the Skittergate and the Rotblood hometown in Norsca, obliterating both of them and saving Helmgart, or what's left of it. The gang is so badass that the shitty army left at Ubersreik was enough to take over while a Skaven-Rotblood alliance couldn't do jack to them. Such is life as a video game protagonist.

The ''Shadows Over Bögenhafen'' DLC has the gang end up in the titular town where they wipe out the Pactsworn a second time and keep a scary daemon sword out of Nurgle's grubby hands over two more maps. ''Back To Ubersreik'' has them enter a magic simulation of Ubersreik being run by Olesya to try to locate some mysterious runes of power in the ''real'' Ubersreik, re-defeating the Skaven in it because she's trying to keep it as "believable" as possible (and also the Rotbloods, who either found a way to break into the simulation or are part of the simulation because Olesya likes messing with our heroes), with three levels from the previous game and a secret fourth you can try out after finding runes from the past levels through a series of tedious puzzles. In the Winds of Magic DLC the Beastmen get involved because the increasingly fucked Reikland now has a meteor crash onto it, and the angry goats surge out of the woods to make a herdstone out of it. Then there's the roguelike ''Chaos Wastes'', given for free to everyone who got the game, wherein Saltzpyre sets up a pilgrimage through the wastes to assuage his waning faith.

An event for the 1 year anniversary (March 2019) gave us "A Quiet Drink," in which the party decides they've done a very good job so far, and deserve a night on the town! Worth playing just for the many custom voice lines for the utterly sloshed characters. ("Queen Kerillian demands MORE ALE!") ("It wouldn't be the same! It wouldn't have the whistle!") While the map was only available on the official realm during the event, it can still be played [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1694820325 through a mod].

Where the storyline doesn't advance as much through the game, more details can be found on the main site's dev blogs by way of the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", where the old bartender writes down his musings about current events.

== Gameplay ==

The good old Vermintide core gameplay remains intact, which means that the game still has a robust and surprisingly skill-based melee system at its core. Rather than fuck with anything that was already functional, Vermintide 2 focuses instead on adding more content to play around with. Light attacks, heavy attacks, blocking, dodging, pushing, etc., are all still here. All weapons also now have a "push attack" which is performed by holding down the attack button while blocking, causing an attack after you push.

Aside from the new enemy types, there are a couple of other new features, such as specializations for the classes (referred to as "careers"), each representing different possible paths the heroes took after Ubersreik. For example, the Dwarf can be a Slayer or an Ironbreaker, or the Wood Elf can be a Shade or Handmaiden of Isha, each one with diffferent passive abilities and active "Career Skill". This comes packaged along with a talent tree for each character and new weapons to go around for everyone. Each talent tree also comes with talents for granting temporary health (Health that's both easily lost and generated, basically allowing you to endure until the next heal) and stagger bonuses (damage bonuses against enemies you get off-balance). Alternatively, you can heal others when you use a potion on yourself, or gain more power to replace these talents.

The loot system got an overhaul too, with the devs acknowledging the first game's system was kind of bullshit. We now have [[rage|lootboxes]] like every other dev under the sun, but entirely earned through gameplay and they come unlocked, so it's basically just normal random loot drops with a loot box skin slapped on. A "Heroic Deeds" system has also been implemented, consisting of consumable quests that mix gameplay up by dramatically changing objectives, mix of enemies faced or limiting your own tools (many combinations of which are pure [[Anal Circumference]]), along with a Challenge system that's basically an alternative achievements system, rewarding you when you finish missions or sets of missions with certain difficulties, different heroes and/or harder conditions, tracking other milestones and more. These give you more chests, skins, frames for your portraits, and other goodies.

Aside from those additions,and quality of life improvements it seems to mostly be the same game, which is okay since most people just wanted it to be the first one with more stuff to begin with. For the cherry on top, the game also supports modding to the point that the devs maintain a list of "Sanctioned Mods" which can be safely used with the base game, a lot of which are pretty sweet. There's also entirely separate "Realms" for the base game and modded games. On the negative side, there's no dedicated server, instead relying on peer-to-peer connection. Better hope your host has good internet...

Two DLC campaigns are currently out: the first one, '''Shadows over Bögenhafen''', has the heroes searching for a runesword in the titular city, while '''Back to Ubersreik''' features remade versions of some of the original Vermintide missions along with new melee weapons as the Heroes of Ubersreik head off to an illusionary copy of the city to find a hidden set of runes for Olesya. The third DLC, '''Winds of Magic''', added Beastmen, a higher level cap and difficulty level, and a set of endgame challenges in the "Winds of Magic" mode. The fourth, '''Chaos Wastes''' (released for free) added another game mode which has the Ubersreik <s>Five</s><s>Four</s>It Doesn't Matter go on expedition into the titular wastes, choosing to go through a number of randomized locations with roguelike elements, allowing players to exchange or power up their equipment and get special boons while going through areas cursed with various dangers and debuffs.

==The Ubersreik Five and Careers==

Each character now has three different Careers, which affect their weapon choices, abilities, and talent trees, allowing a great deal of customization for each one. Lore-wise, the three careers are based on how each of the heroes might have reacted to the fall of Ubersreik: Either they barely changed at all (The starter career), were inspired for a higher calling, or became traumatized and jaded. The exception is Markus, whose three careers all end up being good for him.

A fourth career is on the way for each character, though it's locked behind DLC. So far, Markus, Bardin and Kerillian have their fourth class, with the other two on the way.

===Victor Saltzpyre===
The Witch-Hunteriest Witch Hunter continues to hunt... More Skaven and Rotbloods than witches, but he hunts all the same. After the Ubersreik campaign, the Order of the Silver Hammer still [[Derp| stupidly tried to deny the existence of the ratmen]], spinning the invasion as a myth. How "Salty" he was in his reaction formed the crux of his future: Either he gained more political power in the chaos, allowing him to secretly fight the ratmen (The canonical choice), spoke out against the stupidity and abandoned the order to become a bounty hunter, or he lost faith in humanity entirely and relished in fanatical worship of Sigmar. As the events of the game go on however, even this faith in Sigmar is shaken, and he organizes a pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes to assuage his fears. Journals reveal that he's coming on more to preaching and thinking on the Eternal Flame...
*'''Witch Hunter Captain''': The deaths of several Captains over the course of the End Times has allowed Victor to rise in rank, but he has had to accept that the Witch Hunters won’t recognize the fact that there’s an entire fucking empire of ratmen just below their cities; Saltzpyre now uses his new political position to fight the menace in secret. In addition to a fancier hat, Victor as a Witch Hunter Captain can do everything he could in the first game and also gets some abilities that help him support his allies.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Witch Hunt''- Enemies pinged by Victor take extra damage
***''Eternal Guard''- Blocking light frontal attacks does not consume stamina
***''Killing Shot''- Crit headshots, melee or ranged, instantly kill human-sized enemies (i.e. any non-boss enemy smaller than a Chaos Warrior)
**Unique active ability: ''Animosity''- Victor screams lets out his [[RAGE]]. All nearby allies have their critical rate enhanced for 6 seconds, and nearby enemies are knocked back. Can be upgraded to give yourself guaranteed crits, refund 40% cooldown if the shout hits ten enemies, or ping everyone hit by it with Witch Hunt.
*'''Bounty Hunter''': When his order attempted to cover up what happened at Ubersreik, Salty removed his heraldry to fight the Skaven himself, taking odd-jobs on the side to pay for his endeavors. While officially he's still a witch hunter, he doesn't associate much with other witch hunters anymore after the threats they made in response to Saltzpyre snapping and speaking his mind about the Skaven. He's less of a religious fanatic and more pragmatic as a result. As a Bounty Hunter, Victor focuses on ranged weaponry to blast away Skaven and Chaos Warriors alike. He also dressed in a similar appearance with [[C.L.Werner|Brunner]], a canon bounty hunter.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blessed Shots''- Guaranteed ranged critical every 10 seconds
***''Ammo Pouches''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Quick Release''- Improved reload rate
**Unique active ability: ''Locked and Loaded''- Fires a powerful shot that pierces multiple enemies...and potentially allies too, so everyone involved really should try to be careful with the Bounty Hunter around. Can be upgraded to have massive cooldown reduction on headshot, get more pellets on the next shot based on the number hit on the current shot, or have ranged crits reduce the cooldown by 20%.
*'''Zealot''': The horrors of Ubersreik and the Witch Hunters' refusal to admit the threat the Skaven pose have caused Victor to give up on earthly organizations entirely and place his trust in Sigmar alone, with the rest of the world fit only to be cleansed in righteous fire. Victor as a Zealot favors vicious melee combat, and not only is his armor some of the best in the game even without the Flagellant talent (which is mandatory while playing the class), a heaping helping of faith and holy rage makes him even more dangerous as he loses health - after all, the end is upon us, why not shed as much blood as possible before it goes? As a nice bonus, picking up grimoires will count towards his health-based attack boosts.
** Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Fiery Faith''- Attack power increased by 5% for every 25 health lost (up to 20%)
***''Unswerving Strikes''- Heavy attacks cannot be interrupted by enemy attacks.
***''Heart of Iron''- Ignores death upon taking lethal damage (long cooldown)
**Unique active ability: ''Holy Fervor''- Charge forward and gain 25% attack speed boost for 5 seconds. Can be upgraded to be unkillable during the skill, or gain stacks that either reduce cooldown or increase attack power.

===Markus Kruber (aka Markus de Mandelot)===
[[This Guy|Faithful, dependable Markus]], always willing to help out, continues to serve against the Ratmen for both coin and conscience. The universe seems to have rewarded him for being a nice, simple guy because none of his careers turn out badly for him. Either he gets deeper into merc life (the canon choice), he takes some time off to breathe as a Huntsman, or he's recognized for his achievements and gets inducted into the Order of the Reikhammer as a Foot Knight. Later in the story, his ancient bloodline is revealed and he becomes an official Grail Knight of Bretonnia. This means he somehow made the journey to Bretonnia, fought all manner of beasts and monsters (while drunk) and even [[Awesome|proved himself to]] [[The Green Knight]] before finally sipping some <strike>[[Lileath|elven goddess]]</strike>[[Lady of the Lake|Lake Lady]] bathwater, gaining the requisite powers, stupid French accent and... [[Troll|"chivalric" manner]]. Let's just hope his good luck continues to hold, eh?
*'''Mercenary''': The life of a mercenary has suited Markus well, in no small part due to not having to answer to incompetent leaders like he used to. Being a Mercenary allows Markus a good degree of versatility, with medium armor that grants protection without losing maneuverability and a focus on using sweeping attacks to clear out hordes.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Paced Strikes''- Hitting 3 enemies in 1 swing boosts attack speed by 10% for 6 seconds
***''Hitting the Sweet Spot''- 25% more cleave (attacks hit more enemies at once)
***''No More Laughin' Now''- Critical hit rate improved by +5%
**Unique active ability: ''Morale Boost''- Staggers nearby enemies and grants nearby allies temporary bonus health. Can be upgraded to give a defense buff for all alies, reduce the cooldown or immediately revive allies.
*'''Huntsman''': After Ubersreik, Markus found a degree of inner peace by devoting himself to Taal and Rhya, the gods of nature (though not devoted enough such that gunpowder weaponry is disallowed on him). As a Huntsman, Markus trades away his access to heavier armor for greater proficiency with ranged weapons of all kinds. He also gets to use a bow, a ranged weapon unique to the Huntsman career that, while much slower than Kerillian's, holds a lot of ammunition and does considerable damage. Had a hilarious bug that [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKoqArJjYIo pretty much gave him an AK-47] and absolutely melted bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Waste Not, Want Not''- Ranged headshots return 1 ammo
***''Poacher's Mark''- Effective range for ranged weapons doubled
***''Call Out Weakness'' - Aura that boosts critical rate by +5%
***''Deep Pockets'' - +50% ammo capacity
**Unique active ability: ''Hunter's Prowl'': Become invisible for a short time; automatically reloads ranged weapon for no ammo cost, improves reload speed, and adds 1.5x damage multiplier to ranged attacks while invisible. Can be upgraded to reduce the cooldown, increase the duration or have ranged attacks not break stealth.
*'''Foot Knight''': For his part in the defense of Ubersreik, Markus was made a Knight of the Order of the Reikshammer. Markus may not have been aiming for the position, but his heavy armor, protective aura, and highly disruptive ultimate make him an excellent tank as a Foot Knight.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''Protective Presence''- Aura that reduces damage taken by 15%
***''Taal's Fortitude'' - Extra stamina shield
***''No Guts, No Glory'' - Reduces damage taken by 10%
**Unique active ability: ''Valiant Charge''- Charges forward, knocking back any enemies hit by the charge. Also interrupts and stuns bosses and specials. Can be upgraded to make Kruber temporarily invincible, have increased size and the ability to knock over greater enemies, or grant increased attack speed for every enemy hit.
*'''Grail Knight''': MOTHERFUCKING GRAIL KNIGHT!!! The first unique class introduced and locked behind a DLC wall. It was revealed one day Kruber found out his Bretonnian lineage after he received a mysterious letter that was addressed to him with the '''de Mandelot''' surname. According to Lohner, he used his huge information network to traced back Kruber's bloodline and found out his father was actually a Bretonnian! but not just any Bretonnian: '''Foricarl de Mandelot'''! who used to be a well-known grail knight in Parravon after he saved the city from a dragon with style! He was widely worshiped since then with arts, music, and clothes referencing him. It wasn't until the duke's son, an arsehole by the name ''Willibald'' who is jealous of the hero's deed that he killed his father, the duke of Parravon, and framed Foricarl for it. The lady had to intervene herself and turned the fucktard into a frog but it was all too late, for Foricarl had already self-exiled in shame. Despite that, he continued to slay beasts and killing chaos shit like a badass until he finally settled at '''Ubersreik Hills''' and impregnated Kruber's mama, only to leave her before Kruber was even born. With the lady's blessing, Kruber is now '''Markus de Mandelot'''! And he now has [[troll|the privilege call his teammates peasants, acting cockier and mightier than even Kerilian, while Bretonnian dancing all the way to the waystone, one-shotting any foe he came across with his magical sword ability]] (a voiceline while waiting to start on a Chaos Wastes expedition ''really'' has him imply he's been talking down to Saltzpyre after becoming a Grail Knight just to be a troll). Just like Slayer Bardin Markus can't use ranged weapons in this career (because peasant weapon dislike and chivalry bullshit), and he doesn't even have the option of throwing axes like Slayer Bardin does (again, see above), but his special buffs, move speed and ability make him a fantastic boss killer and crowd controller.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''The Lady's Duty''- Get 2 random quests that grant buffs to the party when completed, lasting until the mission is over. Can be upgraded to have a third quest, stronger buffs, or a repeatable quest that grants a potion of strength each time.
***''Knight's Challenge'' - 25% extra damage to the first enemy hit.
***''Thirst for Glory'' - 10% move speed increase
***''Bastion of Bretonnia'' - Your shields can now block Warpfire
**Unique active ability: ''Blessed Blade''- Smite a target with a holy blade. Can be upgraded to deal even more single target damage with a slash and stab, change into a horizontal crowd cleaver or stay the same and increase movement speed upon kill.

===Kerillian===
The elf continues to be a standoffish, if slightly nicer, jerk, though her sensitivity masks hidden scars. Her faith forms the crux of her careers, whether remaining a faithful, if conflicted, Waystalker (This is canon), a Handmaiden more devoted to Isha and protecting others, or losing herself to bloodlust and becoming a Shade of [[Khaine]]. The Drachenfels DLC reveals that Kerillian basically has the biggest impact on the story out of the whole party, with consequences reaching to the rest of Warhammer. She received a vision about how Ubersreik MIGHT have to do with the fall of Athel Loren. With pride and without any thought, she ambushed two regiments of soldiers from Nuln meant to reinforce the city, leaving it undefended... From the Skaven. That's right, [[Fail|because of her pride, she's responsible for ALL of the slaughter and death caused by the Vermintide, and contributed more than a fair bit to bringing about the End Times]].This explains her biting behavior, a shield to her own failures. The pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes broke her resolve and caused her to question her faith, giving up her regrets to Isha and becoming a Sister of the Thorn, losing part of herself and becoming more cynical than ever.
*'''Waystalker''': Frustrated with the clumsiness of her companions, Kerillian has resolved to further hone her skills to compensate further for the "lumberfoots". As a Waystalker, Kerillian further specializes in her longbow, both for precision sniping and for raining arrows on enemies.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Amaranthe''- Automatically regenerate health (3 health per 10 seconds, up to a maximum of half your total hit points)
***''Arrow-Storm''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Waywatcher's Bow''- Effective range for ranged weapons is doubled
**Unique active ability: ''Trueflight Volley''- Fires a volley of homing arrows. Can be upgraded to fire one more arrow, refund ammunition when killing specials, or turn into a single piercing arrow that deals massive damage and has no cooldown when you get a headshot.
*'''Handmaiden''': Through the subtle guidance of the Everqueen, Kerillian came across a long-lost shrine to Isha and gave herself up to serve her. Kerillian's Handmaiden Career focuses primarily on dancing around enemies in direct melee combat, and is her most durable career option through both maximum health, stamina, and mobility. The career for players that are allergic to standing still.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''The Dance of Seasons''- 15% longer dodge distance
***''Aura of Renewal''- Aura that increases stamina regeneration speed by 100%
***''Ariel's Benison''- Cannot be interrupted when reviving allies
**Unique active ability: ''Dash''- Quickly dash forward through enemies, stunning enemies that are hit and causing them to bleed. Has a hilariously low cooldown, the lowest of all of the game's abilities. Can be upgraded to become invisible after the dash, make anyone you hit bleed or gain crit chance based on how many enemies you hit.
*'''Shade''': One of Kerillian's dreams spoke of an ancestor of hers who dwelled in Clar Karond, and with it came the voice of [[Khaine]] urging her to reclaim the mantle of her ancestor. Kerillian as a Shade is an assassin, focused on rapidly killing elite, special, and boss enemies. She also gains access to the volley crossbow in this career. This is the class to play if you really like killing the absolute shit out of Chaos Warriors and bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Murderous Prowess''- 50% damage bonus when attacking enemies from behind
***''Assassin's Blade''- Critical hit backstabs instantly kill man-sized enemies
**Unique active ability: ''Infiltrate''- Become invisible and intangible for 10 seconds, or until performing an attack. Also has a unlisted effect where any melee attack that ends Infiltrate gets a massive damage boost; depending on the weapon this can increase the power of Kerillian's melee attacks to the point where they 1-hit kill a Chaos Warrior on Legendary difficulty, and can even reach the maximum damage value possible for a single attack. Can be upgraded to have less cooldown and grant more crit chance after it ends at the cost of losing the damage bonus, cause her to blink forward while damaging enemies, or allowing her to attack without breaking stealth exactly one time.
*'''Sisters of the Thorn''': The 3rd microtransaction DLC career. In truth, Kerillian has been losing faith in her goddess Lileath for some times, and it finally reached a critical point after the '''Citadel of Eternity''' shenanigan where the said goddess did not answer her. Hoping to rededicate herself to the weaves once more, she began courting to other goddess (even [[Ereth Khial]], the kind of goddess only the mentally ill elf would worship). She ended up went back to Athel Loran to seek answers, offered up her uncertainty and regrets to the forest. Doing so allowed her to become a '''Sister of the Thorn''' , a handmaiden of Isha who can raise up a thorn bush wall to block the enemies (or just turned them into a deadly thorn spike that bleeds anyone it targets) as well as providing healing extra healing to her teammate, leeching extra temporary health from them in exchange. She now also called her teammates "meats", as if [[Ferrus Manus|flesh is weaker]] compare to her, a superior plant fused being.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''A Cluster of Radiants''- Gain a radiance charge that allows free use of your active every 60 seconds.
***''A Murder of Sprites''- Deals more damage to wounded units depending on their remaining health, up to 50%.
***''A Sustenance of Leeches''- Gain temp health if a party member gains temp health when they're at full health.
***''An Attendance of Munificents''- +25% healing for everyone.
**Unique active ability: ''Thornwake''- Raise a thornwall that blocks movement. Can be upgraded to last longer, deal more damage and apply bleed at the cost of duration or explode with poison when it expires, increasing damage dealt to enemies caught.

===Bardin Goreksson===
Short, stout and sure to stomp your arse, Bardin is here to help out his dawris and slaughter some rakis (and anything else that comes in the way. Either he continued his quest for Karak Zorn as a Ranger Veteran (Which is canon), returned to his roots as an Ironbreaker, or forsook life in pursuit of honorable death as a [[Slayer]]. After the trip to Drachenfels however, the regrets that surfaced made him look to his old passions of becoming an Engineer, and thus, became an Outcast Engineer. Life STILL isn't smooth sailing for him, as Lohner's journals reveal that his daughter has gone missing. Whether she'll be found is anyone's guess...
*'''Ranger Veteran''': Karak Zorn is yet to be found, but the defense of Reikland currently comes first for Bardin. Bardin the Ranger Veteran favors the use of ranged weaponry to punish foes from a distance, but he's more than able to hold his own in melee if a hail of crossbow bolts doesn't do the trick. Cousin Okri would be proud. While this used to be the least powerful of the range-focused careers due to lacking a consistent means of generating ammo for itself, recent balance updates have made it into an extremely versatile and powerful support class. Of particular note is a talent that gives a chance for every special enemy you kill to drop a bomb, which is just hilariously strong.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Survivalist''- Special enemies drop ammo on death
***''Loaded for Battle''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Fast Hands''- Increased reload speed
***''Ingenious Improvisation'' - 10% chance to not consume health items, potions, or bombs on use
**Unique active ability: ''Disengage''- Drops a smoke bomb that staggers enemies and turns Bardin invisible as long as he remains within the cloud. Lasts ten seconds. While invisible, Bardin gains increased ranged attack power. Can be upgraded to remain stealthed even outside the cloud, grant everyone attack speed and temp health while in it, or basically allowing you a free bomb throw.
*'''Ironbreaker''': Bardin used to be an Ironbreaker in Kazak Norn, and following the defense of Ubersreik he took up his old oaths and gromril armor once more. The heavy armor and shield of the Ironbreaker makes Bardin a superb tank that can take whatever the enemy can dish out, and then return it in kind. In addition, he gains access to a drakegun and drakefire pistols, which let him spew out gouts of flame. Like in the first game, they do not use ammo and instead use a heat meter, like Sienna. Be mindful that this also means that they'll kill you if the heat gauge maxes out.
**Unique passive abilities:
** Base Health: 150
***''Gromril Armor''- Negates all damage from 1 hit every 20 seconds.
***''Dwarf-Forged''- Reduces damage taken by 30%
***''Doughty''- Grants an extra stamina shield
***''Resilient''- Decreases stun duration after getting hit by an attack by 50%
**Unique active ability: ''Impenetrable''- Briefly staggers nearby enemies, then forces all man-sized enemies among them to attack Bardin exclusively. Bardin also takes no stamina damage while blocking for the duration, and can block normally unblockable attacks. Can be upgraded to give everyone a power increase, increase its range and duration, or the ability to affect even monsters.
*'''[[Slayer]]''': Bardin had been carrying a secret burden in his heart even before Ubersreik, and by the time the Skaven came to Helmgart he had taken up the Slayer's Oath in the hopes of an honorable death. As a Slayer, Bardin can't use ranged weapons at all but becomes a melee powerhouse, with exclusive access to the Dual Axes weapon and the ability to take a second melee weapon to replace his ranged weapon slot. Despite his deceptively low base health, he's one of the tankiest things in the game due to his Oblivious to Pain talent, which is practically mandatory while playing the class. He even has another talent that can increase his base health, as if this weren't enough.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Trophy Hunter''- Stacking damage buff gained upon hitting an enemy
***''Path of Carnage''- +7.5% attack speed
**Unique active ability: ''Leap''- Leap forward, stunning enemies and gaining a temporary boost to attack speed.
*'''Outcast Engineer''': Bardin's fourth unique DLC locked class (chronologically the 2nd paid class DLC). Ever since he returned from castle [[Drachenfels]], Bardin has been busy locking himself alone studying machinery. According to Lohner, his uncle '''Drakki Dagsson''' used to be an engineer whom Bardin looked up, much dismay to his traditionalist dad '''Gorrek Dagsson''' who shuns technology and often came to an disagreement with his brother Drakki. Upon learning Bardin is going to become a apprentice engineer, Dagsson went to disengaged pneumatic supports at the mine out of anger and cause an earthquake, which also happened at the same time when Bardin is about to receive his apprenticeship. Dagsson managed to get most of the Dwarf to safety before the debris and stones swallowed him alive with the remaining Dwarfs. This forced Bardin to quit his passion to follow his father's footstep, becoming an Ironbreaker, and the good ol' Drakki took the blame for the mining accident and becoming a slayer out of guilt (because of how heroic Dagsson was) and died in a troll cave. Still, tragedy did not end there for Bardin for he would later failed to defend his home, his family and his beardling son just because he wasn't strong enough to fight off a gutter runner, even led his entire team of sentry died saving him in the process. Filled with grief, Bardin decided to leave his hold and search for Karak Zorn as an excuse to exile himself (because seeker sounds better than exile) but ended up joining Victor's anti-ratman crusade at Ubersreik instead. The demon living in castle [[Drachenfels]] read everyone like an open book, including a magic resistant Dwarf, and it sarcastically mocked Bardin of his old shame. Having realized maybe he should never followed his father's path and perhapes he was never suited for being an Ironbreaker, he went back to his old tinkering passion. With Lohner's help, Bardin acquired materials, minerals needed for his various tools of destruction like his signature crank gun (read: [[Awesome|handheld Gatling gun, or handheld super repeater handgun because Richard Jordan Gatling doesn't exist in Warhammer world]]) and is now out to destroy all those Thaggrakis and Dumals with it!
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Build Pressure''- Holding reload with the crank gun equipped builds pressure, gradually restoring the ability bar. Stacks are lost when you fire.
***''Gunsmith''- +50% Max ammo.
***''Spotter''- +10% Ranged Power to nearby allies.
***''Utility Belt''- Allows you to carry three different bombs, cycling through them with the bomb key.
**Unique active ability: ''Steam-Assisted Crank Gun (mk2)''- An interesting active ability that's more like a third weapon, activating Bardin's special gun. Switching to the gun doesn't use up the bar, nor does it build up automatically. You "Reload" the gun in order to fill up your ability bar over time, and you can fire it as long as you have "ammo" in it. Can be upgraded to fire slower but stronger slugs, immediately start out firing at full speed, or have a longer ability bar that temporarily isn't used when you kill a special.

===Sienna Fuegonasus===
As fiery and feisty as ever, the U5's witch is here to blaze a trail through rat and rot alike. How she does it forms the basis of her paths in life: She either made an attempt to discipline herself as a Battle Wizard (Canon), split between freedom and control as a Pyromancer or lost herself to the flame as an Unchained. It's eventually revealed in Lohner's journals that Sienna "had" a sister named Sofia. They weren't on the best terms, but they were family, so when Sofia was accused of being a [[Necromancer]], Sienna burned the town responsible for accusing her. [[Fail|And then it turns out she WAS a necromancer, so Sienna burned her too]]. Note the quotation marks, as Lohner recently got a letter from someone claiming to be Sofia, blackmailing him to do her a favor or else some of his unsavory secrets would be revealed. This fiasco looks to blow up in everyone's faces, which, really, fits anything to do with Sienna.
*'''Battle Wizard''': Ubersreik taught Sienna the value of self-control, and while she was reluctant to do so she has learned to control the flame for the first time. The greater degree of self-discipline Sienna has as a Battle Wizard allows her to focus on perfecting her spellcasting, letting her cast spells more quickly, more often, and for more damage.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Tranquility''- Passively vents overcharge after 6 seconds of not casting spells
***''Reckless Haste''- Overcharge increases spell charge rate
***''Pyromantic Surge''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''Fire Walk''- Quickly teleport forward, leaving a trail of fire behind you. Can be upgraded to have lower cooldown, a bigger and stronger explosion with no more fire trail, or the ability to double-cast within 10 seconds.
*'''Pyromancer''': While far from having the control of a proper Battle Wizard, Sienna has enough self-awareness to restrain herself from the most ostentatious of fire magic. Sienna the Pyromancer trades in the consistency of her Battle Wizard career for more explosive moments of burst damage. Of special note is a talent which lets her activated ability also instantly clear all overcharge.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Critical Mass''- Critical chance increases based on overcharge level
***''Searing Focus''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''The Burning Head''- A powerful fire blast that initially travels directly forward, but after a short time it will attempt to home in on the closest enemy; holding the active ability key down allows the user to designate a target for the fire blast to home in on instead. It will jump from foe to foe, killing until it runs out of power. Anything not killed by the blast is staggered, including bosses. Can be upgraded to refund cooldown on crit, vent her overcharge on cast or give her temporary health.
*'''Unchained''': Sienna's addiction to magic has finally overwhelmed her, and now she lives only from one magical high to the next. As an Unchained, Sienna favors magically-boosted melee, with a focus on generating as much overcharge as possible before moving in for the kill.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blood Magic''- 50% of damage received is converted to overcharge. Do not get hit while at high levels of overcharge, lest you accidentally [[Fail|explode yourself like a dunce]].
***''Slave to Aqshy''- No overcharge slowdown
***''Unstable Strength''- High overcharge increases melee attack power up to 60%
**Unique active ability: ''Living Bomb''- Expends all overcharge to produce a massive explosion centered on Sienna, dealing heavy damage to all nearby enemies. Fortunately, this can be done even while beginning to explode from too much overcharge. Can be upgraded to increase power based on how many you hit, gain a scorching aura after it's finished or give everyone temp health.

== Other Characters ==
*'''Franz Lohner''': The bartender of the Red Moon Inn, transferring over to the Taal's Horn Keep. You guys do the heavy lifting, he does most of the behind the scenes stuff: Keeping your home nice and cozy, getting intel, stocking up on supplies, you get the drill. Unfortunately, he also runs the Emporium of Wonders, aka, [[Rage|the microtransaction shop]]. Seemingly knows everything and everyone, including any secrets your own characters have. Talking to him has him rattle off various nods to the lore of Warhammer and more specifically, [[The End Times]]. The devs also use him to write journals and story bits about the game through the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", which are tidbits for his journal. Journal entries and random conversations heavily imply that he's [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat|Morgan Bernhardt from Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omen.]]
*'''Olesya Pimenova''': The carriage handler from the first game turned out to be a Gray Witch. Whod've thunk? As usual, your ride in and out of your jobs, this time using a Bridge of Shadows teleporter instead of horses. Helps make plans along with Lohner while occasionally working alongside you on your missions, secretly doing magic stuff while you not-so-secretly kill everything. Heavily implied to be the true form of the Grey Wizard Christoph Engel from the first game. She also has the hots for Kruber, a fact which he's unfortunately aware of.
*'''Catrinne of Aldenstein''': The artist making all the paintings you can decorate the keep with once you find three pieces of Ravaged Art in a mission. You never see her, but you can sometimes hear her. She's haunted by visions which inspire her paintings, but Lohner's wary of how ominous she describes them. She apparently has a crush on Saltzpyre (A fact which Salty himself doesn't know, but hilariously enough, Kruber does), and she sometimes has to fight off Bardin from eating her brushes because he finds them delicious.

== Enemies ==

'''Bosses'''
* '''Grey Seer Rasknitt:''' The same asshole in charge of invading Ubersreik is back, and he's the final boss of the main campaign. Having captured the heroes in the first game, he attempts to sacrifice them to fuel the Skittergate, a portal contraption capable of bringing in huge armies in a flash. With it, he and the Rotbloods swarmed Helmgart and the countryside, though as is typical of technology made by mice, it breaks in the prologue. It's fixed soon after though, and much of the game is dedicated to destroying it. During the final showdown, he sent his precious Stormfiend called Deathrattler (who uses dual-ratling guns instead of the flamethrowers) against you, only to call it a worthless piece of junk after the heroes killed it. He then attacks the heroes with his Skaven magic, teleports around at lightning speed while summoning special Skaven of all types, then is blown the fuck up once the rat bastard's health is at its end. You then get his helmet as a trophy for the Keep, and the fact that it has voices whispering into it explains MUCH about how insane this rat-bastard is.
* '''Chaos Champion Bödvarr Ribspreader:''' Here to spread ribs and smiles in Papa Nurgle's name, Ribspreader is a Champion of Chaos and the scary dude on the box cover. The leader of the Rotbloods, who are said to be insane even by Chaos Warbands' standards, he's here to slaughter and destroy, and has allied himself with Rasknitt for that purpose. He berates the Grey Seer for the portal's failure, but interestingly enough ''doesn't'' rip his spine out for it, though it's probably because Rasknitt is more powerful than he is. Figures mainly into Act 3, where the gang messes with everything he has. After hitting a breaking point as the heroes foil his plans and kill his men and free his slaves, he sends out most of his army to scout for and attack the Keep, but thanks to Olesya reading the script, they learn about this, attack his under-staffed camp, and kill him in his own arena. Despite claiming that he can take care of the heroes all by himself, he displays cowardice, [[Carron|ranting and bawwing about the precious slaves and loots he lost to the Ubersreik Five/Four/Doesn't Matter]] when he starts losing and calls his warriors for aid, with a horde attacking as he loses health. Interesting to note that despite being a Nurgle worshipper, he has a magic axe (which the axe itself is alive, noted by the growing eye skull on the axe) that he can call back to him if he ever throws it out against the players. Saltzpyre would often refer to it as "flying axe witch" whenever it was thrown. You gain this axe as a trophy for the keep, and study of it reveals that Ribby is just one of many, many Chaos Warriors who wielded the thing.
* '''Burblespue Halescourge:''' The Nurgle sorcerer lord that the Skaven met back at Stromdorf, and the boss of Act 1. Has a good manner like papa Nurgle himself and he can do everything that the Nurgle sorcerer can do in the game (AKA life drain & Nurgle Vortex) only tougher and more AOE green plague in the oxygen, with a couple of unique abilities like summoning a swarm of flies to chase and stun one of the players, summon green images of himself to attack the players as well as erect an even bigger green vortex in the center of the battlefield. He will absolutely make you fucking rage with his lack of visual cues for his attacks, his billion and one hit points, and his habit of teleporting around like a fucking asshole whenever someone so much as sneezes on the fucker. Has a large number of very angry nicknames from the fandom, several of which have even made it into official patch notes (e.g. "Bunglesnatch Humbledink", "Vorpalblade Noobhurl", "Hailstorm Barbeque", "Bubbly-Spurge" and "Bubblespit Halleberry", among many others). You get his staff and tome from killing him, and you find out the latter was made from human skin and inked in blood. Lovely.
* '''Skarrik Spinemanglr:''' The "Scary" Skaven Warlord in charge, and the boss of Act 2. Seem to be heavily inspired by Queek Headtaker in both his looks, size, and unskavenly bravery, although he uses a more traditional halberd alongside dual shortswords. Just like Queek, he is the largest non-monster Skaven of them all, towering over the players. He will regularly summon Stormvermin and Skavenslaves, if you don't take care of them quickly it can snowball into a horde no player could ever hope to kill. He is also fully armored like Ribspreader, but unlike him, Skarrik is much faster, forcing the player to have a frustrating time of chipping his health away with their seemly ineffective charge attack. Also, he calls you [[What|cat fondlers]] and is responsible for Saltzpyre's lost eye. After he dies, civil war and general chaos erupts throughout the Skaven underground, decreasing the amount of forces guarding the Skittergate. You also get his armor and spears for the keep.
* '''Nurgloth the Eternal:''' A new boss for the new Drachenfels DLC map and another one of Nurgle's stinky boy. He used to be the chief rival of shitstorm sorcerer from above, and has been trying to take over his rival's throne. Like every dumbass heretical sorcerer, he went after old Drachenfels' castle in search of his old research about demons and other crazy shit to make himself even more powerful, which he did and was possessed or at least is in contract with a demon, but was driven mad after he glimpsed the realm of chaos. Still, it allows him to see a bit of future sight as well as gaining much higher power than before. After our heroes defeated the two walking-toilets above, he began his no-good operation in Drachenfels' castle and started to sacrifice captured villagers from nearby for his ritual. His little scheme didn't go unnoticed under Lohner's ear and was dealt with by our heroes after a trilogy of missions. In combat, he wields a giant scythe for slicing while he hovers (only the last phase), shoots flies that explode and snare the player, summons his rotblood minions, and using a magic attack that resembles an AoE ability from a typical MOBA game. Currently the hardest boss due to the amount of health he has and the bullshit last phase where he seeks out players and knocks them to his magic fart zone with his rotblood minions still roaming around him. He also explodes when you kill him, and you acquire his scythe and armor for your victory.
* '''Gatekeeper Nagfahr:''' A Ribspreader look-alike, even shares the same axe design....until the recent patch came and changed its entire outlook. He now only uses a normal axe with his head exposed: [[Eliphas the Inheritor| pale bald head]], probably the only chaos warriors that showed his face in the game. Responsible for guarding the skittergate key staff. Was [[chaos|blessed]] during the battle and turned into...[[Chaos Spawn|It-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named]]. Far easier than Ribspreader, being a level's mid-boss to build up to the final battle with Rasknitt.
* '''Baron Justus Francke:''' Not an enemy you fight but nonetheless important to the plot. Besides the Skaven having a portal underneath Helmgart, Fucko Francke is the other reason Ussingen and the countryside were overrun so quickly. It's revealed he made some kind of deal with the Rotbloods and Clan Fester, and like a lot of shitty nobles, might've been in league with the Chaos Gods even before the invasion. His fortified mansion, the only undamaged building in Ussingen, is blown up accordingly by the heroes. His fate is unknown.

'''Skaven'''
 Clan Fester's back, and they're pissed. Sore after getting thwarted at Ubersreik, they want revenge. They almost managed to get it by capturing the heroes and finally managing to capture Ubersreik, and with the Rotblood alliance for constructing a Skittergate portal to Norsca, things seem to be in the bag... Until [[Fail|it malfunctions and frees Kruber, leading him to free everyone else]]. Still, they're stronger now, with Clan Pestilens rats joining their ranks and being just as determined as ever to spread the power of the warp and stave off their extinction.
* '''Skavenslaves:''' Still the most piss-poor enemies in the game. Even though they come in huge swarms they're only dangerous if they blindside you or if you're too busy dealing with actual threats.
* '''Clanrats:''' Rank and file of clan Fester, only slightly better than slaves. Now come with a shield and hand weapon variant that could hopefully block one or two hits from the front and make dealing with the horde slightly more difficult.
* '''Plague Monks:''' A more durable Skaven with fast attacks designed to exhaust the player's stamina. Weak to ranged fire but hit like a freight train and knock you back. They let out a loud howl when they charge, but can be hard to spot in a swarm. Usually, spawn in triplets and tend to focus a single target just to make sure even 7+ stamina would not be enough to withstand their attack.
* '''Stormvermin''' - The most common breed of Special Skaven, Stormvermin will spawn at random among the crowds of Clanrats seeded throughout the various levels. Unlike the rest of their ratty brethren, the Stormvermin have actual armor, actual weapons, and actual training, making them a serious threat. Their halberds do more damage than the standard Clanrat improvised weaponry, and hits against them that don't aim for the head (or have the Armor Piercing trait) will glance off their armor. Even blocking their attacks is difficult, since they do significant Stamina damage and therefore have a high chance of breaking your block and putting you into stun, making you an easy kill. At higher difficulties, they become one of the most significant threats in the game, and require careful combat to take down safely or make ranged weapons good at taking them down quick very desirable.
* '''Stormvermin''' (Sword & Shield): Elite troops who still sound vaguely like Bane, except some of them now have swords and shields that give them multiple attacks and near-immunity to frontal hits (but mercifully deals less damage than the halberd wielders), plus their shields are metal and can't be broken. All around assholes, and a definite reason to consider having a handgun on the team since it's one of the only ranged weapons capable of easily handling them from the front.
* '''The Stormvermin Patrol''' - Once or twice per map, if you're listening carefully, you'll hear the sound of rats shouting out a ratty little marching drill. And if you're smart, you'll hide. If you're not smart, you'll die, because the Patrol is a massive mob of Stormvermin that all aggro at once if they spot any of the heroes, and will never back down from a fight. Their numbers are slightly randomized, but rule of thumb is for +5 rats for each difficulty level, so at Legendary difficulty you're facing patrol sizes that wouldn't be out of place in an actual game of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Yeah. [[Anal Circumference|Have fun with that]].
* '''Gutter Runner''' - Representing Clan Eshin, we have these stabby little ninja rats with warp-dust coated knives strapped to their hands. They lurk in the shadows, trying to find a hero that's cut off from the rest of the group or waiting for you to be otherwise distracted, then pounce and pin one hero to the ground while they stab and stab and stab until the puny man-thing stops moving. Once you're pinned (but you ''can'' hope to dodge their jumps at you by dodging to a side), you're helpless. It's up to the rest of the team to save you. So if you hear that strange whispering in the distance, make sure to stay close to your team.
* '''Packmaster''' - Clan Moulder's representatives, the Packmasters have taken up capturing humans for slaving. To this end, they cart around giant spiked collars on poles; if they get close enough, they'll snap that collar shut around your neck, disabling you like the Gutter Runner. The good news is that the collar doesn't hurt nearly as much as the knives and you can dodge it if you time it right. The ''bad'' news is that the Packmaster will drag you off into the distance, probably through a mob of Clanrats, and then hang you up to die - or at least for the rest of their companions to stab while you wriggle helplessly.
* '''Poison Wind Globadier''' - A Skryre-rat in a gas mask, with a miniature plague factory on its back. At a distance, it will constantly lob spheres full of gas so poisonous that it eats into the skin like acid, covering the battlefield in green clouds of death. The good news is that these are as poisonous to the other Skaven as they are to our heroes. The bad news is that you'll still die like a bitch if you stand in one. And if you get too close, they'll rig the tanks on their backs to explode, taking you with them in one final kamikaze assault.
* '''Ratling Gunner''' - Clan Skryre is pulling overtime here. This rat's got a miniaturized, one-man version of the tabletop Ratling Gun strapped to its back, and the rest of its body is covered in heavy armor. When it finds a good firing line, it'll wind up that gun and then unleash a hellstorm of warp-shot onto one of the heroes, tracking them as best as it can. The good news is that it's not very accurate, kills Skaven who enter its firing line, and tends to jam after a while. The bad news is that it's firing so many bullets that it's probably going to hit you anyway, and while it's not as powerful as a full-sized "kill both knight and his horse with a single bullet" ratling gun it still hurts a lot. Got a significant buff compared to the original game by taking body amour and revving up his gun quite a bit faster.
* '''Warpfire Thrower:''' Another Skryre-rat, now with a flamethrower strapped to its back, which it uses to spew out gouts of green fire at anything in range. The good news is that it has a shorter range compared to the Ratling Gunner and gives even less fucks about torching other Skaven and Rotbloods in its path. Bad news is it hurts even more than the Ratling Gunner, knocks you back, and blocks your vision as well - not a Special you'd want to see while you're out of ammo. The warpstone crystal on its back is its weak spot, but it violently explodes if said weak spot is hit, leaving a sizeable puddle of the flaming warpstone on the ground. While it can take out a lot of enemies with the explosion, it also makes engaging it in melee even more suicidal, especially if you use wide-sweeping weapons.
* '''Barrel Rat:''' Special Skaven enemy type that exists only in special game modes like the Weave or in Weekly Events. Their role is simple: SUICIDE BOMBER! Try to shoot them down before they reach you! A bane to melee only characters like Bardin's Slayer (without the throwing axe) and Kruber's Grail Knight.
* '''Rat Ogre''' - The triumph of Clan Moulder's scientific prowess. The Rat Ogre, like the Stormvermin Patrol, is a once-a-map event, barring special mission rules, and is always announced by a throat-peeling bellow of rage. It's a giant, hulking brute that rampages across the battlefield, pummeling and punching its way through any heroes it can find. It ''is'' possible to kite the Ogre, but the problem is that it's rarely alone; the true difficulty arises in managing the Ogre and the accompanying Clanrats at the same time, since they limit your mobility just by existing.
* '''Stormfiend:''' If you thought the Rat Ogres were a huge pain in the ass, say hello to their upgraded cousins, the masterwork of Clan Moulder and Clan Skyre! They are clad in heavy armor from the front and wield twin warp-fire throwers attached to their arms. Unlike the warpfire throwers on regular Skaven, these ones leave a burning trail on the ground for quite a time, turning a battlefield into a maze of green fire if you let it disengage and rain fire on you from distance - it's worth it to backtrack to more open areas if you come across a Stormfield because of this. Their major weakness is the smaller Skaven acting as a second brain that's stuck on their backs.
*'''Sack Rat''' - A Skaven with a big sack full of loot. Pretty rare to spawn. It doesn't attack on its own, [[Fail|but kills teams anyway as the people in it tunnel vision on it before being killed by all the other enemies in the level]] (seriously, a loading screen tip jokingly tells you to do this). If you can kill it before it runs off you'll get to claim its stuff. One of its notable dialogues is '''MINE! MINE! MINE!''' whenever it walks, so it's easy to spot it from such obvious dialogue.

'''Warriors of Chaos'''
 The Rotbloods, a Nurgle Warband so fanatical to the Rot-Father that they make typical fanatics look tame. They're in league with Clan Fester to work on the Skittergate while plundering Reikland's countryside. They're generally tougher and hit harder compared to Skaven, but come in smaller groups, are slower on flat ground, even slower at climbing vertical obstacles, and most importantly spawn from the same points rather than crawling out from every nook and cranny including those on the ceiling.
* '''Nurgle Cultists:''' Your typical cannon fodder of Nurgle about as tough as a Clanrat. Fill the same role as Skaven slaves in the Chaos horde, though they might last an extra hit compared to slaves.
* '''Chaos Marauders:''' Plague-ridden warriors that come in four flavors:
**'''Raiders''' (hand weapon) and '''Bulwarks''' (hand weapon and shield) are the basic units for the Chaos Forces and fulfill a similar role to Clanrats, but they are significantly more durable than the former.
**'''Savages(Frothers)''' (dual-wielding weapons) are pretty much carbon copies of Plague Monks and work exactly the same except its attacks aren't as fast.
**'''Maulers''' (great weapons) huge guys with huge axes and huge horned helmets. Fill the niche of a Stormvermin in the Chaos horde, leading packs of marauders and acting as a primary threat in them, except they hit even harder, depleting all the stamina in one hit, are only armored on the head and ''heavily so'' (seriously, it's not worth shooting them there with non-guns), and have more health.
* '''Chaos Warriors:''' ASININE MORTALS!! The great axe variant. The toughest non-boss enemy in the game. Has nearly three times as much health as a Stormvermin, and their armor is so thick that even headshots from guns hardly faze them. They can down you in a hit or two from full health but are very slow targets, and they'll trash talk one of you to let you know who they're aiming for. For extra fun, they sometimes spawn two or three at a time.
* '''Chaos Patrol:''' when you thought Stormvermin patrol was bad, these guys come in with their chaosy march song... Include at least '''SIX''' Warriors and Maulers even at the lowest difficulty with the rest filled with Raiders and Bulwarks. A tougher patrol by far compared to the Stormvermin's.
* '''Chaos Sorcerers of Nurgle:''' Come in two variants - the Lifeleech (also known as "[[/d/|Chester the molester]]" by many players), who teleports around and attempt to bind a character to leech their health, and the Blightstormer, who casts a Nurgle-flavored green vortex spell that sucks in both the enemies and player characters, damaging and preventing them from moving. (The Blightstormer also likes to talk about how Papa blessed them with sniffles and brings forth much joy.)
* '''Bile Trolls:''' Chaos Trolls of Nurgle. Wield huge blunt weapons and spew acidic bile that slows you and drains your stamina as long as you're exposed to it, much like Stormfields it's absolutely worth turning around to a more open part of the map to be able to better avoid the puke. They can also attempt to heal themselves over time, both as a passive effect and as an ability they channel when their health is low. When this happens, they fall to their knees and gain a temp health bar. You and everyone else better start [[Rape|dogpiling the FUCK out of it]] to empty it and prevent full health regen, or life will only suck harder.
* '''[[Chaos Spawn|The Unnameable Beasts]]:''' Tough boss monsters that like to chew you to regain their health. They are also probably the worst thing to face with pubbies, as they devour you, smack you into other players damaging and potentially downing them, and each snack they grab heals them. You will definitely want to use your bombs and any other knockback abilities you have to stop their chow time. Oh and they are about one of the fastest boss enemies just like the rat ogres with the exception being their head isn't as noticeable, therefore harder to deal big damage with headshots. Have fun with that.

'''Beastmen'''
 The Cloven Ones are an enemy faction that premieredin the "Winds of Magic" expansion pack. They are the true children of Chaos, born amidst the collapse of the Polar Warp Gates and the subsequent release of Chaos energy into the world. As such, they serve the Chaos Gods without question, as their souls are forfeit to Chaos at the moment of their conception. Although the Beastmen vary in appearance, as true to their Chaos heritage, they are mainly comprised of humanoid mutants and abominations with bestial features such as cloven hooves, horns, and goatlike heads. Warpstone meteor falling into Reikland got their attention, and now they seek to claim it as a Herdstone. Afterwards, they have a chance to appear in any mission.
* '''Ungors:''' Ungors are the weakest and most humanlike of the Beastmen, with most possessing diminutive horns or no horns at all. However, they are no less hateful and repulsive than their larger cousins. They use spears and bows, making them the first common enemy type to have a ranged attack.
* ''' Ungor Raiders:''' The weakest specials in the game, they look similar to regular Ungors but have much darker skin and white body paint across their upper body. Despite falling over in a stiff breeze, their arrows do lowish damage and they have an average rate of fire. The real threat is when you're caught out of cover by large packs of 8~10+ Ungor Raiders who will sustain fire their arrows so there's no safe opening to close the gap, and being exposed leads to a lot of damage quickly. Since they often shoot from far away at an area where melee can't reach them like a balcony or a cliff, they must be taken out with ranged weapons, which is a required waste of ammunition for some characters, unless the player is an Ironbreaker armed with a drakepistol, Bardin with a throwing axe, a Huntsman Kruber with a knack for headshots, or Sienna.
* '''Gors:''' The most common of the Beastmen, Gors form the backbone of the Beastmen Brayherd. Each Gor is recognized for their resplendent rack of horns, with larger horns denoting higher status within the Beastmen hierarchy. Prerelease screenshots and artwork show Gors wielding Man-cleavers and two-handed axes, although more variations are possible.
* '''Bestigors:''' Bestigors are the elite of the Brayherd as their name would imply. They can use a charge attack to knock down players and are heavily armored (not as much as chaos warriors despite being chaos and is more akin to Stormvermin armor), though this charge attack can be interrupted by a good hit/shot to them while charging to trip them or dodged.
* '''Standard Bearers:''' Beastmen who carry foul standards into battle to increase the Brayherds morale. They can place their magical standards to buff their comrades with a buffer of temporary health on top of their max health, and regeneration of their base health which can make fights take longer if players don't finish off enemies. Best to fight your way to the flag and smash it before things get harder.
* '''Beastmen Patrol''' - The patrol for the Beastmen. Unlike the previous two patrols, it contains some Ungor Raiders for ranged fire support and two standard-bearers with the rest filled with Bestigors.
* '''Minotaurs:''' A new monster-boss enemy, Minotaurs are the most Beastmen-like of Beastmen: extremely strong, extremely ferocious, and extremely dumb. Minotaurs are more aggressive than any other boss type, beelining for the nearest hero and attacking them relentlessly. They have a charge ability like the Stormfiend and can deal serious damage to players and enemies alike in their path. One of the nastier differences is that Minotaurs get the healing benefits of Battle Standards, but not the bonus health. This isn't too noticeable on Recruit or Veteran, but Champion and above the health regeneration makes it the hardest boss when both enemies are present together. Oh, and they're bigger than the other regular bosses, meaning more reach and having to aim higher for the head. Have fun.

== Gameplay Tips (aka How To Avoid Dying Like An Asshole) ==

1. Don't be That Guy who wanders off alone and dies due to getting incapacitated due to the half-dozen or so methods an enemy can do such a thing. I don't care how badass you think you are, nothing actually makes you immune to being pounced by a Gutter Runner, hooked by a Packmaster, yote by a Blightstormer, et cetera. Seriously, wandering off alone is one of the certain ways you can get kicked from a match, along with going AFK during horde or boss attacks.

2. If someone starts grabbing Tomes and Grimoires, fucking follow them and hope they know where to show you where the others are. Because if you are not grabbing them, you're not optimizing your loot and XP gain, thus you are shit and should uninstall this game (and/or kill yourself). Or don't, whatever, I'm not [[Asmodai]].

3. If you play Sienna and overheat more than twice in a match, don't be butthurt when you get kicked. Learn to manage your overheat, or learn to play anything else. (Same goes for playing an Ironbreaker with drakefire guns.)

4. The game is actually really great about audio clues for your enemies; if you hear something suspicious, start looking around for the source of the sound. Nine times out of ten, you can spot a Gutter Runner or other special enemy fast enough to kill it. The other tenth time? Hope your buddies didn't rush forward and leave you for dead.

5. Consider taking weapons with Shield Breaking and/or Armor Piercing if you're consistently getting fucked up by the heavier enemies. Instead of having to charge up a heavy attack, you just make regular attacks as fast as you can and watch enemies like Stormvermin and Chaos Warriors get fucked up.

6. Mix in side-dodges and pushes with your melee swings in order to defend yourself. The different weapons each have optimal attack/push/dodge patterns unique to them. Learn yours. Blind offense is a good way to get yourself killed by stray hits from trash mobs. Side-dodging repeatedly also has the benefit of helping you not get surrounded as the hordes have to relocate to you.

8. Trying to outrace other players for DPS is only going to get everyone killed, which means nobody gets loot and very little XP. Don't be that asshole who tries to "prove" something to the others by trying to outperform them. The only stat that matters is how much damage you took. Kills will happen eventually. Focus on keeping yourself alive and healthy first and foremost.

9. This is a fucking co-op game. Heal other people, leave stuff they need behind, try to watch their backs. If you can't handle this concept, then you really need to try a different game; "lone wolf" types are wasting both their time and everyone else's.

10. When the coast isn't clear, don't make forward progress in the map. You don't want to trigger a boss fight while knee deep in a horde. While dealing with shit and you have to move around, go backwards, not forwards.

11. Don't be afraid to use those bombs and potions the moment things are beginning to look dicey. One thing (horde, patrol, special) can be handled without too much trouble, but the multiples are what kills teams. Also, Strength potions oddly enough do affect ranged weapons and bombs.

12. Dash abilities (such as Foot Knight's or Zealot's abilities) can be canceled part of the way by blocking, allowing you to gain value from them while not charging away from your group if you're already with them.

13. You can block-cancel other things too, depending on your weapon. Attacks, pushes and other actions can be stopped with a block either for defense or speeding up your combos.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Ranger Veteran.png
File:Ironbreaker.png
File:Slayer.png
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper.png|[[Glottkin|HELLO I'M FUCKING FAT TOO]]
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper2.png|[[Ogre|WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SWAMP???]]
File:Lumberfoots only by a20t43c.png|How Kerillian came to live in a tent.
</gallery>

== Links ==

* [http://www.vermintide.com/ Website]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AovSuioMM2w&t=105s Announcement Trailer plus a little bit of gameplay]

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]

Vermintide 2

2021-10-14T19:16:45Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Markus Kruber (aka Markus de Mandelot) */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:DPuLc-pX4AA3ba3.png|745px|center|thumb|HAHA! ASININE MORTALS!! TIME TO EMBRACE THE TRUE LOVE FROM OUR [[Nurgle|FATHER]]!! [[Skaven|YES-YES, WEAK MAN-THINGS DIE FROM VERMIN POX-DISEASE, YES!]]]]

'''Vermintide 2''' is the sequel to [[The End Times: Vermintide]], made possibly due to the fact that the first game surpassed expectations and did pretty fucking well for a relatively niche title (2 million fucking copies sold!). Fatshark sensibly shortened the name from "Warhammer The End Times: Vermintide 2" to avoid sounding like a Japanese light novel, much to the joy of nerds who [[skub|hate]] The End Times (pretty much everyone).

On October 10th, Vermintide 2 was announced, bringing a host of new additions. Most notably the Warriors of Chaos are being added as an enemy type. [[Nurgle|Specifically the jolly ones that don't mind being pox bloated messes]]. Along with the new enemy race, the Skaven also have a few new additions, such as the Stormfiends and Warpfire Throwers. They've also announced that [[Beastmen|everyone's favorite non-Welsh sheep shaggers]] will be added in sometime this summer.

The game was released on March 8, 2018, and quickly surpassed its prequel's success with 1 million sales in its first month alone.

The game became truly playable after a patch was released on April 12, 2018 to which [https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/30503110/c2428ecfc6ae3dbbb902a008f702bcf510ebb399.png brought back Saltzpyre's signature voiceline] (''actual'' [https://steamcommunity.com/games/552500/announcements/detail/1654386143023879919 patch notes banner]).

It is [[Awesome]].

== Setting ==

Vermintide 2 is set during the End Times, an indeterminate amount of time since the ending of the previous game. After falling into Rasknitt's trap (and thus letting Ubersreik fall), the Ubersreik Five (or Four, doesn't matter) have ended up in their own castle and banded together again to face the Skaven forces of [[Clan Fester]], along with their new allies: a Chaos Warband dedicated to [[Nurgle]] known as The Rotbloods. Both forces came together as the Pactsworn, their eyes gazed on the fortress town of Helmgart (the border town Bretonnia always conquers within the first 10 turns of an Empire [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] campaign).

Lohner has dialogue indicating [[Anal Circumference|the timeline is smack dab in the middle of the End Times as Louen Leoncouer is already dead]] (Please have mercy [[Matt Ward]])! Due to the presence of a Nurgle-aligned warband, it is possible that the game is set during/after the Fall of Marienburg. The Skaven are up to their usual hijinks (Pillaging, slaughter, slavery... You know, a normal day in Warhammer). Their main objective is trying to build something called the Skittergate [https://youtu.be/uOd7HQoKxcU?t=45| (it's different from that movie which they have never seen, so how would they copy it?)], a portal between Norsca and Helmgart, explaining how the Skaven and their new allies overran the region. The Rotbloods are here to help the Skaven with murder-fucking everyone in the Reikland and bringing great death-death to poor Helmgart. Clan Fester's also out for blood as payback for Ubersreik, even though Ubersreik apparently fell anyway.

There are a total of thirteen maps in the base campaign. These span: the town of Helmgart itself, where the heroes create a diversion at the Temple of Sigmar before the Hammerman himself purges it of vikings and rats; an Elven temple ruin in the woods where the gang uses a slow-moving puzzle to raise a magic shield; Ussingen, a farming town where the heroes rescue prisoners and later blow up a Chaos supply cache; a Nurgle-blighted canyon with a fortified Chaos Lord's tomb, which the gang destroys to stop the Rotbloods from harvesting his energy; a dense swamp, where the heroes assault the Rotbloods' main war camp and slay their leader, a Nurgle Champion; and quite a lot more besides, culminating in a double assault on the Skittergate and the Rotblood hometown in Norsca, obliterating both of them and saving Helmgart, or what's left of it. The gang is so badass that the shitty army left at Ubersreik was enough to take over while a Skaven-Rotblood alliance couldn't do jack to them. Such is life as a video game protagonist.

The ''Shadows Over Bögenhafen'' DLC has the gang end up in the titular town where they wipe out the Pactsworn a second time and keep a scary daemon sword out of Nurgle's grubby hands over two more maps. ''Back To Ubersreik'' has them enter a magic simulation of Ubersreik being run by Olesya to try to locate some mysterious runes of power in the ''real'' Ubersreik, re-defeating the Skaven in it because she's trying to keep it as "believable" as possible (and also the Rotbloods, who either found a way to break into the simulation or are part of the simulation because Olesya likes messing with our heroes), with three levels from the previous game and a secret fourth you can try out after finding runes from the past levels through a series of tedious puzzles. In the Winds of Magic DLC the Beastmen get involved because the increasingly fucked Reikland now has a meteor crash onto it, and the angry goats surge out of the woods to make a herdstone out of it. Then there's the roguelike ''Chaos Wastes'', given for free to everyone who got the game, wherein Saltzpyre sets up a pilgrimage through the wastes to assuage his waning faith.

An event for the 1 year anniversary (March 2019) gave us "A Quiet Drink," in which the party decides they've done a very good job so far, and deserve a night on the town! Worth playing just for the many custom voice lines for the utterly sloshed characters. ("Queen Kerillian demands MORE ALE!") ("It wouldn't be the same! It wouldn't have the whistle!") While the map was only available on the official realm during the event, it can still be played [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1694820325 through a mod].

Where the storyline doesn't advance as much through the game, more details can be found on the main site's dev blogs by way of the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", where the old bartender writes down his musings about current events.

== Gameplay ==

The good old Vermintide core gameplay remains intact, which means that the game still has a robust and surprisingly skill-based melee system at its core. Rather than fuck with anything that was already functional, Vermintide 2 focuses instead on adding more content to play around with. Light attacks, heavy attacks, blocking, dodging, pushing, etc., are all still here. All weapons also now have a "push attack" which is performed by holding down the attack button while blocking, causing an attack after you push.

Aside from the new enemy types, there are a couple of other new features, such as specializations for the classes (referred to as "careers"), each representing different possible paths the heroes took after Ubersreik. For example, the Dwarf can be a Slayer or an Ironbreaker, or the Wood Elf can be a Shade or Handmaiden of Isha, each one with diffferent passive abilities and active "Career Skill". This comes packaged along with a talent tree for each character and new weapons to go around for everyone. Each talent tree also comes with talents for granting temporary health (Health that's both easily lost and generated, basically allowing you to endure until the next heal) and stagger bonuses (damage bonuses against enemies you get off-balance). Alternatively, you can heal others when you use a potion on yourself, or gain more power to replace these talents.

The loot system got an overhaul too, with the devs acknowledging the first game's system was kind of bullshit. We now have [[rage|lootboxes]] like every other dev under the sun, but entirely earned through gameplay and they come unlocked, so it's basically just normal random loot drops with a loot box skin slapped on. A "Heroic Deeds" system has also been implemented, consisting of consumable quests that mix gameplay up by dramatically changing objectives, mix of enemies faced or limiting your own tools (many combinations of which are pure [[Anal Circumference]]), along with a Challenge system that's basically an alternative achievements system, rewarding you when you finish missions or sets of missions with certain difficulties, different heroes and/or harder conditions, tracking other milestones and more. These give you more chests, skins, frames for your portraits, and other goodies.

Aside from those additions,and quality of life improvements it seems to mostly be the same game, which is okay since most people just wanted it to be the first one with more stuff to begin with. For the cherry on top, the game also supports modding to the point that the devs maintain a list of "Sanctioned Mods" which can be safely used with the base game, a lot of which are pretty sweet. There's also entirely separate "Realms" for the base game and modded games. On the negative side, there's no dedicated server, instead relying on peer-to-peer connection. Better hope your host has good internet...

Two DLC campaigns are currently out: the first one, '''Shadows over Bögenhafen''', has the heroes searching for a runesword in the titular city, while '''Back to Ubersreik''' features remade versions of some of the original Vermintide missions along with new melee weapons as the Heroes of Ubersreik head off to an illusionary copy of the city to find a hidden set of runes for Olesya. The third DLC, '''Winds of Magic''', added Beastmen, a higher level cap and difficulty level, and a set of endgame challenges in the "Winds of Magic" mode. The fourth, '''Chaos Wastes''' (released for free) added another game mode which has the Ubersreik <s>Five</s><s>Four</s>It Doesn't Matter go on expedition into the titular wastes, choosing to go through a number of randomized locations with roguelike elements, allowing players to exchange or power up their equipment and get special boons while going through areas cursed with various dangers and debuffs.

==The Ubersreik Five and Careers==

Each character now has three different Careers, which affect their weapon choices, abilities, and talent trees, allowing a great deal of customization for each one. Lore-wise, the three careers are based on how each of the heroes might have reacted to the fall of Ubersreik: Either they barely changed at all (The starter career), were inspired for a higher calling, or became traumatized and jaded. The exception is Markus, whose three careers all end up being good for him.

A fourth career is on the way for each character, though it's locked behind DLC. So far, Markus, Bardin and Kerillian have their fourth class, with the other two on the way.

===Victor Saltzpyre===
The Witch-Hunteriest Witch Hunter continues to hunt... More Skaven and Rotbloods than witches, but he hunts all the same. After the Ubersreik campaign, the Order of the Silver Hammer still [[Derp| stupidly tried to deny the existence of the ratmen]], spinning the invasion as a myth. How "Salty" he was in his reaction formed the crux of his future: Either he gained more political power in the chaos, allowing him to secretly fight the ratmen (The canonical choice), spoke out against the stupidity and abandoned the order to become a bounty hunter, or he lost faith in humanity entirely and relished in fanatical worship of Sigmar. As the events of the game go on however, even this faith in Sigmar is shaken, and he organizes a pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes to assuage his fears. Journals reveal that he's coming on more to preaching and thinking on the Eternal Flame...
*'''Witch Hunter Captain''': The deaths of several Captains over the course of the End Times has allowed Victor to rise in rank, but he has had to accept that the Witch Hunters won’t recognize the fact that there’s an entire fucking empire of ratmen just below their cities; Saltzpyre now uses his new political position to fight the menace in secret. In addition to a fancier hat, Victor as a Witch Hunter Captain can do everything he could in the first game and also gets some abilities that help him support his allies.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Witch Hunt''- Enemies pinged by Victor take extra damage
***''Eternal Guard''- Blocking light frontal attacks does not consume stamina
***''Killing Shot''- Crit headshots, melee or ranged, instantly kill human-sized enemies (i.e. any non-boss enemy smaller than a Chaos Warrior)
**Unique active ability: ''Animosity''- Victor screams lets out his [[RAGE]]. All nearby allies have their critical rate enhanced for 6 seconds, and nearby enemies are knocked back. Can be upgraded to give yourself guaranteed crits, refund 40% cooldown if the shout hits ten enemies, or ping everyone hit by it with Witch Hunt.
*'''Bounty Hunter''': When his order attempted to cover up what happened at Ubersreik, Salty removed his heraldry to fight the Skaven himself, taking odd-jobs on the side to pay for his endeavors. While officially he's still a witch hunter, he doesn't associate much with other witch hunters anymore after the threats they made in response to Saltzpyre snapping and speaking his mind about the Skaven. He's less of a religious fanatic and more pragmatic as a result. As a Bounty Hunter, Victor focuses on ranged weaponry to blast away Skaven and Chaos Warriors alike. He also dressed in a similar appearance with [[C.L.Werner|Brunner]], a canon bounty hunter.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blessed Shots''- Guaranteed ranged critical every 10 seconds
***''Ammo Pouches''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Quick Release''- Improved reload rate
**Unique active ability: ''Locked and Loaded''- Fires a powerful shot that pierces multiple enemies...and potentially allies too, so everyone involved really should try to be careful with the Bounty Hunter around. Can be upgraded to have massive cooldown reduction on headshot, get more pellets on the next shot based on the number hit on the current shot, or have ranged crits reduce the cooldown by 20%.
*'''Zealot''': The horrors of Ubersreik and the Witch Hunters' refusal to admit the threat the Skaven pose have caused Victor to give up on earthly organizations entirely and place his trust in Sigmar alone, with the rest of the world fit only to be cleansed in righteous fire. Victor as a Zealot favors vicious melee combat, and not only is his armor some of the best in the game even without the Flagellant talent (which is mandatory while playing the class), a heaping helping of faith and holy rage makes him even more dangerous as he loses health - after all, the end is upon us, why not shed as much blood as possible before it goes? As a nice bonus, picking up grimoires will count towards his health-based attack boosts.
** Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Fiery Faith''- Attack power increased by 5% for every 25 health lost (up to 20%)
***''Unswerving Strikes''- Heavy attacks cannot be interrupted by enemy attacks.
***''Heart of Iron''- Ignores death upon taking lethal damage (long cooldown)
**Unique active ability: ''Holy Fervor''- Charge forward and gain 25% attack speed boost for 5 seconds. Can be upgraded to be unkillable during the skill, or gain stacks that either reduce cooldown or increase attack power.

===Markus Kruber (aka Markus de Mandelot)===
[[This Guy|Faithful, dependable Markus]], always willing to help out, continues to serve against the Ratmen for both coin and conscience. The universe seems to have rewarded him for being a nice, simple guy because none of his careers turn out badly for him. Either he gets deeper into merc life (the canon choice), he takes some time off to breathe as a Huntsman, or he's recognized for his achievements and gets inducted into the Order of the Reikhammer as a Foot Knight. Later in the story, his ancient bloodline is revealed and he becomes an official Grail Knight of Bretonnia. This means he somehow made the journey to Bretonnia, fought all manner of beasts and monsters (while drunk) and even [[Awesome|proved himself to]] [[The Green Knight]] before finally sipping some <strike>[[Lileath|elven goddess]]</strike>[[Lady of the Lake|Lake Lady]] bathwater, gaining the requisite powers, stupid French accent and... [[Troll|"chivalric" manner]]. Let's just hope his good luck continues to hold, eh?
*'''Mercenary''': The life of a mercenary has suited Markus well, in no small part due to not having to answer to incompetent leaders like he used to. Being a Mercenary allows Markus a good degree of versatility, with medium armor that grants protection without losing maneuverability and a focus on using sweeping attacks to clear out hordes.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Paced Strikes''- Hitting 3 enemies in 1 swing boosts attack speed by 10% for 6 seconds
***''Hitting the Sweet Spot''- 25% more cleave (attacks hit more enemies at once)
***''No More Laughin' Now''- Critical hit rate improved by +5%
**Unique active ability: ''Morale Boost''- Staggers nearby enemies and grants nearby allies temporary bonus health. Can be upgraded to give a defense buff for all alies, reduce the cooldown or immediately revive allies.
*'''Huntsman''': After Ubersreik, Markus found a degree of inner peace by devoting himself to Taal and Rhya, the gods of nature (though not devoted enough such that gunpowder weaponry is disallowed on him). As a Huntsman, Markus trades away his access to heavier armor for greater proficiency with ranged weapons of all kinds. He also gets to use a bow, a ranged weapon unique to the Huntsman career that, while much slower than Kerillian's, holds a lot of ammunition and does considerable damage. Had a hilarious bug that [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKoqArJjYIo pretty much gave him an AK-47] and absolutely melted bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Waste Not, Want Not''- Ranged headshots return 1 ammo
***''Poacher's Mark''- Effective range for ranged weapons doubled
***''Call Out Weakness'' - Aura that boosts critical rate by +5%
***''Deep Pockets'' - +50% ammo capacity
**Unique active ability: ''Hunter's Prowl'': Become invisible for a short time; automatically reloads ranged weapon for no ammo cost, improves reload speed, and adds 1.5x damage multiplier to ranged attacks while invisible. Can be upgraded to reduce the cooldown, increase the duration or have ranged attacks not break stealth.
*'''Foot Knight''': For his part in the defense of Ubersreik, Markus was made a Knight of the Order of the Reikshammer. Markus may not have been aiming for the position, but his heavy armor, protective aura, and highly disruptive ultimate make him an excellent tank as a Foot Knight.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''Protective Presence''- Aura that reduces damage taken by 15%
***''Taal's Fortitude'' - Extra stamina shield
***''No Guts, No Glory'' - Reduces damage taken by 10%
**Unique active ability: ''Valiant Charge''- Charges forward, knocking back any enemies hit by the charge. Also interrupts and stuns bosses and specials. Can be upgraded to make Kruber temporarily invincible, have increased size and the ability to knock over greater enemies, or grant increased attack speed for every enemy hit.
*'''Grail Knight''': MOTHERFUCKING GRAIL KNIGHT!!! The first unique class introduced and locked behind a DLC wall. It was revealed one-day Kruber found out his Bretonnian lineage after he received a mysterious letter that was addressed to him with the '''de Mandelot''' surname. According to Lohner, he used his huge information network to traced back Kruber's bloodline and found out his father was actually a Bretonnian! but not just any Bretonnian: '''Foricarl de Mandelot'''! who used to be a well-known grail knight in Parravon after he saved the city from a dragon with style! He was widely worshiped since then with arts, music, and clothes referencing him. It wasn't until the duke's son, an arsehole by the name ''Willibald'' who is jealous of the hero's deed that he killed his father, the duke of Parravon, and framed Foricarl for it. The lady had to intervene herself and turned the fucktard into a frog but it was all too late, for Foricarl had already self-exiled in shame. Despite that, he continued to slay beasts and killing chaos shit like a badass until he finally settled at '''Ubersreik Hills''' and impregnated Kruber's mama, only to leave her before Kruber was even born. With the lady's blessing, Kruber is now '''Markus de Mandelot'''! And he now has [[troll|the privilege call his teammates peasants, acting cockier and mightier than even Kerilian, while Bretonnian dancing all the way to the waystone, one-shotting any foe he came across with his magical sword ability]] (a voiceline while waiting to start on a Chaos Wastes expedition ''really'' has him imply he's been talking down to Saltzpyre after becoming a Grail Knight just to be a troll). Just like Slayer Bardin Markus can't use ranged weapons in this career (because peasant weapon dislike and chivalry bullshit), and he doesn't even have the option of throwing axes like Slayer Bardin does (again, see above), but his special buffs, move speed and ability make him a fantastic boss killer and crowd controller.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''The Lady's Duty''- Get 2 random quests that grant buffs to the party when completed, lasting until the mission is over. Can be upgraded to have a third quest, stronger buffs, or a repeatable quest that grants a potion of strength each time.
***''Knight's Challenge'' - 25% extra damage to the first enemy hit.
***''Thirst for Glory'' - 10% move speed increase
***''Bastion of Bretonnia'' - Your shields can now block Warpfire
**Unique active ability: ''Blessed Blade''- Smite a target with a holy blade. Can be upgraded to deal even more single target damage with a slash and stab, change into a horizontal crowd cleaver or stay the same and increase movement speed upon kill.

===Kerillian===
The elf continues to be a standoffish, if slightly nicer, jerk, though her sensitivity masks hidden scars. Her faith forms the crux of her careers, whether remaining a faithful, if conflicted, Waystalker (This is canon), a Handmaiden more devoted to Isha and protecting others, or losing herself to bloodlust and becoming a Shade of [[Khaine]]. The Drachenfels DLC reveals that Kerillian basically has the biggest impact on the story out of the whole party, with consequences reaching to the rest of Warhammer. She received a vision about how Ubersreik MIGHT have to do with the fall of Athel Loren. With pride and without any thought, she ambushed two regiments of soldiers from Nuln meant to reinforce the city, leaving it undefended... From the Skaven. That's right, [[Fail|because of her pride, she's responsible for ALL of the slaughter and death caused by the Vermintide, and contributed more than a fair bit to bringing about the End Times]].This explains her biting behavior, a shield to her own failures. The pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes broke her resolve and caused her to question her faith, giving up her regrets to Isha and becoming a Sister of the Thorn, losing part of herself and becoming more cynical than ever.
*'''Waystalker''': Frustrated with the clumsiness of her companions, Kerillian has resolved to further hone her skills to compensate further for the "lumberfoots". As a Waystalker, Kerillian further specializes in her longbow, both for precision sniping and for raining arrows on enemies.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Amaranthe''- Automatically regenerate health (3 health per 10 seconds, up to a maximum of half your total hit points)
***''Arrow-Storm''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Waywatcher's Bow''- Effective range for ranged weapons is doubled
**Unique active ability: ''Trueflight Volley''- Fires a volley of homing arrows. Can be upgraded to fire one more arrow, refund ammunition when killing specials, or turn into a single piercing arrow that deals massive damage and has no cooldown when you get a headshot.
*'''Handmaiden''': Through the subtle guidance of the Everqueen, Kerillian came across a long-lost shrine to Isha and gave herself up to serve her. Kerillian's Handmaiden Career focuses primarily on dancing around enemies in direct melee combat, and is her most durable career option through both maximum health, stamina, and mobility. The career for players that are allergic to standing still.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''The Dance of Seasons''- 15% longer dodge distance
***''Aura of Renewal''- Aura that increases stamina regeneration speed by 100%
***''Ariel's Benison''- Cannot be interrupted when reviving allies
**Unique active ability: ''Dash''- Quickly dash forward through enemies, stunning enemies that are hit and causing them to bleed. Has a hilariously low cooldown, the lowest of all of the game's abilities. Can be upgraded to become invisible after the dash, make anyone you hit bleed or gain crit chance based on how many enemies you hit.
*'''Shade''': One of Kerillian's dreams spoke of an ancestor of hers who dwelled in Clar Karond, and with it came the voice of [[Khaine]] urging her to reclaim the mantle of her ancestor. Kerillian as a Shade is an assassin, focused on rapidly killing elite, special, and boss enemies. She also gains access to the volley crossbow in this career. This is the class to play if you really like killing the absolute shit out of Chaos Warriors and bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Murderous Prowess''- 50% damage bonus when attacking enemies from behind
***''Assassin's Blade''- Critical hit backstabs instantly kill man-sized enemies
**Unique active ability: ''Infiltrate''- Become invisible and intangible for 10 seconds, or until performing an attack. Also has a unlisted effect where any melee attack that ends Infiltrate gets a massive damage boost; depending on the weapon this can increase the power of Kerillian's melee attacks to the point where they 1-hit kill a Chaos Warrior on Legendary difficulty, and can even reach the maximum damage value possible for a single attack. Can be upgraded to have less cooldown and grant more crit chance after it ends at the cost of losing the damage bonus, cause her to blink forward while damaging enemies, or allowing her to attack without breaking stealth exactly one time.
*'''Sisters of the Thorn''': The 3rd microtransaction DLC career. In truth, Kerillian has been losing faith in her goddess Lileath for some times, and it finally reached a critical point after the '''Citadel of Eternity''' shenanigan where the said goddess did not answer her. Hoping to rededicate herself to the weaves once more, she began courting to other goddess (even [[Ereth Khial]], the kind of goddess only the mentally ill elf would worship). She ended up went back to Athel Loran to seek answers, offered up her uncertainty and regrets to the forest. Doing so allowed her to become a '''Sister of the Thorn''' , a handmaiden of Isha who can raise up a thorn bush wall to block the enemies (or just turned them into a deadly thorn spike that bleeds anyone it targets) as well as providing healing extra healing to her teammate, leeching extra temporary health from them in exchange. She now also called her teammates "meats", as if [[Ferrus Manus|flesh is weaker]] compare to her, a superior plant fused being.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''A Cluster of Radiants''- Gain a radiance charge that allows free use of your active every 60 seconds.
***''A Murder of Sprites''- Deals more damage to wounded units depending on their remaining health, up to 50%.
***''A Sustenance of Leeches''- Gain temp health if a party member gains temp health when they're at full health.
***''An Attendance of Munificents''- +25% healing for everyone.
**Unique active ability: ''Thornwake''- Raise a thornwall that blocks movement. Can be upgraded to last longer, deal more damage and apply bleed at the cost of duration or explode with poison when it expires, increasing damage dealt to enemies caught.

===Bardin Goreksson===
Short, stout and sure to stomp your arse, Bardin is here to help out his dawris and slaughter some rakis (and anything else that comes in the way. Either he continued his quest for Karak Zorn as a Ranger Veteran (Which is canon), returned to his roots as an Ironbreaker, or forsook life in pursuit of honorable death as a [[Slayer]]. After the trip to Drachenfels however, the regrets that surfaced made him look to his old passions of becoming an Engineer, and thus, became an Outcast Engineer. Life STILL isn't smooth sailing for him, as Lohner's journals reveal that his daughter has gone missing. Whether she'll be found is anyone's guess...
*'''Ranger Veteran''': Karak Zorn is yet to be found, but the defense of Reikland currently comes first for Bardin. Bardin the Ranger Veteran favors the use of ranged weaponry to punish foes from a distance, but he's more than able to hold his own in melee if a hail of crossbow bolts doesn't do the trick. Cousin Okri would be proud. While this used to be the least powerful of the range-focused careers due to lacking a consistent means of generating ammo for itself, recent balance updates have made it into an extremely versatile and powerful support class. Of particular note is a talent that gives a chance for every special enemy you kill to drop a bomb, which is just hilariously strong.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Survivalist''- Special enemies drop ammo on death
***''Loaded for Battle''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Fast Hands''- Increased reload speed
***''Ingenious Improvisation'' - 10% chance to not consume health items, potions, or bombs on use
**Unique active ability: ''Disengage''- Drops a smoke bomb that staggers enemies and turns Bardin invisible as long as he remains within the cloud. Lasts ten seconds. While invisible, Bardin gains increased ranged attack power. Can be upgraded to remain stealthed even outside the cloud, grant everyone attack speed and temp health while in it, or basically allowing you a free bomb throw.
*'''Ironbreaker''': Bardin used to be an Ironbreaker in Kazak Norn, and following the defense of Ubersreik he took up his old oaths and gromril armor once more. The heavy armor and shield of the Ironbreaker makes Bardin a superb tank that can take whatever the enemy can dish out, and then return it in kind. In addition, he gains access to a drakegun and drakefire pistols, which let him spew out gouts of flame. Like in the first game, they do not use ammo and instead use a heat meter, like Sienna. Be mindful that this also means that they'll kill you if the heat gauge maxes out.
**Unique passive abilities:
** Base Health: 150
***''Gromril Armor''- Negates all damage from 1 hit every 20 seconds.
***''Dwarf-Forged''- Reduces damage taken by 30%
***''Doughty''- Grants an extra stamina shield
***''Resilient''- Decreases stun duration after getting hit by an attack by 50%
**Unique active ability: ''Impenetrable''- Briefly staggers nearby enemies, then forces all man-sized enemies among them to attack Bardin exclusively. Bardin also takes no stamina damage while blocking for the duration, and can block normally unblockable attacks. Can be upgraded to give everyone a power increase, increase its range and duration, or the ability to affect even monsters.
*'''[[Slayer]]''': Bardin had been carrying a secret burden in his heart even before Ubersreik, and by the time the Skaven came to Helmgart he had taken up the Slayer's Oath in the hopes of an honorable death. As a Slayer, Bardin can't use ranged weapons at all but becomes a melee powerhouse, with exclusive access to the Dual Axes weapon and the ability to take a second melee weapon to replace his ranged weapon slot. Despite his deceptively low base health, he's one of the tankiest things in the game due to his Oblivious to Pain talent, which is practically mandatory while playing the class. He even has another talent that can increase his base health, as if this weren't enough.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Trophy Hunter''- Stacking damage buff gained upon hitting an enemy
***''Path of Carnage''- +7.5% attack speed
**Unique active ability: ''Leap''- Leap forward, stunning enemies and gaining a temporary boost to attack speed.
*'''Outcast Engineer''': Bardin's fourth unique DLC locked class (chronologically the 2nd paid class DLC). Ever since he returned from castle [[Drachenfels]], Bardin has been busy locking himself alone studying machinery. According to Lohner, his uncle '''Drakki Dagsson''' used to be an engineer whom Bardin looked up, much dismay to his traditionalist dad '''Gorrek Dagsson''' who shuns technology and often came to an disagreement with his brother Drakki. Upon learning Bardin is going to become a apprentice engineer, Dagsson went to disengaged pneumatic supports at the mine out of anger and cause an earthquake, which also happened at the same time when Bardin is about to receive his apprenticeship. Dagsson managed to get most of the Dwarf to safety before the debris and stones swallowed him alive with the remaining Dwarfs. This forced Bardin to quit his passion to follow his father's footstep, becoming an Ironbreaker, and the good ol' Drakki took the blame for the mining accident and becoming a slayer out of guilt (because of how heroic Dagsson was) and died in a troll cave. Still, tragedy did not end there for Bardin for he would later failed to defend his home, his family and his beardling son just because he wasn't strong enough to fight off a gutter runner, even led his entire team of sentry died saving him in the process. Filled with grief, Bardin decided to leave his hold and search for Karak Zorn as an excuse to exile himself (because seeker sounds better than exile) but ended up joining Victor's anti-ratman crusade at Ubersreik instead. The demon living in castle [[Drachenfels]] read everyone like an open book, including a magic resistant Dwarf, and it sarcastically mocked Bardin of his old shame. Having realized maybe he should never followed his father's path and perhapes he was never suited for being an Ironbreaker, he went back to his old tinkering passion. With Lohner's help, Bardin acquired materials, minerals needed for his various tools of destruction like his signature crank gun (read: [[Awesome|handheld Gatling gun, or handheld super repeater handgun because Richard Jordan Gatling doesn't exist in Warhammer world]]) and is now out to destroy all those Thaggrakis and Dumals with it!
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Build Pressure''- Holding reload with the crank gun equipped builds pressure, gradually restoring the ability bar. Stacks are lost when you fire.
***''Gunsmith''- +50% Max ammo.
***''Spotter''- +10% Ranged Power to nearby allies.
***''Utility Belt''- Allows you to carry three different bombs, cycling through them with the bomb key.
**Unique active ability: ''Steam-Assisted Crank Gun (mk2)''- An interesting active ability that's more like a third weapon, activating Bardin's special gun. Switching to the gun doesn't use up the bar, nor does it build up automatically. You "Reload" the gun in order to fill up your ability bar over time, and you can fire it as long as you have "ammo" in it. Can be upgraded to fire slower but stronger slugs, immediately start out firing at full speed, or have a longer ability bar that temporarily isn't used when you kill a special.

===Sienna Fuegonasus===
As fiery and feisty as ever, the U5's witch is here to blaze a trail through rat and rot alike. How she does it forms the basis of her paths in life: She either made an attempt to discipline herself as a Battle Wizard (Canon), split between freedom and control as a Pyromancer or lost herself to the flame as an Unchained. It's eventually revealed in Lohner's journals that Sienna "had" a sister named Sofia. They weren't on the best terms, but they were family, so when Sofia was accused of being a [[Necromancer]], Sienna burned the town responsible for accusing her. [[Fail|And then it turns out she WAS a necromancer, so Sienna burned her too]]. Note the quotation marks, as Lohner recently got a letter from someone claiming to be Sofia, blackmailing him to do her a favor or else some of his unsavory secrets would be revealed. This fiasco looks to blow up in everyone's faces, which, really, fits anything to do with Sienna.
*'''Battle Wizard''': Ubersreik taught Sienna the value of self-control, and while she was reluctant to do so she has learned to control the flame for the first time. The greater degree of self-discipline Sienna has as a Battle Wizard allows her to focus on perfecting her spellcasting, letting her cast spells more quickly, more often, and for more damage.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Tranquility''- Passively vents overcharge after 6 seconds of not casting spells
***''Reckless Haste''- Overcharge increases spell charge rate
***''Pyromantic Surge''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''Fire Walk''- Quickly teleport forward, leaving a trail of fire behind you. Can be upgraded to have lower cooldown, a bigger and stronger explosion with no more fire trail, or the ability to double-cast within 10 seconds.
*'''Pyromancer''': While far from having the control of a proper Battle Wizard, Sienna has enough self-awareness to restrain herself from the most ostentatious of fire magic. Sienna the Pyromancer trades in the consistency of her Battle Wizard career for more explosive moments of burst damage. Of special note is a talent which lets her activated ability also instantly clear all overcharge.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Critical Mass''- Critical chance increases based on overcharge level
***''Searing Focus''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''The Burning Head''- A powerful fire blast that initially travels directly forward, but after a short time it will attempt to home in on the closest enemy; holding the active ability key down allows the user to designate a target for the fire blast to home in on instead. It will jump from foe to foe, killing until it runs out of power. Anything not killed by the blast is staggered, including bosses. Can be upgraded to refund cooldown on crit, vent her overcharge on cast or give her temporary health.
*'''Unchained''': Sienna's addiction to magic has finally overwhelmed her, and now she lives only from one magical high to the next. As an Unchained, Sienna favors magically-boosted melee, with a focus on generating as much overcharge as possible before moving in for the kill.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blood Magic''- 50% of damage received is converted to overcharge. Do not get hit while at high levels of overcharge, lest you accidentally [[Fail|explode yourself like a dunce]].
***''Slave to Aqshy''- No overcharge slowdown
***''Unstable Strength''- High overcharge increases melee attack power up to 60%
**Unique active ability: ''Living Bomb''- Expends all overcharge to produce a massive explosion centered on Sienna, dealing heavy damage to all nearby enemies. Fortunately, this can be done even while beginning to explode from too much overcharge. Can be upgraded to increase power based on how many you hit, gain a scorching aura after it's finished or give everyone temp health.

== Other Characters ==
*'''Franz Lohner''': The bartender of the Red Moon Inn, transferring over to the Taal's Horn Keep. You guys do the heavy lifting, he does most of the behind the scenes stuff: Keeping your home nice and cozy, getting intel, stocking up on supplies, you get the drill. Unfortunately, he also runs the Emporium of Wonders, aka, [[Rage|the microtransaction shop]]. Seemingly knows everything and everyone, including any secrets your own characters have. Talking to him has him rattle off various nods to the lore of Warhammer and more specifically, [[The End Times]]. The devs also use him to write journals and story bits about the game through the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", which are tidbits for his journal. Journal entries and random conversations heavily imply that he's [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat|Morgan Bernhardt from Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omen.]]
*'''Olesya Pimenova''': The carriage handler from the first game turned out to be a Gray Witch. Whod've thunk? As usual, your ride in and out of your jobs, this time using a Bridge of Shadows teleporter instead of horses. Helps make plans along with Lohner while occasionally working alongside you on your missions, secretly doing magic stuff while you not-so-secretly kill everything. Heavily implied to be the true form of the Grey Wizard Christoph Engel from the first game. She also has the hots for Kruber, a fact which he's unfortunately aware of.
*'''Catrinne of Aldenstein''': The artist making all the paintings you can decorate the keep with once you find three pieces of Ravaged Art in a mission. You never see her, but you can sometimes hear her. She's haunted by visions which inspire her paintings, but Lohner's wary of how ominous she describes them. She apparently has a crush on Saltzpyre (A fact which Salty himself doesn't know, but hilariously enough, Kruber does), and she sometimes has to fight off Bardin from eating her brushes because he finds them delicious.

== Enemies ==

'''Bosses'''
* '''Grey Seer Rasknitt:''' The same asshole in charge of invading Ubersreik is back, and he's the final boss of the main campaign. Having captured the heroes in the first game, he attempts to sacrifice them to fuel the Skittergate, a portal contraption capable of bringing in huge armies in a flash. With it, he and the Rotbloods swarmed Helmgart and the countryside, though as is typical of technology made by mice, it breaks in the prologue. It's fixed soon after though, and much of the game is dedicated to destroying it. During the final showdown, he sent his precious Stormfiend called Deathrattler (who uses dual-ratling guns instead of the flamethrowers) against you, only to call it a worthless piece of junk after the heroes killed it. He then attacks the heroes with his Skaven magic, teleports around at lightning speed while summoning special Skaven of all types, then is blown the fuck up once the rat bastard's health is at its end. You then get his helmet as a trophy for the Keep, and the fact that it has voices whispering into it explains MUCH about how insane this rat-bastard is.
* '''Chaos Champion Bödvarr Ribspreader:''' Here to spread ribs and smiles in Papa Nurgle's name, Ribspreader is a Champion of Chaos and the scary dude on the box cover. The leader of the Rotbloods, who are said to be insane even by Chaos Warbands' standards, he's here to slaughter and destroy, and has allied himself with Rasknitt for that purpose. He berates the Grey Seer for the portal's failure, but interestingly enough ''doesn't'' rip his spine out for it, though it's probably because Rasknitt is more powerful than he is. Figures mainly into Act 3, where the gang messes with everything he has. After hitting a breaking point as the heroes foil his plans and kill his men and free his slaves, he sends out most of his army to scout for and attack the Keep, but thanks to Olesya reading the script, they learn about this, attack his under-staffed camp, and kill him in his own arena. Despite claiming that he can take care of the heroes all by himself, he displays cowardice, [[Carron|ranting and bawwing about the precious slaves and loots he lost to the Ubersreik Five/Four/Doesn't Matter]] when he starts losing and calls his warriors for aid, with a horde attacking as he loses health. Interesting to note that despite being a Nurgle worshipper, he has a magic axe (which the axe itself is alive, noted by the growing eye skull on the axe) that he can call back to him if he ever throws it out against the players. Saltzpyre would often refer to it as "flying axe witch" whenever it was thrown. You gain this axe as a trophy for the keep, and study of it reveals that Ribby is just one of many, many Chaos Warriors who wielded the thing.
* '''Burblespue Halescourge:''' The Nurgle sorcerer lord that the Skaven met back at Stromdorf, and the boss of Act 1. Has a good manner like papa Nurgle himself and he can do everything that the Nurgle sorcerer can do in the game (AKA life drain & Nurgle Vortex) only tougher and more AOE green plague in the oxygen, with a couple of unique abilities like summoning a swarm of flies to chase and stun one of the players, summon green images of himself to attack the players as well as erect an even bigger green vortex in the center of the battlefield. He will absolutely make you fucking rage with his lack of visual cues for his attacks, his billion and one hit points, and his habit of teleporting around like a fucking asshole whenever someone so much as sneezes on the fucker. Has a large number of very angry nicknames from the fandom, several of which have even made it into official patch notes (e.g. "Bunglesnatch Humbledink", "Vorpalblade Noobhurl", "Hailstorm Barbeque", "Bubbly-Spurge" and "Bubblespit Halleberry", among many others). You get his staff and tome from killing him, and you find out the latter was made from human skin and inked in blood. Lovely.
* '''Skarrik Spinemanglr:''' The "Scary" Skaven Warlord in charge, and the boss of Act 2. Seem to be heavily inspired by Queek Headtaker in both his looks, size, and unskavenly bravery, although he uses a more traditional halberd alongside dual shortswords. Just like Queek, he is the largest non-monster Skaven of them all, towering over the players. He will regularly summon Stormvermin and Skavenslaves, if you don't take care of them quickly it can snowball into a horde no player could ever hope to kill. He is also fully armored like Ribspreader, but unlike him, Skarrik is much faster, forcing the player to have a frustrating time of chipping his health away with their seemly ineffective charge attack. Also, he calls you [[What|cat fondlers]] and is responsible for Saltzpyre's lost eye. After he dies, civil war and general chaos erupts throughout the Skaven underground, decreasing the amount of forces guarding the Skittergate. You also get his armor and spears for the keep.
* '''Nurgloth the Eternal:''' A new boss for the new Drachenfels DLC map and another one of Nurgle's stinky boy. He used to be the chief rival of shitstorm sorcerer from above, and has been trying to take over his rival's throne. Like every dumbass heretical sorcerer, he went after old Drachenfels' castle in search of his old research about demons and other crazy shit to make himself even more powerful, which he did and was possessed or at least is in contract with a demon, but was driven mad after he glimpsed the realm of chaos. Still, it allows him to see a bit of future sight as well as gaining much higher power than before. After our heroes defeated the two walking-toilets above, he began his no-good operation in Drachenfels' castle and started to sacrifice captured villagers from nearby for his ritual. His little scheme didn't go unnoticed under Lohner's ear and was dealt with by our heroes after a trilogy of missions. In combat, he wields a giant scythe for slicing while he hovers (only the last phase), shoots flies that explode and snare the player, summons his rotblood minions, and using a magic attack that resembles an AoE ability from a typical MOBA game. Currently the hardest boss due to the amount of health he has and the bullshit last phase where he seeks out players and knocks them to his magic fart zone with his rotblood minions still roaming around him. He also explodes when you kill him, and you acquire his scythe and armor for your victory.
* '''Gatekeeper Nagfahr:''' A Ribspreader look-alike, even shares the same axe design....until the recent patch came and changed its entire outlook. He now only uses a normal axe with his head exposed: [[Eliphas the Inheritor| pale bald head]], probably the only chaos warriors that showed his face in the game. Responsible for guarding the skittergate key staff. Was [[chaos|blessed]] during the battle and turned into...[[Chaos Spawn|It-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named]]. Far easier than Ribspreader, being a level's mid-boss to build up to the final battle with Rasknitt.
* '''Baron Justus Francke:''' Not an enemy you fight but nonetheless important to the plot. Besides the Skaven having a portal underneath Helmgart, Fucko Francke is the other reason Ussingen and the countryside were overrun so quickly. It's revealed he made some kind of deal with the Rotbloods and Clan Fester, and like a lot of shitty nobles, might've been in league with the Chaos Gods even before the invasion. His fortified mansion, the only undamaged building in Ussingen, is blown up accordingly by the heroes. His fate is unknown.

'''Skaven'''
 Clan Fester's back, and they're pissed. Sore after getting thwarted at Ubersreik, they want revenge. They almost managed to get it by capturing the heroes and finally managing to capture Ubersreik, and with the Rotblood alliance for constructing a Skittergate portal to Norsca, things seem to be in the bag... Until [[Fail|it malfunctions and frees Kruber, leading him to free everyone else]]. Still, they're stronger now, with Clan Pestilens rats joining their ranks and being just as determined as ever to spread the power of the warp and stave off their extinction.
* '''Skavenslaves:''' Still the most piss-poor enemies in the game. Even though they come in huge swarms they're only dangerous if they blindside you or if you're too busy dealing with actual threats.
* '''Clanrats:''' Rank and file of clan Fester, only slightly better than slaves. Now come with a shield and hand weapon variant that could hopefully block one or two hits from the front and make dealing with the horde slightly more difficult.
* '''Plague Monks:''' A more durable Skaven with fast attacks designed to exhaust the player's stamina. Weak to ranged fire but hit like a freight train and knock you back. They let out a loud howl when they charge, but can be hard to spot in a swarm. Usually, spawn in triplets and tend to focus a single target just to make sure even 7+ stamina would not be enough to withstand their attack.
* '''Stormvermin''' - The most common breed of Special Skaven, Stormvermin will spawn at random among the crowds of Clanrats seeded throughout the various levels. Unlike the rest of their ratty brethren, the Stormvermin have actual armor, actual weapons, and actual training, making them a serious threat. Their halberds do more damage than the standard Clanrat improvised weaponry, and hits against them that don't aim for the head (or have the Armor Piercing trait) will glance off their armor. Even blocking their attacks is difficult, since they do significant Stamina damage and therefore have a high chance of breaking your block and putting you into stun, making you an easy kill. At higher difficulties, they become one of the most significant threats in the game, and require careful combat to take down safely or make ranged weapons good at taking them down quick very desirable.
* '''Stormvermin''' (Sword & Shield): Elite troops who still sound vaguely like Bane, except some of them now have swords and shields that give them multiple attacks and near-immunity to frontal hits (but mercifully deals less damage than the halberd wielders), plus their shields are metal and can't be broken. All around assholes, and a definite reason to consider having a handgun on the team since it's one of the only ranged weapons capable of easily handling them from the front.
* '''The Stormvermin Patrol''' - Once or twice per map, if you're listening carefully, you'll hear the sound of rats shouting out a ratty little marching drill. And if you're smart, you'll hide. If you're not smart, you'll die, because the Patrol is a massive mob of Stormvermin that all aggro at once if they spot any of the heroes, and will never back down from a fight. Their numbers are slightly randomized, but rule of thumb is for +5 rats for each difficulty level, so at Legendary difficulty you're facing patrol sizes that wouldn't be out of place in an actual game of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Yeah. [[Anal Circumference|Have fun with that]].
* '''Gutter Runner''' - Representing Clan Eshin, we have these stabby little ninja rats with warp-dust coated knives strapped to their hands. They lurk in the shadows, trying to find a hero that's cut off from the rest of the group or waiting for you to be otherwise distracted, then pounce and pin one hero to the ground while they stab and stab and stab until the puny man-thing stops moving. Once you're pinned (but you ''can'' hope to dodge their jumps at you by dodging to a side), you're helpless. It's up to the rest of the team to save you. So if you hear that strange whispering in the distance, make sure to stay close to your team.
* '''Packmaster''' - Clan Moulder's representatives, the Packmasters have taken up capturing humans for slaving. To this end, they cart around giant spiked collars on poles; if they get close enough, they'll snap that collar shut around your neck, disabling you like the Gutter Runner. The good news is that the collar doesn't hurt nearly as much as the knives and you can dodge it if you time it right. The ''bad'' news is that the Packmaster will drag you off into the distance, probably through a mob of Clanrats, and then hang you up to die - or at least for the rest of their companions to stab while you wriggle helplessly.
* '''Poison Wind Globadier''' - A Skryre-rat in a gas mask, with a miniature plague factory on its back. At a distance, it will constantly lob spheres full of gas so poisonous that it eats into the skin like acid, covering the battlefield in green clouds of death. The good news is that these are as poisonous to the other Skaven as they are to our heroes. The bad news is that you'll still die like a bitch if you stand in one. And if you get too close, they'll rig the tanks on their backs to explode, taking you with them in one final kamikaze assault.
* '''Ratling Gunner''' - Clan Skryre is pulling overtime here. This rat's got a miniaturized, one-man version of the tabletop Ratling Gun strapped to its back, and the rest of its body is covered in heavy armor. When it finds a good firing line, it'll wind up that gun and then unleash a hellstorm of warp-shot onto one of the heroes, tracking them as best as it can. The good news is that it's not very accurate, kills Skaven who enter its firing line, and tends to jam after a while. The bad news is that it's firing so many bullets that it's probably going to hit you anyway, and while it's not as powerful as a full-sized "kill both knight and his horse with a single bullet" ratling gun it still hurts a lot. Got a significant buff compared to the original game by taking body amour and revving up his gun quite a bit faster.
* '''Warpfire Thrower:''' Another Skryre-rat, now with a flamethrower strapped to its back, which it uses to spew out gouts of green fire at anything in range. The good news is that it has a shorter range compared to the Ratling Gunner and gives even less fucks about torching other Skaven and Rotbloods in its path. Bad news is it hurts even more than the Ratling Gunner, knocks you back, and blocks your vision as well - not a Special you'd want to see while you're out of ammo. The warpstone crystal on its back is its weak spot, but it violently explodes if said weak spot is hit, leaving a sizeable puddle of the flaming warpstone on the ground. While it can take out a lot of enemies with the explosion, it also makes engaging it in melee even more suicidal, especially if you use wide-sweeping weapons.
* '''Barrel Rat:''' Special Skaven enemy type that exists only in special game modes like the Weave or in Weekly Events. Their role is simple: SUICIDE BOMBER! Try to shoot them down before they reach you! A bane to melee only characters like Bardin's Slayer (without the throwing axe) and Kruber's Grail Knight.
* '''Rat Ogre''' - The triumph of Clan Moulder's scientific prowess. The Rat Ogre, like the Stormvermin Patrol, is a once-a-map event, barring special mission rules, and is always announced by a throat-peeling bellow of rage. It's a giant, hulking brute that rampages across the battlefield, pummeling and punching its way through any heroes it can find. It ''is'' possible to kite the Ogre, but the problem is that it's rarely alone; the true difficulty arises in managing the Ogre and the accompanying Clanrats at the same time, since they limit your mobility just by existing.
* '''Stormfiend:''' If you thought the Rat Ogres were a huge pain in the ass, say hello to their upgraded cousins, the masterwork of Clan Moulder and Clan Skyre! They are clad in heavy armor from the front and wield twin warp-fire throwers attached to their arms. Unlike the warpfire throwers on regular Skaven, these ones leave a burning trail on the ground for quite a time, turning a battlefield into a maze of green fire if you let it disengage and rain fire on you from distance - it's worth it to backtrack to more open areas if you come across a Stormfield because of this. Their major weakness is the smaller Skaven acting as a second brain that's stuck on their backs.
*'''Sack Rat''' - A Skaven with a big sack full of loot. Pretty rare to spawn. It doesn't attack on its own, [[Fail|but kills teams anyway as the people in it tunnel vision on it before being killed by all the other enemies in the level]] (seriously, a loading screen tip jokingly tells you to do this). If you can kill it before it runs off you'll get to claim its stuff. One of its notable dialogues is '''MINE! MINE! MINE!''' whenever it walks, so it's easy to spot it from such obvious dialogue.

'''Warriors of Chaos'''
 The Rotbloods, a Nurgle Warband so fanatical to the Rot-Father that they make typical fanatics look tame. They're in league with Clan Fester to work on the Skittergate while plundering Reikland's countryside. They're generally tougher and hit harder compared to Skaven, but come in smaller groups, are slower on flat ground, even slower at climbing vertical obstacles, and most importantly spawn from the same points rather than crawling out from every nook and cranny including those on the ceiling.
* '''Nurgle Cultists:''' Your typical cannon fodder of Nurgle about as tough as a Clanrat. Fill the same role as Skaven slaves in the Chaos horde, though they might last an extra hit compared to slaves.
* '''Chaos Marauders:''' Plague-ridden warriors that come in four flavors:
**'''Raiders''' (hand weapon) and '''Bulwarks''' (hand weapon and shield) are the basic units for the Chaos Forces and fulfill a similar role to Clanrats, but they are significantly more durable than the former.
**'''Savages(Frothers)''' (dual-wielding weapons) are pretty much carbon copies of Plague Monks and work exactly the same except its attacks aren't as fast.
**'''Maulers''' (great weapons) huge guys with huge axes and huge horned helmets. Fill the niche of a Stormvermin in the Chaos horde, leading packs of marauders and acting as a primary threat in them, except they hit even harder, depleting all the stamina in one hit, are only armored on the head and ''heavily so'' (seriously, it's not worth shooting them there with non-guns), and have more health.
* '''Chaos Warriors:''' ASININE MORTALS!! The great axe variant. The toughest non-boss enemy in the game. Has nearly three times as much health as a Stormvermin, and their armor is so thick that even headshots from guns hardly faze them. They can down you in a hit or two from full health but are very slow targets, and they'll trash talk one of you to let you know who they're aiming for. For extra fun, they sometimes spawn two or three at a time.
* '''Chaos Patrol:''' when you thought Stormvermin patrol was bad, these guys come in with their chaosy march song... Include at least '''SIX''' Warriors and Maulers even at the lowest difficulty with the rest filled with Raiders and Bulwarks. A tougher patrol by far compared to the Stormvermin's.
* '''Chaos Sorcerers of Nurgle:''' Come in two variants - the Lifeleech (also known as "[[/d/|Chester the molester]]" by many players), who teleports around and attempt to bind a character to leech their health, and the Blightstormer, who casts a Nurgle-flavored green vortex spell that sucks in both the enemies and player characters, damaging and preventing them from moving. (The Blightstormer also likes to talk about how Papa blessed them with sniffles and brings forth much joy.)
* '''Bile Trolls:''' Chaos Trolls of Nurgle. Wield huge blunt weapons and spew acidic bile that slows you and drains your stamina as long as you're exposed to it, much like Stormfields it's absolutely worth turning around to a more open part of the map to be able to better avoid the puke. They can also attempt to heal themselves over time, both as a passive effect and as an ability they channel when their health is low. When this happens, they fall to their knees and gain a temp health bar. You and everyone else better start [[Rape|dogpiling the FUCK out of it]] to empty it and prevent full health regen, or life will only suck harder.
* '''[[Chaos Spawn|The Unnameable Beasts]]:''' Tough boss monsters that like to chew you to regain their health. They are also probably the worst thing to face with pubbies, as they devour you, smack you into other players damaging and potentially downing them, and each snack they grab heals them. You will definitely want to use your bombs and any other knockback abilities you have to stop their chow time. Oh and they are about one of the fastest boss enemies just like the rat ogres with the exception being their head isn't as noticeable, therefore harder to deal big damage with headshots. Have fun with that.

'''Beastmen'''
 The Cloven Ones are an enemy faction that premieredin the "Winds of Magic" expansion pack. They are the true children of Chaos, born amidst the collapse of the Polar Warp Gates and the subsequent release of Chaos energy into the world. As such, they serve the Chaos Gods without question, as their souls are forfeit to Chaos at the moment of their conception. Although the Beastmen vary in appearance, as true to their Chaos heritage, they are mainly comprised of humanoid mutants and abominations with bestial features such as cloven hooves, horns, and goatlike heads. Warpstone meteor falling into Reikland got their attention, and now they seek to claim it as a Herdstone. Afterwards, they have a chance to appear in any mission.
* '''Ungors:''' Ungors are the weakest and most humanlike of the Beastmen, with most possessing diminutive horns or no horns at all. However, they are no less hateful and repulsive than their larger cousins. They use spears and bows, making them the first common enemy type to have a ranged attack.
* ''' Ungor Raiders:''' The weakest specials in the game, they look similar to regular Ungors but have much darker skin and white body paint across their upper body. Despite falling over in a stiff breeze, their arrows do lowish damage and they have an average rate of fire. The real threat is when you're caught out of cover by large packs of 8~10+ Ungor Raiders who will sustain fire their arrows so there's no safe opening to close the gap, and being exposed leads to a lot of damage quickly. Since they often shoot from far away at an area where melee can't reach them like a balcony or a cliff, they must be taken out with ranged weapons, which is a required waste of ammunition for some characters, unless the player is an Ironbreaker armed with a drakepistol, Bardin with a throwing axe, a Huntsman Kruber with a knack for headshots, or Sienna.
* '''Gors:''' The most common of the Beastmen, Gors form the backbone of the Beastmen Brayherd. Each Gor is recognized for their resplendent rack of horns, with larger horns denoting higher status within the Beastmen hierarchy. Prerelease screenshots and artwork show Gors wielding Man-cleavers and two-handed axes, although more variations are possible.
* '''Bestigors:''' Bestigors are the elite of the Brayherd as their name would imply. They can use a charge attack to knock down players and are heavily armored (not as much as chaos warriors despite being chaos and is more akin to Stormvermin armor), though this charge attack can be interrupted by a good hit/shot to them while charging to trip them or dodged.
* '''Standard Bearers:''' Beastmen who carry foul standards into battle to increase the Brayherds morale. They can place their magical standards to buff their comrades with a buffer of temporary health on top of their max health, and regeneration of their base health which can make fights take longer if players don't finish off enemies. Best to fight your way to the flag and smash it before things get harder.
* '''Beastmen Patrol''' - The patrol for the Beastmen. Unlike the previous two patrols, it contains some Ungor Raiders for ranged fire support and two standard-bearers with the rest filled with Bestigors.
* '''Minotaurs:''' A new monster-boss enemy, Minotaurs are the most Beastmen-like of Beastmen: extremely strong, extremely ferocious, and extremely dumb. Minotaurs are more aggressive than any other boss type, beelining for the nearest hero and attacking them relentlessly. They have a charge ability like the Stormfiend and can deal serious damage to players and enemies alike in their path. One of the nastier differences is that Minotaurs get the healing benefits of Battle Standards, but not the bonus health. This isn't too noticeable on Recruit or Veteran, but Champion and above the health regeneration makes it the hardest boss when both enemies are present together. Oh, and they're bigger than the other regular bosses, meaning more reach and having to aim higher for the head. Have fun.

== Gameplay Tips (aka How To Avoid Dying Like An Asshole) ==

1. Don't be That Guy who wanders off alone and dies due to getting incapacitated due to the half-dozen or so methods an enemy can do such a thing. I don't care how badass you think you are, nothing actually makes you immune to being pounced by a Gutter Runner, hooked by a Packmaster, yote by a Blightstormer, et cetera. Seriously, wandering off alone is one of the certain ways you can get kicked from a match, along with going AFK during horde or boss attacks.

2. If someone starts grabbing Tomes and Grimoires, fucking follow them and hope they know where to show you where the others are. Because if you are not grabbing them, you're not optimizing your loot and XP gain, thus you are shit and should uninstall this game (and/or kill yourself). Or don't, whatever, I'm not [[Asmodai]].

3. If you play Sienna and overheat more than twice in a match, don't be butthurt when you get kicked. Learn to manage your overheat, or learn to play anything else. (Same goes for playing an Ironbreaker with drakefire guns.)

4. The game is actually really great about audio clues for your enemies; if you hear something suspicious, start looking around for the source of the sound. Nine times out of ten, you can spot a Gutter Runner or other special enemy fast enough to kill it. The other tenth time? Hope your buddies didn't rush forward and leave you for dead.

5. Consider taking weapons with Shield Breaking and/or Armor Piercing if you're consistently getting fucked up by the heavier enemies. Instead of having to charge up a heavy attack, you just make regular attacks as fast as you can and watch enemies like Stormvermin and Chaos Warriors get fucked up.

6. Mix in side-dodges and pushes with your melee swings in order to defend yourself. The different weapons each have optimal attack/push/dodge patterns unique to them. Learn yours. Blind offense is a good way to get yourself killed by stray hits from trash mobs. Side-dodging repeatedly also has the benefit of helping you not get surrounded as the hordes have to relocate to you.

8. Trying to outrace other players for DPS is only going to get everyone killed, which means nobody gets loot and very little XP. Don't be that asshole who tries to "prove" something to the others by trying to outperform them. The only stat that matters is how much damage you took. Kills will happen eventually. Focus on keeping yourself alive and healthy first and foremost.

9. This is a fucking co-op game. Heal other people, leave stuff they need behind, try to watch their backs. If you can't handle this concept, then you really need to try a different game; "lone wolf" types are wasting both their time and everyone else's.

10. When the coast isn't clear, don't make forward progress in the map. You don't want to trigger a boss fight while knee deep in a horde. While dealing with shit and you have to move around, go backwards, not forwards.

11. Don't be afraid to use those bombs and potions the moment things are beginning to look dicey. One thing (horde, patrol, special) can be handled without too much trouble, but the multiples are what kills teams. Also, Strength potions oddly enough do affect ranged weapons and bombs.

12. Dash abilities (such as Foot Knight's or Zealot's abilities) can be canceled part of the way by blocking, allowing you to gain value from them while not charging away from your group if you're already with them.

13. You can block-cancel other things too, depending on your weapon. Attacks, pushes and other actions can be stopped with a block either for defense or speeding up your combos.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Ranger Veteran.png
File:Ironbreaker.png
File:Slayer.png
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper.png|[[Glottkin|HELLO I'M FUCKING FAT TOO]]
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper2.png|[[Ogre|WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SWAMP???]]
File:Lumberfoots only by a20t43c.png|How Kerillian came to live in a tent.
</gallery>

== Links ==

* [http://www.vermintide.com/ Website]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AovSuioMM2w&t=105s Announcement Trailer plus a little bit of gameplay]

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]

Vermintide 2

2021-10-14T19:06:58Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Gameplay */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:DPuLc-pX4AA3ba3.png|745px|center|thumb|HAHA! ASININE MORTALS!! TIME TO EMBRACE THE TRUE LOVE FROM OUR [[Nurgle|FATHER]]!! [[Skaven|YES-YES, WEAK MAN-THINGS DIE FROM VERMIN POX-DISEASE, YES!]]]]

'''Vermintide 2''' is the sequel to [[The End Times: Vermintide]], made possibly due to the fact that the first game surpassed expectations and did pretty fucking well for a relatively niche title (2 million fucking copies sold!). Fatshark sensibly shortened the name from "Warhammer The End Times: Vermintide 2" to avoid sounding like a Japanese light novel, much to the joy of nerds who [[skub|hate]] The End Times (pretty much everyone).

On October 10th, Vermintide 2 was announced, bringing a host of new additions. Most notably the Warriors of Chaos are being added as an enemy type. [[Nurgle|Specifically the jolly ones that don't mind being pox bloated messes]]. Along with the new enemy race, the Skaven also have a few new additions, such as the Stormfiends and Warpfire Throwers. They've also announced that [[Beastmen|everyone's favorite non-Welsh sheep shaggers]] will be added in sometime this summer.

The game was released on March 8, 2018, and quickly surpassed its prequel's success with 1 million sales in its first month alone.

The game became truly playable after a patch was released on April 12, 2018 to which [https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/30503110/c2428ecfc6ae3dbbb902a008f702bcf510ebb399.png brought back Saltzpyre's signature voiceline] (''actual'' [https://steamcommunity.com/games/552500/announcements/detail/1654386143023879919 patch notes banner]).

It is [[Awesome]].

== Setting ==

Vermintide 2 is set during the End Times, an indeterminate amount of time since the ending of the previous game. After falling into Rasknitt's trap (and thus letting Ubersreik fall), the Ubersreik Five (or Four, doesn't matter) have ended up in their own castle and banded together again to face the Skaven forces of [[Clan Fester]], along with their new allies: a Chaos Warband dedicated to [[Nurgle]] known as The Rotbloods. Both forces came together as the Pactsworn, their eyes gazed on the fortress town of Helmgart (the border town Bretonnia always conquers within the first 10 turns of an Empire [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] campaign).

Lohner has dialogue indicating [[Anal Circumference|the timeline is smack dab in the middle of the End Times as Louen Leoncouer is already dead]] (Please have mercy [[Matt Ward]])! Due to the presence of a Nurgle-aligned warband, it is possible that the game is set during/after the Fall of Marienburg. The Skaven are up to their usual hijinks (Pillaging, slaughter, slavery... You know, a normal day in Warhammer). Their main objective is trying to build something called the Skittergate [https://youtu.be/uOd7HQoKxcU?t=45| (it's different from that movie which they have never seen, so how would they copy it?)], a portal between Norsca and Helmgart, explaining how the Skaven and their new allies overran the region. The Rotbloods are here to help the Skaven with murder-fucking everyone in the Reikland and bringing great death-death to poor Helmgart. Clan Fester's also out for blood as payback for Ubersreik, even though Ubersreik apparently fell anyway.

There are a total of thirteen maps in the base campaign. These span: the town of Helmgart itself, where the heroes create a diversion at the Temple of Sigmar before the Hammerman himself purges it of vikings and rats; an Elven temple ruin in the woods where the gang uses a slow-moving puzzle to raise a magic shield; Ussingen, a farming town where the heroes rescue prisoners and later blow up a Chaos supply cache; a Nurgle-blighted canyon with a fortified Chaos Lord's tomb, which the gang destroys to stop the Rotbloods from harvesting his energy; a dense swamp, where the heroes assault the Rotbloods' main war camp and slay their leader, a Nurgle Champion; and quite a lot more besides, culminating in a double assault on the Skittergate and the Rotblood hometown in Norsca, obliterating both of them and saving Helmgart, or what's left of it. The gang is so badass that the shitty army left at Ubersreik was enough to take over while a Skaven-Rotblood alliance couldn't do jack to them. Such is life as a video game protagonist.

The ''Shadows Over Bögenhafen'' DLC has the gang end up in the titular town where they wipe out the Pactsworn a second time and keep a scary daemon sword out of Nurgle's grubby hands over two more maps. ''Back To Ubersreik'' has them enter a magic simulation of Ubersreik being run by Olesya to try to locate some mysterious runes of power in the ''real'' Ubersreik, re-defeating the Skaven in it because she's trying to keep it as "believable" as possible (and also the Rotbloods, who either found a way to break into the simulation or are part of the simulation because Olesya likes messing with our heroes), with three levels from the previous game and a secret fourth you can try out after finding runes from the past levels through a series of tedious puzzles. In the Winds of Magic DLC the Beastmen get involved because the increasingly fucked Reikland now has a meteor crash onto it, and the angry goats surge out of the woods to make a herdstone out of it. Then there's the roguelike ''Chaos Wastes'', given for free to everyone who got the game, wherein Saltzpyre sets up a pilgrimage through the wastes to assuage his waning faith.

An event for the 1 year anniversary (March 2019) gave us "A Quiet Drink," in which the party decides they've done a very good job so far, and deserve a night on the town! Worth playing just for the many custom voice lines for the utterly sloshed characters. ("Queen Kerillian demands MORE ALE!") ("It wouldn't be the same! It wouldn't have the whistle!") While the map was only available on the official realm during the event, it can still be played [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1694820325 through a mod].

Where the storyline doesn't advance as much through the game, more details can be found on the main site's dev blogs by way of the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", where the old bartender writes down his musings about current events.

== Gameplay ==

The good old Vermintide core gameplay remains intact, which means that the game still has a robust and surprisingly skill-based melee system at its core. Rather than fuck with anything that was already functional, Vermintide 2 focuses instead on adding more content to play around with. Light attacks, heavy attacks, blocking, dodging, pushing, etc., are all still here. All weapons also now have a "push attack" which is performed by holding down the attack button while blocking, causing an attack after you push.

Aside from the new enemy types, there are a couple of other new features, such as specializations for the classes (referred to as "careers"), each representing different possible paths the heroes took after Ubersreik. For example, the Dwarf can be a Slayer or an Ironbreaker, or the Wood Elf can be a Shade or Handmaiden of Isha, each one with diffferent passive abilities and active "Career Skill". This comes packaged along with a talent tree for each character and new weapons to go around for everyone. Each talent tree also comes with talents for granting temporary health (Health that's both easily lost and generated, basically allowing you to endure until the next heal) and stagger bonuses (damage bonuses against enemies you get off-balance). Alternatively, you can heal others when you use a potion on yourself, or gain more power to replace these talents.

The loot system got an overhaul too, with the devs acknowledging the first game's system was kind of bullshit. We now have [[rage|lootboxes]] like every other dev under the sun, but entirely earned through gameplay and they come unlocked, so it's basically just normal random loot drops with a loot box skin slapped on. A "Heroic Deeds" system has also been implemented, consisting of consumable quests that mix gameplay up by dramatically changing objectives, mix of enemies faced or limiting your own tools (many combinations of which are pure [[Anal Circumference]]), along with a Challenge system that's basically an alternative achievements system, rewarding you when you finish missions or sets of missions with certain difficulties, different heroes and/or harder conditions, tracking other milestones and more. These give you more chests, skins, frames for your portraits, and other goodies.

Aside from those additions,and quality of life improvements it seems to mostly be the same game, which is okay since most people just wanted it to be the first one with more stuff to begin with. For the cherry on top, the game also supports modding to the point that the devs maintain a list of "Sanctioned Mods" which can be safely used with the base game, a lot of which are pretty sweet. There's also entirely separate "Realms" for the base game and modded games. On the negative side, there's no dedicated server, instead relying on peer-to-peer connection. Better hope your host has good internet...

Two DLC campaigns are currently out: the first one, '''Shadows over Bögenhafen''', has the heroes searching for a runesword in the titular city, while '''Back to Ubersreik''' features remade versions of some of the original Vermintide missions along with new melee weapons as the Heroes of Ubersreik head off to an illusionary copy of the city to find a hidden set of runes for Olesya. The third DLC, '''Winds of Magic''', added Beastmen, a higher level cap and difficulty level, and a set of endgame challenges in the "Winds of Magic" mode. The fourth, '''Chaos Wastes''' (released for free) added another game mode which has the Ubersreik <s>Five</s><s>Four</s>It Doesn't Matter go on expedition into the titular wastes, choosing to go through a number of randomized locations with roguelike elements, allowing players to exchange or power up their equipment and get special boons while going through areas cursed with various dangers and debuffs.

==The Ubersreik Five and Careers==

Each character now has three different Careers, which affect their weapon choices, abilities, and talent trees, allowing a great deal of customization for each one. Lore-wise, the three careers are based on how each of the heroes might have reacted to the fall of Ubersreik: Either they barely changed at all (The starter career), were inspired for a higher calling, or became traumatized and jaded. The exception is Markus, whose three careers all end up being good for him.

A fourth career is on the way for each character, though it's locked behind DLC. So far, Markus, Bardin and Kerillian have their fourth class, with the other two on the way.

===Victor Saltzpyre===
The Witch-Hunteriest Witch Hunter continues to hunt... More Skaven and Rotbloods than witches, but he hunts all the same. After the Ubersreik campaign, the Order of the Silver Hammer still [[Derp| stupidly tried to deny the existence of the ratmen]], spinning the invasion as a myth. How "Salty" he was in his reaction formed the crux of his future: Either he gained more political power in the chaos, allowing him to secretly fight the ratmen (The canonical choice), spoke out against the stupidity and abandoned the order to become a bounty hunter, or he lost faith in humanity entirely and relished in fanatical worship of Sigmar. As the events of the game go on however, even this faith in Sigmar is shaken, and he organizes a pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes to assuage his fears. Journals reveal that he's coming on more to preaching and thinking on the Eternal Flame...
*'''Witch Hunter Captain''': The deaths of several Captains over the course of the End Times has allowed Victor to rise in rank, but he has had to accept that the Witch Hunters won’t recognize the fact that there’s an entire fucking empire of ratmen just below their cities; Saltzpyre now uses his new political position to fight the menace in secret. In addition to a fancier hat, Victor as a Witch Hunter Captain can do everything he could in the first game and also gets some abilities that help him support his allies.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Witch Hunt''- Enemies pinged by Victor take extra damage
***''Eternal Guard''- Blocking light frontal attacks does not consume stamina
***''Killing Shot''- Crit headshots, melee or ranged, instantly kill human-sized enemies (i.e. any non-boss enemy smaller than a Chaos Warrior)
**Unique active ability: ''Animosity''- Victor screams lets out his [[RAGE]]. All nearby allies have their critical rate enhanced for 6 seconds, and nearby enemies are knocked back. Can be upgraded to give yourself guaranteed crits, refund 40% cooldown if the shout hits ten enemies, or ping everyone hit by it with Witch Hunt.
*'''Bounty Hunter''': When his order attempted to cover up what happened at Ubersreik, Salty removed his heraldry to fight the Skaven himself, taking odd-jobs on the side to pay for his endeavors. While officially he's still a witch hunter, he doesn't associate much with other witch hunters anymore after the threats they made in response to Saltzpyre snapping and speaking his mind about the Skaven. He's less of a religious fanatic and more pragmatic as a result. As a Bounty Hunter, Victor focuses on ranged weaponry to blast away Skaven and Chaos Warriors alike. He also dressed in a similar appearance with [[C.L.Werner|Brunner]], a canon bounty hunter.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blessed Shots''- Guaranteed ranged critical every 10 seconds
***''Ammo Pouches''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Quick Release''- Improved reload rate
**Unique active ability: ''Locked and Loaded''- Fires a powerful shot that pierces multiple enemies...and potentially allies too, so everyone involved really should try to be careful with the Bounty Hunter around. Can be upgraded to have massive cooldown reduction on headshot, get more pellets on the next shot based on the number hit on the current shot, or have ranged crits reduce the cooldown by 20%.
*'''Zealot''': The horrors of Ubersreik and the Witch Hunters' refusal to admit the threat the Skaven pose have caused Victor to give up on earthly organizations entirely and place his trust in Sigmar alone, with the rest of the world fit only to be cleansed in righteous fire. Victor as a Zealot favors vicious melee combat, and not only is his armor some of the best in the game even without the Flagellant talent (which is mandatory while playing the class), a heaping helping of faith and holy rage makes him even more dangerous as he loses health - after all, the end is upon us, why not shed as much blood as possible before it goes? As a nice bonus, picking up grimoires will count towards his health-based attack boosts.
** Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Fiery Faith''- Attack power increased by 5% for every 25 health lost (up to 20%)
***''Unswerving Strikes''- Heavy attacks cannot be interrupted by enemy attacks.
***''Heart of Iron''- Ignores death upon taking lethal damage (long cooldown)
**Unique active ability: ''Holy Fervor''- Charge forward and gain 25% attack speed boost for 5 seconds. Can be upgraded to be unkillable during the skill, or gain stacks that either reduce cooldown or increase attack power.

===Markus Kruber (aka Markus de Mandelot)===
[[This Guy|Faithful, dependable Markus]], always willing to help out, continues to serve against the Ratmen for both coin and conscience. The universe seems to have rewarded him for being a nice, simple guy because none of his careers turn out badly for him. Either he gets deeper into merc life (the canon choice), he takes some time off to breathe as a Huntsman, or he's recognized for his achievements ad gets inducted into the Order of the Reikhammer as a Foot Knight. Later in the story, his ancient bloodline is revealed and he becomes an official Grail Knight of Bretonnia. This means he somehow made the journey to Bretonnia, fought all manner of beasts and monsters (while drunk) and even [[Awesome|proved himself to]] [[The Green Knight]] before finally sipping some <strike>[[Lileath|elven goddess]]</strike>[[Lady of the Lake|Lake Lady]] bathwater, gaining the requisite powers, stupid French accent and... [[Troll|"chivalric" manner]]. Let's just hope his good luck continues to hold, eh?
*'''Mercenary''': The life of a mercenary has suited Markus well, in no small part due to not having to answer to incompetent leaders like he used to. Being a Mercenary allows Markus a good degree of versatility, with medium armor that grants protection without losing maneuverability and a focus on using sweeping attacks to clear out hordes.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Paced Strikes''- Hitting 3 enemies in 1 swing boosts attack speed by 10% for 6 seconds
***''Hitting the Sweet Spot''- 25% more cleave (attacks hit more enemies at once)
***''No More Laughin' Now''- Critical hit rate improved by +5%
**Unique active ability: ''Morale Boost''- Staggers nearby enemies and grants nearby allies temporary bonus health. Can be upgraded to give a defense buff for all alies, reduce the cooldown or immediately revive allies.
*'''Huntsman''': After Ubersreik, Markus found a degree of inner peace by devoting himself to Taal and Rhya, the gods of nature (though not devoted enough such that gunpowder weaponry is disallowed on him). As a Huntsman, Markus trades away his access to heavier armor for greater proficiency with ranged weapons of all kinds. He also gets to use a bow, a ranged weapon unique to the Huntsman career that, while much slower than Kerillian's, holds a lot of ammunition and does considerable damage. Had a hilarious bug that [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKoqArJjYIo pretty much gave him an AK-47] and absolutely melted bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Waste Not, Want Not''- Ranged headshots return 1 ammo
***''Poacher's Mark''- Effective range for ranged weapons doubled
***''Call Out Weakness'' - Aura that boosts critical rate by +5%
***''Deep Pockets'' - +50% ammo capacity
**Unique active ability: ''Hunter's Prowl'': Become invisible for a short time; automatically reloads ranged weapon for no ammo cost, improves reload speed, and adds 1.5x damage multiplier to ranged attacks while invisible. Can be upgraded to reduce the cooldown, increase the duration or have ranged attacks not break stealth.
*'''Foot Knight''': For his part in the defense of Ubersreik, Markus was made a Knight of the Order of the Reikshammer. Markus may not have been aiming for the position, but his heavy armor, protective aura, and highly disruptive ultimate make him an excellent tank as a Foot Knight.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''Protective Presence''- Aura that reduces damage taken by 15%
***''Taal's Fortitude'' - Extra stamina shield
***''No Guts, No Glory'' - Reduces damage taken by 10%
**Unique active ability: ''Valiant Charge''- Charges forward, knocking back any enemies hit by the charge. Also interrupts and stuns bosses and specials. Can be upgraded to make Kruber temporarily invincible, have increased size and the ability to knock over greater enemies, or grant increased attack speed for every enemy hit.
*'''Grail Knight''': MOTHERFUCKING GRAIL KNIGHT!!! The first unique class introduced and locked behind a DLC wall. It was revealed one-day Kruber found out his Bretonnian lineage after he received a mysterious letter that was addressed to him with the '''de Mandelot''' surname. According to Lohner, he used his huge information network to traced back Kruber's bloodline and found out his father was actually a Bretonnian! but not just any Bretonnian: '''Foricarl de Mandelot'''! who used to be a well-known grail knight in Parravon after he saved the city from a dragon with style! He was widely worshiped since then with arts, music, and clothes referencing him. It wasn't until the duke's son, an arsehole by the name ''Willibald'' who is jealous of the hero's deed that he killed his father, the duke of Parravon, and framed Foricarl for it. The lady had to intervene herself and turned the fucktard into a frog but it was all too late, for Foricarl had already self-exiled in shame. Despite that, he continued to slay beasts and killing chaos shit like a badass until he finally settled at '''Ubersreik Hills''' and impregnated Kruber's mama, only to leave her before Kruber was even born. With the lady's blessing, Kruber is now '''Markus de Mandelot'''! And he now has [[troll|the privilege call his teammates peasants, acting cockier and mightier than even Kerilian, while Bretonnian dancing all the way to the waystone, one-shotting any foe he came across with his magical sword ability]] (a voiceline while waiting to start on a Chaos Wastes expedition ''really'' has him imply he's been talking down to Saltzpyre after becoming a Grail Knight just to be a troll). Just like Slayer Bardin Markus can't use ranged weapons in this career (because peasant weapon dislike and chivalry bullshit), and he doesn't even have the option of throwing axes like Slayer Bardin does (again, see above), but his special buffs, move speed and ability make him a fantastic boss killer and crowd controller.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''The Lady's Duty''- Get 2 random quests that grant buffs to the party when completed, lasting until the mission is over. Can be upgraded to have a third quest, stronger buffs, or a repeatable quest that grants a potion of strength each time.
***''Knight's Challenge'' - 25% extra damage to the first enemy hit.
***''Thirst for Glory'' - 10% move speed increase
***''Bastion of Bretonnia'' - Your shields can now block Warpfire
**Unique active ability: ''Blessed Blade''- Smite a target with a holy blade. Can be upgraded to deal even more single target damage with a slash and stab, change into a horizontal crowd cleaver or stay the same and increase movement speed upon kill.

===Kerillian===
The elf continues to be a standoffish, if slightly nicer, jerk, though her sensitivity masks hidden scars. Her faith forms the crux of her careers, whether remaining a faithful, if conflicted, Waystalker (This is canon), a Handmaiden more devoted to Isha and protecting others, or losing herself to bloodlust and becoming a Shade of [[Khaine]]. The Drachenfels DLC reveals that Kerillian basically has the biggest impact on the story out of the whole party, with consequences reaching to the rest of Warhammer. She received a vision about how Ubersreik MIGHT have to do with the fall of Athel Loren. With pride and without any thought, she ambushed two regiments of soldiers from Nuln meant to reinforce the city, leaving it undefended... From the Skaven. That's right, [[Fail|because of her pride, she's responsible for ALL of the slaughter and death caused by the Vermintide, and contributed more than a fair bit to bringing about the End Times]].This explains her biting behavior, a shield to her own failures. The pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes broke her resolve and caused her to question her faith, giving up her regrets to Isha and becoming a Sister of the Thorn, losing part of herself and becoming more cynical than ever.
*'''Waystalker''': Frustrated with the clumsiness of her companions, Kerillian has resolved to further hone her skills to compensate further for the "lumberfoots". As a Waystalker, Kerillian further specializes in her longbow, both for precision sniping and for raining arrows on enemies.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Amaranthe''- Automatically regenerate health (3 health per 10 seconds, up to a maximum of half your total hit points)
***''Arrow-Storm''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Waywatcher's Bow''- Effective range for ranged weapons is doubled
**Unique active ability: ''Trueflight Volley''- Fires a volley of homing arrows. Can be upgraded to fire one more arrow, refund ammunition when killing specials, or turn into a single piercing arrow that deals massive damage and has no cooldown when you get a headshot.
*'''Handmaiden''': Through the subtle guidance of the Everqueen, Kerillian came across a long-lost shrine to Isha and gave herself up to serve her. Kerillian's Handmaiden Career focuses primarily on dancing around enemies in direct melee combat, and is her most durable career option through both maximum health, stamina, and mobility. The career for players that are allergic to standing still.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''The Dance of Seasons''- 15% longer dodge distance
***''Aura of Renewal''- Aura that increases stamina regeneration speed by 100%
***''Ariel's Benison''- Cannot be interrupted when reviving allies
**Unique active ability: ''Dash''- Quickly dash forward through enemies, stunning enemies that are hit and causing them to bleed. Has a hilariously low cooldown, the lowest of all of the game's abilities. Can be upgraded to become invisible after the dash, make anyone you hit bleed or gain crit chance based on how many enemies you hit.
*'''Shade''': One of Kerillian's dreams spoke of an ancestor of hers who dwelled in Clar Karond, and with it came the voice of [[Khaine]] urging her to reclaim the mantle of her ancestor. Kerillian as a Shade is an assassin, focused on rapidly killing elite, special, and boss enemies. She also gains access to the volley crossbow in this career. This is the class to play if you really like killing the absolute shit out of Chaos Warriors and bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Murderous Prowess''- 50% damage bonus when attacking enemies from behind
***''Assassin's Blade''- Critical hit backstabs instantly kill man-sized enemies
**Unique active ability: ''Infiltrate''- Become invisible and intangible for 10 seconds, or until performing an attack. Also has a unlisted effect where any melee attack that ends Infiltrate gets a massive damage boost; depending on the weapon this can increase the power of Kerillian's melee attacks to the point where they 1-hit kill a Chaos Warrior on Legendary difficulty, and can even reach the maximum damage value possible for a single attack. Can be upgraded to have less cooldown and grant more crit chance after it ends at the cost of losing the damage bonus, cause her to blink forward while damaging enemies, or allowing her to attack without breaking stealth exactly one time.
*'''Sisters of the Thorn''': The 3rd microtransaction DLC career. In truth, Kerillian has been losing faith in her goddess Lileath for some times, and it finally reached a critical point after the '''Citadel of Eternity''' shenanigan where the said goddess did not answer her. Hoping to rededicate herself to the weaves once more, she began courting to other goddess (even [[Ereth Khial]], the kind of goddess only the mentally ill elf would worship). She ended up went back to Athel Loran to seek answers, offered up her uncertainty and regrets to the forest. Doing so allowed her to become a '''Sister of the Thorn''' , a handmaiden of Isha who can raise up a thorn bush wall to block the enemies (or just turned them into a deadly thorn spike that bleeds anyone it targets) as well as providing healing extra healing to her teammate, leeching extra temporary health from them in exchange. She now also called her teammates "meats", as if [[Ferrus Manus|flesh is weaker]] compare to her, a superior plant fused being.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''A Cluster of Radiants''- Gain a radiance charge that allows free use of your active every 60 seconds.
***''A Murder of Sprites''- Deals more damage to wounded units depending on their remaining health, up to 50%.
***''A Sustenance of Leeches''- Gain temp health if a party member gains temp health when they're at full health.
***''An Attendance of Munificents''- +25% healing for everyone.
**Unique active ability: ''Thornwake''- Raise a thornwall that blocks movement. Can be upgraded to last longer, deal more damage and apply bleed at the cost of duration or explode with poison when it expires, increasing damage dealt to enemies caught.

===Bardin Goreksson===
Short, stout and sure to stomp your arse, Bardin is here to help out his dawris and slaughter some rakis (and anything else that comes in the way. Either he continued his quest for Karak Zorn as a Ranger Veteran (Which is canon), returned to his roots as an Ironbreaker, or forsook life in pursuit of honorable death as a [[Slayer]]. After the trip to Drachenfels however, the regrets that surfaced made him look to his old passions of becoming an Engineer, and thus, became an Outcast Engineer. Life STILL isn't smooth sailing for him, as Lohner's journals reveal that his daughter has gone missing. Whether she'll be found is anyone's guess...
*'''Ranger Veteran''': Karak Zorn is yet to be found, but the defense of Reikland currently comes first for Bardin. Bardin the Ranger Veteran favors the use of ranged weaponry to punish foes from a distance, but he's more than able to hold his own in melee if a hail of crossbow bolts doesn't do the trick. Cousin Okri would be proud. While this used to be the least powerful of the range-focused careers due to lacking a consistent means of generating ammo for itself, recent balance updates have made it into an extremely versatile and powerful support class. Of particular note is a talent that gives a chance for every special enemy you kill to drop a bomb, which is just hilariously strong.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Survivalist''- Special enemies drop ammo on death
***''Loaded for Battle''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Fast Hands''- Increased reload speed
***''Ingenious Improvisation'' - 10% chance to not consume health items, potions, or bombs on use
**Unique active ability: ''Disengage''- Drops a smoke bomb that staggers enemies and turns Bardin invisible as long as he remains within the cloud. Lasts ten seconds. While invisible, Bardin gains increased ranged attack power. Can be upgraded to remain stealthed even outside the cloud, grant everyone attack speed and temp health while in it, or basically allowing you a free bomb throw.
*'''Ironbreaker''': Bardin used to be an Ironbreaker in Kazak Norn, and following the defense of Ubersreik he took up his old oaths and gromril armor once more. The heavy armor and shield of the Ironbreaker makes Bardin a superb tank that can take whatever the enemy can dish out, and then return it in kind. In addition, he gains access to a drakegun and drakefire pistols, which let him spew out gouts of flame. Like in the first game, they do not use ammo and instead use a heat meter, like Sienna. Be mindful that this also means that they'll kill you if the heat gauge maxes out.
**Unique passive abilities:
** Base Health: 150
***''Gromril Armor''- Negates all damage from 1 hit every 20 seconds.
***''Dwarf-Forged''- Reduces damage taken by 30%
***''Doughty''- Grants an extra stamina shield
***''Resilient''- Decreases stun duration after getting hit by an attack by 50%
**Unique active ability: ''Impenetrable''- Briefly staggers nearby enemies, then forces all man-sized enemies among them to attack Bardin exclusively. Bardin also takes no stamina damage while blocking for the duration, and can block normally unblockable attacks. Can be upgraded to give everyone a power increase, increase its range and duration, or the ability to affect even monsters.
*'''[[Slayer]]''': Bardin had been carrying a secret burden in his heart even before Ubersreik, and by the time the Skaven came to Helmgart he had taken up the Slayer's Oath in the hopes of an honorable death. As a Slayer, Bardin can't use ranged weapons at all but becomes a melee powerhouse, with exclusive access to the Dual Axes weapon and the ability to take a second melee weapon to replace his ranged weapon slot. Despite his deceptively low base health, he's one of the tankiest things in the game due to his Oblivious to Pain talent, which is practically mandatory while playing the class. He even has another talent that can increase his base health, as if this weren't enough.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Trophy Hunter''- Stacking damage buff gained upon hitting an enemy
***''Path of Carnage''- +7.5% attack speed
**Unique active ability: ''Leap''- Leap forward, stunning enemies and gaining a temporary boost to attack speed.
*'''Outcast Engineer''': Bardin's fourth unique DLC locked class (chronologically the 2nd paid class DLC). Ever since he returned from castle [[Drachenfels]], Bardin has been busy locking himself alone studying machinery. According to Lohner, his uncle '''Drakki Dagsson''' used to be an engineer whom Bardin looked up, much dismay to his traditionalist dad '''Gorrek Dagsson''' who shuns technology and often came to an disagreement with his brother Drakki. Upon learning Bardin is going to become a apprentice engineer, Dagsson went to disengaged pneumatic supports at the mine out of anger and cause an earthquake, which also happened at the same time when Bardin is about to receive his apprenticeship. Dagsson managed to get most of the Dwarf to safety before the debris and stones swallowed him alive with the remaining Dwarfs. This forced Bardin to quit his passion to follow his father's footstep, becoming an Ironbreaker, and the good ol' Drakki took the blame for the mining accident and becoming a slayer out of guilt (because of how heroic Dagsson was) and died in a troll cave. Still, tragedy did not end there for Bardin for he would later failed to defend his home, his family and his beardling son just because he wasn't strong enough to fight off a gutter runner, even led his entire team of sentry died saving him in the process. Filled with grief, Bardin decided to leave his hold and search for Karak Zorn as an excuse to exile himself (because seeker sounds better than exile) but ended up joining Victor's anti-ratman crusade at Ubersreik instead. The demon living in castle [[Drachenfels]] read everyone like an open book, including a magic resistant Dwarf, and it sarcastically mocked Bardin of his old shame. Having realized maybe he should never followed his father's path and perhapes he was never suited for being an Ironbreaker, he went back to his old tinkering passion. With Lohner's help, Bardin acquired materials, minerals needed for his various tools of destruction like his signature crank gun (read: [[Awesome|handheld Gatling gun, or handheld super repeater handgun because Richard Jordan Gatling doesn't exist in Warhammer world]]) and is now out to destroy all those Thaggrakis and Dumals with it!
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Build Pressure''- Holding reload with the crank gun equipped builds pressure, gradually restoring the ability bar. Stacks are lost when you fire.
***''Gunsmith''- +50% Max ammo.
***''Spotter''- +10% Ranged Power to nearby allies.
***''Utility Belt''- Allows you to carry three different bombs, cycling through them with the bomb key.
**Unique active ability: ''Steam-Assisted Crank Gun (mk2)''- An interesting active ability that's more like a third weapon, activating Bardin's special gun. Switching to the gun doesn't use up the bar, nor does it build up automatically. You "Reload" the gun in order to fill up your ability bar over time, and you can fire it as long as you have "ammo" in it. Can be upgraded to fire slower but stronger slugs, immediately start out firing at full speed, or have a longer ability bar that temporarily isn't used when you kill a special.

===Sienna Fuegonasus===
As fiery and feisty as ever, the U5's witch is here to blaze a trail through rat and rot alike. How she does it forms the basis of her paths in life: She either made an attempt to discipline herself as a Battle Wizard (Canon), split between freedom and control as a Pyromancer or lost herself to the flame as an Unchained. It's eventually revealed in Lohner's journals that Sienna "had" a sister named Sofia. They weren't on the best terms, but they were family, so when Sofia was accused of being a [[Necromancer]], Sienna burned the town responsible for accusing her. [[Fail|And then it turns out she WAS a necromancer, so Sienna burned her too]]. Note the quotation marks, as Lohner recently got a letter from someone claiming to be Sofia, blackmailing him to do her a favor or else some of his unsavory secrets would be revealed. This fiasco looks to blow up in everyone's faces, which, really, fits anything to do with Sienna.
*'''Battle Wizard''': Ubersreik taught Sienna the value of self-control, and while she was reluctant to do so she has learned to control the flame for the first time. The greater degree of self-discipline Sienna has as a Battle Wizard allows her to focus on perfecting her spellcasting, letting her cast spells more quickly, more often, and for more damage.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Tranquility''- Passively vents overcharge after 6 seconds of not casting spells
***''Reckless Haste''- Overcharge increases spell charge rate
***''Pyromantic Surge''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''Fire Walk''- Quickly teleport forward, leaving a trail of fire behind you. Can be upgraded to have lower cooldown, a bigger and stronger explosion with no more fire trail, or the ability to double-cast within 10 seconds.
*'''Pyromancer''': While far from having the control of a proper Battle Wizard, Sienna has enough self-awareness to restrain herself from the most ostentatious of fire magic. Sienna the Pyromancer trades in the consistency of her Battle Wizard career for more explosive moments of burst damage. Of special note is a talent which lets her activated ability also instantly clear all overcharge.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Critical Mass''- Critical chance increases based on overcharge level
***''Searing Focus''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''The Burning Head''- A powerful fire blast that initially travels directly forward, but after a short time it will attempt to home in on the closest enemy; holding the active ability key down allows the user to designate a target for the fire blast to home in on instead. It will jump from foe to foe, killing until it runs out of power. Anything not killed by the blast is staggered, including bosses. Can be upgraded to refund cooldown on crit, vent her overcharge on cast or give her temporary health.
*'''Unchained''': Sienna's addiction to magic has finally overwhelmed her, and now she lives only from one magical high to the next. As an Unchained, Sienna favors magically-boosted melee, with a focus on generating as much overcharge as possible before moving in for the kill.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blood Magic''- 50% of damage received is converted to overcharge. Do not get hit while at high levels of overcharge, lest you accidentally [[Fail|explode yourself like a dunce]].
***''Slave to Aqshy''- No overcharge slowdown
***''Unstable Strength''- High overcharge increases melee attack power up to 60%
**Unique active ability: ''Living Bomb''- Expends all overcharge to produce a massive explosion centered on Sienna, dealing heavy damage to all nearby enemies. Fortunately, this can be done even while beginning to explode from too much overcharge. Can be upgraded to increase power based on how many you hit, gain a scorching aura after it's finished or give everyone temp health.

== Other Characters ==
*'''Franz Lohner''': The bartender of the Red Moon Inn, transferring over to the Taal's Horn Keep. You guys do the heavy lifting, he does most of the behind the scenes stuff: Keeping your home nice and cozy, getting intel, stocking up on supplies, you get the drill. Unfortunately, he also runs the Emporium of Wonders, aka, [[Rage|the microtransaction shop]]. Seemingly knows everything and everyone, including any secrets your own characters have. Talking to him has him rattle off various nods to the lore of Warhammer and more specifically, [[The End Times]]. The devs also use him to write journals and story bits about the game through the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", which are tidbits for his journal. Journal entries and random conversations heavily imply that he's [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat|Morgan Bernhardt from Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omen.]]
*'''Olesya Pimenova''': The carriage handler from the first game turned out to be a Gray Witch. Whod've thunk? As usual, your ride in and out of your jobs, this time using a Bridge of Shadows teleporter instead of horses. Helps make plans along with Lohner while occasionally working alongside you on your missions, secretly doing magic stuff while you not-so-secretly kill everything. Heavily implied to be the true form of the Grey Wizard Christoph Engel from the first game. She also has the hots for Kruber, a fact which he's unfortunately aware of.
*'''Catrinne of Aldenstein''': The artist making all the paintings you can decorate the keep with once you find three pieces of Ravaged Art in a mission. You never see her, but you can sometimes hear her. She's haunted by visions which inspire her paintings, but Lohner's wary of how ominous she describes them. She apparently has a crush on Saltzpyre (A fact which Salty himself doesn't know, but hilariously enough, Kruber does), and she sometimes has to fight off Bardin from eating her brushes because he finds them delicious.

== Enemies ==

'''Bosses'''
* '''Grey Seer Rasknitt:''' The same asshole in charge of invading Ubersreik is back, and he's the final boss of the main campaign. Having captured the heroes in the first game, he attempts to sacrifice them to fuel the Skittergate, a portal contraption capable of bringing in huge armies in a flash. With it, he and the Rotbloods swarmed Helmgart and the countryside, though as is typical of technology made by mice, it breaks in the prologue. It's fixed soon after though, and much of the game is dedicated to destroying it. During the final showdown, he sent his precious Stormfiend called Deathrattler (who uses dual-ratling guns instead of the flamethrowers) against you, only to call it a worthless piece of junk after the heroes killed it. He then attacks the heroes with his Skaven magic, teleports around at lightning speed while summoning special Skaven of all types, then is blown the fuck up once the rat bastard's health is at its end. You then get his helmet as a trophy for the Keep, and the fact that it has voices whispering into it explains MUCH about how insane this rat-bastard is.
* '''Chaos Champion Bödvarr Ribspreader:''' Here to spread ribs and smiles in Papa Nurgle's name, Ribspreader is a Champion of Chaos and the scary dude on the box cover. The leader of the Rotbloods, who are said to be insane even by Chaos Warbands' standards, he's here to slaughter and destroy, and has allied himself with Rasknitt for that purpose. He berates the Grey Seer for the portal's failure, but interestingly enough ''doesn't'' rip his spine out for it, though it's probably because Rasknitt is more powerful than he is. Figures mainly into Act 3, where the gang messes with everything he has. After hitting a breaking point as the heroes foil his plans and kill his men and free his slaves, he sends out most of his army to scout for and attack the Keep, but thanks to Olesya reading the script, they learn about this, attack his under-staffed camp, and kill him in his own arena. Despite claiming that he can take care of the heroes all by himself, he displays cowardice, [[Carron|ranting and bawwing about the precious slaves and loots he lost to the Ubersreik Five/Four/Doesn't Matter]] when he starts losing and calls his warriors for aid, with a horde attacking as he loses health. Interesting to note that despite being a Nurgle worshipper, he has a magic axe (which the axe itself is alive, noted by the growing eye skull on the axe) that he can call back to him if he ever throws it out against the players. Saltzpyre would often refer to it as "flying axe witch" whenever it was thrown. You gain this axe as a trophy for the keep, and study of it reveals that Ribby is just one of many, many Chaos Warriors who wielded the thing.
* '''Burblespue Halescourge:''' The Nurgle sorcerer lord that the Skaven met back at Stromdorf, and the boss of Act 1. Has a good manner like papa Nurgle himself and he can do everything that the Nurgle sorcerer can do in the game (AKA life drain & Nurgle Vortex) only tougher and more AOE green plague in the oxygen, with a couple of unique abilities like summoning a swarm of flies to chase and stun one of the players, summon green images of himself to attack the players as well as erect an even bigger green vortex in the center of the battlefield. He will absolutely make you fucking rage with his lack of visual cues for his attacks, his billion and one hit points, and his habit of teleporting around like a fucking asshole whenever someone so much as sneezes on the fucker. Has a large number of very angry nicknames from the fandom, several of which have even made it into official patch notes (e.g. "Bunglesnatch Humbledink", "Vorpalblade Noobhurl", "Hailstorm Barbeque", "Bubbly-Spurge" and "Bubblespit Halleberry", among many others). You get his staff and tome from killing him, and you find out the latter was made from human skin and inked in blood. Lovely.
* '''Skarrik Spinemanglr:''' The "Scary" Skaven Warlord in charge, and the boss of Act 2. Seem to be heavily inspired by Queek Headtaker in both his looks, size, and unskavenly bravery, although he uses a more traditional halberd alongside dual shortswords. Just like Queek, he is the largest non-monster Skaven of them all, towering over the players. He will regularly summon Stormvermin and Skavenslaves, if you don't take care of them quickly it can snowball into a horde no player could ever hope to kill. He is also fully armored like Ribspreader, but unlike him, Skarrik is much faster, forcing the player to have a frustrating time of chipping his health away with their seemly ineffective charge attack. Also, he calls you [[What|cat fondlers]] and is responsible for Saltzpyre's lost eye. After he dies, civil war and general chaos erupts throughout the Skaven underground, decreasing the amount of forces guarding the Skittergate. You also get his armor and spears for the keep.
* '''Nurgloth the Eternal:''' A new boss for the new Drachenfels DLC map and another one of Nurgle's stinky boy. He used to be the chief rival of shitstorm sorcerer from above, and has been trying to take over his rival's throne. Like every dumbass heretical sorcerer, he went after old Drachenfels' castle in search of his old research about demons and other crazy shit to make himself even more powerful, which he did and was possessed or at least is in contract with a demon, but was driven mad after he glimpsed the realm of chaos. Still, it allows him to see a bit of future sight as well as gaining much higher power than before. After our heroes defeated the two walking-toilets above, he began his no-good operation in Drachenfels' castle and started to sacrifice captured villagers from nearby for his ritual. His little scheme didn't go unnoticed under Lohner's ear and was dealt with by our heroes after a trilogy of missions. In combat, he wields a giant scythe for slicing while he hovers (only the last phase), shoots flies that explode and snare the player, summons his rotblood minions, and using a magic attack that resembles an AoE ability from a typical MOBA game. Currently the hardest boss due to the amount of health he has and the bullshit last phase where he seeks out players and knocks them to his magic fart zone with his rotblood minions still roaming around him. He also explodes when you kill him, and you acquire his scythe and armor for your victory.
* '''Gatekeeper Nagfahr:''' A Ribspreader look-alike, even shares the same axe design....until the recent patch came and changed its entire outlook. He now only uses a normal axe with his head exposed: [[Eliphas the Inheritor| pale bald head]], probably the only chaos warriors that showed his face in the game. Responsible for guarding the skittergate key staff. Was [[chaos|blessed]] during the battle and turned into...[[Chaos Spawn|It-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named]]. Far easier than Ribspreader, being a level's mid-boss to build up to the final battle with Rasknitt.
* '''Baron Justus Francke:''' Not an enemy you fight but nonetheless important to the plot. Besides the Skaven having a portal underneath Helmgart, Fucko Francke is the other reason Ussingen and the countryside were overrun so quickly. It's revealed he made some kind of deal with the Rotbloods and Clan Fester, and like a lot of shitty nobles, might've been in league with the Chaos Gods even before the invasion. His fortified mansion, the only undamaged building in Ussingen, is blown up accordingly by the heroes. His fate is unknown.

'''Skaven'''
 Clan Fester's back, and they're pissed. Sore after getting thwarted at Ubersreik, they want revenge. They almost managed to get it by capturing the heroes and finally managing to capture Ubersreik, and with the Rotblood alliance for constructing a Skittergate portal to Norsca, things seem to be in the bag... Until [[Fail|it malfunctions and frees Kruber, leading him to free everyone else]]. Still, they're stronger now, with Clan Pestilens rats joining their ranks and being just as determined as ever to spread the power of the warp and stave off their extinction.
* '''Skavenslaves:''' Still the most piss-poor enemies in the game. Even though they come in huge swarms they're only dangerous if they blindside you or if you're too busy dealing with actual threats.
* '''Clanrats:''' Rank and file of clan Fester, only slightly better than slaves. Now come with a shield and hand weapon variant that could hopefully block one or two hits from the front and make dealing with the horde slightly more difficult.
* '''Plague Monks:''' A more durable Skaven with fast attacks designed to exhaust the player's stamina. Weak to ranged fire but hit like a freight train and knock you back. They let out a loud howl when they charge, but can be hard to spot in a swarm. Usually, spawn in triplets and tend to focus a single target just to make sure even 7+ stamina would not be enough to withstand their attack.
* '''Stormvermin''' - The most common breed of Special Skaven, Stormvermin will spawn at random among the crowds of Clanrats seeded throughout the various levels. Unlike the rest of their ratty brethren, the Stormvermin have actual armor, actual weapons, and actual training, making them a serious threat. Their halberds do more damage than the standard Clanrat improvised weaponry, and hits against them that don't aim for the head (or have the Armor Piercing trait) will glance off their armor. Even blocking their attacks is difficult, since they do significant Stamina damage and therefore have a high chance of breaking your block and putting you into stun, making you an easy kill. At higher difficulties, they become one of the most significant threats in the game, and require careful combat to take down safely or make ranged weapons good at taking them down quick very desirable.
* '''Stormvermin''' (Sword & Shield): Elite troops who still sound vaguely like Bane, except some of them now have swords and shields that give them multiple attacks and near-immunity to frontal hits (but mercifully deals less damage than the halberd wielders), plus their shields are metal and can't be broken. All around assholes, and a definite reason to consider having a handgun on the team since it's one of the only ranged weapons capable of easily handling them from the front.
* '''The Stormvermin Patrol''' - Once or twice per map, if you're listening carefully, you'll hear the sound of rats shouting out a ratty little marching drill. And if you're smart, you'll hide. If you're not smart, you'll die, because the Patrol is a massive mob of Stormvermin that all aggro at once if they spot any of the heroes, and will never back down from a fight. Their numbers are slightly randomized, but rule of thumb is for +5 rats for each difficulty level, so at Legendary difficulty you're facing patrol sizes that wouldn't be out of place in an actual game of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Yeah. [[Anal Circumference|Have fun with that]].
* '''Gutter Runner''' - Representing Clan Eshin, we have these stabby little ninja rats with warp-dust coated knives strapped to their hands. They lurk in the shadows, trying to find a hero that's cut off from the rest of the group or waiting for you to be otherwise distracted, then pounce and pin one hero to the ground while they stab and stab and stab until the puny man-thing stops moving. Once you're pinned (but you ''can'' hope to dodge their jumps at you by dodging to a side), you're helpless. It's up to the rest of the team to save you. So if you hear that strange whispering in the distance, make sure to stay close to your team.
* '''Packmaster''' - Clan Moulder's representatives, the Packmasters have taken up capturing humans for slaving. To this end, they cart around giant spiked collars on poles; if they get close enough, they'll snap that collar shut around your neck, disabling you like the Gutter Runner. The good news is that the collar doesn't hurt nearly as much as the knives and you can dodge it if you time it right. The ''bad'' news is that the Packmaster will drag you off into the distance, probably through a mob of Clanrats, and then hang you up to die - or at least for the rest of their companions to stab while you wriggle helplessly.
* '''Poison Wind Globadier''' - A Skryre-rat in a gas mask, with a miniature plague factory on its back. At a distance, it will constantly lob spheres full of gas so poisonous that it eats into the skin like acid, covering the battlefield in green clouds of death. The good news is that these are as poisonous to the other Skaven as they are to our heroes. The bad news is that you'll still die like a bitch if you stand in one. And if you get too close, they'll rig the tanks on their backs to explode, taking you with them in one final kamikaze assault.
* '''Ratling Gunner''' - Clan Skryre is pulling overtime here. This rat's got a miniaturized, one-man version of the tabletop Ratling Gun strapped to its back, and the rest of its body is covered in heavy armor. When it finds a good firing line, it'll wind up that gun and then unleash a hellstorm of warp-shot onto one of the heroes, tracking them as best as it can. The good news is that it's not very accurate, kills Skaven who enter its firing line, and tends to jam after a while. The bad news is that it's firing so many bullets that it's probably going to hit you anyway, and while it's not as powerful as a full-sized "kill both knight and his horse with a single bullet" ratling gun it still hurts a lot. Got a significant buff compared to the original game by taking body amour and revving up his gun quite a bit faster.
* '''Warpfire Thrower:''' Another Skryre-rat, now with a flamethrower strapped to its back, which it uses to spew out gouts of green fire at anything in range. The good news is that it has a shorter range compared to the Ratling Gunner and gives even less fucks about torching other Skaven and Rotbloods in its path. Bad news is it hurts even more than the Ratling Gunner, knocks you back, and blocks your vision as well - not a Special you'd want to see while you're out of ammo. The warpstone crystal on its back is its weak spot, but it violently explodes if said weak spot is hit, leaving a sizeable puddle of the flaming warpstone on the ground. While it can take out a lot of enemies with the explosion, it also makes engaging it in melee even more suicidal, especially if you use wide-sweeping weapons.
* '''Barrel Rat:''' Special Skaven enemy type that exists only in special game modes like the Weave or in Weekly Events. Their role is simple: SUICIDE BOMBER! Try to shoot them down before they reach you! A bane to melee only characters like Bardin's Slayer (without the throwing axe) and Kruber's Grail Knight.
* '''Rat Ogre''' - The triumph of Clan Moulder's scientific prowess. The Rat Ogre, like the Stormvermin Patrol, is a once-a-map event, barring special mission rules, and is always announced by a throat-peeling bellow of rage. It's a giant, hulking brute that rampages across the battlefield, pummeling and punching its way through any heroes it can find. It ''is'' possible to kite the Ogre, but the problem is that it's rarely alone; the true difficulty arises in managing the Ogre and the accompanying Clanrats at the same time, since they limit your mobility just by existing.
* '''Stormfiend:''' If you thought the Rat Ogres were a huge pain in the ass, say hello to their upgraded cousins, the masterwork of Clan Moulder and Clan Skyre! They are clad in heavy armor from the front and wield twin warp-fire throwers attached to their arms. Unlike the warpfire throwers on regular Skaven, these ones leave a burning trail on the ground for quite a time, turning a battlefield into a maze of green fire if you let it disengage and rain fire on you from distance - it's worth it to backtrack to more open areas if you come across a Stormfield because of this. Their major weakness is the smaller Skaven acting as a second brain that's stuck on their backs.
*'''Sack Rat''' - A Skaven with a big sack full of loot. Pretty rare to spawn. It doesn't attack on its own, [[Fail|but kills teams anyway as the people in it tunnel vision on it before being killed by all the other enemies in the level]] (seriously, a loading screen tip jokingly tells you to do this). If you can kill it before it runs off you'll get to claim its stuff. One of its notable dialogues is '''MINE! MINE! MINE!''' whenever it walks, so it's easy to spot it from such obvious dialogue.

'''Warriors of Chaos'''
 The Rotbloods, a Nurgle Warband so fanatical to the Rot-Father that they make typical fanatics look tame. They're in league with Clan Fester to work on the Skittergate while plundering Reikland's countryside. They're generally tougher and hit harder compared to Skaven, but come in smaller groups, are slower on flat ground, even slower at climbing vertical obstacles, and most importantly spawn from the same points rather than crawling out from every nook and cranny including those on the ceiling.
* '''Nurgle Cultists:''' Your typical cannon fodder of Nurgle about as tough as a Clanrat. Fill the same role as Skaven slaves in the Chaos horde, though they might last an extra hit compared to slaves.
* '''Chaos Marauders:''' Plague-ridden warriors that come in four flavors:
**'''Raiders''' (hand weapon) and '''Bulwarks''' (hand weapon and shield) are the basic units for the Chaos Forces and fulfill a similar role to Clanrats, but they are significantly more durable than the former.
**'''Savages(Frothers)''' (dual-wielding weapons) are pretty much carbon copies of Plague Monks and work exactly the same except its attacks aren't as fast.
**'''Maulers''' (great weapons) huge guys with huge axes and huge horned helmets. Fill the niche of a Stormvermin in the Chaos horde, leading packs of marauders and acting as a primary threat in them, except they hit even harder, depleting all the stamina in one hit, are only armored on the head and ''heavily so'' (seriously, it's not worth shooting them there with non-guns), and have more health.
* '''Chaos Warriors:''' ASININE MORTALS!! The great axe variant. The toughest non-boss enemy in the game. Has nearly three times as much health as a Stormvermin, and their armor is so thick that even headshots from guns hardly faze them. They can down you in a hit or two from full health but are very slow targets, and they'll trash talk one of you to let you know who they're aiming for. For extra fun, they sometimes spawn two or three at a time.
* '''Chaos Patrol:''' when you thought Stormvermin patrol was bad, these guys come in with their chaosy march song... Include at least '''SIX''' Warriors and Maulers even at the lowest difficulty with the rest filled with Raiders and Bulwarks. A tougher patrol by far compared to the Stormvermin's.
* '''Chaos Sorcerers of Nurgle:''' Come in two variants - the Lifeleech (also known as "[[/d/|Chester the molester]]" by many players), who teleports around and attempt to bind a character to leech their health, and the Blightstormer, who casts a Nurgle-flavored green vortex spell that sucks in both the enemies and player characters, damaging and preventing them from moving. (The Blightstormer also likes to talk about how Papa blessed them with sniffles and brings forth much joy.)
* '''Bile Trolls:''' Chaos Trolls of Nurgle. Wield huge blunt weapons and spew acidic bile that slows you and drains your stamina as long as you're exposed to it, much like Stormfields it's absolutely worth turning around to a more open part of the map to be able to better avoid the puke. They can also attempt to heal themselves over time, both as a passive effect and as an ability they channel when their health is low. When this happens, they fall to their knees and gain a temp health bar. You and everyone else better start [[Rape|dogpiling the FUCK out of it]] to empty it and prevent full health regen, or life will only suck harder.
* '''[[Chaos Spawn|The Unnameable Beasts]]:''' Tough boss monsters that like to chew you to regain their health. They are also probably the worst thing to face with pubbies, as they devour you, smack you into other players damaging and potentially downing them, and each snack they grab heals them. You will definitely want to use your bombs and any other knockback abilities you have to stop their chow time. Oh and they are about one of the fastest boss enemies just like the rat ogres with the exception being their head isn't as noticeable, therefore harder to deal big damage with headshots. Have fun with that.

'''Beastmen'''
 The Cloven Ones are an enemy faction that premieredin the "Winds of Magic" expansion pack. They are the true children of Chaos, born amidst the collapse of the Polar Warp Gates and the subsequent release of Chaos energy into the world. As such, they serve the Chaos Gods without question, as their souls are forfeit to Chaos at the moment of their conception. Although the Beastmen vary in appearance, as true to their Chaos heritage, they are mainly comprised of humanoid mutants and abominations with bestial features such as cloven hooves, horns, and goatlike heads. Warpstone meteor falling into Reikland got their attention, and now they seek to claim it as a Herdstone. Afterwards, they have a chance to appear in any mission.
* '''Ungors:''' Ungors are the weakest and most humanlike of the Beastmen, with most possessing diminutive horns or no horns at all. However, they are no less hateful and repulsive than their larger cousins. They use spears and bows, making them the first common enemy type to have a ranged attack.
* ''' Ungor Raiders:''' The weakest specials in the game, they look similar to regular Ungors but have much darker skin and white body paint across their upper body. Despite falling over in a stiff breeze, their arrows do lowish damage and they have an average rate of fire. The real threat is when you're caught out of cover by large packs of 8~10+ Ungor Raiders who will sustain fire their arrows so there's no safe opening to close the gap, and being exposed leads to a lot of damage quickly. Since they often shoot from far away at an area where melee can't reach them like a balcony or a cliff, they must be taken out with ranged weapons, which is a required waste of ammunition for some characters, unless the player is an Ironbreaker armed with a drakepistol, Bardin with a throwing axe, a Huntsman Kruber with a knack for headshots, or Sienna.
* '''Gors:''' The most common of the Beastmen, Gors form the backbone of the Beastmen Brayherd. Each Gor is recognized for their resplendent rack of horns, with larger horns denoting higher status within the Beastmen hierarchy. Prerelease screenshots and artwork show Gors wielding Man-cleavers and two-handed axes, although more variations are possible.
* '''Bestigors:''' Bestigors are the elite of the Brayherd as their name would imply. They can use a charge attack to knock down players and are heavily armored (not as much as chaos warriors despite being chaos and is more akin to Stormvermin armor), though this charge attack can be interrupted by a good hit/shot to them while charging to trip them or dodged.
* '''Standard Bearers:''' Beastmen who carry foul standards into battle to increase the Brayherds morale. They can place their magical standards to buff their comrades with a buffer of temporary health on top of their max health, and regeneration of their base health which can make fights take longer if players don't finish off enemies. Best to fight your way to the flag and smash it before things get harder.
* '''Beastmen Patrol''' - The patrol for the Beastmen. Unlike the previous two patrols, it contains some Ungor Raiders for ranged fire support and two standard-bearers with the rest filled with Bestigors.
* '''Minotaurs:''' A new monster-boss enemy, Minotaurs are the most Beastmen-like of Beastmen: extremely strong, extremely ferocious, and extremely dumb. Minotaurs are more aggressive than any other boss type, beelining for the nearest hero and attacking them relentlessly. They have a charge ability like the Stormfiend and can deal serious damage to players and enemies alike in their path. One of the nastier differences is that Minotaurs get the healing benefits of Battle Standards, but not the bonus health. This isn't too noticeable on Recruit or Veteran, but Champion and above the health regeneration makes it the hardest boss when both enemies are present together. Oh, and they're bigger than the other regular bosses, meaning more reach and having to aim higher for the head. Have fun.

== Gameplay Tips (aka How To Avoid Dying Like An Asshole) ==

1. Don't be That Guy who wanders off alone and dies due to getting incapacitated due to the half-dozen or so methods an enemy can do such a thing. I don't care how badass you think you are, nothing actually makes you immune to being pounced by a Gutter Runner, hooked by a Packmaster, yote by a Blightstormer, et cetera. Seriously, wandering off alone is one of the certain ways you can get kicked from a match, along with going AFK during horde or boss attacks.

2. If someone starts grabbing Tomes and Grimoires, fucking follow them and hope they know where to show you where the others are. Because if you are not grabbing them, you're not optimizing your loot and XP gain, thus you are shit and should uninstall this game (and/or kill yourself). Or don't, whatever, I'm not [[Asmodai]].

3. If you play Sienna and overheat more than twice in a match, don't be butthurt when you get kicked. Learn to manage your overheat, or learn to play anything else. (Same goes for playing an Ironbreaker with drakefire guns.)

4. The game is actually really great about audio clues for your enemies; if you hear something suspicious, start looking around for the source of the sound. Nine times out of ten, you can spot a Gutter Runner or other special enemy fast enough to kill it. The other tenth time? Hope your buddies didn't rush forward and leave you for dead.

5. Consider taking weapons with Shield Breaking and/or Armor Piercing if you're consistently getting fucked up by the heavier enemies. Instead of having to charge up a heavy attack, you just make regular attacks as fast as you can and watch enemies like Stormvermin and Chaos Warriors get fucked up.

6. Mix in side-dodges and pushes with your melee swings in order to defend yourself. The different weapons each have optimal attack/push/dodge patterns unique to them. Learn yours. Blind offense is a good way to get yourself killed by stray hits from trash mobs. Side-dodging repeatedly also has the benefit of helping you not get surrounded as the hordes have to relocate to you.

8. Trying to outrace other players for DPS is only going to get everyone killed, which means nobody gets loot and very little XP. Don't be that asshole who tries to "prove" something to the others by trying to outperform them. The only stat that matters is how much damage you took. Kills will happen eventually. Focus on keeping yourself alive and healthy first and foremost.

9. This is a fucking co-op game. Heal other people, leave stuff they need behind, try to watch their backs. If you can't handle this concept, then you really need to try a different game; "lone wolf" types are wasting both their time and everyone else's.

10. When the coast isn't clear, don't make forward progress in the map. You don't want to trigger a boss fight while knee deep in a horde. While dealing with shit and you have to move around, go backwards, not forwards.

11. Don't be afraid to use those bombs and potions the moment things are beginning to look dicey. One thing (horde, patrol, special) can be handled without too much trouble, but the multiples are what kills teams. Also, Strength potions oddly enough do affect ranged weapons and bombs.

12. Dash abilities (such as Foot Knight's or Zealot's abilities) can be canceled part of the way by blocking, allowing you to gain value from them while not charging away from your group if you're already with them.

13. You can block-cancel other things too, depending on your weapon. Attacks, pushes and other actions can be stopped with a block either for defense or speeding up your combos.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Ranger Veteran.png
File:Ironbreaker.png
File:Slayer.png
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper.png|[[Glottkin|HELLO I'M FUCKING FAT TOO]]
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper2.png|[[Ogre|WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SWAMP???]]
File:Lumberfoots only by a20t43c.png|How Kerillian came to live in a tent.
</gallery>

== Links ==

* [http://www.vermintide.com/ Website]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AovSuioMM2w&t=105s Announcement Trailer plus a little bit of gameplay]

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]

Vermintide 2

2021-10-14T19:05:47Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Setting */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:DPuLc-pX4AA3ba3.png|745px|center|thumb|HAHA! ASININE MORTALS!! TIME TO EMBRACE THE TRUE LOVE FROM OUR [[Nurgle|FATHER]]!! [[Skaven|YES-YES, WEAK MAN-THINGS DIE FROM VERMIN POX-DISEASE, YES!]]]]

'''Vermintide 2''' is the sequel to [[The End Times: Vermintide]], made possibly due to the fact that the first game surpassed expectations and did pretty fucking well for a relatively niche title (2 million fucking copies sold!). Fatshark sensibly shortened the name from "Warhammer The End Times: Vermintide 2" to avoid sounding like a Japanese light novel, much to the joy of nerds who [[skub|hate]] The End Times (pretty much everyone).

On October 10th, Vermintide 2 was announced, bringing a host of new additions. Most notably the Warriors of Chaos are being added as an enemy type. [[Nurgle|Specifically the jolly ones that don't mind being pox bloated messes]]. Along with the new enemy race, the Skaven also have a few new additions, such as the Stormfiends and Warpfire Throwers. They've also announced that [[Beastmen|everyone's favorite non-Welsh sheep shaggers]] will be added in sometime this summer.

The game was released on March 8, 2018, and quickly surpassed its prequel's success with 1 million sales in its first month alone.

The game became truly playable after a patch was released on April 12, 2018 to which [https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/30503110/c2428ecfc6ae3dbbb902a008f702bcf510ebb399.png brought back Saltzpyre's signature voiceline] (''actual'' [https://steamcommunity.com/games/552500/announcements/detail/1654386143023879919 patch notes banner]).

It is [[Awesome]].

== Setting ==

Vermintide 2 is set during the End Times, an indeterminate amount of time since the ending of the previous game. After falling into Rasknitt's trap (and thus letting Ubersreik fall), the Ubersreik Five (or Four, doesn't matter) have ended up in their own castle and banded together again to face the Skaven forces of [[Clan Fester]], along with their new allies: a Chaos Warband dedicated to [[Nurgle]] known as The Rotbloods. Both forces came together as the Pactsworn, their eyes gazed on the fortress town of Helmgart (the border town Bretonnia always conquers within the first 10 turns of an Empire [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] campaign).

Lohner has dialogue indicating [[Anal Circumference|the timeline is smack dab in the middle of the End Times as Louen Leoncouer is already dead]] (Please have mercy [[Matt Ward]])! Due to the presence of a Nurgle-aligned warband, it is possible that the game is set during/after the Fall of Marienburg. The Skaven are up to their usual hijinks (Pillaging, slaughter, slavery... You know, a normal day in Warhammer). Their main objective is trying to build something called the Skittergate [https://youtu.be/uOd7HQoKxcU?t=45| (it's different from that movie which they have never seen, so how would they copy it?)], a portal between Norsca and Helmgart, explaining how the Skaven and their new allies overran the region. The Rotbloods are here to help the Skaven with murder-fucking everyone in the Reikland and bringing great death-death to poor Helmgart. Clan Fester's also out for blood as payback for Ubersreik, even though Ubersreik apparently fell anyway.

There are a total of thirteen maps in the base campaign. These span: the town of Helmgart itself, where the heroes create a diversion at the Temple of Sigmar before the Hammerman himself purges it of vikings and rats; an Elven temple ruin in the woods where the gang uses a slow-moving puzzle to raise a magic shield; Ussingen, a farming town where the heroes rescue prisoners and later blow up a Chaos supply cache; a Nurgle-blighted canyon with a fortified Chaos Lord's tomb, which the gang destroys to stop the Rotbloods from harvesting his energy; a dense swamp, where the heroes assault the Rotbloods' main war camp and slay their leader, a Nurgle Champion; and quite a lot more besides, culminating in a double assault on the Skittergate and the Rotblood hometown in Norsca, obliterating both of them and saving Helmgart, or what's left of it. The gang is so badass that the shitty army left at Ubersreik was enough to take over while a Skaven-Rotblood alliance couldn't do jack to them. Such is life as a video game protagonist.

The ''Shadows Over Bögenhafen'' DLC has the gang end up in the titular town where they wipe out the Pactsworn a second time and keep a scary daemon sword out of Nurgle's grubby hands over two more maps. ''Back To Ubersreik'' has them enter a magic simulation of Ubersreik being run by Olesya to try to locate some mysterious runes of power in the ''real'' Ubersreik, re-defeating the Skaven in it because she's trying to keep it as "believable" as possible (and also the Rotbloods, who either found a way to break into the simulation or are part of the simulation because Olesya likes messing with our heroes), with three levels from the previous game and a secret fourth you can try out after finding runes from the past levels through a series of tedious puzzles. In the Winds of Magic DLC the Beastmen get involved because the increasingly fucked Reikland now has a meteor crash onto it, and the angry goats surge out of the woods to make a herdstone out of it. Then there's the roguelike ''Chaos Wastes'', given for free to everyone who got the game, wherein Saltzpyre sets up a pilgrimage through the wastes to assuage his waning faith.

An event for the 1 year anniversary (March 2019) gave us "A Quiet Drink," in which the party decides they've done a very good job so far, and deserve a night on the town! Worth playing just for the many custom voice lines for the utterly sloshed characters. ("Queen Kerillian demands MORE ALE!") ("It wouldn't be the same! It wouldn't have the whistle!") While the map was only available on the official realm during the event, it can still be played [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1694820325 through a mod].

Where the storyline doesn't advance as much through the game, more details can be found on the main site's dev blogs by way of the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", where the old bartender writes down his musings about current events.

== Gameplay ==

The good old Vermintide core gameplay remains intact, which means that the game still has a robust and surprisingly skill-based melee system at its core. Rather than fuck with anything that was already functional, Vermintide 2 focuses instead on adding more content to play around with. Light attacks, heavy attacks, blocking, dodging, pushing, etc., are all still here. All weapons also now have a "push attack" which is performed by holding down the attack button while blocking, causing an attack after you push.

Aside from the new enemy types, there are a couple of other new features, such as specializations for the classes (referred to as "careers"), each representing different possible paths the heroes took after Ubersreik. For example, the Dwarf can be a Slayer or an Ironbreaker, or the Wood Elf can be a Shade or Haindmaiden of Isha, each one with diffferent passive abilities and active "Career Skill". This comes packaged along with a talent tree for each character and new weapons to go around for everyone. Each talent tree also comes with talents for granting temporary health (Health that's both easily lost and generated, basically allowing you to endure until the next heal) and stagger bonuses (damage bonuses against enemies you get off-balance). Alternatively, you can heal others when you use a potion on yourself, or gain more power to replace these talents.

The loot system got an overhaul too, with the devs acknowledging the first game's system was kind of bullshit. We now have [[rage|lootboxes]] like every other dev under the sun, but entirely earned through gameplay and they come unlocked, so it's basically just normal random loot drops with a loot box skin slapped on. A "Heroic Deeds" system has also been implemented, consisting of consumable quests that mix gameplay up by dramatically changing objectives, mix of enemies faced or limiting your own tools (many combinations of which are pure [[Anal Circumference]]), along with a Challenge system that's basically an alternative achievements system, rewarding you when you finish missions or sets of missions with certain difficulties, different heroes and/or harder conditions, tracking other milestones and more. These give you more chests, skins, frames for your portraits, and other goodies.

Aside from those additions,and quality of life improvements it seems to mostly be the same game, which is okay since most people just wanted it to be the first one with more stuff to begin with. For the cherry on top, the game also supports modding to the point that the devs maintain a list of "Sanctioned Mods" which can be safely used with the base game, a lot of which are pretty sweet. There's also entirely separate "Realms" for the base game and modded games. On the negative side, there's no dedicated server, instead relying on peer-to-peer connection. Better hope your host has good internet...

Two DLC campaigns are currently out: the first one, '''Shadows over Bögenhafen''', has the heroes searching for a runesword in the titular city, while '''Back to Ubersreik''' features remade versions of some of the original Vermintide missions along with new melee weapons as the Heroes of Ubersreik head off to an illusionary copy of the city to find a hidden set of runes for Olesya. The third DLC, '''Winds of Magic''', added Beastmen, a higher level cap and difficulty level, and a set of endgame challenges in the "Winds of Magic" mode. The fourth, '''Chaos Wastes''' (released for free) added another game mode which has the Ubersreik <s>Five</s><s>Four</s>It Doesn't Matter go on expedition into the titular wastes, choosing to go through a number of randomized locations with roguelike elements, allowing players to exchange or power up their equipment and get special boons while going through areas cursed with various dangers and debuffs.

==The Ubersreik Five and Careers==

Each character now has three different Careers, which affect their weapon choices, abilities, and talent trees, allowing a great deal of customization for each one. Lore-wise, the three careers are based on how each of the heroes might have reacted to the fall of Ubersreik: Either they barely changed at all (The starter career), were inspired for a higher calling, or became traumatized and jaded. The exception is Markus, whose three careers all end up being good for him.

A fourth career is on the way for each character, though it's locked behind DLC. So far, Markus, Bardin and Kerillian have their fourth class, with the other two on the way.

===Victor Saltzpyre===
The Witch-Hunteriest Witch Hunter continues to hunt... More Skaven and Rotbloods than witches, but he hunts all the same. After the Ubersreik campaign, the Order of the Silver Hammer still [[Derp| stupidly tried to deny the existence of the ratmen]], spinning the invasion as a myth. How "Salty" he was in his reaction formed the crux of his future: Either he gained more political power in the chaos, allowing him to secretly fight the ratmen (The canonical choice), spoke out against the stupidity and abandoned the order to become a bounty hunter, or he lost faith in humanity entirely and relished in fanatical worship of Sigmar. As the events of the game go on however, even this faith in Sigmar is shaken, and he organizes a pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes to assuage his fears. Journals reveal that he's coming on more to preaching and thinking on the Eternal Flame...
*'''Witch Hunter Captain''': The deaths of several Captains over the course of the End Times has allowed Victor to rise in rank, but he has had to accept that the Witch Hunters won’t recognize the fact that there’s an entire fucking empire of ratmen just below their cities; Saltzpyre now uses his new political position to fight the menace in secret. In addition to a fancier hat, Victor as a Witch Hunter Captain can do everything he could in the first game and also gets some abilities that help him support his allies.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Witch Hunt''- Enemies pinged by Victor take extra damage
***''Eternal Guard''- Blocking light frontal attacks does not consume stamina
***''Killing Shot''- Crit headshots, melee or ranged, instantly kill human-sized enemies (i.e. any non-boss enemy smaller than a Chaos Warrior)
**Unique active ability: ''Animosity''- Victor screams lets out his [[RAGE]]. All nearby allies have their critical rate enhanced for 6 seconds, and nearby enemies are knocked back. Can be upgraded to give yourself guaranteed crits, refund 40% cooldown if the shout hits ten enemies, or ping everyone hit by it with Witch Hunt.
*'''Bounty Hunter''': When his order attempted to cover up what happened at Ubersreik, Salty removed his heraldry to fight the Skaven himself, taking odd-jobs on the side to pay for his endeavors. While officially he's still a witch hunter, he doesn't associate much with other witch hunters anymore after the threats they made in response to Saltzpyre snapping and speaking his mind about the Skaven. He's less of a religious fanatic and more pragmatic as a result. As a Bounty Hunter, Victor focuses on ranged weaponry to blast away Skaven and Chaos Warriors alike. He also dressed in a similar appearance with [[C.L.Werner|Brunner]], a canon bounty hunter.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blessed Shots''- Guaranteed ranged critical every 10 seconds
***''Ammo Pouches''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Quick Release''- Improved reload rate
**Unique active ability: ''Locked and Loaded''- Fires a powerful shot that pierces multiple enemies...and potentially allies too, so everyone involved really should try to be careful with the Bounty Hunter around. Can be upgraded to have massive cooldown reduction on headshot, get more pellets on the next shot based on the number hit on the current shot, or have ranged crits reduce the cooldown by 20%.
*'''Zealot''': The horrors of Ubersreik and the Witch Hunters' refusal to admit the threat the Skaven pose have caused Victor to give up on earthly organizations entirely and place his trust in Sigmar alone, with the rest of the world fit only to be cleansed in righteous fire. Victor as a Zealot favors vicious melee combat, and not only is his armor some of the best in the game even without the Flagellant talent (which is mandatory while playing the class), a heaping helping of faith and holy rage makes him even more dangerous as he loses health - after all, the end is upon us, why not shed as much blood as possible before it goes? As a nice bonus, picking up grimoires will count towards his health-based attack boosts.
** Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Fiery Faith''- Attack power increased by 5% for every 25 health lost (up to 20%)
***''Unswerving Strikes''- Heavy attacks cannot be interrupted by enemy attacks.
***''Heart of Iron''- Ignores death upon taking lethal damage (long cooldown)
**Unique active ability: ''Holy Fervor''- Charge forward and gain 25% attack speed boost for 5 seconds. Can be upgraded to be unkillable during the skill, or gain stacks that either reduce cooldown or increase attack power.

===Markus Kruber (aka Markus de Mandelot)===
[[This Guy|Faithful, dependable Markus]], always willing to help out, continues to serve against the Ratmen for both coin and conscience. The universe seems to have rewarded him for being a nice, simple guy because none of his careers turn out badly for him. Either he gets deeper into merc life (the canon choice), he takes some time off to breathe as a Huntsman, or he's recognized for his achievements ad gets inducted into the Order of the Reikhammer as a Foot Knight. Later in the story, his ancient bloodline is revealed and he becomes an official Grail Knight of Bretonnia. This means he somehow made the journey to Bretonnia, fought all manner of beasts and monsters (while drunk) and even [[Awesome|proved himself to]] [[The Green Knight]] before finally sipping some <strike>[[Lileath|elven goddess]]</strike>[[Lady of the Lake|Lake Lady]] bathwater, gaining the requisite powers, stupid French accent and... [[Troll|"chivalric" manner]]. Let's just hope his good luck continues to hold, eh?
*'''Mercenary''': The life of a mercenary has suited Markus well, in no small part due to not having to answer to incompetent leaders like he used to. Being a Mercenary allows Markus a good degree of versatility, with medium armor that grants protection without losing maneuverability and a focus on using sweeping attacks to clear out hordes.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Paced Strikes''- Hitting 3 enemies in 1 swing boosts attack speed by 10% for 6 seconds
***''Hitting the Sweet Spot''- 25% more cleave (attacks hit more enemies at once)
***''No More Laughin' Now''- Critical hit rate improved by +5%
**Unique active ability: ''Morale Boost''- Staggers nearby enemies and grants nearby allies temporary bonus health. Can be upgraded to give a defense buff for all alies, reduce the cooldown or immediately revive allies.
*'''Huntsman''': After Ubersreik, Markus found a degree of inner peace by devoting himself to Taal and Rhya, the gods of nature (though not devoted enough such that gunpowder weaponry is disallowed on him). As a Huntsman, Markus trades away his access to heavier armor for greater proficiency with ranged weapons of all kinds. He also gets to use a bow, a ranged weapon unique to the Huntsman career that, while much slower than Kerillian's, holds a lot of ammunition and does considerable damage. Had a hilarious bug that [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKoqArJjYIo pretty much gave him an AK-47] and absolutely melted bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Waste Not, Want Not''- Ranged headshots return 1 ammo
***''Poacher's Mark''- Effective range for ranged weapons doubled
***''Call Out Weakness'' - Aura that boosts critical rate by +5%
***''Deep Pockets'' - +50% ammo capacity
**Unique active ability: ''Hunter's Prowl'': Become invisible for a short time; automatically reloads ranged weapon for no ammo cost, improves reload speed, and adds 1.5x damage multiplier to ranged attacks while invisible. Can be upgraded to reduce the cooldown, increase the duration or have ranged attacks not break stealth.
*'''Foot Knight''': For his part in the defense of Ubersreik, Markus was made a Knight of the Order of the Reikshammer. Markus may not have been aiming for the position, but his heavy armor, protective aura, and highly disruptive ultimate make him an excellent tank as a Foot Knight.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''Protective Presence''- Aura that reduces damage taken by 15%
***''Taal's Fortitude'' - Extra stamina shield
***''No Guts, No Glory'' - Reduces damage taken by 10%
**Unique active ability: ''Valiant Charge''- Charges forward, knocking back any enemies hit by the charge. Also interrupts and stuns bosses and specials. Can be upgraded to make Kruber temporarily invincible, have increased size and the ability to knock over greater enemies, or grant increased attack speed for every enemy hit.
*'''Grail Knight''': MOTHERFUCKING GRAIL KNIGHT!!! The first unique class introduced and locked behind a DLC wall. It was revealed one-day Kruber found out his Bretonnian lineage after he received a mysterious letter that was addressed to him with the '''de Mandelot''' surname. According to Lohner, he used his huge information network to traced back Kruber's bloodline and found out his father was actually a Bretonnian! but not just any Bretonnian: '''Foricarl de Mandelot'''! who used to be a well-known grail knight in Parravon after he saved the city from a dragon with style! He was widely worshiped since then with arts, music, and clothes referencing him. It wasn't until the duke's son, an arsehole by the name ''Willibald'' who is jealous of the hero's deed that he killed his father, the duke of Parravon, and framed Foricarl for it. The lady had to intervene herself and turned the fucktard into a frog but it was all too late, for Foricarl had already self-exiled in shame. Despite that, he continued to slay beasts and killing chaos shit like a badass until he finally settled at '''Ubersreik Hills''' and impregnated Kruber's mama, only to leave her before Kruber was even born. With the lady's blessing, Kruber is now '''Markus de Mandelot'''! And he now has [[troll|the privilege call his teammates peasants, acting cockier and mightier than even Kerilian, while Bretonnian dancing all the way to the waystone, one-shotting any foe he came across with his magical sword ability]] (a voiceline while waiting to start on a Chaos Wastes expedition ''really'' has him imply he's been talking down to Saltzpyre after becoming a Grail Knight just to be a troll). Just like Slayer Bardin Markus can't use ranged weapons in this career (because peasant weapon dislike and chivalry bullshit), and he doesn't even have the option of throwing axes like Slayer Bardin does (again, see above), but his special buffs, move speed and ability make him a fantastic boss killer and crowd controller.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''The Lady's Duty''- Get 2 random quests that grant buffs to the party when completed, lasting until the mission is over. Can be upgraded to have a third quest, stronger buffs, or a repeatable quest that grants a potion of strength each time.
***''Knight's Challenge'' - 25% extra damage to the first enemy hit.
***''Thirst for Glory'' - 10% move speed increase
***''Bastion of Bretonnia'' - Your shields can now block Warpfire
**Unique active ability: ''Blessed Blade''- Smite a target with a holy blade. Can be upgraded to deal even more single target damage with a slash and stab, change into a horizontal crowd cleaver or stay the same and increase movement speed upon kill.

===Kerillian===
The elf continues to be a standoffish, if slightly nicer, jerk, though her sensitivity masks hidden scars. Her faith forms the crux of her careers, whether remaining a faithful, if conflicted, Waystalker (This is canon), a Handmaiden more devoted to Isha and protecting others, or losing herself to bloodlust and becoming a Shade of [[Khaine]]. The Drachenfels DLC reveals that Kerillian basically has the biggest impact on the story out of the whole party, with consequences reaching to the rest of Warhammer. She received a vision about how Ubersreik MIGHT have to do with the fall of Athel Loren. With pride and without any thought, she ambushed two regiments of soldiers from Nuln meant to reinforce the city, leaving it undefended... From the Skaven. That's right, [[Fail|because of her pride, she's responsible for ALL of the slaughter and death caused by the Vermintide, and contributed more than a fair bit to bringing about the End Times]].This explains her biting behavior, a shield to her own failures. The pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes broke her resolve and caused her to question her faith, giving up her regrets to Isha and becoming a Sister of the Thorn, losing part of herself and becoming more cynical than ever.
*'''Waystalker''': Frustrated with the clumsiness of her companions, Kerillian has resolved to further hone her skills to compensate further for the "lumberfoots". As a Waystalker, Kerillian further specializes in her longbow, both for precision sniping and for raining arrows on enemies.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Amaranthe''- Automatically regenerate health (3 health per 10 seconds, up to a maximum of half your total hit points)
***''Arrow-Storm''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Waywatcher's Bow''- Effective range for ranged weapons is doubled
**Unique active ability: ''Trueflight Volley''- Fires a volley of homing arrows. Can be upgraded to fire one more arrow, refund ammunition when killing specials, or turn into a single piercing arrow that deals massive damage and has no cooldown when you get a headshot.
*'''Handmaiden''': Through the subtle guidance of the Everqueen, Kerillian came across a long-lost shrine to Isha and gave herself up to serve her. Kerillian's Handmaiden Career focuses primarily on dancing around enemies in direct melee combat, and is her most durable career option through both maximum health, stamina, and mobility. The career for players that are allergic to standing still.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''The Dance of Seasons''- 15% longer dodge distance
***''Aura of Renewal''- Aura that increases stamina regeneration speed by 100%
***''Ariel's Benison''- Cannot be interrupted when reviving allies
**Unique active ability: ''Dash''- Quickly dash forward through enemies, stunning enemies that are hit and causing them to bleed. Has a hilariously low cooldown, the lowest of all of the game's abilities. Can be upgraded to become invisible after the dash, make anyone you hit bleed or gain crit chance based on how many enemies you hit.
*'''Shade''': One of Kerillian's dreams spoke of an ancestor of hers who dwelled in Clar Karond, and with it came the voice of [[Khaine]] urging her to reclaim the mantle of her ancestor. Kerillian as a Shade is an assassin, focused on rapidly killing elite, special, and boss enemies. She also gains access to the volley crossbow in this career. This is the class to play if you really like killing the absolute shit out of Chaos Warriors and bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Murderous Prowess''- 50% damage bonus when attacking enemies from behind
***''Assassin's Blade''- Critical hit backstabs instantly kill man-sized enemies
**Unique active ability: ''Infiltrate''- Become invisible and intangible for 10 seconds, or until performing an attack. Also has a unlisted effect where any melee attack that ends Infiltrate gets a massive damage boost; depending on the weapon this can increase the power of Kerillian's melee attacks to the point where they 1-hit kill a Chaos Warrior on Legendary difficulty, and can even reach the maximum damage value possible for a single attack. Can be upgraded to have less cooldown and grant more crit chance after it ends at the cost of losing the damage bonus, cause her to blink forward while damaging enemies, or allowing her to attack without breaking stealth exactly one time.
*'''Sisters of the Thorn''': The 3rd microtransaction DLC career. In truth, Kerillian has been losing faith in her goddess Lileath for some times, and it finally reached a critical point after the '''Citadel of Eternity''' shenanigan where the said goddess did not answer her. Hoping to rededicate herself to the weaves once more, she began courting to other goddess (even [[Ereth Khial]], the kind of goddess only the mentally ill elf would worship). She ended up went back to Athel Loran to seek answers, offered up her uncertainty and regrets to the forest. Doing so allowed her to become a '''Sister of the Thorn''' , a handmaiden of Isha who can raise up a thorn bush wall to block the enemies (or just turned them into a deadly thorn spike that bleeds anyone it targets) as well as providing healing extra healing to her teammate, leeching extra temporary health from them in exchange. She now also called her teammates "meats", as if [[Ferrus Manus|flesh is weaker]] compare to her, a superior plant fused being.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''A Cluster of Radiants''- Gain a radiance charge that allows free use of your active every 60 seconds.
***''A Murder of Sprites''- Deals more damage to wounded units depending on their remaining health, up to 50%.
***''A Sustenance of Leeches''- Gain temp health if a party member gains temp health when they're at full health.
***''An Attendance of Munificents''- +25% healing for everyone.
**Unique active ability: ''Thornwake''- Raise a thornwall that blocks movement. Can be upgraded to last longer, deal more damage and apply bleed at the cost of duration or explode with poison when it expires, increasing damage dealt to enemies caught.

===Bardin Goreksson===
Short, stout and sure to stomp your arse, Bardin is here to help out his dawris and slaughter some rakis (and anything else that comes in the way. Either he continued his quest for Karak Zorn as a Ranger Veteran (Which is canon), returned to his roots as an Ironbreaker, or forsook life in pursuit of honorable death as a [[Slayer]]. After the trip to Drachenfels however, the regrets that surfaced made him look to his old passions of becoming an Engineer, and thus, became an Outcast Engineer. Life STILL isn't smooth sailing for him, as Lohner's journals reveal that his daughter has gone missing. Whether she'll be found is anyone's guess...
*'''Ranger Veteran''': Karak Zorn is yet to be found, but the defense of Reikland currently comes first for Bardin. Bardin the Ranger Veteran favors the use of ranged weaponry to punish foes from a distance, but he's more than able to hold his own in melee if a hail of crossbow bolts doesn't do the trick. Cousin Okri would be proud. While this used to be the least powerful of the range-focused careers due to lacking a consistent means of generating ammo for itself, recent balance updates have made it into an extremely versatile and powerful support class. Of particular note is a talent that gives a chance for every special enemy you kill to drop a bomb, which is just hilariously strong.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Survivalist''- Special enemies drop ammo on death
***''Loaded for Battle''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Fast Hands''- Increased reload speed
***''Ingenious Improvisation'' - 10% chance to not consume health items, potions, or bombs on use
**Unique active ability: ''Disengage''- Drops a smoke bomb that staggers enemies and turns Bardin invisible as long as he remains within the cloud. Lasts ten seconds. While invisible, Bardin gains increased ranged attack power. Can be upgraded to remain stealthed even outside the cloud, grant everyone attack speed and temp health while in it, or basically allowing you a free bomb throw.
*'''Ironbreaker''': Bardin used to be an Ironbreaker in Kazak Norn, and following the defense of Ubersreik he took up his old oaths and gromril armor once more. The heavy armor and shield of the Ironbreaker makes Bardin a superb tank that can take whatever the enemy can dish out, and then return it in kind. In addition, he gains access to a drakegun and drakefire pistols, which let him spew out gouts of flame. Like in the first game, they do not use ammo and instead use a heat meter, like Sienna. Be mindful that this also means that they'll kill you if the heat gauge maxes out.
**Unique passive abilities:
** Base Health: 150
***''Gromril Armor''- Negates all damage from 1 hit every 20 seconds.
***''Dwarf-Forged''- Reduces damage taken by 30%
***''Doughty''- Grants an extra stamina shield
***''Resilient''- Decreases stun duration after getting hit by an attack by 50%
**Unique active ability: ''Impenetrable''- Briefly staggers nearby enemies, then forces all man-sized enemies among them to attack Bardin exclusively. Bardin also takes no stamina damage while blocking for the duration, and can block normally unblockable attacks. Can be upgraded to give everyone a power increase, increase its range and duration, or the ability to affect even monsters.
*'''[[Slayer]]''': Bardin had been carrying a secret burden in his heart even before Ubersreik, and by the time the Skaven came to Helmgart he had taken up the Slayer's Oath in the hopes of an honorable death. As a Slayer, Bardin can't use ranged weapons at all but becomes a melee powerhouse, with exclusive access to the Dual Axes weapon and the ability to take a second melee weapon to replace his ranged weapon slot. Despite his deceptively low base health, he's one of the tankiest things in the game due to his Oblivious to Pain talent, which is practically mandatory while playing the class. He even has another talent that can increase his base health, as if this weren't enough.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Trophy Hunter''- Stacking damage buff gained upon hitting an enemy
***''Path of Carnage''- +7.5% attack speed
**Unique active ability: ''Leap''- Leap forward, stunning enemies and gaining a temporary boost to attack speed.
*'''Outcast Engineer''': Bardin's fourth unique DLC locked class (chronologically the 2nd paid class DLC). Ever since he returned from castle [[Drachenfels]], Bardin has been busy locking himself alone studying machinery. According to Lohner, his uncle '''Drakki Dagsson''' used to be an engineer whom Bardin looked up, much dismay to his traditionalist dad '''Gorrek Dagsson''' who shuns technology and often came to an disagreement with his brother Drakki. Upon learning Bardin is going to become a apprentice engineer, Dagsson went to disengaged pneumatic supports at the mine out of anger and cause an earthquake, which also happened at the same time when Bardin is about to receive his apprenticeship. Dagsson managed to get most of the Dwarf to safety before the debris and stones swallowed him alive with the remaining Dwarfs. This forced Bardin to quit his passion to follow his father's footstep, becoming an Ironbreaker, and the good ol' Drakki took the blame for the mining accident and becoming a slayer out of guilt (because of how heroic Dagsson was) and died in a troll cave. Still, tragedy did not end there for Bardin for he would later failed to defend his home, his family and his beardling son just because he wasn't strong enough to fight off a gutter runner, even led his entire team of sentry died saving him in the process. Filled with grief, Bardin decided to leave his hold and search for Karak Zorn as an excuse to exile himself (because seeker sounds better than exile) but ended up joining Victor's anti-ratman crusade at Ubersreik instead. The demon living in castle [[Drachenfels]] read everyone like an open book, including a magic resistant Dwarf, and it sarcastically mocked Bardin of his old shame. Having realized maybe he should never followed his father's path and perhapes he was never suited for being an Ironbreaker, he went back to his old tinkering passion. With Lohner's help, Bardin acquired materials, minerals needed for his various tools of destruction like his signature crank gun (read: [[Awesome|handheld Gatling gun, or handheld super repeater handgun because Richard Jordan Gatling doesn't exist in Warhammer world]]) and is now out to destroy all those Thaggrakis and Dumals with it!
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Build Pressure''- Holding reload with the crank gun equipped builds pressure, gradually restoring the ability bar. Stacks are lost when you fire.
***''Gunsmith''- +50% Max ammo.
***''Spotter''- +10% Ranged Power to nearby allies.
***''Utility Belt''- Allows you to carry three different bombs, cycling through them with the bomb key.
**Unique active ability: ''Steam-Assisted Crank Gun (mk2)''- An interesting active ability that's more like a third weapon, activating Bardin's special gun. Switching to the gun doesn't use up the bar, nor does it build up automatically. You "Reload" the gun in order to fill up your ability bar over time, and you can fire it as long as you have "ammo" in it. Can be upgraded to fire slower but stronger slugs, immediately start out firing at full speed, or have a longer ability bar that temporarily isn't used when you kill a special.

===Sienna Fuegonasus===
As fiery and feisty as ever, the U5's witch is here to blaze a trail through rat and rot alike. How she does it forms the basis of her paths in life: She either made an attempt to discipline herself as a Battle Wizard (Canon), split between freedom and control as a Pyromancer or lost herself to the flame as an Unchained. It's eventually revealed in Lohner's journals that Sienna "had" a sister named Sofia. They weren't on the best terms, but they were family, so when Sofia was accused of being a [[Necromancer]], Sienna burned the town responsible for accusing her. [[Fail|And then it turns out she WAS a necromancer, so Sienna burned her too]]. Note the quotation marks, as Lohner recently got a letter from someone claiming to be Sofia, blackmailing him to do her a favor or else some of his unsavory secrets would be revealed. This fiasco looks to blow up in everyone's faces, which, really, fits anything to do with Sienna.
*'''Battle Wizard''': Ubersreik taught Sienna the value of self-control, and while she was reluctant to do so she has learned to control the flame for the first time. The greater degree of self-discipline Sienna has as a Battle Wizard allows her to focus on perfecting her spellcasting, letting her cast spells more quickly, more often, and for more damage.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Tranquility''- Passively vents overcharge after 6 seconds of not casting spells
***''Reckless Haste''- Overcharge increases spell charge rate
***''Pyromantic Surge''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''Fire Walk''- Quickly teleport forward, leaving a trail of fire behind you. Can be upgraded to have lower cooldown, a bigger and stronger explosion with no more fire trail, or the ability to double-cast within 10 seconds.
*'''Pyromancer''': While far from having the control of a proper Battle Wizard, Sienna has enough self-awareness to restrain herself from the most ostentatious of fire magic. Sienna the Pyromancer trades in the consistency of her Battle Wizard career for more explosive moments of burst damage. Of special note is a talent which lets her activated ability also instantly clear all overcharge.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Critical Mass''- Critical chance increases based on overcharge level
***''Searing Focus''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''The Burning Head''- A powerful fire blast that initially travels directly forward, but after a short time it will attempt to home in on the closest enemy; holding the active ability key down allows the user to designate a target for the fire blast to home in on instead. It will jump from foe to foe, killing until it runs out of power. Anything not killed by the blast is staggered, including bosses. Can be upgraded to refund cooldown on crit, vent her overcharge on cast or give her temporary health.
*'''Unchained''': Sienna's addiction to magic has finally overwhelmed her, and now she lives only from one magical high to the next. As an Unchained, Sienna favors magically-boosted melee, with a focus on generating as much overcharge as possible before moving in for the kill.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blood Magic''- 50% of damage received is converted to overcharge. Do not get hit while at high levels of overcharge, lest you accidentally [[Fail|explode yourself like a dunce]].
***''Slave to Aqshy''- No overcharge slowdown
***''Unstable Strength''- High overcharge increases melee attack power up to 60%
**Unique active ability: ''Living Bomb''- Expends all overcharge to produce a massive explosion centered on Sienna, dealing heavy damage to all nearby enemies. Fortunately, this can be done even while beginning to explode from too much overcharge. Can be upgraded to increase power based on how many you hit, gain a scorching aura after it's finished or give everyone temp health.

== Other Characters ==
*'''Franz Lohner''': The bartender of the Red Moon Inn, transferring over to the Taal's Horn Keep. You guys do the heavy lifting, he does most of the behind the scenes stuff: Keeping your home nice and cozy, getting intel, stocking up on supplies, you get the drill. Unfortunately, he also runs the Emporium of Wonders, aka, [[Rage|the microtransaction shop]]. Seemingly knows everything and everyone, including any secrets your own characters have. Talking to him has him rattle off various nods to the lore of Warhammer and more specifically, [[The End Times]]. The devs also use him to write journals and story bits about the game through the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", which are tidbits for his journal. Journal entries and random conversations heavily imply that he's [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat|Morgan Bernhardt from Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omen.]]
*'''Olesya Pimenova''': The carriage handler from the first game turned out to be a Gray Witch. Whod've thunk? As usual, your ride in and out of your jobs, this time using a Bridge of Shadows teleporter instead of horses. Helps make plans along with Lohner while occasionally working alongside you on your missions, secretly doing magic stuff while you not-so-secretly kill everything. Heavily implied to be the true form of the Grey Wizard Christoph Engel from the first game. She also has the hots for Kruber, a fact which he's unfortunately aware of.
*'''Catrinne of Aldenstein''': The artist making all the paintings you can decorate the keep with once you find three pieces of Ravaged Art in a mission. You never see her, but you can sometimes hear her. She's haunted by visions which inspire her paintings, but Lohner's wary of how ominous she describes them. She apparently has a crush on Saltzpyre (A fact which Salty himself doesn't know, but hilariously enough, Kruber does), and she sometimes has to fight off Bardin from eating her brushes because he finds them delicious.

== Enemies ==

'''Bosses'''
* '''Grey Seer Rasknitt:''' The same asshole in charge of invading Ubersreik is back, and he's the final boss of the main campaign. Having captured the heroes in the first game, he attempts to sacrifice them to fuel the Skittergate, a portal contraption capable of bringing in huge armies in a flash. With it, he and the Rotbloods swarmed Helmgart and the countryside, though as is typical of technology made by mice, it breaks in the prologue. It's fixed soon after though, and much of the game is dedicated to destroying it. During the final showdown, he sent his precious Stormfiend called Deathrattler (who uses dual-ratling guns instead of the flamethrowers) against you, only to call it a worthless piece of junk after the heroes killed it. He then attacks the heroes with his Skaven magic, teleports around at lightning speed while summoning special Skaven of all types, then is blown the fuck up once the rat bastard's health is at its end. You then get his helmet as a trophy for the Keep, and the fact that it has voices whispering into it explains MUCH about how insane this rat-bastard is.
* '''Chaos Champion Bödvarr Ribspreader:''' Here to spread ribs and smiles in Papa Nurgle's name, Ribspreader is a Champion of Chaos and the scary dude on the box cover. The leader of the Rotbloods, who are said to be insane even by Chaos Warbands' standards, he's here to slaughter and destroy, and has allied himself with Rasknitt for that purpose. He berates the Grey Seer for the portal's failure, but interestingly enough ''doesn't'' rip his spine out for it, though it's probably because Rasknitt is more powerful than he is. Figures mainly into Act 3, where the gang messes with everything he has. After hitting a breaking point as the heroes foil his plans and kill his men and free his slaves, he sends out most of his army to scout for and attack the Keep, but thanks to Olesya reading the script, they learn about this, attack his under-staffed camp, and kill him in his own arena. Despite claiming that he can take care of the heroes all by himself, he displays cowardice, [[Carron|ranting and bawwing about the precious slaves and loots he lost to the Ubersreik Five/Four/Doesn't Matter]] when he starts losing and calls his warriors for aid, with a horde attacking as he loses health. Interesting to note that despite being a Nurgle worshipper, he has a magic axe (which the axe itself is alive, noted by the growing eye skull on the axe) that he can call back to him if he ever throws it out against the players. Saltzpyre would often refer to it as "flying axe witch" whenever it was thrown. You gain this axe as a trophy for the keep, and study of it reveals that Ribby is just one of many, many Chaos Warriors who wielded the thing.
* '''Burblespue Halescourge:''' The Nurgle sorcerer lord that the Skaven met back at Stromdorf, and the boss of Act 1. Has a good manner like papa Nurgle himself and he can do everything that the Nurgle sorcerer can do in the game (AKA life drain & Nurgle Vortex) only tougher and more AOE green plague in the oxygen, with a couple of unique abilities like summoning a swarm of flies to chase and stun one of the players, summon green images of himself to attack the players as well as erect an even bigger green vortex in the center of the battlefield. He will absolutely make you fucking rage with his lack of visual cues for his attacks, his billion and one hit points, and his habit of teleporting around like a fucking asshole whenever someone so much as sneezes on the fucker. Has a large number of very angry nicknames from the fandom, several of which have even made it into official patch notes (e.g. "Bunglesnatch Humbledink", "Vorpalblade Noobhurl", "Hailstorm Barbeque", "Bubbly-Spurge" and "Bubblespit Halleberry", among many others). You get his staff and tome from killing him, and you find out the latter was made from human skin and inked in blood. Lovely.
* '''Skarrik Spinemanglr:''' The "Scary" Skaven Warlord in charge, and the boss of Act 2. Seem to be heavily inspired by Queek Headtaker in both his looks, size, and unskavenly bravery, although he uses a more traditional halberd alongside dual shortswords. Just like Queek, he is the largest non-monster Skaven of them all, towering over the players. He will regularly summon Stormvermin and Skavenslaves, if you don't take care of them quickly it can snowball into a horde no player could ever hope to kill. He is also fully armored like Ribspreader, but unlike him, Skarrik is much faster, forcing the player to have a frustrating time of chipping his health away with their seemly ineffective charge attack. Also, he calls you [[What|cat fondlers]] and is responsible for Saltzpyre's lost eye. After he dies, civil war and general chaos erupts throughout the Skaven underground, decreasing the amount of forces guarding the Skittergate. You also get his armor and spears for the keep.
* '''Nurgloth the Eternal:''' A new boss for the new Drachenfels DLC map and another one of Nurgle's stinky boy. He used to be the chief rival of shitstorm sorcerer from above, and has been trying to take over his rival's throne. Like every dumbass heretical sorcerer, he went after old Drachenfels' castle in search of his old research about demons and other crazy shit to make himself even more powerful, which he did and was possessed or at least is in contract with a demon, but was driven mad after he glimpsed the realm of chaos. Still, it allows him to see a bit of future sight as well as gaining much higher power than before. After our heroes defeated the two walking-toilets above, he began his no-good operation in Drachenfels' castle and started to sacrifice captured villagers from nearby for his ritual. His little scheme didn't go unnoticed under Lohner's ear and was dealt with by our heroes after a trilogy of missions. In combat, he wields a giant scythe for slicing while he hovers (only the last phase), shoots flies that explode and snare the player, summons his rotblood minions, and using a magic attack that resembles an AoE ability from a typical MOBA game. Currently the hardest boss due to the amount of health he has and the bullshit last phase where he seeks out players and knocks them to his magic fart zone with his rotblood minions still roaming around him. He also explodes when you kill him, and you acquire his scythe and armor for your victory.
* '''Gatekeeper Nagfahr:''' A Ribspreader look-alike, even shares the same axe design....until the recent patch came and changed its entire outlook. He now only uses a normal axe with his head exposed: [[Eliphas the Inheritor| pale bald head]], probably the only chaos warriors that showed his face in the game. Responsible for guarding the skittergate key staff. Was [[chaos|blessed]] during the battle and turned into...[[Chaos Spawn|It-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named]]. Far easier than Ribspreader, being a level's mid-boss to build up to the final battle with Rasknitt.
* '''Baron Justus Francke:''' Not an enemy you fight but nonetheless important to the plot. Besides the Skaven having a portal underneath Helmgart, Fucko Francke is the other reason Ussingen and the countryside were overrun so quickly. It's revealed he made some kind of deal with the Rotbloods and Clan Fester, and like a lot of shitty nobles, might've been in league with the Chaos Gods even before the invasion. His fortified mansion, the only undamaged building in Ussingen, is blown up accordingly by the heroes. His fate is unknown.

'''Skaven'''
 Clan Fester's back, and they're pissed. Sore after getting thwarted at Ubersreik, they want revenge. They almost managed to get it by capturing the heroes and finally managing to capture Ubersreik, and with the Rotblood alliance for constructing a Skittergate portal to Norsca, things seem to be in the bag... Until [[Fail|it malfunctions and frees Kruber, leading him to free everyone else]]. Still, they're stronger now, with Clan Pestilens rats joining their ranks and being just as determined as ever to spread the power of the warp and stave off their extinction.
* '''Skavenslaves:''' Still the most piss-poor enemies in the game. Even though they come in huge swarms they're only dangerous if they blindside you or if you're too busy dealing with actual threats.
* '''Clanrats:''' Rank and file of clan Fester, only slightly better than slaves. Now come with a shield and hand weapon variant that could hopefully block one or two hits from the front and make dealing with the horde slightly more difficult.
* '''Plague Monks:''' A more durable Skaven with fast attacks designed to exhaust the player's stamina. Weak to ranged fire but hit like a freight train and knock you back. They let out a loud howl when they charge, but can be hard to spot in a swarm. Usually, spawn in triplets and tend to focus a single target just to make sure even 7+ stamina would not be enough to withstand their attack.
* '''Stormvermin''' - The most common breed of Special Skaven, Stormvermin will spawn at random among the crowds of Clanrats seeded throughout the various levels. Unlike the rest of their ratty brethren, the Stormvermin have actual armor, actual weapons, and actual training, making them a serious threat. Their halberds do more damage than the standard Clanrat improvised weaponry, and hits against them that don't aim for the head (or have the Armor Piercing trait) will glance off their armor. Even blocking their attacks is difficult, since they do significant Stamina damage and therefore have a high chance of breaking your block and putting you into stun, making you an easy kill. At higher difficulties, they become one of the most significant threats in the game, and require careful combat to take down safely or make ranged weapons good at taking them down quick very desirable.
* '''Stormvermin''' (Sword & Shield): Elite troops who still sound vaguely like Bane, except some of them now have swords and shields that give them multiple attacks and near-immunity to frontal hits (but mercifully deals less damage than the halberd wielders), plus their shields are metal and can't be broken. All around assholes, and a definite reason to consider having a handgun on the team since it's one of the only ranged weapons capable of easily handling them from the front.
* '''The Stormvermin Patrol''' - Once or twice per map, if you're listening carefully, you'll hear the sound of rats shouting out a ratty little marching drill. And if you're smart, you'll hide. If you're not smart, you'll die, because the Patrol is a massive mob of Stormvermin that all aggro at once if they spot any of the heroes, and will never back down from a fight. Their numbers are slightly randomized, but rule of thumb is for +5 rats for each difficulty level, so at Legendary difficulty you're facing patrol sizes that wouldn't be out of place in an actual game of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Yeah. [[Anal Circumference|Have fun with that]].
* '''Gutter Runner''' - Representing Clan Eshin, we have these stabby little ninja rats with warp-dust coated knives strapped to their hands. They lurk in the shadows, trying to find a hero that's cut off from the rest of the group or waiting for you to be otherwise distracted, then pounce and pin one hero to the ground while they stab and stab and stab until the puny man-thing stops moving. Once you're pinned (but you ''can'' hope to dodge their jumps at you by dodging to a side), you're helpless. It's up to the rest of the team to save you. So if you hear that strange whispering in the distance, make sure to stay close to your team.
* '''Packmaster''' - Clan Moulder's representatives, the Packmasters have taken up capturing humans for slaving. To this end, they cart around giant spiked collars on poles; if they get close enough, they'll snap that collar shut around your neck, disabling you like the Gutter Runner. The good news is that the collar doesn't hurt nearly as much as the knives and you can dodge it if you time it right. The ''bad'' news is that the Packmaster will drag you off into the distance, probably through a mob of Clanrats, and then hang you up to die - or at least for the rest of their companions to stab while you wriggle helplessly.
* '''Poison Wind Globadier''' - A Skryre-rat in a gas mask, with a miniature plague factory on its back. At a distance, it will constantly lob spheres full of gas so poisonous that it eats into the skin like acid, covering the battlefield in green clouds of death. The good news is that these are as poisonous to the other Skaven as they are to our heroes. The bad news is that you'll still die like a bitch if you stand in one. And if you get too close, they'll rig the tanks on their backs to explode, taking you with them in one final kamikaze assault.
* '''Ratling Gunner''' - Clan Skryre is pulling overtime here. This rat's got a miniaturized, one-man version of the tabletop Ratling Gun strapped to its back, and the rest of its body is covered in heavy armor. When it finds a good firing line, it'll wind up that gun and then unleash a hellstorm of warp-shot onto one of the heroes, tracking them as best as it can. The good news is that it's not very accurate, kills Skaven who enter its firing line, and tends to jam after a while. The bad news is that it's firing so many bullets that it's probably going to hit you anyway, and while it's not as powerful as a full-sized "kill both knight and his horse with a single bullet" ratling gun it still hurts a lot. Got a significant buff compared to the original game by taking body amour and revving up his gun quite a bit faster.
* '''Warpfire Thrower:''' Another Skryre-rat, now with a flamethrower strapped to its back, which it uses to spew out gouts of green fire at anything in range. The good news is that it has a shorter range compared to the Ratling Gunner and gives even less fucks about torching other Skaven and Rotbloods in its path. Bad news is it hurts even more than the Ratling Gunner, knocks you back, and blocks your vision as well - not a Special you'd want to see while you're out of ammo. The warpstone crystal on its back is its weak spot, but it violently explodes if said weak spot is hit, leaving a sizeable puddle of the flaming warpstone on the ground. While it can take out a lot of enemies with the explosion, it also makes engaging it in melee even more suicidal, especially if you use wide-sweeping weapons.
* '''Barrel Rat:''' Special Skaven enemy type that exists only in special game modes like the Weave or in Weekly Events. Their role is simple: SUICIDE BOMBER! Try to shoot them down before they reach you! A bane to melee only characters like Bardin's Slayer (without the throwing axe) and Kruber's Grail Knight.
* '''Rat Ogre''' - The triumph of Clan Moulder's scientific prowess. The Rat Ogre, like the Stormvermin Patrol, is a once-a-map event, barring special mission rules, and is always announced by a throat-peeling bellow of rage. It's a giant, hulking brute that rampages across the battlefield, pummeling and punching its way through any heroes it can find. It ''is'' possible to kite the Ogre, but the problem is that it's rarely alone; the true difficulty arises in managing the Ogre and the accompanying Clanrats at the same time, since they limit your mobility just by existing.
* '''Stormfiend:''' If you thought the Rat Ogres were a huge pain in the ass, say hello to their upgraded cousins, the masterwork of Clan Moulder and Clan Skyre! They are clad in heavy armor from the front and wield twin warp-fire throwers attached to their arms. Unlike the warpfire throwers on regular Skaven, these ones leave a burning trail on the ground for quite a time, turning a battlefield into a maze of green fire if you let it disengage and rain fire on you from distance - it's worth it to backtrack to more open areas if you come across a Stormfield because of this. Their major weakness is the smaller Skaven acting as a second brain that's stuck on their backs.
*'''Sack Rat''' - A Skaven with a big sack full of loot. Pretty rare to spawn. It doesn't attack on its own, [[Fail|but kills teams anyway as the people in it tunnel vision on it before being killed by all the other enemies in the level]] (seriously, a loading screen tip jokingly tells you to do this). If you can kill it before it runs off you'll get to claim its stuff. One of its notable dialogues is '''MINE! MINE! MINE!''' whenever it walks, so it's easy to spot it from such obvious dialogue.

'''Warriors of Chaos'''
 The Rotbloods, a Nurgle Warband so fanatical to the Rot-Father that they make typical fanatics look tame. They're in league with Clan Fester to work on the Skittergate while plundering Reikland's countryside. They're generally tougher and hit harder compared to Skaven, but come in smaller groups, are slower on flat ground, even slower at climbing vertical obstacles, and most importantly spawn from the same points rather than crawling out from every nook and cranny including those on the ceiling.
* '''Nurgle Cultists:''' Your typical cannon fodder of Nurgle about as tough as a Clanrat. Fill the same role as Skaven slaves in the Chaos horde, though they might last an extra hit compared to slaves.
* '''Chaos Marauders:''' Plague-ridden warriors that come in four flavors:
**'''Raiders''' (hand weapon) and '''Bulwarks''' (hand weapon and shield) are the basic units for the Chaos Forces and fulfill a similar role to Clanrats, but they are significantly more durable than the former.
**'''Savages(Frothers)''' (dual-wielding weapons) are pretty much carbon copies of Plague Monks and work exactly the same except its attacks aren't as fast.
**'''Maulers''' (great weapons) huge guys with huge axes and huge horned helmets. Fill the niche of a Stormvermin in the Chaos horde, leading packs of marauders and acting as a primary threat in them, except they hit even harder, depleting all the stamina in one hit, are only armored on the head and ''heavily so'' (seriously, it's not worth shooting them there with non-guns), and have more health.
* '''Chaos Warriors:''' ASININE MORTALS!! The great axe variant. The toughest non-boss enemy in the game. Has nearly three times as much health as a Stormvermin, and their armor is so thick that even headshots from guns hardly faze them. They can down you in a hit or two from full health but are very slow targets, and they'll trash talk one of you to let you know who they're aiming for. For extra fun, they sometimes spawn two or three at a time.
* '''Chaos Patrol:''' when you thought Stormvermin patrol was bad, these guys come in with their chaosy march song... Include at least '''SIX''' Warriors and Maulers even at the lowest difficulty with the rest filled with Raiders and Bulwarks. A tougher patrol by far compared to the Stormvermin's.
* '''Chaos Sorcerers of Nurgle:''' Come in two variants - the Lifeleech (also known as "[[/d/|Chester the molester]]" by many players), who teleports around and attempt to bind a character to leech their health, and the Blightstormer, who casts a Nurgle-flavored green vortex spell that sucks in both the enemies and player characters, damaging and preventing them from moving. (The Blightstormer also likes to talk about how Papa blessed them with sniffles and brings forth much joy.)
* '''Bile Trolls:''' Chaos Trolls of Nurgle. Wield huge blunt weapons and spew acidic bile that slows you and drains your stamina as long as you're exposed to it, much like Stormfields it's absolutely worth turning around to a more open part of the map to be able to better avoid the puke. They can also attempt to heal themselves over time, both as a passive effect and as an ability they channel when their health is low. When this happens, they fall to their knees and gain a temp health bar. You and everyone else better start [[Rape|dogpiling the FUCK out of it]] to empty it and prevent full health regen, or life will only suck harder.
* '''[[Chaos Spawn|The Unnameable Beasts]]:''' Tough boss monsters that like to chew you to regain their health. They are also probably the worst thing to face with pubbies, as they devour you, smack you into other players damaging and potentially downing them, and each snack they grab heals them. You will definitely want to use your bombs and any other knockback abilities you have to stop their chow time. Oh and they are about one of the fastest boss enemies just like the rat ogres with the exception being their head isn't as noticeable, therefore harder to deal big damage with headshots. Have fun with that.

'''Beastmen'''
 The Cloven Ones are an enemy faction that premieredin the "Winds of Magic" expansion pack. They are the true children of Chaos, born amidst the collapse of the Polar Warp Gates and the subsequent release of Chaos energy into the world. As such, they serve the Chaos Gods without question, as their souls are forfeit to Chaos at the moment of their conception. Although the Beastmen vary in appearance, as true to their Chaos heritage, they are mainly comprised of humanoid mutants and abominations with bestial features such as cloven hooves, horns, and goatlike heads. Warpstone meteor falling into Reikland got their attention, and now they seek to claim it as a Herdstone. Afterwards, they have a chance to appear in any mission.
* '''Ungors:''' Ungors are the weakest and most humanlike of the Beastmen, with most possessing diminutive horns or no horns at all. However, they are no less hateful and repulsive than their larger cousins. They use spears and bows, making them the first common enemy type to have a ranged attack.
* ''' Ungor Raiders:''' The weakest specials in the game, they look similar to regular Ungors but have much darker skin and white body paint across their upper body. Despite falling over in a stiff breeze, their arrows do lowish damage and they have an average rate of fire. The real threat is when you're caught out of cover by large packs of 8~10+ Ungor Raiders who will sustain fire their arrows so there's no safe opening to close the gap, and being exposed leads to a lot of damage quickly. Since they often shoot from far away at an area where melee can't reach them like a balcony or a cliff, they must be taken out with ranged weapons, which is a required waste of ammunition for some characters, unless the player is an Ironbreaker armed with a drakepistol, Bardin with a throwing axe, a Huntsman Kruber with a knack for headshots, or Sienna.
* '''Gors:''' The most common of the Beastmen, Gors form the backbone of the Beastmen Brayherd. Each Gor is recognized for their resplendent rack of horns, with larger horns denoting higher status within the Beastmen hierarchy. Prerelease screenshots and artwork show Gors wielding Man-cleavers and two-handed axes, although more variations are possible.
* '''Bestigors:''' Bestigors are the elite of the Brayherd as their name would imply. They can use a charge attack to knock down players and are heavily armored (not as much as chaos warriors despite being chaos and is more akin to Stormvermin armor), though this charge attack can be interrupted by a good hit/shot to them while charging to trip them or dodged.
* '''Standard Bearers:''' Beastmen who carry foul standards into battle to increase the Brayherds morale. They can place their magical standards to buff their comrades with a buffer of temporary health on top of their max health, and regeneration of their base health which can make fights take longer if players don't finish off enemies. Best to fight your way to the flag and smash it before things get harder.
* '''Beastmen Patrol''' - The patrol for the Beastmen. Unlike the previous two patrols, it contains some Ungor Raiders for ranged fire support and two standard-bearers with the rest filled with Bestigors.
* '''Minotaurs:''' A new monster-boss enemy, Minotaurs are the most Beastmen-like of Beastmen: extremely strong, extremely ferocious, and extremely dumb. Minotaurs are more aggressive than any other boss type, beelining for the nearest hero and attacking them relentlessly. They have a charge ability like the Stormfiend and can deal serious damage to players and enemies alike in their path. One of the nastier differences is that Minotaurs get the healing benefits of Battle Standards, but not the bonus health. This isn't too noticeable on Recruit or Veteran, but Champion and above the health regeneration makes it the hardest boss when both enemies are present together. Oh, and they're bigger than the other regular bosses, meaning more reach and having to aim higher for the head. Have fun.

== Gameplay Tips (aka How To Avoid Dying Like An Asshole) ==

1. Don't be That Guy who wanders off alone and dies due to getting incapacitated due to the half-dozen or so methods an enemy can do such a thing. I don't care how badass you think you are, nothing actually makes you immune to being pounced by a Gutter Runner, hooked by a Packmaster, yote by a Blightstormer, et cetera. Seriously, wandering off alone is one of the certain ways you can get kicked from a match, along with going AFK during horde or boss attacks.

2. If someone starts grabbing Tomes and Grimoires, fucking follow them and hope they know where to show you where the others are. Because if you are not grabbing them, you're not optimizing your loot and XP gain, thus you are shit and should uninstall this game (and/or kill yourself). Or don't, whatever, I'm not [[Asmodai]].

3. If you play Sienna and overheat more than twice in a match, don't be butthurt when you get kicked. Learn to manage your overheat, or learn to play anything else. (Same goes for playing an Ironbreaker with drakefire guns.)

4. The game is actually really great about audio clues for your enemies; if you hear something suspicious, start looking around for the source of the sound. Nine times out of ten, you can spot a Gutter Runner or other special enemy fast enough to kill it. The other tenth time? Hope your buddies didn't rush forward and leave you for dead.

5. Consider taking weapons with Shield Breaking and/or Armor Piercing if you're consistently getting fucked up by the heavier enemies. Instead of having to charge up a heavy attack, you just make regular attacks as fast as you can and watch enemies like Stormvermin and Chaos Warriors get fucked up.

6. Mix in side-dodges and pushes with your melee swings in order to defend yourself. The different weapons each have optimal attack/push/dodge patterns unique to them. Learn yours. Blind offense is a good way to get yourself killed by stray hits from trash mobs. Side-dodging repeatedly also has the benefit of helping you not get surrounded as the hordes have to relocate to you.

8. Trying to outrace other players for DPS is only going to get everyone killed, which means nobody gets loot and very little XP. Don't be that asshole who tries to "prove" something to the others by trying to outperform them. The only stat that matters is how much damage you took. Kills will happen eventually. Focus on keeping yourself alive and healthy first and foremost.

9. This is a fucking co-op game. Heal other people, leave stuff they need behind, try to watch their backs. If you can't handle this concept, then you really need to try a different game; "lone wolf" types are wasting both their time and everyone else's.

10. When the coast isn't clear, don't make forward progress in the map. You don't want to trigger a boss fight while knee deep in a horde. While dealing with shit and you have to move around, go backwards, not forwards.

11. Don't be afraid to use those bombs and potions the moment things are beginning to look dicey. One thing (horde, patrol, special) can be handled without too much trouble, but the multiples are what kills teams. Also, Strength potions oddly enough do affect ranged weapons and bombs.

12. Dash abilities (such as Foot Knight's or Zealot's abilities) can be canceled part of the way by blocking, allowing you to gain value from them while not charging away from your group if you're already with them.

13. You can block-cancel other things too, depending on your weapon. Attacks, pushes and other actions can be stopped with a block either for defense or speeding up your combos.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Ranger Veteran.png
File:Ironbreaker.png
File:Slayer.png
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper.png|[[Glottkin|HELLO I'M FUCKING FAT TOO]]
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper2.png|[[Ogre|WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SWAMP???]]
File:Lumberfoots only by a20t43c.png|How Kerillian came to live in a tent.
</gallery>

== Links ==

* [http://www.vermintide.com/ Website]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AovSuioMM2w&t=105s Announcement Trailer plus a little bit of gameplay]

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]

Vermintide 2

2021-10-14T19:01:46Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Setting */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:DPuLc-pX4AA3ba3.png|745px|center|thumb|HAHA! ASININE MORTALS!! TIME TO EMBRACE THE TRUE LOVE FROM OUR [[Nurgle|FATHER]]!! [[Skaven|YES-YES, WEAK MAN-THINGS DIE FROM VERMIN POX-DISEASE, YES!]]]]

'''Vermintide 2''' is the sequel to [[The End Times: Vermintide]], made possibly due to the fact that the first game surpassed expectations and did pretty fucking well for a relatively niche title (2 million fucking copies sold!). Fatshark sensibly shortened the name from "Warhammer The End Times: Vermintide 2" to avoid sounding like a Japanese light novel, much to the joy of nerds who [[skub|hate]] The End Times (pretty much everyone).

On October 10th, Vermintide 2 was announced, bringing a host of new additions. Most notably the Warriors of Chaos are being added as an enemy type. [[Nurgle|Specifically the jolly ones that don't mind being pox bloated messes]]. Along with the new enemy race, the Skaven also have a few new additions, such as the Stormfiends and Warpfire Throwers. They've also announced that [[Beastmen|everyone's favorite non-Welsh sheep shaggers]] will be added in sometime this summer.

The game was released on March 8, 2018, and quickly surpassed its prequel's success with 1 million sales in its first month alone.

The game became truly playable after a patch was released on April 12, 2018 to which [https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/30503110/c2428ecfc6ae3dbbb902a008f702bcf510ebb399.png brought back Saltzpyre's signature voiceline] (''actual'' [https://steamcommunity.com/games/552500/announcements/detail/1654386143023879919 patch notes banner]).

It is [[Awesome]].

== Setting ==

Vermintide 2 is set during the End Times, an indeterminate amount of time since the ending of the previous game. After falling into Rasknitt's trap (and thus letting Ubersreik fall), the Ubersreik Five (or Four, doesn't matter) have ended up in their own castle and banded together again to face the Skaven forces of [[Clan Fester]], along with their new allies: a Chaos Warband dedicated to [[Nurgle]] known as The Rotbloods. Both forces came together as the Pactsworn, their eyes gazed on the fortress town of Helmgart (the border town Bretonnia always conquers within the first 10 turns of an Empire [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] campaign).

Lohner has dialogue indicating [[Anal Circumference|the timeline is smack dab in the middle of the End Times as Louen Leoncouer is already dead]] (Please have mercy [[Matt Ward]])! Due to the presence of a Nurgle-aligned warband, it is possible that the game is set during/after the Fall of Marienburg. The Skaven are up to their usual hijinks (Pillaging, slaughter, slavery... You know, a normal day in Warhammer). Their main objective is trying to build something called the Skittergate [https://youtu.be/uOd7HQoKxcU?t=45| (it's different from that movie which they have never seen, so how would they copy it?)], a portal between Norsca and Helmgart, explaining how the Skaven and their new allies overran the region. The Rotbloods are here to help the Skaven with murder-fucking everyone in the Reikland and bringing great death-death to poor Helmgart. Clan Fester's also out for blood as payback for Ubersreik, even though Ubersreik apparently fell anyway.

There are a total of thirteen maps in the base campaign. These span: the town of Helmgart itself, where the heroes create a diversion at the Temple of Sigmar before the Hammerman himself purges it of vikings and rats; an Elven temple ruin in the woods where the gang uses a slow-moving puzzle to raise a magic shield; Ussingen, a farming town where the heroes rescue prisoners and later blow up a Chaos supply cache; a Nurgle-blighted canyon with a fortified Chaos Lord's tomb, which the gang destroys to stop the Rotbloods from harvesting his energy; a dense swamp, where the heroes assault the Rotbloods' main war camp and slay their leader, a Nurgle Champion; and quite a lot more besides, culminating in a double assault on the Skittergate and the Rotblood hometown in Norsca, obliterating both of them and saving Helmgart, or what's left of it. The gang is so badass that the shitty army left at Ubersreik was enough to take over while a Skaven-Rotblood alliance couldn't do jack to them. Such is life as a video game protagonist.

The ''Shadows Over Bögenhafen'' DLC has the gang end up in the titular town where they wipe out the Pactsworn a second time and keep a scary daemon sword out of Nurgle's grubby hands over two more maps. ''Back To Ubersreik'' has them enter a magic simulation of Ubersreik being run by Olesya to try to locate some mysterious runes of power in the ''real'' Ubersreik, re-defeating the Skaven in it because she's trying to keep it as "believable" as possible (and also the Rotbloods, who either found a way to break into the simulation or are part of the simulation because Olesya likes messing with our heroes), with three levels from the previous game and a secret fourth you can try out after finding runes from the past levels through a series of tedious puzzles. In the Winds of Magic DLC the Beastmen get involved because the increasingly fucked Reikland now has a meteor crash onto it, and the angry goats surge out of the woods to make a herdstone out of it. Then there's the roguelike ''Chaos Wastes'', given for free to everyone who got the game, wherein Saltzpyre sets up a pilgrimage through the wastes to assuage his waning faith.

An event for the 1 year anniversary (March 2019) gave us "A Quiet Drink," in which the party decides they've done a very good job so far, and deserve a night on the town! Worth playing just for the many custom voice lines for the utterly sloshed characters. ("Queen Kerillian demands MORE ALE!") ("It wouldn't be the same! It wouldn't have the whistle!") While the map was only available on the official realm during the event, it can still be played [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1694820325 through a mod].

Where the storyline doesn't advance as much through the game, more details can be found on the main site's dev blogs by way of the the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", where the old bartender writes down his musings about current events.

== Gameplay ==

The good old Vermintide core gameplay remains intact, which means that the game still has a robust and surprisingly skill-based melee system at its core. Rather than fuck with anything that was already functional, Vermintide 2 focuses instead on adding more content to play around with. Light attacks, heavy attacks, blocking, dodging, pushing, etc., are all still here. All weapons also now have a "push attack" which is performed by holding down the attack button while blocking, causing an attack after you push.

Aside from the new enemy types, there are a couple of other new features, such as specializations for the classes (referred to as "careers"), each representing different possible paths the heroes took after Ubersreik. For example, the Dwarf can be a Slayer or an Ironbreaker, or the Wood Elf can be a Shade or Haindmaiden of Isha, each one with diffferent passive abilities and active "Career Skill". This comes packaged along with a talent tree for each character and new weapons to go around for everyone. Each talent tree also comes with talents for granting temporary health (Health that's both easily lost and generated, basically allowing you to endure until the next heal) and stagger bonuses (damage bonuses against enemies you get off-balance). Alternatively, you can heal others when you use a potion on yourself, or gain more power to replace these talents.

The loot system got an overhaul too, with the devs acknowledging the first game's system was kind of bullshit. We now have [[rage|lootboxes]] like every other dev under the sun, but entirely earned through gameplay and they come unlocked, so it's basically just normal random loot drops with a loot box skin slapped on. A "Heroic Deeds" system has also been implemented, consisting of consumable quests that mix gameplay up by dramatically changing objectives, mix of enemies faced or limiting your own tools (many combinations of which are pure [[Anal Circumference]]), along with a Challenge system that's basically an alternative achievements system, rewarding you when you finish missions or sets of missions with certain difficulties, different heroes and/or harder conditions, tracking other milestones and more. These give you more chests, skins, frames for your portraits, and other goodies.

Aside from those additions,and quality of life improvements it seems to mostly be the same game, which is okay since most people just wanted it to be the first one with more stuff to begin with. For the cherry on top, the game also supports modding to the point that the devs maintain a list of "Sanctioned Mods" which can be safely used with the base game, a lot of which are pretty sweet. There's also entirely separate "Realms" for the base game and modded games. On the negative side, there's no dedicated server, instead relying on peer-to-peer connection. Better hope your host has good internet...

Two DLC campaigns are currently out: the first one, '''Shadows over Bögenhafen''', has the heroes searching for a runesword in the titular city, while '''Back to Ubersreik''' features remade versions of some of the original Vermintide missions along with new melee weapons as the Heroes of Ubersreik head off to an illusionary copy of the city to find a hidden set of runes for Olesya. The third DLC, '''Winds of Magic''', added Beastmen, a higher level cap and difficulty level, and a set of endgame challenges in the "Winds of Magic" mode. The fourth, '''Chaos Wastes''' (released for free) added another game mode which has the Ubersreik <s>Five</s><s>Four</s>It Doesn't Matter go on expedition into the titular wastes, choosing to go through a number of randomized locations with roguelike elements, allowing players to exchange or power up their equipment and get special boons while going through areas cursed with various dangers and debuffs.

==The Ubersreik Five and Careers==

Each character now has three different Careers, which affect their weapon choices, abilities, and talent trees, allowing a great deal of customization for each one. Lore-wise, the three careers are based on how each of the heroes might have reacted to the fall of Ubersreik: Either they barely changed at all (The starter career), were inspired for a higher calling, or became traumatized and jaded. The exception is Markus, whose three careers all end up being good for him.

A fourth career is on the way for each character, though it's locked behind DLC. So far, Markus, Bardin and Kerillian have their fourth class, with the other two on the way.

===Victor Saltzpyre===
The Witch-Hunteriest Witch Hunter continues to hunt... More Skaven and Rotbloods than witches, but he hunts all the same. After the Ubersreik campaign, the Order of the Silver Hammer still [[Derp| stupidly tried to deny the existence of the ratmen]], spinning the invasion as a myth. How "Salty" he was in his reaction formed the crux of his future: Either he gained more political power in the chaos, allowing him to secretly fight the ratmen (The canonical choice), spoke out against the stupidity and abandoned the order to become a bounty hunter, or he lost faith in humanity entirely and relished in fanatical worship of Sigmar. As the events of the game go on however, even this faith in Sigmar is shaken, and he organizes a pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes to assuage his fears. Journals reveal that he's coming on more to preaching and thinking on the Eternal Flame...
*'''Witch Hunter Captain''': The deaths of several Captains over the course of the End Times has allowed Victor to rise in rank, but he has had to accept that the Witch Hunters won’t recognize the fact that there’s an entire fucking empire of ratmen just below their cities; Saltzpyre now uses his new political position to fight the menace in secret. In addition to a fancier hat, Victor as a Witch Hunter Captain can do everything he could in the first game and also gets some abilities that help him support his allies.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Witch Hunt''- Enemies pinged by Victor take extra damage
***''Eternal Guard''- Blocking light frontal attacks does not consume stamina
***''Killing Shot''- Crit headshots, melee or ranged, instantly kill human-sized enemies (i.e. any non-boss enemy smaller than a Chaos Warrior)
**Unique active ability: ''Animosity''- Victor screams lets out his [[RAGE]]. All nearby allies have their critical rate enhanced for 6 seconds, and nearby enemies are knocked back. Can be upgraded to give yourself guaranteed crits, refund 40% cooldown if the shout hits ten enemies, or ping everyone hit by it with Witch Hunt.
*'''Bounty Hunter''': When his order attempted to cover up what happened at Ubersreik, Salty removed his heraldry to fight the Skaven himself, taking odd-jobs on the side to pay for his endeavors. While officially he's still a witch hunter, he doesn't associate much with other witch hunters anymore after the threats they made in response to Saltzpyre snapping and speaking his mind about the Skaven. He's less of a religious fanatic and more pragmatic as a result. As a Bounty Hunter, Victor focuses on ranged weaponry to blast away Skaven and Chaos Warriors alike. He also dressed in a similar appearance with [[C.L.Werner|Brunner]], a canon bounty hunter.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blessed Shots''- Guaranteed ranged critical every 10 seconds
***''Ammo Pouches''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Quick Release''- Improved reload rate
**Unique active ability: ''Locked and Loaded''- Fires a powerful shot that pierces multiple enemies...and potentially allies too, so everyone involved really should try to be careful with the Bounty Hunter around. Can be upgraded to have massive cooldown reduction on headshot, get more pellets on the next shot based on the number hit on the current shot, or have ranged crits reduce the cooldown by 20%.
*'''Zealot''': The horrors of Ubersreik and the Witch Hunters' refusal to admit the threat the Skaven pose have caused Victor to give up on earthly organizations entirely and place his trust in Sigmar alone, with the rest of the world fit only to be cleansed in righteous fire. Victor as a Zealot favors vicious melee combat, and not only is his armor some of the best in the game even without the Flagellant talent (which is mandatory while playing the class), a heaping helping of faith and holy rage makes him even more dangerous as he loses health - after all, the end is upon us, why not shed as much blood as possible before it goes? As a nice bonus, picking up grimoires will count towards his health-based attack boosts.
** Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Fiery Faith''- Attack power increased by 5% for every 25 health lost (up to 20%)
***''Unswerving Strikes''- Heavy attacks cannot be interrupted by enemy attacks.
***''Heart of Iron''- Ignores death upon taking lethal damage (long cooldown)
**Unique active ability: ''Holy Fervor''- Charge forward and gain 25% attack speed boost for 5 seconds. Can be upgraded to be unkillable during the skill, or gain stacks that either reduce cooldown or increase attack power.

===Markus Kruber (aka Markus de Mandelot)===
[[This Guy|Faithful, dependable Markus]], always willing to help out, continues to serve against the Ratmen for both coin and conscience. The universe seems to have rewarded him for being a nice, simple guy because none of his careers turn out badly for him. Either he gets deeper into merc life (the canon choice), he takes some time off to breathe as a Huntsman, or he's recognized for his achievements ad gets inducted into the Order of the Reikhammer as a Foot Knight. Later in the story, his ancient bloodline is revealed and he becomes an official Grail Knight of Bretonnia. This means he somehow made the journey to Bretonnia, fought all manner of beasts and monsters (while drunk) and even [[Awesome|proved himself to]] [[The Green Knight]] before finally sipping some <strike>[[Lileath|elven goddess]]</strike>[[Lady of the Lake|Lake Lady]] bathwater, gaining the requisite powers, stupid French accent and... [[Troll|"chivalric" manner]]. Let's just hope his good luck continues to hold, eh?
*'''Mercenary''': The life of a mercenary has suited Markus well, in no small part due to not having to answer to incompetent leaders like he used to. Being a Mercenary allows Markus a good degree of versatility, with medium armor that grants protection without losing maneuverability and a focus on using sweeping attacks to clear out hordes.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Paced Strikes''- Hitting 3 enemies in 1 swing boosts attack speed by 10% for 6 seconds
***''Hitting the Sweet Spot''- 25% more cleave (attacks hit more enemies at once)
***''No More Laughin' Now''- Critical hit rate improved by +5%
**Unique active ability: ''Morale Boost''- Staggers nearby enemies and grants nearby allies temporary bonus health. Can be upgraded to give a defense buff for all alies, reduce the cooldown or immediately revive allies.
*'''Huntsman''': After Ubersreik, Markus found a degree of inner peace by devoting himself to Taal and Rhya, the gods of nature (though not devoted enough such that gunpowder weaponry is disallowed on him). As a Huntsman, Markus trades away his access to heavier armor for greater proficiency with ranged weapons of all kinds. He also gets to use a bow, a ranged weapon unique to the Huntsman career that, while much slower than Kerillian's, holds a lot of ammunition and does considerable damage. Had a hilarious bug that [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKoqArJjYIo pretty much gave him an AK-47] and absolutely melted bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Waste Not, Want Not''- Ranged headshots return 1 ammo
***''Poacher's Mark''- Effective range for ranged weapons doubled
***''Call Out Weakness'' - Aura that boosts critical rate by +5%
***''Deep Pockets'' - +50% ammo capacity
**Unique active ability: ''Hunter's Prowl'': Become invisible for a short time; automatically reloads ranged weapon for no ammo cost, improves reload speed, and adds 1.5x damage multiplier to ranged attacks while invisible. Can be upgraded to reduce the cooldown, increase the duration or have ranged attacks not break stealth.
*'''Foot Knight''': For his part in the defense of Ubersreik, Markus was made a Knight of the Order of the Reikshammer. Markus may not have been aiming for the position, but his heavy armor, protective aura, and highly disruptive ultimate make him an excellent tank as a Foot Knight.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''Protective Presence''- Aura that reduces damage taken by 15%
***''Taal's Fortitude'' - Extra stamina shield
***''No Guts, No Glory'' - Reduces damage taken by 10%
**Unique active ability: ''Valiant Charge''- Charges forward, knocking back any enemies hit by the charge. Also interrupts and stuns bosses and specials. Can be upgraded to make Kruber temporarily invincible, have increased size and the ability to knock over greater enemies, or grant increased attack speed for every enemy hit.
*'''Grail Knight''': MOTHERFUCKING GRAIL KNIGHT!!! The first unique class introduced and locked behind a DLC wall. It was revealed one-day Kruber found out his Bretonnian lineage after he received a mysterious letter that was addressed to him with the '''de Mandelot''' surname. According to Lohner, he used his huge information network to traced back Kruber's bloodline and found out his father was actually a Bretonnian! but not just any Bretonnian: '''Foricarl de Mandelot'''! who used to be a well-known grail knight in Parravon after he saved the city from a dragon with style! He was widely worshiped since then with arts, music, and clothes referencing him. It wasn't until the duke's son, an arsehole by the name ''Willibald'' who is jealous of the hero's deed that he killed his father, the duke of Parravon, and framed Foricarl for it. The lady had to intervene herself and turned the fucktard into a frog but it was all too late, for Foricarl had already self-exiled in shame. Despite that, he continued to slay beasts and killing chaos shit like a badass until he finally settled at '''Ubersreik Hills''' and impregnated Kruber's mama, only to leave her before Kruber was even born. With the lady's blessing, Kruber is now '''Markus de Mandelot'''! And he now has [[troll|the privilege call his teammates peasants, acting cockier and mightier than even Kerilian, while Bretonnian dancing all the way to the waystone, one-shotting any foe he came across with his magical sword ability]] (a voiceline while waiting to start on a Chaos Wastes expedition ''really'' has him imply he's been talking down to Saltzpyre after becoming a Grail Knight just to be a troll). Just like Slayer Bardin Markus can't use ranged weapons in this career (because peasant weapon dislike and chivalry bullshit), and he doesn't even have the option of throwing axes like Slayer Bardin does (again, see above), but his special buffs, move speed and ability make him a fantastic boss killer and crowd controller.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive ability:
***''The Lady's Duty''- Get 2 random quests that grant buffs to the party when completed, lasting until the mission is over. Can be upgraded to have a third quest, stronger buffs, or a repeatable quest that grants a potion of strength each time.
***''Knight's Challenge'' - 25% extra damage to the first enemy hit.
***''Thirst for Glory'' - 10% move speed increase
***''Bastion of Bretonnia'' - Your shields can now block Warpfire
**Unique active ability: ''Blessed Blade''- Smite a target with a holy blade. Can be upgraded to deal even more single target damage with a slash and stab, change into a horizontal crowd cleaver or stay the same and increase movement speed upon kill.

===Kerillian===
The elf continues to be a standoffish, if slightly nicer, jerk, though her sensitivity masks hidden scars. Her faith forms the crux of her careers, whether remaining a faithful, if conflicted, Waystalker (This is canon), a Handmaiden more devoted to Isha and protecting others, or losing herself to bloodlust and becoming a Shade of [[Khaine]]. The Drachenfels DLC reveals that Kerillian basically has the biggest impact on the story out of the whole party, with consequences reaching to the rest of Warhammer. She received a vision about how Ubersreik MIGHT have to do with the fall of Athel Loren. With pride and without any thought, she ambushed two regiments of soldiers from Nuln meant to reinforce the city, leaving it undefended... From the Skaven. That's right, [[Fail|because of her pride, she's responsible for ALL of the slaughter and death caused by the Vermintide, and contributed more than a fair bit to bringing about the End Times]].This explains her biting behavior, a shield to her own failures. The pilgrimage to the Chaos Wastes broke her resolve and caused her to question her faith, giving up her regrets to Isha and becoming a Sister of the Thorn, losing part of herself and becoming more cynical than ever.
*'''Waystalker''': Frustrated with the clumsiness of her companions, Kerillian has resolved to further hone her skills to compensate further for the "lumberfoots". As a Waystalker, Kerillian further specializes in her longbow, both for precision sniping and for raining arrows on enemies.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Amaranthe''- Automatically regenerate health (3 health per 10 seconds, up to a maximum of half your total hit points)
***''Arrow-Storm''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Waywatcher's Bow''- Effective range for ranged weapons is doubled
**Unique active ability: ''Trueflight Volley''- Fires a volley of homing arrows. Can be upgraded to fire one more arrow, refund ammunition when killing specials, or turn into a single piercing arrow that deals massive damage and has no cooldown when you get a headshot.
*'''Handmaiden''': Through the subtle guidance of the Everqueen, Kerillian came across a long-lost shrine to Isha and gave herself up to serve her. Kerillian's Handmaiden Career focuses primarily on dancing around enemies in direct melee combat, and is her most durable career option through both maximum health, stamina, and mobility. The career for players that are allergic to standing still.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''The Dance of Seasons''- 15% longer dodge distance
***''Aura of Renewal''- Aura that increases stamina regeneration speed by 100%
***''Ariel's Benison''- Cannot be interrupted when reviving allies
**Unique active ability: ''Dash''- Quickly dash forward through enemies, stunning enemies that are hit and causing them to bleed. Has a hilariously low cooldown, the lowest of all of the game's abilities. Can be upgraded to become invisible after the dash, make anyone you hit bleed or gain crit chance based on how many enemies you hit.
*'''Shade''': One of Kerillian's dreams spoke of an ancestor of hers who dwelled in Clar Karond, and with it came the voice of [[Khaine]] urging her to reclaim the mantle of her ancestor. Kerillian as a Shade is an assassin, focused on rapidly killing elite, special, and boss enemies. She also gains access to the volley crossbow in this career. This is the class to play if you really like killing the absolute shit out of Chaos Warriors and bosses.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Murderous Prowess''- 50% damage bonus when attacking enemies from behind
***''Assassin's Blade''- Critical hit backstabs instantly kill man-sized enemies
**Unique active ability: ''Infiltrate''- Become invisible and intangible for 10 seconds, or until performing an attack. Also has a unlisted effect where any melee attack that ends Infiltrate gets a massive damage boost; depending on the weapon this can increase the power of Kerillian's melee attacks to the point where they 1-hit kill a Chaos Warrior on Legendary difficulty, and can even reach the maximum damage value possible for a single attack. Can be upgraded to have less cooldown and grant more crit chance after it ends at the cost of losing the damage bonus, cause her to blink forward while damaging enemies, or allowing her to attack without breaking stealth exactly one time.
*'''Sisters of the Thorn''': The 3rd microtransaction DLC career. In truth, Kerillian has been losing faith in her goddess Lileath for some times, and it finally reached a critical point after the '''Citadel of Eternity''' shenanigan where the said goddess did not answer her. Hoping to rededicate herself to the weaves once more, she began courting to other goddess (even [[Ereth Khial]], the kind of goddess only the mentally ill elf would worship). She ended up went back to Athel Loran to seek answers, offered up her uncertainty and regrets to the forest. Doing so allowed her to become a '''Sister of the Thorn''' , a handmaiden of Isha who can raise up a thorn bush wall to block the enemies (or just turned them into a deadly thorn spike that bleeds anyone it targets) as well as providing healing extra healing to her teammate, leeching extra temporary health from them in exchange. She now also called her teammates "meats", as if [[Ferrus Manus|flesh is weaker]] compare to her, a superior plant fused being.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''A Cluster of Radiants''- Gain a radiance charge that allows free use of your active every 60 seconds.
***''A Murder of Sprites''- Deals more damage to wounded units depending on their remaining health, up to 50%.
***''A Sustenance of Leeches''- Gain temp health if a party member gains temp health when they're at full health.
***''An Attendance of Munificents''- +25% healing for everyone.
**Unique active ability: ''Thornwake''- Raise a thornwall that blocks movement. Can be upgraded to last longer, deal more damage and apply bleed at the cost of duration or explode with poison when it expires, increasing damage dealt to enemies caught.

===Bardin Goreksson===
Short, stout and sure to stomp your arse, Bardin is here to help out his dawris and slaughter some rakis (and anything else that comes in the way. Either he continued his quest for Karak Zorn as a Ranger Veteran (Which is canon), returned to his roots as an Ironbreaker, or forsook life in pursuit of honorable death as a [[Slayer]]. After the trip to Drachenfels however, the regrets that surfaced made him look to his old passions of becoming an Engineer, and thus, became an Outcast Engineer. Life STILL isn't smooth sailing for him, as Lohner's journals reveal that his daughter has gone missing. Whether she'll be found is anyone's guess...
*'''Ranger Veteran''': Karak Zorn is yet to be found, but the defense of Reikland currently comes first for Bardin. Bardin the Ranger Veteran favors the use of ranged weaponry to punish foes from a distance, but he's more than able to hold his own in melee if a hail of crossbow bolts doesn't do the trick. Cousin Okri would be proud. While this used to be the least powerful of the range-focused careers due to lacking a consistent means of generating ammo for itself, recent balance updates have made it into an extremely versatile and powerful support class. Of particular note is a talent that gives a chance for every special enemy you kill to drop a bomb, which is just hilariously strong.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Survivalist''- Special enemies drop ammo on death
***''Loaded for Battle''- +50% ammo capacity
***''Fast Hands''- Increased reload speed
***''Ingenious Improvisation'' - 10% chance to not consume health items, potions, or bombs on use
**Unique active ability: ''Disengage''- Drops a smoke bomb that staggers enemies and turns Bardin invisible as long as he remains within the cloud. Lasts ten seconds. While invisible, Bardin gains increased ranged attack power. Can be upgraded to remain stealthed even outside the cloud, grant everyone attack speed and temp health while in it, or basically allowing you a free bomb throw.
*'''Ironbreaker''': Bardin used to be an Ironbreaker in Kazak Norn, and following the defense of Ubersreik he took up his old oaths and gromril armor once more. The heavy armor and shield of the Ironbreaker makes Bardin a superb tank that can take whatever the enemy can dish out, and then return it in kind. In addition, he gains access to a drakegun and drakefire pistols, which let him spew out gouts of flame. Like in the first game, they do not use ammo and instead use a heat meter, like Sienna. Be mindful that this also means that they'll kill you if the heat gauge maxes out.
**Unique passive abilities:
** Base Health: 150
***''Gromril Armor''- Negates all damage from 1 hit every 20 seconds.
***''Dwarf-Forged''- Reduces damage taken by 30%
***''Doughty''- Grants an extra stamina shield
***''Resilient''- Decreases stun duration after getting hit by an attack by 50%
**Unique active ability: ''Impenetrable''- Briefly staggers nearby enemies, then forces all man-sized enemies among them to attack Bardin exclusively. Bardin also takes no stamina damage while blocking for the duration, and can block normally unblockable attacks. Can be upgraded to give everyone a power increase, increase its range and duration, or the ability to affect even monsters.
*'''[[Slayer]]''': Bardin had been carrying a secret burden in his heart even before Ubersreik, and by the time the Skaven came to Helmgart he had taken up the Slayer's Oath in the hopes of an honorable death. As a Slayer, Bardin can't use ranged weapons at all but becomes a melee powerhouse, with exclusive access to the Dual Axes weapon and the ability to take a second melee weapon to replace his ranged weapon slot. Despite his deceptively low base health, he's one of the tankiest things in the game due to his Oblivious to Pain talent, which is practically mandatory while playing the class. He even has another talent that can increase his base health, as if this weren't enough.
**Base Health: 125
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Trophy Hunter''- Stacking damage buff gained upon hitting an enemy
***''Path of Carnage''- +7.5% attack speed
**Unique active ability: ''Leap''- Leap forward, stunning enemies and gaining a temporary boost to attack speed.
*'''Outcast Engineer''': Bardin's fourth unique DLC locked class (chronologically the 2nd paid class DLC). Ever since he returned from castle [[Drachenfels]], Bardin has been busy locking himself alone studying machinery. According to Lohner, his uncle '''Drakki Dagsson''' used to be an engineer whom Bardin looked up, much dismay to his traditionalist dad '''Gorrek Dagsson''' who shuns technology and often came to an disagreement with his brother Drakki. Upon learning Bardin is going to become a apprentice engineer, Dagsson went to disengaged pneumatic supports at the mine out of anger and cause an earthquake, which also happened at the same time when Bardin is about to receive his apprenticeship. Dagsson managed to get most of the Dwarf to safety before the debris and stones swallowed him alive with the remaining Dwarfs. This forced Bardin to quit his passion to follow his father's footstep, becoming an Ironbreaker, and the good ol' Drakki took the blame for the mining accident and becoming a slayer out of guilt (because of how heroic Dagsson was) and died in a troll cave. Still, tragedy did not end there for Bardin for he would later failed to defend his home, his family and his beardling son just because he wasn't strong enough to fight off a gutter runner, even led his entire team of sentry died saving him in the process. Filled with grief, Bardin decided to leave his hold and search for Karak Zorn as an excuse to exile himself (because seeker sounds better than exile) but ended up joining Victor's anti-ratman crusade at Ubersreik instead. The demon living in castle [[Drachenfels]] read everyone like an open book, including a magic resistant Dwarf, and it sarcastically mocked Bardin of his old shame. Having realized maybe he should never followed his father's path and perhapes he was never suited for being an Ironbreaker, he went back to his old tinkering passion. With Lohner's help, Bardin acquired materials, minerals needed for his various tools of destruction like his signature crank gun (read: [[Awesome|handheld Gatling gun, or handheld super repeater handgun because Richard Jordan Gatling doesn't exist in Warhammer world]]) and is now out to destroy all those Thaggrakis and Dumals with it!
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Build Pressure''- Holding reload with the crank gun equipped builds pressure, gradually restoring the ability bar. Stacks are lost when you fire.
***''Gunsmith''- +50% Max ammo.
***''Spotter''- +10% Ranged Power to nearby allies.
***''Utility Belt''- Allows you to carry three different bombs, cycling through them with the bomb key.
**Unique active ability: ''Steam-Assisted Crank Gun (mk2)''- An interesting active ability that's more like a third weapon, activating Bardin's special gun. Switching to the gun doesn't use up the bar, nor does it build up automatically. You "Reload" the gun in order to fill up your ability bar over time, and you can fire it as long as you have "ammo" in it. Can be upgraded to fire slower but stronger slugs, immediately start out firing at full speed, or have a longer ability bar that temporarily isn't used when you kill a special.

===Sienna Fuegonasus===
As fiery and feisty as ever, the U5's witch is here to blaze a trail through rat and rot alike. How she does it forms the basis of her paths in life: She either made an attempt to discipline herself as a Battle Wizard (Canon), split between freedom and control as a Pyromancer or lost herself to the flame as an Unchained. It's eventually revealed in Lohner's journals that Sienna "had" a sister named Sofia. They weren't on the best terms, but they were family, so when Sofia was accused of being a [[Necromancer]], Sienna burned the town responsible for accusing her. [[Fail|And then it turns out she WAS a necromancer, so Sienna burned her too]]. Note the quotation marks, as Lohner recently got a letter from someone claiming to be Sofia, blackmailing him to do her a favor or else some of his unsavory secrets would be revealed. This fiasco looks to blow up in everyone's faces, which, really, fits anything to do with Sienna.
*'''Battle Wizard''': Ubersreik taught Sienna the value of self-control, and while she was reluctant to do so she has learned to control the flame for the first time. The greater degree of self-discipline Sienna has as a Battle Wizard allows her to focus on perfecting her spellcasting, letting her cast spells more quickly, more often, and for more damage.
** Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Tranquility''- Passively vents overcharge after 6 seconds of not casting spells
***''Reckless Haste''- Overcharge increases spell charge rate
***''Pyromantic Surge''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''Fire Walk''- Quickly teleport forward, leaving a trail of fire behind you. Can be upgraded to have lower cooldown, a bigger and stronger explosion with no more fire trail, or the ability to double-cast within 10 seconds.
*'''Pyromancer''': While far from having the control of a proper Battle Wizard, Sienna has enough self-awareness to restrain herself from the most ostentatious of fire magic. Sienna the Pyromancer trades in the consistency of her Battle Wizard career for more explosive moments of burst damage. Of special note is a talent which lets her activated ability also instantly clear all overcharge.
**Base Health: 100
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Critical Mass''- Critical chance increases based on overcharge level
***''Searing Focus''- 10% increased ranged damage
**Unique active ability: ''The Burning Head''- A powerful fire blast that initially travels directly forward, but after a short time it will attempt to home in on the closest enemy; holding the active ability key down allows the user to designate a target for the fire blast to home in on instead. It will jump from foe to foe, killing until it runs out of power. Anything not killed by the blast is staggered, including bosses. Can be upgraded to refund cooldown on crit, vent her overcharge on cast or give her temporary health.
*'''Unchained''': Sienna's addiction to magic has finally overwhelmed her, and now she lives only from one magical high to the next. As an Unchained, Sienna favors magically-boosted melee, with a focus on generating as much overcharge as possible before moving in for the kill.
**Base Health: 150
**Unique passive abilities:
***''Blood Magic''- 50% of damage received is converted to overcharge. Do not get hit while at high levels of overcharge, lest you accidentally [[Fail|explode yourself like a dunce]].
***''Slave to Aqshy''- No overcharge slowdown
***''Unstable Strength''- High overcharge increases melee attack power up to 60%
**Unique active ability: ''Living Bomb''- Expends all overcharge to produce a massive explosion centered on Sienna, dealing heavy damage to all nearby enemies. Fortunately, this can be done even while beginning to explode from too much overcharge. Can be upgraded to increase power based on how many you hit, gain a scorching aura after it's finished or give everyone temp health.

== Other Characters ==
*'''Franz Lohner''': The bartender of the Red Moon Inn, transferring over to the Taal's Horn Keep. You guys do the heavy lifting, he does most of the behind the scenes stuff: Keeping your home nice and cozy, getting intel, stocking up on supplies, you get the drill. Unfortunately, he also runs the Emporium of Wonders, aka, [[Rage|the microtransaction shop]]. Seemingly knows everything and everyone, including any secrets your own characters have. Talking to him has him rattle off various nods to the lore of Warhammer and more specifically, [[The End Times]]. The devs also use him to write journals and story bits about the game through the "Franz Lohner Chronicles", which are tidbits for his journal. Journal entries and random conversations heavily imply that he's [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat|Morgan Bernhardt from Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omen.]]
*'''Olesya Pimenova''': The carriage handler from the first game turned out to be a Gray Witch. Whod've thunk? As usual, your ride in and out of your jobs, this time using a Bridge of Shadows teleporter instead of horses. Helps make plans along with Lohner while occasionally working alongside you on your missions, secretly doing magic stuff while you not-so-secretly kill everything. Heavily implied to be the true form of the Grey Wizard Christoph Engel from the first game. She also has the hots for Kruber, a fact which he's unfortunately aware of.
*'''Catrinne of Aldenstein''': The artist making all the paintings you can decorate the keep with once you find three pieces of Ravaged Art in a mission. You never see her, but you can sometimes hear her. She's haunted by visions which inspire her paintings, but Lohner's wary of how ominous she describes them. She apparently has a crush on Saltzpyre (A fact which Salty himself doesn't know, but hilariously enough, Kruber does), and she sometimes has to fight off Bardin from eating her brushes because he finds them delicious.

== Enemies ==

'''Bosses'''
* '''Grey Seer Rasknitt:''' The same asshole in charge of invading Ubersreik is back, and he's the final boss of the main campaign. Having captured the heroes in the first game, he attempts to sacrifice them to fuel the Skittergate, a portal contraption capable of bringing in huge armies in a flash. With it, he and the Rotbloods swarmed Helmgart and the countryside, though as is typical of technology made by mice, it breaks in the prologue. It's fixed soon after though, and much of the game is dedicated to destroying it. During the final showdown, he sent his precious Stormfiend called Deathrattler (who uses dual-ratling guns instead of the flamethrowers) against you, only to call it a worthless piece of junk after the heroes killed it. He then attacks the heroes with his Skaven magic, teleports around at lightning speed while summoning special Skaven of all types, then is blown the fuck up once the rat bastard's health is at its end. You then get his helmet as a trophy for the Keep, and the fact that it has voices whispering into it explains MUCH about how insane this rat-bastard is.
* '''Chaos Champion Bödvarr Ribspreader:''' Here to spread ribs and smiles in Papa Nurgle's name, Ribspreader is a Champion of Chaos and the scary dude on the box cover. The leader of the Rotbloods, who are said to be insane even by Chaos Warbands' standards, he's here to slaughter and destroy, and has allied himself with Rasknitt for that purpose. He berates the Grey Seer for the portal's failure, but interestingly enough ''doesn't'' rip his spine out for it, though it's probably because Rasknitt is more powerful than he is. Figures mainly into Act 3, where the gang messes with everything he has. After hitting a breaking point as the heroes foil his plans and kill his men and free his slaves, he sends out most of his army to scout for and attack the Keep, but thanks to Olesya reading the script, they learn about this, attack his under-staffed camp, and kill him in his own arena. Despite claiming that he can take care of the heroes all by himself, he displays cowardice, [[Carron|ranting and bawwing about the precious slaves and loots he lost to the Ubersreik Five/Four/Doesn't Matter]] when he starts losing and calls his warriors for aid, with a horde attacking as he loses health. Interesting to note that despite being a Nurgle worshipper, he has a magic axe (which the axe itself is alive, noted by the growing eye skull on the axe) that he can call back to him if he ever throws it out against the players. Saltzpyre would often refer to it as "flying axe witch" whenever it was thrown. You gain this axe as a trophy for the keep, and study of it reveals that Ribby is just one of many, many Chaos Warriors who wielded the thing.
* '''Burblespue Halescourge:''' The Nurgle sorcerer lord that the Skaven met back at Stromdorf, and the boss of Act 1. Has a good manner like papa Nurgle himself and he can do everything that the Nurgle sorcerer can do in the game (AKA life drain & Nurgle Vortex) only tougher and more AOE green plague in the oxygen, with a couple of unique abilities like summoning a swarm of flies to chase and stun one of the players, summon green images of himself to attack the players as well as erect an even bigger green vortex in the center of the battlefield. He will absolutely make you fucking rage with his lack of visual cues for his attacks, his billion and one hit points, and his habit of teleporting around like a fucking asshole whenever someone so much as sneezes on the fucker. Has a large number of very angry nicknames from the fandom, several of which have even made it into official patch notes (e.g. "Bunglesnatch Humbledink", "Vorpalblade Noobhurl", "Hailstorm Barbeque", "Bubbly-Spurge" and "Bubblespit Halleberry", among many others). You get his staff and tome from killing him, and you find out the latter was made from human skin and inked in blood. Lovely.
* '''Skarrik Spinemanglr:''' The "Scary" Skaven Warlord in charge, and the boss of Act 2. Seem to be heavily inspired by Queek Headtaker in both his looks, size, and unskavenly bravery, although he uses a more traditional halberd alongside dual shortswords. Just like Queek, he is the largest non-monster Skaven of them all, towering over the players. He will regularly summon Stormvermin and Skavenslaves, if you don't take care of them quickly it can snowball into a horde no player could ever hope to kill. He is also fully armored like Ribspreader, but unlike him, Skarrik is much faster, forcing the player to have a frustrating time of chipping his health away with their seemly ineffective charge attack. Also, he calls you [[What|cat fondlers]] and is responsible for Saltzpyre's lost eye. After he dies, civil war and general chaos erupts throughout the Skaven underground, decreasing the amount of forces guarding the Skittergate. You also get his armor and spears for the keep.
* '''Nurgloth the Eternal:''' A new boss for the new Drachenfels DLC map and another one of Nurgle's stinky boy. He used to be the chief rival of shitstorm sorcerer from above, and has been trying to take over his rival's throne. Like every dumbass heretical sorcerer, he went after old Drachenfels' castle in search of his old research about demons and other crazy shit to make himself even more powerful, which he did and was possessed or at least is in contract with a demon, but was driven mad after he glimpsed the realm of chaos. Still, it allows him to see a bit of future sight as well as gaining much higher power than before. After our heroes defeated the two walking-toilets above, he began his no-good operation in Drachenfels' castle and started to sacrifice captured villagers from nearby for his ritual. His little scheme didn't go unnoticed under Lohner's ear and was dealt with by our heroes after a trilogy of missions. In combat, he wields a giant scythe for slicing while he hovers (only the last phase), shoots flies that explode and snare the player, summons his rotblood minions, and using a magic attack that resembles an AoE ability from a typical MOBA game. Currently the hardest boss due to the amount of health he has and the bullshit last phase where he seeks out players and knocks them to his magic fart zone with his rotblood minions still roaming around him. He also explodes when you kill him, and you acquire his scythe and armor for your victory.
* '''Gatekeeper Nagfahr:''' A Ribspreader look-alike, even shares the same axe design....until the recent patch came and changed its entire outlook. He now only uses a normal axe with his head exposed: [[Eliphas the Inheritor| pale bald head]], probably the only chaos warriors that showed his face in the game. Responsible for guarding the skittergate key staff. Was [[chaos|blessed]] during the battle and turned into...[[Chaos Spawn|It-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named]]. Far easier than Ribspreader, being a level's mid-boss to build up to the final battle with Rasknitt.
* '''Baron Justus Francke:''' Not an enemy you fight but nonetheless important to the plot. Besides the Skaven having a portal underneath Helmgart, Fucko Francke is the other reason Ussingen and the countryside were overrun so quickly. It's revealed he made some kind of deal with the Rotbloods and Clan Fester, and like a lot of shitty nobles, might've been in league with the Chaos Gods even before the invasion. His fortified mansion, the only undamaged building in Ussingen, is blown up accordingly by the heroes. His fate is unknown.

'''Skaven'''
 Clan Fester's back, and they're pissed. Sore after getting thwarted at Ubersreik, they want revenge. They almost managed to get it by capturing the heroes and finally managing to capture Ubersreik, and with the Rotblood alliance for constructing a Skittergate portal to Norsca, things seem to be in the bag... Until [[Fail|it malfunctions and frees Kruber, leading him to free everyone else]]. Still, they're stronger now, with Clan Pestilens rats joining their ranks and being just as determined as ever to spread the power of the warp and stave off their extinction.
* '''Skavenslaves:''' Still the most piss-poor enemies in the game. Even though they come in huge swarms they're only dangerous if they blindside you or if you're too busy dealing with actual threats.
* '''Clanrats:''' Rank and file of clan Fester, only slightly better than slaves. Now come with a shield and hand weapon variant that could hopefully block one or two hits from the front and make dealing with the horde slightly more difficult.
* '''Plague Monks:''' A more durable Skaven with fast attacks designed to exhaust the player's stamina. Weak to ranged fire but hit like a freight train and knock you back. They let out a loud howl when they charge, but can be hard to spot in a swarm. Usually, spawn in triplets and tend to focus a single target just to make sure even 7+ stamina would not be enough to withstand their attack.
* '''Stormvermin''' - The most common breed of Special Skaven, Stormvermin will spawn at random among the crowds of Clanrats seeded throughout the various levels. Unlike the rest of their ratty brethren, the Stormvermin have actual armor, actual weapons, and actual training, making them a serious threat. Their halberds do more damage than the standard Clanrat improvised weaponry, and hits against them that don't aim for the head (or have the Armor Piercing trait) will glance off their armor. Even blocking their attacks is difficult, since they do significant Stamina damage and therefore have a high chance of breaking your block and putting you into stun, making you an easy kill. At higher difficulties, they become one of the most significant threats in the game, and require careful combat to take down safely or make ranged weapons good at taking them down quick very desirable.
* '''Stormvermin''' (Sword & Shield): Elite troops who still sound vaguely like Bane, except some of them now have swords and shields that give them multiple attacks and near-immunity to frontal hits (but mercifully deals less damage than the halberd wielders), plus their shields are metal and can't be broken. All around assholes, and a definite reason to consider having a handgun on the team since it's one of the only ranged weapons capable of easily handling them from the front.
* '''The Stormvermin Patrol''' - Once or twice per map, if you're listening carefully, you'll hear the sound of rats shouting out a ratty little marching drill. And if you're smart, you'll hide. If you're not smart, you'll die, because the Patrol is a massive mob of Stormvermin that all aggro at once if they spot any of the heroes, and will never back down from a fight. Their numbers are slightly randomized, but rule of thumb is for +5 rats for each difficulty level, so at Legendary difficulty you're facing patrol sizes that wouldn't be out of place in an actual game of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Yeah. [[Anal Circumference|Have fun with that]].
* '''Gutter Runner''' - Representing Clan Eshin, we have these stabby little ninja rats with warp-dust coated knives strapped to their hands. They lurk in the shadows, trying to find a hero that's cut off from the rest of the group or waiting for you to be otherwise distracted, then pounce and pin one hero to the ground while they stab and stab and stab until the puny man-thing stops moving. Once you're pinned (but you ''can'' hope to dodge their jumps at you by dodging to a side), you're helpless. It's up to the rest of the team to save you. So if you hear that strange whispering in the distance, make sure to stay close to your team.
* '''Packmaster''' - Clan Moulder's representatives, the Packmasters have taken up capturing humans for slaving. To this end, they cart around giant spiked collars on poles; if they get close enough, they'll snap that collar shut around your neck, disabling you like the Gutter Runner. The good news is that the collar doesn't hurt nearly as much as the knives and you can dodge it if you time it right. The ''bad'' news is that the Packmaster will drag you off into the distance, probably through a mob of Clanrats, and then hang you up to die - or at least for the rest of their companions to stab while you wriggle helplessly.
* '''Poison Wind Globadier''' - A Skryre-rat in a gas mask, with a miniature plague factory on its back. At a distance, it will constantly lob spheres full of gas so poisonous that it eats into the skin like acid, covering the battlefield in green clouds of death. The good news is that these are as poisonous to the other Skaven as they are to our heroes. The bad news is that you'll still die like a bitch if you stand in one. And if you get too close, they'll rig the tanks on their backs to explode, taking you with them in one final kamikaze assault.
* '''Ratling Gunner''' - Clan Skryre is pulling overtime here. This rat's got a miniaturized, one-man version of the tabletop Ratling Gun strapped to its back, and the rest of its body is covered in heavy armor. When it finds a good firing line, it'll wind up that gun and then unleash a hellstorm of warp-shot onto one of the heroes, tracking them as best as it can. The good news is that it's not very accurate, kills Skaven who enter its firing line, and tends to jam after a while. The bad news is that it's firing so many bullets that it's probably going to hit you anyway, and while it's not as powerful as a full-sized "kill both knight and his horse with a single bullet" ratling gun it still hurts a lot. Got a significant buff compared to the original game by taking body amour and revving up his gun quite a bit faster.
* '''Warpfire Thrower:''' Another Skryre-rat, now with a flamethrower strapped to its back, which it uses to spew out gouts of green fire at anything in range. The good news is that it has a shorter range compared to the Ratling Gunner and gives even less fucks about torching other Skaven and Rotbloods in its path. Bad news is it hurts even more than the Ratling Gunner, knocks you back, and blocks your vision as well - not a Special you'd want to see while you're out of ammo. The warpstone crystal on its back is its weak spot, but it violently explodes if said weak spot is hit, leaving a sizeable puddle of the flaming warpstone on the ground. While it can take out a lot of enemies with the explosion, it also makes engaging it in melee even more suicidal, especially if you use wide-sweeping weapons.
* '''Barrel Rat:''' Special Skaven enemy type that exists only in special game modes like the Weave or in Weekly Events. Their role is simple: SUICIDE BOMBER! Try to shoot them down before they reach you! A bane to melee only characters like Bardin's Slayer (without the throwing axe) and Kruber's Grail Knight.
* '''Rat Ogre''' - The triumph of Clan Moulder's scientific prowess. The Rat Ogre, like the Stormvermin Patrol, is a once-a-map event, barring special mission rules, and is always announced by a throat-peeling bellow of rage. It's a giant, hulking brute that rampages across the battlefield, pummeling and punching its way through any heroes it can find. It ''is'' possible to kite the Ogre, but the problem is that it's rarely alone; the true difficulty arises in managing the Ogre and the accompanying Clanrats at the same time, since they limit your mobility just by existing.
* '''Stormfiend:''' If you thought the Rat Ogres were a huge pain in the ass, say hello to their upgraded cousins, the masterwork of Clan Moulder and Clan Skyre! They are clad in heavy armor from the front and wield twin warp-fire throwers attached to their arms. Unlike the warpfire throwers on regular Skaven, these ones leave a burning trail on the ground for quite a time, turning a battlefield into a maze of green fire if you let it disengage and rain fire on you from distance - it's worth it to backtrack to more open areas if you come across a Stormfield because of this. Their major weakness is the smaller Skaven acting as a second brain that's stuck on their backs.
*'''Sack Rat''' - A Skaven with a big sack full of loot. Pretty rare to spawn. It doesn't attack on its own, [[Fail|but kills teams anyway as the people in it tunnel vision on it before being killed by all the other enemies in the level]] (seriously, a loading screen tip jokingly tells you to do this). If you can kill it before it runs off you'll get to claim its stuff. One of its notable dialogues is '''MINE! MINE! MINE!''' whenever it walks, so it's easy to spot it from such obvious dialogue.

'''Warriors of Chaos'''
 The Rotbloods, a Nurgle Warband so fanatical to the Rot-Father that they make typical fanatics look tame. They're in league with Clan Fester to work on the Skittergate while plundering Reikland's countryside. They're generally tougher and hit harder compared to Skaven, but come in smaller groups, are slower on flat ground, even slower at climbing vertical obstacles, and most importantly spawn from the same points rather than crawling out from every nook and cranny including those on the ceiling.
* '''Nurgle Cultists:''' Your typical cannon fodder of Nurgle about as tough as a Clanrat. Fill the same role as Skaven slaves in the Chaos horde, though they might last an extra hit compared to slaves.
* '''Chaos Marauders:''' Plague-ridden warriors that come in four flavors:
**'''Raiders''' (hand weapon) and '''Bulwarks''' (hand weapon and shield) are the basic units for the Chaos Forces and fulfill a similar role to Clanrats, but they are significantly more durable than the former.
**'''Savages(Frothers)''' (dual-wielding weapons) are pretty much carbon copies of Plague Monks and work exactly the same except its attacks aren't as fast.
**'''Maulers''' (great weapons) huge guys with huge axes and huge horned helmets. Fill the niche of a Stormvermin in the Chaos horde, leading packs of marauders and acting as a primary threat in them, except they hit even harder, depleting all the stamina in one hit, are only armored on the head and ''heavily so'' (seriously, it's not worth shooting them there with non-guns), and have more health.
* '''Chaos Warriors:''' ASININE MORTALS!! The great axe variant. The toughest non-boss enemy in the game. Has nearly three times as much health as a Stormvermin, and their armor is so thick that even headshots from guns hardly faze them. They can down you in a hit or two from full health but are very slow targets, and they'll trash talk one of you to let you know who they're aiming for. For extra fun, they sometimes spawn two or three at a time.
* '''Chaos Patrol:''' when you thought Stormvermin patrol was bad, these guys come in with their chaosy march song... Include at least '''SIX''' Warriors and Maulers even at the lowest difficulty with the rest filled with Raiders and Bulwarks. A tougher patrol by far compared to the Stormvermin's.
* '''Chaos Sorcerers of Nurgle:''' Come in two variants - the Lifeleech (also known as "[[/d/|Chester the molester]]" by many players), who teleports around and attempt to bind a character to leech their health, and the Blightstormer, who casts a Nurgle-flavored green vortex spell that sucks in both the enemies and player characters, damaging and preventing them from moving. (The Blightstormer also likes to talk about how Papa blessed them with sniffles and brings forth much joy.)
* '''Bile Trolls:''' Chaos Trolls of Nurgle. Wield huge blunt weapons and spew acidic bile that slows you and drains your stamina as long as you're exposed to it, much like Stormfields it's absolutely worth turning around to a more open part of the map to be able to better avoid the puke. They can also attempt to heal themselves over time, both as a passive effect and as an ability they channel when their health is low. When this happens, they fall to their knees and gain a temp health bar. You and everyone else better start [[Rape|dogpiling the FUCK out of it]] to empty it and prevent full health regen, or life will only suck harder.
* '''[[Chaos Spawn|The Unnameable Beasts]]:''' Tough boss monsters that like to chew you to regain their health. They are also probably the worst thing to face with pubbies, as they devour you, smack you into other players damaging and potentially downing them, and each snack they grab heals them. You will definitely want to use your bombs and any other knockback abilities you have to stop their chow time. Oh and they are about one of the fastest boss enemies just like the rat ogres with the exception being their head isn't as noticeable, therefore harder to deal big damage with headshots. Have fun with that.

'''Beastmen'''
 The Cloven Ones are an enemy faction that premieredin the "Winds of Magic" expansion pack. They are the true children of Chaos, born amidst the collapse of the Polar Warp Gates and the subsequent release of Chaos energy into the world. As such, they serve the Chaos Gods without question, as their souls are forfeit to Chaos at the moment of their conception. Although the Beastmen vary in appearance, as true to their Chaos heritage, they are mainly comprised of humanoid mutants and abominations with bestial features such as cloven hooves, horns, and goatlike heads. Warpstone meteor falling into Reikland got their attention, and now they seek to claim it as a Herdstone. Afterwards, they have a chance to appear in any mission.
* '''Ungors:''' Ungors are the weakest and most humanlike of the Beastmen, with most possessing diminutive horns or no horns at all. However, they are no less hateful and repulsive than their larger cousins. They use spears and bows, making them the first common enemy type to have a ranged attack.
* ''' Ungor Raiders:''' The weakest specials in the game, they look similar to regular Ungors but have much darker skin and white body paint across their upper body. Despite falling over in a stiff breeze, their arrows do lowish damage and they have an average rate of fire. The real threat is when you're caught out of cover by large packs of 8~10+ Ungor Raiders who will sustain fire their arrows so there's no safe opening to close the gap, and being exposed leads to a lot of damage quickly. Since they often shoot from far away at an area where melee can't reach them like a balcony or a cliff, they must be taken out with ranged weapons, which is a required waste of ammunition for some characters, unless the player is an Ironbreaker armed with a drakepistol, Bardin with a throwing axe, a Huntsman Kruber with a knack for headshots, or Sienna.
* '''Gors:''' The most common of the Beastmen, Gors form the backbone of the Beastmen Brayherd. Each Gor is recognized for their resplendent rack of horns, with larger horns denoting higher status within the Beastmen hierarchy. Prerelease screenshots and artwork show Gors wielding Man-cleavers and two-handed axes, although more variations are possible.
* '''Bestigors:''' Bestigors are the elite of the Brayherd as their name would imply. They can use a charge attack to knock down players and are heavily armored (not as much as chaos warriors despite being chaos and is more akin to Stormvermin armor), though this charge attack can be interrupted by a good hit/shot to them while charging to trip them or dodged.
* '''Standard Bearers:''' Beastmen who carry foul standards into battle to increase the Brayherds morale. They can place their magical standards to buff their comrades with a buffer of temporary health on top of their max health, and regeneration of their base health which can make fights take longer if players don't finish off enemies. Best to fight your way to the flag and smash it before things get harder.
* '''Beastmen Patrol''' - The patrol for the Beastmen. Unlike the previous two patrols, it contains some Ungor Raiders for ranged fire support and two standard-bearers with the rest filled with Bestigors.
* '''Minotaurs:''' A new monster-boss enemy, Minotaurs are the most Beastmen-like of Beastmen: extremely strong, extremely ferocious, and extremely dumb. Minotaurs are more aggressive than any other boss type, beelining for the nearest hero and attacking them relentlessly. They have a charge ability like the Stormfiend and can deal serious damage to players and enemies alike in their path. One of the nastier differences is that Minotaurs get the healing benefits of Battle Standards, but not the bonus health. This isn't too noticeable on Recruit or Veteran, but Champion and above the health regeneration makes it the hardest boss when both enemies are present together. Oh, and they're bigger than the other regular bosses, meaning more reach and having to aim higher for the head. Have fun.

== Gameplay Tips (aka How To Avoid Dying Like An Asshole) ==

1. Don't be That Guy who wanders off alone and dies due to getting incapacitated due to the half-dozen or so methods an enemy can do such a thing. I don't care how badass you think you are, nothing actually makes you immune to being pounced by a Gutter Runner, hooked by a Packmaster, yote by a Blightstormer, et cetera. Seriously, wandering off alone is one of the certain ways you can get kicked from a match, along with going AFK during horde or boss attacks.

2. If someone starts grabbing Tomes and Grimoires, fucking follow them and hope they know where to show you where the others are. Because if you are not grabbing them, you're not optimizing your loot and XP gain, thus you are shit and should uninstall this game (and/or kill yourself). Or don't, whatever, I'm not [[Asmodai]].

3. If you play Sienna and overheat more than twice in a match, don't be butthurt when you get kicked. Learn to manage your overheat, or learn to play anything else. (Same goes for playing an Ironbreaker with drakefire guns.)

4. The game is actually really great about audio clues for your enemies; if you hear something suspicious, start looking around for the source of the sound. Nine times out of ten, you can spot a Gutter Runner or other special enemy fast enough to kill it. The other tenth time? Hope your buddies didn't rush forward and leave you for dead.

5. Consider taking weapons with Shield Breaking and/or Armor Piercing if you're consistently getting fucked up by the heavier enemies. Instead of having to charge up a heavy attack, you just make regular attacks as fast as you can and watch enemies like Stormvermin and Chaos Warriors get fucked up.

6. Mix in side-dodges and pushes with your melee swings in order to defend yourself. The different weapons each have optimal attack/push/dodge patterns unique to them. Learn yours. Blind offense is a good way to get yourself killed by stray hits from trash mobs. Side-dodging repeatedly also has the benefit of helping you not get surrounded as the hordes have to relocate to you.

8. Trying to outrace other players for DPS is only going to get everyone killed, which means nobody gets loot and very little XP. Don't be that asshole who tries to "prove" something to the others by trying to outperform them. The only stat that matters is how much damage you took. Kills will happen eventually. Focus on keeping yourself alive and healthy first and foremost.

9. This is a fucking co-op game. Heal other people, leave stuff they need behind, try to watch their backs. If you can't handle this concept, then you really need to try a different game; "lone wolf" types are wasting both their time and everyone else's.

10. When the coast isn't clear, don't make forward progress in the map. You don't want to trigger a boss fight while knee deep in a horde. While dealing with shit and you have to move around, go backwards, not forwards.

11. Don't be afraid to use those bombs and potions the moment things are beginning to look dicey. One thing (horde, patrol, special) can be handled without too much trouble, but the multiples are what kills teams. Also, Strength potions oddly enough do affect ranged weapons and bombs.

12. Dash abilities (such as Foot Knight's or Zealot's abilities) can be canceled part of the way by blocking, allowing you to gain value from them while not charging away from your group if you're already with them.

13. You can block-cancel other things too, depending on your weapon. Attacks, pushes and other actions can be stopped with a block either for defense or speeding up your combos.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Ranger Veteran.png
File:Ironbreaker.png
File:Slayer.png
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper.png|[[Glottkin|HELLO I'M FUCKING FAT TOO]]
File:Vermintide 2 fat nurgle worshipper2.png|[[Ogre|WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SWAMP???]]
File:Lumberfoots only by a20t43c.png|How Kerillian came to live in a tent.
</gallery>

== Links ==

* [http://www.vermintide.com/ Website]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AovSuioMM2w&t=105s Announcement Trailer plus a little bit of gameplay]

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]

Video games

2021-10-14T18:32:25Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Warhammer Games */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Bigpong.jpeg|thumb|People playing a large scale version of the iconic Pong video game at the National Videogame Museum]]
Video games are games played with an electronic device, instead of paper, pens, dice, boards, anything traditional, and most of the time omitting your imagination too. It is also true that they do contain amusing game mechanics, can be easily played alone, provide visual and auditory representation, and don't [[Games Workshop|cost hundreds of dollars for a few miniature visual representations]]; however, this does come at the cost of freedom, physical being, social skills, and imagination.

Many traditional or tabletop games (like WH40K and D&D) can now be played as using electronic devices to substitute for their tactile components like maps or minis, proving once again that technology continues to screw up [[Old School Roleplaying|everything that we all wished had remained as it was.]] A [[VASSAL Game Engine|virtual tabletop simulator]] has been released so you may play a tabletop game with friends out of town. Also, we have an article at [[List of Vidya Board Games]] to cover various tabletop adaptions into the digital realm.

Electronic games played by strange, [[what|electronic fa/tg/uys]] have been accepted by /tg/, so that any game can be traditional, and this media fits right in with the old [[Board Game|board games]] and Tabletop [[Wargame]]s we all know and love. Some video games are accepted and enjoyed by /tg/. Many, however, are not. Generally, video game threads, especially games with no corresponding /tg/ version/interest, belong on /v/ instead.

You'll find quite a few /v/ related articles on 1d4chan because some video games have at least some relation to /tg/ and because 1d4chan tends to draw in people who are fans of WH40K universe primarily through [[Dawn of War]], even if these people don't actually play the tabletop game. And lets be honest here, 1d4chan is as much a page for WH40K fans as it is for fa/tg/uys so these people are certainly welcome here.

==Strategy Games ==
[[Image:Keen.gif|right|300px]]
* Simulation/Sandbox
** '''[[Dwarf Fortress]]''' The legend, the lamentation, the...fun.
** '''Aurora 4X, a.k.a Dwarf Fortress in space with MUCH more complicated details'''
** '''Factorio''', a process building game. The player is stuck on an alien world and trying to build a spaceship to get off said world, but the enormous industrial activity necessary to build a spaceship provokes the local wildlife to attack, necessitating more industry to fight them off.
** '''From The Depths'''
** '''Kerbal Space Program''' A aerospace engineer is you, build space vehicles, manage your own space agency and conduct missions kerbaled and automated across a simulated solar system. Bear in mind, this game involves actual rocket science; you're going to have to learn about things like Delta-V and slingshot maneuvers if you're going to plot a course that won't end with your rocket crashing into the ocean.
** '''Medieval Engineers''' Build castles, villages and siege equipment.
*** '''Space Engineers''' Build space ships, stations and bases.
** '''[[Minecraft]]''', for some odd reason.
** '''[[Terraria]]''', for the same odd reason.
** '''Mount and Blade''', it's expandalone Warband, and the new Bannerlord 2. A sandbox medieval setting, you go around either being a bandit or uniting the scattered kingdoms into a grand empire or whatever. Enormous modding community means finding something thematically different if you want, including Warhammer and historical mods. In facts, the mods are a selling point of the whole thing, given there is one for just about '''any''' setting you can think about.
** '''Rimworld''', Dwarf Fortress ''IN SPEHSS'' except dumbed down for the casuals, [[skub|which may or may not be a good thing.]]
** '''[[Space Station 13]]:''' Dwarf Fortress except you play as the dwarves. Has been completely fucking ruined by goons leaking into every other version of the game.
** '''[[Tabletop Simulator]]''', a virtual tabletop for playing Card Games, Board Games, RPGs, etc. online with friends. The game has multiple built-in tools for creating custom games, and the Steam Workshop has thousands of add-ons; a popular choice for playing WH40K online thanks to ripped assets from Dawn of War.
** '''[[VASSAL Game Engine|VASSAL Engine]]'''

* 4X/Grand Strategy
** '''Age of Wonders''' - Take ''Master of Magic'', then make it good. Due to reasons, the most approved is 2nd game, as it strikes balance between being its own unique thing, having good campaign and not sacrificing gameplay in the process.
** '''Civilization I-IV''' - Civilization actually was based on a board game and in a case of coming full circle, ended up creating it's own board game. Civ IV in particular happens to have a highly active modding scene to this very day, and many of those mods are total overhauls with fantasy settings. One of those is a ''Fall from Heaven'' mod, or rather a series of mods with shared setting. Neat stuff.
*** Note: Civs V and VI have design issues that make them difficult to recommend in this list, and are thus explicitly not included--that being said, this exclusion is more on the basis of them being [[Skub]]ish--some people love V and/or VI, while some people hate them.
** '''[[Disciples]]''' (series) - Heroes of Might and Magic made [[Grimdark]].
** '''[[Dominions]]''' - Civilization's and Dwarf Fortress' beautiful love child. Enjoy [[Lovecraft]]'s Father Dagon square up against Ravana from India's Ramayana as they fight for the glory of their respective gods (you and whatever other [[neckbeards]] you are playing with).
** '''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]''' - Turn based strategy of over six main games and expansions where you control a fantasy hero and their legion of men/elves/dwarves/creatures/etc. Special mention goes to second and especially third installments.
**'''Master of Magic''': Take Sid Meier's Civilization. Add fantasy races with their own units, magic in the form of spells and summons, heroes and a very basic isometric battlefield when armies clash, and give dozens of abilities to units according to their species, situation and metal they are armed with (Yes, the metal used can be mithril or adamantite if the building city has any). That's Master of Magic. Still great for when you need to scratch that 'wizard with no sense of right or wrong bent on conquering the world' itch.
** '''Masters of Orion'''
** '''[[Alpha Centauri|Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'''. Despite starting out as "Civ 2: SPACE EDITION", SMAC became one of the more iconic games of the 90s. In the late 21st century Earth goes to sh*t and a colony ship is dispatched to Alpha Centauri to give humanity a new lease on life. Instead, we start fighting before we even get there and the whole thing eventually spirals off into a free-for all (with aliens joining the fun too!) with transcendence to virtual godhood as the ultimate prize. The game was a great joy to play due to gameplay and strategic depth, an interesting array of futuristic techs mostly rooted in semi-hard science and a plethora of interesting factions and various lore blurbs. Game is so tightly written, people discuss its content to this day. When SJGames released a setting book for GURPS 3e, they didn't have to make up anything at all to get 130 pages of lore.
** '''Sengoku Rance''': [[Weeaboo|Hentai game spinoff]] that parodies the long-running ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' series. You play as Rance, [[Slaanesh]]'s very own [[Kharn|fun guy to be around,]] as he unifies Warring States-era Japan under his mighty [[Anal circumference|"hyperweapon."]] Despite the utterly ludicrous premise it's a solid grand strategy game, to the point that the porn is more of a reward for playing well than an end in itself. Comparing this game to Total War was a common troll on /gsg/ when Shogun II was released.
** '''Endless Space 1&2''' The first game is ok and free to play, but the second one is where it's at as it does everything the original did better and then some.
** '''[[Endless Legend]]'''
** '''Distant Worlds'''
** Paradox series: This is the go-to company for nation-ruling Grand Strategy games for different eras such as '''[[Crusader Kings]]''' 800's-1400's, '''[[Europa Universalis]]''' 1400's-1800's, '''[[Victoria]]''' 1820's-1936, or '''[[Hearts of Iron]]''' 1936-1950's.
*** [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=406933979 Warhammer: Geheimnisnacht], a Warhammer Fantasy conversion for Crusader Kings II. Setting predates Winds of Chaos & End Times.
** '''[[Stellaris]]''' Paradox's attempt to fill the gap in the market between their Grand Strategy games and traditional 4X. You can run *any* science fiction staple idea and none would look out of place. A civilisation of individuals ranging from unique megacorporations to generic governments, hive-minded eusocial species, robots and anything in between have each unique playstyles. It also has endgame "crises" of galaxy threatening proportions which needs elaborate teamwork to stop.
*** Excellent 40k mod for Stellaris: https://stellaris.paradoxwikis.com/WarhammerTotalConversion
*** And yes, there's Star Trek and Star Wars mods.
** '''[[Total War]]''' series: '''Rome Total War''', '''Medieval Total War''', '''Empire Total War''', '''Shogun Total War'''
*** Rome 1 mods: '''Call to Arms: Warhammer''' and '''Fourth Age Total War''' and Medieval 2 mods: '''[[Call of Warhammer]]''', '''Third Age Total War'''

* Real-time Strategy
** '''Age of Empires''' series. Classic RTS with a more Command and Conquer vibe then a 4X, which is more common for historical settings, though pretty much every unit has multiple counters so it tends to be a more complex game then normal fast pace RTSs. There's the original, which is a curiosity at best, the second game that is made of pure gold, Mythology that mixes up the formula well, the third which sadly is more just Mythology with guns and Online which is F2P game and also dead (unless you play Project Celeste, which is still getting updated by fans). First, Second and Mythology have really good HD remasters. First and Second have also 4k remakes (not remaster), called Definitive Editions. Second and Mythology are worth grabbing, but if you had to choose one choose 2. They are currently developing the next game in the series, AoE IV.
** '''Battlezone''', the strategy game not the arcade game. Mixture of real time strategy and hover tank combat while fighting commies on the moon. Clunky, and as balanced as a one legged hippo, but it's uniqueness, concept and immersion make it a classic. Got a second game that was tighter and better balanced but weaker plot and setting. Both got pretty decent HD remasters.
** '''[[Command and Conquer]]''', a franchise with more then four different series running at the time where you control varied forces trying to beat the crap out of each other.
** '''Company of Heroes''' and '''Men of War''' series which are basically RTSs based on the idea of commanding forces as if someone was playing a classic WW2 shooter. While there are hard counters in Company of Heroes it still focuses more on holding chokepoints, piecing defensive lines and utilizing sandbags and barbed wire. Men at War focuses on realistic damage and as such is more the ARMA to Company of Heroes Call of Duty 2.
** '''Cossacks''' series, which covers 17th and 18th century, being the closest to /tg/'s desire to have "pike and shot setting". Most notable for ability to field absolutely gigantic armies of thousands upon thousands of soldiers.
*** '''American Conquest''' is an off-shot mini-series, expanding game mechanics from Cossacks and covering the period between Cortes conquest of Aztec Empire till American Revolutionary War. An expansion is dedicated to American Civil War.
** '''Cultures''' series, but most importantly first two games. A Viking village sim
** '''Dungeon Keeper''', where you play as an evil overlord defending against pesky adventurers and goodie-two-shoes trying to conquer your dungeon, and play it like Sims on crack.
** '''Homeworld''': THE iconic space video game of the early 00's. Basically Battlestar Galactica if the Galactica was tall instead of long. Borrows heavily from the artwork of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Foss Chris Foss].
** '''Original War''', most notable for its unique mix of RPG and RTS elements, with each unit representing an individual character with own backstory, personality and set of skills.
** '''Patrician 3: Rise of the Hansa''' is pretty standard (and good) economic-transport sim, but it makes up with being related with the titular Hansa and the Baltic region during Late Medieval, which rarely show up as a setting despite being what is represented as '''the''' ISO Standard Medieval setting.
** '''Railroad Tycoon 2''' comes with absolutely amazing series of scenarios and an unique, fleshed out post-apo setting. No, not kidding. There are also dozens of fan-made maps further expanding on said setting.
** '''Rise of Nations''' and especially '''Rise of Legends''' which had a steampunk faction and a "totally not the baddies from Stargate" faction
** '''The Settlers''' series, especially the I-IV parts. This is less of a straight RTS and more a space-management game, where you're building the most efficient transport system for your settlement, particularly in first two games, with their iconic flag-and-road system. Plot-wise, S3 and 4 are great kitchen-sink settings and Amazones are hot.
** '''[[Starcraft]]''' and '''[[Warcraft]]''': [[Skub|40K and Fantasy rip-offs respectively]], although they were so successful that from video gamers' perspective <del>the jedi are evil</del> ''GW should be paying Blizzard''.
** '''Supreme Commander''', the closest thing to "modern" remake of ''Total Annihilation'' and of course "the endless war IN SPESS!" setting that everyone loves so much.
** '''Theocracy''', in which you control one of Mesoamerican tribes with a goal of unifying the region.
** '''Total Annihilation''' The game that started it all when it it comes to RTS. Not much of a story but it had great gameplay that laid the foundations for the stuff to come. There was also a fantasy sequel "Kingdoms" that had a great story and lore (rivaling that of Warcraft at the time) but abysmal gameplay.
** '''Transarctica''' A bizzare mix of an economic sim, adventure game and a railroad simulator. After an experiment to slow down global warming caused a new ice-age, there are only massive trains going through the ice wasteland between the handful of surviving cities and coal mines. Your task is to bring Sun back from beyond the thick clouds surrounding Earth. Very atypical gameplay. And if the premise sounds familiar, it has the same source material as ''Snowpiercer''.
** '''Warfront: Turning Point''': WW2, but everyone fielding experimental mecha, pulp super-weapons and other silly things. Notably, defense buildings come with FPS mode (and this can greatly increase their performance), while weather and terrain affect everything in variety of ways.

* Turn-based Strategy
** '''[[Advance Wars|Advance Wars]]''' - It's like Panzer General but [[Anime]]. Except for '''Days of Ruin'''; that game is [[Grimdark]] and thus [[Fist of the North Star|manly]].
** '''[[Fire Emblem]]''' - Advance Wars' twin brother who likes swords and magic rather than guns and tanks. Fire Emblem has heavy RPG elements, tasking you with managing a stable of characters with limited EXP to go around and the specter of permadeath hanging overhead. ''Awakening'' and later installments are not approved for being [[Weeaboo|waifu delivery systems cleverly disguised as strategy games.]]
** '''Jagged Alliance I''' & '''II''', A PMC is you!
** '''[[King of Dragon Pass]]'''
** '''Panzer General''' - The first decent "Tabletop WW2 meets PC" back in '94, it's the second inspiration for [[Nazi Equipment]] and is the Mecca of wehraboo'ism. Spawned an entire series of games.
*** Of note from that series: '''Fantasy General''', which is, other than some rather questionable AI balancing, a fairly fun "D&D Wargame" style affair.
** '''Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale''' a Japanese game about running a shop, which sells and buys items used by dungeon-crawling adventurers. Much more engaging than it sounds and full of cutting humour. Capitalism, ho!
** '''Valkyria Chronicles''' series - JRPG fantasy world version of World War II. Quite a bit of depth and supporting cast of characters.
** The '''UFO: After[X]''' series which is essentially an X-Com made grimdark. How grim? The ''bad'' ending of the first game, ''Aftermath'', is canon.
** The original '''[[X-Com|X-COM: UFO Defense]]'''
** The new '''[[X-Com|XCOM: Enemy Unknown]]''' and its sequel, '''XCOM 2'''.
*** XCOM and XCOM 2 mods: '''The Long War'''. Both versions add dramatically to their respective games, transforming them from comparatively quick, light experiences to fatigue-worn wars. Buckle up. Plays a lot like Valkyria Chronicles except with destructable terrain and lots of chest-high walls.

==Role-Playing Games==
*[[cRPG]]s
** '''Albion''' Duo of space janitors crash-land on a planet that will be soon strip-mined, only to find out there is local, if Iron Age tier population of few intelligent species.
** '''[[Arcanum]]: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura''' Fallout, but set in a fantasy world where magic and technology coexist and fight each other. The story takes your party across the world as you try to unravel a plot that threatens not only the world but the very concept of life itself.
** '''Arx Fatalis''' A decent but pretty generic RPG if not for the fact that you appear in an underground kingdom in a world that had it's sun extinguished and surface turned into frozen waste. The magic system is also unique as you perform gestures with your mouse in order to cast spells, which is as fun as it is inconvenient (mage-knight build is a necessity due to this).
** '''[[Baldur's Gate]] I''' & '''II'''
** '''Battle for Wesnoth''' An Aussie who played too much jRPGs made a hex-based battle mini games that happens to be one of the more balanced things on the market.
** '''Betrayal at Krondor'''
** '''Darklands''' Adventures of a roaming party in the 15th century <s>Holy Roman Empire</s> Germany. Probably the lowest possible low fantasy to still qualify as such, rather than just historical setting.
** '''Deus Ex''' series. THE cyberpunk RPG. So good that it managed to incorporate nearly every conspiracy theory into it's story and make them actually work well together.
** '''[[Dungeons & Dragons Gold Box Series]]''' (also includes some Buck Rogers games because of Lorraine Williams)
** '''[[The Elder Scrolls]]''' especially Daggerfall, and Morrowind as the other ones are pretty generic and thus boring.
** '''[[Fallout]]''' series.
** '''[[Icewind Dale]]'''
** '''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'''
** '''Might and Magic from 1 to 8, then X. [[Squats|Might and Magic 9 does not exist.]]
** '''[[Planescape: Torment]]''' Storyfags' and Lorefags' wet dream.
** '''System Shock''' series
** '''The Temple of Elemental Evil'''
** '''[[Ultima]]''' series - see Might & Magic above and retain the "ignore 9" rule.
** '''Underrail''' ''Metro 2033'' (setting) meets classic ''Fallout'' (gameplay) and decides to have a foursome with cosmic horror and space opera. Try it or get dominated, pipeworker.
** '''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]] - ''Bloodlines/Redemption''''' Bloodlines was Troika's last hurrah and after you apply the official and fan patches you will see why. Redemption is also good but not as much as Bl.
** '''Wasteland''' series
** '''[[Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord]]'''

*Modern RPGs
** '''The Banner Saga'''
** '''Dark Souls''', due to its moody [[Berserk]]-inspired atmosphere, emphasis on exploration, and [[Dwarf Fortress|merciless learning curve]]. Compelling story and characters are a major plus, also contains large amounts of death and [[RAGE]]. The tagline isn't 'Prepare to Die' for no reason.
*** To a lesser extent, the other "Souls" games ('''Demon's Souls''', '''Dark Souls 2''', '''Dark Souls 3''', '''Bloodborne''', and '''Sekiro''').
** '''Deus Ex: Human Revolution''' While not nearly as broad or deep as the original, it still manages to capture some of it's essence and is a fine RPG in it's own right.
** '''Dragon Age: Origins''' Much better than later games. Has the added bonus of having an actual conclusion; the sequels tend to end on unsatisfying cliffhangers.
** '''Disco Elysium''' [[Planescape: Torment]], except you're an Alcoholic, deadbeat detective.
** '''Expeditions: Conquistador''' and '''Viking'''
** '''Fallout: New Vegas''' Made by the team that made the classics, and it shows. Basically what Fallout 3 - the real, Van Buren, Fallout 3 - should have been.
** '''Kingdom Come: Deliverance''' A truly generic story of "from zero to hero", involving blacksmith's son climbing the social ladder of medieval society until knighthood. But what makes the game unique is the fact it's a historical RPG, set in specific area of Bohemia during a specific period with autistic levels of research behind it, providing more data about its own setting than your typical edutainment game.
** '''Legend of Grimrock'''
** '''Mass Effect 1 and 2''' Grand space opera to rival that of Star Wars in the levels of epic.
** '''Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor''' A fun uruk/olog hunting/recruiting game with some [[Skub|contentious]] framing, particularly in the sequel ([[Monstergirl]] [[What|Shelob]], among other things). Think of it as "Arkham's Creed: Middle-Earth Edition."
** '''Pillars of Eternity''' Set in a world of Eora where souls are tangible and measurable rather than being metaphysical/religious concepts. With the advance of technology and Animancy (science of souls) the world is set up for some radical upheavals, and that is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Billed as a spiritual successor to Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale the game accomplishes - for the most part - what it sets out to do and is one of the better cRPGs in recent times.
** '''Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic''' Both games are very good, the second just needs the Restored Content mod.
** '''State of Decay''', the only good thing that came out of the early 2010s zombie craze. If you ever planned to run a zombie campaign, just rip the whole thing off - unlike other vidya rip-offs, this one works out great. Only the first game is approved.
** '''[[The Witcher]]''' series
** '''Pathfinder [[Kingmaker]]'''
** '''Tyranny''' From the same devs that made ''Pillars of Eternity''. This time you are cast into the world of Terratus, a high-fantasy world which is just about to exit it's Bronze Age, and as another twist to the ol' formula, you are a mid-ranking minion of the setting's overlord tasked with mediating conflicts and bringing "justice" through their empire. Story and gameplay are just as good as PoE, but the game was released in a rushed state with many things missing. Still, good for ~20hrs of fun or as an entry-level cRPG.

==Adventure Games==
* '''Animation Arts''': Not the game, but a German game dev studio. If you ever wanted to run a cheesy game that's either pulp or B-movie, look no further for inspiration, since this is their speciality.
* '''Beneath a Steel Sky''': Great cyberpunk themes and rich imagery. Released as freeware by the original developers.
* '''Blade Runner''': It's a Blade Runner game and it's one of the best things that ever happened in the genre, no need for more recommendations.
* '''Broken Sword''' series: Templars, ancient conspiracies, interesting characters and well-written plot that is mineable even for tabletop games
* '''Chains of Satinav''' and '''Memoria''': Exactly how many adventure games you know that are set in [[The_Dark_Eye|Dere]] and are good?
* '''The DIG''': A bunch of astronauts stop an asteroid from hitting earth, only to find out it's really an alien starship that whisks them to a desolate planet on the other side of the galaxy whose inhabitants - who have a huge fetish for the platonic solids - are nowhere to be found. Features a lot of really complex hard-science plot points, difficult-as-fuck puzzles, and Steve Blum as an arrogant German scientist.
* '''Indiana Jones and the Fate Of Atlantis''': One of the classics that you can't just go wrong with. Aside being a good adventure game by itself, comes with kinda-sorta branching plot, so you can approach same situations differently.
* '''King's Quest VI: Heir Today Gone Tomorrow''': Just read the title and ask yourself what the game can be about. This series is downright ancient, so be warned. VI is well regarded as the best one and holds up relatively well, though fan remakes of the older games in the style of VI are also available.
* '''Monkey Island''' series: One of the most definitive things to ever happen to the genre, plus it's a great pirate-themed series that both spoofs and reaffirms a lot of cliches related with own content.
* '''Policenauts''': Early Hideo Kojima makes a game where Lethal Weapon meets cyberpunk.
* '''The Prince and the Coward''': A Polish game that can be best summed up as "ISO Standard Medieval Fantasy gets the ''Monkey Island'' treatment". An excellent fan-translation exists that manages to keep the original tone.
* '''Pathologic''' (also known as '''Pestilence''' or '''Мор. Утопия'''): a truly bizarre and unique Russian game combining adventure, survival, role-playing and lots of nightmarish vibes. Boasts headache-inducing lore and a persistent world, so things roll regardless of the player interfering or not. Got a HD re-release recently with proper translation, so non-Slavs can finally enjoy the game - the previous English translation was a nightmare by itself.
**'''[[Pathologic 2]]''': A remake of the original (or, rather, one storyline of the original), but with updated graphics and mechanics plus a couple of story tweaks. Retains many of the anxiety-inducing survival mechanics and nightmarish atmosphere of the first game and, generally, is a much more streamlined experience. As such, it is generally recommended to newcomers over the original. Only ⅓ of the original game is there, due to limitations in budget; the rest may come depending on how well the game sells (devs have confirmed they are working on the bachelor's campaign, however).
* '''Professor Layton''' series: A refined gentleman investigates mysteries by solving lateral-thinking puzzles. Beautiful watercolor art and solid writing, though the puzzle setups become increasingly absurd as the series goes on. A great series to mine for dungeon puzzles. Any games after the first six are not approved, due to the writing devolving into cliche anime bullshit and a distinct drop in puzzle quality after the death of designer Akira Tago.
* '''[[Star Control]]''' series: A mess of alien races in the grand tradition of Niven et al. kill the shit out of each other. First game is turn-based strategy, second game is somewhere between an RPG and an adventure game; both have a surprisingly deep arcade combat system. The second game was released as open-source software by the developers.
*'''Vangers''': A fuckin' weird Russian game about delivering bugs to other bugs in your bug-like car in a world that's filled with bugs and feels like "A Bug's Life" on a DMT trip. Honestly though, if you're a GM who wants to present their players with a totally alien and incomprehensible setting, then this game does it with flying colours.

==Warhammer Games==
*Strategy
** The old and glorious '''[[Warhammer Epic 40,000: Final Liberation]]''', [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat| '''Shadow of the Horned Rat''', and '''Dark Omen''']]
** [[Warhammer: Mark of Chaos|'''Mark of Chaos''']]
** '''[[Dawn of War|WH40K Dawn of War]]''' and its [[Dawn of War II|sequel]]. As well as the [[Dawn of War III|sequel sequel]]
*** The "True-to-Tabletop" [[Dawn of War Mods|mods]] for DoW that sprung up, such as '''Firestorm over ''Kronus/Kaurava''''', the '''Closer to Codex''' mod. Really, just look at the page to see how many there are.
** '''[[Chapter Master (game)]]'''
** '''[[Mordheim: City Of The Damned]]'''
** '''[[Battlefleet Gothic: Armada]]'''
** '''[[Total War: WARHAMMER]]''' and its [[Total War: Warhammer II|sequel]]
** '''[[Man o' War: Corsair]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach]]''' - A turn base strategy game where you playing as everybody's favourite [[Space Wolves|space wolf viking]] fighting against the Orks in Sanctus Reach. Later DLC allowed you playing as the Ork led by Da Big Red and everybody's favorite [[Imperial Guard|wall of guns]]. Also Imperial Knights, fuck yeah!
**'''[[Space Hulk]]''' in its many iterations, including [[Alien Assault|the unofficial one]].
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War]]'''
**'''[[Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus]]'''
*Other
** '''[[Blood Bowl]] and its sequel'''
** <s>'''[[Warhammer Online|Warhammer Age of Reckoning]]'''</s> Shut down thanks to EA. Go play the private server version!
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]'''
** '''[[Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade]]'''
** '''[[The End Times: Vermintide]]''' and [[Vermintide 2|its sequel]]
** '''Warhammer 40,000: [[Freeblade]]'''
** '''[[Space Hulk: Deathwing]]'''

==Miscellaneous==
* [[Roguelike|Roguelikes]]
** '''Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead''' a post-apocalyptic top-down survival game that looks like Dwarf Fortress with a texture pack and lets you drive cars into zombies.
** '''Cultist Simulator''' is a grind-heavy, card-based game about being too curious about things that no man should know about and slowly building a cult to some demonic abomination... or die trying.
** '''Curious Expedition''' which pokes fun at the pulp adventure genre; think Hollow Earth as a black comedy
** '''[[Darkest Dungeon]]''' the newest [[H.P. Lovecraft|lovecraftian]] dungeon crawler with grimdark setting and overall edginess.
** '''Don't Starve''' a pretty-looking survival and exploration game that's fun with friends, and does horror like ''The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy''.
** '''[[Dungeon Crawl]] Stone Soup'''
** '''Freespace & Freespace II''': The last major standalone space flight sim, ending the genre that had started with Wing Commander and X-Wing/TIE-Fighter.
** '''Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures''' a random-gen adventure game that almost operates like a dungeon crawler and came 20 years too early to get on the roguelike hype.
** '''Nethack'''
** ''' NEOScavenger''' much like Cataclysm (gameplay, genre, even the setting is similar), an exploration hex-crawl to surpass all hex-crawls.
** '''Pathway''', the closest thing to having Hollow Earth Expedition vidya
** '''Pixel Dungeon and it's forks''' coffee break roguelike optimized for phones. FOSS so there's tons of forks. Shattered Pixel Dungeon is a very good version and is on Android Play Store and F-Droid
** ''' Sunless Sea''' and '''Sunless Skies''' Adventuring out into a WTF eldritch horror setting under the flag of Victorian Britain. Gameplay-wise, the games are just awful grinders, but it's their setting and quests that make them interesting, as long as comically dark settings are your thing.
** '''TEARDOWN''', a Space-Hulk roguelike
** '''WarpRogue''', a 40K-inspired roguelike

*Good FPS games
** '''Amnesia series''', The first game in the series rekindled the survival horror genre and was pants-shittingly scary through a clever use of jumpscares, ingenious mechanics discouraging directly looking at the enemies and an amazing atmosphere of gothic horror which slowly turns into the cosmic variety as the story progresses. Unfortunately the latter sequels became a victim of their own success mostly due to oversaturation of survival horror genre, but are nevertheless fine games in their own right.
** '''Bioshock''' series: Bunch of retro-aesthetics crammed into FPS games with what passes as a rich plot and world-building within the genre. Arguing over its content used to be prime [[skub]] material, now it's mostly forgotten.
** '''Borderlands 2''', a memetic lolsrandom dumb game, but special mention goes to '''Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep''' DLC, as it is a role-playing session involving main characters, with all the crazy hijinks of Borderlands involved.
** '''Crysis''', Three games provide a very moddable engine with a very versatile set of physics combined with a pretty absurdly large modding community that has among other things, created a perfectly workable Mech Warrior game out of Crysis Warhead. Even if you don't care for nanosuit action, the mods alone are worth checking out.
** '''Deep Rock Galactic''' [[Squat]]s the video game. Space Dwarfs armed with big guns go digging into a mineral rich planet infested with [[Tyranid|giant bugs]].
** '''Dishonored''', the spiritual successor to Thief except now you are a supernatural assassin in a <s>proto-dieselpunk edwardian-era-esque</s> steampunk world. Good story and fun gameplay with plenty of assassination options.
** '''[[Doom|DOOM]]''', '''Hexen''', and '''Heretic''': With a vibrant community because the games are easy to mod and has produced no shortage of mods (or WADs as they're called in the community (officially, the file extension 'WAD' means 'Where's All the Data?').) Interestingly, Doom was inspired by a D&D game run with Lead Dev John Carmack as the DM. Director John Romero's character recklessly gave a dark tome to a demon in exchange for the magic Daikatana which caused demons to overrun the material plane and the world to end. Visually, parts of the games (Hexen and Heretic especially) are reminiscent of a gothic dungeon.
** '''Escape From Butcher Bay''' a Riddick-licensed game that combines great stealth elements with even better combat sequences and a slight horror vibe, all in the sauce made off used future aesthetics.
** '''[[EYE: Divine Cybermancy]]''': A really weird FPS/RPG due to its cyberpunk fantasy aesthetics, almost an RPG. Extremely buggy due to being a Source Engine game that wasn't made by Valve. The developers absolutely love Warhammer 40,000, made the setting for EYE a lawyer-friendly clone of 40k, and were eventually hired by GW to [[Space Hulk: Deathwing|make the 40k game they wanted to make in the first place.]]
** '''Far Cry''' series, which has completely different tone depending on installment and is just one huge mine of ideas for extremely pulpy scenarios. Special mention goes to Far Cry 3, which pretty much reinvented the franchise, and its standalone expansion Blood Dragon, which is [[Old School Roleplaying|a hilarious parody of the 80s neon aesthetic.]] ''Primal'' and later installments are not approved for being either heavily rehashed or just completely unnecessary.
** '''Guns of Icarus''', a steampunk flying team deathmatch with set roles.
** '''Hot Dogs, Horseshoes, and Hand Grenades''' - this VR title is unique for being as close to a true-to-life firearms simulator as you can get, having over 400 accurately modeled and functioning firearms ranging from flintlocks to modern weapons. Its also incredibly goofy, with all enemies being giant sentient hot dogs and a few oddball toys thrown in. It's also effectively Team Fortress 2 VR, as the game includes all the stock weapons from TF2 thanks to a collaboration with Valve.
** '''Iron Storm''' - it's 1964 and the World War I is still going on, with complete stalemate perpetuated by industrialists on both sides. Your mission is to infiltrate and destroy nuclear program of the "bad" side. W40k games ''wish'' they were this good in presenting endless, senseless war.
** '''Penumbra series''': The easiest way to describe it is to call it modern take on At the Mountains of Madness, only set in Greenland and with massive conspiracy looming over the story. Warning, '''very''' tense horror games (while avoiding jump scares) with unique control and physics system, so it might not be your cup of tea.
** '''Quake''': At least the early games, for similar reasons for DOOM (they were both made by the same company). Quake 1 is a good and challenging FPS that takes cues from Lovecraft in terms of environments and monster designs. Quake 2 is somewhat easier, but is deliciously grimdark sci-fi; it's about fighting cyborg aliens that make more of themselves by capturing conquered races and fitting them with cybernetics/forcing them into a hive mind against their will.
** '''Republic Commando''', baby's first tactical shooter, but damn if it isn't a good one
** '''[[Team Fortress 2]]''', a game descended from a Quake mod now over 10 years old and still going strong, is a multiplayer FPS with a 1960s theme where players pick a team, one of 9 different classes, and battle to the death. Also, hats. Two hats in this game are 40k references, allowing you to dress your Heavy up as an Ork.
** '''S.T.A.L.K.E.R.''' series: Roadside Picnic: The Video Game. A nice combination of free roaming, excellent gunplay, tense atmosphere and really freaky lore.
** '''Thief 1 & 2''', the grand daddy of stealth games, with one of the most original settings ever created for games (a combination of industrial - but not steampunk - medieval and pagan elements). Strong story, good characters and makes you feel like a master thief indeed. Third game is good provided you get the Sneaky Update. Reboot from 2014 is unapproved and shunned.
** '''Wolfenstein''' series: Combines sci-fi, fantasy and World War II elements amidst the Nazi-killing. This series is downright ancient, predating DOOM and the FPS genre entirely.

*Good TPS games
** '''Freedom Fighters''' another baby's first tactical shooter to fulfill your ''Red Dawn'' fantasies
** '''Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine''' and '''Emperor's Tomb''' Despite what you might think, it's LucasArt ripping-off Tomb Raider, not the other way around.
** '''Max Payne 1 & 2''' Finest product of the neo-noir genre, especially the second game. Amazingly strong story in both games, with a lot of Norse references in the first one. Also, the game that introduced bullet time as game mechanics.
** '''Prince of Persia''', especially the ''Sands of Time'' trilogy. Accept no substitute for Arabian Nights game.
** '''Severance: Blade of Darkness''' Some eight years before Demon Souls you had Severance, while the setting is somewhat generic-ish blade & sorcery meets LOTR, the moody atmosphere, unforgiving gameplay and fun combat more than make up for it. If you have a thing for Soulslike this is just for you.
** '''Styx series''' Great tps assassination games set in a unique high fantasy setting that has you playing as a goblin of all things. Both games are great though the second one takes itself somewhat less seriously than the first.
** '''Tomb Raider series''' Preferably games created by original studio, Core Design, but anything up to Underworld goes. A swift balance between serious and pulp tone, providing simple plots and a more and more complex locations. Also, good source of creative traps. Reboot from 2013 and what follows are disapproved and shunned, being just generic cover shooter. Comes with its own, massive level-making scene, known collectively as '''TRLE''' (after Tomb Raider Level Editor), which by itself is fantastic source of dungeon design, creative traps and excellent puzzles that are all very minable.
* [[Mechwarrior]], because /tg/ loves [[Battletech]].
** '''MechWarrior I''' is lauded as a classic, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior II''' is lauded as the best
** '''MechWarrior III''' is lauded as the most engrossing storywise, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior IV''' is lauded as the latest and greatest, and thus the best
** '''MechCommander II''' is lauded as most like the tabletop, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior: Living Legend''' is lauded as best for multiplayer, and thus the best
** '''MechWarrior Online''' is the worst
** '''MechWarrior V''' is the newest, therefore both the best AND worst
* Classic console games
** '''Jet Set/Grind Radio''' seems to have enthused one orky [[drawfag]] to the highest of possible levels, make of that what you will.
** '''Conker's Bad Fur Day''' Looney Toons for adults, and that's just the start of the batshit craziness.
** '''Dungeons and Dragons Order of the Griffon''', a game for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 set in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Uses Basic D&D rules versus the Gold Box games' AD&D rules.
** '''Legacy of Kain series''' Set in a unique fantasy gothic world, the series takes place over ~2000 year timeline that sees you slain and become a vampire demigod Kain in the first game, have you play as the vampire lieutenant Raziel that gets turned into a sentient time-paradox in the second and third game and then switch between the two on an epic, complex and plot ridden story that sees you jump from future to past to present and back again all the while unraveling a conspiracy that spans the material and spectral realms.
** '''[[Metal Gear]]'''
** '''Oddworld series''' A classic platformer set in a grimdark alien world of Oddworld, you play as Abe, a slave turned accidental revolutionary turned messiah for his people as he fights the industrial evil of Glukkons and other vile profiteering species out to stripmine Oddworld for sweet moolah. There are 4 games in total, minus the recent remakes. First two games are cult-classics and you should play them, Munch's oddysee was the awkward transition to 3D so ok-ish and Stranger's Wrath picked up the pace but as many a grognard will tell you it does not quite reach the heights of elden times. The New'n Tasty and Soulstorm remakes of the original games and are all in all decent.
** '''[[Samus|Metroid]]''', '''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''', '''Kid Icarus''', and '''[[Castlevania]]''' (the four games series (with one exception see above) share so much in common they deserve to be discussed together). Why? The exploration-heavy nature of the games, the feeling of growing more powerful as you collect enough gear and relics to make an adventuring party jealous, the incredibly memorable boss battles, interesting backstories (Metroid immerses you in backstory at your pace, via scans and lore pickups, leaving much up to your imagination), and providing many ideas for sci fi or fantasy RPG session.
** '''Shantae series''' You play as a cute genie girl that can turn into various [[Monstergirls]] (harpy, dridder, mermaid, dragon etc.) while platforming and fighting through a colorful middle-east fantasy setting.

==Games that can be used to troll /tg/==
* Most other MMORPGs. [[World of Warcraft]], as the most successful to date, is especially effective. Special points to [[Star Wars: The Old Republic]] for being a massive disappointment for a popular franchise.
* JRPGs, for often recycling the same plots over and over and having identical structure. Along with of course cringy bad character designs in some cases.
* Any of the modern Final Fantasy games, [[Games Workshop|which somehow keep getting sequels despite being financial failures]]. [[This Guy|Some fa/tg/uys]] have a fondness for the early ones, mostly because [[Troll|the first one rips off D&D pretty squarely]].
* [[Skyrim]], a popular well liked meme game that /v/ contrarians and neckbeards with nostalgia goggles will say is shit. Same goes for [[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion|Oblivion]], [[Fallout]] 3 and 4, and any future Bethesda RPGs.
* <s>Mentioning the attention Warhammer 40k games have gotten compared to Warhammer Fantasy is a sore spot for Fantasy fans.</s> With the failure that is [[Dawn of War III]] and recent success of [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] and [[Vermintide]], you could say the tables have turned. Actually DoW3 by itself is enough for trolling anyway.
* Sonic The Hedgehog. The fans are everywhere, and the butthurt is unfathomable.
* Nintendo games have ultra-dedicated fanbases, and also hardcore haters, except for series like Metroid, Zelda, Mother, or Kid Icarus which are generally respected. Mentioning Pokemon in a positive light or stating the controller of "the best" console they released is a sex toy may cause an internet fight.
* Games with bad random number generators. Even highly approved of games like Mordheim: City Of The Damned will cause a shitstorm when someone is reminded that a supposed 95% chance to hit can result in four consecutive misses.
* No Man's Sky - such a huge waste of potential, although it got somewhat better with patches. Bringing this game up is a good troll move on /v/ as well, but everything's a good troll move on /v/.
* [[Blizzard]]. JUST. [[Blizzard]]. (''ACTIVISION'' Blizzard now, fuckers! The shit train only goes downhill from here!)

Games that are universally loathed, so you'll probably have to put in some work if you want to troll with:
* Unlike the previous Bethesda RPGs Fallout 76 is actually bad. So if you want to troll people you'll have to pretend to like it. Although, it's so objectively terrible your bait will most likely seem too obvious.
* [[Bioware | Anthem]].
** Almost all "Games as a Service" games released in the wake of Destiny have a similar, if lesser, level of disdain; it's just that Fallout 76 and Anthem were so garbage on release, and had such a CRPG pedigree, that the trolling mines were quickly completely depleted.
* Reminding [[Shadowrun]] fans of the terrible Shadowrun FPS is not going to earn you any goodwill.
* [[Evony]]

==The Game List That People Copypasta==
Every so often, someone posts on /tg/: "Wow, you guys are so smart and cool; can you recommend some [[video games]] to play for those hours when I'm not playing tabletop?". It happens so often that people have made [[copypasta]] for the occasion, even image copypasta.

You will find a lot of those games on [http://www.gog.com/ Good Old Games], DRM free, for 6 or 9 bucks. Or [[Freebooterz|for free if you pirate]], which can often be justified by the original creators leaving the development company so all the [[Profit]] goes to people who don't deserve it. Your choice.

For any video game that someone felt was good enough for a full page on this wiki, see [[:Category:Video_Games|Video Games]]

<center>[[Image:TG_recommended_games1.jpg]]</center>

<center>[[Image:Recommended_vg_2.jpg|900px]]</center>

[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Software]]
[[Category:Approved Media]]

Orzhov Syndicate

2021-10-14T06:31:39Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Obzedat */

[[File:Orzhov Logo.png|center]]
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Imagine if the Catholic Church was a scam being run by the mafia. Who were also [[necromancer]]s. That's the '''Orzhov Syndicate''' in a nutshell. Despite being the most "religious" of the Guilds, they are arguably the least spiritual Guild on Ravnica, as their religious aspects usually take a backseat to their debt collection racket. If you find yourself needing some cash, these are the guys you go to, but they will almost always try and screw you over because you didn't read the fine print. Not even death is enough to free you of your debt, as they are happy to conjure your ghost to work until your debt is fulfilled.

==History==
The Orzhov dates all the way back to the signing of the Guildpact, back when they may have actually been a true religious organization. Though they are not the oldest or the only religion on Ravnica, they were the ones to get legitimized. Over time, the religion stuff took a backseat, as they began to worship power and money more and more, to the point that they are known as the church without any gods. Despite this, many are attracted to the promises of longevity and profits, which is why they continue to this day, despite being seen as a corrupt guild.
==Structure==
At the highest rung of the Syndicate was the Obzedat, who ruled over their empire of debt with a cold, ghostly grasp. Unfortunately for them, [[Kaya]] came in and ended their rule during the third Ravnica block, where she became the head honcho, releasing all of the ghosts that had outstanding debts. This caused no end of instability immediately afterward, and the guild found itself increasingly under the influence of [[Nicol Bolas]]. After the events of War of the Spark, Tomik gained leadership over the Syndicate. Under the highest rung were the olicharchs, families with old money running through their blood. This was followed by the pontiffs, followed by the ministrants, the knights, and the syndics. At the very bottom rung are the borrowers, poor saps whose debts are still outstanding. Of note is that the higher you are in the guild, the more you use magic to extend your livelihood, eventually turning to a ghostly form. This usually has the side effect of making your offspring more susceptible to birth defects.

==Guild Members==
The Karlov family shows up in the fluff plenty of times when you read about the Orzhov, and for good reason. The Karlovs are some of the most respected families in the Syndicate, having rubbed shoulders with pretty much every other family. Their founder, Grandfather Karlov, was even part of the Obzedat! As the most respected family of the Syndicate, they have plenty of ambition to enact upon, with Teysa Karlov, the current matriarch of the family, spending much of her time trying to stage coups so she ends up as the leader of the Orzhov.
===Guild Masters===
For the longest time, the Obzedat were the defacto leaders of the Orzhov, and all of their orders were as good as law. After their demise, Kaya unwittingly assumed the role of Guild Master, due to a loophole in the Guildpact that caused every debt the Orzhov had outstanding to fall upon her. She tried her best to do the right thing for the guild, which ends up making things a bit worse, and she eventually has to call upon Tomik to help fix things. Tomik eventually becomes the official ruler of the Syndicate when Kaya is put under penance by the now Guildpact empowered Niv-Mizzet. Teysa does eventually get her wish, and pulls the strings in the background for Tomik alongside a council of three called the Triumverate.

====Obzedat====
The Orzhov Syndicate was ruled by a council of powerful ghosts. Each were the rulers of their house in the Orzhov, and they're basically the richest of the rich. One of them was probably the parun of the Guild and passed away, but the Orzhov don't let stuff like Death get in the way of PROFITS. Some do have human descendants or agents. But they would sell their grandchildren for the right price.
Both of the card forms involve your opponent losing life and you gaining life. The new version is pretty ridiculous since they can disappear on your opponent's turn and then come back and steal life from them, and give it to you.

===Guild Champions===
Teysa Karlov was chosen as their guild champion during the running of the Implicit Maze, and eventually became the official speaker for the Obezdat. Karlov being Karlov, it wasn't enough and what would follow would be several attempts to undermine and take over the Obzedat.
===Others===
Thrulls are living creatures made from dead, decomposing flesh and raised by Orzhov necromancers. They serve as the muscle of the guild, doing simple tasks like guard work and transport. All of them wear fancy masks to hide their more... undesirable faces.

==Mechanics==
===Haunt===
When a card with haunt is put into a graveyard in a certain way (from play in the case of the permanents, during resolution after casting in the case of instants and sorceries), instead you exile it and have it "haunt" another creature, much like an aura. When that haunted creature dies, it triggers another effect.

=== Extort ===
The Extort mechanic is the Orzhov's ability from the Return to Ravnica block. Essentially when you cast a spell when you have a permanent on your board with the Extort ability you can pay one black or one white mana to have each opponent lose one life which you then gain. You can't Extort a spell with the same permanent multiple times but if you have multiple permanents with the Extort ability out when you go to cast a spell you can Extort once for each of them.
===Afterlife===
Representing how the Orzhov don't recognize death as the end of one's obligations. Creatures with afterlife N leave behind N 1/1 flying spirit tokens, which are presumably the hapless creature along with any other ghosts in their service.

==Dungeons & Dragons==
Like all of the ten guilds, the Orzhov Syndicate appeared in the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, a [[splatbook]] for [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]. Here, it was handled as a combination of Background and Faction, with the player choosing the "Orzhov Representative" background to certify they have membership, and being able to earn Renown. This is a new system to 5e, and basically is a kind of abstractified experience; you start off as a general worker (Renown 1), and as you complete missions for the Guild or do things that get you noticed, your Renown increases, giving you increased abilities. Of course, if you publicly screw things up for your guild, your esteem will drop and you can lose Renown.

Characters from the Orzhov Syndicate are most likely to be [[Human]]s. The most iconic classes associated with this guild are the [[Cleric]] (Order), [[Fighter]] (Battlemaster and Champion), [[Paladin]] (Oath of Conquest), [[Rogue]] ([[Assassin]], [[Thief]]), and [[Wizard]] ([[Abjurer]], [[Diviner]], [[Enchanter]], [[Necromancer]])

===Orzhov Representative Background===
Skill Proficiencies: Intimidation, Religion

Languages: Two of your choice

Equipment: An Orzhov insignia, a foot-long chain made of ten gold coins, vestments, a set of fine clothes, and a belt pouch containing 1 pp (an Orzhov-minted 10-zino coin)

Feature: Leverage
::You can exert leverage over one or more individuals below you in the guild's hierarchy and demand their help as needs warrant. For example, you can have a message carried across a neighborhood, procure a short carriage ride without paying, or have others clean up a bloody mess you left in an alley. The DM decides if your demands are reasonable and if there are subordinates available to fulfill them. As your status in the guild improves, you gain influence over more people, including ones in greater positions of power.

To further represent the Guild's training and philosophical impact, spellcasters (that is, anyone with the Spellcasting or Pact Magic class feature) gain bonus spells to their spell list based on the guild. For the Orzhov, that's the following:
::Spell Level Spells
::Cantrip friends, guidance
::1st command, illusory script
::2nd enthrall, ray of enfeeblement, zone of truth
::3rd bestow curse, speak with dead, spirit guardians
::4th blight, death ward, Leomund's secret chest
::5th geas

Your magic tends to manifest as swirling shadows, brilliant light, or sometimes the momentary appearance of shadowy spirit forms. Your spells might draw the blood of your enemies, or even directly touch their souls.

===Orzhov Syndicate Renown===
To rise in the ranks of the Orzhov Syndicate requires devotion, dedication and deviousness. Whilst your precise responsibilities depend on whether you are a Priest (cleric), Advokist (wizard) or Enforcer (fighter or rogue), everybody starts at the bottom; working your way up requires knowing when to take orders and when to take blackmail notes. Leverage is the currency that the internal Syndicate runs on.

Rank 1: Syndic (Renown 3)
::You are a low-ranking functionary; borrowers will defer to you and perform small favors that require no significant risk, effort or cost, whilst the bulk of your work entails performing similar tasks for your superiors.

Rank 2: Knight (Rank 1 and Renown 10)
::At this rank, you earn a unique title, gain authority over syndics, and are trusted to transport large sums of money. You earn a salary that provides you with a comfortable lifestyle between adventures, and when sent on a mission that poses a potential threat, you receive an Orzhov Charm. You have the authority to demand service from borrowers, even indentured spirits, but doing this counts as credit against their debt, so be careful about doing this. Your superiors will take note of largesse and chastise you accordingly.

Rank 3: Ministrant (Rank 2 and Renown 25)
::This is the highest position that you can normally attain without being born into the Syndicate itself. Your salary increases to gran a wealthy lifestyle, and you are given a personal servitor thrull (which will be replaced in 1d4 weeks if you get it killed, so long as your superiors judge you aren't abusing it), as well as a staff of 2d4 knights and 4d8 syndics. This personal staff will obey you, but you will be punished for using them to carry out work other than that which you have been assigned by your pontiff.

Rank 4: Pontiff (Rank 3 and Renown 50)
::The highest possible rank in the Syndicate, you have become one of the executive managers who enact the will of the Ghost Council. You have authority over a staff of 2d6 ministrants, each with their own staff of 2d4 knights and 4d8 syndics. You now command a personal staff of 2d4 servitor thrulls and winged thrulls, can maintain an aristocratic lifestyle on your salary, and are even privileged to occasionally speak to members of the Obzedat.

{{Template:Ravnica Guilds}}

==Gallery==
<gallery>
</gallery>

Izzet League

2021-10-14T06:08:27Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Izzet League Renown */

[[File:Izzet Logo.png|300px|thumb|right|The crest of the Izzet League. Its guild leader, Niv-Mizzet is very vain and will often change it according to his whims.]]
The '''Izzet League''' is one of the ten Guilds of [[Ravnica]]. They are responsible for maintaining the civic works of the city: water supplies, sewers, heating, roads and so on. Which is probably not a good idea considering the guild's fickle attention span. Seriously, would you want a guild that needs [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=253601 a giant presumably dangerous spider making buildings its habitat in order for the building to be stable] in charge of maintenance? When they're not busy doing this, the magewrights perform magical experiments, often with spectacular (for good or ill) results. This does not really matter to the Izzet, because [https://i1.theportalwiki.net/img/a/a5/Cave_Johnson_fifties_fifth_test_complete09.wav SCIENCE isn't about "WHY?"! It's about "WHY NOT?"!]. Their child-like drive and curiosity, combined with their capriciousness and great intellect, makes them unpredictable at best: [[Genius: The Transgression|they can jump from amicable professor to mad scientist in the blink of an eye]].

==History==
When the Guildpact was ratified the Izzet were given their task of maintaining the civic works. Unlike the other guilds the Izzet have not tried to expand their territory or increase their power: aside from improvements to their fields of expertise their power has stayed more or less the same over the course of millennia. This is in part due to the Izzet not sticking to one idea for too long and in one part due to the fact that the Guildmaster, Niv-Mizzet, finds the thought of running Ravnica too boring. This is much to the relief of the other Guilds, mainly because if Niv-Mizzet wanted to conquer the plane for himself there would be a good chance of him actually succeeding.
[[File:Prime Izmagus.jpg|400px|thumb|left|Your average Izzet Member. [[Mark Rosewater]] once mentioned that Doc Brown of Back to the Future is a good (though less insane) example of the Izzet mindset: SCIENCE because he can. A decade later the artist Izzy took this to its logical conclusion with the new art for [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=265380 Inspiration].]]
==Structure==
The Izzet League has a rather straightforward hierarchy. At the top sits the Guildmaster, the [[dragon]] Niv-Mizzet. His position is a safe one, and all who threaten, annoy or bore him are incinerated by his breath. Below him sit those with access to the Firemind: a link with Niv-Mizzet's consciousness which allows those with the dragon's approval to link with him. This grants those who enter the Firemind access to the Guildmaster's brilliance, greatly enhancing their intellect and allowing them to overcome obstacles encountered during their research. Below this are all the regular members who gather in informal meetings, groups and symposia to study and experiment. The final group consists mainly of [[goblin]]s who act as servants, test subjects and testers of the Izzet's various spells and devices. High mortality rates are expected, and the Izzet learn what does not work from these tests. But those who are clever and lucky enough can climb the ranks and even gain access to the Firemind, as long as they please Niv-Mizzet.

==Guild Members==
The vast majority of ranking members amongst the Izzet are [[human]]s, while the test subjects are mainly goblins. Less common members include fairies, [[ogre]]s and human/djinni hybrids.

The guild also employs elementals and creatures called Weirds: elementals consisting of opposing elements. Niv-Mizzet made these to stop the squabbling of various Elementalists, a generous gesture compared to the alternative (setting them on fire).

Finally the Izzet also have drakes that they use as familiars. They also have access to dragons, who might be clones of Niv-Mizzet but intentionally made less intelligent and powerful.

===Guild Master===
[[File:Niv-Mizzet Firemind.jpg|200px|right]][[File:Niv-Mizzet Dracogenius.jpg|200px|right]]
The dragon Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind has ruled over the Izzet since the inception of the guild at the founding of the Guildpact, where he served as one of the ten Paruns who ratified the document. He is extremely intelligent, charismatic, powerful, capricious, demanding and very, very vain. In this sense he embodies the values of the Izzet (which he named after himself, of course) perfectly: his intelligence and thirst for knowledge combined with his destructive power makes him all the Izzet are in one very large and scaled body. The dragon's relationship with [[Planeswalker]]s is unknown: he unwittingly has [[Ral Zarek|one in his employ]], but he could not Planeswalk himself despite his vast intelligence and it is unknown if he even knew about the other planes at all.

He is also one of the oldest creatures on Ravnica, being at least 15,000 years old. As the millennia went on he appeared less and less in public, eventually retreating into privacy about 7500 years after the founding of the Pact. Just after the Decamillennial, the ten thousandth anniversary of the Guildpact he appeared again to fight against the Nephillim, the [[Cthulhu|Old Gods]] of Ravnica. They injured him and the Firemind retreated towards the north pole, claiming "he was bored of the fight". After this he was never seen again, and many thought he had vanished for good.

Niv-Mizzet had not vanished for good, however, and after the reinstatement of a new but non-magically empowered Guildpact he signed it on behalf of the Izzet. After his return he began to fervently research the Implicit Maze, and ordered Ral Zarek to investigate the leylines and streets of Ravnica. After his investigations were done Niv-Mizzet announced his findings to the rest of the city and started the run for the Implicit Maze.

Niv-Mizzet appears on four cards. His first two iterations, a 4/4 and a 5/5 with flying, both cost 2UURR. Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind deals 1 damage to a creature or player whenever you draw a card, and you can draw for 1 when you tap him. Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius has you draw a card whenever it deals damage to a player and can ping a creature or player for 1 when you pay UR. His third iteration as Niv-Mizzet, Parun ups the colored man commitment to UUURRR for another 5/5 flyer who draws you a card whenever any player casts an instant or sorcery and pings any target for one when you draw. This means that Niv-Mizzet combos with himself, which makes perfect sense given Niv-Mizzet's vanity: ping a player for 1 with the Dracogenius, draw a card, then ping for another 1 with the Firemind.

His latest incarnation from War of the Spark is a marked departure from all of the other Niv-Mizzet cards. With a casting cost of [[WUBRG]], this version of him represents him embracing the powers of the Guildpact after dying (but getting better) and ascending into a greater being to fight [[Nicol Bolas|Nicky B]]. He's a 6/6 Dragon Avatar with flying. When he enters the battlefield, you get to sift through the top ten cards of your deck, and put any cards with a unique color pair into your hand.

===Guild Champions===
[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Discussion.aspx?multiverseid=97208 Tibor and Lumia] are a husband and wife team of wizards: the wise and noble Tibor can grant Flying to a creature whenever you cast a Blue spell while the hot-headed Lumia pings all non-flying creatures for 1 whenever you cast a Red spell. They didn't do anything in the story of Ravnica.

[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Discussion.aspx?multiverseid=369062 Melek, Izzet Paragon] was going to be the Maze Runner for the Izzet but Ral Zarek killed him out of of jealousy and took his place. He lets you play with the top card on your deck revealed, and if it's an instant or a sorcery you can cast it with the added bonus of [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=191322 Twincasting] it.

===Others===
The afore-mentioned [[Ral Zarek]] is one of the highest ranking members of the Izzet and reports directly to Niv-Mizzet.

Crix is a female goblin engineer once in the service of the demented magelord Zomaj Hauc. He enhanced her with superior intelligence, speed and flight (by ways of [[awesome|pyromana powered jets in her metal shin bones]]). She was instrumental in the plan of the magelord to hatch three dragon eggs he found earlier and wanted to use the hatchlings to gain control over the city and defeat Niv-Mizzet. Crix' enhancements proved to be the magelord's downfall when she aligned herself with a [[party|group dedicated to defeating him]], which netted her a promotion to Master Engineer and access to the Firemind.

==Mechanics==
As the color of instants and sorceries Izzet League decks employ plenty of sorceries and instants. They are great at removal, either though sheer damage or other tricks. Izzet decks are typically good at whittling down their opponent: pinging a bit alongside damage that is not easily blocked allows for an inevitable victory.

Izzet decks have two weaknesses though: they tend to have a high mana cost while lacking the ability to accelerate their mana. They also don't have particularly good creatures: they are mostly there to improve your spellcasting and perform tricks with their abilities rather than dealing raw damage.

Although thus far the Izzet league has mechanically been associated with instants and sorceries, [[MaRo]] has been trying to find a way to make them be an artifacts matter faction, so don't be to surprised if the next time we see them, they focus on artifacts and not instants and sorceries.

===Replicate===
Replicate is an additional mana cost you can pay any number of times when casting a spell. This copies the effects of the spell and allow it to be given new targets in addition to the first, widening the effect of the spell.

===Overload===
Overload is a mana cost you can pay instead of the one listed in the top-right. This changes what the spell targets: all instances of the word "target" are replaced with the word "each", effectively targeting every 'legal target' a spell can have (while, for better or worse, by-passing things like heroic, shroud, and hexproof). Some overload cards are similar to non-overload spells. The main difference is that the non-overload spells don't usually specify a player, which in some ways gives the non-overload spells more flexibility. For example, compare [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=370818 Disperse] with [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=270798 Cyclonic Rift]. You want to save your creature by sending it to your hand and later use it's ETB ability for extra value? Well, Cyclonic Rift can't do that. On the other hand Cyclonic Rift acts either as a Disperse on one of your opponent's permanents, ''or'' by paying the overload cost sends pretty much his ''entire'' board position back to his hand, causing a huge tempo swing, and flat out eliminating any tokens he had.

===Jump-Start===
A mechanic reminiscent of 2 other mechanics, flashback and retrace. A card with Jump-Start can be cast it from your graveyard (like flashback and retrace). You have to discard a card to cast a card with Jump-Start/retrace from your graveyard (although retrace requires the discarded card to be a land where as any card type can be used with Jump-Start). After you cast the Jump-Start/Flashback card from your graveyard using the mechanic, it goes into exile after it is countered or resolves.

==Dungeons & Dragons==
Like all of the ten guilds, the Izzet League appeared in the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, a [[splatbook]] for [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]. Here, it was handled as a combination of Background and Faction, with the player choosing the "Izzet Engineer" background to certify they have membership, and being able to earn Renown. This is a new system to 5e, and basically is a kind of abstractified experience; you start off as a general worker (Renown 1), and as you complete missions for the Guild or do things that get you noticed, your Renown increases, giving you increased abilities. Of course, if you publicly screw things up for your guild, your esteem will drop and you can lose Renown.

Characters from the Izzet League are most likely to be [[Human]]s, [[Goblin]]s and [[Vedalken]]. The most iconic classes associated with this guild are [[Fighter]] ([[Gish|Eldritch Knight]]), [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|Sorcerer]] (Draconic Bloodline, Storm Sorcery, [[Wild Mage|Wild Magic]]) and [[Wizard]] ([[Conjurer]], [[Evoker]], [[Transmuter]]).

===Izzet Engineer Background===
You have proficiency in the Arcana and Investigation skills, as well as one type of Artisan's tools. You can speak Draconic, Goblin or Vedalken. You begin play with an Izzet insignia, a set of artisan's tools, a hammer, a block and tackle, a set of common clothes, and 5GP worth of Azorius 1-zino coins.

Your background feature is '''Urban Infrastructure''':
The popular conception of the Izzet League is based on mad inventions, dangerous experiments, and explosive blasts. Much of that perception is accurate, but the league is also involved with mundane tasks of construction and architecture—primarily in crafting the infrastructure that allows Ravnicans to enjoy running water, levitating platforms, and other magical and technological wonders.

You have a basic knowledge of the structure of buildings, including the stuff behind the walls. You can also find blueprints of a specific building in order to learn the details of its construction. Such blueprints might provide knowledge of entry points, structural weaknesses, or secret spaces. Your access to such information isn't unlimited. If obtaining or using the information gets you in trouble with the law, the guild can't shield you from the repercussions.

To further represent the Guild's training and philosophical impact, spellcasters (that is, anyone with the Spellcasting or Pact Magic class feature) gain bonus spells to their spell list based on the guild. For the Izzet Engineer, that's the following:
::Spell Level Spells
::Cantrip produce flame, shocking grasp
::1st chaos bolt, create or destroy water, unseen servant
::2nd heat metal, rope trick
::3rd call lightning, elemental weapon, glyph of warding
::4th conjure minor elementals, divination, Otiluke's resilient sphere
::5th animate objects, conjure elemental

Your spells tend to be loud, flashy, or explosive, even when the effect is unremarkable. For example, when you open the portal of a rope trick spell, the portal might be outlined by harmless, showy sparkles.

If you use an arcane focus, it probably takes the form of an intricate device that could include metal gauntlets, glass canisters, copper tubing, and leather straps attaching it to your body. The mizzium apparatus described in chapter 5 is a magical version of this gear.

The chaos bolt spell is a favorite of Izzet spellcasters because of its unpredictable nature.

===Izzet League Renown===
Like their fellows in the [[Simic Combine]], there's a stark difference in the roles open to members of the Izzet League depending on whether or not they can cast spells. Unlike the Combine, though, higher ranks don't require magical abilities to access.

''Rank 1: Researcher (Renown 3, Spellcasting or Pact Magic)''
::You've proven yourself smart enough (or at least lucky enough) to be entrusted with access to the League's experimental [[magitek]] engineering facilities with acceptable risk of killing yourself. You can access a lab's resources for your experiments, request the aid of 1d4 lowly attendants (commoners) for use in your experiments or missions, and can build a Mizzium Apparatus with access to an Izzet workshop, 10 days of downtime, and, for replacements, a 50GP fine.

''Special Role: Scorchbringer (Renown 3)''
::The Izzet League may have a reputation as a bunch of crazy [[arcanist]]s, but they'll happily accept anyone willing to hurl fire at things with minimal provocation. As a Scorchbringer, you belong to the League's basic military division, and are given a free pyroconverger (a [[magitek]] [[flamer]] of somewhat dubious stability) as your assigned weapon. If it blows up, you can get a replacement for 50GP.

''Rank 2: Supervisor (Renown 10)''
::Regardless of your particular skill set, you display enough sanity and level-headedness that the higher-ups decide you can be entrustede to try and point the usual cast of screwballs in the right direction. You answer to a director, and translate their commands into concrete tasks for researchers and scorchbringers to undertake. This gives you a salary (Modest lifestyle) and access to an Izzetr Charm when on official Leaguebusiness.

''Special Role: Independent Researcher (Rank 1, Renown 10, Spellcasting or Pact Magic)''
::Rather than become a supervisor, you've chosen to strike out and pursue your own personal research. As you've managed to last this long without killing yourself, you're considered trustworthy enough to do so. You now have access to a team of 2d6 competent attendants (commoners with Proficiency: Arcana) and can craft an Izzet Charm for your own uses with 5 days of downtime in the lab. You can only have 1 such charm at a time, though.

''Rank 3: Director (Renown 25)''
::Your uncanny ability to evade death at the hands of your compatriots (and your own experiments) has impressed the higher ranks of the Izzet League, and granted you the right to join the ranks of the Izmundi, the guys who manage the various laboratories of the League, either by taking the place of a dead director of founding your own lab. Whilst you still may be called upon to pursue research and experiments at Niv-Mizzet's directives, otherwise you can pretty much operate your lab as you see fit. You also earn a salary that supports a Comfortable level lifestyle, which is handy.

''Rank 4: Advisor (Rank 3 and Renown 50)''
::You've got it made in the shade, now; Niv-Mizzet himself has taken notice of you and promoted you to the Izmagnus, the guys who advise the League's Parun (in so far as he takes advice) and run the guild for him. You now can live a Wealthy level lifestyle, thanks to your fine salary.

===Niv-Mizzet===
Niv-Mizzet himself also got statted out for the Guildmaster's Guide (before he became Living Guildpact, that is). As it is, he's a CR 26 Gargantuan Dragon, ability scores ranging from 14 dexterity to 30 intelligence and the spellcasting ability of a level 20 Wizard, plus a helping of other abilities. Also, his Fire Breath is stronger than that of an Ancient Red Dragon.
{{Template:Ravnica Guilds}}

Izzet League

2021-10-14T05:54:16Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Guild Master */

[[File:Izzet Logo.png|300px|thumb|right|The crest of the Izzet League. Its guild leader, Niv-Mizzet is very vain and will often change it according to his whims.]]
The '''Izzet League''' is one of the ten Guilds of [[Ravnica]]. They are responsible for maintaining the civic works of the city: water supplies, sewers, heating, roads and so on. Which is probably not a good idea considering the guild's fickle attention span. Seriously, would you want a guild that needs [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=253601 a giant presumably dangerous spider making buildings its habitat in order for the building to be stable] in charge of maintenance? When they're not busy doing this, the magewrights perform magical experiments, often with spectacular (for good or ill) results. This does not really matter to the Izzet, because [https://i1.theportalwiki.net/img/a/a5/Cave_Johnson_fifties_fifth_test_complete09.wav SCIENCE isn't about "WHY?"! It's about "WHY NOT?"!]. Their child-like drive and curiosity, combined with their capriciousness and great intellect, makes them unpredictable at best: [[Genius: The Transgression|they can jump from amicable professor to mad scientist in the blink of an eye]].

==History==
When the Guildpact was ratified the Izzet were given their task of maintaining the civic works. Unlike the other guilds the Izzet have not tried to expand their territory or increase their power: aside from improvements to their fields of expertise their power has stayed more or less the same over the course of millennia. This is in part due to the Izzet not sticking to one idea for too long and in one part due to the fact that the Guildmaster, Niv-Mizzet, finds the thought of running Ravnica too boring. This is much to the relief of the other Guilds, mainly because if Niv-Mizzet wanted to conquer the plane for himself there would be a good chance of him actually succeeding.
[[File:Prime Izmagus.jpg|400px|thumb|left|Your average Izzet Member. [[Mark Rosewater]] once mentioned that Doc Brown of Back to the Future is a good (though less insane) example of the Izzet mindset: SCIENCE because he can. A decade later the artist Izzy took this to its logical conclusion with the new art for [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=265380 Inspiration].]]
==Structure==
The Izzet League has a rather straightforward hierarchy. At the top sits the Guildmaster, the [[dragon]] Niv-Mizzet. His position is a safe one, and all who threaten, annoy or bore him are incinerated by his breath. Below him sit those with access to the Firemind: a link with Niv-Mizzet's consciousness which allows those with the dragon's approval to link with him. This grants those who enter the Firemind access to the Guildmaster's brilliance, greatly enhancing their intellect and allowing them to overcome obstacles encountered during their research. Below this are all the regular members who gather in informal meetings, groups and symposia to study and experiment. The final group consists mainly of [[goblin]]s who act as servants, test subjects and testers of the Izzet's various spells and devices. High mortality rates are expected, and the Izzet learn what does not work from these tests. But those who are clever and lucky enough can climb the ranks and even gain access to the Firemind, as long as they please Niv-Mizzet.

==Guild Members==
The vast majority of ranking members amongst the Izzet are [[human]]s, while the test subjects are mainly goblins. Less common members include fairies, [[ogre]]s and human/djinni hybrids.

The guild also employs elementals and creatures called Weirds: elementals consisting of opposing elements. Niv-Mizzet made these to stop the squabbling of various Elementalists, a generous gesture compared to the alternative (setting them on fire).

Finally the Izzet also have drakes that they use as familiars. They also have access to dragons, who might be clones of Niv-Mizzet but intentionally made less intelligent and powerful.

===Guild Master===
[[File:Niv-Mizzet Firemind.jpg|200px|right]][[File:Niv-Mizzet Dracogenius.jpg|200px|right]]
The dragon Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind has ruled over the Izzet since the inception of the guild at the founding of the Guildpact, where he served as one of the ten Paruns who ratified the document. He is extremely intelligent, charismatic, powerful, capricious, demanding and very, very vain. In this sense he embodies the values of the Izzet (which he named after himself, of course) perfectly: his intelligence and thirst for knowledge combined with his destructive power makes him all the Izzet are in one very large and scaled body. The dragon's relationship with [[Planeswalker]]s is unknown: he unwittingly has [[Ral Zarek|one in his employ]], but he could not Planeswalk himself despite his vast intelligence and it is unknown if he even knew about the other planes at all.

He is also one of the oldest creatures on Ravnica, being at least 15,000 years old. As the millennia went on he appeared less and less in public, eventually retreating into privacy about 7500 years after the founding of the Pact. Just after the Decamillennial, the ten thousandth anniversary of the Guildpact he appeared again to fight against the Nephillim, the [[Cthulhu|Old Gods]] of Ravnica. They injured him and the Firemind retreated towards the north pole, claiming "he was bored of the fight". After this he was never seen again, and many thought he had vanished for good.

Niv-Mizzet had not vanished for good, however, and after the reinstatement of a new but non-magically empowered Guildpact he signed it on behalf of the Izzet. After his return he began to fervently research the Implicit Maze, and ordered Ral Zarek to investigate the leylines and streets of Ravnica. After his investigations were done Niv-Mizzet announced his findings to the rest of the city and started the run for the Implicit Maze.

Niv-Mizzet appears on four cards. His first two iterations, a 4/4 and a 5/5 with flying, both cost 2UURR. Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind deals 1 damage to a creature or player whenever you draw a card, and you can draw for 1 when you tap him. Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius has you draw a card whenever it deals damage to a player and can ping a creature or player for 1 when you pay UR. His third iteration as Niv-Mizzet, Parun ups the colored man commitment to UUURRR for another 5/5 flyer who draws you a card whenever any player casts an instant or sorcery and pings any target for one when you draw. This means that Niv-Mizzet combos with himself, which makes perfect sense given Niv-Mizzet's vanity: ping a player for 1 with the Dracogenius, draw a card, then ping for another 1 with the Firemind.

His latest incarnation from War of the Spark is a marked departure from all of the other Niv-Mizzet cards. With a casting cost of [[WUBRG]], this version of him represents him embracing the powers of the Guildpact after dying (but getting better) and ascending into a greater being to fight [[Nicol Bolas|Nicky B]]. He's a 6/6 Dragon Avatar with flying. When he enters the battlefield, you get to sift through the top ten cards of your deck, and put any cards with a unique color pair into your hand.

===Guild Champions===
[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Discussion.aspx?multiverseid=97208 Tibor and Lumia] are a husband and wife team of wizards: the wise and noble Tibor can grant Flying to a creature whenever you cast a Blue spell while the hot-headed Lumia pings all non-flying creatures for 1 whenever you cast a Red spell. They didn't do anything in the story of Ravnica.

[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Discussion.aspx?multiverseid=369062 Melek, Izzet Paragon] was going to be the Maze Runner for the Izzet but Ral Zarek killed him out of of jealousy and took his place. He lets you play with the top card on your deck revealed, and if it's an instant or a sorcery you can cast it with the added bonus of [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=191322 Twincasting] it.

===Others===
The afore-mentioned [[Ral Zarek]] is one of the highest ranking members of the Izzet and reports directly to Niv-Mizzet.

Crix is a female goblin engineer once in the service of the demented magelord Zomaj Hauc. He enhanced her with superior intelligence, speed and flight (by ways of [[awesome|pyromana powered jets in her metal shin bones]]). She was instrumental in the plan of the magelord to hatch three dragon eggs he found earlier and wanted to use the hatchlings to gain control over the city and defeat Niv-Mizzet. Crix' enhancements proved to be the magelord's downfall when she aligned herself with a [[party|group dedicated to defeating him]], which netted her a promotion to Master Engineer and access to the Firemind.

==Mechanics==
As the color of instants and sorceries Izzet League decks employ plenty of sorceries and instants. They are great at removal, either though sheer damage or other tricks. Izzet decks are typically good at whittling down their opponent: pinging a bit alongside damage that is not easily blocked allows for an inevitable victory.

Izzet decks have two weaknesses though: they tend to have a high mana cost while lacking the ability to accelerate their mana. They also don't have particularly good creatures: they are mostly there to improve your spellcasting and perform tricks with their abilities rather than dealing raw damage.

Although thus far the Izzet league has mechanically been associated with instants and sorceries, [[MaRo]] has been trying to find a way to make them be an artifacts matter faction, so don't be to surprised if the next time we see them, they focus on artifacts and not instants and sorceries.

===Replicate===
Replicate is an additional mana cost you can pay any number of times when casting a spell. This copies the effects of the spell and allow it to be given new targets in addition to the first, widening the effect of the spell.

===Overload===
Overload is a mana cost you can pay instead of the one listed in the top-right. This changes what the spell targets: all instances of the word "target" are replaced with the word "each", effectively targeting every 'legal target' a spell can have (while, for better or worse, by-passing things like heroic, shroud, and hexproof). Some overload cards are similar to non-overload spells. The main difference is that the non-overload spells don't usually specify a player, which in some ways gives the non-overload spells more flexibility. For example, compare [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=370818 Disperse] with [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=270798 Cyclonic Rift]. You want to save your creature by sending it to your hand and later use it's ETB ability for extra value? Well, Cyclonic Rift can't do that. On the other hand Cyclonic Rift acts either as a Disperse on one of your opponent's permanents, ''or'' by paying the overload cost sends pretty much his ''entire'' board position back to his hand, causing a huge tempo swing, and flat out eliminating any tokens he had.

===Jump-Start===
A mechanic reminiscent of 2 other mechanics, flashback and retrace. A card with Jump-Start can be cast it from your graveyard (like flashback and retrace). You have to discard a card to cast a card with Jump-Start/retrace from your graveyard (although retrace requires the discarded card to be a land where as any card type can be used with Jump-Start). After you cast the Jump-Start/Flashback card from your graveyard using the mechanic, it goes into exile after it is countered or resolves.

==Dungeons & Dragons==
Like all of the ten guilds, the Izzet League appeared in the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, a [[splatbook]] for [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]. Here, it was handled as a combination of Background and Faction, with the player choosing the "Izzet Engineer" background to certify they have membership, and being able to earn Renown. This is a new system to 5e, and basically is a kind of abstractified experience; you start off as a general worker (Renown 1), and as you complete missions for the Guild or do things that get you noticed, your Renown increases, giving you increased abilities. Of course, if you publicly screw things up for your guild, your esteem will drop and you can lose Renown.

Characters from the Izzet League are most likely to be [[Human]]s, [[Goblin]]s and [[Vedalken]]. The most iconic classes associated with this guild are [[Fighter]] ([[Gish|Eldritch Knight]]), [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|Sorcerer]] (Draconic Bloodline, Storm Sorcery, [[Wild Mage|Wild Magic]]) and [[Wizard]] ([[Conjurer]], [[Evoker]], [[Transmuter]]).

===Izzet Engineer Background===
You have proficiency in the Arcana and Investigation skills, as well as one type of Artisan's tools. You can speak Draconic, Goblin or Vedalken. You begin play with an Izzet insignia, a set of artisan's tools, a hammer, a block and tackle, a set of common clothes, and 5GP worth of Azorius 1-zino coins.

Your background feature is '''Urban Infrastructure''':
The popular conception of the Izzet League is based on mad inventions, dangerous experiments, and explosive blasts. Much of that perception is accurate, but the league is also involved with mundane tasks of construction and architecture—primarily in crafting the infrastructure that allows Ravnicans to enjoy running water, levitating platforms, and other magical and technological wonders.

You have a basic knowledge of the structure of buildings, including the stuff behind the walls. You can also find blueprints of a specific building in order to learn the details of its construction. Such blueprints might provide knowledge of entry points, structural weaknesses, or secret spaces. Your access to such information isn't unlimited. If obtaining or using the information gets you in trouble with the law, the guild can't shield you from the repercussions.

To further represent the Guild's training and philosophical impact, spellcasters (that is, anyone with the Spellcasting or Pact Magic class feature) gain bonus spells to their spell list based on the guild. For the Izzet Engineer, that's the following:
::Spell Level Spells
::Cantrip produce flame, shocking grasp
::1st chaos bolt, create or destroy water, unseen servant
::2nd heat metal, rope trick
::3rd call lightning, elemental weapon, glyph of warding
::4th conjure minor elementals, divination, Otiluke's resilient sphere
::5th animate objects, conjure elemental

Your spells tend to be loud, flashy, or explosive, even when the effect is unremarkable. For example, when you open the portal of a rope trick spell, the portal might be outlined by harmless, showy sparkles.

If you use an arcane focus, it probably takes the form of an intricate device that could include metal gauntlets, glass canisters, copper tubing, and leather straps attaching it to your body. The mizzium apparatus described in chapter 5 is a magical version of this gear.

The chaos bolt spell is a favorite of Izzet spellcasters because of its unpredictable nature.

===Izzet League Renown===
Like their fellows in the [[Simic Combine]], there's a stark difference in the roles open to members of the Izzet League depending on whether or not they can cast spells. Unlike the Combine, though, higher ranks don't require magical abilities to access.

''Rank 1: Reasearcher (Renown 3, Spellcasting or Pact Magic)''
::You've proven yourself smart enough (or at least lucky enough) to be entrusted with access to the League's experimental [[magitek]] engineering facilities with acceptable risk of killing yourself. You can access a lab's resources for your experiments, request the aid of 1d4 lowly attendants (commoners) for use in your experiments or missions, and can build a Mizzium Apparatus with access to an Izzet workshop, 10 days of downtime, and, for replacements, a 50GP fine.

''Special Role: Scorchbringer (Renown 3)''
::The Izzet League may have a reputation as a bunch of crazy [[arcanist]]s, but they'll happily accept anyone willing to hurl fire at things with minimal provocation. As a Scorchbringer, you belong to the League's basic military division, and are given a free pyroconverger (a [[magitek]] [[flamer]] of somewhat dubious stability) as your assigned weapon. If it blows up, you can get a replacement for 50GP.

''Rank 2: Supervisor (Renown 10)''
::Regardless of your particular skill set, you display enough sanity and level-headedness that the higher-ups decide you can be entrustede to try and point the usual cast of screwballs in the right direction. You answer to a director, and translate their commands into concrete tasks for researchers and scorchbringers to undertake. This gives you a salary (Modest lifestyle) and access to an Izzetr Charm when on official Leaguebusiness.

''Special Role: Independent Researcher (Rank 1, Renown 10, Spellcasting or Pact Magic)''
::Rather than become a supervisor, you've chosen to strike out and pursue your own personal research. As you've managed to last this long without killing yourself, you're considered trustworthy enough to do so. You now have access to a team of 2d6 competent attendants (commoners with Proficiency: Arcana) and can craft an Izzet Charm for your own uses with 5 days of downtime in the lab. You can only have 1 such charm at a time, though.

''Rank 3: Director (Renown 25)''
::Your uncanny ability to evade death at the hands of your compatriots (and your own experiments) has impressed the higher ranks of the Izzet League, and granted you the right to join the ranks of the Izmundi, the guys who manage the various laboratories of the League, either by taking the place of a dead director of founding your own lab. Whilst you still may be called upon to pursue research and experiments at Niv-Mizzet's directives, otherwise you can pretty much operate your lab as you see fit. You also earn a salary that supports a Comfortable level lifestyle, which is handy.

''Rank 4: Advisor (Rank 3 and Renown 50)''
::You've got it made in the shade, now; Niv-Mizzet himself has taken notice of you and promoted you to the Izmagnus, the guys who advise the League's Parun (in so far as he takes advice) and run the guild for him. You now can live a Wealthy level lifestyle, thanks to your fine salary.

===Niv-Mizzet===
Niv-Mizzet himself also got statted out for the Guildmaster's Guide (before he became Living Guildpact, that is). As it is, he's a CR 26 Gargantuan Dragon, ability scores ranging from 14 dexterity to 30 intelligence and the spellcasting ability of a level 20 Wizard, plus a helping of other abilities. Also, his Fire Breath is stronger than that of an Ancient Red Dragon.
{{Template:Ravnica Guilds}}

Warhammer: Mark of Chaos

2021-10-14T05:20:20Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73:

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[[File:Warhammer-Mark-Of-Chaos-pictures-652.jpg|600px|center|thumb|Fuck chaos! We have guns!]]
'''Warhammer: Mark of Chaos''' is a [[Warhammer Fantasy]] strategy game released back in 2006. It has similar gameplay to [[Total War: Warhammer]] despite being released 10 years before. One could say that Total War: Warhammer is its spiritual successor. Still, this is an extremely underrated gem that was almost never talked about on [[/tg/]] due to its [[Dawn Of War|short supply of memes]]. The game was for a long time very hard to find, at least legally, as the physical copies were long out of production and only recently became available on [https://www.gog.com/game/warhammer_mark_of_chaos_gold_edition GOG]. This was due to the fact that it was published by Bandai-Namco, a Japanese publisher not known for their embrace of the digital storefront, and that it was deeply integrated with [[FAIL|Games for Windows Live.]]

==Gameplay==
Like Total War: Warhammer, or any [[Total War]] game, there is no resource management or base building in the real-time portion of the game. You control an army of units selected from the overworld map, form them up in formations, manage their morale, and use your generals to- fuck it, it's a Total War game! However, as was common in strategy games of the time, rather than having a large and wide-ranging open world map to conquer, the campaigns locked you into a set of not-quite linear missions to advance the story of their Empire and Chaos champions. Multiplayer is limited to skirmish battle options, so don't expect something on the scale of a Total War game.

Both campaigns feature branching mission options at certain points in the story, but are otherwise linear. The overworld, such as it is, consists of a 3D-rendered map of the northern reaches of the Empire, with mission destinations, campsites, and ruins scattered along different points of the storypath. At each point, you may recruit new units, equip your Lords with various magical items, equipment, and skills, and customize and maintain your army. If you want to paint your Empire troops in the colors of Mariendorf, you can do so; much like Dawn of War, which had come out just two years prior, Mark of Chaos featured a fairly in-depth army customizer for that real tabletop wargaming experience.

In the RTS portion you control a mix of unit squads and individual heroes, and enemies will randomly drop equipment and items you can pick up to customize your troops, like magic standards to improve your soldiers or potions of various effects. While superficially it resembles Total War, it's much more like King Arthur: A Roleplaying Wargame or MechCommander, but with a great Warhammer Fantasy skin. You can also compare it to [[Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat]], but in glorious, bloom-spewing 3D.

The original game featured [[The Empire]], [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]], [[Warriors of Chaos]] and [[Skaven]] as playable factions.

The [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]] and [[Orcs & Goblins|Greenskins]] also appear in a limited capacity, with extremely small rosters and merely serving as mercenary units for the main factions. The [[Vampire Counts]] also make an appearance, though only as an AI faction in a handful of campaign missions.

The expansion, Battlemarch, made the Greenskins into a fully fledged faction, along with adding the [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark Elves]] as an entirely new one.

==Plot==
It should be noted that this game takes place one year after the Great War Against Chaos, which means [[Magnus the Pious]] is the emperor instead of [[Karl Franz]].

There are 2 campaigns in the game. [[Chaos]] and Empire.

In the Chaos campaign you play as '''Thorgar the Blooded One''', a [[Chaos Champion]] who fought alongside the warlord Asavar Kul (also known as the fourth 'Everchosen') in the Great War. Later levels have you control the [[Skaven]] as well. The campaign centers around Thorgar's attempts to rally the forces of Chaos after their defeat, [[Daemon Prince|ascend to daemonhood]] and, ultimately, finish what Kul started. As the Empire is still around 200 odd years after the game takes place this can be considered the non-canon campaign.

The most characteristic thing about Thorgar is that he, a powerful Chaos Champion, is best buds with a [[Norsca|Norscan]] Marauder by the name of Olaf. This wouldn't be so unique (in the end, even Chaos Warriors have friends), except this friendship continues even after Thorgar TRANSFORMS INTO A DAEMON PRINCE.

In the Empire campaign, you play as '''Stefan von Kessel''', a captain in the army of Ostermark under Count Otto Gruber. Stefan's family used to be the Elector Counts of Ostermark (which makes his service to the current count rather ironic), however they were convicted of heresy and executed with only little Stefan being spared, albeit branded with a mark of shame. The events of the campaign follow his struggles to hold off the forces of the aforementioned Thorgar whilst simultaneously trying to redeem his family name. Spoilers, he does so by uncovering hidden Chaos cultists that framed his family, and recovers the Ostermark Runefang along with his honor.

==Expansion==
The game also received an expansion called Battle March. The expansion made the Greenskins into a full faction while also adding the Dark Elves to the game. It had a campaign revolving around an orc warboss named Gorbash leading a Waaagh! through the Chaos-ravaged Empire. It is later revealed that the whole plot had been orchestrated by the Dark Elf sorceress ([[Lileath|Lilaeth (no relation to the similarly named deity)]]), who was manipulating the Greenskins for her own purposes. Also, [[Malekith]] makes a cameo, threatening to tear out Lilaeth's soul should she fail him (What a charming guy!).

==External Links==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNFGJQIW5ZM Final Trailer/Opening Movie]

{{Chaos-Champions}}

[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category:Video Games]]

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

2021-10-14T03:42:50Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Things that Suck */

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[[File:Space Marine poster.jpg|550px|thumb|center|Where he's going, you won't need eyes...]]
'''Space Marine''' is a 3rd-person video game which is featured on the PC, the [[/v/|ECKSBAWKS 360, and the PS3]]. Its genre is a hybrid of shooting and hack and slash. It was released on September 6, 2011.

== The Plot ==
The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2o-LmI3kiE&|The story] is set on the Forgeworld of Graia. It's being invaded by Orks who wish to loot the shit out of it; weapons, ammunition, vehicles, you name it. Rather surprisingly, the Orks have an actual objective this time: to steal a Warlord-class Titan of the Morning Star Legion '''''(cuz iz ded shooty)''''', an idea the Imperium isn't overly fond of. At first, the 203rd Cadian regiment was sent in to reinforce the forgeworld's defenses, but were eventually overwhelmed and pushed into a desperate defensive posture due to the Orks shooting down the majority of their support craft with a captured surface to air artillery cannon and simply outnumbering them by 100:1. Captain Titus and a small force of [[Ultramarines]] are then sent to hold back the invading Orks with the help of what's left of the Guard while the liberation fleet is on its way.

The Forces of Chaos also have a part to play, and are led by a Terminator sorcerer lord named Nemeroth. They're basically here to open a warp portal using a heretically radical device to both turn Graia into a daemon world and also so Nemeroth can become a Daemon Prince. And unlike previous games, this features actual traitor guardsmen, not the "we've recently converted to chaos and we're here as fodder" guardsmen featured in Dawn of War, fuck no, these are kickass [[Lost and the Damned]] guardsmen.

Not surprisingly, [[Blood Ravens|BLOD REHVENS]] play a role, set against Chaos as they were seen holding the initial incursion, though they only appear in brief cameo. If the game is set after [[Dawn of War II|DoWII]] then we will see [[Gabriel Angelos|Gabe's]] reforms in action, which is nice (if the Marine ending in Retribution takes place).

== Gameplay ==
[[File:SpaceMarinePCBig.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Captain Titus vs EVERYTHING]]
[[Commissar Fuklaw|No cover system. As a man from Relic said: "cover is for pussies". Space Marines are too awesome to be cowering behind cover]]. As a Space Marine, you are given enhanced regenerative abilities and an Iron Halo shield (due to your status as Captain). There are also brutal kills which the player can do to make the enemy's deaths more humorous/gory (to regain health like a man and to show-off the awesomeness of the Angels of Death, of course). Since you are playing as a Space Marine (and better yet, a veteran of 200 years of battle) you could easily kill thousands of Orks with just a simple vertical slash.

That being said, the Forces of Chaos are a lot tougher. Traitor guardsmen are still as weak as ordinary Ork sluggas and shootas, but are quite tactical, being able to organize and <s>plan strategies</s> spam grenades like they're playing a Call of Duty game. Corrupted psykers can spawn enemies and easily kill you from afar. Khorne Bloodletters can teleport, making it hard for you to shoot them, deal massive amounts of damage and can withstand quite a bit themselves. Chaos Space Marines are far more deadly. They pack weapons that are functionally the same as yours, are by far the most durable enemies, and they have regenerating shields like you do.

Instead of having regenerating health like every other shooter out there, you can only regenerate health by stunning enemies and [[Awesome|FATALITY-ing them Mortal Kombat-style]]. Additionally, ''Space Marine'' features a Fury system, which allows you to slow time when aiming a ranged weapon or to unleash a devastating melee attack (provided that you filled up the fury bar by killing enemies of course). While Titus' starting equipment consists of a bolt pistol and combat knife, weapons can range from bolters to lascannons to plasma guns to thunder hammers. You also get to take jump packs which allows you to fly and make an assault jump, which allows you to create an AoE explosion by violently landing in a position of your choosing, though this does restrict your loadouts to only melee weapons and bolters.

== Characters ==
{{spoilers}}
* '''[[Captain Titus]]''' - A Captain of the Ultramarines Chapter and their last hope of finally getting some <s>badass</s> redemption of any kind. He is sent with his company of Ultramarines to prevent an Ork Waaagh!! from looting a forgeworld. It should be noted that his character was first seen as bald but was changed to have a shaved head in the early trailers. He was finally changed to a standard space marine HAIR-etic. He is voiced by Mark Strong. Yes...'''HE'S VOICED BY FUCKING MARK MOTHERFUCKING STRONG!''' He looks kinda like Proteus from Ultramarines the Movie, excluding the longer hair and the better looking armor decor. Despite being a shrewd commander, he is looked upon with suspicion by some of his fellow Ultramarines after being the only surviving battle-brother from a battle with a Chaos Sorcerer. Deep strike is his favorite entry tactic as shown by his affinity of jumping out of vehicles.
**At the end of the game, it's shown to the player that he does indeed possess an unnatural resistance to the warp, likely a result of his massive [[blackstone]] balls. Unfortunately, Leandros doesn't know that (the faithless cur), and since Titus is the only smurf <s>with something vaguely resembling a clue</s> who's realized that honor has a time and place, he gets roped in by the Inquisition on suspicion of '''HERESY!''' Thankfully, Thrax doesn't take his gun, implying that he isn't buying it... but that still means a certain newbie smurf is going to have a very long discussion on the merits of trust with a power fist, right after the <s>anal probing</s> tests of faith are done.

* '''Veteran Sergeant Sidonus''' - A slightly grumpy smurf, Sidonus is a veteran of the Ultramarines and designated comedian of the squad, delivering dry humor to the heart of the enemy when necessary (or when not so necessary). He is said to have battled Tyranids, Orks, Eldar, Chaos space Marines and Necrons during his centuries of battle. Quite badass, <s>for an</s> like all old Adeptus Astartes. He also has a bionic arm after getting his real one nom'd by Tyranids [[Tarkus|(Wait, I think I've already heard something like this...)]]. Also lost his eye and half of his face when an Eldar weapon blew up in his face [[Huron Blackheart|(... and something like this too...)]]. Decided not to get reconstructive surgery done, opting instead to leave the scars because it looks badass.

* '''[[Lawful Stupid|Brother Leandros]]''' - A newly recruited Ultramarine clinging to his shortened copy of the [[Codex Astartes]] and behaves as a typical Wardian-era smurf. He is the youngest of the squad, being only 75 years old (which is considered young by Space Marine standards) yet he has one of the highest honors that a chapter can bestow (<s>that, ironically enough, seems to be missing from Sidonus' power armor mantle as a ''veteran'', it is assumed that he is trained in the use of terminator armour, like all 1st company ''veterans'')</s> except the Crux Terminatus is an award, so he should still have been carrying it, Terminator honors. <s>Titus probably took his, so now he's mad at him for it... perhaps a little too mad...</s>

* '''Second Lieutenant Miranda Nero''' - Being the only loyalist commissioned officer left, Mira leads what remains of the 203rd Cadian that was reassigned to Graia. Turns out they went too far out into the green sea and got cut off from supplies and support. She seems to share [[Merrick]]'s view of placing the lives of her men above the Imperium. '''HERESY!!!''' The fact that she's holding the entire operation together despite being just a lieutenant impresses even Titus.

* '''Inquisitor Jean-Baptiste Emanuel <s>Zorg</s> <s>Skrillex</s> Drogan''' - The Inquisitor. He looks like he hasn't slept in a week (which is understandable, given that he's fighting both an Ork [[WAAAGH]] and [[Chaos Space Marine]]s), and his hair is really dirty and emo looking. He also has a metal plate attached to the right side of his head. Must be a radical. He's also '''EXTREMELY''' obsessed with killing xenos due to him being previously tortured by xenos (<s>possibly [[Dark Eldar]]</s>) Yeah, because we know that anyone can escape from Commoragh) for several years. During his time on Graia, his '''EXTREME''' obsession made him create mysterious experimental weapons in hopes of getting revenge, and one of these experiments included a portal that led to '''EXTREME''' consequences. This is due to the fact that the forces of chaos used said portal to enter the forge world, '''EXTREME'''ly. His eyes also lit up during a cutscene. MUST BE A HERETIC. BIG TWEEST. HE'S A PUPPET FOR THE LORD SORCERER.......... Okay it isn't that simple. Turns out he had a "subject" delivered to his laboratory to test his shiny new weapon on, the "subject" turned out to be a daemon which escaped, and proceeded to buttrape poor Drogan and possess his corpse (all the backstory is in the audio logs). Since this daemon read the fluff, he's decided that ''maybe'' the '''EXTREME''' factions have a bit more pull, so he pretends to be '''EXTREME'''.

* '''[[Nemeroth|Lord Nemeroth]]''' - A Chaos Terminator Sorcerer Lord and the '''Big Bad''' of the game. He is possibly the Sorcerer Titus "killed" previously. He leads a warband consisting of [[Chaos Space Marines|Chaos Marines]], Khornate [[bloodletters]], [[Blight Drone]]s, and Tzeentch psychers (presumably the forces of [[slaanesh]] were left out so as to avoid an adults only rating in America). He also proves Relics infinite creativity at naming characters, for the difference between him and [[Neroth|Eliphas' nagging wife]] is but two wretched letters. Also found a way around the Squishy Wizard law, because he wears '''TERMINATOR ARMOUR'''. Still got beat up by an Ork wearing almost no armour, though. Titus manages to defeat Nemeroth because the latter forgot to wear a helmet (then again, so does Titus). Shame, too, because he was just at the doorstep of becoming a [[Daemon Prince]].

* '''[[Warboss Grimskull]]''' - He is the Ork Warboss leading his Ork [[WAAAGH]]!!! on Graia with the intention of stealing the planet's Titans. Later on, he becomes interested in the power source Titus and Inquisitor Drogan possess. [https://youtu.be/Uox82AiheLI| He ain't so easy to kill].

* '''Inquisitor Thrax''' - The inquisitor that appears at the end of the game, where his name was mentioned on the monitor for the status on Graia. He came to take Titus into investigative custody after Leandros' accusations of heresy. Was likely planned to be a major character in the sequel, but that unfortunately never came to fruition.

== Things that rock ==
[[File:Angry marine by mysteryone617-d3j5gzj.png|300px|thumb|The official sequel]]
* Seemingly a better game than that [[Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior]] where you play as a [[Tau|Space Communist]] on his first day of duty, who is apparently a one man (well, xenos) army that could single-handedly kill genetically modified super soldiers, <s>a daemon prince</s> TWO Daemon Princes and a greater daemon of [[Tzeentch]]. lolwut?
* You get to play as a Space Marine.
* Guardsmen who fight alongside you have balls of steel, they rarely fall back. (Which makes crunch sense: with a Space Marine Captain alongside them, they too SHALL KNOW NO FEAR!)
* Orks (this time they actually look like a credible threat, not just dumb drunk ape-brawlers on steroids)
* Captain Titus isn't a total Mary Sue like the rest of this Chapter, even going so far to say that the [[Codex Astartes]] is just a guidebook and not meant to be taken literally. Thus: FUCK YOU MATT WARD.
* NO REALLY FUCK YOU MATT WARD
* Hilarious amounts of blood, dismemberment, and all other forms of gore you could imagine. [[Khorne]] would probably favor this game, even if you do play as an Ultramarine.
* Executions (like the sync kills in DoW, which you can do to a stunned enemy) are actually required for you to restore your health, rather than going around and picking up medpacks, ducking in a corner and letting your wounds heal like magic, or some other unmanly method. Ensuring that playing longer requires you to give those guys screaming at you a good ol' fashion Chainsword enema, which is awesome.
* Chaos Space Marines.
* BLOODLETTERS!!!
* You pick up an [[Autocannon]] in <s>one</s> TWO levels.
[[File:The weak.jpg|300px|right|thumb|One is running away from the enemy, the other is running '''INTO''' the enemy. <s>Which do you think is loyal to the Emprah?</s> Another difference: one is a genetically modified super soldier with a FUCKHEUGE power armor and Ultrasmurf plot armor, the other is a normal man with a cardboard armor and a flashlight. Both are facing [[Angry Marines|angry]] green warmongers. Which do you think has [[Imperial Guard|balls of steel]]?]]
* Mark Strong (who you may remember from his previous roles starring in Rocknrolla, Kickass, Robin Hood, Stardust and Sherlock Holmes) as the voice of Captain Titus. (Don't forget Merlin from the Kingsman! Who wouldn't want to see Captain Titus murdering some greenskins while belting out Country roads by John Denver)
* <s>JUMP PACKS.</s> Out of fuel. (They be awesome while they last though)
* Pre-Order skins for [[Black Templars]], [[Blood Ravens]], [[Space Wolves]], <s>[[Iron Hands]]</s> [[Iron Warriors]] and [[Emperor's Children]].
* Apparently, even the games demo would destroy a PC's motherboard due to its extreme epicness. Watch here for proof [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47PDV9Rcjv4]
* Co-op comes in the form a 4-player Horde mode.
* Standard multiplayer is Chaos vs. Spess Mehrens. Fuck yes.
* You get to paint your own multiplayer character, much like the army painter system in DoWII. BETTER, because you can change every part of your power armour and paint up to THREE COLOURS FOR EVERY PART. Seriously, is a delight to try paint schemes, it have an asslot of colours and your (Chaos)Space Marine is in glorious 3D. You also get to pick your own loadout.
*Cock of Duty-like perks. Yes, multiplayer perks. However some of them are cool and are named after rules from the TT game, Most make sense, others are FUCKING STUPID (see bottom of next list). One real nice thing about the perks is that you can use them along with your tailored loadout in EXTERMINATUS.
**Said mode brings together 4 battle brothers able to act essentially like mini-Tituses, healing at ridiculous rates with Zeal, Larraman's Blessing or Iron Halo and slaughtering 20 waves worth of orks and one of chaos (or guardsmen, for Chaos Unleashed players)
*Livery changes for the single player are widely available for free. If you still hate the smurfs, you can easily change that by playing something like the [[Black Templars]] or [[Angry Marines]]. <s>are unlocked at level 5 and only affect multiplayer. Enjoy your smurfs.</s> ACTUALLY: whilst it is true that customization options are only available from level 4 onwards, there are unofficial modifications available for livery changes for a great number of chapters in single player. (see: http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?262044-Space-Marine-Custom-Titus-Skins-Armour-of-Angelos)
*After release fans wouldn't stop bitching (read flooding the official forums) asking for a mute all button in the multiplayer lobby. A couple weeks later an update included the mute all button, in short THEY [[Gets_shit_done|GET SHIT DONE]]
*New DLC just added [[Dreadnought]]s (AKA ungodly walking rape machine).
*The Anniversity Edition, released on 9/23/21 made all the DLCs free for people who have it, as well as giving goodies like soundtracks, classic and new wallpaper, the manuel, ringtone, artbook, collector's cards, and the launch trailer as well

== Things that Suck ==
* When the daemons first show up, Titus refers to them as "Chaos daemons!" Is there any other kind? <s>WAIT, DON'T ANSWER THAT!</s>
* Cadians are portrayed as pussies who have to rely on the Smurfs to get anything done, with the sole exception of Mira. Someone at Relic mistakenly believed that Cadians are just another one of those regiments that rely purely on numbers to get shit done. In reality, with all the training from birth and living next to the Eye of Terror things, they should be telling the Orks where to shove it and Chaos forces whose dicks to suck. (While outnumbered at least 100 to 1 and cut off from resupply? ESPECIALLY when outnumbered and undersuplied, CADIA LIVES!)
* Explosions look like total ASS. While the texture work on the game is extremely detailed, they apparently skimped on their pyrotechnic effects. Some of the smoke and explosion effects look like they came off a PS1 game. This is painfully jarring in the opening aerial battle between the navy and the Orks.
* Ultrasmurfs. (Bear in mind though, you would probably bitch about it if they mentioned any other chapter as "the greatest of them all". [[Ultramarines:The_Movie|Observe]]). However, it could be argued that part of the joy of the badassery of Captain Titus is that he lends credit to that stereotype.
* While "Cover is for Pussies" is a manly mechanic, being able to fire from cover while being pinned by tons of Ork Shootas and Chaos Havocs in unreachable positions wouldn't be so bad.
** Don't forget the waves of renegade guardsmen who posses an inexhaustible supply of grenades that they lob at you without hesitation. This alone makes it nearly impossible to complete the later chapters without abusing cover and Lascannon camping.
*No awesome executions in multiplayer. Multiplayer executions were dropped because it would leave you vulnerable while performing it and [[Matt Ward|some people]] would get upset at seeing their marine having their organs torn out. This leaves one wondering why it wouldn't be left in as an optional humiliation move.
**More baffling is that it is being left out of the upcoming co-op as well for the exact same reasons, despite it being in singleplayer, meaning you can only regain health by [[Gay|hiding in cover while your health regenerates.]][[Derp| "Cover is for the weak" indeed.]]
***Further undermined by the fact that not taking cover against Tankbustaz will get you killed in a ludicrously quick-and-dirty way, as will charging into a pack of Traitor Guardsmen whilst they burn you alive in your artificer armor with volleys of [[Lasgun|flashlight]] fire.
* Explaining things to the newbs.
*<strike>There is NOBODY in fucking multiplayer, seriously, I've fucking waited for hours.</strike> NOT ANYMORE. The free giveaway have given new life to the multiplayer, with a small but loyal fanbase playing practically every day.
* They wanted to cast Sean Pertwee (Who played Governor Severus in Fire Warrior) as one of the characters, but they already had enough VA's. Not having Sean Pertwee in a Warhammer game, or film, is just plain wrong (though they do express desire to cast him in a possible sequel). '''UNFORTUNATELY!''' <s>THQ said that there won't be a sequel. [[Rage|FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!]]</s> <s>There might be a sequel, apparently, but only if THQ doesn't collapse in on itself like a super-massive star due to all its debt.</s> THQ just went belly-up. The sequel's destiny is now in the hands of Sega....Emperor preserve us all.
* Another 40k game about some Space Marine snowflake. See Ultrasmurfs. But on the bright side, only Leandros acts like the generic Mary sue Ultramarine, Titus and Sidonus are more-or-less likable, even by those with a slight distaste for the Ultramarines.
* Not enough choppy. For a game that relies a lot on melee combat, not a lot of actual melee weapons to go around, only a knife (Which you can only use at the beginning of the game), chainsword, power axe, and thunder hammer and additionally, sync-kills are fairly limited for each one and starts to get "meh" after a few playthroughs. Given 40K's extensive armory of choppy choppas, you would think Relic could include more things like more power swords, fists and claws, eviscerator chainswords (And a large two-handed, flamer-toting chainsword would have been emprah-like to have), or just more sync-kills for said 4 weapons so players would have more variety in the amount of gore present.
* [http://www.spacemarine.com/blog-post/warhammer-40000-space-marine-e3-game-demo-walkthrough Apparently, melta guns are shotguns now and the Lascannon is some kind of retarded sniper rifle with slow-mo.]
**<s>[[Matt Ward|Sounds somehow familiar, no?]]</s> The Meltas are only shotguns as far as digital [[crunch]] is concerned; they're still burning death rays fluff-wise, disintegrating tons of orks and even daemons in one shot. As for the Lascannons, they aren't any more or less of a sniper weapon here than they are on the tabletop (basically an anti-materiel rifle, except on super grimdark space steroids). Neither of them do a lot against Dreads, which is bullshit. The lascannon has a minor mitigation in that Titus doesn't have the accompanying power-backpack, which could understandably make each shot less powerful.
*Games consist of melta, plasma cannon, stormbolter, or vengeance launcher spam, the few players who disdain cheap tactics (oddly the ps3 space wolves champion this view) lose on principle unless they're banned in a tournament or are a cheating fuck named jwolf96 who bolt pistols you with a headshot WHILE JUMPING AROUND AS ASSAULT.EVERY TIME.hax.
*No [[Flamer]]s. (melta gun doesn't count)
*No [[Grav-Weaponry]]. (No halofags the Thunder Hammer is '''not''' a grav-weapon)
*Gears of War fanboys constantly saying that the game is a copy of Gears of War, even though it's a hack and slash shooter hybrid that does not feature a cover system (GOW is like a ducking simulator). They're also too magnificently retarded to realize that Warhammer 40,000 came Waaaaaaaaayyyyy before Gears of War. Not to mention the [[Space Marines]] of 40k inspired the giant space marine with the huge weapons.
*FUCKING audio stutter during times where you're battling hordes of enemies (which, in a hack-and-slash game, happens all the time). It's revealed that this is not hardware related as even those with high-powered machines and updated drivers also suffer from this. Relic might provide a fix for this but some are shifty about this, fearing that they might pull off the old [[Dawn of War]] ignorance on this game too. If you want a slightly acceptable temporary fix for this that doesn't require you playing this game in silence, infinitely loop a battle theme of your choosing on your music player such as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRiU2N03Rzs Requiem for a Tower] while playing, set your volume to a level of your choosing, and gleefully continue hacking your opponents to shreds and curb-stomping them to paste. If you need the voices for tactical input, just enable subtitles.
*Shitty voice acting from anyone who is not a space marine (or lieutenant mira)
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbiqNn6LxFM Shitty fucking lag that has remained unfixed over a month after its released], ergo consigning the game to the dustbin as new Vidya Gaems that are frankly better than it are released.
*<s>Only five maps, all of which encourage outright camping and grenade spam.</s> They're releasing more maps every few months.
*Matchmaking sucks a bag of dicks the size of a [[Nurgle|Great Unclean One]].
*<s>Devastator Marines are vastly more powerful than all other Marines, and it's possible to circumvent the Heavy Bolter's setup time by switching to/from your pistol. The switch-setup was fixed in a patch, but Devastators are still infinitely superior to anything any other Marine class can do damage-wise Assault/Raptor with thunder hammer/daemon maul with Killing Blow. Nuff said.</s> Plus the inability to dodge effectively, (Learn to combat roll, dumbass. Saves my bacon all the time.) slow recharge times on armor and health, and the fact that one shot from a tactical marine's plasma gun will melt your shit instantly balances it out. N00bs need to STFU and get some skill and stop whining. Also, unlike Raptors/Assault Marines, Devastators can't FLY.
*There were originally going to be Combi-Weapons in the game, but it was scrapped.
*Environments need more variety. A lot more variety. The game really doesn't start shaking shit up until about halfway through. Till then, everything is cityscape type level killing a bunch of Orks.
*On the console versions, accusations of Standbying (abusing host lag) are ''rampant''.
*<s>Makes no fucking sense from a chronological perspective - Graia was OMNOMNOM'd by the [[Tyranids]] (caught in the path of the initial Hive Fleet that approached Macragge) long before the events of Dawn of War and Dawn of War 2 - meaning that Titus' victory was ultimately a pyrrhic one, unless there's another Graia out there in the Imperium of Man. It's an alternate timeline, and it takes place on a different Graia (this particular Graia is located in the Segmentum Tempestus, not Ultima Segmentum). You can tell because Titus is the Captain of the Ultramarine's Second Company instead of Sicarius and Titan Invictus wasn't destroyed in the 13th Black Crusade (which was way before Dawn of War).</s>
**It takes place some time into M42, and it's a different Graia. Evidence: In Ultramarines: The Movie, Captain Severus was 2nd Company Captain, and the film took place after the battle for Macragge given their WE MARCH FOR MACRAGGE creed. Sicarius is either dead or been promoted by now. With Severus dead by the hands of the Daemon, Titus becomes his successor. Further proof comes from the Blood Ravens appearance. Hive Fleet Leviathan, a splinter of which was defeated by the Magpies in DOW2, showed up in the final years of M41. Given that Retribution takes place 11 years after that, and Titus mentions the Aurelian Crusades, Relic has left the 41st Millennium behind. In four games, Relic has pushed further with the 40K timeline than Games Workshop has in twenty years.
***This is more or less confirmed by 8th edition. Cato Sicarius gets lost in the Warp at one point, so naturally they would have promoted someone else (namely Titus) to fill in. Sure the [[Great Rift]] doesn't appear on the map in the intro, but it hadn't been made up yet IRL, what are you gonna do?
* Not enough Ham. From the company that brought such gems as "BEAR WITNESS TO MY ASCENSION!!!!" and "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! LET THE GALAXY BURN!", it's a bit of a letdown when <s>even the Orks sound bored</s> you call "GIT OFF MAH SHIP, SPACE MUHREEN!!" bored? Calm Space Marines are boring Space Marines. Shout your litanies to the Emperor, dammit!
*<s>[[Butthurt|Multiplayer perks. COCK OF DUTY MODERN SHITFUCK ANNOYING FUCKING 'MARTYRDOM' RIPOFF. Yes. Your armor's power-pack/jump-pack EXPLODES with a ludicrous kill zone. FUCKING ANNOYING.</s>]] The noobs want perks deal with it. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
**<s>this game is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with bigger guys for you.</s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|Heresy!}}
* Multiplayer: MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. NOW I LAG LOLOLOLOLOL. But this comes as a result of no dedicated servers due to a small playerbase. (One player goes as far as to call Host Migrations "Warp Storms" over voice chat, due to the seeming level of warp-dickery behind their timing.)
*<s>[[Butthurt|Dreadnoughts are unstoppable rape machines that will steamroll the entire enemy team by themselves unless it is made up entirely of devastator marines (RELIC SUCKS AT BALANCE!)]]</s> the concept of game balance is bullshit. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
* Final boss fight with Nemeroth is disappointing. Instead of having a proper fight like against Grimskull, it's just a quick-time event. While being sort of epic the first time you play it (You ''are'' falling down a space elevator, after all) it gets repetitive and boring in following play-throughs. Also, you can spam all three of the required inputs at once with no penalty.
** And to get to the irritating button mash you have to drudge through a long and annoying fight with his OP minions.
*Good luck finding a game that's on any of the DLC stuff, or outside of the original five maps, You won't find any matches that aren't Seize Ground or Annihilation. We seriously need a new Space Marine game.
* There's no-one fucking playing multiplayer anymore
* We're never gonna get a sequel :c
* A squad of [[Veteran Squad#Sternguard Veterans|Sternguard Veterans]] or [[Terminators]] could have solved both the Orc and Chaos problems in under thirty minutes. A squad of each should have been aboard the [[Strike Cruiser]] in orbit. Deamon Prince Nemeroth whiled on by Assault Terminators led by Titus would have been funny and [[awesome]] to see.
* Your a dwarf in a barrel.
* Exterminatus glitching the fuck out.
* The bolter behaves like a generic assault rifle. Orks will take like 10 shots to die. Fire warrior (shudders) remains the only 40k game to get the bolter right.
*Said Anniversity Edition now made it priced at $60 USD, overpriced considering that it released 10 years ago

== Downloadable Content ==
The game is constantly being supported and so much new content has been added over the past few months, it's astonishing. New content includes new modes such as capture the flag mode, capture and control, and dreadnought assault. New maps have been released, and previous pre-order only skins are now available (including new ones such as the Legion of the Damned skin-YEAH!) Below is a list of all the dlc you <s>can buy now(some of which is free by the way.)</s> have as of the Anniversary Edition.

*Exterminatus: This is a free update that added co-op to the game. A much needed add-on. Let's you play as Loyalist Marines in a team of four vs hordes of orks. Fun and crazy, (SPOILER!) final round is a bonus round against Chaos (end of spoiler.) Can use all your multiplayer loadouts and gain experience as well.

*Chaos Unleashed: You can now play as Chaos Space Marines in the Exterminatus game mode. Gameplay wise it isn't different from the Loyalist version, but new enemies along with the ol' ORKS are present. These new enemies are the Imperial Guard and the orks get a new unit (read ork entry below.) Oh yeah and we can now KILLZ US SOME SPACE MARINES! ULTRAMARINES TO BOOT!

**IG units include: regular shock troops with lasguns, veterans with chainswords (yes you read that right), sanctioned Imperial psykers who can also tackle stun you, troops with melta guns and troops with grenade launchers.
**Apart from the IG forces the Orks have their old units returning with the addition of KILLA KANZ coming in during the bonus round! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2sni61dms The start of the bonus round and how fucking tough it is.]
**Yes, space marines are part of the enemy now, and they are tough as hell to kill. If anyone made it to the bonus chaos round for the loyalists, they will know. They have the same armor and health as the CSM of that bonus round, but come standard in every arena (during the later half usually.) You need to work together as a team to take them down, if not you'll get overwhelmed pretty easily. They have the tactical marines, assault marines without jump packs (Thank the Dark Gods) and devastators with plasma cannons (That can fuck your shit in case you allow them to fire a volley)
**Three new maps including Habs Ablaze, Station Tertius and Aquila Canyon. This dlc also includes new achievements and trophies.

*Capture the flag (free update): Regular run of the mill capture the capture the flag mode. Unfortunately, devolves into everyone camping their sides to defend their flags and going long range. IF you've got balls of steel. then charge the other side to scare the hell out of them. Preferably use the Assault Marine with a hammer and "Death from above" upgrade.

*Capture and control: <s>Currently playing. Will update soon.</s> Sadly, due to bad matchmaking and division of map rotations, I cannot find a game to play of this mode. Will try to update soon. If anyone else has, you obviously have the right to update it on your own... something something this was written maybe 3 years ago. Also a run of the mill game mode, Assault unit hell.

*Dreadnought Assault: Probably the most controversial of the game modes. This player has already played it and highly recommends it. But the playerbase is apparently divided. Basically, you have to capture the Dreadnought capture point and as soon as it is captured, a teammate that is inside the point will be chosen to pilot the <s>suit</s> rape machine (at random? no idea. Needs confirmation.) You have to use the dreadnought to <s>capture the other points</s> assrape the other team. It is an ungodly powerful machine with a lot of health and you gain the auto/assaultcannon, powerfist/claw (both former weapons for loyalists and latter for Chaos, the auto-cannon and assault cannon are the weapons that differ from their counterpart on the other side, with the auto having lower RoF but higher damage per shot, and the assault having higher RoF but less damage per shot, but both fire rapidly enough to be used the same way), and meltagun. Obviously becomes a fire magnet and players will mostly use <s>devastators</s> Thunderhammers/Power Mauls on it. (contrary to tabletop, DEVASTATORS/HAVOCS CAN'T SCRATCH THE DAMN DREADNOUGHT) Comes with appropriate skins for Chaos and Loyalist marines.

**Includes three new maps as well; Desolation, Dome Mechanicus and Chem Refinery. New achievements/trophies also included.
**Has apparently vanished into the ether on the Xbox marketplace and is no longer available (on that system at least). Perhaps the playerbase bitched too much?

*As said before, pre-order skins are now available, including some new ones. Just to get you drooling, Iron Hands and Death Guard armor. OH YEAH!

*Subsection F, article U:

+[ How to destroy the Dreadnought ]+

As tested by two players, one yours truly, there is a limited number of options when it comes to dealing with an enemy Dreadnought.

#Lascannons do minimal damage. Headshots can do some decent damage - but it's finicky due to lag and a weird head hitbox (especially since the extra-damage weak point on the Dreadnought is the engine at the back, not the head, oops).
#Stalker Bolter is more reliable, but nowhere near as good against the Dread. Works well on its escorts, though.
#Heavy Bolter can damage it but it takes a lot of shots, and the Dread *will* return fire at the first opportunity and fuck your ass. Fire and move.
#[[What|Meltaguns do nothing.]] Avoid. (They take off exactly 10% of the Dreadnought's health from pointblank range, make of this what you will).
#Grenades only annoy it, but Flash Grenades can blind it for a second.
#Devastator stomp does nothing (and if you were trying to do this in the first place, [[Tau|gb2Tau]]).
#Plasma Guns and Pistols do absolutely nothing unless charged, and are questionably useful if charged. The "Sticky" charged shot though is great for drawing a Dread's attention, and can do a bit of damage to help out or soften it up prior to an attack.
#A Dread's close combat arm will put your head through your ass and send you flying in one hit.
#The Dreadnought has its own Iron Halo shield, but only for one charge that lasts for about 30 seconds. When activated, the Dreadnought strikes a distinctive pose while its arm glows. Firing at it now is a waste of ammo and your life.

Your destructive answer in this case is PLASMA, followed by VENGEANCE LAUNCHER. Plasma cannons are the only heavy weapon that will reliably do anything of relevance to the Dreadnought, and it takes around 10 shots. The only option other than Plasma Cannons are the Vengeance Launcher and the Thunderhammer/Power Maul. The former will do in a Dread in about 12 shots; the latter, if you have the Killing Blow perk, will make quick work of the Dreadnought.

Devastators:
#'''USE PLASMA CANNONS AT RANGE.''' Fire a barrage and fuck off. Watch for return fire, the Assault Cannon/Reaper Autocannon have a hellish rate of fire and will tear you to shreds.
#'''ALTERNATELY, USE HEAVY BOLTER AND CAMP TACTICAL LOCATIONS.''' Heavy Bolter can rack up insane damage very, very quickly and can easily wipe a squad of Escorts if you set up correctly. Surprisingly, the Heavy Bolter can also do a lot of damage to the Dread if it doesn't get a chance to return fire (I.E. it has its attention held by Plasma Cannoneers and the like).
#'''LASCANNON ONLY IF YOU'RE THE HOST.''' Lag makes Lascannon headshots completely unreliable unless you're the host, and turns the potential the Lascannon has against both the Dread and its escorts to functionally nil. If you ''are'' the host, feel free to use the Lascannon, as it can damage the Dreadnought (not as much as the Plasma Cannon though) and easily wipe the Escorts out. Generally though, you will want one of the other Heavy weapons (again, mostly Plasma Cannons).

Assaults:
#'''DRAW SOME ATTENTION WITH THE PLASMA PISTOL.''' The Plasma Pistol's virtually worthless damage-wise against the Dread, but a charged shot will stick to it, fuck up its vision for a half-second or so, and rattle around its aim a bit. Consider a Plas Pistol charged shot when you need to get the Dread's attention and keep it from a safer distance.
#'''SWORDS AND CHAINSWORDS, LEAD THE WAY.''' Combine a Sword (Chain or Power) with Swordsman's Zeal and Combat Drugs. You'll generally not do any appreciable damage to the Dreadnought, but that isn't the point: You can use this combo to land next to a Dread, get in a swipe or two on either it or its escorts, and fuck off, potentially drawing fire and attention away from much more important matters (like the Devastators your team has lining up shots). Note, however, that if you delay or the enemy team is smart, you will wind up a bloody smear on the floor. If not on active Dread attention-getting duty, help cap points and deal with the escorts.
#'''AXES ARE RISKY BUSINESS.''' Axeman's Zeal offers bigger damage chunks and the same delicious healing, and works the same way as the Sword/Chainsword tactic above, but it leaves you open more. Bear this in mind. If you're not that good with the Axe, leave it at home.
#'''THUNDER HAMMER/DAEMON MAUL - THE KILLING BLOW.''' Killing Blow helps. A ''fucking'' lot. Without this perk, you can still wreck up the Dreadnought, but not by yourself. Two or more Assaults with hammers and the Dreadnought is [[Ork|proppa]] fucked.
#'''SUICIDE IS PAINLESS.''' It's a dick move, but loading up with Final Vengeance Assaults can do some good damage to the Dreadnought if absolutely every other fucking tactic fails. Fly in, spam grenades, Swing Sword/Axe/Hammer until killed, die on purpose, explode.

Tacticals:
#'''PLASMA GUN IS AN OKAY CHOICE I GUESS.''' Similar to the Plasma Pistol, you aren't taking the Plasma Gun for the damage, even though it is a little higher than the Plasma Pistol's and it can damage the Dread better. The main advantage is punching the fucking escorts with it, or sticking charged shots to the Dread itself to draw attention, damage it a little, and throw off its aim. Fire off a shot, then get the fuck out of dodge.
#'''HELP CAP FUCKING POINTS.''' Damned things won't handle themselves, and you need 'em to win.
#'''MOST OF YOUR WEAPONRY WON'T HURT THE DREADNOUGHT.''' The Tactical has ''one'' weapon that can contribute to a fight with the Dreadnought, and it's also the one weapon almost fucking nobody uses: The Vengeance Launcher. It takes about 12-14 shots given ideal aim, but the Vengeance Launcher ''can'' kill the Dreadnought. Working in teams, this can actually be just as effective as Plasma Cannon spamming - do note that it holds much less ammo, though, and is much harder to use.
#'''HELP YOUR TEAMMATES.''' Teleport Homer may be the most unsung hero of Dreadnought fights. One Tactical in a good spot can effectively act as a mobile spawnpoint for his buddies. Ideal for Devastator teams which need a quick way into the fight that isn't a [[METAL BOXES|Metal Box]].
#'''YOU STILL HAVE GRENADES.''' Grenades can still do damage and still blind the Dreadnought, so for fuck's sake, use them.
#'''STALKER BOLTER THE FUCKING ESCORTS.''' Stalker Bolter will cut the escorts to shreds if you're a good shot, and can reliably damage the Dreadnought a tiny bit if there's no other targets of opportunity handy (generally you want to avoid pissing it off as a Tactical, though). Stalker the escorts though, to ensure your teammates can deal with the Dread easier without worrying about its squad of tagalongs.

''An important note about the DLC. While a lot of the new stuff is fun and cool, the lists are divided by map rotations. Meaning when you choose a specific game mode, you choose the content you want to play in. Normally this isn't so bad, but what ends up happening is that you wait and wait for games to appear for the selected content. If you don't join a game for that dlc during that waiting time, you are pushed into a standard content game. So you want to join a Chaos Unleashed map, but there's no one around, so you join (read: forced into) a regular match. Oh no, the second you join said match, other people joined the CU list and you just left. Hopefully something will done about that.''

[ How to spam Chaos Unleashed Exterminatus ]
This DLC added IG and SPESS MAHREENS to your Ork hordes, while allowing you to be HERETICS. Sounds awful, right? WRONG. This mode is actually easy to spam to the bonus wave.
STEP 1: if you manage to get a full four players, divide yourselves among Raptors and Tacticals. (With a minimum of one raptor, but preferably two or three)
STEP 1.5: If you're a raptor, have the perks for damage when you lift off and land on with your jump pack, and a daemon maul or chain axe if you don't like the low swing speed of the maul. (not required but it helps.)
If you're a/the tactical marine, have the teleport homer and perk that allows an extra weapon. Have a bolter, melta gun, and plasma gun. (Again, not required but it helps)
STEP 2: When you enter the map, have one raptor jump to the Orks, and the other jump to the IG forces, while the tactical marines camp in a corner of the map of their choice.
STEP 3: Have the raptors bait the two forces together, kill a few if you're feeling ballsy, and jump away back to the tacticals. The Orks and IG should start beating the fuck out of each other while only a few stragglers chase your gang. Kill the ones that follow you (it will still be a pretty steady stream, but the majority of their forces will be Shooting/chopping each other. )
STEP 4: The IG WILL win once teh SPESS MAHREENS show up. But usually they'll only have a small squads worth of either. You now have two options.
1: have the raptors charge to draw fire, toss grenades, do some damage and leave, while the tacticals charge and blow them up with their meltas, should ammo run out, use fully charged plasma shots. then have them run. repeat until all forces are destroyed.
OR
2: All of you run in from different directions, If you've beaten the main game 1 marine and a guardsmen or two isn't difficult, hopefully (sometimes the AI will still charge one guy, ignoring targets that are closer) they will be split up enough for each player to take out his group and help the others who haven't.
These work all the way up to the bonus round, which is just killa kans.
NOTE: These require some pretty good amounts or coordination between your squad members, and due to the AI's nature have a chance of entering an "allies of desperation" pseudo alliance and zerg-rushing your squad while only minimally chopping each other, this is rare however and the above strategies work 9 times out of ten.
ONE PLAYER METHOD.
STEP 1: Be a raptor with the above described perks and equipment (Much more essential this time.)
Step 2: Basically the same as the other step 2, except you're only choosing one side (usually the orks, they'll chase you longer) and leading them to the other
Step 3: 9 out of ten on the maps have tiny rock outcroppings or similar that you can jump up to and are inaccessible to everything else. jump to one of these, If you don't know where one is, just go to the side of the map.
Step 4: When the IG win you need to do some scouting, usually the AI marines don't clump together, so find an isolated one and take him out. If they are clumped together, throw all of your grenades at them, jump in, kill one (or two if you're feeling ballsy) and jump away, there are usually one or two full refills for your grenades around the level. repeat as necessary until only Guardsmen remain, you should know how to kill a few guardsmen.
NOTE: This falls prey to the Allies of desperation flaw of the other one, if this happens you're fucked.

== Mod: Space Marine Augmented ==
You want a rebalanced game? Want a non-sucky game start/match-making? Additional weapons? Additional armour? All DLC unlocked? All perks unlocked? Start matches with 2 people?
Then Space Marine Augmented is for you!

The following additional new items are in the game:
* MK3 armour
* Chapter/Legion specific artwork/armour pieces
* Flamer
* Astartes Shotgun
* Autocanon
* Power Fist
* Several Bolter patterns like Tigrus, Phobos and relic
* Several Chainswords: the original one, a relic one, a tabletop style one
* Lightning Claw

Terminators and Dreadnoughts are planned.

The mod is started from a launcher. You create a non-steam account in it to store your stuff online and see others in the game.
You can only play with other players who use the mod though, so spread the word!

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uni0jPEK4JY
* https://smaugmented.github.io/

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:Space Marine screenshot 1.jpg|"Space Marines!"
Image:Space Marine screenshot 2.jpg|"Kill da Space Marines!" ("Space Marines!")
Image:Warhammer chaos.jpg|Come hither brother, for I only wish to embrace you.
Image:Mira-noscale.jpg|She wants to fuck
Image:Space Marine screenshot 4.jpg|Stop Ripping-off Henlein, GW, just STOP!
Image:Warlord Class battle Titan.jpg|Dat Heeeuuge
Image:Space Marine screenshot 5.jpg
Image:Space Marine screenshot 6.jpg|This was cut. Probably for the best, as fighting a Deff Dread would have been either a huge letdown or harder than hell. (Actually, that's a Killa Kan. Note the two arms, instead of four)
Image:Renegadeguards.jpg|Wera firin ah grehn lazahs!!!
Image:Bloodlettercharging.jpg
Image:Taintedpsyker.jpg
Image:297690.jpg
Image:Sidonus.jpg|He still should go for the bionic eye implant.
Image:Lieutenant Miranda Nero.jpg|The text box pretty much says it all. Also, hot as hell. Yeah, Rule 34 should follow quickly.
File:Mira.jpg|"When confronted by this particular situation, the only reasonable course of action would be to give her the D." --[[Roboute Guilliman]], The [[Codex Astartes]]
</gallery>

== See Also ==
*[https://store.steampowered.com/app/55150/Warhammer_40000_Space_Marine/ Space Marine on Steam]
*[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyLLeKcxw24XO-696pWe0Ztxx14rNs-a1 The game's soundtrack]

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Space Marines]]

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

2021-10-14T03:33:20Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Things that rock */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Space Marine poster.jpg|550px|thumb|center|Where he's going, you won't need eyes...]]
'''Space Marine''' is a 3rd-person video game which is featured on the PC, the [[/v/|ECKSBAWKS 360, and the PS3]]. Its genre is a hybrid of shooting and hack and slash. It was released on September 6, 2011.

== The Plot ==
The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2o-LmI3kiE&|The story] is set on the Forgeworld of Graia. It's being invaded by Orks who wish to loot the shit out of it; weapons, ammunition, vehicles, you name it. Rather surprisingly, the Orks have an actual objective this time: to steal a Warlord-class Titan of the Morning Star Legion '''''(cuz iz ded shooty)''''', an idea the Imperium isn't overly fond of. At first, the 203rd Cadian regiment was sent in to reinforce the forgeworld's defenses, but were eventually overwhelmed and pushed into a desperate defensive posture due to the Orks shooting down the majority of their support craft with a captured surface to air artillery cannon and simply outnumbering them by 100:1. Captain Titus and a small force of [[Ultramarines]] are then sent to hold back the invading Orks with the help of what's left of the Guard while the liberation fleet is on its way.

The Forces of Chaos also have a part to play, and are led by a Terminator sorcerer lord named Nemeroth. They're basically here to open a warp portal using a heretically radical device to both turn Graia into a daemon world and also so Nemeroth can become a Daemon Prince. And unlike previous games, this features actual traitor guardsmen, not the "we've recently converted to chaos and we're here as fodder" guardsmen featured in Dawn of War, fuck no, these are kickass [[Lost and the Damned]] guardsmen.

Not surprisingly, [[Blood Ravens|BLOD REHVENS]] play a role, set against Chaos as they were seen holding the initial incursion, though they only appear in brief cameo. If the game is set after [[Dawn of War II|DoWII]] then we will see [[Gabriel Angelos|Gabe's]] reforms in action, which is nice (if the Marine ending in Retribution takes place).

== Gameplay ==
[[File:SpaceMarinePCBig.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Captain Titus vs EVERYTHING]]
[[Commissar Fuklaw|No cover system. As a man from Relic said: "cover is for pussies". Space Marines are too awesome to be cowering behind cover]]. As a Space Marine, you are given enhanced regenerative abilities and an Iron Halo shield (due to your status as Captain). There are also brutal kills which the player can do to make the enemy's deaths more humorous/gory (to regain health like a man and to show-off the awesomeness of the Angels of Death, of course). Since you are playing as a Space Marine (and better yet, a veteran of 200 years of battle) you could easily kill thousands of Orks with just a simple vertical slash.

That being said, the Forces of Chaos are a lot tougher. Traitor guardsmen are still as weak as ordinary Ork sluggas and shootas, but are quite tactical, being able to organize and <s>plan strategies</s> spam grenades like they're playing a Call of Duty game. Corrupted psykers can spawn enemies and easily kill you from afar. Khorne Bloodletters can teleport, making it hard for you to shoot them, deal massive amounts of damage and can withstand quite a bit themselves. Chaos Space Marines are far more deadly. They pack weapons that are functionally the same as yours, are by far the most durable enemies, and they have regenerating shields like you do.

Instead of having regenerating health like every other shooter out there, you can only regenerate health by stunning enemies and [[Awesome|FATALITY-ing them Mortal Kombat-style]]. Additionally, ''Space Marine'' features a Fury system, which allows you to slow time when aiming a ranged weapon or to unleash a devastating melee attack (provided that you filled up the fury bar by killing enemies of course). While Titus' starting equipment consists of a bolt pistol and combat knife, weapons can range from bolters to lascannons to plasma guns to thunder hammers. You also get to take jump packs which allows you to fly and make an assault jump, which allows you to create an AoE explosion by violently landing in a position of your choosing, though this does restrict your loadouts to only melee weapons and bolters.

== Characters ==
{{spoilers}}
* '''[[Captain Titus]]''' - A Captain of the Ultramarines Chapter and their last hope of finally getting some <s>badass</s> redemption of any kind. He is sent with his company of Ultramarines to prevent an Ork Waaagh!! from looting a forgeworld. It should be noted that his character was first seen as bald but was changed to have a shaved head in the early trailers. He was finally changed to a standard space marine HAIR-etic. He is voiced by Mark Strong. Yes...'''HE'S VOICED BY FUCKING MARK MOTHERFUCKING STRONG!''' He looks kinda like Proteus from Ultramarines the Movie, excluding the longer hair and the better looking armor decor. Despite being a shrewd commander, he is looked upon with suspicion by some of his fellow Ultramarines after being the only surviving battle-brother from a battle with a Chaos Sorcerer. Deep strike is his favorite entry tactic as shown by his affinity of jumping out of vehicles.
**At the end of the game, it's shown to the player that he does indeed possess an unnatural resistance to the warp, likely a result of his massive [[blackstone]] balls. Unfortunately, Leandros doesn't know that (the faithless cur), and since Titus is the only smurf <s>with something vaguely resembling a clue</s> who's realized that honor has a time and place, he gets roped in by the Inquisition on suspicion of '''HERESY!''' Thankfully, Thrax doesn't take his gun, implying that he isn't buying it... but that still means a certain newbie smurf is going to have a very long discussion on the merits of trust with a power fist, right after the <s>anal probing</s> tests of faith are done.

* '''Veteran Sergeant Sidonus''' - A slightly grumpy smurf, Sidonus is a veteran of the Ultramarines and designated comedian of the squad, delivering dry humor to the heart of the enemy when necessary (or when not so necessary). He is said to have battled Tyranids, Orks, Eldar, Chaos space Marines and Necrons during his centuries of battle. Quite badass, <s>for an</s> like all old Adeptus Astartes. He also has a bionic arm after getting his real one nom'd by Tyranids [[Tarkus|(Wait, I think I've already heard something like this...)]]. Also lost his eye and half of his face when an Eldar weapon blew up in his face [[Huron Blackheart|(... and something like this too...)]]. Decided not to get reconstructive surgery done, opting instead to leave the scars because it looks badass.

* '''[[Lawful Stupid|Brother Leandros]]''' - A newly recruited Ultramarine clinging to his shortened copy of the [[Codex Astartes]] and behaves as a typical Wardian-era smurf. He is the youngest of the squad, being only 75 years old (which is considered young by Space Marine standards) yet he has one of the highest honors that a chapter can bestow (<s>that, ironically enough, seems to be missing from Sidonus' power armor mantle as a ''veteran'', it is assumed that he is trained in the use of terminator armour, like all 1st company ''veterans'')</s> except the Crux Terminatus is an award, so he should still have been carrying it, Terminator honors. <s>Titus probably took his, so now he's mad at him for it... perhaps a little too mad...</s>

* '''Second Lieutenant Miranda Nero''' - Being the only loyalist commissioned officer left, Mira leads what remains of the 203rd Cadian that was reassigned to Graia. Turns out they went too far out into the green sea and got cut off from supplies and support. She seems to share [[Merrick]]'s view of placing the lives of her men above the Imperium. '''HERESY!!!''' The fact that she's holding the entire operation together despite being just a lieutenant impresses even Titus.

* '''Inquisitor Jean-Baptiste Emanuel <s>Zorg</s> <s>Skrillex</s> Drogan''' - The Inquisitor. He looks like he hasn't slept in a week (which is understandable, given that he's fighting both an Ork [[WAAAGH]] and [[Chaos Space Marine]]s), and his hair is really dirty and emo looking. He also has a metal plate attached to the right side of his head. Must be a radical. He's also '''EXTREMELY''' obsessed with killing xenos due to him being previously tortured by xenos (<s>possibly [[Dark Eldar]]</s>) Yeah, because we know that anyone can escape from Commoragh) for several years. During his time on Graia, his '''EXTREME''' obsession made him create mysterious experimental weapons in hopes of getting revenge, and one of these experiments included a portal that led to '''EXTREME''' consequences. This is due to the fact that the forces of chaos used said portal to enter the forge world, '''EXTREME'''ly. His eyes also lit up during a cutscene. MUST BE A HERETIC. BIG TWEEST. HE'S A PUPPET FOR THE LORD SORCERER.......... Okay it isn't that simple. Turns out he had a "subject" delivered to his laboratory to test his shiny new weapon on, the "subject" turned out to be a daemon which escaped, and proceeded to buttrape poor Drogan and possess his corpse (all the backstory is in the audio logs). Since this daemon read the fluff, he's decided that ''maybe'' the '''EXTREME''' factions have a bit more pull, so he pretends to be '''EXTREME'''.

* '''[[Nemeroth|Lord Nemeroth]]''' - A Chaos Terminator Sorcerer Lord and the '''Big Bad''' of the game. He is possibly the Sorcerer Titus "killed" previously. He leads a warband consisting of [[Chaos Space Marines|Chaos Marines]], Khornate [[bloodletters]], [[Blight Drone]]s, and Tzeentch psychers (presumably the forces of [[slaanesh]] were left out so as to avoid an adults only rating in America). He also proves Relics infinite creativity at naming characters, for the difference between him and [[Neroth|Eliphas' nagging wife]] is but two wretched letters. Also found a way around the Squishy Wizard law, because he wears '''TERMINATOR ARMOUR'''. Still got beat up by an Ork wearing almost no armour, though. Titus manages to defeat Nemeroth because the latter forgot to wear a helmet (then again, so does Titus). Shame, too, because he was just at the doorstep of becoming a [[Daemon Prince]].

* '''[[Warboss Grimskull]]''' - He is the Ork Warboss leading his Ork [[WAAAGH]]!!! on Graia with the intention of stealing the planet's Titans. Later on, he becomes interested in the power source Titus and Inquisitor Drogan possess. [https://youtu.be/Uox82AiheLI| He ain't so easy to kill].

* '''Inquisitor Thrax''' - The inquisitor that appears at the end of the game, where his name was mentioned on the monitor for the status on Graia. He came to take Titus into investigative custody after Leandros' accusations of heresy. Was likely planned to be a major character in the sequel, but that unfortunately never came to fruition.

== Things that rock ==
[[File:Angry marine by mysteryone617-d3j5gzj.png|300px|thumb|The official sequel]]
* Seemingly a better game than that [[Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior]] where you play as a [[Tau|Space Communist]] on his first day of duty, who is apparently a one man (well, xenos) army that could single-handedly kill genetically modified super soldiers, <s>a daemon prince</s> TWO Daemon Princes and a greater daemon of [[Tzeentch]]. lolwut?
* You get to play as a Space Marine.
* Guardsmen who fight alongside you have balls of steel, they rarely fall back. (Which makes crunch sense: with a Space Marine Captain alongside them, they too SHALL KNOW NO FEAR!)
* Orks (this time they actually look like a credible threat, not just dumb drunk ape-brawlers on steroids)
* Captain Titus isn't a total Mary Sue like the rest of this Chapter, even going so far to say that the [[Codex Astartes]] is just a guidebook and not meant to be taken literally. Thus: FUCK YOU MATT WARD.
* NO REALLY FUCK YOU MATT WARD
* Hilarious amounts of blood, dismemberment, and all other forms of gore you could imagine. [[Khorne]] would probably favor this game, even if you do play as an Ultramarine.
* Executions (like the sync kills in DoW, which you can do to a stunned enemy) are actually required for you to restore your health, rather than going around and picking up medpacks, ducking in a corner and letting your wounds heal like magic, or some other unmanly method. Ensuring that playing longer requires you to give those guys screaming at you a good ol' fashion Chainsword enema, which is awesome.
* Chaos Space Marines.
* BLOODLETTERS!!!
* You pick up an [[Autocannon]] in <s>one</s> TWO levels.
[[File:The weak.jpg|300px|right|thumb|One is running away from the enemy, the other is running '''INTO''' the enemy. <s>Which do you think is loyal to the Emprah?</s> Another difference: one is a genetically modified super soldier with a FUCKHEUGE power armor and Ultrasmurf plot armor, the other is a normal man with a cardboard armor and a flashlight. Both are facing [[Angry Marines|angry]] green warmongers. Which do you think has [[Imperial Guard|balls of steel]]?]]
* Mark Strong (who you may remember from his previous roles starring in Rocknrolla, Kickass, Robin Hood, Stardust and Sherlock Holmes) as the voice of Captain Titus. (Don't forget Merlin from the Kingsman! Who wouldn't want to see Captain Titus murdering some greenskins while belting out Country roads by John Denver)
* <s>JUMP PACKS.</s> Out of fuel. (They be awesome while they last though)
* Pre-Order skins for [[Black Templars]], [[Blood Ravens]], [[Space Wolves]], <s>[[Iron Hands]]</s> [[Iron Warriors]] and [[Emperor's Children]].
* Apparently, even the games demo would destroy a PC's motherboard due to its extreme epicness. Watch here for proof [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47PDV9Rcjv4]
* Co-op comes in the form a 4-player Horde mode.
* Standard multiplayer is Chaos vs. Spess Mehrens. Fuck yes.
* You get to paint your own multiplayer character, much like the army painter system in DoWII. BETTER, because you can change every part of your power armour and paint up to THREE COLOURS FOR EVERY PART. Seriously, is a delight to try paint schemes, it have an asslot of colours and your (Chaos)Space Marine is in glorious 3D. You also get to pick your own loadout.
*Cock of Duty-like perks. Yes, multiplayer perks. However some of them are cool and are named after rules from the TT game, Most make sense, others are FUCKING STUPID (see bottom of next list). One real nice thing about the perks is that you can use them along with your tailored loadout in EXTERMINATUS.
**Said mode brings together 4 battle brothers able to act essentially like mini-Tituses, healing at ridiculous rates with Zeal, Larraman's Blessing or Iron Halo and slaughtering 20 waves worth of orks and one of chaos (or guardsmen, for Chaos Unleashed players)
*Livery changes for the single player are widely available for free. If you still hate the smurfs, you can easily change that by playing something like the [[Black Templars]] or [[Angry Marines]]. <s>are unlocked at level 5 and only affect multiplayer. Enjoy your smurfs.</s> ACTUALLY: whilst it is true that customization options are only available from level 4 onwards, there are unofficial modifications available for livery changes for a great number of chapters in single player. (see: http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?262044-Space-Marine-Custom-Titus-Skins-Armour-of-Angelos)
*After release fans wouldn't stop bitching (read flooding the official forums) asking for a mute all button in the multiplayer lobby. A couple weeks later an update included the mute all button, in short THEY [[Gets_shit_done|GET SHIT DONE]]
*New DLC just added [[Dreadnought]]s (AKA ungodly walking rape machine).
*The Anniversity Edition, released on 9/23/21 made all the DLCs free for people who have it, as well as giving goodies like soundtracks, classic and new wallpaper, the manuel, ringtone, artbook, collector's cards, and the launch trailer as well

== Things that Suck ==
* When the daemons first show up, Titus refers to them as "Chaos daemons!" Is there any other kind? <s>WAIT, DON'T ANSWER THAT!</s>
* Cadians are portrayed as pussies who have to rely on the Smurfs to get anything done, with the sole exception of Mira. Someone at Relic mistakenly believed that Cadians are just another one of those regiments that rely purely on numbers to get shit done. In reality, with all the training from birth and living next to the Eye of Terror things, they should be telling the Orks where to shove it and Chaos forces whose dicks to suck. (While outnumbered at least 100 to 1 and cut off from resupply? ESPECIALLY when outnumbered and undersuplied, CADIA LIVES!)
* Explosions look like total ASS. While the texture work on the game is extremely detailed, they apparently skimped on their pyrotechnic effects. Some of the smoke and explosion effects look like they came off a PS1 game. This is painfully jarring in the opening aerial battle between the navy and the Orks.
* Ultrasmurfs. (Bear in mind though, you would probably bitch about it if they mentioned any other chapter as "the greatest of them all". [[Ultramarines:The_Movie|Observe]]). However, it could be argued that part of the joy of the badassery of Captain Titus is that he lends credit to that stereotype.
* While "Cover is for Pussies" is a manly mechanic, being able to fire from cover while being pinned by tons of Ork Shootas and Chaos Havocs in unreachable positions wouldn't be so bad.
** Don't forget the waves of renegade guardsmen who posses an inexhaustible supply of grenades that they lob at you without hesitation. This alone makes it nearly impossible to complete the later chapters without abusing cover and Lascannon camping.
*No awesome executions in multiplayer. Multiplayer executions were dropped because it would leave you vulnerable while performing it and [[Matt Ward|some people]] would get upset at seeing their marine having their organs torn out. This leaves one wondering why it wouldn't be left in as an optional humiliation move.
**More baffling is that it is being left out of the upcoming co-op as well for the exact same reasons, despite it being in singleplayer, meaning you can only regain health by [[Gay|hiding in cover while your health regenerates.]][[Derp| "Cover is for the weak" indeed.]]
***Further undermined by the fact that not taking cover against Tankbustaz will get you killed in a ludicrously quick-and-dirty way, as will charging into a pack of Traitor Guardsmen whilst they burn you alive in your artificer armor with volleys of [[Lasgun|flashlight]] fire.
* Explaining things to the newbs.
*<strike>There is NOBODY in fucking multiplayer, seriously, I've fucking waited for hours.</strike> NOT ANYMORE. The free giveaway have given new life to the multiplayer, with a small but loyal fanbase playing practically every day.
* They wanted to cast Sean Pertwee (Who played Governor Severus in Fire Warrior) as one of the characters, but they already had enough VA's. Not having Sean Pertwee in a Warhammer game, or film, is just plain wrong (though they do express desire to cast him in a possible sequel). '''UNFORTUNATELY!''' <s>THQ said that there won't be a sequel. [[Rage|FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!]]</s> <s>There might be a sequel, apparently, but only if THQ doesn't collapse in on itself like a super-massive star due to all its debt.</s> THQ just went belly-up. The sequel's destiny is now in the hands of Sega....Emperor preserve us all.
* Another 40k game about some Space Marine snowflake. See Ultrasmurfs. But on the bright side, only Leandros acts like the generic Mary sue Ultramarine, Titus and Sidonus are, more-or-less likable, even by those with a slight distaste for the Ultramarines.
* Not enough choppy. For a game that relies a lot on melee combat, not a lot of actual melee weapons to go around, only a knife (Which you can only use at the beginning of the game), chainsword, power axe, and thunder hammer and additionally, sync-kills are fairly limited for each one and starts to get "meh" after a few playthroughs. Given 40K's extensive armory of choppy choppas, you would think Relic could include more things like more power swords, fists and claws, eviscerator chainswords (And a large two-handed, flamer-toting chainsword would have been emprah-like to have), or just more sync-kills for said 4 weapons so players would have more variety in the amount of gore present.
* [http://www.spacemarine.com/blog-post/warhammer-40000-space-marine-e3-game-demo-walkthrough Apparently, melta guns are shotguns now and the Lascannon is some kind of retarded sniper rifle with slow-mo.]
**<s>[[Matt Ward|Sounds somehow familiar, no?]]</s> The Meltas are only shotguns as far as digital [[crunch]] is concerned; they're still burning death rays fluff-wise, disintegrating tons of orks and even daemons in one shot. As for the Lascannons, they aren't any more or less of a sniper weapon here than they are on the tabletop (basically an anti-materiel rifle, except on super grimdark space steroids). Neither of them do a lot against Dreads, which is bullshit. The lascannon has a minor mitigation in that Titus doesn't have the accompanying power-backpack, which could understandably make each shot less powerful.
*Games consist of melta, plasma cannon, stormbolter, or vengeance launcher spam, the few players who disdain cheap tactics (oddly the ps3 space wolves champion this view) lose on principle unless they're banned in a tournament or are a cheating fuck named jwolf96 who bolt pistols you with a headshot WHILE JUMPING AROUND AS ASSAULT.EVERY TIME.hax.
*No [[Flamer]]s. (melta gun doesn't count)
*No [[Grav-Weaponry]]. (No halofags the Thunder Hammer is '''not''' a grav-weapon)
*Gears of War fanboys constantly saying that the game is a copy of Gears of War, even though it's a hack and slash shooter hybrid that does not feature a cover system (GOW is like a ducking simulator). They're also too magnificently retarded to realize that Warhammer 40,000 came Waaaaaaaaayyyyy before Gears of War. Not to mention the [[Space Marines]] of 40k inspired the giant space marine with the huge weapons.
*FUCKING audio stutter during times where you're battling hordes of enemies (which, in a hack-and-slash game, happens all the time). It's revealed that this is not hardware related as even those with high-powered machines and updated drivers also suffer from this. Relic might provide a fix for this but some are shifty about this, fearing that they might pull off the old [[Dawn of War]] ignorance on this game too. If you want a slightly acceptable temporary fix for this that doesn't require you playing this game in silence, infinitely loop a battle theme of your choosing on your music player such as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRiU2N03Rzs Requiem for a Tower] while playing, set your volume to a level of your choosing, and gleefully continue hacking your opponents to shreds and curb-stomping them to paste. If you need the voices for tactical input, just enable subtitles.
*Shitty voice acting from anyone who is not a space marine (or lieutenant mira)
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbiqNn6LxFM Shitty fucking lag that has remained unfixed over a month after its released], ergo consigning the game to the dustbin as new Vidya Gaems that are frankly better than it are released.
*<s>Only five maps, all of which encourage outright camping and grenade spam.</s> They're releasing more maps every few months.
*Matchmaking sucks a bag of dicks the size of a [[Nurgle|Great Unclean One]].
*<s>Devastator Marines are vastly more powerful than all other Marines, and it's possible to circumvent the Heavy Bolter's setup time by switching to/from your pistol. The switch-setup was fixed in a patch, but Devastators are still infinitely superior to anything any other Marine class can do damage-wise Assault/Raptor with thunder hammer/daemon maul with Killing Blow. Nuff said.</s> Plus the inability to dodge effectively, (Learn to combat roll, dumbass. Saves my bacon all the time.) slow recharge times on armor and health, and the fact that one shot from a tactical marine's plasma gun will melt your shit instantly balances it out. N00bs need to STFU and get some skill and stop whining. Also, unlike Raptors/Assault Marines, Devastators can't FLY.
*There were originally going to be Combi-Weapons in the game, but it was scrapped.
*Environments need more variety. A lot more variety. The game really doesn't start shaking shit up until about halfway through. Till then, everything is cityscape type level killing a bunch of Orks.
*On the console versions, accusations of Standbying (abusing host lag) are ''rampant''.
*<s>Makes no fucking sense from a chronological perspective - Graia was OMNOMNOM'd by the [[Tyranids]] (caught in the path of the initial Hive Fleet that approached Macragge) long before the events of Dawn of War and Dawn of War 2 - meaning that Titus' victory was ultimately a pyrrhic one, unless there's another Graia out there in the Imperium of Man. It's an alternate timeline, and it takes place on a different Graia (this particular Graia is located in the Segmentum Tempestus, not Ultima Segmentum). You can tell because Titus is the Captain of the Ultramarine's Second Company instead of Sicarius and Titan Invictus wasn't destroyed in the 13th Black Crusade (which was way before Dawn of War).</s>
**It takes place some time into M42, and it's a different Graia. Evidence: In Ultramarines: The Movie, Captain Severus was 2nd Company Captain, and the film took place after the battle for Macragge given their WE MARCH FOR MACRAGGE creed. Sicarius is either dead or been promoted by now. With Severus dead by the hands of the Daemon, Titus becomes his successor. Further proof comes from the Blood Ravens appearance. Hive Fleet Leviathan, a splinter of which was defeated by the Magpies in DOW2, showed up in the final years of M41. Given that Retribution takes place 11 years after that, and Titus mentions the Aurelian Crusades, Relic has left the 41st Millennium behind. In four games, Relic has pushed further with the 40K timeline than Games Workshop has in twenty years.
***This is more or less confirmed by 8th edition. Cato Sicarius gets lost in the Warp at one point, so naturally they would have promoted someone else (namely Titus) to fill in. Sure the [[Great Rift]] doesn't appear on the map in the intro, but it hadn't been made up yet IRL, what are you gonna do?
* Not enough Ham. From the company that brought such gems as "BEAR WITNESS TO MY ASCENSION!!!!" and "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! LET THE GALAXY BURN!", it's a bit of a letdown when <s>even the Orks sound bored</s> you call "GIT OFF MAH SHIP, SPACE MUHREEN!!" bored? Calm Space Marines are boring Space Marines. Shout your litanies to the Emperor, dammit!
*<s>[[Butthurt|Multiplayer perks. COCK OF DUTY MODERN SHITFUCK ANNOYING FUCKING 'MARTYRDOM' RIPOFF. Yes. Your armor's power-pack/jump-pack EXPLODES with a ludicrous kill zone. FUCKING ANNOYING.</s>]] The noobs want perks deal with it. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
**<s>this game is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with bigger guys for you.</s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|Heresy!}}
* Multiplayer: MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. NOW I LAG LOLOLOLOLOL. But this comes as a result of no dedicated servers due to a small playerbase. (One player goes as far as to call Host Migrations "Warp Storms" over voice chat, due to the seeming level of warp-dickery behind their timing.)
*<s>[[Butthurt|Dreadnoughts are unstoppable rape machines that will steamroll the entire enemy team by themselves unless it is made up entirely of devastator marines (RELIC SUCKS AT BALANCE!)]]</s> the concept of game balance is bullshit. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
* Final boss fight with Nemeroth is disappointing. Instead of having a proper fight like against Grimskull, it's just a quick-time event. While being sort of epic the first time you play it (You ''are'' falling down a space elevator, after all) it gets repetitive and boring in following play-throughs. Also, you can spam all three of the required inputs at once with no penalty.
** And to get to the irritating button mash you have to drudge through a long and annoying fight with his OP minions.
*Good luck finding a game that's on any of the DLC stuff, or outside of the original five maps, You won't find any matches that aren't Seize Ground or Annihilation. We seriously need a new Space Marine game.
* There's no-one fucking playing multiplayer anymore
* We're never gonna get a sequel :c
* A squad of [[Veteran Squad#Sternguard Veterans|Sternguard Veterans]] or [[Terminators]] could have solved both the Orc and Chaos problems in under thirty minutes. A squad of each should have been aboard the [[Strike Cruiser]] in orbit. Deamon Prince Nemeroth whiled on by Assault Terminators led by Titus would have been funny and [[awesome]] to see.
* Your a dwarf in a barrel.
* Exterminatus glitching the fuck out.
* The bolter behaves like a generic assault rifle. Orks will take like 10 shots to die. Fire warrior (shudders) remains the only 40k game to get the bolter right.
*Said Anniversity Edition now made it priced at $60 USD, overpriced considering that it released 10 years ago

== Downloadable Content ==
The game is constantly being supported and so much new content has been added over the past few months, it's astonishing. New content includes new modes such as capture the flag mode, capture and control, and dreadnought assault. New maps have been released, and previous pre-order only skins are now available (including new ones such as the Legion of the Damned skin-YEAH!) Below is a list of all the dlc you <s>can buy now(some of which is free by the way.)</s> have as of the Anniversary Edition.

*Exterminatus: This is a free update that added co-op to the game. A much needed add-on. Let's you play as Loyalist Marines in a team of four vs hordes of orks. Fun and crazy, (SPOILER!) final round is a bonus round against Chaos (end of spoiler.) Can use all your multiplayer loadouts and gain experience as well.

*Chaos Unleashed: You can now play as Chaos Space Marines in the Exterminatus game mode. Gameplay wise it isn't different from the Loyalist version, but new enemies along with the ol' ORKS are present. These new enemies are the Imperial Guard and the orks get a new unit (read ork entry below.) Oh yeah and we can now KILLZ US SOME SPACE MARINES! ULTRAMARINES TO BOOT!

**IG units include: regular shock troops with lasguns, veterans with chainswords (yes you read that right), sanctioned Imperial psykers who can also tackle stun you, troops with melta guns and troops with grenade launchers.
**Apart from the IG forces the Orks have their old units returning with the addition of KILLA KANZ coming in during the bonus round! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2sni61dms The start of the bonus round and how fucking tough it is.]
**Yes, space marines are part of the enemy now, and they are tough as hell to kill. If anyone made it to the bonus chaos round for the loyalists, they will know. They have the same armor and health as the CSM of that bonus round, but come standard in every arena (during the later half usually.) You need to work together as a team to take them down, if not you'll get overwhelmed pretty easily. They have the tactical marines, assault marines without jump packs (Thank the Dark Gods) and devastators with plasma cannons (That can fuck your shit in case you allow them to fire a volley)
**Three new maps including Habs Ablaze, Station Tertius and Aquila Canyon. This dlc also includes new achievements and trophies.

*Capture the flag (free update): Regular run of the mill capture the capture the flag mode. Unfortunately, devolves into everyone camping their sides to defend their flags and going long range. IF you've got balls of steel. then charge the other side to scare the hell out of them. Preferably use the Assault Marine with a hammer and "Death from above" upgrade.

*Capture and control: <s>Currently playing. Will update soon.</s> Sadly, due to bad matchmaking and division of map rotations, I cannot find a game to play of this mode. Will try to update soon. If anyone else has, you obviously have the right to update it on your own... something something this was written maybe 3 years ago. Also a run of the mill game mode, Assault unit hell.

*Dreadnought Assault: Probably the most controversial of the game modes. This player has already played it and highly recommends it. But the playerbase is apparently divided. Basically, you have to capture the Dreadnought capture point and as soon as it is captured, a teammate that is inside the point will be chosen to pilot the <s>suit</s> rape machine (at random? no idea. Needs confirmation.) You have to use the dreadnought to <s>capture the other points</s> assrape the other team. It is an ungodly powerful machine with a lot of health and you gain the auto/assaultcannon, powerfist/claw (both former weapons for loyalists and latter for Chaos, the auto-cannon and assault cannon are the weapons that differ from their counterpart on the other side, with the auto having lower RoF but higher damage per shot, and the assault having higher RoF but less damage per shot, but both fire rapidly enough to be used the same way), and meltagun. Obviously becomes a fire magnet and players will mostly use <s>devastators</s> Thunderhammers/Power Mauls on it. (contrary to tabletop, DEVASTATORS/HAVOCS CAN'T SCRATCH THE DAMN DREADNOUGHT) Comes with appropriate skins for Chaos and Loyalist marines.

**Includes three new maps as well; Desolation, Dome Mechanicus and Chem Refinery. New achievements/trophies also included.
**Has apparently vanished into the ether on the Xbox marketplace and is no longer available (on that system at least). Perhaps the playerbase bitched too much?

*As said before, pre-order skins are now available, including some new ones. Just to get you drooling, Iron Hands and Death Guard armor. OH YEAH!

*Subsection F, article U:

+[ How to destroy the Dreadnought ]+

As tested by two players, one yours truly, there is a limited number of options when it comes to dealing with an enemy Dreadnought.

#Lascannons do minimal damage. Headshots can do some decent damage - but it's finicky due to lag and a weird head hitbox (especially since the extra-damage weak point on the Dreadnought is the engine at the back, not the head, oops).
#Stalker Bolter is more reliable, but nowhere near as good against the Dread. Works well on its escorts, though.
#Heavy Bolter can damage it but it takes a lot of shots, and the Dread *will* return fire at the first opportunity and fuck your ass. Fire and move.
#[[What|Meltaguns do nothing.]] Avoid. (They take off exactly 10% of the Dreadnought's health from pointblank range, make of this what you will).
#Grenades only annoy it, but Flash Grenades can blind it for a second.
#Devastator stomp does nothing (and if you were trying to do this in the first place, [[Tau|gb2Tau]]).
#Plasma Guns and Pistols do absolutely nothing unless charged, and are questionably useful if charged. The "Sticky" charged shot though is great for drawing a Dread's attention, and can do a bit of damage to help out or soften it up prior to an attack.
#A Dread's close combat arm will put your head through your ass and send you flying in one hit.
#The Dreadnought has its own Iron Halo shield, but only for one charge that lasts for about 30 seconds. When activated, the Dreadnought strikes a distinctive pose while its arm glows. Firing at it now is a waste of ammo and your life.

Your destructive answer in this case is PLASMA, followed by VENGEANCE LAUNCHER. Plasma cannons are the only heavy weapon that will reliably do anything of relevance to the Dreadnought, and it takes around 10 shots. The only option other than Plasma Cannons are the Vengeance Launcher and the Thunderhammer/Power Maul. The former will do in a Dread in about 12 shots; the latter, if you have the Killing Blow perk, will make quick work of the Dreadnought.

Devastators:
#'''USE PLASMA CANNONS AT RANGE.''' Fire a barrage and fuck off. Watch for return fire, the Assault Cannon/Reaper Autocannon have a hellish rate of fire and will tear you to shreds.
#'''ALTERNATELY, USE HEAVY BOLTER AND CAMP TACTICAL LOCATIONS.''' Heavy Bolter can rack up insane damage very, very quickly and can easily wipe a squad of Escorts if you set up correctly. Surprisingly, the Heavy Bolter can also do a lot of damage to the Dread if it doesn't get a chance to return fire (I.E. it has its attention held by Plasma Cannoneers and the like).
#'''LASCANNON ONLY IF YOU'RE THE HOST.''' Lag makes Lascannon headshots completely unreliable unless you're the host, and turns the potential the Lascannon has against both the Dread and its escorts to functionally nil. If you ''are'' the host, feel free to use the Lascannon, as it can damage the Dreadnought (not as much as the Plasma Cannon though) and easily wipe the Escorts out. Generally though, you will want one of the other Heavy weapons (again, mostly Plasma Cannons).

Assaults:
#'''DRAW SOME ATTENTION WITH THE PLASMA PISTOL.''' The Plasma Pistol's virtually worthless damage-wise against the Dread, but a charged shot will stick to it, fuck up its vision for a half-second or so, and rattle around its aim a bit. Consider a Plas Pistol charged shot when you need to get the Dread's attention and keep it from a safer distance.
#'''SWORDS AND CHAINSWORDS, LEAD THE WAY.''' Combine a Sword (Chain or Power) with Swordsman's Zeal and Combat Drugs. You'll generally not do any appreciable damage to the Dreadnought, but that isn't the point: You can use this combo to land next to a Dread, get in a swipe or two on either it or its escorts, and fuck off, potentially drawing fire and attention away from much more important matters (like the Devastators your team has lining up shots). Note, however, that if you delay or the enemy team is smart, you will wind up a bloody smear on the floor. If not on active Dread attention-getting duty, help cap points and deal with the escorts.
#'''AXES ARE RISKY BUSINESS.''' Axeman's Zeal offers bigger damage chunks and the same delicious healing, and works the same way as the Sword/Chainsword tactic above, but it leaves you open more. Bear this in mind. If you're not that good with the Axe, leave it at home.
#'''THUNDER HAMMER/DAEMON MAUL - THE KILLING BLOW.''' Killing Blow helps. A ''fucking'' lot. Without this perk, you can still wreck up the Dreadnought, but not by yourself. Two or more Assaults with hammers and the Dreadnought is [[Ork|proppa]] fucked.
#'''SUICIDE IS PAINLESS.''' It's a dick move, but loading up with Final Vengeance Assaults can do some good damage to the Dreadnought if absolutely every other fucking tactic fails. Fly in, spam grenades, Swing Sword/Axe/Hammer until killed, die on purpose, explode.

Tacticals:
#'''PLASMA GUN IS AN OKAY CHOICE I GUESS.''' Similar to the Plasma Pistol, you aren't taking the Plasma Gun for the damage, even though it is a little higher than the Plasma Pistol's and it can damage the Dread better. The main advantage is punching the fucking escorts with it, or sticking charged shots to the Dread itself to draw attention, damage it a little, and throw off its aim. Fire off a shot, then get the fuck out of dodge.
#'''HELP CAP FUCKING POINTS.''' Damned things won't handle themselves, and you need 'em to win.
#'''MOST OF YOUR WEAPONRY WON'T HURT THE DREADNOUGHT.''' The Tactical has ''one'' weapon that can contribute to a fight with the Dreadnought, and it's also the one weapon almost fucking nobody uses: The Vengeance Launcher. It takes about 12-14 shots given ideal aim, but the Vengeance Launcher ''can'' kill the Dreadnought. Working in teams, this can actually be just as effective as Plasma Cannon spamming - do note that it holds much less ammo, though, and is much harder to use.
#'''HELP YOUR TEAMMATES.''' Teleport Homer may be the most unsung hero of Dreadnought fights. One Tactical in a good spot can effectively act as a mobile spawnpoint for his buddies. Ideal for Devastator teams which need a quick way into the fight that isn't a [[METAL BOXES|Metal Box]].
#'''YOU STILL HAVE GRENADES.''' Grenades can still do damage and still blind the Dreadnought, so for fuck's sake, use them.
#'''STALKER BOLTER THE FUCKING ESCORTS.''' Stalker Bolter will cut the escorts to shreds if you're a good shot, and can reliably damage the Dreadnought a tiny bit if there's no other targets of opportunity handy (generally you want to avoid pissing it off as a Tactical, though). Stalker the escorts though, to ensure your teammates can deal with the Dread easier without worrying about its squad of tagalongs.

''An important note about the DLC. While a lot of the new stuff is fun and cool, the lists are divided by map rotations. Meaning when you choose a specific game mode, you choose the content you want to play in. Normally this isn't so bad, but what ends up happening is that you wait and wait for games to appear for the selected content. If you don't join a game for that dlc during that waiting time, you are pushed into a standard content game. So you want to join a Chaos Unleashed map, but there's no one around, so you join (read: forced into) a regular match. Oh no, the second you join said match, other people joined the CU list and you just left. Hopefully something will done about that.''

[ How to spam Chaos Unleashed Exterminatus ]
This DLC added IG and SPESS MAHREENS to your Ork hordes, while allowing you to be HERETICS. Sounds awful, right? WRONG. This mode is actually easy to spam to the bonus wave.
STEP 1: if you manage to get a full four players, divide yourselves among Raptors and Tacticals. (With a minimum of one raptor, but preferably two or three)
STEP 1.5: If you're a raptor, have the perks for damage when you lift off and land on with your jump pack, and a daemon maul or chain axe if you don't like the low swing speed of the maul. (not required but it helps.)
If you're a/the tactical marine, have the teleport homer and perk that allows an extra weapon. Have a bolter, melta gun, and plasma gun. (Again, not required but it helps)
STEP 2: When you enter the map, have one raptor jump to the Orks, and the other jump to the IG forces, while the tactical marines camp in a corner of the map of their choice.
STEP 3: Have the raptors bait the two forces together, kill a few if you're feeling ballsy, and jump away back to the tacticals. The Orks and IG should start beating the fuck out of each other while only a few stragglers chase your gang. Kill the ones that follow you (it will still be a pretty steady stream, but the majority of their forces will be Shooting/chopping each other. )
STEP 4: The IG WILL win once teh SPESS MAHREENS show up. But usually they'll only have a small squads worth of either. You now have two options.
1: have the raptors charge to draw fire, toss grenades, do some damage and leave, while the tacticals charge and blow them up with their meltas, should ammo run out, use fully charged plasma shots. then have them run. repeat until all forces are destroyed.
OR
2: All of you run in from different directions, If you've beaten the main game 1 marine and a guardsmen or two isn't difficult, hopefully (sometimes the AI will still charge one guy, ignoring targets that are closer) they will be split up enough for each player to take out his group and help the others who haven't.
These work all the way up to the bonus round, which is just killa kans.
NOTE: These require some pretty good amounts or coordination between your squad members, and due to the AI's nature have a chance of entering an "allies of desperation" pseudo alliance and zerg-rushing your squad while only minimally chopping each other, this is rare however and the above strategies work 9 times out of ten.
ONE PLAYER METHOD.
STEP 1: Be a raptor with the above described perks and equipment (Much more essential this time.)
Step 2: Basically the same as the other step 2, except you're only choosing one side (usually the orks, they'll chase you longer) and leading them to the other
Step 3: 9 out of ten on the maps have tiny rock outcroppings or similar that you can jump up to and are inaccessible to everything else. jump to one of these, If you don't know where one is, just go to the side of the map.
Step 4: When the IG win you need to do some scouting, usually the AI marines don't clump together, so find an isolated one and take him out. If they are clumped together, throw all of your grenades at them, jump in, kill one (or two if you're feeling ballsy) and jump away, there are usually one or two full refills for your grenades around the level. repeat as necessary until only Guardsmen remain, you should know how to kill a few guardsmen.
NOTE: This falls prey to the Allies of desperation flaw of the other one, if this happens you're fucked.

== Mod: Space Marine Augmented ==
You want a rebalanced game? Want a non-sucky game start/match-making? Additional weapons? Additional armour? All DLC unlocked? All perks unlocked? Start matches with 2 people?
Then Space Marine Augmented is for you!

The following additional new items are in the game:
* MK3 armour
* Chapter/Legion specific artwork/armour pieces
* Flamer
* Astartes Shotgun
* Autocanon
* Power Fist
* Several Bolter patterns like Tigrus, Phobos and relic
* Several Chainswords: the original one, a relic one, a tabletop style one
* Lightning Claw

Terminators and Dreadnoughts are planned.

The mod is started from a launcher. You create a non-steam account in it to store your stuff online and see others in the game.
You can only play with other players who use the mod though, so spread the word!

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uni0jPEK4JY
* https://smaugmented.github.io/

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:Space Marine screenshot 1.jpg|"Space Marines!"
Image:Space Marine screenshot 2.jpg|"Kill da Space Marines!" ("Space Marines!")
Image:Warhammer chaos.jpg|Come hither brother, for I only wish to embrace you.
Image:Mira-noscale.jpg|She wants to fuck
Image:Space Marine screenshot 4.jpg|Stop Ripping-off Henlein, GW, just STOP!
Image:Warlord Class battle Titan.jpg|Dat Heeeuuge
Image:Space Marine screenshot 5.jpg
Image:Space Marine screenshot 6.jpg|This was cut. Probably for the best, as fighting a Deff Dread would have been either a huge letdown or harder than hell. (Actually, that's a Killa Kan. Note the two arms, instead of four)
Image:Renegadeguards.jpg|Wera firin ah grehn lazahs!!!
Image:Bloodlettercharging.jpg
Image:Taintedpsyker.jpg
Image:297690.jpg
Image:Sidonus.jpg|He still should go for the bionic eye implant.
Image:Lieutenant Miranda Nero.jpg|The text box pretty much says it all. Also, hot as hell. Yeah, Rule 34 should follow quickly.
File:Mira.jpg|"When confronted by this particular situation, the only reasonable course of action would be to give her the D." --[[Roboute Guilliman]], The [[Codex Astartes]]
</gallery>

== See Also ==
*[https://store.steampowered.com/app/55150/Warhammer_40000_Space_Marine/ Space Marine on Steam]
*[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyLLeKcxw24XO-696pWe0Ztxx14rNs-a1 The game's soundtrack]

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Space Marines]]

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

2021-10-14T03:32:00Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Characters */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Space Marine poster.jpg|550px|thumb|center|Where he's going, you won't need eyes...]]
'''Space Marine''' is a 3rd-person video game which is featured on the PC, the [[/v/|ECKSBAWKS 360, and the PS3]]. Its genre is a hybrid of shooting and hack and slash. It was released on September 6, 2011.

== The Plot ==
The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2o-LmI3kiE&|The story] is set on the Forgeworld of Graia. It's being invaded by Orks who wish to loot the shit out of it; weapons, ammunition, vehicles, you name it. Rather surprisingly, the Orks have an actual objective this time: to steal a Warlord-class Titan of the Morning Star Legion '''''(cuz iz ded shooty)''''', an idea the Imperium isn't overly fond of. At first, the 203rd Cadian regiment was sent in to reinforce the forgeworld's defenses, but were eventually overwhelmed and pushed into a desperate defensive posture due to the Orks shooting down the majority of their support craft with a captured surface to air artillery cannon and simply outnumbering them by 100:1. Captain Titus and a small force of [[Ultramarines]] are then sent to hold back the invading Orks with the help of what's left of the Guard while the liberation fleet is on its way.

The Forces of Chaos also have a part to play, and are led by a Terminator sorcerer lord named Nemeroth. They're basically here to open a warp portal using a heretically radical device to both turn Graia into a daemon world and also so Nemeroth can become a Daemon Prince. And unlike previous games, this features actual traitor guardsmen, not the "we've recently converted to chaos and we're here as fodder" guardsmen featured in Dawn of War, fuck no, these are kickass [[Lost and the Damned]] guardsmen.

Not surprisingly, [[Blood Ravens|BLOD REHVENS]] play a role, set against Chaos as they were seen holding the initial incursion, though they only appear in brief cameo. If the game is set after [[Dawn of War II|DoWII]] then we will see [[Gabriel Angelos|Gabe's]] reforms in action, which is nice (if the Marine ending in Retribution takes place).

== Gameplay ==
[[File:SpaceMarinePCBig.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Captain Titus vs EVERYTHING]]
[[Commissar Fuklaw|No cover system. As a man from Relic said: "cover is for pussies". Space Marines are too awesome to be cowering behind cover]]. As a Space Marine, you are given enhanced regenerative abilities and an Iron Halo shield (due to your status as Captain). There are also brutal kills which the player can do to make the enemy's deaths more humorous/gory (to regain health like a man and to show-off the awesomeness of the Angels of Death, of course). Since you are playing as a Space Marine (and better yet, a veteran of 200 years of battle) you could easily kill thousands of Orks with just a simple vertical slash.

That being said, the Forces of Chaos are a lot tougher. Traitor guardsmen are still as weak as ordinary Ork sluggas and shootas, but are quite tactical, being able to organize and <s>plan strategies</s> spam grenades like they're playing a Call of Duty game. Corrupted psykers can spawn enemies and easily kill you from afar. Khorne Bloodletters can teleport, making it hard for you to shoot them, deal massive amounts of damage and can withstand quite a bit themselves. Chaos Space Marines are far more deadly. They pack weapons that are functionally the same as yours, are by far the most durable enemies, and they have regenerating shields like you do.

Instead of having regenerating health like every other shooter out there, you can only regenerate health by stunning enemies and [[Awesome|FATALITY-ing them Mortal Kombat-style]]. Additionally, ''Space Marine'' features a Fury system, which allows you to slow time when aiming a ranged weapon or to unleash a devastating melee attack (provided that you filled up the fury bar by killing enemies of course). While Titus' starting equipment consists of a bolt pistol and combat knife, weapons can range from bolters to lascannons to plasma guns to thunder hammers. You also get to take jump packs which allows you to fly and make an assault jump, which allows you to create an AoE explosion by violently landing in a position of your choosing, though this does restrict your loadouts to only melee weapons and bolters.

== Characters ==
{{spoilers}}
* '''[[Captain Titus]]''' - A Captain of the Ultramarines Chapter and their last hope of finally getting some <s>badass</s> redemption of any kind. He is sent with his company of Ultramarines to prevent an Ork Waaagh!! from looting a forgeworld. It should be noted that his character was first seen as bald but was changed to have a shaved head in the early trailers. He was finally changed to a standard space marine HAIR-etic. He is voiced by Mark Strong. Yes...'''HE'S VOICED BY FUCKING MARK MOTHERFUCKING STRONG!''' He looks kinda like Proteus from Ultramarines the Movie, excluding the longer hair and the better looking armor decor. Despite being a shrewd commander, he is looked upon with suspicion by some of his fellow Ultramarines after being the only surviving battle-brother from a battle with a Chaos Sorcerer. Deep strike is his favorite entry tactic as shown by his affinity of jumping out of vehicles.
**At the end of the game, it's shown to the player that he does indeed possess an unnatural resistance to the warp, likely a result of his massive [[blackstone]] balls. Unfortunately, Leandros doesn't know that (the faithless cur), and since Titus is the only smurf <s>with something vaguely resembling a clue</s> who's realized that honor has a time and place, he gets roped in by the Inquisition on suspicion of '''HERESY!''' Thankfully, Thrax doesn't take his gun, implying that he isn't buying it... but that still means a certain newbie smurf is going to have a very long discussion on the merits of trust with a power fist, right after the <s>anal probing</s> tests of faith are done.

* '''Veteran Sergeant Sidonus''' - A slightly grumpy smurf, Sidonus is a veteran of the Ultramarines and designated comedian of the squad, delivering dry humor to the heart of the enemy when necessary (or when not so necessary). He is said to have battled Tyranids, Orks, Eldar, Chaos space Marines and Necrons during his centuries of battle. Quite badass, <s>for an</s> like all old Adeptus Astartes. He also has a bionic arm after getting his real one nom'd by Tyranids [[Tarkus|(Wait, I think I've already heard something like this...)]]. Also lost his eye and half of his face when an Eldar weapon blew up in his face [[Huron Blackheart|(... and something like this too...)]]. Decided not to get reconstructive surgery done, opting instead to leave the scars because it looks badass.

* '''[[Lawful Stupid|Brother Leandros]]''' - A newly recruited Ultramarine clinging to his shortened copy of the [[Codex Astartes]] and behaves as a typical Wardian-era smurf. He is the youngest of the squad, being only 75 years old (which is considered young by Space Marine standards) yet he has one of the highest honors that a chapter can bestow (<s>that, ironically enough, seems to be missing from Sidonus' power armor mantle as a ''veteran'', it is assumed that he is trained in the use of terminator armour, like all 1st company ''veterans'')</s> except the Crux Terminatus is an award, so he should still have been carrying it, Terminator honors. <s>Titus probably took his, so now he's mad at him for it... perhaps a little too mad...</s>

* '''Second Lieutenant Miranda Nero''' - Being the only loyalist commissioned officer left, Mira leads what remains of the 203rd Cadian that was reassigned to Graia. Turns out they went too far out into the green sea and got cut off from supplies and support. She seems to share [[Merrick]]'s view of placing the lives of her men above the Imperium. '''HERESY!!!''' The fact that she's holding the entire operation together despite being just a lieutenant impresses even Titus.

* '''Inquisitor Jean-Baptiste Emanuel <s>Zorg</s> <s>Skrillex</s> Drogan''' - The Inquisitor. He looks like he hasn't slept in a week (which is understandable, given that he's fighting both an Ork [[WAAAGH]] and [[Chaos Space Marine]]s), and his hair is really dirty and emo looking. He also has a metal plate attached to the right side of his head. Must be a radical. He's also '''EXTREMELY''' obsessed with killing xenos due to him being previously tortured by xenos (<s>possibly [[Dark Eldar]]</s>) Yeah, because we know that anyone can escape from Commoragh) for several years. During his time on Graia, his '''EXTREME''' obsession made him create mysterious experimental weapons in hopes of getting revenge, and one of these experiments included a portal that led to '''EXTREME''' consequences. This is due to the fact that the forces of chaos used said portal to enter the forge world, '''EXTREME'''ly. His eyes also lit up during a cutscene. MUST BE A HERETIC. BIG TWEEST. HE'S A PUPPET FOR THE LORD SORCERER.......... Okay it isn't that simple. Turns out he had a "subject" delivered to his laboratory to test his shiny new weapon on, the "subject" turned out to be a daemon which escaped, and proceeded to buttrape poor Drogan and possess his corpse (all the backstory is in the audio logs). Since this daemon read the fluff, he's decided that ''maybe'' the '''EXTREME''' factions have a bit more pull, so he pretends to be '''EXTREME'''.

* '''[[Nemeroth|Lord Nemeroth]]''' - A Chaos Terminator Sorcerer Lord and the '''Big Bad''' of the game. He is possibly the Sorcerer Titus "killed" previously. He leads a warband consisting of [[Chaos Space Marines|Chaos Marines]], Khornate [[bloodletters]], [[Blight Drone]]s, and Tzeentch psychers (presumably the forces of [[slaanesh]] were left out so as to avoid an adults only rating in America). He also proves Relics infinite creativity at naming characters, for the difference between him and [[Neroth|Eliphas' nagging wife]] is but two wretched letters. Also found a way around the Squishy Wizard law, because he wears '''TERMINATOR ARMOUR'''. Still got beat up by an Ork wearing almost no armour, though. Titus manages to defeat Nemeroth because the latter forgot to wear a helmet (then again, so does Titus). Shame, too, because he was just at the doorstep of becoming a [[Daemon Prince]].

* '''[[Warboss Grimskull]]''' - He is the Ork Warboss leading his Ork [[WAAAGH]]!!! on Graia with the intention of stealing the planet's Titans. Later on, he becomes interested in the power source Titus and Inquisitor Drogan possess. [https://youtu.be/Uox82AiheLI| He ain't so easy to kill].

* '''Inquisitor Thrax''' - The inquisitor that appears at the end of the game, where his name was mentioned on the monitor for the status on Graia. He came to take Titus into investigative custody after Leandros' accusations of heresy. Was likely planned to be a major character in the sequel, but that unfortunately never came to fruition.

== Things that rock ==
[[File:Angry marine by mysteryone617-d3j5gzj.png|300px|thumb|The official sequel]]
* Seemingly a better game than that [[Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior]] where you play as a [[Tau|Space Communist]] on his first day of duty, who is apparently a one man (well, xenos) army that could single-handedly kill genetically modified super soldiers, <s>a daemon prince</s> TWO Daemon Princes and a greater daemon of [[Tzeentch]]. lolwut?
* You get to play as a Space Marine.
* Guardsmen who fight alongside you have balls of steel, they rarely fall back. (Which makes crunch sense: with a Space Marine Captain alongside them, they too SHALL KNOW NO FEAR!)
* Orks (this time they actually look like a credible threat, not just dumb drunk ape-brawlers on steroids)
* Captain Titus isn't a total Mary Sue like the rest of this Chapter, even going so far to say that the [[Codex Astartes]] is just a guidebook and not meant to be taken literally. Thus: FUCK YOU MATT WARD.
* NO REALLY FUCK YOU MATT WARD
* Hilarious amounts of blood, dismemberment, and all other forms of gore you could imagine. [[Khorne]] would probably favor this game, even if you do play an Ultramarine.
* Executions (like the sync kills in DoW, which you can do to a stunned enemy) are actually required for you to restore your health, rather than going around and picking up medpacks, ducking in a corner and letting your wounds heal like magic, or some other unmanly method. Ensuring that playing longer requires you to give those guys screaming at you a good ol' fashion Chainsword enema, which is awesome.
* Chaos Space Marines.
* BLOODLETTERS!!!
* You pick up an [[Autocannon]] in <s>one</s> TWO levels.
[[File:The weak.jpg|300px|right|thumb|One is running away from the enemy, the other is running '''INTO''' the enemy. <s>Which do you think is loyal to the Emprah?</s> Another difference: one is a genetically modified super soldier with a FUCKHEUGE power armor and Ultrasmurf plot armor, the other is a normal man with a cardboard armor and a flashlight. Both are facing [[Angry Marines|angry]] green warmongers. Which do you think has [[Imperial Guard|balls of steel]]?]]
* Mark Strong (who you may remember from his previous roles starring in Rocknrolla, Kickass, Robin Hood, Stardust and Sherlock Holmes) as the voice of Captain Titus. (Don't forget Merlin from the Kingsman! Who wouldn't want to see Captain Titus murdering some greenskins while belting out Country roads by John Denver)
* <s>JUMP PACKS.</s> Out of fuel. (They be awesome while they last though)
* Pre-Order skins for [[Black Templars]], [[Blood Ravens]], [[Space Wolves]], <s>[[Iron Hands]]</s> [[Iron Warriors]] and [[Emperor's Children]].
* Apparently, even the games demo would destroy a PC's motherboard due to its extreme epicness. Watch here for proof [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47PDV9Rcjv4]
* Co-op comes in the form a 4-player Horde mode.
* Standard multiplayer is Chaos vs. Spess Mehrens. Fuck yes.
* You get to paint your own multiplayer character, much like the army painter system in DoWII. BETTER, because you can change every part of your power armour and paint up to THREE COLOURS FOR EVERY PART. Seriously, is a delight to try paint schemes, it have an asslot of colours and your (Chaos)Space Marine is in glorious 3D. You also get to pick your own loadout.
*Cock of Duty-like perks. Yes, multiplayer perks. However some of them are cool and are named after rules from the TT game, Most make sense, others are FUCKING STUPID (see bottom of next list). One real nice thing about the perks is that you can use them along with your tailored loadout in EXTERMINATUS.
**Said mode brings together 4 battle brothers able to act essentially like mini-Tituses, healing at ridiculous rates with Zeal, Larraman's Blessing or Iron Halo and slaughtering 20 waves worth of orks and one of chaos (or guardsmen, for Chaos Unleashed players)
*Livery changes for the single player are widely available for free. If you still hate the smurfs, you can easily change that by playing something like the [[Black Templars]] or [[Angry Marines]]. <s>are unlocked at level 5 and only affect multiplayer. Enjoy your smurfs.</s> ACTUALLY: whilst it is true that customization options are only available from level 4 onwards, there are unofficial modifications available for livery changes for a great number of chapters in single player. (see: http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?262044-Space-Marine-Custom-Titus-Skins-Armour-of-Angelos)
*After release fans wouldn't stop bitching (read flooding the official forums) asking for a mute all button in the multiplayer lobby. A couple weeks later an update included the mute all button, in short THEY [[Gets_shit_done|GET SHIT DONE]]
*New DLC just added [[Dreadnought]]s (AKA ungodly walking rape machine).
*The Anniversity Edition, released on 9/23/21 made all the DLCs free for people who have it, as well as giving goodies like soundtracks, classic and new wallpaper, the manuel, ringtone, artbook, collector's cards, and the launch trailer as well

== Things that Suck ==
* When the daemons first show up, Titus refers to them as "Chaos daemons!" Is there any other kind? <s>WAIT, DON'T ANSWER THAT!</s>
* Cadians are portrayed as pussies who have to rely on the Smurfs to get anything done, with the sole exception of Mira. Someone at Relic mistakenly believed that Cadians are just another one of those regiments that rely purely on numbers to get shit done. In reality, with all the training from birth and living next to the Eye of Terror things, they should be telling the Orks where to shove it and Chaos forces whose dicks to suck. (While outnumbered at least 100 to 1 and cut off from resupply? ESPECIALLY when outnumbered and undersuplied, CADIA LIVES!)
* Explosions look like total ASS. While the texture work on the game is extremely detailed, they apparently skimped on their pyrotechnic effects. Some of the smoke and explosion effects look like they came off a PS1 game. This is painfully jarring in the opening aerial battle between the navy and the Orks.
* Ultrasmurfs. (Bear in mind though, you would probably bitch about it if they mentioned any other chapter as "the greatest of them all". [[Ultramarines:The_Movie|Observe]]). However, it could be argued that part of the joy of the badassery of Captain Titus is that he lends credit to that stereotype.
* While "Cover is for Pussies" is a manly mechanic, being able to fire from cover while being pinned by tons of Ork Shootas and Chaos Havocs in unreachable positions wouldn't be so bad.
** Don't forget the waves of renegade guardsmen who posses an inexhaustible supply of grenades that they lob at you without hesitation. This alone makes it nearly impossible to complete the later chapters without abusing cover and Lascannon camping.
*No awesome executions in multiplayer. Multiplayer executions were dropped because it would leave you vulnerable while performing it and [[Matt Ward|some people]] would get upset at seeing their marine having their organs torn out. This leaves one wondering why it wouldn't be left in as an optional humiliation move.
**More baffling is that it is being left out of the upcoming co-op as well for the exact same reasons, despite it being in singleplayer, meaning you can only regain health by [[Gay|hiding in cover while your health regenerates.]][[Derp| "Cover is for the weak" indeed.]]
***Further undermined by the fact that not taking cover against Tankbustaz will get you killed in a ludicrously quick-and-dirty way, as will charging into a pack of Traitor Guardsmen whilst they burn you alive in your artificer armor with volleys of [[Lasgun|flashlight]] fire.
* Explaining things to the newbs.
*<strike>There is NOBODY in fucking multiplayer, seriously, I've fucking waited for hours.</strike> NOT ANYMORE. The free giveaway have given new life to the multiplayer, with a small but loyal fanbase playing practically every day.
* They wanted to cast Sean Pertwee (Who played Governor Severus in Fire Warrior) as one of the characters, but they already had enough VA's. Not having Sean Pertwee in a Warhammer game, or film, is just plain wrong (though they do express desire to cast him in a possible sequel). '''UNFORTUNATELY!''' <s>THQ said that there won't be a sequel. [[Rage|FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!]]</s> <s>There might be a sequel, apparently, but only if THQ doesn't collapse in on itself like a super-massive star due to all its debt.</s> THQ just went belly-up. The sequel's destiny is now in the hands of Sega....Emperor preserve us all.
* Another 40k game about some Space Marine snowflake. See Ultrasmurfs. But on the bright side, only Leandros acts like the generic Mary sue Ultramarine, Titus and Sidonus are, more-or-less likable, even by those with a slight distaste for the Ultramarines.
* Not enough choppy. For a game that relies a lot on melee combat, not a lot of actual melee weapons to go around, only a knife (Which you can only use at the beginning of the game), chainsword, power axe, and thunder hammer and additionally, sync-kills are fairly limited for each one and starts to get "meh" after a few playthroughs. Given 40K's extensive armory of choppy choppas, you would think Relic could include more things like more power swords, fists and claws, eviscerator chainswords (And a large two-handed, flamer-toting chainsword would have been emprah-like to have), or just more sync-kills for said 4 weapons so players would have more variety in the amount of gore present.
* [http://www.spacemarine.com/blog-post/warhammer-40000-space-marine-e3-game-demo-walkthrough Apparently, melta guns are shotguns now and the Lascannon is some kind of retarded sniper rifle with slow-mo.]
**<s>[[Matt Ward|Sounds somehow familiar, no?]]</s> The Meltas are only shotguns as far as digital [[crunch]] is concerned; they're still burning death rays fluff-wise, disintegrating tons of orks and even daemons in one shot. As for the Lascannons, they aren't any more or less of a sniper weapon here than they are on the tabletop (basically an anti-materiel rifle, except on super grimdark space steroids). Neither of them do a lot against Dreads, which is bullshit. The lascannon has a minor mitigation in that Titus doesn't have the accompanying power-backpack, which could understandably make each shot less powerful.
*Games consist of melta, plasma cannon, stormbolter, or vengeance launcher spam, the few players who disdain cheap tactics (oddly the ps3 space wolves champion this view) lose on principle unless they're banned in a tournament or are a cheating fuck named jwolf96 who bolt pistols you with a headshot WHILE JUMPING AROUND AS ASSAULT.EVERY TIME.hax.
*No [[Flamer]]s. (melta gun doesn't count)
*No [[Grav-Weaponry]]. (No halofags the Thunder Hammer is '''not''' a grav-weapon)
*Gears of War fanboys constantly saying that the game is a copy of Gears of War, even though it's a hack and slash shooter hybrid that does not feature a cover system (GOW is like a ducking simulator). They're also too magnificently retarded to realize that Warhammer 40,000 came Waaaaaaaaayyyyy before Gears of War. Not to mention the [[Space Marines]] of 40k inspired the giant space marine with the huge weapons.
*FUCKING audio stutter during times where you're battling hordes of enemies (which, in a hack-and-slash game, happens all the time). It's revealed that this is not hardware related as even those with high-powered machines and updated drivers also suffer from this. Relic might provide a fix for this but some are shifty about this, fearing that they might pull off the old [[Dawn of War]] ignorance on this game too. If you want a slightly acceptable temporary fix for this that doesn't require you playing this game in silence, infinitely loop a battle theme of your choosing on your music player such as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRiU2N03Rzs Requiem for a Tower] while playing, set your volume to a level of your choosing, and gleefully continue hacking your opponents to shreds and curb-stomping them to paste. If you need the voices for tactical input, just enable subtitles.
*Shitty voice acting from anyone who is not a space marine (or lieutenant mira)
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbiqNn6LxFM Shitty fucking lag that has remained unfixed over a month after its released], ergo consigning the game to the dustbin as new Vidya Gaems that are frankly better than it are released.
*<s>Only five maps, all of which encourage outright camping and grenade spam.</s> They're releasing more maps every few months.
*Matchmaking sucks a bag of dicks the size of a [[Nurgle|Great Unclean One]].
*<s>Devastator Marines are vastly more powerful than all other Marines, and it's possible to circumvent the Heavy Bolter's setup time by switching to/from your pistol. The switch-setup was fixed in a patch, but Devastators are still infinitely superior to anything any other Marine class can do damage-wise Assault/Raptor with thunder hammer/daemon maul with Killing Blow. Nuff said.</s> Plus the inability to dodge effectively, (Learn to combat roll, dumbass. Saves my bacon all the time.) slow recharge times on armor and health, and the fact that one shot from a tactical marine's plasma gun will melt your shit instantly balances it out. N00bs need to STFU and get some skill and stop whining. Also, unlike Raptors/Assault Marines, Devastators can't FLY.
*There were originally going to be Combi-Weapons in the game, but it was scrapped.
*Environments need more variety. A lot more variety. The game really doesn't start shaking shit up until about halfway through. Till then, everything is cityscape type level killing a bunch of Orks.
*On the console versions, accusations of Standbying (abusing host lag) are ''rampant''.
*<s>Makes no fucking sense from a chronological perspective - Graia was OMNOMNOM'd by the [[Tyranids]] (caught in the path of the initial Hive Fleet that approached Macragge) long before the events of Dawn of War and Dawn of War 2 - meaning that Titus' victory was ultimately a pyrrhic one, unless there's another Graia out there in the Imperium of Man. It's an alternate timeline, and it takes place on a different Graia (this particular Graia is located in the Segmentum Tempestus, not Ultima Segmentum). You can tell because Titus is the Captain of the Ultramarine's Second Company instead of Sicarius and Titan Invictus wasn't destroyed in the 13th Black Crusade (which was way before Dawn of War).</s>
**It takes place some time into M42, and it's a different Graia. Evidence: In Ultramarines: The Movie, Captain Severus was 2nd Company Captain, and the film took place after the battle for Macragge given their WE MARCH FOR MACRAGGE creed. Sicarius is either dead or been promoted by now. With Severus dead by the hands of the Daemon, Titus becomes his successor. Further proof comes from the Blood Ravens appearance. Hive Fleet Leviathan, a splinter of which was defeated by the Magpies in DOW2, showed up in the final years of M41. Given that Retribution takes place 11 years after that, and Titus mentions the Aurelian Crusades, Relic has left the 41st Millennium behind. In four games, Relic has pushed further with the 40K timeline than Games Workshop has in twenty years.
***This is more or less confirmed by 8th edition. Cato Sicarius gets lost in the Warp at one point, so naturally they would have promoted someone else (namely Titus) to fill in. Sure the [[Great Rift]] doesn't appear on the map in the intro, but it hadn't been made up yet IRL, what are you gonna do?
* Not enough Ham. From the company that brought such gems as "BEAR WITNESS TO MY ASCENSION!!!!" and "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! LET THE GALAXY BURN!", it's a bit of a letdown when <s>even the Orks sound bored</s> you call "GIT OFF MAH SHIP, SPACE MUHREEN!!" bored? Calm Space Marines are boring Space Marines. Shout your litanies to the Emperor, dammit!
*<s>[[Butthurt|Multiplayer perks. COCK OF DUTY MODERN SHITFUCK ANNOYING FUCKING 'MARTYRDOM' RIPOFF. Yes. Your armor's power-pack/jump-pack EXPLODES with a ludicrous kill zone. FUCKING ANNOYING.</s>]] The noobs want perks deal with it. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
**<s>this game is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with bigger guys for you.</s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|Heresy!}}
* Multiplayer: MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. NOW I LAG LOLOLOLOLOL. But this comes as a result of no dedicated servers due to a small playerbase. (One player goes as far as to call Host Migrations "Warp Storms" over voice chat, due to the seeming level of warp-dickery behind their timing.)
*<s>[[Butthurt|Dreadnoughts are unstoppable rape machines that will steamroll the entire enemy team by themselves unless it is made up entirely of devastator marines (RELIC SUCKS AT BALANCE!)]]</s> the concept of game balance is bullshit. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
* Final boss fight with Nemeroth is disappointing. Instead of having a proper fight like against Grimskull, it's just a quick-time event. While being sort of epic the first time you play it (You ''are'' falling down a space elevator, after all) it gets repetitive and boring in following play-throughs. Also, you can spam all three of the required inputs at once with no penalty.
** And to get to the irritating button mash you have to drudge through a long and annoying fight with his OP minions.
*Good luck finding a game that's on any of the DLC stuff, or outside of the original five maps, You won't find any matches that aren't Seize Ground or Annihilation. We seriously need a new Space Marine game.
* There's no-one fucking playing multiplayer anymore
* We're never gonna get a sequel :c
* A squad of [[Veteran Squad#Sternguard Veterans|Sternguard Veterans]] or [[Terminators]] could have solved both the Orc and Chaos problems in under thirty minutes. A squad of each should have been aboard the [[Strike Cruiser]] in orbit. Deamon Prince Nemeroth whiled on by Assault Terminators led by Titus would have been funny and [[awesome]] to see.
* Your a dwarf in a barrel.
* Exterminatus glitching the fuck out.
* The bolter behaves like a generic assault rifle. Orks will take like 10 shots to die. Fire warrior (shudders) remains the only 40k game to get the bolter right.
*Said Anniversity Edition now made it priced at $60 USD, overpriced considering that it released 10 years ago

== Downloadable Content ==
The game is constantly being supported and so much new content has been added over the past few months, it's astonishing. New content includes new modes such as capture the flag mode, capture and control, and dreadnought assault. New maps have been released, and previous pre-order only skins are now available (including new ones such as the Legion of the Damned skin-YEAH!) Below is a list of all the dlc you <s>can buy now(some of which is free by the way.)</s> have as of the Anniversary Edition.

*Exterminatus: This is a free update that added co-op to the game. A much needed add-on. Let's you play as Loyalist Marines in a team of four vs hordes of orks. Fun and crazy, (SPOILER!) final round is a bonus round against Chaos (end of spoiler.) Can use all your multiplayer loadouts and gain experience as well.

*Chaos Unleashed: You can now play as Chaos Space Marines in the Exterminatus game mode. Gameplay wise it isn't different from the Loyalist version, but new enemies along with the ol' ORKS are present. These new enemies are the Imperial Guard and the orks get a new unit (read ork entry below.) Oh yeah and we can now KILLZ US SOME SPACE MARINES! ULTRAMARINES TO BOOT!

**IG units include: regular shock troops with lasguns, veterans with chainswords (yes you read that right), sanctioned Imperial psykers who can also tackle stun you, troops with melta guns and troops with grenade launchers.
**Apart from the IG forces the Orks have their old units returning with the addition of KILLA KANZ coming in during the bonus round! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2sni61dms The start of the bonus round and how fucking tough it is.]
**Yes, space marines are part of the enemy now, and they are tough as hell to kill. If anyone made it to the bonus chaos round for the loyalists, they will know. They have the same armor and health as the CSM of that bonus round, but come standard in every arena (during the later half usually.) You need to work together as a team to take them down, if not you'll get overwhelmed pretty easily. They have the tactical marines, assault marines without jump packs (Thank the Dark Gods) and devastators with plasma cannons (That can fuck your shit in case you allow them to fire a volley)
**Three new maps including Habs Ablaze, Station Tertius and Aquila Canyon. This dlc also includes new achievements and trophies.

*Capture the flag (free update): Regular run of the mill capture the capture the flag mode. Unfortunately, devolves into everyone camping their sides to defend their flags and going long range. IF you've got balls of steel. then charge the other side to scare the hell out of them. Preferably use the Assault Marine with a hammer and "Death from above" upgrade.

*Capture and control: <s>Currently playing. Will update soon.</s> Sadly, due to bad matchmaking and division of map rotations, I cannot find a game to play of this mode. Will try to update soon. If anyone else has, you obviously have the right to update it on your own... something something this was written maybe 3 years ago. Also a run of the mill game mode, Assault unit hell.

*Dreadnought Assault: Probably the most controversial of the game modes. This player has already played it and highly recommends it. But the playerbase is apparently divided. Basically, you have to capture the Dreadnought capture point and as soon as it is captured, a teammate that is inside the point will be chosen to pilot the <s>suit</s> rape machine (at random? no idea. Needs confirmation.) You have to use the dreadnought to <s>capture the other points</s> assrape the other team. It is an ungodly powerful machine with a lot of health and you gain the auto/assaultcannon, powerfist/claw (both former weapons for loyalists and latter for Chaos, the auto-cannon and assault cannon are the weapons that differ from their counterpart on the other side, with the auto having lower RoF but higher damage per shot, and the assault having higher RoF but less damage per shot, but both fire rapidly enough to be used the same way), and meltagun. Obviously becomes a fire magnet and players will mostly use <s>devastators</s> Thunderhammers/Power Mauls on it. (contrary to tabletop, DEVASTATORS/HAVOCS CAN'T SCRATCH THE DAMN DREADNOUGHT) Comes with appropriate skins for Chaos and Loyalist marines.

**Includes three new maps as well; Desolation, Dome Mechanicus and Chem Refinery. New achievements/trophies also included.
**Has apparently vanished into the ether on the Xbox marketplace and is no longer available (on that system at least). Perhaps the playerbase bitched too much?

*As said before, pre-order skins are now available, including some new ones. Just to get you drooling, Iron Hands and Death Guard armor. OH YEAH!

*Subsection F, article U:

+[ How to destroy the Dreadnought ]+

As tested by two players, one yours truly, there is a limited number of options when it comes to dealing with an enemy Dreadnought.

#Lascannons do minimal damage. Headshots can do some decent damage - but it's finicky due to lag and a weird head hitbox (especially since the extra-damage weak point on the Dreadnought is the engine at the back, not the head, oops).
#Stalker Bolter is more reliable, but nowhere near as good against the Dread. Works well on its escorts, though.
#Heavy Bolter can damage it but it takes a lot of shots, and the Dread *will* return fire at the first opportunity and fuck your ass. Fire and move.
#[[What|Meltaguns do nothing.]] Avoid. (They take off exactly 10% of the Dreadnought's health from pointblank range, make of this what you will).
#Grenades only annoy it, but Flash Grenades can blind it for a second.
#Devastator stomp does nothing (and if you were trying to do this in the first place, [[Tau|gb2Tau]]).
#Plasma Guns and Pistols do absolutely nothing unless charged, and are questionably useful if charged. The "Sticky" charged shot though is great for drawing a Dread's attention, and can do a bit of damage to help out or soften it up prior to an attack.
#A Dread's close combat arm will put your head through your ass and send you flying in one hit.
#The Dreadnought has its own Iron Halo shield, but only for one charge that lasts for about 30 seconds. When activated, the Dreadnought strikes a distinctive pose while its arm glows. Firing at it now is a waste of ammo and your life.

Your destructive answer in this case is PLASMA, followed by VENGEANCE LAUNCHER. Plasma cannons are the only heavy weapon that will reliably do anything of relevance to the Dreadnought, and it takes around 10 shots. The only option other than Plasma Cannons are the Vengeance Launcher and the Thunderhammer/Power Maul. The former will do in a Dread in about 12 shots; the latter, if you have the Killing Blow perk, will make quick work of the Dreadnought.

Devastators:
#'''USE PLASMA CANNONS AT RANGE.''' Fire a barrage and fuck off. Watch for return fire, the Assault Cannon/Reaper Autocannon have a hellish rate of fire and will tear you to shreds.
#'''ALTERNATELY, USE HEAVY BOLTER AND CAMP TACTICAL LOCATIONS.''' Heavy Bolter can rack up insane damage very, very quickly and can easily wipe a squad of Escorts if you set up correctly. Surprisingly, the Heavy Bolter can also do a lot of damage to the Dread if it doesn't get a chance to return fire (I.E. it has its attention held by Plasma Cannoneers and the like).
#'''LASCANNON ONLY IF YOU'RE THE HOST.''' Lag makes Lascannon headshots completely unreliable unless you're the host, and turns the potential the Lascannon has against both the Dread and its escorts to functionally nil. If you ''are'' the host, feel free to use the Lascannon, as it can damage the Dreadnought (not as much as the Plasma Cannon though) and easily wipe the Escorts out. Generally though, you will want one of the other Heavy weapons (again, mostly Plasma Cannons).

Assaults:
#'''DRAW SOME ATTENTION WITH THE PLASMA PISTOL.''' The Plasma Pistol's virtually worthless damage-wise against the Dread, but a charged shot will stick to it, fuck up its vision for a half-second or so, and rattle around its aim a bit. Consider a Plas Pistol charged shot when you need to get the Dread's attention and keep it from a safer distance.
#'''SWORDS AND CHAINSWORDS, LEAD THE WAY.''' Combine a Sword (Chain or Power) with Swordsman's Zeal and Combat Drugs. You'll generally not do any appreciable damage to the Dreadnought, but that isn't the point: You can use this combo to land next to a Dread, get in a swipe or two on either it or its escorts, and fuck off, potentially drawing fire and attention away from much more important matters (like the Devastators your team has lining up shots). Note, however, that if you delay or the enemy team is smart, you will wind up a bloody smear on the floor. If not on active Dread attention-getting duty, help cap points and deal with the escorts.
#'''AXES ARE RISKY BUSINESS.''' Axeman's Zeal offers bigger damage chunks and the same delicious healing, and works the same way as the Sword/Chainsword tactic above, but it leaves you open more. Bear this in mind. If you're not that good with the Axe, leave it at home.
#'''THUNDER HAMMER/DAEMON MAUL - THE KILLING BLOW.''' Killing Blow helps. A ''fucking'' lot. Without this perk, you can still wreck up the Dreadnought, but not by yourself. Two or more Assaults with hammers and the Dreadnought is [[Ork|proppa]] fucked.
#'''SUICIDE IS PAINLESS.''' It's a dick move, but loading up with Final Vengeance Assaults can do some good damage to the Dreadnought if absolutely every other fucking tactic fails. Fly in, spam grenades, Swing Sword/Axe/Hammer until killed, die on purpose, explode.

Tacticals:
#'''PLASMA GUN IS AN OKAY CHOICE I GUESS.''' Similar to the Plasma Pistol, you aren't taking the Plasma Gun for the damage, even though it is a little higher than the Plasma Pistol's and it can damage the Dread better. The main advantage is punching the fucking escorts with it, or sticking charged shots to the Dread itself to draw attention, damage it a little, and throw off its aim. Fire off a shot, then get the fuck out of dodge.
#'''HELP CAP FUCKING POINTS.''' Damned things won't handle themselves, and you need 'em to win.
#'''MOST OF YOUR WEAPONRY WON'T HURT THE DREADNOUGHT.''' The Tactical has ''one'' weapon that can contribute to a fight with the Dreadnought, and it's also the one weapon almost fucking nobody uses: The Vengeance Launcher. It takes about 12-14 shots given ideal aim, but the Vengeance Launcher ''can'' kill the Dreadnought. Working in teams, this can actually be just as effective as Plasma Cannon spamming - do note that it holds much less ammo, though, and is much harder to use.
#'''HELP YOUR TEAMMATES.''' Teleport Homer may be the most unsung hero of Dreadnought fights. One Tactical in a good spot can effectively act as a mobile spawnpoint for his buddies. Ideal for Devastator teams which need a quick way into the fight that isn't a [[METAL BOXES|Metal Box]].
#'''YOU STILL HAVE GRENADES.''' Grenades can still do damage and still blind the Dreadnought, so for fuck's sake, use them.
#'''STALKER BOLTER THE FUCKING ESCORTS.''' Stalker Bolter will cut the escorts to shreds if you're a good shot, and can reliably damage the Dreadnought a tiny bit if there's no other targets of opportunity handy (generally you want to avoid pissing it off as a Tactical, though). Stalker the escorts though, to ensure your teammates can deal with the Dread easier without worrying about its squad of tagalongs.

''An important note about the DLC. While a lot of the new stuff is fun and cool, the lists are divided by map rotations. Meaning when you choose a specific game mode, you choose the content you want to play in. Normally this isn't so bad, but what ends up happening is that you wait and wait for games to appear for the selected content. If you don't join a game for that dlc during that waiting time, you are pushed into a standard content game. So you want to join a Chaos Unleashed map, but there's no one around, so you join (read: forced into) a regular match. Oh no, the second you join said match, other people joined the CU list and you just left. Hopefully something will done about that.''

[ How to spam Chaos Unleashed Exterminatus ]
This DLC added IG and SPESS MAHREENS to your Ork hordes, while allowing you to be HERETICS. Sounds awful, right? WRONG. This mode is actually easy to spam to the bonus wave.
STEP 1: if you manage to get a full four players, divide yourselves among Raptors and Tacticals. (With a minimum of one raptor, but preferably two or three)
STEP 1.5: If you're a raptor, have the perks for damage when you lift off and land on with your jump pack, and a daemon maul or chain axe if you don't like the low swing speed of the maul. (not required but it helps.)
If you're a/the tactical marine, have the teleport homer and perk that allows an extra weapon. Have a bolter, melta gun, and plasma gun. (Again, not required but it helps)
STEP 2: When you enter the map, have one raptor jump to the Orks, and the other jump to the IG forces, while the tactical marines camp in a corner of the map of their choice.
STEP 3: Have the raptors bait the two forces together, kill a few if you're feeling ballsy, and jump away back to the tacticals. The Orks and IG should start beating the fuck out of each other while only a few stragglers chase your gang. Kill the ones that follow you (it will still be a pretty steady stream, but the majority of their forces will be Shooting/chopping each other. )
STEP 4: The IG WILL win once teh SPESS MAHREENS show up. But usually they'll only have a small squads worth of either. You now have two options.
1: have the raptors charge to draw fire, toss grenades, do some damage and leave, while the tacticals charge and blow them up with their meltas, should ammo run out, use fully charged plasma shots. then have them run. repeat until all forces are destroyed.
OR
2: All of you run in from different directions, If you've beaten the main game 1 marine and a guardsmen or two isn't difficult, hopefully (sometimes the AI will still charge one guy, ignoring targets that are closer) they will be split up enough for each player to take out his group and help the others who haven't.
These work all the way up to the bonus round, which is just killa kans.
NOTE: These require some pretty good amounts or coordination between your squad members, and due to the AI's nature have a chance of entering an "allies of desperation" pseudo alliance and zerg-rushing your squad while only minimally chopping each other, this is rare however and the above strategies work 9 times out of ten.
ONE PLAYER METHOD.
STEP 1: Be a raptor with the above described perks and equipment (Much more essential this time.)
Step 2: Basically the same as the other step 2, except you're only choosing one side (usually the orks, they'll chase you longer) and leading them to the other
Step 3: 9 out of ten on the maps have tiny rock outcroppings or similar that you can jump up to and are inaccessible to everything else. jump to one of these, If you don't know where one is, just go to the side of the map.
Step 4: When the IG win you need to do some scouting, usually the AI marines don't clump together, so find an isolated one and take him out. If they are clumped together, throw all of your grenades at them, jump in, kill one (or two if you're feeling ballsy) and jump away, there are usually one or two full refills for your grenades around the level. repeat as necessary until only Guardsmen remain, you should know how to kill a few guardsmen.
NOTE: This falls prey to the Allies of desperation flaw of the other one, if this happens you're fucked.

== Mod: Space Marine Augmented ==
You want a rebalanced game? Want a non-sucky game start/match-making? Additional weapons? Additional armour? All DLC unlocked? All perks unlocked? Start matches with 2 people?
Then Space Marine Augmented is for you!

The following additional new items are in the game:
* MK3 armour
* Chapter/Legion specific artwork/armour pieces
* Flamer
* Astartes Shotgun
* Autocanon
* Power Fist
* Several Bolter patterns like Tigrus, Phobos and relic
* Several Chainswords: the original one, a relic one, a tabletop style one
* Lightning Claw

Terminators and Dreadnoughts are planned.

The mod is started from a launcher. You create a non-steam account in it to store your stuff online and see others in the game.
You can only play with other players who use the mod though, so spread the word!

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uni0jPEK4JY
* https://smaugmented.github.io/

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:Space Marine screenshot 1.jpg|"Space Marines!"
Image:Space Marine screenshot 2.jpg|"Kill da Space Marines!" ("Space Marines!")
Image:Warhammer chaos.jpg|Come hither brother, for I only wish to embrace you.
Image:Mira-noscale.jpg|She wants to fuck
Image:Space Marine screenshot 4.jpg|Stop Ripping-off Henlein, GW, just STOP!
Image:Warlord Class battle Titan.jpg|Dat Heeeuuge
Image:Space Marine screenshot 5.jpg
Image:Space Marine screenshot 6.jpg|This was cut. Probably for the best, as fighting a Deff Dread would have been either a huge letdown or harder than hell. (Actually, that's a Killa Kan. Note the two arms, instead of four)
Image:Renegadeguards.jpg|Wera firin ah grehn lazahs!!!
Image:Bloodlettercharging.jpg
Image:Taintedpsyker.jpg
Image:297690.jpg
Image:Sidonus.jpg|He still should go for the bionic eye implant.
Image:Lieutenant Miranda Nero.jpg|The text box pretty much says it all. Also, hot as hell. Yeah, Rule 34 should follow quickly.
File:Mira.jpg|"When confronted by this particular situation, the only reasonable course of action would be to give her the D." --[[Roboute Guilliman]], The [[Codex Astartes]]
</gallery>

== See Also ==
*[https://store.steampowered.com/app/55150/Warhammer_40000_Space_Marine/ Space Marine on Steam]
*[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyLLeKcxw24XO-696pWe0Ztxx14rNs-a1 The game's soundtrack]

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Space Marines]]

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

2021-10-14T03:29:36Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Characters */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Space Marine poster.jpg|550px|thumb|center|Where he's going, you won't need eyes...]]
'''Space Marine''' is a 3rd-person video game which is featured on the PC, the [[/v/|ECKSBAWKS 360, and the PS3]]. Its genre is a hybrid of shooting and hack and slash. It was released on September 6, 2011.

== The Plot ==
The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2o-LmI3kiE&|The story] is set on the Forgeworld of Graia. It's being invaded by Orks who wish to loot the shit out of it; weapons, ammunition, vehicles, you name it. Rather surprisingly, the Orks have an actual objective this time: to steal a Warlord-class Titan of the Morning Star Legion '''''(cuz iz ded shooty)''''', an idea the Imperium isn't overly fond of. At first, the 203rd Cadian regiment was sent in to reinforce the forgeworld's defenses, but were eventually overwhelmed and pushed into a desperate defensive posture due to the Orks shooting down the majority of their support craft with a captured surface to air artillery cannon and simply outnumbering them by 100:1. Captain Titus and a small force of [[Ultramarines]] are then sent to hold back the invading Orks with the help of what's left of the Guard while the liberation fleet is on its way.

The Forces of Chaos also have a part to play, and are led by a Terminator sorcerer lord named Nemeroth. They're basically here to open a warp portal using a heretically radical device to both turn Graia into a daemon world and also so Nemeroth can become a Daemon Prince. And unlike previous games, this features actual traitor guardsmen, not the "we've recently converted to chaos and we're here as fodder" guardsmen featured in Dawn of War, fuck no, these are kickass [[Lost and the Damned]] guardsmen.

Not surprisingly, [[Blood Ravens|BLOD REHVENS]] play a role, set against Chaos as they were seen holding the initial incursion, though they only appear in brief cameo. If the game is set after [[Dawn of War II|DoWII]] then we will see [[Gabriel Angelos|Gabe's]] reforms in action, which is nice (if the Marine ending in Retribution takes place).

== Gameplay ==
[[File:SpaceMarinePCBig.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Captain Titus vs EVERYTHING]]
[[Commissar Fuklaw|No cover system. As a man from Relic said: "cover is for pussies". Space Marines are too awesome to be cowering behind cover]]. As a Space Marine, you are given enhanced regenerative abilities and an Iron Halo shield (due to your status as Captain). There are also brutal kills which the player can do to make the enemy's deaths more humorous/gory (to regain health like a man and to show-off the awesomeness of the Angels of Death, of course). Since you are playing as a Space Marine (and better yet, a veteran of 200 years of battle) you could easily kill thousands of Orks with just a simple vertical slash.

That being said, the Forces of Chaos are a lot tougher. Traitor guardsmen are still as weak as ordinary Ork sluggas and shootas, but are quite tactical, being able to organize and <s>plan strategies</s> spam grenades like they're playing a Call of Duty game. Corrupted psykers can spawn enemies and easily kill you from afar. Khorne Bloodletters can teleport, making it hard for you to shoot them, deal massive amounts of damage and can withstand quite a bit themselves. Chaos Space Marines are far more deadly. They pack weapons that are functionally the same as yours, are by far the most durable enemies, and they have regenerating shields like you do.

Instead of having regenerating health like every other shooter out there, you can only regenerate health by stunning enemies and [[Awesome|FATALITY-ing them Mortal Kombat-style]]. Additionally, ''Space Marine'' features a Fury system, which allows you to slow time when aiming a ranged weapon or to unleash a devastating melee attack (provided that you filled up the fury bar by killing enemies of course). While Titus' starting equipment consists of a bolt pistol and combat knife, weapons can range from bolters to lascannons to plasma guns to thunder hammers. You also get to take jump packs which allows you to fly and make an assault jump, which allows you to create an AoE explosion by violently landing in a position of your choosing, though this does restrict your loadouts to only melee weapons and bolters.

== Characters ==
{{spoilers}}
* '''[[Captain Titus]]''' - A Captain of the Ultramarines Chapter and their last hope of finally getting some <s>badass</s> redemption of any kind. He is sent with his company of Ultramarines to prevent an Ork Waaagh!! from looting a forgeworld. It should be noted that his character was first seen as bald but was changed to have a shaved head in the early trailers. He was finally changed to a standard space marine HAIR-etic. He is voiced by Mark Strong. Yes...'''HE'S VOICED BY FUCKING MARK MOTHERFUCKING STRONG!''' He looks kinda like Proteus from Ultramarines the Movie, excluding the longer hair and the better looking armor decor. Despite being a shrewd commander, he is looked upon with suspicion by some of his fellow Ultramarines after being the only surviving battle-brother from a battle with a Chaos Sorcerer. Deep strike is his favorite entry tactic as shown by his affinity of jumping out of vehicles.
**At the end of the game, it's shown to the player that he does indeed possess an unnatural resistance to the warp, likely a result of his massive [[blackstone]] balls. Unfortunately, Leandros doesn't know that (the faithless cur), and since Titus is the only smurf <s>with something vaguely resembling a clue</s> who's realized that honor has a time and place, he gets roped in by the Inquisition on suspicion of '''HERESY!''' Thankfully, Thrax doesn't take his gun, implying that he isn't buying it... but that still means a certain newbie smurf is going to have a very long discussion on the merits of trust with a power fist, right after the <s>anal probing</s> tests of faith are done.

* '''Veteran Sergeant Sidonus''' - A slightly grumpy smurf, Sidonus is a veteran of the Ultramarines and designated comedian of the squad, delivering dry humor to the heart of the enemy when necessary (or when not so necessary). He is said to have battled Tyranids, Orks, Eldar, Chaos space Marines and Necrons during his centuries of battle. Quite badass, <s>for an</s> like all old Adeptus Astartes. He also has a bionic arm after getting his real one nom'd by Tyranids [[Tarkus|(Wait, I think I've already heard something like this...)]]. Also lost his eye and half of his face when an Eldar weapon blew up in his face [[Huron Blackheart|(... and something like this too...)]]. Decided not to get reconstructive surgery done, opting instead to leave the scars because it looks badass.

* '''[[Lawful Stupid|Brother Leandros]]''' - A newly recruited Ultramarine clinging to his shortened copy of the [[Codex Astartes]] and behaves as a typical Wardian-era smurf. He is the youngest of the squad, being only 75 years old (which is considered young by Space Marine standards) yet he has one of the highest honors that a chapter can bestow (<s>that, ironically enough, seems to be missing from Sidonus' power armor mantle as a ''veteran'', it is assumed that he is trained in the use of terminator armour, like all 1st company ''veterans'')</s> except the Crux Terminatus is an award, so he should still have been carrying it, Terminator honors. <s>Titus probably took his, so now he's mad at him for it... perhaps a little too mad...</s>

* '''Second Lieutenant Miranda Nero''' - Being the only loyalist commissioned officer left, Mira leads what remains of the 203rd Cadian that was reassigned to Graia. Turns out they went too far out into the green sea and got cut off from supplies and support. She seems to share [[Merrick]]'s view of placing the lives of her men above the Imperium. '''HERESY!!!''' The fact that she's holding the entire operation together despite being just a lieutenant impresses even Titus.

* '''Inquisitor Jean-Baptiste Emanuel <s>Zorg</s> <s>Skrillex</s> Drogan''' - The Inquisitor. He looks like he hasn't slept in a week (which is understandable, given that he's fighting both an Ork [[WAAAGH]] and [[Chaos Space Marine]]s), and his hair is really dirty and emo looking. He also has a metal plate attached to the right side of his head. Must be a radical. He's also '''EXTREMELY''' obsessed with killing xenos due to him being previously tortured by xenos (<s>possibly [[Dark Eldar]]</s>) Yeah, because we know that anyone can escape from Commoragh) for several years. During his time on Graia, his '''EXTREME''' obsession made him create mysterious experimental weapons in hopes of getting revenge, and one of these experiments included a portal that led to '''EXTREME''' consequences. This is due to the fact that the forces of chaos used said portal to enter the forge world, '''EXTREME'''ly. His eyes also lit up during a cutscene. MUST BE A HERETIC. BIG TWEEST. HE'S A PUPPET FOR THE LORD SORCERER.......... Okay it isn't that simple. Turns out he had a "subject" delivered to his laboratory to test his shiny new weapon on, the "subject" turned out to be a daemon which escaped, and proceeded to buttrape poor Drogan and possess his corpse (all the backstory is in the audio logs). Since this daemon read the fluff, he's decided that ''maybe'' the '''EXTREME''' factions have a bit more pull, so he pretends to be '''EXTREME'''.

* '''[[Nemeroth|Lord Nemeroth]]''' - A Chaos Terminator Sorcerer Lord and the '''Big Bad''' of the game. He is possibly the Sorcerer Titus "killed" previously. He leads a warband consisting of [[Chaos Space Marines|Chaos Marines]], Khornate [[bloodletters]], [[Blight Drone]]s, and Tzeentch psychers (presumably the forces of [[slaanesh]] were left out so as to avoid an adults only rating in America). He also proves Relics infinite creativity at naming characters, for the difference between him and [[Neroth|Eliphas' nagging wife]] is but two wretched letters. Also found a way around the Squishy Wizard law, because he wears '''TERMINATOR ARMOUR'''. Still got beat up by an Ork wearing almost no armour, though. Titus manages to defeat Nemeroth because the latter forgot to wear a helmet (then again, so does Titus). Shame, too, because he was just at the doorstep of becoming a [[Daemon Prince]].

* '''[[Warboss Grimskull]]''' - He is the Ork Warboss leading his Ork [[WAAAGH]]!!! on Graia with the intention of stealing the planet's Titans. Later on, he becomes interested in the power source Titus and Inquisitor Drogan possess. [https://youtu.be/Uox82AiheLI| He ain't so easy to kill].

* '''Inquisitor Thrax''' - The inquisitor that appears at the end of the game, where his name was mentioned on the monitor for the status on Graia. He came to take Titus heresy investigation after Leandros' accusation. Was likely planned to be a major character in the sequel, but that unfortunately never came to fruition.

== Things that rock ==
[[File:Angry marine by mysteryone617-d3j5gzj.png|300px|thumb|The official sequel]]
* Seemingly a better game than that [[Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior]] where you play as a [[Tau|Space Communist]] on his first day of duty, who is apparently a one man (well, xenos) army that could single-handedly kill genetically modified super soldiers, <s>a daemon prince</s> TWO Daemon Princes and a greater daemon of [[Tzeentch]]. lolwut?
* You get to play as a Space Marine.
* Guardsmen who fight alongside you have balls of steel, they rarely fall back. (Which makes crunch sense: with a Space Marine Captain alongside them, they too SHALL KNOW NO FEAR!)
* Orks (this time they actually look like a credible threat, not just dumb drunk ape-brawlers on steroids)
* Captain Titus isn't a total Mary Sue like the rest of this Chapter, even going so far to say that the [[Codex Astartes]] is just a guidebook and not meant to be taken literally. Thus: FUCK YOU MATT WARD.
* NO REALLY FUCK YOU MATT WARD
* Hilarious amounts of blood, dismemberment, and all other forms of gore you could imagine. [[Khorne]] would probably favor this game, even if you do play an Ultramarine.
* Executions (like the sync kills in DoW, which you can do to a stunned enemy) are actually required for you to restore your health, rather than going around and picking up medpacks, ducking in a corner and letting your wounds heal like magic, or some other unmanly method. Ensuring that playing longer requires you to give those guys screaming at you a good ol' fashion Chainsword enema, which is awesome.
* Chaos Space Marines.
* BLOODLETTERS!!!
* You pick up an [[Autocannon]] in <s>one</s> TWO levels.
[[File:The weak.jpg|300px|right|thumb|One is running away from the enemy, the other is running '''INTO''' the enemy. <s>Which do you think is loyal to the Emprah?</s> Another difference: one is a genetically modified super soldier with a FUCKHEUGE power armor and Ultrasmurf plot armor, the other is a normal man with a cardboard armor and a flashlight. Both are facing [[Angry Marines|angry]] green warmongers. Which do you think has [[Imperial Guard|balls of steel]]?]]
* Mark Strong (who you may remember from his previous roles starring in Rocknrolla, Kickass, Robin Hood, Stardust and Sherlock Holmes) as the voice of Captain Titus. (Don't forget Merlin from the Kingsman! Who wouldn't want to see Captain Titus murdering some greenskins while belting out Country roads by John Denver)
* <s>JUMP PACKS.</s> Out of fuel. (They be awesome while they last though)
* Pre-Order skins for [[Black Templars]], [[Blood Ravens]], [[Space Wolves]], <s>[[Iron Hands]]</s> [[Iron Warriors]] and [[Emperor's Children]].
* Apparently, even the games demo would destroy a PC's motherboard due to its extreme epicness. Watch here for proof [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47PDV9Rcjv4]
* Co-op comes in the form a 4-player Horde mode.
* Standard multiplayer is Chaos vs. Spess Mehrens. Fuck yes.
* You get to paint your own multiplayer character, much like the army painter system in DoWII. BETTER, because you can change every part of your power armour and paint up to THREE COLOURS FOR EVERY PART. Seriously, is a delight to try paint schemes, it have an asslot of colours and your (Chaos)Space Marine is in glorious 3D. You also get to pick your own loadout.
*Cock of Duty-like perks. Yes, multiplayer perks. However some of them are cool and are named after rules from the TT game, Most make sense, others are FUCKING STUPID (see bottom of next list). One real nice thing about the perks is that you can use them along with your tailored loadout in EXTERMINATUS.
**Said mode brings together 4 battle brothers able to act essentially like mini-Tituses, healing at ridiculous rates with Zeal, Larraman's Blessing or Iron Halo and slaughtering 20 waves worth of orks and one of chaos (or guardsmen, for Chaos Unleashed players)
*Livery changes for the single player are widely available for free. If you still hate the smurfs, you can easily change that by playing something like the [[Black Templars]] or [[Angry Marines]]. <s>are unlocked at level 5 and only affect multiplayer. Enjoy your smurfs.</s> ACTUALLY: whilst it is true that customization options are only available from level 4 onwards, there are unofficial modifications available for livery changes for a great number of chapters in single player. (see: http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?262044-Space-Marine-Custom-Titus-Skins-Armour-of-Angelos)
*After release fans wouldn't stop bitching (read flooding the official forums) asking for a mute all button in the multiplayer lobby. A couple weeks later an update included the mute all button, in short THEY [[Gets_shit_done|GET SHIT DONE]]
*New DLC just added [[Dreadnought]]s (AKA ungodly walking rape machine).
*The Anniversity Edition, released on 9/23/21 made all the DLCs free for people who have it, as well as giving goodies like soundtracks, classic and new wallpaper, the manuel, ringtone, artbook, collector's cards, and the launch trailer as well

== Things that Suck ==
* When the daemons first show up, Titus refers to them as "Chaos daemons!" Is there any other kind? <s>WAIT, DON'T ANSWER THAT!</s>
* Cadians are portrayed as pussies who have to rely on the Smurfs to get anything done, with the sole exception of Mira. Someone at Relic mistakenly believed that Cadians are just another one of those regiments that rely purely on numbers to get shit done. In reality, with all the training from birth and living next to the Eye of Terror things, they should be telling the Orks where to shove it and Chaos forces whose dicks to suck. (While outnumbered at least 100 to 1 and cut off from resupply? ESPECIALLY when outnumbered and undersuplied, CADIA LIVES!)
* Explosions look like total ASS. While the texture work on the game is extremely detailed, they apparently skimped on their pyrotechnic effects. Some of the smoke and explosion effects look like they came off a PS1 game. This is painfully jarring in the opening aerial battle between the navy and the Orks.
* Ultrasmurfs. (Bear in mind though, you would probably bitch about it if they mentioned any other chapter as "the greatest of them all". [[Ultramarines:The_Movie|Observe]]). However, it could be argued that part of the joy of the badassery of Captain Titus is that he lends credit to that stereotype.
* While "Cover is for Pussies" is a manly mechanic, being able to fire from cover while being pinned by tons of Ork Shootas and Chaos Havocs in unreachable positions wouldn't be so bad.
** Don't forget the waves of renegade guardsmen who posses an inexhaustible supply of grenades that they lob at you without hesitation. This alone makes it nearly impossible to complete the later chapters without abusing cover and Lascannon camping.
*No awesome executions in multiplayer. Multiplayer executions were dropped because it would leave you vulnerable while performing it and [[Matt Ward|some people]] would get upset at seeing their marine having their organs torn out. This leaves one wondering why it wouldn't be left in as an optional humiliation move.
**More baffling is that it is being left out of the upcoming co-op as well for the exact same reasons, despite it being in singleplayer, meaning you can only regain health by [[Gay|hiding in cover while your health regenerates.]][[Derp| "Cover is for the weak" indeed.]]
***Further undermined by the fact that not taking cover against Tankbustaz will get you killed in a ludicrously quick-and-dirty way, as will charging into a pack of Traitor Guardsmen whilst they burn you alive in your artificer armor with volleys of [[Lasgun|flashlight]] fire.
* Explaining things to the newbs.
*<strike>There is NOBODY in fucking multiplayer, seriously, I've fucking waited for hours.</strike> NOT ANYMORE. The free giveaway have given new life to the multiplayer, with a small but loyal fanbase playing practically every day.
* They wanted to cast Sean Pertwee (Who played Governor Severus in Fire Warrior) as one of the characters, but they already had enough VA's. Not having Sean Pertwee in a Warhammer game, or film, is just plain wrong (though they do express desire to cast him in a possible sequel). '''UNFORTUNATELY!''' <s>THQ said that there won't be a sequel. [[Rage|FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!]]</s> <s>There might be a sequel, apparently, but only if THQ doesn't collapse in on itself like a super-massive star due to all its debt.</s> THQ just went belly-up. The sequel's destiny is now in the hands of Sega....Emperor preserve us all.
* Another 40k game about some Space Marine snowflake. See Ultrasmurfs. But on the bright side, only Leandros acts like the generic Mary sue Ultramarine, Titus and Sidonus are, more-or-less likable, even by those with a slight distaste for the Ultramarines.
* Not enough choppy. For a game that relies a lot on melee combat, not a lot of actual melee weapons to go around, only a knife (Which you can only use at the beginning of the game), chainsword, power axe, and thunder hammer and additionally, sync-kills are fairly limited for each one and starts to get "meh" after a few playthroughs. Given 40K's extensive armory of choppy choppas, you would think Relic could include more things like more power swords, fists and claws, eviscerator chainswords (And a large two-handed, flamer-toting chainsword would have been emprah-like to have), or just more sync-kills for said 4 weapons so players would have more variety in the amount of gore present.
* [http://www.spacemarine.com/blog-post/warhammer-40000-space-marine-e3-game-demo-walkthrough Apparently, melta guns are shotguns now and the Lascannon is some kind of retarded sniper rifle with slow-mo.]
**<s>[[Matt Ward|Sounds somehow familiar, no?]]</s> The Meltas are only shotguns as far as digital [[crunch]] is concerned; they're still burning death rays fluff-wise, disintegrating tons of orks and even daemons in one shot. As for the Lascannons, they aren't any more or less of a sniper weapon here than they are on the tabletop (basically an anti-materiel rifle, except on super grimdark space steroids). Neither of them do a lot against Dreads, which is bullshit. The lascannon has a minor mitigation in that Titus doesn't have the accompanying power-backpack, which could understandably make each shot less powerful.
*Games consist of melta, plasma cannon, stormbolter, or vengeance launcher spam, the few players who disdain cheap tactics (oddly the ps3 space wolves champion this view) lose on principle unless they're banned in a tournament or are a cheating fuck named jwolf96 who bolt pistols you with a headshot WHILE JUMPING AROUND AS ASSAULT.EVERY TIME.hax.
*No [[Flamer]]s. (melta gun doesn't count)
*No [[Grav-Weaponry]]. (No halofags the Thunder Hammer is '''not''' a grav-weapon)
*Gears of War fanboys constantly saying that the game is a copy of Gears of War, even though it's a hack and slash shooter hybrid that does not feature a cover system (GOW is like a ducking simulator). They're also too magnificently retarded to realize that Warhammer 40,000 came Waaaaaaaaayyyyy before Gears of War. Not to mention the [[Space Marines]] of 40k inspired the giant space marine with the huge weapons.
*FUCKING audio stutter during times where you're battling hordes of enemies (which, in a hack-and-slash game, happens all the time). It's revealed that this is not hardware related as even those with high-powered machines and updated drivers also suffer from this. Relic might provide a fix for this but some are shifty about this, fearing that they might pull off the old [[Dawn of War]] ignorance on this game too. If you want a slightly acceptable temporary fix for this that doesn't require you playing this game in silence, infinitely loop a battle theme of your choosing on your music player such as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRiU2N03Rzs Requiem for a Tower] while playing, set your volume to a level of your choosing, and gleefully continue hacking your opponents to shreds and curb-stomping them to paste. If you need the voices for tactical input, just enable subtitles.
*Shitty voice acting from anyone who is not a space marine (or lieutenant mira)
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbiqNn6LxFM Shitty fucking lag that has remained unfixed over a month after its released], ergo consigning the game to the dustbin as new Vidya Gaems that are frankly better than it are released.
*<s>Only five maps, all of which encourage outright camping and grenade spam.</s> They're releasing more maps every few months.
*Matchmaking sucks a bag of dicks the size of a [[Nurgle|Great Unclean One]].
*<s>Devastator Marines are vastly more powerful than all other Marines, and it's possible to circumvent the Heavy Bolter's setup time by switching to/from your pistol. The switch-setup was fixed in a patch, but Devastators are still infinitely superior to anything any other Marine class can do damage-wise Assault/Raptor with thunder hammer/daemon maul with Killing Blow. Nuff said.</s> Plus the inability to dodge effectively, (Learn to combat roll, dumbass. Saves my bacon all the time.) slow recharge times on armor and health, and the fact that one shot from a tactical marine's plasma gun will melt your shit instantly balances it out. N00bs need to STFU and get some skill and stop whining. Also, unlike Raptors/Assault Marines, Devastators can't FLY.
*There were originally going to be Combi-Weapons in the game, but it was scrapped.
*Environments need more variety. A lot more variety. The game really doesn't start shaking shit up until about halfway through. Till then, everything is cityscape type level killing a bunch of Orks.
*On the console versions, accusations of Standbying (abusing host lag) are ''rampant''.
*<s>Makes no fucking sense from a chronological perspective - Graia was OMNOMNOM'd by the [[Tyranids]] (caught in the path of the initial Hive Fleet that approached Macragge) long before the events of Dawn of War and Dawn of War 2 - meaning that Titus' victory was ultimately a pyrrhic one, unless there's another Graia out there in the Imperium of Man. It's an alternate timeline, and it takes place on a different Graia (this particular Graia is located in the Segmentum Tempestus, not Ultima Segmentum). You can tell because Titus is the Captain of the Ultramarine's Second Company instead of Sicarius and Titan Invictus wasn't destroyed in the 13th Black Crusade (which was way before Dawn of War).</s>
**It takes place some time into M42, and it's a different Graia. Evidence: In Ultramarines: The Movie, Captain Severus was 2nd Company Captain, and the film took place after the battle for Macragge given their WE MARCH FOR MACRAGGE creed. Sicarius is either dead or been promoted by now. With Severus dead by the hands of the Daemon, Titus becomes his successor. Further proof comes from the Blood Ravens appearance. Hive Fleet Leviathan, a splinter of which was defeated by the Magpies in DOW2, showed up in the final years of M41. Given that Retribution takes place 11 years after that, and Titus mentions the Aurelian Crusades, Relic has left the 41st Millennium behind. In four games, Relic has pushed further with the 40K timeline than Games Workshop has in twenty years.
***This is more or less confirmed by 8th edition. Cato Sicarius gets lost in the Warp at one point, so naturally they would have promoted someone else (namely Titus) to fill in. Sure the [[Great Rift]] doesn't appear on the map in the intro, but it hadn't been made up yet IRL, what are you gonna do?
* Not enough Ham. From the company that brought such gems as "BEAR WITNESS TO MY ASCENSION!!!!" and "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! LET THE GALAXY BURN!", it's a bit of a letdown when <s>even the Orks sound bored</s> you call "GIT OFF MAH SHIP, SPACE MUHREEN!!" bored? Calm Space Marines are boring Space Marines. Shout your litanies to the Emperor, dammit!
*<s>[[Butthurt|Multiplayer perks. COCK OF DUTY MODERN SHITFUCK ANNOYING FUCKING 'MARTYRDOM' RIPOFF. Yes. Your armor's power-pack/jump-pack EXPLODES with a ludicrous kill zone. FUCKING ANNOYING.</s>]] The noobs want perks deal with it. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
**<s>this game is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with bigger guys for you.</s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|Heresy!}}
* Multiplayer: MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. NOW I LAG LOLOLOLOLOL. But this comes as a result of no dedicated servers due to a small playerbase. (One player goes as far as to call Host Migrations "Warp Storms" over voice chat, due to the seeming level of warp-dickery behind their timing.)
*<s>[[Butthurt|Dreadnoughts are unstoppable rape machines that will steamroll the entire enemy team by themselves unless it is made up entirely of devastator marines (RELIC SUCKS AT BALANCE!)]]</s> the concept of game balance is bullshit. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
* Final boss fight with Nemeroth is disappointing. Instead of having a proper fight like against Grimskull, it's just a quick-time event. While being sort of epic the first time you play it (You ''are'' falling down a space elevator, after all) it gets repetitive and boring in following play-throughs. Also, you can spam all three of the required inputs at once with no penalty.
** And to get to the irritating button mash you have to drudge through a long and annoying fight with his OP minions.
*Good luck finding a game that's on any of the DLC stuff, or outside of the original five maps, You won't find any matches that aren't Seize Ground or Annihilation. We seriously need a new Space Marine game.
* There's no-one fucking playing multiplayer anymore
* We're never gonna get a sequel :c
* A squad of [[Veteran Squad#Sternguard Veterans|Sternguard Veterans]] or [[Terminators]] could have solved both the Orc and Chaos problems in under thirty minutes. A squad of each should have been aboard the [[Strike Cruiser]] in orbit. Deamon Prince Nemeroth whiled on by Assault Terminators led by Titus would have been funny and [[awesome]] to see.
* Your a dwarf in a barrel.
* Exterminatus glitching the fuck out.
* The bolter behaves like a generic assault rifle. Orks will take like 10 shots to die. Fire warrior (shudders) remains the only 40k game to get the bolter right.
*Said Anniversity Edition now made it priced at $60 USD, overpriced considering that it released 10 years ago

== Downloadable Content ==
The game is constantly being supported and so much new content has been added over the past few months, it's astonishing. New content includes new modes such as capture the flag mode, capture and control, and dreadnought assault. New maps have been released, and previous pre-order only skins are now available (including new ones such as the Legion of the Damned skin-YEAH!) Below is a list of all the dlc you <s>can buy now(some of which is free by the way.)</s> have as of the Anniversary Edition.

*Exterminatus: This is a free update that added co-op to the game. A much needed add-on. Let's you play as Loyalist Marines in a team of four vs hordes of orks. Fun and crazy, (SPOILER!) final round is a bonus round against Chaos (end of spoiler.) Can use all your multiplayer loadouts and gain experience as well.

*Chaos Unleashed: You can now play as Chaos Space Marines in the Exterminatus game mode. Gameplay wise it isn't different from the Loyalist version, but new enemies along with the ol' ORKS are present. These new enemies are the Imperial Guard and the orks get a new unit (read ork entry below.) Oh yeah and we can now KILLZ US SOME SPACE MARINES! ULTRAMARINES TO BOOT!

**IG units include: regular shock troops with lasguns, veterans with chainswords (yes you read that right), sanctioned Imperial psykers who can also tackle stun you, troops with melta guns and troops with grenade launchers.
**Apart from the IG forces the Orks have their old units returning with the addition of KILLA KANZ coming in during the bonus round! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2sni61dms The start of the bonus round and how fucking tough it is.]
**Yes, space marines are part of the enemy now, and they are tough as hell to kill. If anyone made it to the bonus chaos round for the loyalists, they will know. They have the same armor and health as the CSM of that bonus round, but come standard in every arena (during the later half usually.) You need to work together as a team to take them down, if not you'll get overwhelmed pretty easily. They have the tactical marines, assault marines without jump packs (Thank the Dark Gods) and devastators with plasma cannons (That can fuck your shit in case you allow them to fire a volley)
**Three new maps including Habs Ablaze, Station Tertius and Aquila Canyon. This dlc also includes new achievements and trophies.

*Capture the flag (free update): Regular run of the mill capture the capture the flag mode. Unfortunately, devolves into everyone camping their sides to defend their flags and going long range. IF you've got balls of steel. then charge the other side to scare the hell out of them. Preferably use the Assault Marine with a hammer and "Death from above" upgrade.

*Capture and control: <s>Currently playing. Will update soon.</s> Sadly, due to bad matchmaking and division of map rotations, I cannot find a game to play of this mode. Will try to update soon. If anyone else has, you obviously have the right to update it on your own... something something this was written maybe 3 years ago. Also a run of the mill game mode, Assault unit hell.

*Dreadnought Assault: Probably the most controversial of the game modes. This player has already played it and highly recommends it. But the playerbase is apparently divided. Basically, you have to capture the Dreadnought capture point and as soon as it is captured, a teammate that is inside the point will be chosen to pilot the <s>suit</s> rape machine (at random? no idea. Needs confirmation.) You have to use the dreadnought to <s>capture the other points</s> assrape the other team. It is an ungodly powerful machine with a lot of health and you gain the auto/assaultcannon, powerfist/claw (both former weapons for loyalists and latter for Chaos, the auto-cannon and assault cannon are the weapons that differ from their counterpart on the other side, with the auto having lower RoF but higher damage per shot, and the assault having higher RoF but less damage per shot, but both fire rapidly enough to be used the same way), and meltagun. Obviously becomes a fire magnet and players will mostly use <s>devastators</s> Thunderhammers/Power Mauls on it. (contrary to tabletop, DEVASTATORS/HAVOCS CAN'T SCRATCH THE DAMN DREADNOUGHT) Comes with appropriate skins for Chaos and Loyalist marines.

**Includes three new maps as well; Desolation, Dome Mechanicus and Chem Refinery. New achievements/trophies also included.
**Has apparently vanished into the ether on the Xbox marketplace and is no longer available (on that system at least). Perhaps the playerbase bitched too much?

*As said before, pre-order skins are now available, including some new ones. Just to get you drooling, Iron Hands and Death Guard armor. OH YEAH!

*Subsection F, article U:

+[ How to destroy the Dreadnought ]+

As tested by two players, one yours truly, there is a limited number of options when it comes to dealing with an enemy Dreadnought.

#Lascannons do minimal damage. Headshots can do some decent damage - but it's finicky due to lag and a weird head hitbox (especially since the extra-damage weak point on the Dreadnought is the engine at the back, not the head, oops).
#Stalker Bolter is more reliable, but nowhere near as good against the Dread. Works well on its escorts, though.
#Heavy Bolter can damage it but it takes a lot of shots, and the Dread *will* return fire at the first opportunity and fuck your ass. Fire and move.
#[[What|Meltaguns do nothing.]] Avoid. (They take off exactly 10% of the Dreadnought's health from pointblank range, make of this what you will).
#Grenades only annoy it, but Flash Grenades can blind it for a second.
#Devastator stomp does nothing (and if you were trying to do this in the first place, [[Tau|gb2Tau]]).
#Plasma Guns and Pistols do absolutely nothing unless charged, and are questionably useful if charged. The "Sticky" charged shot though is great for drawing a Dread's attention, and can do a bit of damage to help out or soften it up prior to an attack.
#A Dread's close combat arm will put your head through your ass and send you flying in one hit.
#The Dreadnought has its own Iron Halo shield, but only for one charge that lasts for about 30 seconds. When activated, the Dreadnought strikes a distinctive pose while its arm glows. Firing at it now is a waste of ammo and your life.

Your destructive answer in this case is PLASMA, followed by VENGEANCE LAUNCHER. Plasma cannons are the only heavy weapon that will reliably do anything of relevance to the Dreadnought, and it takes around 10 shots. The only option other than Plasma Cannons are the Vengeance Launcher and the Thunderhammer/Power Maul. The former will do in a Dread in about 12 shots; the latter, if you have the Killing Blow perk, will make quick work of the Dreadnought.

Devastators:
#'''USE PLASMA CANNONS AT RANGE.''' Fire a barrage and fuck off. Watch for return fire, the Assault Cannon/Reaper Autocannon have a hellish rate of fire and will tear you to shreds.
#'''ALTERNATELY, USE HEAVY BOLTER AND CAMP TACTICAL LOCATIONS.''' Heavy Bolter can rack up insane damage very, very quickly and can easily wipe a squad of Escorts if you set up correctly. Surprisingly, the Heavy Bolter can also do a lot of damage to the Dread if it doesn't get a chance to return fire (I.E. it has its attention held by Plasma Cannoneers and the like).
#'''LASCANNON ONLY IF YOU'RE THE HOST.''' Lag makes Lascannon headshots completely unreliable unless you're the host, and turns the potential the Lascannon has against both the Dread and its escorts to functionally nil. If you ''are'' the host, feel free to use the Lascannon, as it can damage the Dreadnought (not as much as the Plasma Cannon though) and easily wipe the Escorts out. Generally though, you will want one of the other Heavy weapons (again, mostly Plasma Cannons).

Assaults:
#'''DRAW SOME ATTENTION WITH THE PLASMA PISTOL.''' The Plasma Pistol's virtually worthless damage-wise against the Dread, but a charged shot will stick to it, fuck up its vision for a half-second or so, and rattle around its aim a bit. Consider a Plas Pistol charged shot when you need to get the Dread's attention and keep it from a safer distance.
#'''SWORDS AND CHAINSWORDS, LEAD THE WAY.''' Combine a Sword (Chain or Power) with Swordsman's Zeal and Combat Drugs. You'll generally not do any appreciable damage to the Dreadnought, but that isn't the point: You can use this combo to land next to a Dread, get in a swipe or two on either it or its escorts, and fuck off, potentially drawing fire and attention away from much more important matters (like the Devastators your team has lining up shots). Note, however, that if you delay or the enemy team is smart, you will wind up a bloody smear on the floor. If not on active Dread attention-getting duty, help cap points and deal with the escorts.
#'''AXES ARE RISKY BUSINESS.''' Axeman's Zeal offers bigger damage chunks and the same delicious healing, and works the same way as the Sword/Chainsword tactic above, but it leaves you open more. Bear this in mind. If you're not that good with the Axe, leave it at home.
#'''THUNDER HAMMER/DAEMON MAUL - THE KILLING BLOW.''' Killing Blow helps. A ''fucking'' lot. Without this perk, you can still wreck up the Dreadnought, but not by yourself. Two or more Assaults with hammers and the Dreadnought is [[Ork|proppa]] fucked.
#'''SUICIDE IS PAINLESS.''' It's a dick move, but loading up with Final Vengeance Assaults can do some good damage to the Dreadnought if absolutely every other fucking tactic fails. Fly in, spam grenades, Swing Sword/Axe/Hammer until killed, die on purpose, explode.

Tacticals:
#'''PLASMA GUN IS AN OKAY CHOICE I GUESS.''' Similar to the Plasma Pistol, you aren't taking the Plasma Gun for the damage, even though it is a little higher than the Plasma Pistol's and it can damage the Dread better. The main advantage is punching the fucking escorts with it, or sticking charged shots to the Dread itself to draw attention, damage it a little, and throw off its aim. Fire off a shot, then get the fuck out of dodge.
#'''HELP CAP FUCKING POINTS.''' Damned things won't handle themselves, and you need 'em to win.
#'''MOST OF YOUR WEAPONRY WON'T HURT THE DREADNOUGHT.''' The Tactical has ''one'' weapon that can contribute to a fight with the Dreadnought, and it's also the one weapon almost fucking nobody uses: The Vengeance Launcher. It takes about 12-14 shots given ideal aim, but the Vengeance Launcher ''can'' kill the Dreadnought. Working in teams, this can actually be just as effective as Plasma Cannon spamming - do note that it holds much less ammo, though, and is much harder to use.
#'''HELP YOUR TEAMMATES.''' Teleport Homer may be the most unsung hero of Dreadnought fights. One Tactical in a good spot can effectively act as a mobile spawnpoint for his buddies. Ideal for Devastator teams which need a quick way into the fight that isn't a [[METAL BOXES|Metal Box]].
#'''YOU STILL HAVE GRENADES.''' Grenades can still do damage and still blind the Dreadnought, so for fuck's sake, use them.
#'''STALKER BOLTER THE FUCKING ESCORTS.''' Stalker Bolter will cut the escorts to shreds if you're a good shot, and can reliably damage the Dreadnought a tiny bit if there's no other targets of opportunity handy (generally you want to avoid pissing it off as a Tactical, though). Stalker the escorts though, to ensure your teammates can deal with the Dread easier without worrying about its squad of tagalongs.

''An important note about the DLC. While a lot of the new stuff is fun and cool, the lists are divided by map rotations. Meaning when you choose a specific game mode, you choose the content you want to play in. Normally this isn't so bad, but what ends up happening is that you wait and wait for games to appear for the selected content. If you don't join a game for that dlc during that waiting time, you are pushed into a standard content game. So you want to join a Chaos Unleashed map, but there's no one around, so you join (read: forced into) a regular match. Oh no, the second you join said match, other people joined the CU list and you just left. Hopefully something will done about that.''

[ How to spam Chaos Unleashed Exterminatus ]
This DLC added IG and SPESS MAHREENS to your Ork hordes, while allowing you to be HERETICS. Sounds awful, right? WRONG. This mode is actually easy to spam to the bonus wave.
STEP 1: if you manage to get a full four players, divide yourselves among Raptors and Tacticals. (With a minimum of one raptor, but preferably two or three)
STEP 1.5: If you're a raptor, have the perks for damage when you lift off and land on with your jump pack, and a daemon maul or chain axe if you don't like the low swing speed of the maul. (not required but it helps.)
If you're a/the tactical marine, have the teleport homer and perk that allows an extra weapon. Have a bolter, melta gun, and plasma gun. (Again, not required but it helps)
STEP 2: When you enter the map, have one raptor jump to the Orks, and the other jump to the IG forces, while the tactical marines camp in a corner of the map of their choice.
STEP 3: Have the raptors bait the two forces together, kill a few if you're feeling ballsy, and jump away back to the tacticals. The Orks and IG should start beating the fuck out of each other while only a few stragglers chase your gang. Kill the ones that follow you (it will still be a pretty steady stream, but the majority of their forces will be Shooting/chopping each other. )
STEP 4: The IG WILL win once teh SPESS MAHREENS show up. But usually they'll only have a small squads worth of either. You now have two options.
1: have the raptors charge to draw fire, toss grenades, do some damage and leave, while the tacticals charge and blow them up with their meltas, should ammo run out, use fully charged plasma shots. then have them run. repeat until all forces are destroyed.
OR
2: All of you run in from different directions, If you've beaten the main game 1 marine and a guardsmen or two isn't difficult, hopefully (sometimes the AI will still charge one guy, ignoring targets that are closer) they will be split up enough for each player to take out his group and help the others who haven't.
These work all the way up to the bonus round, which is just killa kans.
NOTE: These require some pretty good amounts or coordination between your squad members, and due to the AI's nature have a chance of entering an "allies of desperation" pseudo alliance and zerg-rushing your squad while only minimally chopping each other, this is rare however and the above strategies work 9 times out of ten.
ONE PLAYER METHOD.
STEP 1: Be a raptor with the above described perks and equipment (Much more essential this time.)
Step 2: Basically the same as the other step 2, except you're only choosing one side (usually the orks, they'll chase you longer) and leading them to the other
Step 3: 9 out of ten on the maps have tiny rock outcroppings or similar that you can jump up to and are inaccessible to everything else. jump to one of these, If you don't know where one is, just go to the side of the map.
Step 4: When the IG win you need to do some scouting, usually the AI marines don't clump together, so find an isolated one and take him out. If they are clumped together, throw all of your grenades at them, jump in, kill one (or two if you're feeling ballsy) and jump away, there are usually one or two full refills for your grenades around the level. repeat as necessary until only Guardsmen remain, you should know how to kill a few guardsmen.
NOTE: This falls prey to the Allies of desperation flaw of the other one, if this happens you're fucked.

== Mod: Space Marine Augmented ==
You want a rebalanced game? Want a non-sucky game start/match-making? Additional weapons? Additional armour? All DLC unlocked? All perks unlocked? Start matches with 2 people?
Then Space Marine Augmented is for you!

The following additional new items are in the game:
* MK3 armour
* Chapter/Legion specific artwork/armour pieces
* Flamer
* Astartes Shotgun
* Autocanon
* Power Fist
* Several Bolter patterns like Tigrus, Phobos and relic
* Several Chainswords: the original one, a relic one, a tabletop style one
* Lightning Claw

Terminators and Dreadnoughts are planned.

The mod is started from a launcher. You create a non-steam account in it to store your stuff online and see others in the game.
You can only play with other players who use the mod though, so spread the word!

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uni0jPEK4JY
* https://smaugmented.github.io/

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:Space Marine screenshot 1.jpg|"Space Marines!"
Image:Space Marine screenshot 2.jpg|"Kill da Space Marines!" ("Space Marines!")
Image:Warhammer chaos.jpg|Come hither brother, for I only wish to embrace you.
Image:Mira-noscale.jpg|She wants to fuck
Image:Space Marine screenshot 4.jpg|Stop Ripping-off Henlein, GW, just STOP!
Image:Warlord Class battle Titan.jpg|Dat Heeeuuge
Image:Space Marine screenshot 5.jpg
Image:Space Marine screenshot 6.jpg|This was cut. Probably for the best, as fighting a Deff Dread would have been either a huge letdown or harder than hell. (Actually, that's a Killa Kan. Note the two arms, instead of four)
Image:Renegadeguards.jpg|Wera firin ah grehn lazahs!!!
Image:Bloodlettercharging.jpg
Image:Taintedpsyker.jpg
Image:297690.jpg
Image:Sidonus.jpg|He still should go for the bionic eye implant.
Image:Lieutenant Miranda Nero.jpg|The text box pretty much says it all. Also, hot as hell. Yeah, Rule 34 should follow quickly.
File:Mira.jpg|"When confronted by this particular situation, the only reasonable course of action would be to give her the D." --[[Roboute Guilliman]], The [[Codex Astartes]]
</gallery>

== See Also ==
*[https://store.steampowered.com/app/55150/Warhammer_40000_Space_Marine/ Space Marine on Steam]
*[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyLLeKcxw24XO-696pWe0Ztxx14rNs-a1 The game's soundtrack]

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Space Marines]]

Neroth

2021-10-14T03:27:37Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73:

[[Image: Retri csm chaoscampaignheroes02.jpg|thumb|right|A pyromaniac idjit in his natural habitat.]]
A [[Black Legion]] [[Sorcerer (Warhammer 40,000)|Sorcerer]] who first appears in [[Dawn of War II#Retribution|Retribution]], accompanying (more like acting as) the newly reborn (again) [[Eliphas]] as an emissary from [[Abaddon|a certain armless fellow]].

Might have Khornate tendencies, seeing his inclination to kill shit over plotting.

His quote at Chapter Keep Selenon, "Look at them! So weak! So vexed!" is the ultimate response when you have successfully trolled someone.

He is [[Blam|not to be confused]] with [[Nemeroth]].

==Gameplay==
Neroth starts off very fragile, but able to hit pretty well with a stream of doombolts. Given five points in offense to double the power of his spells and the Artifact of [[Ahriman]] he shits free doombolts everywhere and becomes <s>half way useful</s> the best horde-breaker after the Leman Russ Executioner. He can also be given a force sword, but given his fragility melee really isn't the right place for him.

Of course, you'll probably have Eliphas at level 10 and fully Khornate by the time you unlock Neroth's potential, so he'll be one-shotting entire armies with Sweeping Doom long before then. This still means that chaos makes infantry blobs like Orks and guard melt away like butter under a melta gun.

{{Template:Chaos-Marines}}
[[Category:Black Legion]][[Category: Dawn of War]]

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

2021-10-14T03:27:00Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Characters */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Space Marine poster.jpg|550px|thumb|center|Where he's going, you won't need eyes...]]
'''Space Marine''' is a 3rd-person video game which is featured on the PC, the [[/v/|ECKSBAWKS 360, and the PS3]]. Its genre is a hybrid of shooting and hack and slash. It was released on September 6, 2011.

== The Plot ==
The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2o-LmI3kiE&|The story] is set on the Forgeworld of Graia. It's being invaded by Orks who wish to loot the shit out of it; weapons, ammunition, vehicles, you name it. Rather surprisingly, the Orks have an actual objective this time: to steal a Warlord-class Titan of the Morning Star Legion '''''(cuz iz ded shooty)''''', an idea the Imperium isn't overly fond of. At first, the 203rd Cadian regiment was sent in to reinforce the forgeworld's defenses, but were eventually overwhelmed and pushed into a desperate defensive posture due to the Orks shooting down the majority of their support craft with a captured surface to air artillery cannon and simply outnumbering them by 100:1. Captain Titus and a small force of [[Ultramarines]] are then sent to hold back the invading Orks with the help of what's left of the Guard while the liberation fleet is on its way.

The Forces of Chaos also have a part to play, and are led by a Terminator sorcerer lord named Nemeroth. They're basically here to open a warp portal using a heretically radical device to both turn Graia into a daemon world and also so Nemeroth can become a Daemon Prince. And unlike previous games, this features actual traitor guardsmen, not the "we've recently converted to chaos and we're here as fodder" guardsmen featured in Dawn of War, fuck no, these are kickass [[Lost and the Damned]] guardsmen.

Not surprisingly, [[Blood Ravens|BLOD REHVENS]] play a role, set against Chaos as they were seen holding the initial incursion, though they only appear in brief cameo. If the game is set after [[Dawn of War II|DoWII]] then we will see [[Gabriel Angelos|Gabe's]] reforms in action, which is nice (if the Marine ending in Retribution takes place).

== Gameplay ==
[[File:SpaceMarinePCBig.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Captain Titus vs EVERYTHING]]
[[Commissar Fuklaw|No cover system. As a man from Relic said: "cover is for pussies". Space Marines are too awesome to be cowering behind cover]]. As a Space Marine, you are given enhanced regenerative abilities and an Iron Halo shield (due to your status as Captain). There are also brutal kills which the player can do to make the enemy's deaths more humorous/gory (to regain health like a man and to show-off the awesomeness of the Angels of Death, of course). Since you are playing as a Space Marine (and better yet, a veteran of 200 years of battle) you could easily kill thousands of Orks with just a simple vertical slash.

That being said, the Forces of Chaos are a lot tougher. Traitor guardsmen are still as weak as ordinary Ork sluggas and shootas, but are quite tactical, being able to organize and <s>plan strategies</s> spam grenades like they're playing a Call of Duty game. Corrupted psykers can spawn enemies and easily kill you from afar. Khorne Bloodletters can teleport, making it hard for you to shoot them, deal massive amounts of damage and can withstand quite a bit themselves. Chaos Space Marines are far more deadly. They pack weapons that are functionally the same as yours, are by far the most durable enemies, and they have regenerating shields like you do.

Instead of having regenerating health like every other shooter out there, you can only regenerate health by stunning enemies and [[Awesome|FATALITY-ing them Mortal Kombat-style]]. Additionally, ''Space Marine'' features a Fury system, which allows you to slow time when aiming a ranged weapon or to unleash a devastating melee attack (provided that you filled up the fury bar by killing enemies of course). While Titus' starting equipment consists of a bolt pistol and combat knife, weapons can range from bolters to lascannons to plasma guns to thunder hammers. You also get to take jump packs which allows you to fly and make an assault jump, which allows you to create an AoE explosion by violently landing in a position of your choosing, though this does restrict your loadouts to only melee weapons and bolters.

== Characters ==
{{spoilers}}
* '''[[Captain Titus]]''' - A Captain of the Ultramarines Chapter and their last hope of finally getting some <s>badass</s> redemption of any kind. He is sent with his company of Ultramarines to prevent an Ork Waaagh!! from looting a forgeworld. It should be noted that his character was first seen as bald but was changed to have a shaved head in the early trailers. He was finally changed to a standard space marine HAIR-etic. He is voiced by Mark Strong. Yes...'''HE'S VOICED BY FUCKING MARK MOTHERFUCKING STRONG!''' He looks kinda like Proteus from Ultramarines the Movie, excluding the longer hair and the better looking armor decor. Despite being a shrewd commander, he is looked upon with suspicion by some of his fellow Ultramarines after being the only surviving battle-brother from a battle with a Chaos Sorcerer. Deep strike is his favorite entry tactic as shown by his affinity of jumping out of vehicles.
**At the end of the game, it's shown to the player that he does indeed possess an unnatural resistance to the warp, likely a result of his massive [[blackstone]] balls. Unfortunately, Leandros doesn't know that (the faithless cur), and since Titus is the only smurf <s>with something vaguely resembling a clue</s> who's realized that honor has a time and place, he gets roped in by the Inquisition on suspicion of '''HERESY!''' Thankfully, Thrax doesn't take his gun, implying that he isn't buying it... but that still means a certain newbie smurf is going to have a very long discussion on the merits of trust with a power fist, right after the <s>anal probing</s> tests of faith are done.

* '''Veteran Sergeant Sidonus''' - A slightly grumpy smurf, Sidonus is a veteran of the Ultramarines and designated comedian of the squad, delivering dry humor to the heart of the enemy when necessary (or when not so necessary). He is said to have battled Tyranids, Orks, Eldar, Chaos space Marines and Necrons during his centuries of battle. Quite badass, <s>for an</s> like all old Adeptus Astartes. He also has a bionic arm after getting his real one nom'd by Tyranids [[Tarkus|(Wait, I think I've already heard something like this...)]]. Also lost his eye and half of his face when an Eldar weapon blew up in his face [[Huron Blackheart|(... and something like this too...)]]. Decided not to get reconstructive surgery done, opting instead to leave the scars because it looks badass.

* '''[[Lawful Stupid|Brother Leandros]]''' - A newly recruited Ultramarine clinging to his shortened copy of the [[Codex Astartes]] and behaves as a typical Wardian-era smurf. He is the youngest of the squad, being only 75 years old (which is considered young by Space Marine standards) yet he has one of the highest honors that a chapter can bestow (<s>that, ironically enough, seems to be missing from Sidonus' power armor mantle as a ''veteran'', it is assumed that he is trained in the use of terminator armour, like all 1st company ''veterans'')</s> except the Crux Terminatus is an award, so he should still have been carrying it, Terminator honors. <s>Titus probably took his, so now he's mad at him for it... perhaps a little too mad...</s>

* '''Second Lieutenant Miranda Nero''' - Being the only loyalist commissioned officer left, Mira leads what remains of the 203rd Cadian that was reassigned to Graia. Turns out they went too far out into the green sea and got cut off from supplies and support. She seems to share [[Merrick]]'s view of placing the lives of her men above the Imperium. '''HERESY!!!''' The fact that she's holding the entire operation together despite being just a lieutenant impresses even Titus.

* '''Inquisitor Jean-Baptiste Emanuel <s>Zorg</s> <s>Skrillex</s> Drogan''' - The Inquisitor. He looks like he hasn't slept in a week (which is understandable, given that he's fighting both an Ork [[WAAAGH]] and [[Chaos Space Marine]]s), and his hair is really dirty and emo looking. He also has a metal plate attached to the right side of his head. Must be a radical. He's also '''EXTREMELY''' obsessed with killing xenos due to him being previously tortured by xenos (<s>possibly [[Dark Eldar]]</s>) Yeah, because we know that anyone can escape from Commoragh) for several years. During his time on Graia, his '''EXTREME''' obsession made him create mysterious experimental weapons in hopes of getting revenge, and one of these experiments included a portal that led to '''EXTREME''' consequences. This is due to the fact that the forces of chaos used said portal to enter the forge world, '''EXTREME'''ly. His eyes also lit up during a cutscene. MUST BE A HERETIC. BIG TWEEST. HE'S A PUPPET FOR THE LORD SORCERER.......... Okay it isn't that simple. Turns out he had a "subject" delivered to his laboratory to test his shiny new weapon on, the "subject" turned out to be a daemon which escaped, and proceeded to buttrape poor Drogan and possess his corpse (all the backstory is in the audio logs). Since this daemon read the fluff, he's decided that ''maybe'' the '''EXTREME''' factions have a bit more pull, so he pretends to be '''EXTREME'''.

* '''[[Nemeroth|Lord Nemeroth]]''' - A Chaos Terminator Sorcerer Lord and the '''Big Bad''' of the game. He is possibly the Sorcerer Titus "killed" previously. He leads a warband consisting of [[Chaos Space Marines|Chaos Marines]], Khornate [[bloodletters]], [[Blight Drone]]s, and Tzeentch psychers (presumably the forces of [[slaanesh]] were left out so as to avoid an adults only rating in America). He also proves Relics infinite creativity at naming characters, for the difference between him and [[Neroth|Eliphas' nagging wife]] is but two wretched letters. Also found a way around the Squishy Wizard law, because he wears '''TERMINATOR ARMOUR'''. Still got beat up by an Ork wearing almost no armour, though. Titus manages to defeat Nemeroth because the latter forgot to wear a helmet (then again, so does Titus). Shame, too, because he was just at the doorstep of becoming a [[Daemon Prince]].

* '''[[Warboss Grimskull]]''' - He is the Ork Warboss leading his Ork [[WAAAGH]]!!! on Graia with the intention of stealing the planet's Titans. Later on, he becomes interested in the power source Titus and Inquisitor Drogan possess. [[https://youtu.be/Uox82AiheLI|He ain't so easy to kill]].

* '''Inquisitor Thrax''' - The inquisitor that appears at the end of the game, where his name was mentioned on the monitor for the status on Graia. He came to take Titus heresy investigation after Leandros' accusation. Was likely planned to be a major character in the sequel, but that unfortunately never came to fruition.

== Things that rock ==
[[File:Angry marine by mysteryone617-d3j5gzj.png|300px|thumb|The official sequel]]
* Seemingly a better game than that [[Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior]] where you play as a [[Tau|Space Communist]] on his first day of duty, who is apparently a one man (well, xenos) army that could single-handedly kill genetically modified super soldiers, <s>a daemon prince</s> TWO Daemon Princes and a greater daemon of [[Tzeentch]]. lolwut?
* You get to play as a Space Marine.
* Guardsmen who fight alongside you have balls of steel, they rarely fall back. (Which makes crunch sense: with a Space Marine Captain alongside them, they too SHALL KNOW NO FEAR!)
* Orks (this time they actually look like a credible threat, not just dumb drunk ape-brawlers on steroids)
* Captain Titus isn't a total Mary Sue like the rest of this Chapter, even going so far to say that the [[Codex Astartes]] is just a guidebook and not meant to be taken literally. Thus: FUCK YOU MATT WARD.
* NO REALLY FUCK YOU MATT WARD
* Hilarious amounts of blood, dismemberment, and all other forms of gore you could imagine. [[Khorne]] would probably favor this game, even if you do play an Ultramarine.
* Executions (like the sync kills in DoW, which you can do to a stunned enemy) are actually required for you to restore your health, rather than going around and picking up medpacks, ducking in a corner and letting your wounds heal like magic, or some other unmanly method. Ensuring that playing longer requires you to give those guys screaming at you a good ol' fashion Chainsword enema, which is awesome.
* Chaos Space Marines.
* BLOODLETTERS!!!
* You pick up an [[Autocannon]] in <s>one</s> TWO levels.
[[File:The weak.jpg|300px|right|thumb|One is running away from the enemy, the other is running '''INTO''' the enemy. <s>Which do you think is loyal to the Emprah?</s> Another difference: one is a genetically modified super soldier with a FUCKHEUGE power armor and Ultrasmurf plot armor, the other is a normal man with a cardboard armor and a flashlight. Both are facing [[Angry Marines|angry]] green warmongers. Which do you think has [[Imperial Guard|balls of steel]]?]]
* Mark Strong (who you may remember from his previous roles starring in Rocknrolla, Kickass, Robin Hood, Stardust and Sherlock Holmes) as the voice of Captain Titus. (Don't forget Merlin from the Kingsman! Who wouldn't want to see Captain Titus murdering some greenskins while belting out Country roads by John Denver)
* <s>JUMP PACKS.</s> Out of fuel. (They be awesome while they last though)
* Pre-Order skins for [[Black Templars]], [[Blood Ravens]], [[Space Wolves]], <s>[[Iron Hands]]</s> [[Iron Warriors]] and [[Emperor's Children]].
* Apparently, even the games demo would destroy a PC's motherboard due to its extreme epicness. Watch here for proof [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47PDV9Rcjv4]
* Co-op comes in the form a 4-player Horde mode.
* Standard multiplayer is Chaos vs. Spess Mehrens. Fuck yes.
* You get to paint your own multiplayer character, much like the army painter system in DoWII. BETTER, because you can change every part of your power armour and paint up to THREE COLOURS FOR EVERY PART. Seriously, is a delight to try paint schemes, it have an asslot of colours and your (Chaos)Space Marine is in glorious 3D. You also get to pick your own loadout.
*Cock of Duty-like perks. Yes, multiplayer perks. However some of them are cool and are named after rules from the TT game, Most make sense, others are FUCKING STUPID (see bottom of next list). One real nice thing about the perks is that you can use them along with your tailored loadout in EXTERMINATUS.
**Said mode brings together 4 battle brothers able to act essentially like mini-Tituses, healing at ridiculous rates with Zeal, Larraman's Blessing or Iron Halo and slaughtering 20 waves worth of orks and one of chaos (or guardsmen, for Chaos Unleashed players)
*Livery changes for the single player are widely available for free. If you still hate the smurfs, you can easily change that by playing something like the [[Black Templars]] or [[Angry Marines]]. <s>are unlocked at level 5 and only affect multiplayer. Enjoy your smurfs.</s> ACTUALLY: whilst it is true that customization options are only available from level 4 onwards, there are unofficial modifications available for livery changes for a great number of chapters in single player. (see: http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?262044-Space-Marine-Custom-Titus-Skins-Armour-of-Angelos)
*After release fans wouldn't stop bitching (read flooding the official forums) asking for a mute all button in the multiplayer lobby. A couple weeks later an update included the mute all button, in short THEY [[Gets_shit_done|GET SHIT DONE]]
*New DLC just added [[Dreadnought]]s (AKA ungodly walking rape machine).
*The Anniversity Edition, released on 9/23/21 made all the DLCs free for people who have it, as well as giving goodies like soundtracks, classic and new wallpaper, the manuel, ringtone, artbook, collector's cards, and the launch trailer as well

== Things that Suck ==
* When the daemons first show up, Titus refers to them as "Chaos daemons!" Is there any other kind? <s>WAIT, DON'T ANSWER THAT!</s>
* Cadians are portrayed as pussies who have to rely on the Smurfs to get anything done, with the sole exception of Mira. Someone at Relic mistakenly believed that Cadians are just another one of those regiments that rely purely on numbers to get shit done. In reality, with all the training from birth and living next to the Eye of Terror things, they should be telling the Orks where to shove it and Chaos forces whose dicks to suck. (While outnumbered at least 100 to 1 and cut off from resupply? ESPECIALLY when outnumbered and undersuplied, CADIA LIVES!)
* Explosions look like total ASS. While the texture work on the game is extremely detailed, they apparently skimped on their pyrotechnic effects. Some of the smoke and explosion effects look like they came off a PS1 game. This is painfully jarring in the opening aerial battle between the navy and the Orks.
* Ultrasmurfs. (Bear in mind though, you would probably bitch about it if they mentioned any other chapter as "the greatest of them all". [[Ultramarines:The_Movie|Observe]]). However, it could be argued that part of the joy of the badassery of Captain Titus is that he lends credit to that stereotype.
* While "Cover is for Pussies" is a manly mechanic, being able to fire from cover while being pinned by tons of Ork Shootas and Chaos Havocs in unreachable positions wouldn't be so bad.
** Don't forget the waves of renegade guardsmen who posses an inexhaustible supply of grenades that they lob at you without hesitation. This alone makes it nearly impossible to complete the later chapters without abusing cover and Lascannon camping.
*No awesome executions in multiplayer. Multiplayer executions were dropped because it would leave you vulnerable while performing it and [[Matt Ward|some people]] would get upset at seeing their marine having their organs torn out. This leaves one wondering why it wouldn't be left in as an optional humiliation move.
**More baffling is that it is being left out of the upcoming co-op as well for the exact same reasons, despite it being in singleplayer, meaning you can only regain health by [[Gay|hiding in cover while your health regenerates.]][[Derp| "Cover is for the weak" indeed.]]
***Further undermined by the fact that not taking cover against Tankbustaz will get you killed in a ludicrously quick-and-dirty way, as will charging into a pack of Traitor Guardsmen whilst they burn you alive in your artificer armor with volleys of [[Lasgun|flashlight]] fire.
* Explaining things to the newbs.
*<strike>There is NOBODY in fucking multiplayer, seriously, I've fucking waited for hours.</strike> NOT ANYMORE. The free giveaway have given new life to the multiplayer, with a small but loyal fanbase playing practically every day.
* They wanted to cast Sean Pertwee (Who played Governor Severus in Fire Warrior) as one of the characters, but they already had enough VA's. Not having Sean Pertwee in a Warhammer game, or film, is just plain wrong (though they do express desire to cast him in a possible sequel). '''UNFORTUNATELY!''' <s>THQ said that there won't be a sequel. [[Rage|FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!]]</s> <s>There might be a sequel, apparently, but only if THQ doesn't collapse in on itself like a super-massive star due to all its debt.</s> THQ just went belly-up. The sequel's destiny is now in the hands of Sega....Emperor preserve us all.
* Another 40k game about some Space Marine snowflake. See Ultrasmurfs. But on the bright side, only Leandros acts like the generic Mary sue Ultramarine, Titus and Sidonus are, more-or-less likable, even by those with a slight distaste for the Ultramarines.
* Not enough choppy. For a game that relies a lot on melee combat, not a lot of actual melee weapons to go around, only a knife (Which you can only use at the beginning of the game), chainsword, power axe, and thunder hammer and additionally, sync-kills are fairly limited for each one and starts to get "meh" after a few playthroughs. Given 40K's extensive armory of choppy choppas, you would think Relic could include more things like more power swords, fists and claws, eviscerator chainswords (And a large two-handed, flamer-toting chainsword would have been emprah-like to have), or just more sync-kills for said 4 weapons so players would have more variety in the amount of gore present.
* [http://www.spacemarine.com/blog-post/warhammer-40000-space-marine-e3-game-demo-walkthrough Apparently, melta guns are shotguns now and the Lascannon is some kind of retarded sniper rifle with slow-mo.]
**<s>[[Matt Ward|Sounds somehow familiar, no?]]</s> The Meltas are only shotguns as far as digital [[crunch]] is concerned; they're still burning death rays fluff-wise, disintegrating tons of orks and even daemons in one shot. As for the Lascannons, they aren't any more or less of a sniper weapon here than they are on the tabletop (basically an anti-materiel rifle, except on super grimdark space steroids). Neither of them do a lot against Dreads, which is bullshit. The lascannon has a minor mitigation in that Titus doesn't have the accompanying power-backpack, which could understandably make each shot less powerful.
*Games consist of melta, plasma cannon, stormbolter, or vengeance launcher spam, the few players who disdain cheap tactics (oddly the ps3 space wolves champion this view) lose on principle unless they're banned in a tournament or are a cheating fuck named jwolf96 who bolt pistols you with a headshot WHILE JUMPING AROUND AS ASSAULT.EVERY TIME.hax.
*No [[Flamer]]s. (melta gun doesn't count)
*No [[Grav-Weaponry]]. (No halofags the Thunder Hammer is '''not''' a grav-weapon)
*Gears of War fanboys constantly saying that the game is a copy of Gears of War, even though it's a hack and slash shooter hybrid that does not feature a cover system (GOW is like a ducking simulator). They're also too magnificently retarded to realize that Warhammer 40,000 came Waaaaaaaaayyyyy before Gears of War. Not to mention the [[Space Marines]] of 40k inspired the giant space marine with the huge weapons.
*FUCKING audio stutter during times where you're battling hordes of enemies (which, in a hack-and-slash game, happens all the time). It's revealed that this is not hardware related as even those with high-powered machines and updated drivers also suffer from this. Relic might provide a fix for this but some are shifty about this, fearing that they might pull off the old [[Dawn of War]] ignorance on this game too. If you want a slightly acceptable temporary fix for this that doesn't require you playing this game in silence, infinitely loop a battle theme of your choosing on your music player such as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRiU2N03Rzs Requiem for a Tower] while playing, set your volume to a level of your choosing, and gleefully continue hacking your opponents to shreds and curb-stomping them to paste. If you need the voices for tactical input, just enable subtitles.
*Shitty voice acting from anyone who is not a space marine (or lieutenant mira)
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbiqNn6LxFM Shitty fucking lag that has remained unfixed over a month after its released], ergo consigning the game to the dustbin as new Vidya Gaems that are frankly better than it are released.
*<s>Only five maps, all of which encourage outright camping and grenade spam.</s> They're releasing more maps every few months.
*Matchmaking sucks a bag of dicks the size of a [[Nurgle|Great Unclean One]].
*<s>Devastator Marines are vastly more powerful than all other Marines, and it's possible to circumvent the Heavy Bolter's setup time by switching to/from your pistol. The switch-setup was fixed in a patch, but Devastators are still infinitely superior to anything any other Marine class can do damage-wise Assault/Raptor with thunder hammer/daemon maul with Killing Blow. Nuff said.</s> Plus the inability to dodge effectively, (Learn to combat roll, dumbass. Saves my bacon all the time.) slow recharge times on armor and health, and the fact that one shot from a tactical marine's plasma gun will melt your shit instantly balances it out. N00bs need to STFU and get some skill and stop whining. Also, unlike Raptors/Assault Marines, Devastators can't FLY.
*There were originally going to be Combi-Weapons in the game, but it was scrapped.
*Environments need more variety. A lot more variety. The game really doesn't start shaking shit up until about halfway through. Till then, everything is cityscape type level killing a bunch of Orks.
*On the console versions, accusations of Standbying (abusing host lag) are ''rampant''.
*<s>Makes no fucking sense from a chronological perspective - Graia was OMNOMNOM'd by the [[Tyranids]] (caught in the path of the initial Hive Fleet that approached Macragge) long before the events of Dawn of War and Dawn of War 2 - meaning that Titus' victory was ultimately a pyrrhic one, unless there's another Graia out there in the Imperium of Man. It's an alternate timeline, and it takes place on a different Graia (this particular Graia is located in the Segmentum Tempestus, not Ultima Segmentum). You can tell because Titus is the Captain of the Ultramarine's Second Company instead of Sicarius and Titan Invictus wasn't destroyed in the 13th Black Crusade (which was way before Dawn of War).</s>
**It takes place some time into M42, and it's a different Graia. Evidence: In Ultramarines: The Movie, Captain Severus was 2nd Company Captain, and the film took place after the battle for Macragge given their WE MARCH FOR MACRAGGE creed. Sicarius is either dead or been promoted by now. With Severus dead by the hands of the Daemon, Titus becomes his successor. Further proof comes from the Blood Ravens appearance. Hive Fleet Leviathan, a splinter of which was defeated by the Magpies in DOW2, showed up in the final years of M41. Given that Retribution takes place 11 years after that, and Titus mentions the Aurelian Crusades, Relic has left the 41st Millennium behind. In four games, Relic has pushed further with the 40K timeline than Games Workshop has in twenty years.
***This is more or less confirmed by 8th edition. Cato Sicarius gets lost in the Warp at one point, so naturally they would have promoted someone else (namely Titus) to fill in. Sure the [[Great Rift]] doesn't appear on the map in the intro, but it hadn't been made up yet IRL, what are you gonna do?
* Not enough Ham. From the company that brought such gems as "BEAR WITNESS TO MY ASCENSION!!!!" and "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! LET THE GALAXY BURN!", it's a bit of a letdown when <s>even the Orks sound bored</s> you call "GIT OFF MAH SHIP, SPACE MUHREEN!!" bored? Calm Space Marines are boring Space Marines. Shout your litanies to the Emperor, dammit!
*<s>[[Butthurt|Multiplayer perks. COCK OF DUTY MODERN SHITFUCK ANNOYING FUCKING 'MARTYRDOM' RIPOFF. Yes. Your armor's power-pack/jump-pack EXPLODES with a ludicrous kill zone. FUCKING ANNOYING.</s>]] The noobs want perks deal with it. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
**<s>this game is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with bigger guys for you.</s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|Heresy!}}
* Multiplayer: MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. NOW I LAG LOLOLOLOLOL. But this comes as a result of no dedicated servers due to a small playerbase. (One player goes as far as to call Host Migrations "Warp Storms" over voice chat, due to the seeming level of warp-dickery behind their timing.)
*<s>[[Butthurt|Dreadnoughts are unstoppable rape machines that will steamroll the entire enemy team by themselves unless it is made up entirely of devastator marines (RELIC SUCKS AT BALANCE!)]]</s> the concept of game balance is bullshit. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
* Final boss fight with Nemeroth is disappointing. Instead of having a proper fight like against Grimskull, it's just a quick-time event. While being sort of epic the first time you play it (You ''are'' falling down a space elevator, after all) it gets repetitive and boring in following play-throughs. Also, you can spam all three of the required inputs at once with no penalty.
** And to get to the irritating button mash you have to drudge through a long and annoying fight with his OP minions.
*Good luck finding a game that's on any of the DLC stuff, or outside of the original five maps, You won't find any matches that aren't Seize Ground or Annihilation. We seriously need a new Space Marine game.
* There's no-one fucking playing multiplayer anymore
* We're never gonna get a sequel :c
* A squad of [[Veteran Squad#Sternguard Veterans|Sternguard Veterans]] or [[Terminators]] could have solved both the Orc and Chaos problems in under thirty minutes. A squad of each should have been aboard the [[Strike Cruiser]] in orbit. Deamon Prince Nemeroth whiled on by Assault Terminators led by Titus would have been funny and [[awesome]] to see.
* Your a dwarf in a barrel.
* Exterminatus glitching the fuck out.
* The bolter behaves like a generic assault rifle. Orks will take like 10 shots to die. Fire warrior (shudders) remains the only 40k game to get the bolter right.
*Said Anniversity Edition now made it priced at $60 USD, overpriced considering that it released 10 years ago

== Downloadable Content ==
The game is constantly being supported and so much new content has been added over the past few months, it's astonishing. New content includes new modes such as capture the flag mode, capture and control, and dreadnought assault. New maps have been released, and previous pre-order only skins are now available (including new ones such as the Legion of the Damned skin-YEAH!) Below is a list of all the dlc you <s>can buy now(some of which is free by the way.)</s> have as of the Anniversary Edition.

*Exterminatus: This is a free update that added co-op to the game. A much needed add-on. Let's you play as Loyalist Marines in a team of four vs hordes of orks. Fun and crazy, (SPOILER!) final round is a bonus round against Chaos (end of spoiler.) Can use all your multiplayer loadouts and gain experience as well.

*Chaos Unleashed: You can now play as Chaos Space Marines in the Exterminatus game mode. Gameplay wise it isn't different from the Loyalist version, but new enemies along with the ol' ORKS are present. These new enemies are the Imperial Guard and the orks get a new unit (read ork entry below.) Oh yeah and we can now KILLZ US SOME SPACE MARINES! ULTRAMARINES TO BOOT!

**IG units include: regular shock troops with lasguns, veterans with chainswords (yes you read that right), sanctioned Imperial psykers who can also tackle stun you, troops with melta guns and troops with grenade launchers.
**Apart from the IG forces the Orks have their old units returning with the addition of KILLA KANZ coming in during the bonus round! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2sni61dms The start of the bonus round and how fucking tough it is.]
**Yes, space marines are part of the enemy now, and they are tough as hell to kill. If anyone made it to the bonus chaos round for the loyalists, they will know. They have the same armor and health as the CSM of that bonus round, but come standard in every arena (during the later half usually.) You need to work together as a team to take them down, if not you'll get overwhelmed pretty easily. They have the tactical marines, assault marines without jump packs (Thank the Dark Gods) and devastators with plasma cannons (That can fuck your shit in case you allow them to fire a volley)
**Three new maps including Habs Ablaze, Station Tertius and Aquila Canyon. This dlc also includes new achievements and trophies.

*Capture the flag (free update): Regular run of the mill capture the capture the flag mode. Unfortunately, devolves into everyone camping their sides to defend their flags and going long range. IF you've got balls of steel. then charge the other side to scare the hell out of them. Preferably use the Assault Marine with a hammer and "Death from above" upgrade.

*Capture and control: <s>Currently playing. Will update soon.</s> Sadly, due to bad matchmaking and division of map rotations, I cannot find a game to play of this mode. Will try to update soon. If anyone else has, you obviously have the right to update it on your own... something something this was written maybe 3 years ago. Also a run of the mill game mode, Assault unit hell.

*Dreadnought Assault: Probably the most controversial of the game modes. This player has already played it and highly recommends it. But the playerbase is apparently divided. Basically, you have to capture the Dreadnought capture point and as soon as it is captured, a teammate that is inside the point will be chosen to pilot the <s>suit</s> rape machine (at random? no idea. Needs confirmation.) You have to use the dreadnought to <s>capture the other points</s> assrape the other team. It is an ungodly powerful machine with a lot of health and you gain the auto/assaultcannon, powerfist/claw (both former weapons for loyalists and latter for Chaos, the auto-cannon and assault cannon are the weapons that differ from their counterpart on the other side, with the auto having lower RoF but higher damage per shot, and the assault having higher RoF but less damage per shot, but both fire rapidly enough to be used the same way), and meltagun. Obviously becomes a fire magnet and players will mostly use <s>devastators</s> Thunderhammers/Power Mauls on it. (contrary to tabletop, DEVASTATORS/HAVOCS CAN'T SCRATCH THE DAMN DREADNOUGHT) Comes with appropriate skins for Chaos and Loyalist marines.

**Includes three new maps as well; Desolation, Dome Mechanicus and Chem Refinery. New achievements/trophies also included.
**Has apparently vanished into the ether on the Xbox marketplace and is no longer available (on that system at least). Perhaps the playerbase bitched too much?

*As said before, pre-order skins are now available, including some new ones. Just to get you drooling, Iron Hands and Death Guard armor. OH YEAH!

*Subsection F, article U:

+[ How to destroy the Dreadnought ]+

As tested by two players, one yours truly, there is a limited number of options when it comes to dealing with an enemy Dreadnought.

#Lascannons do minimal damage. Headshots can do some decent damage - but it's finicky due to lag and a weird head hitbox (especially since the extra-damage weak point on the Dreadnought is the engine at the back, not the head, oops).
#Stalker Bolter is more reliable, but nowhere near as good against the Dread. Works well on its escorts, though.
#Heavy Bolter can damage it but it takes a lot of shots, and the Dread *will* return fire at the first opportunity and fuck your ass. Fire and move.
#[[What|Meltaguns do nothing.]] Avoid. (They take off exactly 10% of the Dreadnought's health from pointblank range, make of this what you will).
#Grenades only annoy it, but Flash Grenades can blind it for a second.
#Devastator stomp does nothing (and if you were trying to do this in the first place, [[Tau|gb2Tau]]).
#Plasma Guns and Pistols do absolutely nothing unless charged, and are questionably useful if charged. The "Sticky" charged shot though is great for drawing a Dread's attention, and can do a bit of damage to help out or soften it up prior to an attack.
#A Dread's close combat arm will put your head through your ass and send you flying in one hit.
#The Dreadnought has its own Iron Halo shield, but only for one charge that lasts for about 30 seconds. When activated, the Dreadnought strikes a distinctive pose while its arm glows. Firing at it now is a waste of ammo and your life.

Your destructive answer in this case is PLASMA, followed by VENGEANCE LAUNCHER. Plasma cannons are the only heavy weapon that will reliably do anything of relevance to the Dreadnought, and it takes around 10 shots. The only option other than Plasma Cannons are the Vengeance Launcher and the Thunderhammer/Power Maul. The former will do in a Dread in about 12 shots; the latter, if you have the Killing Blow perk, will make quick work of the Dreadnought.

Devastators:
#'''USE PLASMA CANNONS AT RANGE.''' Fire a barrage and fuck off. Watch for return fire, the Assault Cannon/Reaper Autocannon have a hellish rate of fire and will tear you to shreds.
#'''ALTERNATELY, USE HEAVY BOLTER AND CAMP TACTICAL LOCATIONS.''' Heavy Bolter can rack up insane damage very, very quickly and can easily wipe a squad of Escorts if you set up correctly. Surprisingly, the Heavy Bolter can also do a lot of damage to the Dread if it doesn't get a chance to return fire (I.E. it has its attention held by Plasma Cannoneers and the like).
#'''LASCANNON ONLY IF YOU'RE THE HOST.''' Lag makes Lascannon headshots completely unreliable unless you're the host, and turns the potential the Lascannon has against both the Dread and its escorts to functionally nil. If you ''are'' the host, feel free to use the Lascannon, as it can damage the Dreadnought (not as much as the Plasma Cannon though) and easily wipe the Escorts out. Generally though, you will want one of the other Heavy weapons (again, mostly Plasma Cannons).

Assaults:
#'''DRAW SOME ATTENTION WITH THE PLASMA PISTOL.''' The Plasma Pistol's virtually worthless damage-wise against the Dread, but a charged shot will stick to it, fuck up its vision for a half-second or so, and rattle around its aim a bit. Consider a Plas Pistol charged shot when you need to get the Dread's attention and keep it from a safer distance.
#'''SWORDS AND CHAINSWORDS, LEAD THE WAY.''' Combine a Sword (Chain or Power) with Swordsman's Zeal and Combat Drugs. You'll generally not do any appreciable damage to the Dreadnought, but that isn't the point: You can use this combo to land next to a Dread, get in a swipe or two on either it or its escorts, and fuck off, potentially drawing fire and attention away from much more important matters (like the Devastators your team has lining up shots). Note, however, that if you delay or the enemy team is smart, you will wind up a bloody smear on the floor. If not on active Dread attention-getting duty, help cap points and deal with the escorts.
#'''AXES ARE RISKY BUSINESS.''' Axeman's Zeal offers bigger damage chunks and the same delicious healing, and works the same way as the Sword/Chainsword tactic above, but it leaves you open more. Bear this in mind. If you're not that good with the Axe, leave it at home.
#'''THUNDER HAMMER/DAEMON MAUL - THE KILLING BLOW.''' Killing Blow helps. A ''fucking'' lot. Without this perk, you can still wreck up the Dreadnought, but not by yourself. Two or more Assaults with hammers and the Dreadnought is [[Ork|proppa]] fucked.
#'''SUICIDE IS PAINLESS.''' It's a dick move, but loading up with Final Vengeance Assaults can do some good damage to the Dreadnought if absolutely every other fucking tactic fails. Fly in, spam grenades, Swing Sword/Axe/Hammer until killed, die on purpose, explode.

Tacticals:
#'''PLASMA GUN IS AN OKAY CHOICE I GUESS.''' Similar to the Plasma Pistol, you aren't taking the Plasma Gun for the damage, even though it is a little higher than the Plasma Pistol's and it can damage the Dread better. The main advantage is punching the fucking escorts with it, or sticking charged shots to the Dread itself to draw attention, damage it a little, and throw off its aim. Fire off a shot, then get the fuck out of dodge.
#'''HELP CAP FUCKING POINTS.''' Damned things won't handle themselves, and you need 'em to win.
#'''MOST OF YOUR WEAPONRY WON'T HURT THE DREADNOUGHT.''' The Tactical has ''one'' weapon that can contribute to a fight with the Dreadnought, and it's also the one weapon almost fucking nobody uses: The Vengeance Launcher. It takes about 12-14 shots given ideal aim, but the Vengeance Launcher ''can'' kill the Dreadnought. Working in teams, this can actually be just as effective as Plasma Cannon spamming - do note that it holds much less ammo, though, and is much harder to use.
#'''HELP YOUR TEAMMATES.''' Teleport Homer may be the most unsung hero of Dreadnought fights. One Tactical in a good spot can effectively act as a mobile spawnpoint for his buddies. Ideal for Devastator teams which need a quick way into the fight that isn't a [[METAL BOXES|Metal Box]].
#'''YOU STILL HAVE GRENADES.''' Grenades can still do damage and still blind the Dreadnought, so for fuck's sake, use them.
#'''STALKER BOLTER THE FUCKING ESCORTS.''' Stalker Bolter will cut the escorts to shreds if you're a good shot, and can reliably damage the Dreadnought a tiny bit if there's no other targets of opportunity handy (generally you want to avoid pissing it off as a Tactical, though). Stalker the escorts though, to ensure your teammates can deal with the Dread easier without worrying about its squad of tagalongs.

''An important note about the DLC. While a lot of the new stuff is fun and cool, the lists are divided by map rotations. Meaning when you choose a specific game mode, you choose the content you want to play in. Normally this isn't so bad, but what ends up happening is that you wait and wait for games to appear for the selected content. If you don't join a game for that dlc during that waiting time, you are pushed into a standard content game. So you want to join a Chaos Unleashed map, but there's no one around, so you join (read: forced into) a regular match. Oh no, the second you join said match, other people joined the CU list and you just left. Hopefully something will done about that.''

[ How to spam Chaos Unleashed Exterminatus ]
This DLC added IG and SPESS MAHREENS to your Ork hordes, while allowing you to be HERETICS. Sounds awful, right? WRONG. This mode is actually easy to spam to the bonus wave.
STEP 1: if you manage to get a full four players, divide yourselves among Raptors and Tacticals. (With a minimum of one raptor, but preferably two or three)
STEP 1.5: If you're a raptor, have the perks for damage when you lift off and land on with your jump pack, and a daemon maul or chain axe if you don't like the low swing speed of the maul. (not required but it helps.)
If you're a/the tactical marine, have the teleport homer and perk that allows an extra weapon. Have a bolter, melta gun, and plasma gun. (Again, not required but it helps)
STEP 2: When you enter the map, have one raptor jump to the Orks, and the other jump to the IG forces, while the tactical marines camp in a corner of the map of their choice.
STEP 3: Have the raptors bait the two forces together, kill a few if you're feeling ballsy, and jump away back to the tacticals. The Orks and IG should start beating the fuck out of each other while only a few stragglers chase your gang. Kill the ones that follow you (it will still be a pretty steady stream, but the majority of their forces will be Shooting/chopping each other. )
STEP 4: The IG WILL win once teh SPESS MAHREENS show up. But usually they'll only have a small squads worth of either. You now have two options.
1: have the raptors charge to draw fire, toss grenades, do some damage and leave, while the tacticals charge and blow them up with their meltas, should ammo run out, use fully charged plasma shots. then have them run. repeat until all forces are destroyed.
OR
2: All of you run in from different directions, If you've beaten the main game 1 marine and a guardsmen or two isn't difficult, hopefully (sometimes the AI will still charge one guy, ignoring targets that are closer) they will be split up enough for each player to take out his group and help the others who haven't.
These work all the way up to the bonus round, which is just killa kans.
NOTE: These require some pretty good amounts or coordination between your squad members, and due to the AI's nature have a chance of entering an "allies of desperation" pseudo alliance and zerg-rushing your squad while only minimally chopping each other, this is rare however and the above strategies work 9 times out of ten.
ONE PLAYER METHOD.
STEP 1: Be a raptor with the above described perks and equipment (Much more essential this time.)
Step 2: Basically the same as the other step 2, except you're only choosing one side (usually the orks, they'll chase you longer) and leading them to the other
Step 3: 9 out of ten on the maps have tiny rock outcroppings or similar that you can jump up to and are inaccessible to everything else. jump to one of these, If you don't know where one is, just go to the side of the map.
Step 4: When the IG win you need to do some scouting, usually the AI marines don't clump together, so find an isolated one and take him out. If they are clumped together, throw all of your grenades at them, jump in, kill one (or two if you're feeling ballsy) and jump away, there are usually one or two full refills for your grenades around the level. repeat as necessary until only Guardsmen remain, you should know how to kill a few guardsmen.
NOTE: This falls prey to the Allies of desperation flaw of the other one, if this happens you're fucked.

== Mod: Space Marine Augmented ==
You want a rebalanced game? Want a non-sucky game start/match-making? Additional weapons? Additional armour? All DLC unlocked? All perks unlocked? Start matches with 2 people?
Then Space Marine Augmented is for you!

The following additional new items are in the game:
* MK3 armour
* Chapter/Legion specific artwork/armour pieces
* Flamer
* Astartes Shotgun
* Autocanon
* Power Fist
* Several Bolter patterns like Tigrus, Phobos and relic
* Several Chainswords: the original one, a relic one, a tabletop style one
* Lightning Claw

Terminators and Dreadnoughts are planned.

The mod is started from a launcher. You create a non-steam account in it to store your stuff online and see others in the game.
You can only play with other players who use the mod though, so spread the word!

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uni0jPEK4JY
* https://smaugmented.github.io/

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:Space Marine screenshot 1.jpg|"Space Marines!"
Image:Space Marine screenshot 2.jpg|"Kill da Space Marines!" ("Space Marines!")
Image:Warhammer chaos.jpg|Come hither brother, for I only wish to embrace you.
Image:Mira-noscale.jpg|She wants to fuck
Image:Space Marine screenshot 4.jpg|Stop Ripping-off Henlein, GW, just STOP!
Image:Warlord Class battle Titan.jpg|Dat Heeeuuge
Image:Space Marine screenshot 5.jpg
Image:Space Marine screenshot 6.jpg|This was cut. Probably for the best, as fighting a Deff Dread would have been either a huge letdown or harder than hell. (Actually, that's a Killa Kan. Note the two arms, instead of four)
Image:Renegadeguards.jpg|Wera firin ah grehn lazahs!!!
Image:Bloodlettercharging.jpg
Image:Taintedpsyker.jpg
Image:297690.jpg
Image:Sidonus.jpg|He still should go for the bionic eye implant.
Image:Lieutenant Miranda Nero.jpg|The text box pretty much says it all. Also, hot as hell. Yeah, Rule 34 should follow quickly.
File:Mira.jpg|"When confronted by this particular situation, the only reasonable course of action would be to give her the D." --[[Roboute Guilliman]], The [[Codex Astartes]]
</gallery>

== See Also ==
*[https://store.steampowered.com/app/55150/Warhammer_40000_Space_Marine/ Space Marine on Steam]
*[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyLLeKcxw24XO-696pWe0Ztxx14rNs-a1 The game's soundtrack]

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Space Marines]]

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

2021-10-14T03:22:31Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Characters */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Space Marine poster.jpg|550px|thumb|center|Where he's going, you won't need eyes...]]
'''Space Marine''' is a 3rd-person video game which is featured on the PC, the [[/v/|ECKSBAWKS 360, and the PS3]]. Its genre is a hybrid of shooting and hack and slash. It was released on September 6, 2011.

== The Plot ==
The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2o-LmI3kiE&|The story] is set on the Forgeworld of Graia. It's being invaded by Orks who wish to loot the shit out of it; weapons, ammunition, vehicles, you name it. Rather surprisingly, the Orks have an actual objective this time: to steal a Warlord-class Titan of the Morning Star Legion '''''(cuz iz ded shooty)''''', an idea the Imperium isn't overly fond of. At first, the 203rd Cadian regiment was sent in to reinforce the forgeworld's defenses, but were eventually overwhelmed and pushed into a desperate defensive posture due to the Orks shooting down the majority of their support craft with a captured surface to air artillery cannon and simply outnumbering them by 100:1. Captain Titus and a small force of [[Ultramarines]] are then sent to hold back the invading Orks with the help of what's left of the Guard while the liberation fleet is on its way.

The Forces of Chaos also have a part to play, and are led by a Terminator sorcerer lord named Nemeroth. They're basically here to open a warp portal using a heretically radical device to both turn Graia into a daemon world and also so Nemeroth can become a Daemon Prince. And unlike previous games, this features actual traitor guardsmen, not the "we've recently converted to chaos and we're here as fodder" guardsmen featured in Dawn of War, fuck no, these are kickass [[Lost and the Damned]] guardsmen.

Not surprisingly, [[Blood Ravens|BLOD REHVENS]] play a role, set against Chaos as they were seen holding the initial incursion, though they only appear in brief cameo. If the game is set after [[Dawn of War II|DoWII]] then we will see [[Gabriel Angelos|Gabe's]] reforms in action, which is nice (if the Marine ending in Retribution takes place).

== Gameplay ==
[[File:SpaceMarinePCBig.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Captain Titus vs EVERYTHING]]
[[Commissar Fuklaw|No cover system. As a man from Relic said: "cover is for pussies". Space Marines are too awesome to be cowering behind cover]]. As a Space Marine, you are given enhanced regenerative abilities and an Iron Halo shield (due to your status as Captain). There are also brutal kills which the player can do to make the enemy's deaths more humorous/gory (to regain health like a man and to show-off the awesomeness of the Angels of Death, of course). Since you are playing as a Space Marine (and better yet, a veteran of 200 years of battle) you could easily kill thousands of Orks with just a simple vertical slash.

That being said, the Forces of Chaos are a lot tougher. Traitor guardsmen are still as weak as ordinary Ork sluggas and shootas, but are quite tactical, being able to organize and <s>plan strategies</s> spam grenades like they're playing a Call of Duty game. Corrupted psykers can spawn enemies and easily kill you from afar. Khorne Bloodletters can teleport, making it hard for you to shoot them, deal massive amounts of damage and can withstand quite a bit themselves. Chaos Space Marines are far more deadly. They pack weapons that are functionally the same as yours, are by far the most durable enemies, and they have regenerating shields like you do.

Instead of having regenerating health like every other shooter out there, you can only regenerate health by stunning enemies and [[Awesome|FATALITY-ing them Mortal Kombat-style]]. Additionally, ''Space Marine'' features a Fury system, which allows you to slow time when aiming a ranged weapon or to unleash a devastating melee attack (provided that you filled up the fury bar by killing enemies of course). While Titus' starting equipment consists of a bolt pistol and combat knife, weapons can range from bolters to lascannons to plasma guns to thunder hammers. You also get to take jump packs which allows you to fly and make an assault jump, which allows you to create an AoE explosion by violently landing in a position of your choosing, though this does restrict your loadouts to only melee weapons and bolters.

== Characters ==
{{spoilers}}
* '''[[Captain Titus]]''' - A Captain of the Ultramarines Chapter and their last hope of finally getting some <s>badass</s> redemption of any kind. He is sent with his company of Ultramarines to prevent an Ork Waaagh!! from looting a forgeworld. It should be noted that his character was first seen as bald but was changed to have a shaved head in the early trailers. He was finally changed to a standard space marine HAIR-etic. He is voiced by Mark Strong. Yes...'''HE'S VOICED BY FUCKING MARK MOTHERFUCKING STRONG!''' He looks kinda like Proteus from Ultramarines the Movie, excluding the longer hair and the better looking armor decor. Despite being a shrewd commander, he is looked upon with suspicion by some of his fellow Ultramarines after being the only surviving battle-brother from a battle with a Chaos Sorcerer. Deep strike is his favorite entry tactic as shown by his affinity of jumping out of vehicles.
**At the end of the game, it's shown to the player that he does indeed possess an unnatural resistance to the warp, likely a result of his massive [[blackstone]] balls. Unfortunately, Leandros doesn't know that (the faithless cur), and since Titus is the only smurf <s>with something vaguely resembling a clue</s> who's realized that honor has a time and place, he gets roped in by the Inquisition on suspicion of '''HERESY!''' Thankfully, Thrax doesn't take his gun, implying that he isn't buying it... but that still means a certain newbie smurf is going to have a very long discussion on the merits of trust with a power fist, right after the <s>anal probing</s> tests of faith are done.

* '''Veteran Sergeant Sidonus''' - A slightly grumpy smurf, Sidonus is a veteran of the Ultramarines and designated comedian of the squad, delivering dry humor to the heart of the enemy when necessary (or when not so necessary). He is said to have battled Tyranids, Orks, Eldar, Chaos space Marines and Necrons during his centuries of battle. Quite badass, <s>for an</s> like all old Adeptus Astartes. He also has a bionic arm after getting his real one nom'd by Tyranids [[Tarkus|(Wait, I think I've already heard something like this...)]]. Also lost his eye and half of his face when an Eldar weapon blew up in his face [[Huron Blackheart|(... and something like this too...)]]. Decided not to get reconstructive surgery done, opting instead to leave the scars because it looks badass.

* '''[[Lawful Stupid|Brother Leandros]]''' - A newly recruited Ultramarine clinging to his shortened copy of the [[Codex Astartes]] and behaves as a typical Wardian-era smurf. He is the youngest of the squad, being only 75 years old (which is considered young by Space Marine standards) yet he has one of the highest honors that a chapter can bestow (<s>that, ironically enough, seems to be missing from Sidonus' power armor mantle as a ''veteran'', it is assumed that he is trained in the use of terminator armour, like all 1st company ''veterans'')</s> except the Crux Terminatus is an award, so he should still have been carrying it, Terminator honors. <s>Titus probably took his, so now he's mad at him for it... perhaps a little too mad...</s>

* '''Second Lieutenant Miranda Nero''' - Being the only loyalist commissioned officer left, Mira leads what remains of the 203rd Cadian that was reassigned to Graia. Turns out they went too far out into the green sea and got cut off from supplies and support. She seems to share [[Merrick]]'s view of placing the lives of her men above the Imperium. '''HERESY!!!''' The fact that she's holding the entire operation together despite being just a lieutenant impresses even Titus.

* '''Inquisitor Jean-Baptiste Emanuel <s>Zorg</s> <s>Skrillex</s> Drogan''' - The Inquisitor. He looks like he hasn't slept in a week (which is understandable, given that he's fighting both an Ork [[WAAAGH]] and [[Chaos Space Marine]]s), and his hair is really dirty and emo looking. He also has a metal plate attached to the right side of his head. Must be a radical. He's also '''EXTREMELY''' obsessed with killing xenos due to him being previously tortured by xenos (<s>possibly [[Dark Eldar]]</s>) Yeah, because we know that anyone can escape from Commoragh) for several years. During his time on Graia, his '''EXTREME''' obsession made him create mysterious experimental weapons in hopes of getting revenge, and one of these experiments included a portal that led to '''EXTREME''' consequences. This is due to the fact that the forces of chaos used said portal to enter the forge world, '''EXTREME'''ly. His eyes also lit up during a cutscene. MUST BE A HERETIC. BIG TWEEST. HE'S A PUPPET FOR THE LORD SORCERER.......... Okay it isn't that simple. Turns out he had a "subject" delivered to his laboratory to test his shiny new weapon on, the "subject" turned out to be a daemon which escaped, and proceeded to buttrape poor Drogan and possess his corpse (all the backstory is in the audio logs). Since this daemon read the fluff, he's decided that ''maybe'' the '''EXTREME''' factions have a bit more pull, so he pretends to be '''EXTREME'''.

* '''[[Nemeroth|Lord Nemeroth]]''' - A Chaos Terminator Sorcerer Lord and the '''Big Bad''' of the game. He is possibly the Sorcerer Titus "killed" previously. He leads a warband consisting of [[Chaos Space Marines|Chaos Marines]], Khornate [[bloodletters]], [[Blight Drone]]s, and Tzeentch psychers (presumably the forces of [[slaanesh]] were left out so as to avoid an adults only rating in America). He also proves Relics infinite creativity at naming characters, for the difference between him and Eliphas' nagging wife is but two wretched letters. Also found a way around the of the Squishy Wizard law, because he wears '''TERMINATOR ARMOUR'''. Still got beat up by an Ork wearing almost no armour, though. Titus manages to defeat Nemeroth because the latter forgot to wear a helmet (then again, so does Titus). Shame, too, because he was just at the doorstep of becoming a [[Daemon Prince]].

* '''[[Warboss Grimskull]]''' - He is the Ork Warboss leading his Ork [[WAAAGH]]!!! on Graia with the intention of stealing the planet's Titans. Later on, he becomes interested in the power source Titus and Inquisitor Drogan possess. [[https://youtu.be/Uox82AiheLI|He ain't so easy to kill]].

* '''Inquisitor Thrax''' - The inquisitor that appears at the end of the game, where his name was mentioned on the monitor for the status on Graia. He came to take Titus heresy investigation after Leandros' accusation. Was likely planned to be a major character in the sequel, but that unfortunately never came to fruition.

== Things that rock ==
[[File:Angry marine by mysteryone617-d3j5gzj.png|300px|thumb|The official sequel]]
* Seemingly a better game than that [[Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior]] where you play as a [[Tau|Space Communist]] on his first day of duty, who is apparently a one man (well, xenos) army that could single-handedly kill genetically modified super soldiers, <s>a daemon prince</s> TWO Daemon Princes and a greater daemon of [[Tzeentch]]. lolwut?
* You get to play as a Space Marine.
* Guardsmen who fight alongside you have balls of steel, they rarely fall back. (Which makes crunch sense: with a Space Marine Captain alongside them, they too SHALL KNOW NO FEAR!)
* Orks (this time they actually look like a credible threat, not just dumb drunk ape-brawlers on steroids)
* Captain Titus isn't a total Mary Sue like the rest of this Chapter, even going so far to say that the [[Codex Astartes]] is just a guidebook and not meant to be taken literally. Thus: FUCK YOU MATT WARD.
* NO REALLY FUCK YOU MATT WARD
* Hilarious amounts of blood, dismemberment, and all other forms of gore you could imagine. [[Khorne]] would probably favor this game, even if you do play an Ultramarine.
* Executions (like the sync kills in DoW, which you can do to a stunned enemy) are actually required for you to restore your health, rather than going around and picking up medpacks, ducking in a corner and letting your wounds heal like magic, or some other unmanly method. Ensuring that playing longer requires you to give those guys screaming at you a good ol' fashion Chainsword enema, which is awesome.
* Chaos Space Marines.
* BLOODLETTERS!!!
* You pick up an [[Autocannon]] in <s>one</s> TWO levels.
[[File:The weak.jpg|300px|right|thumb|One is running away from the enemy, the other is running '''INTO''' the enemy. <s>Which do you think is loyal to the Emprah?</s> Another difference: one is a genetically modified super soldier with a FUCKHEUGE power armor and Ultrasmurf plot armor, the other is a normal man with a cardboard armor and a flashlight. Both are facing [[Angry Marines|angry]] green warmongers. Which do you think has [[Imperial Guard|balls of steel]]?]]
* Mark Strong (who you may remember from his previous roles starring in Rocknrolla, Kickass, Robin Hood, Stardust and Sherlock Holmes) as the voice of Captain Titus. (Don't forget Merlin from the Kingsman! Who wouldn't want to see Captain Titus murdering some greenskins while belting out Country roads by John Denver)
* <s>JUMP PACKS.</s> Out of fuel. (They be awesome while they last though)
* Pre-Order skins for [[Black Templars]], [[Blood Ravens]], [[Space Wolves]], <s>[[Iron Hands]]</s> [[Iron Warriors]] and [[Emperor's Children]].
* Apparently, even the games demo would destroy a PC's motherboard due to its extreme epicness. Watch here for proof [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47PDV9Rcjv4]
* Co-op comes in the form a 4-player Horde mode.
* Standard multiplayer is Chaos vs. Spess Mehrens. Fuck yes.
* You get to paint your own multiplayer character, much like the army painter system in DoWII. BETTER, because you can change every part of your power armour and paint up to THREE COLOURS FOR EVERY PART. Seriously, is a delight to try paint schemes, it have an asslot of colours and your (Chaos)Space Marine is in glorious 3D. You also get to pick your own loadout.
*Cock of Duty-like perks. Yes, multiplayer perks. However some of them are cool and are named after rules from the TT game, Most make sense, others are FUCKING STUPID (see bottom of next list). One real nice thing about the perks is that you can use them along with your tailored loadout in EXTERMINATUS.
**Said mode brings together 4 battle brothers able to act essentially like mini-Tituses, healing at ridiculous rates with Zeal, Larraman's Blessing or Iron Halo and slaughtering 20 waves worth of orks and one of chaos (or guardsmen, for Chaos Unleashed players)
*Livery changes for the single player are widely available for free. If you still hate the smurfs, you can easily change that by playing something like the [[Black Templars]] or [[Angry Marines]]. <s>are unlocked at level 5 and only affect multiplayer. Enjoy your smurfs.</s> ACTUALLY: whilst it is true that customization options are only available from level 4 onwards, there are unofficial modifications available for livery changes for a great number of chapters in single player. (see: http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?262044-Space-Marine-Custom-Titus-Skins-Armour-of-Angelos)
*After release fans wouldn't stop bitching (read flooding the official forums) asking for a mute all button in the multiplayer lobby. A couple weeks later an update included the mute all button, in short THEY [[Gets_shit_done|GET SHIT DONE]]
*New DLC just added [[Dreadnought]]s (AKA ungodly walking rape machine).
*The Anniversity Edition, released on 9/23/21 made all the DLCs free for people who have it, as well as giving goodies like soundtracks, classic and new wallpaper, the manuel, ringtone, artbook, collector's cards, and the launch trailer as well

== Things that Suck ==
* When the daemons first show up, Titus refers to them as "Chaos daemons!" Is there any other kind? <s>WAIT, DON'T ANSWER THAT!</s>
* Cadians are portrayed as pussies who have to rely on the Smurfs to get anything done, with the sole exception of Mira. Someone at Relic mistakenly believed that Cadians are just another one of those regiments that rely purely on numbers to get shit done. In reality, with all the training from birth and living next to the Eye of Terror things, they should be telling the Orks where to shove it and Chaos forces whose dicks to suck. (While outnumbered at least 100 to 1 and cut off from resupply? ESPECIALLY when outnumbered and undersuplied, CADIA LIVES!)
* Explosions look like total ASS. While the texture work on the game is extremely detailed, they apparently skimped on their pyrotechnic effects. Some of the smoke and explosion effects look like they came off a PS1 game. This is painfully jarring in the opening aerial battle between the navy and the Orks.
* Ultrasmurfs. (Bear in mind though, you would probably bitch about it if they mentioned any other chapter as "the greatest of them all". [[Ultramarines:The_Movie|Observe]]). However, it could be argued that part of the joy of the badassery of Captain Titus is that he lends credit to that stereotype.
* While "Cover is for Pussies" is a manly mechanic, being able to fire from cover while being pinned by tons of Ork Shootas and Chaos Havocs in unreachable positions wouldn't be so bad.
** Don't forget the waves of renegade guardsmen who posses an inexhaustible supply of grenades that they lob at you without hesitation. This alone makes it nearly impossible to complete the later chapters without abusing cover and Lascannon camping.
*No awesome executions in multiplayer. Multiplayer executions were dropped because it would leave you vulnerable while performing it and [[Matt Ward|some people]] would get upset at seeing their marine having their organs torn out. This leaves one wondering why it wouldn't be left in as an optional humiliation move.
**More baffling is that it is being left out of the upcoming co-op as well for the exact same reasons, despite it being in singleplayer, meaning you can only regain health by [[Gay|hiding in cover while your health regenerates.]][[Derp| "Cover is for the weak" indeed.]]
***Further undermined by the fact that not taking cover against Tankbustaz will get you killed in a ludicrously quick-and-dirty way, as will charging into a pack of Traitor Guardsmen whilst they burn you alive in your artificer armor with volleys of [[Lasgun|flashlight]] fire.
* Explaining things to the newbs.
*<strike>There is NOBODY in fucking multiplayer, seriously, I've fucking waited for hours.</strike> NOT ANYMORE. The free giveaway have given new life to the multiplayer, with a small but loyal fanbase playing practically every day.
* They wanted to cast Sean Pertwee (Who played Governor Severus in Fire Warrior) as one of the characters, but they already had enough VA's. Not having Sean Pertwee in a Warhammer game, or film, is just plain wrong (though they do express desire to cast him in a possible sequel). '''UNFORTUNATELY!''' <s>THQ said that there won't be a sequel. [[Rage|FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!]]</s> <s>There might be a sequel, apparently, but only if THQ doesn't collapse in on itself like a super-massive star due to all its debt.</s> THQ just went belly-up. The sequel's destiny is now in the hands of Sega....Emperor preserve us all.
* Another 40k game about some Space Marine snowflake. See Ultrasmurfs. But on the bright side, only Leandros acts like the generic Mary sue Ultramarine, Titus and Sidonus are, more-or-less likable, even by those with a slight distaste for the Ultramarines.
* Not enough choppy. For a game that relies a lot on melee combat, not a lot of actual melee weapons to go around, only a knife (Which you can only use at the beginning of the game), chainsword, power axe, and thunder hammer and additionally, sync-kills are fairly limited for each one and starts to get "meh" after a few playthroughs. Given 40K's extensive armory of choppy choppas, you would think Relic could include more things like more power swords, fists and claws, eviscerator chainswords (And a large two-handed, flamer-toting chainsword would have been emprah-like to have), or just more sync-kills for said 4 weapons so players would have more variety in the amount of gore present.
* [http://www.spacemarine.com/blog-post/warhammer-40000-space-marine-e3-game-demo-walkthrough Apparently, melta guns are shotguns now and the Lascannon is some kind of retarded sniper rifle with slow-mo.]
**<s>[[Matt Ward|Sounds somehow familiar, no?]]</s> The Meltas are only shotguns as far as digital [[crunch]] is concerned; they're still burning death rays fluff-wise, disintegrating tons of orks and even daemons in one shot. As for the Lascannons, they aren't any more or less of a sniper weapon here than they are on the tabletop (basically an anti-materiel rifle, except on super grimdark space steroids). Neither of them do a lot against Dreads, which is bullshit. The lascannon has a minor mitigation in that Titus doesn't have the accompanying power-backpack, which could understandably make each shot less powerful.
*Games consist of melta, plasma cannon, stormbolter, or vengeance launcher spam, the few players who disdain cheap tactics (oddly the ps3 space wolves champion this view) lose on principle unless they're banned in a tournament or are a cheating fuck named jwolf96 who bolt pistols you with a headshot WHILE JUMPING AROUND AS ASSAULT.EVERY TIME.hax.
*No [[Flamer]]s. (melta gun doesn't count)
*No [[Grav-Weaponry]]. (No halofags the Thunder Hammer is '''not''' a grav-weapon)
*Gears of War fanboys constantly saying that the game is a copy of Gears of War, even though it's a hack and slash shooter hybrid that does not feature a cover system (GOW is like a ducking simulator). They're also too magnificently retarded to realize that Warhammer 40,000 came Waaaaaaaaayyyyy before Gears of War. Not to mention the [[Space Marines]] of 40k inspired the giant space marine with the huge weapons.
*FUCKING audio stutter during times where you're battling hordes of enemies (which, in a hack-and-slash game, happens all the time). It's revealed that this is not hardware related as even those with high-powered machines and updated drivers also suffer from this. Relic might provide a fix for this but some are shifty about this, fearing that they might pull off the old [[Dawn of War]] ignorance on this game too. If you want a slightly acceptable temporary fix for this that doesn't require you playing this game in silence, infinitely loop a battle theme of your choosing on your music player such as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRiU2N03Rzs Requiem for a Tower] while playing, set your volume to a level of your choosing, and gleefully continue hacking your opponents to shreds and curb-stomping them to paste. If you need the voices for tactical input, just enable subtitles.
*Shitty voice acting from anyone who is not a space marine (or lieutenant mira)
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbiqNn6LxFM Shitty fucking lag that has remained unfixed over a month after its released], ergo consigning the game to the dustbin as new Vidya Gaems that are frankly better than it are released.
*<s>Only five maps, all of which encourage outright camping and grenade spam.</s> They're releasing more maps every few months.
*Matchmaking sucks a bag of dicks the size of a [[Nurgle|Great Unclean One]].
*<s>Devastator Marines are vastly more powerful than all other Marines, and it's possible to circumvent the Heavy Bolter's setup time by switching to/from your pistol. The switch-setup was fixed in a patch, but Devastators are still infinitely superior to anything any other Marine class can do damage-wise Assault/Raptor with thunder hammer/daemon maul with Killing Blow. Nuff said.</s> Plus the inability to dodge effectively, (Learn to combat roll, dumbass. Saves my bacon all the time.) slow recharge times on armor and health, and the fact that one shot from a tactical marine's plasma gun will melt your shit instantly balances it out. N00bs need to STFU and get some skill and stop whining. Also, unlike Raptors/Assault Marines, Devastators can't FLY.
*There were originally going to be Combi-Weapons in the game, but it was scrapped.
*Environments need more variety. A lot more variety. The game really doesn't start shaking shit up until about halfway through. Till then, everything is cityscape type level killing a bunch of Orks.
*On the console versions, accusations of Standbying (abusing host lag) are ''rampant''.
*<s>Makes no fucking sense from a chronological perspective - Graia was OMNOMNOM'd by the [[Tyranids]] (caught in the path of the initial Hive Fleet that approached Macragge) long before the events of Dawn of War and Dawn of War 2 - meaning that Titus' victory was ultimately a pyrrhic one, unless there's another Graia out there in the Imperium of Man. It's an alternate timeline, and it takes place on a different Graia (this particular Graia is located in the Segmentum Tempestus, not Ultima Segmentum). You can tell because Titus is the Captain of the Ultramarine's Second Company instead of Sicarius and Titan Invictus wasn't destroyed in the 13th Black Crusade (which was way before Dawn of War).</s>
**It takes place some time into M42, and it's a different Graia. Evidence: In Ultramarines: The Movie, Captain Severus was 2nd Company Captain, and the film took place after the battle for Macragge given their WE MARCH FOR MACRAGGE creed. Sicarius is either dead or been promoted by now. With Severus dead by the hands of the Daemon, Titus becomes his successor. Further proof comes from the Blood Ravens appearance. Hive Fleet Leviathan, a splinter of which was defeated by the Magpies in DOW2, showed up in the final years of M41. Given that Retribution takes place 11 years after that, and Titus mentions the Aurelian Crusades, Relic has left the 41st Millennium behind. In four games, Relic has pushed further with the 40K timeline than Games Workshop has in twenty years.
***This is more or less confirmed by 8th edition. Cato Sicarius gets lost in the Warp at one point, so naturally they would have promoted someone else (namely Titus) to fill in. Sure the [[Great Rift]] doesn't appear on the map in the intro, but it hadn't been made up yet IRL, what are you gonna do?
* Not enough Ham. From the company that brought such gems as "BEAR WITNESS TO MY ASCENSION!!!!" and "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! LET THE GALAXY BURN!", it's a bit of a letdown when <s>even the Orks sound bored</s> you call "GIT OFF MAH SHIP, SPACE MUHREEN!!" bored? Calm Space Marines are boring Space Marines. Shout your litanies to the Emperor, dammit!
*<s>[[Butthurt|Multiplayer perks. COCK OF DUTY MODERN SHITFUCK ANNOYING FUCKING 'MARTYRDOM' RIPOFF. Yes. Your armor's power-pack/jump-pack EXPLODES with a ludicrous kill zone. FUCKING ANNOYING.</s>]] The noobs want perks deal with it. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
**<s>this game is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with bigger guys for you.</s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|Heresy!}}
* Multiplayer: MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. NOW I LAG LOLOLOLOLOL. But this comes as a result of no dedicated servers due to a small playerbase. (One player goes as far as to call Host Migrations "Warp Storms" over voice chat, due to the seeming level of warp-dickery behind their timing.)
*<s>[[Butthurt|Dreadnoughts are unstoppable rape machines that will steamroll the entire enemy team by themselves unless it is made up entirely of devastator marines (RELIC SUCKS AT BALANCE!)]]</s> the concept of game balance is bullshit. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
* Final boss fight with Nemeroth is disappointing. Instead of having a proper fight like against Grimskull, it's just a quick-time event. While being sort of epic the first time you play it (You ''are'' falling down a space elevator, after all) it gets repetitive and boring in following play-throughs. Also, you can spam all three of the required inputs at once with no penalty.
** And to get to the irritating button mash you have to drudge through a long and annoying fight with his OP minions.
*Good luck finding a game that's on any of the DLC stuff, or outside of the original five maps, You won't find any matches that aren't Seize Ground or Annihilation. We seriously need a new Space Marine game.
* There's no-one fucking playing multiplayer anymore
* We're never gonna get a sequel :c
* A squad of [[Veteran Squad#Sternguard Veterans|Sternguard Veterans]] or [[Terminators]] could have solved both the Orc and Chaos problems in under thirty minutes. A squad of each should have been aboard the [[Strike Cruiser]] in orbit. Deamon Prince Nemeroth whiled on by Assault Terminators led by Titus would have been funny and [[awesome]] to see.
* Your a dwarf in a barrel.
* Exterminatus glitching the fuck out.
* The bolter behaves like a generic assault rifle. Orks will take like 10 shots to die. Fire warrior (shudders) remains the only 40k game to get the bolter right.
*Said Anniversity Edition now made it priced at $60 USD, overpriced considering that it released 10 years ago

== Downloadable Content ==
The game is constantly being supported and so much new content has been added over the past few months, it's astonishing. New content includes new modes such as capture the flag mode, capture and control, and dreadnought assault. New maps have been released, and previous pre-order only skins are now available (including new ones such as the Legion of the Damned skin-YEAH!) Below is a list of all the dlc you <s>can buy now(some of which is free by the way.)</s> have as of the Anniversary Edition.

*Exterminatus: This is a free update that added co-op to the game. A much needed add-on. Let's you play as Loyalist Marines in a team of four vs hordes of orks. Fun and crazy, (SPOILER!) final round is a bonus round against Chaos (end of spoiler.) Can use all your multiplayer loadouts and gain experience as well.

*Chaos Unleashed: You can now play as Chaos Space Marines in the Exterminatus game mode. Gameplay wise it isn't different from the Loyalist version, but new enemies along with the ol' ORKS are present. These new enemies are the Imperial Guard and the orks get a new unit (read ork entry below.) Oh yeah and we can now KILLZ US SOME SPACE MARINES! ULTRAMARINES TO BOOT!

**IG units include: regular shock troops with lasguns, veterans with chainswords (yes you read that right), sanctioned Imperial psykers who can also tackle stun you, troops with melta guns and troops with grenade launchers.
**Apart from the IG forces the Orks have their old units returning with the addition of KILLA KANZ coming in during the bonus round! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2sni61dms The start of the bonus round and how fucking tough it is.]
**Yes, space marines are part of the enemy now, and they are tough as hell to kill. If anyone made it to the bonus chaos round for the loyalists, they will know. They have the same armor and health as the CSM of that bonus round, but come standard in every arena (during the later half usually.) You need to work together as a team to take them down, if not you'll get overwhelmed pretty easily. They have the tactical marines, assault marines without jump packs (Thank the Dark Gods) and devastators with plasma cannons (That can fuck your shit in case you allow them to fire a volley)
**Three new maps including Habs Ablaze, Station Tertius and Aquila Canyon. This dlc also includes new achievements and trophies.

*Capture the flag (free update): Regular run of the mill capture the capture the flag mode. Unfortunately, devolves into everyone camping their sides to defend their flags and going long range. IF you've got balls of steel. then charge the other side to scare the hell out of them. Preferably use the Assault Marine with a hammer and "Death from above" upgrade.

*Capture and control: <s>Currently playing. Will update soon.</s> Sadly, due to bad matchmaking and division of map rotations, I cannot find a game to play of this mode. Will try to update soon. If anyone else has, you obviously have the right to update it on your own... something something this was written maybe 3 years ago. Also a run of the mill game mode, Assault unit hell.

*Dreadnought Assault: Probably the most controversial of the game modes. This player has already played it and highly recommends it. But the playerbase is apparently divided. Basically, you have to capture the Dreadnought capture point and as soon as it is captured, a teammate that is inside the point will be chosen to pilot the <s>suit</s> rape machine (at random? no idea. Needs confirmation.) You have to use the dreadnought to <s>capture the other points</s> assrape the other team. It is an ungodly powerful machine with a lot of health and you gain the auto/assaultcannon, powerfist/claw (both former weapons for loyalists and latter for Chaos, the auto-cannon and assault cannon are the weapons that differ from their counterpart on the other side, with the auto having lower RoF but higher damage per shot, and the assault having higher RoF but less damage per shot, but both fire rapidly enough to be used the same way), and meltagun. Obviously becomes a fire magnet and players will mostly use <s>devastators</s> Thunderhammers/Power Mauls on it. (contrary to tabletop, DEVASTATORS/HAVOCS CAN'T SCRATCH THE DAMN DREADNOUGHT) Comes with appropriate skins for Chaos and Loyalist marines.

**Includes three new maps as well; Desolation, Dome Mechanicus and Chem Refinery. New achievements/trophies also included.
**Has apparently vanished into the ether on the Xbox marketplace and is no longer available (on that system at least). Perhaps the playerbase bitched too much?

*As said before, pre-order skins are now available, including some new ones. Just to get you drooling, Iron Hands and Death Guard armor. OH YEAH!

*Subsection F, article U:

+[ How to destroy the Dreadnought ]+

As tested by two players, one yours truly, there is a limited number of options when it comes to dealing with an enemy Dreadnought.

#Lascannons do minimal damage. Headshots can do some decent damage - but it's finicky due to lag and a weird head hitbox (especially since the extra-damage weak point on the Dreadnought is the engine at the back, not the head, oops).
#Stalker Bolter is more reliable, but nowhere near as good against the Dread. Works well on its escorts, though.
#Heavy Bolter can damage it but it takes a lot of shots, and the Dread *will* return fire at the first opportunity and fuck your ass. Fire and move.
#[[What|Meltaguns do nothing.]] Avoid. (They take off exactly 10% of the Dreadnought's health from pointblank range, make of this what you will).
#Grenades only annoy it, but Flash Grenades can blind it for a second.
#Devastator stomp does nothing (and if you were trying to do this in the first place, [[Tau|gb2Tau]]).
#Plasma Guns and Pistols do absolutely nothing unless charged, and are questionably useful if charged. The "Sticky" charged shot though is great for drawing a Dread's attention, and can do a bit of damage to help out or soften it up prior to an attack.
#A Dread's close combat arm will put your head through your ass and send you flying in one hit.
#The Dreadnought has its own Iron Halo shield, but only for one charge that lasts for about 30 seconds. When activated, the Dreadnought strikes a distinctive pose while its arm glows. Firing at it now is a waste of ammo and your life.

Your destructive answer in this case is PLASMA, followed by VENGEANCE LAUNCHER. Plasma cannons are the only heavy weapon that will reliably do anything of relevance to the Dreadnought, and it takes around 10 shots. The only option other than Plasma Cannons are the Vengeance Launcher and the Thunderhammer/Power Maul. The former will do in a Dread in about 12 shots; the latter, if you have the Killing Blow perk, will make quick work of the Dreadnought.

Devastators:
#'''USE PLASMA CANNONS AT RANGE.''' Fire a barrage and fuck off. Watch for return fire, the Assault Cannon/Reaper Autocannon have a hellish rate of fire and will tear you to shreds.
#'''ALTERNATELY, USE HEAVY BOLTER AND CAMP TACTICAL LOCATIONS.''' Heavy Bolter can rack up insane damage very, very quickly and can easily wipe a squad of Escorts if you set up correctly. Surprisingly, the Heavy Bolter can also do a lot of damage to the Dread if it doesn't get a chance to return fire (I.E. it has its attention held by Plasma Cannoneers and the like).
#'''LASCANNON ONLY IF YOU'RE THE HOST.''' Lag makes Lascannon headshots completely unreliable unless you're the host, and turns the potential the Lascannon has against both the Dread and its escorts to functionally nil. If you ''are'' the host, feel free to use the Lascannon, as it can damage the Dreadnought (not as much as the Plasma Cannon though) and easily wipe the Escorts out. Generally though, you will want one of the other Heavy weapons (again, mostly Plasma Cannons).

Assaults:
#'''DRAW SOME ATTENTION WITH THE PLASMA PISTOL.''' The Plasma Pistol's virtually worthless damage-wise against the Dread, but a charged shot will stick to it, fuck up its vision for a half-second or so, and rattle around its aim a bit. Consider a Plas Pistol charged shot when you need to get the Dread's attention and keep it from a safer distance.
#'''SWORDS AND CHAINSWORDS, LEAD THE WAY.''' Combine a Sword (Chain or Power) with Swordsman's Zeal and Combat Drugs. You'll generally not do any appreciable damage to the Dreadnought, but that isn't the point: You can use this combo to land next to a Dread, get in a swipe or two on either it or its escorts, and fuck off, potentially drawing fire and attention away from much more important matters (like the Devastators your team has lining up shots). Note, however, that if you delay or the enemy team is smart, you will wind up a bloody smear on the floor. If not on active Dread attention-getting duty, help cap points and deal with the escorts.
#'''AXES ARE RISKY BUSINESS.''' Axeman's Zeal offers bigger damage chunks and the same delicious healing, and works the same way as the Sword/Chainsword tactic above, but it leaves you open more. Bear this in mind. If you're not that good with the Axe, leave it at home.
#'''THUNDER HAMMER/DAEMON MAUL - THE KILLING BLOW.''' Killing Blow helps. A ''fucking'' lot. Without this perk, you can still wreck up the Dreadnought, but not by yourself. Two or more Assaults with hammers and the Dreadnought is [[Ork|proppa]] fucked.
#'''SUICIDE IS PAINLESS.''' It's a dick move, but loading up with Final Vengeance Assaults can do some good damage to the Dreadnought if absolutely every other fucking tactic fails. Fly in, spam grenades, Swing Sword/Axe/Hammer until killed, die on purpose, explode.

Tacticals:
#'''PLASMA GUN IS AN OKAY CHOICE I GUESS.''' Similar to the Plasma Pistol, you aren't taking the Plasma Gun for the damage, even though it is a little higher than the Plasma Pistol's and it can damage the Dread better. The main advantage is punching the fucking escorts with it, or sticking charged shots to the Dread itself to draw attention, damage it a little, and throw off its aim. Fire off a shot, then get the fuck out of dodge.
#'''HELP CAP FUCKING POINTS.''' Damned things won't handle themselves, and you need 'em to win.
#'''MOST OF YOUR WEAPONRY WON'T HURT THE DREADNOUGHT.''' The Tactical has ''one'' weapon that can contribute to a fight with the Dreadnought, and it's also the one weapon almost fucking nobody uses: The Vengeance Launcher. It takes about 12-14 shots given ideal aim, but the Vengeance Launcher ''can'' kill the Dreadnought. Working in teams, this can actually be just as effective as Plasma Cannon spamming - do note that it holds much less ammo, though, and is much harder to use.
#'''HELP YOUR TEAMMATES.''' Teleport Homer may be the most unsung hero of Dreadnought fights. One Tactical in a good spot can effectively act as a mobile spawnpoint for his buddies. Ideal for Devastator teams which need a quick way into the fight that isn't a [[METAL BOXES|Metal Box]].
#'''YOU STILL HAVE GRENADES.''' Grenades can still do damage and still blind the Dreadnought, so for fuck's sake, use them.
#'''STALKER BOLTER THE FUCKING ESCORTS.''' Stalker Bolter will cut the escorts to shreds if you're a good shot, and can reliably damage the Dreadnought a tiny bit if there's no other targets of opportunity handy (generally you want to avoid pissing it off as a Tactical, though). Stalker the escorts though, to ensure your teammates can deal with the Dread easier without worrying about its squad of tagalongs.

''An important note about the DLC. While a lot of the new stuff is fun and cool, the lists are divided by map rotations. Meaning when you choose a specific game mode, you choose the content you want to play in. Normally this isn't so bad, but what ends up happening is that you wait and wait for games to appear for the selected content. If you don't join a game for that dlc during that waiting time, you are pushed into a standard content game. So you want to join a Chaos Unleashed map, but there's no one around, so you join (read: forced into) a regular match. Oh no, the second you join said match, other people joined the CU list and you just left. Hopefully something will done about that.''

[ How to spam Chaos Unleashed Exterminatus ]
This DLC added IG and SPESS MAHREENS to your Ork hordes, while allowing you to be HERETICS. Sounds awful, right? WRONG. This mode is actually easy to spam to the bonus wave.
STEP 1: if you manage to get a full four players, divide yourselves among Raptors and Tacticals. (With a minimum of one raptor, but preferably two or three)
STEP 1.5: If you're a raptor, have the perks for damage when you lift off and land on with your jump pack, and a daemon maul or chain axe if you don't like the low swing speed of the maul. (not required but it helps.)
If you're a/the tactical marine, have the teleport homer and perk that allows an extra weapon. Have a bolter, melta gun, and plasma gun. (Again, not required but it helps)
STEP 2: When you enter the map, have one raptor jump to the Orks, and the other jump to the IG forces, while the tactical marines camp in a corner of the map of their choice.
STEP 3: Have the raptors bait the two forces together, kill a few if you're feeling ballsy, and jump away back to the tacticals. The Orks and IG should start beating the fuck out of each other while only a few stragglers chase your gang. Kill the ones that follow you (it will still be a pretty steady stream, but the majority of their forces will be Shooting/chopping each other. )
STEP 4: The IG WILL win once teh SPESS MAHREENS show up. But usually they'll only have a small squads worth of either. You now have two options.
1: have the raptors charge to draw fire, toss grenades, do some damage and leave, while the tacticals charge and blow them up with their meltas, should ammo run out, use fully charged plasma shots. then have them run. repeat until all forces are destroyed.
OR
2: All of you run in from different directions, If you've beaten the main game 1 marine and a guardsmen or two isn't difficult, hopefully (sometimes the AI will still charge one guy, ignoring targets that are closer) they will be split up enough for each player to take out his group and help the others who haven't.
These work all the way up to the bonus round, which is just killa kans.
NOTE: These require some pretty good amounts or coordination between your squad members, and due to the AI's nature have a chance of entering an "allies of desperation" pseudo alliance and zerg-rushing your squad while only minimally chopping each other, this is rare however and the above strategies work 9 times out of ten.
ONE PLAYER METHOD.
STEP 1: Be a raptor with the above described perks and equipment (Much more essential this time.)
Step 2: Basically the same as the other step 2, except you're only choosing one side (usually the orks, they'll chase you longer) and leading them to the other
Step 3: 9 out of ten on the maps have tiny rock outcroppings or similar that you can jump up to and are inaccessible to everything else. jump to one of these, If you don't know where one is, just go to the side of the map.
Step 4: When the IG win you need to do some scouting, usually the AI marines don't clump together, so find an isolated one and take him out. If they are clumped together, throw all of your grenades at them, jump in, kill one (or two if you're feeling ballsy) and jump away, there are usually one or two full refills for your grenades around the level. repeat as necessary until only Guardsmen remain, you should know how to kill a few guardsmen.
NOTE: This falls prey to the Allies of desperation flaw of the other one, if this happens you're fucked.

== Mod: Space Marine Augmented ==
You want a rebalanced game? Want a non-sucky game start/match-making? Additional weapons? Additional armour? All DLC unlocked? All perks unlocked? Start matches with 2 people?
Then Space Marine Augmented is for you!

The following additional new items are in the game:
* MK3 armour
* Chapter/Legion specific artwork/armour pieces
* Flamer
* Astartes Shotgun
* Autocanon
* Power Fist
* Several Bolter patterns like Tigrus, Phobos and relic
* Several Chainswords: the original one, a relic one, a tabletop style one
* Lightning Claw

Terminators and Dreadnoughts are planned.

The mod is started from a launcher. You create a non-steam account in it to store your stuff online and see others in the game.
You can only play with other players who use the mod though, so spread the word!

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uni0jPEK4JY
* https://smaugmented.github.io/

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:Space Marine screenshot 1.jpg|"Space Marines!"
Image:Space Marine screenshot 2.jpg|"Kill da Space Marines!" ("Space Marines!")
Image:Warhammer chaos.jpg|Come hither brother, for I only wish to embrace you.
Image:Mira-noscale.jpg|She wants to fuck
Image:Space Marine screenshot 4.jpg|Stop Ripping-off Henlein, GW, just STOP!
Image:Warlord Class battle Titan.jpg|Dat Heeeuuge
Image:Space Marine screenshot 5.jpg
Image:Space Marine screenshot 6.jpg|This was cut. Probably for the best, as fighting a Deff Dread would have been either a huge letdown or harder than hell. (Actually, that's a Killa Kan. Note the two arms, instead of four)
Image:Renegadeguards.jpg|Wera firin ah grehn lazahs!!!
Image:Bloodlettercharging.jpg
Image:Taintedpsyker.jpg
Image:297690.jpg
Image:Sidonus.jpg|He still should go for the bionic eye implant.
Image:Lieutenant Miranda Nero.jpg|The text box pretty much says it all. Also, hot as hell. Yeah, Rule 34 should follow quickly.
File:Mira.jpg|"When confronted by this particular situation, the only reasonable course of action would be to give her the D." --[[Roboute Guilliman]], The [[Codex Astartes]]
</gallery>

== See Also ==
*[https://store.steampowered.com/app/55150/Warhammer_40000_Space_Marine/ Space Marine on Steam]
*[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyLLeKcxw24XO-696pWe0Ztxx14rNs-a1 The game's soundtrack]

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Space Marines]]

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

2021-10-14T03:19:56Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Characters */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Space Marine poster.jpg|550px|thumb|center|Where he's going, you won't need eyes...]]
'''Space Marine''' is a 3rd-person video game which is featured on the PC, the [[/v/|ECKSBAWKS 360, and the PS3]]. Its genre is a hybrid of shooting and hack and slash. It was released on September 6, 2011.

== The Plot ==
The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2o-LmI3kiE&|The story] is set on the Forgeworld of Graia. It's being invaded by Orks who wish to loot the shit out of it; weapons, ammunition, vehicles, you name it. Rather surprisingly, the Orks have an actual objective this time: to steal a Warlord-class Titan of the Morning Star Legion '''''(cuz iz ded shooty)''''', an idea the Imperium isn't overly fond of. At first, the 203rd Cadian regiment was sent in to reinforce the forgeworld's defenses, but were eventually overwhelmed and pushed into a desperate defensive posture due to the Orks shooting down the majority of their support craft with a captured surface to air artillery cannon and simply outnumbering them by 100:1. Captain Titus and a small force of [[Ultramarines]] are then sent to hold back the invading Orks with the help of what's left of the Guard while the liberation fleet is on its way.

The Forces of Chaos also have a part to play, and are led by a Terminator sorcerer lord named Nemeroth. They're basically here to open a warp portal using a heretically radical device to both turn Graia into a daemon world and also so Nemeroth can become a Daemon Prince. And unlike previous games, this features actual traitor guardsmen, not the "we've recently converted to chaos and we're here as fodder" guardsmen featured in Dawn of War, fuck no, these are kickass [[Lost and the Damned]] guardsmen.

Not surprisingly, [[Blood Ravens|BLOD REHVENS]] play a role, set against Chaos as they were seen holding the initial incursion, though they only appear in brief cameo. If the game is set after [[Dawn of War II|DoWII]] then we will see [[Gabriel Angelos|Gabe's]] reforms in action, which is nice (if the Marine ending in Retribution takes place).

== Gameplay ==
[[File:SpaceMarinePCBig.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Captain Titus vs EVERYTHING]]
[[Commissar Fuklaw|No cover system. As a man from Relic said: "cover is for pussies". Space Marines are too awesome to be cowering behind cover]]. As a Space Marine, you are given enhanced regenerative abilities and an Iron Halo shield (due to your status as Captain). There are also brutal kills which the player can do to make the enemy's deaths more humorous/gory (to regain health like a man and to show-off the awesomeness of the Angels of Death, of course). Since you are playing as a Space Marine (and better yet, a veteran of 200 years of battle) you could easily kill thousands of Orks with just a simple vertical slash.

That being said, the Forces of Chaos are a lot tougher. Traitor guardsmen are still as weak as ordinary Ork sluggas and shootas, but are quite tactical, being able to organize and <s>plan strategies</s> spam grenades like they're playing a Call of Duty game. Corrupted psykers can spawn enemies and easily kill you from afar. Khorne Bloodletters can teleport, making it hard for you to shoot them, deal massive amounts of damage and can withstand quite a bit themselves. Chaos Space Marines are far more deadly. They pack weapons that are functionally the same as yours, are by far the most durable enemies, and they have regenerating shields like you do.

Instead of having regenerating health like every other shooter out there, you can only regenerate health by stunning enemies and [[Awesome|FATALITY-ing them Mortal Kombat-style]]. Additionally, ''Space Marine'' features a Fury system, which allows you to slow time when aiming a ranged weapon or to unleash a devastating melee attack (provided that you filled up the fury bar by killing enemies of course). While Titus' starting equipment consists of a bolt pistol and combat knife, weapons can range from bolters to lascannons to plasma guns to thunder hammers. You also get to take jump packs which allows you to fly and make an assault jump, which allows you to create an AoE explosion by violently landing in a position of your choosing, though this does restrict your loadouts to only melee weapons and bolters.

== Characters ==
{{spoilers}}
* '''[[Captain Titus]]''' - A Captain of the Ultramarines Chapter and their last hope of finally getting some <s>badass</s> redemption of any kind. He is sent with his company of Ultramarines to prevent an Ork Waaagh!! from looting a forgeworld. It should be noted that his character was first seen as bald but was changed to have a shaved head in the early trailers. He was finally changed to a standard space marine HAIR-etic. He is voiced by Mark Strong. Yes...'''HE'S VOICED BY FUCKING MARK MOTHERFUCKING STRONG!''' He looks kinda like Proteus from Ultramarines the Movie, excluding the longer hair and the better looking armor decor. Despite being a shrewd commander, he is looked upon with suspicion by some of his fellow Ultramarines after being the only surviving battle-brother from a battle with a Chaos Sorcerer. Deep strike is his favorite entry tactic as shown by his affinity of jumping out of vehicles.
**At the end of the game, it's shown to the player that he does indeed possess an unnatural resistance to the warp, likely a result of his massive [[blackstone]] balls. Unfortunately, Leandros doesn't know that (the faithless cur), and since Titus is the only smurf <s>with something vaguely resembling a clue</s> who's realized that honor has a time and place, he gets roped in by the Inquisition on suspicion of '''HERESY!''' Thankfully, Thrax doesn't take his gun, implying that he isn't buying it... but that still means a certain newbie smurf is going to have a very long discussion on the merits of trust with a power fist, right after the <s>anal probing</s> tests of faith are done.

* '''Veteran Sergeant Sidonus''' - A slightly grumpy smurf, Sidonus is a veteran of the Ultramarines and designated comedian of the squad, delivering dry humor to the heart of the enemy when necessary (or when not so necessary). He is said to have battled Tyranids, Orks, Eldar, Chaos space Marines and Necrons during his centuries of battle. Quite badass, <s>for an</s> like all old Adeptus Astartes. He also has a bionic arm after getting his real one nom'd by Tyranids [[Tarkus|(Wait, I think I've already heard something like this...)]]. Also lost his eye and half of his face when an Eldar weapon blew up in his face [[Huron Blackheart|(... and something like this too...)]]. Decided not to get reconstructive surgery done, opting instead to leave the scars because it looks badass.

* '''[[Lawful Stupid|Brother Leandros]]''' - A newly recruited Ultramarine clinging to his shortened copy of the [[Codex Astartes]] and behaves as a typical Wardian-era smurf. He is the youngest of the squad, being only 75 years old (which is considered young by Space Marine standards) yet he has one of the highest honors that a chapter can bestow (<s>that, ironically enough, seems to be missing from Sidonus' power armor mantle as a ''veteran'', it is assumed that he is trained in the use of terminator armour, like all 1st company ''veterans'')</s> except the Crux Terminatus is an award, so he should still have been carrying it, Terminator honors. <s>Titus probably took his, so now he's mad at him for it... perhaps a little too mad...</s>

* '''Second Lieutenant Miranda Nero''' - Being the only loyalist commissioned officer left, Mira leads what remains of the 203rd Cadian that was reassigned to Graia. Turns out they went too far out into the green sea and got cut off from supplies and support. She seems to share [[Merrick]]'s view of placing the lives of her men above the Imperium. '''HERESY!!!''' The fact that she's holding the entire operation together despite being just a lieutenant impresses even Titus.

* '''Inquisitor Jean-Baptiste Emanuel <s>Zorg</s> <s>Skrillex</s> Drogan''' - The Inquisitor. He looks like he hasn't slept in a week (which is understandable, given that he's fighting both an Ork [[WAAAGH]] and [[Chaos Space Marine]]s), and his hair is really dirty and emo looking. He also has a metal plate attached to the right side of his head. Must be a radical. He's also '''EXTREMELY''' obsessed with killing xenos due to him being previously tortured by xenos (<s>possibly [[Dark Eldar]]</s>) Yeah, because we know that anyone can escape from Commoragh) for several years. During his time on Graia, his '''EXTREME''' obsession made him create mysterious experimental weapons in hopes of getting revenge, and one of these experiments included a portal that led to '''EXTREME''' consequences. This is due to the fact that the forces of chaos used said portal to enter the forge world, '''EXTREME'''ly. His eyes also lit up during a cutscene. MUST BE A HERETIC. BIG TWEEST. HE'S A PUPPET FOR THE LORD SORCERER.......... Okay it isn't that simple. Turns our he had a "subject" delivered to his laboratory to test his shiny new weapon on, the "subject", turned out to be a daemon which escaped, and proceeded to buttrape poor Drogan (all the backstory is in the audio logs). Since this daemon read the fluff, he's decided that ''maybe'' the '''EXTREME''' factions have a bit more pull, so he pretends to be '''EXTREME'''.

* '''[[Nemeroth|Lord Nemeroth]]''' - A Chaos Terminator Sorcerer Lord and the '''Big Bad''' of the game. He is possibly the Sorcerer Titus "killed" previously. He leads a warband consisting of [[Chaos Space Marines|Chaos Marines]], Khornate [[bloodletters]], [[Blight Drone]]s, and Tzeentch psychers (presumably the forces of [[slaanesh]] were left out so as to avoid an adults only rating in America). He also proves Relics infinite creativity at naming characters, for the difference between him and Eliphas' nagging wife is but two wretched letters. Also found a way around the of the Squishy Wizard law, because he wears '''TERMINATOR ARMOUR'''. Still got beat up by an Ork wearing almost no armour, though. Titus manages to defeat Nemeroth because the latter forgot to wear a helmet (then again, so does Titus). Shame, too, because he was just at the doorstep of becoming a [[Daemon Prince]].

* '''[[Warboss Grimskull]]''' - He is the Ork Warboss leading his Ork [[WAAAGH]]!!! on Graia with the intention of stealing the planet's Titans. Later on, he becomes interested in the power source Titus and Inquisitor Drogan possess. [[https://youtu.be/Uox82AiheLI|He ain't so easy to kill]].

* '''Inquisitor Thrax''' - The inquisitor that appears at the end of the game, where his name was mentioned on the monitor for the status on Graia. He came to take Titus heresy investigation after Leandros' accusation. Was likely planned to be a major character in the sequel, but that unfortunately never came to fruition.

== Things that rock ==
[[File:Angry marine by mysteryone617-d3j5gzj.png|300px|thumb|The official sequel]]
* Seemingly a better game than that [[Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior]] where you play as a [[Tau|Space Communist]] on his first day of duty, who is apparently a one man (well, xenos) army that could single-handedly kill genetically modified super soldiers, <s>a daemon prince</s> TWO Daemon Princes and a greater daemon of [[Tzeentch]]. lolwut?
* You get to play as a Space Marine.
* Guardsmen who fight alongside you have balls of steel, they rarely fall back. (Which makes crunch sense: with a Space Marine Captain alongside them, they too SHALL KNOW NO FEAR!)
* Orks (this time they actually look like a credible threat, not just dumb drunk ape-brawlers on steroids)
* Captain Titus isn't a total Mary Sue like the rest of this Chapter, even going so far to say that the [[Codex Astartes]] is just a guidebook and not meant to be taken literally. Thus: FUCK YOU MATT WARD.
* NO REALLY FUCK YOU MATT WARD
* Hilarious amounts of blood, dismemberment, and all other forms of gore you could imagine. [[Khorne]] would probably favor this game, even if you do play an Ultramarine.
* Executions (like the sync kills in DoW, which you can do to a stunned enemy) are actually required for you to restore your health, rather than going around and picking up medpacks, ducking in a corner and letting your wounds heal like magic, or some other unmanly method. Ensuring that playing longer requires you to give those guys screaming at you a good ol' fashion Chainsword enema, which is awesome.
* Chaos Space Marines.
* BLOODLETTERS!!!
* You pick up an [[Autocannon]] in <s>one</s> TWO levels.
[[File:The weak.jpg|300px|right|thumb|One is running away from the enemy, the other is running '''INTO''' the enemy. <s>Which do you think is loyal to the Emprah?</s> Another difference: one is a genetically modified super soldier with a FUCKHEUGE power armor and Ultrasmurf plot armor, the other is a normal man with a cardboard armor and a flashlight. Both are facing [[Angry Marines|angry]] green warmongers. Which do you think has [[Imperial Guard|balls of steel]]?]]
* Mark Strong (who you may remember from his previous roles starring in Rocknrolla, Kickass, Robin Hood, Stardust and Sherlock Holmes) as the voice of Captain Titus. (Don't forget Merlin from the Kingsman! Who wouldn't want to see Captain Titus murdering some greenskins while belting out Country roads by John Denver)
* <s>JUMP PACKS.</s> Out of fuel. (They be awesome while they last though)
* Pre-Order skins for [[Black Templars]], [[Blood Ravens]], [[Space Wolves]], <s>[[Iron Hands]]</s> [[Iron Warriors]] and [[Emperor's Children]].
* Apparently, even the games demo would destroy a PC's motherboard due to its extreme epicness. Watch here for proof [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47PDV9Rcjv4]
* Co-op comes in the form a 4-player Horde mode.
* Standard multiplayer is Chaos vs. Spess Mehrens. Fuck yes.
* You get to paint your own multiplayer character, much like the army painter system in DoWII. BETTER, because you can change every part of your power armour and paint up to THREE COLOURS FOR EVERY PART. Seriously, is a delight to try paint schemes, it have an asslot of colours and your (Chaos)Space Marine is in glorious 3D. You also get to pick your own loadout.
*Cock of Duty-like perks. Yes, multiplayer perks. However some of them are cool and are named after rules from the TT game, Most make sense, others are FUCKING STUPID (see bottom of next list). One real nice thing about the perks is that you can use them along with your tailored loadout in EXTERMINATUS.
**Said mode brings together 4 battle brothers able to act essentially like mini-Tituses, healing at ridiculous rates with Zeal, Larraman's Blessing or Iron Halo and slaughtering 20 waves worth of orks and one of chaos (or guardsmen, for Chaos Unleashed players)
*Livery changes for the single player are widely available for free. If you still hate the smurfs, you can easily change that by playing something like the [[Black Templars]] or [[Angry Marines]]. <s>are unlocked at level 5 and only affect multiplayer. Enjoy your smurfs.</s> ACTUALLY: whilst it is true that customization options are only available from level 4 onwards, there are unofficial modifications available for livery changes for a great number of chapters in single player. (see: http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?262044-Space-Marine-Custom-Titus-Skins-Armour-of-Angelos)
*After release fans wouldn't stop bitching (read flooding the official forums) asking for a mute all button in the multiplayer lobby. A couple weeks later an update included the mute all button, in short THEY [[Gets_shit_done|GET SHIT DONE]]
*New DLC just added [[Dreadnought]]s (AKA ungodly walking rape machine).
*The Anniversity Edition, released on 9/23/21 made all the DLCs free for people who have it, as well as giving goodies like soundtracks, classic and new wallpaper, the manuel, ringtone, artbook, collector's cards, and the launch trailer as well

== Things that Suck ==
* When the daemons first show up, Titus refers to them as "Chaos daemons!" Is there any other kind? <s>WAIT, DON'T ANSWER THAT!</s>
* Cadians are portrayed as pussies who have to rely on the Smurfs to get anything done, with the sole exception of Mira. Someone at Relic mistakenly believed that Cadians are just another one of those regiments that rely purely on numbers to get shit done. In reality, with all the training from birth and living next to the Eye of Terror things, they should be telling the Orks where to shove it and Chaos forces whose dicks to suck. (While outnumbered at least 100 to 1 and cut off from resupply? ESPECIALLY when outnumbered and undersuplied, CADIA LIVES!)
* Explosions look like total ASS. While the texture work on the game is extremely detailed, they apparently skimped on their pyrotechnic effects. Some of the smoke and explosion effects look like they came off a PS1 game. This is painfully jarring in the opening aerial battle between the navy and the Orks.
* Ultrasmurfs. (Bear in mind though, you would probably bitch about it if they mentioned any other chapter as "the greatest of them all". [[Ultramarines:The_Movie|Observe]]). However, it could be argued that part of the joy of the badassery of Captain Titus is that he lends credit to that stereotype.
* While "Cover is for Pussies" is a manly mechanic, being able to fire from cover while being pinned by tons of Ork Shootas and Chaos Havocs in unreachable positions wouldn't be so bad.
** Don't forget the waves of renegade guardsmen who posses an inexhaustible supply of grenades that they lob at you without hesitation. This alone makes it nearly impossible to complete the later chapters without abusing cover and Lascannon camping.
*No awesome executions in multiplayer. Multiplayer executions were dropped because it would leave you vulnerable while performing it and [[Matt Ward|some people]] would get upset at seeing their marine having their organs torn out. This leaves one wondering why it wouldn't be left in as an optional humiliation move.
**More baffling is that it is being left out of the upcoming co-op as well for the exact same reasons, despite it being in singleplayer, meaning you can only regain health by [[Gay|hiding in cover while your health regenerates.]][[Derp| "Cover is for the weak" indeed.]]
***Further undermined by the fact that not taking cover against Tankbustaz will get you killed in a ludicrously quick-and-dirty way, as will charging into a pack of Traitor Guardsmen whilst they burn you alive in your artificer armor with volleys of [[Lasgun|flashlight]] fire.
* Explaining things to the newbs.
*<strike>There is NOBODY in fucking multiplayer, seriously, I've fucking waited for hours.</strike> NOT ANYMORE. The free giveaway have given new life to the multiplayer, with a small but loyal fanbase playing practically every day.
* They wanted to cast Sean Pertwee (Who played Governor Severus in Fire Warrior) as one of the characters, but they already had enough VA's. Not having Sean Pertwee in a Warhammer game, or film, is just plain wrong (though they do express desire to cast him in a possible sequel). '''UNFORTUNATELY!''' <s>THQ said that there won't be a sequel. [[Rage|FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!]]</s> <s>There might be a sequel, apparently, but only if THQ doesn't collapse in on itself like a super-massive star due to all its debt.</s> THQ just went belly-up. The sequel's destiny is now in the hands of Sega....Emperor preserve us all.
* Another 40k game about some Space Marine snowflake. See Ultrasmurfs. But on the bright side, only Leandros acts like the generic Mary sue Ultramarine, Titus and Sidonus are, more-or-less likable, even by those with a slight distaste for the Ultramarines.
* Not enough choppy. For a game that relies a lot on melee combat, not a lot of actual melee weapons to go around, only a knife (Which you can only use at the beginning of the game), chainsword, power axe, and thunder hammer and additionally, sync-kills are fairly limited for each one and starts to get "meh" after a few playthroughs. Given 40K's extensive armory of choppy choppas, you would think Relic could include more things like more power swords, fists and claws, eviscerator chainswords (And a large two-handed, flamer-toting chainsword would have been emprah-like to have), or just more sync-kills for said 4 weapons so players would have more variety in the amount of gore present.
* [http://www.spacemarine.com/blog-post/warhammer-40000-space-marine-e3-game-demo-walkthrough Apparently, melta guns are shotguns now and the Lascannon is some kind of retarded sniper rifle with slow-mo.]
**<s>[[Matt Ward|Sounds somehow familiar, no?]]</s> The Meltas are only shotguns as far as digital [[crunch]] is concerned; they're still burning death rays fluff-wise, disintegrating tons of orks and even daemons in one shot. As for the Lascannons, they aren't any more or less of a sniper weapon here than they are on the tabletop (basically an anti-materiel rifle, except on super grimdark space steroids). Neither of them do a lot against Dreads, which is bullshit. The lascannon has a minor mitigation in that Titus doesn't have the accompanying power-backpack, which could understandably make each shot less powerful.
*Games consist of melta, plasma cannon, stormbolter, or vengeance launcher spam, the few players who disdain cheap tactics (oddly the ps3 space wolves champion this view) lose on principle unless they're banned in a tournament or are a cheating fuck named jwolf96 who bolt pistols you with a headshot WHILE JUMPING AROUND AS ASSAULT.EVERY TIME.hax.
*No [[Flamer]]s. (melta gun doesn't count)
*No [[Grav-Weaponry]]. (No halofags the Thunder Hammer is '''not''' a grav-weapon)
*Gears of War fanboys constantly saying that the game is a copy of Gears of War, even though it's a hack and slash shooter hybrid that does not feature a cover system (GOW is like a ducking simulator). They're also too magnificently retarded to realize that Warhammer 40,000 came Waaaaaaaaayyyyy before Gears of War. Not to mention the [[Space Marines]] of 40k inspired the giant space marine with the huge weapons.
*FUCKING audio stutter during times where you're battling hordes of enemies (which, in a hack-and-slash game, happens all the time). It's revealed that this is not hardware related as even those with high-powered machines and updated drivers also suffer from this. Relic might provide a fix for this but some are shifty about this, fearing that they might pull off the old [[Dawn of War]] ignorance on this game too. If you want a slightly acceptable temporary fix for this that doesn't require you playing this game in silence, infinitely loop a battle theme of your choosing on your music player such as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRiU2N03Rzs Requiem for a Tower] while playing, set your volume to a level of your choosing, and gleefully continue hacking your opponents to shreds and curb-stomping them to paste. If you need the voices for tactical input, just enable subtitles.
*Shitty voice acting from anyone who is not a space marine (or lieutenant mira)
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbiqNn6LxFM Shitty fucking lag that has remained unfixed over a month after its released], ergo consigning the game to the dustbin as new Vidya Gaems that are frankly better than it are released.
*<s>Only five maps, all of which encourage outright camping and grenade spam.</s> They're releasing more maps every few months.
*Matchmaking sucks a bag of dicks the size of a [[Nurgle|Great Unclean One]].
*<s>Devastator Marines are vastly more powerful than all other Marines, and it's possible to circumvent the Heavy Bolter's setup time by switching to/from your pistol. The switch-setup was fixed in a patch, but Devastators are still infinitely superior to anything any other Marine class can do damage-wise Assault/Raptor with thunder hammer/daemon maul with Killing Blow. Nuff said.</s> Plus the inability to dodge effectively, (Learn to combat roll, dumbass. Saves my bacon all the time.) slow recharge times on armor and health, and the fact that one shot from a tactical marine's plasma gun will melt your shit instantly balances it out. N00bs need to STFU and get some skill and stop whining. Also, unlike Raptors/Assault Marines, Devastators can't FLY.
*There were originally going to be Combi-Weapons in the game, but it was scrapped.
*Environments need more variety. A lot more variety. The game really doesn't start shaking shit up until about halfway through. Till then, everything is cityscape type level killing a bunch of Orks.
*On the console versions, accusations of Standbying (abusing host lag) are ''rampant''.
*<s>Makes no fucking sense from a chronological perspective - Graia was OMNOMNOM'd by the [[Tyranids]] (caught in the path of the initial Hive Fleet that approached Macragge) long before the events of Dawn of War and Dawn of War 2 - meaning that Titus' victory was ultimately a pyrrhic one, unless there's another Graia out there in the Imperium of Man. It's an alternate timeline, and it takes place on a different Graia (this particular Graia is located in the Segmentum Tempestus, not Ultima Segmentum). You can tell because Titus is the Captain of the Ultramarine's Second Company instead of Sicarius and Titan Invictus wasn't destroyed in the 13th Black Crusade (which was way before Dawn of War).</s>
**It takes place some time into M42, and it's a different Graia. Evidence: In Ultramarines: The Movie, Captain Severus was 2nd Company Captain, and the film took place after the battle for Macragge given their WE MARCH FOR MACRAGGE creed. Sicarius is either dead or been promoted by now. With Severus dead by the hands of the Daemon, Titus becomes his successor. Further proof comes from the Blood Ravens appearance. Hive Fleet Leviathan, a splinter of which was defeated by the Magpies in DOW2, showed up in the final years of M41. Given that Retribution takes place 11 years after that, and Titus mentions the Aurelian Crusades, Relic has left the 41st Millennium behind. In four games, Relic has pushed further with the 40K timeline than Games Workshop has in twenty years.
***This is more or less confirmed by 8th edition. Cato Sicarius gets lost in the Warp at one point, so naturally they would have promoted someone else (namely Titus) to fill in. Sure the [[Great Rift]] doesn't appear on the map in the intro, but it hadn't been made up yet IRL, what are you gonna do?
* Not enough Ham. From the company that brought such gems as "BEAR WITNESS TO MY ASCENSION!!!!" and "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! LET THE GALAXY BURN!", it's a bit of a letdown when <s>even the Orks sound bored</s> you call "GIT OFF MAH SHIP, SPACE MUHREEN!!" bored? Calm Space Marines are boring Space Marines. Shout your litanies to the Emperor, dammit!
*<s>[[Butthurt|Multiplayer perks. COCK OF DUTY MODERN SHITFUCK ANNOYING FUCKING 'MARTYRDOM' RIPOFF. Yes. Your armor's power-pack/jump-pack EXPLODES with a ludicrous kill zone. FUCKING ANNOYING.</s>]] The noobs want perks deal with it. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
**<s>this game is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with bigger guys for you.</s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|Heresy!}}
* Multiplayer: MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. NOW I LAG LOLOLOLOLOL. But this comes as a result of no dedicated servers due to a small playerbase. (One player goes as far as to call Host Migrations "Warp Storms" over voice chat, due to the seeming level of warp-dickery behind their timing.)
*<s>[[Butthurt|Dreadnoughts are unstoppable rape machines that will steamroll the entire enemy team by themselves unless it is made up entirely of devastator marines (RELIC SUCKS AT BALANCE!)]]</s> the concept of game balance is bullshit. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
* Final boss fight with Nemeroth is disappointing. Instead of having a proper fight like against Grimskull, it's just a quick-time event. While being sort of epic the first time you play it (You ''are'' falling down a space elevator, after all) it gets repetitive and boring in following play-throughs. Also, you can spam all three of the required inputs at once with no penalty.
** And to get to the irritating button mash you have to drudge through a long and annoying fight with his OP minions.
*Good luck finding a game that's on any of the DLC stuff, or outside of the original five maps, You won't find any matches that aren't Seize Ground or Annihilation. We seriously need a new Space Marine game.
* There's no-one fucking playing multiplayer anymore
* We're never gonna get a sequel :c
* A squad of [[Veteran Squad#Sternguard Veterans|Sternguard Veterans]] or [[Terminators]] could have solved both the Orc and Chaos problems in under thirty minutes. A squad of each should have been aboard the [[Strike Cruiser]] in orbit. Deamon Prince Nemeroth whiled on by Assault Terminators led by Titus would have been funny and [[awesome]] to see.
* Your a dwarf in a barrel.
* Exterminatus glitching the fuck out.
* The bolter behaves like a generic assault rifle. Orks will take like 10 shots to die. Fire warrior (shudders) remains the only 40k game to get the bolter right.
*Said Anniversity Edition now made it priced at $60 USD, overpriced considering that it released 10 years ago

== Downloadable Content ==
The game is constantly being supported and so much new content has been added over the past few months, it's astonishing. New content includes new modes such as capture the flag mode, capture and control, and dreadnought assault. New maps have been released, and previous pre-order only skins are now available (including new ones such as the Legion of the Damned skin-YEAH!) Below is a list of all the dlc you <s>can buy now(some of which is free by the way.)</s> have as of the Anniversary Edition.

*Exterminatus: This is a free update that added co-op to the game. A much needed add-on. Let's you play as Loyalist Marines in a team of four vs hordes of orks. Fun and crazy, (SPOILER!) final round is a bonus round against Chaos (end of spoiler.) Can use all your multiplayer loadouts and gain experience as well.

*Chaos Unleashed: You can now play as Chaos Space Marines in the Exterminatus game mode. Gameplay wise it isn't different from the Loyalist version, but new enemies along with the ol' ORKS are present. These new enemies are the Imperial Guard and the orks get a new unit (read ork entry below.) Oh yeah and we can now KILLZ US SOME SPACE MARINES! ULTRAMARINES TO BOOT!

**IG units include: regular shock troops with lasguns, veterans with chainswords (yes you read that right), sanctioned Imperial psykers who can also tackle stun you, troops with melta guns and troops with grenade launchers.
**Apart from the IG forces the Orks have their old units returning with the addition of KILLA KANZ coming in during the bonus round! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2sni61dms The start of the bonus round and how fucking tough it is.]
**Yes, space marines are part of the enemy now, and they are tough as hell to kill. If anyone made it to the bonus chaos round for the loyalists, they will know. They have the same armor and health as the CSM of that bonus round, but come standard in every arena (during the later half usually.) You need to work together as a team to take them down, if not you'll get overwhelmed pretty easily. They have the tactical marines, assault marines without jump packs (Thank the Dark Gods) and devastators with plasma cannons (That can fuck your shit in case you allow them to fire a volley)
**Three new maps including Habs Ablaze, Station Tertius and Aquila Canyon. This dlc also includes new achievements and trophies.

*Capture the flag (free update): Regular run of the mill capture the capture the flag mode. Unfortunately, devolves into everyone camping their sides to defend their flags and going long range. IF you've got balls of steel. then charge the other side to scare the hell out of them. Preferably use the Assault Marine with a hammer and "Death from above" upgrade.

*Capture and control: <s>Currently playing. Will update soon.</s> Sadly, due to bad matchmaking and division of map rotations, I cannot find a game to play of this mode. Will try to update soon. If anyone else has, you obviously have the right to update it on your own... something something this was written maybe 3 years ago. Also a run of the mill game mode, Assault unit hell.

*Dreadnought Assault: Probably the most controversial of the game modes. This player has already played it and highly recommends it. But the playerbase is apparently divided. Basically, you have to capture the Dreadnought capture point and as soon as it is captured, a teammate that is inside the point will be chosen to pilot the <s>suit</s> rape machine (at random? no idea. Needs confirmation.) You have to use the dreadnought to <s>capture the other points</s> assrape the other team. It is an ungodly powerful machine with a lot of health and you gain the auto/assaultcannon, powerfist/claw (both former weapons for loyalists and latter for Chaos, the auto-cannon and assault cannon are the weapons that differ from their counterpart on the other side, with the auto having lower RoF but higher damage per shot, and the assault having higher RoF but less damage per shot, but both fire rapidly enough to be used the same way), and meltagun. Obviously becomes a fire magnet and players will mostly use <s>devastators</s> Thunderhammers/Power Mauls on it. (contrary to tabletop, DEVASTATORS/HAVOCS CAN'T SCRATCH THE DAMN DREADNOUGHT) Comes with appropriate skins for Chaos and Loyalist marines.

**Includes three new maps as well; Desolation, Dome Mechanicus and Chem Refinery. New achievements/trophies also included.
**Has apparently vanished into the ether on the Xbox marketplace and is no longer available (on that system at least). Perhaps the playerbase bitched too much?

*As said before, pre-order skins are now available, including some new ones. Just to get you drooling, Iron Hands and Death Guard armor. OH YEAH!

*Subsection F, article U:

+[ How to destroy the Dreadnought ]+

As tested by two players, one yours truly, there is a limited number of options when it comes to dealing with an enemy Dreadnought.

#Lascannons do minimal damage. Headshots can do some decent damage - but it's finicky due to lag and a weird head hitbox (especially since the extra-damage weak point on the Dreadnought is the engine at the back, not the head, oops).
#Stalker Bolter is more reliable, but nowhere near as good against the Dread. Works well on its escorts, though.
#Heavy Bolter can damage it but it takes a lot of shots, and the Dread *will* return fire at the first opportunity and fuck your ass. Fire and move.
#[[What|Meltaguns do nothing.]] Avoid. (They take off exactly 10% of the Dreadnought's health from pointblank range, make of this what you will).
#Grenades only annoy it, but Flash Grenades can blind it for a second.
#Devastator stomp does nothing (and if you were trying to do this in the first place, [[Tau|gb2Tau]]).
#Plasma Guns and Pistols do absolutely nothing unless charged, and are questionably useful if charged. The "Sticky" charged shot though is great for drawing a Dread's attention, and can do a bit of damage to help out or soften it up prior to an attack.
#A Dread's close combat arm will put your head through your ass and send you flying in one hit.
#The Dreadnought has its own Iron Halo shield, but only for one charge that lasts for about 30 seconds. When activated, the Dreadnought strikes a distinctive pose while its arm glows. Firing at it now is a waste of ammo and your life.

Your destructive answer in this case is PLASMA, followed by VENGEANCE LAUNCHER. Plasma cannons are the only heavy weapon that will reliably do anything of relevance to the Dreadnought, and it takes around 10 shots. The only option other than Plasma Cannons are the Vengeance Launcher and the Thunderhammer/Power Maul. The former will do in a Dread in about 12 shots; the latter, if you have the Killing Blow perk, will make quick work of the Dreadnought.

Devastators:
#'''USE PLASMA CANNONS AT RANGE.''' Fire a barrage and fuck off. Watch for return fire, the Assault Cannon/Reaper Autocannon have a hellish rate of fire and will tear you to shreds.
#'''ALTERNATELY, USE HEAVY BOLTER AND CAMP TACTICAL LOCATIONS.''' Heavy Bolter can rack up insane damage very, very quickly and can easily wipe a squad of Escorts if you set up correctly. Surprisingly, the Heavy Bolter can also do a lot of damage to the Dread if it doesn't get a chance to return fire (I.E. it has its attention held by Plasma Cannoneers and the like).
#'''LASCANNON ONLY IF YOU'RE THE HOST.''' Lag makes Lascannon headshots completely unreliable unless you're the host, and turns the potential the Lascannon has against both the Dread and its escorts to functionally nil. If you ''are'' the host, feel free to use the Lascannon, as it can damage the Dreadnought (not as much as the Plasma Cannon though) and easily wipe the Escorts out. Generally though, you will want one of the other Heavy weapons (again, mostly Plasma Cannons).

Assaults:
#'''DRAW SOME ATTENTION WITH THE PLASMA PISTOL.''' The Plasma Pistol's virtually worthless damage-wise against the Dread, but a charged shot will stick to it, fuck up its vision for a half-second or so, and rattle around its aim a bit. Consider a Plas Pistol charged shot when you need to get the Dread's attention and keep it from a safer distance.
#'''SWORDS AND CHAINSWORDS, LEAD THE WAY.''' Combine a Sword (Chain or Power) with Swordsman's Zeal and Combat Drugs. You'll generally not do any appreciable damage to the Dreadnought, but that isn't the point: You can use this combo to land next to a Dread, get in a swipe or two on either it or its escorts, and fuck off, potentially drawing fire and attention away from much more important matters (like the Devastators your team has lining up shots). Note, however, that if you delay or the enemy team is smart, you will wind up a bloody smear on the floor. If not on active Dread attention-getting duty, help cap points and deal with the escorts.
#'''AXES ARE RISKY BUSINESS.''' Axeman's Zeal offers bigger damage chunks and the same delicious healing, and works the same way as the Sword/Chainsword tactic above, but it leaves you open more. Bear this in mind. If you're not that good with the Axe, leave it at home.
#'''THUNDER HAMMER/DAEMON MAUL - THE KILLING BLOW.''' Killing Blow helps. A ''fucking'' lot. Without this perk, you can still wreck up the Dreadnought, but not by yourself. Two or more Assaults with hammers and the Dreadnought is [[Ork|proppa]] fucked.
#'''SUICIDE IS PAINLESS.''' It's a dick move, but loading up with Final Vengeance Assaults can do some good damage to the Dreadnought if absolutely every other fucking tactic fails. Fly in, spam grenades, Swing Sword/Axe/Hammer until killed, die on purpose, explode.

Tacticals:
#'''PLASMA GUN IS AN OKAY CHOICE I GUESS.''' Similar to the Plasma Pistol, you aren't taking the Plasma Gun for the damage, even though it is a little higher than the Plasma Pistol's and it can damage the Dread better. The main advantage is punching the fucking escorts with it, or sticking charged shots to the Dread itself to draw attention, damage it a little, and throw off its aim. Fire off a shot, then get the fuck out of dodge.
#'''HELP CAP FUCKING POINTS.''' Damned things won't handle themselves, and you need 'em to win.
#'''MOST OF YOUR WEAPONRY WON'T HURT THE DREADNOUGHT.''' The Tactical has ''one'' weapon that can contribute to a fight with the Dreadnought, and it's also the one weapon almost fucking nobody uses: The Vengeance Launcher. It takes about 12-14 shots given ideal aim, but the Vengeance Launcher ''can'' kill the Dreadnought. Working in teams, this can actually be just as effective as Plasma Cannon spamming - do note that it holds much less ammo, though, and is much harder to use.
#'''HELP YOUR TEAMMATES.''' Teleport Homer may be the most unsung hero of Dreadnought fights. One Tactical in a good spot can effectively act as a mobile spawnpoint for his buddies. Ideal for Devastator teams which need a quick way into the fight that isn't a [[METAL BOXES|Metal Box]].
#'''YOU STILL HAVE GRENADES.''' Grenades can still do damage and still blind the Dreadnought, so for fuck's sake, use them.
#'''STALKER BOLTER THE FUCKING ESCORTS.''' Stalker Bolter will cut the escorts to shreds if you're a good shot, and can reliably damage the Dreadnought a tiny bit if there's no other targets of opportunity handy (generally you want to avoid pissing it off as a Tactical, though). Stalker the escorts though, to ensure your teammates can deal with the Dread easier without worrying about its squad of tagalongs.

''An important note about the DLC. While a lot of the new stuff is fun and cool, the lists are divided by map rotations. Meaning when you choose a specific game mode, you choose the content you want to play in. Normally this isn't so bad, but what ends up happening is that you wait and wait for games to appear for the selected content. If you don't join a game for that dlc during that waiting time, you are pushed into a standard content game. So you want to join a Chaos Unleashed map, but there's no one around, so you join (read: forced into) a regular match. Oh no, the second you join said match, other people joined the CU list and you just left. Hopefully something will done about that.''

[ How to spam Chaos Unleashed Exterminatus ]
This DLC added IG and SPESS MAHREENS to your Ork hordes, while allowing you to be HERETICS. Sounds awful, right? WRONG. This mode is actually easy to spam to the bonus wave.
STEP 1: if you manage to get a full four players, divide yourselves among Raptors and Tacticals. (With a minimum of one raptor, but preferably two or three)
STEP 1.5: If you're a raptor, have the perks for damage when you lift off and land on with your jump pack, and a daemon maul or chain axe if you don't like the low swing speed of the maul. (not required but it helps.)
If you're a/the tactical marine, have the teleport homer and perk that allows an extra weapon. Have a bolter, melta gun, and plasma gun. (Again, not required but it helps)
STEP 2: When you enter the map, have one raptor jump to the Orks, and the other jump to the IG forces, while the tactical marines camp in a corner of the map of their choice.
STEP 3: Have the raptors bait the two forces together, kill a few if you're feeling ballsy, and jump away back to the tacticals. The Orks and IG should start beating the fuck out of each other while only a few stragglers chase your gang. Kill the ones that follow you (it will still be a pretty steady stream, but the majority of their forces will be Shooting/chopping each other. )
STEP 4: The IG WILL win once teh SPESS MAHREENS show up. But usually they'll only have a small squads worth of either. You now have two options.
1: have the raptors charge to draw fire, toss grenades, do some damage and leave, while the tacticals charge and blow them up with their meltas, should ammo run out, use fully charged plasma shots. then have them run. repeat until all forces are destroyed.
OR
2: All of you run in from different directions, If you've beaten the main game 1 marine and a guardsmen or two isn't difficult, hopefully (sometimes the AI will still charge one guy, ignoring targets that are closer) they will be split up enough for each player to take out his group and help the others who haven't.
These work all the way up to the bonus round, which is just killa kans.
NOTE: These require some pretty good amounts or coordination between your squad members, and due to the AI's nature have a chance of entering an "allies of desperation" pseudo alliance and zerg-rushing your squad while only minimally chopping each other, this is rare however and the above strategies work 9 times out of ten.
ONE PLAYER METHOD.
STEP 1: Be a raptor with the above described perks and equipment (Much more essential this time.)
Step 2: Basically the same as the other step 2, except you're only choosing one side (usually the orks, they'll chase you longer) and leading them to the other
Step 3: 9 out of ten on the maps have tiny rock outcroppings or similar that you can jump up to and are inaccessible to everything else. jump to one of these, If you don't know where one is, just go to the side of the map.
Step 4: When the IG win you need to do some scouting, usually the AI marines don't clump together, so find an isolated one and take him out. If they are clumped together, throw all of your grenades at them, jump in, kill one (or two if you're feeling ballsy) and jump away, there are usually one or two full refills for your grenades around the level. repeat as necessary until only Guardsmen remain, you should know how to kill a few guardsmen.
NOTE: This falls prey to the Allies of desperation flaw of the other one, if this happens you're fucked.

== Mod: Space Marine Augmented ==
You want a rebalanced game? Want a non-sucky game start/match-making? Additional weapons? Additional armour? All DLC unlocked? All perks unlocked? Start matches with 2 people?
Then Space Marine Augmented is for you!

The following additional new items are in the game:
* MK3 armour
* Chapter/Legion specific artwork/armour pieces
* Flamer
* Astartes Shotgun
* Autocanon
* Power Fist
* Several Bolter patterns like Tigrus, Phobos and relic
* Several Chainswords: the original one, a relic one, a tabletop style one
* Lightning Claw

Terminators and Dreadnoughts are planned.

The mod is started from a launcher. You create a non-steam account in it to store your stuff online and see others in the game.
You can only play with other players who use the mod though, so spread the word!

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uni0jPEK4JY
* https://smaugmented.github.io/

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:Space Marine screenshot 1.jpg|"Space Marines!"
Image:Space Marine screenshot 2.jpg|"Kill da Space Marines!" ("Space Marines!")
Image:Warhammer chaos.jpg|Come hither brother, for I only wish to embrace you.
Image:Mira-noscale.jpg|She wants to fuck
Image:Space Marine screenshot 4.jpg|Stop Ripping-off Henlein, GW, just STOP!
Image:Warlord Class battle Titan.jpg|Dat Heeeuuge
Image:Space Marine screenshot 5.jpg
Image:Space Marine screenshot 6.jpg|This was cut. Probably for the best, as fighting a Deff Dread would have been either a huge letdown or harder than hell. (Actually, that's a Killa Kan. Note the two arms, instead of four)
Image:Renegadeguards.jpg|Wera firin ah grehn lazahs!!!
Image:Bloodlettercharging.jpg
Image:Taintedpsyker.jpg
Image:297690.jpg
Image:Sidonus.jpg|He still should go for the bionic eye implant.
Image:Lieutenant Miranda Nero.jpg|The text box pretty much says it all. Also, hot as hell. Yeah, Rule 34 should follow quickly.
File:Mira.jpg|"When confronted by this particular situation, the only reasonable course of action would be to give her the D." --[[Roboute Guilliman]], The [[Codex Astartes]]
</gallery>

== See Also ==
*[https://store.steampowered.com/app/55150/Warhammer_40000_Space_Marine/ Space Marine on Steam]
*[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyLLeKcxw24XO-696pWe0Ztxx14rNs-a1 The game's soundtrack]

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Space Marines]]

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

2021-10-14T03:15:53Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Gameplay */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Space Marine poster.jpg|550px|thumb|center|Where he's going, you won't need eyes...]]
'''Space Marine''' is a 3rd-person video game which is featured on the PC, the [[/v/|ECKSBAWKS 360, and the PS3]]. Its genre is a hybrid of shooting and hack and slash. It was released on September 6, 2011.

== The Plot ==
The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2o-LmI3kiE&|The story] is set on the Forgeworld of Graia. It's being invaded by Orks who wish to loot the shit out of it; weapons, ammunition, vehicles, you name it. Rather surprisingly, the Orks have an actual objective this time: to steal a Warlord-class Titan of the Morning Star Legion '''''(cuz iz ded shooty)''''', an idea the Imperium isn't overly fond of. At first, the 203rd Cadian regiment was sent in to reinforce the forgeworld's defenses, but were eventually overwhelmed and pushed into a desperate defensive posture due to the Orks shooting down the majority of their support craft with a captured surface to air artillery cannon and simply outnumbering them by 100:1. Captain Titus and a small force of [[Ultramarines]] are then sent to hold back the invading Orks with the help of what's left of the Guard while the liberation fleet is on its way.

The Forces of Chaos also have a part to play, and are led by a Terminator sorcerer lord named Nemeroth. They're basically here to open a warp portal using a heretically radical device to both turn Graia into a daemon world and also so Nemeroth can become a Daemon Prince. And unlike previous games, this features actual traitor guardsmen, not the "we've recently converted to chaos and we're here as fodder" guardsmen featured in Dawn of War, fuck no, these are kickass [[Lost and the Damned]] guardsmen.

Not surprisingly, [[Blood Ravens|BLOD REHVENS]] play a role, set against Chaos as they were seen holding the initial incursion, though they only appear in brief cameo. If the game is set after [[Dawn of War II|DoWII]] then we will see [[Gabriel Angelos|Gabe's]] reforms in action, which is nice (if the Marine ending in Retribution takes place).

== Gameplay ==
[[File:SpaceMarinePCBig.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Captain Titus vs EVERYTHING]]
[[Commissar Fuklaw|No cover system. As a man from Relic said: "cover is for pussies". Space Marines are too awesome to be cowering behind cover]]. As a Space Marine, you are given enhanced regenerative abilities and an Iron Halo shield (due to your status as Captain). There are also brutal kills which the player can do to make the enemy's deaths more humorous/gory (to regain health like a man and to show-off the awesomeness of the Angels of Death, of course). Since you are playing as a Space Marine (and better yet, a veteran of 200 years of battle) you could easily kill thousands of Orks with just a simple vertical slash.

That being said, the Forces of Chaos are a lot tougher. Traitor guardsmen are still as weak as ordinary Ork sluggas and shootas, but are quite tactical, being able to organize and <s>plan strategies</s> spam grenades like they're playing a Call of Duty game. Corrupted psykers can spawn enemies and easily kill you from afar. Khorne Bloodletters can teleport, making it hard for you to shoot them, deal massive amounts of damage and can withstand quite a bit themselves. Chaos Space Marines are far more deadly. They pack weapons that are functionally the same as yours, are by far the most durable enemies, and they have regenerating shields like you do.

Instead of having regenerating health like every other shooter out there, you can only regenerate health by stunning enemies and [[Awesome|FATALITY-ing them Mortal Kombat-style]]. Additionally, ''Space Marine'' features a Fury system, which allows you to slow time when aiming a ranged weapon or to unleash a devastating melee attack (provided that you filled up the fury bar by killing enemies of course). While Titus' starting equipment consists of a bolt pistol and combat knife, weapons can range from bolters to lascannons to plasma guns to thunder hammers. You also get to take jump packs which allows you to fly and make an assault jump, which allows you to create an AoE explosion by violently landing in a position of your choosing, though this does restrict your loadouts to only melee weapons and bolters.

== Characters ==
{{spoilers}}
* '''[[Captain Titus]]''' - A Captain of the Ultramarines Chapter and their last hope of finally getting some <s>badass</s> redemption of any kind. He is sent with his company of Ultramarines to prevent an Ork Waaagh!! from looting a forgeworld. It should be noted that his character was first seen as bald but was changed to have a shaved head in the early trailers. He was finally changed to a standard space marine HAIR-etic. He is voiced by Mark Strong. Yes...'''HE'S VOICED BY FUCKING MARK MOTHERFUCKING STRONG!''' He looks kinda like Proteus from Ultramarines the Movie, excluding the longer hair and the better looking armor decor. Despite being a shrewd commander, he is looked upon with suspicion by some of his fellow Ultramarines after being the only surviving battle-brother from a battle with a Chaos Sorcerer. Deep strike is his favorite entry tactic as shown by his affinity of jumping out of vehicles.
**At the end of the game, it's shown to the player that he does indeed possess an unnatural resistance to the warp, likely a result of his massive [[blackstone]] balls. Unfortunately, Leandros doesn't know that (the faithless cur), and since Titus is the only smurf <s>with something vaguely resembling a clue</s> who's realized that honor has a time and place, he gets roped in by the Inquisition on suspicion of '''HERESY!''' Thankfully, Thrax doesn't take his gun, implying that he isn't buying it... but that still means a certain newbie smurf is going to have a very long discussion on the merits of trust with a power fist, right after the <s>anal probing</s> tests of faith are done.

* '''Veteran Sergeant Sidonus''' - A slightly grumpy smurf, Sidonus is a veteran of the Ultramarines and designated comedian of the squad, delivering dry humor to the heart of the enemy when necessary (or when not so necessary). He is said to have battled Tyranids, Orks, Eldar, Chaos space Marines and Necrons during his centuries of battle. Quite badass, <s>for an</s> like all old Adeptus Astartes. He also has a bionic arm after getting his real one nom'd by Tyranids [[Tarkus|(Wait, I think I've already heard something like this...)]]. Also lost his eye and half of his face when an Eldar weapon blew up in his face [[Huron Blackheart|(... and something like this too...)]]. Decided not to get reconstructive surgery done, opting instead to leave the scars because it looks badass.

* '''[[Lawful Stupid|Brother Leandros]]''' - A newly recruited Ultramarine clinging to his shortened copy of the [[Codex Astartes]] and behaves as a typical Wardian-era smurf. He is the youngest of the squad, being only 75 years old (which is considered young by Space Marine standards) yet he has one of the highest honors that a chapter can bestow (<s>that, ironically enough, seems to be missing from Sidonus' power armor mantle as a ''veteran'', it is assumed that he is trained in the use of terminator armour, like all 1st company ''veterans'')</s> except the Crux Terminatus is a award, so he should still have been carrying it, Terminator honors. <s>Titus probably took his, so now he's mad at him for it... perhaps a little too mad...</s>

* '''Second Lieutenant Miranda Nero''' - Being the only loyalist commissioned officer left, Mira leads what remains of the 203rd Cadian that was reassigned to Graia. Turns out they went too far out into the green sea and got cut off from supplies and support. She seems to share [[Merrick]]'s view of placing the lives of her men above the Imperium. '''HERESY!!!''' The fact that she's holding the entire operation together despite being just a lieutenant impresses even Titus.

* '''Inquisitor Jean-Baptiste Emanuel <s>Zorg</s> <s>Skrillex</s> Drogan''' - The Inquisitor. He looks like he hasn't slept in a week (which is understandable, given that he's fighting both an Ork [[WAAAGH]] and [[Chaos Space Marine]]s), and his hair is really dirty and emo looking. He also has a metal plate attached to the right side of his head. Must be a radical. He's also '''EXTREMELY''' obsessed with killing xenos due to him being previously tortured by xenos (<s>possibly [[Dark Eldar]]</s>) Yeah, because we know that anyone can escape from Commoragh) for several years. During his time on Graia, his '''EXTREME''' obsession made him create mysterious experimental weapons in hopes of getting revenge, and one of these experiments included a portal that led to '''EXTREME''' consequences. This is due to the fact that the forces of chaos used said portal to enter the forge world, '''EXTREME'''ly. His eyes also lit up during a cutscene. MUST BE A HERETIC. BIG TWEEST. HE'S A PUPPET FOR THE LORD SORCERER.......... Okay it isn't that simple. Turns our he had a "subject" delivered to his laboratory to test his shiny new weapon on, the "subject", turned out to be a daemon which escaped, and proceeded to buttrape poor Drogan (all the backstory is in the audio logs). Since this daemon read the fluff, he's decided that ''maybe'' the '''EXTREME''' factions have a bit more pull, so he pretends to be '''EXTREME'''.

* '''[[Nemeroth|Lord Nemeroth]]''' - A Chaos Terminator Sorcerer Lord and the '''Big Bad''' of the game. He is possibly the Sorcerer Titus "killed" previously. He leads a warband consisting of [[Chaos Space Marines|Chaos Marines]], Khornate [[bloodletters]], [[Blight Drone]]s, and Tzeentch psychers (presumably the forces of [[slaanesh]] were left out so as to avoid an adults only rating in America). He also proves Relics infinite creativity at naming characters, for the difference between him and Eliphas' nagging wife is but two wretched letters. Also found a way around the of the Squishy Wizard law, because he wears '''TERMINATOR ARMOUR'''. Still got beat up by an Ork wearing almost no armour, though. Titus manages to defeat Nemeroth because the latter forgot to wear a helmet (then again, so does Titus). Shame, too, because he was just at the doorstep of becoming a [[Daemon Prince]].

* '''[[Warboss Grimskull]]''' - He is the Ork Warboss leading his Ork [[WAAAGH]]!!! on Graia with the intention of stealing the planet's Titans. Later on, he becomes interested in the power source Titus and Inquisitor Drogan possess. [[https://youtu.be/Uox82AiheLI|He ain't so easy to kill]].

* '''Inquisitor Thrax''' - The inquisitor that appears at the end of the game, where his name was mentioned on the monitor for the status on Graia. He came to take Titus heresy investigation after Leandros' accusation. Was likely planned to be a major character in the sequel, but that unfortunately never came to fruition.

== Things that rock ==
[[File:Angry marine by mysteryone617-d3j5gzj.png|300px|thumb|The official sequel]]
* Seemingly a better game than that [[Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior]] where you play as a [[Tau|Space Communist]] on his first day of duty, who is apparently a one man (well, xenos) army that could single-handedly kill genetically modified super soldiers, <s>a daemon prince</s> TWO Daemon Princes and a greater daemon of [[Tzeentch]]. lolwut?
* You get to play as a Space Marine.
* Guardsmen who fight alongside you have balls of steel, they rarely fall back. (Which makes crunch sense: with a Space Marine Captain alongside them, they too SHALL KNOW NO FEAR!)
* Orks (this time they actually look like a credible threat, not just dumb drunk ape-brawlers on steroids)
* Captain Titus isn't a total Mary Sue like the rest of this Chapter, even going so far to say that the [[Codex Astartes]] is just a guidebook and not meant to be taken literally. Thus: FUCK YOU MATT WARD.
* NO REALLY FUCK YOU MATT WARD
* Hilarious amounts of blood, dismemberment, and all other forms of gore you could imagine. [[Khorne]] would probably favor this game, even if you do play an Ultramarine.
* Executions (like the sync kills in DoW, which you can do to a stunned enemy) are actually required for you to restore your health, rather than going around and picking up medpacks, ducking in a corner and letting your wounds heal like magic, or some other unmanly method. Ensuring that playing longer requires you to give those guys screaming at you a good ol' fashion Chainsword enema, which is awesome.
* Chaos Space Marines.
* BLOODLETTERS!!!
* You pick up an [[Autocannon]] in <s>one</s> TWO levels.
[[File:The weak.jpg|300px|right|thumb|One is running away from the enemy, the other is running '''INTO''' the enemy. <s>Which do you think is loyal to the Emprah?</s> Another difference: one is a genetically modified super soldier with a FUCKHEUGE power armor and Ultrasmurf plot armor, the other is a normal man with a cardboard armor and a flashlight. Both are facing [[Angry Marines|angry]] green warmongers. Which do you think has [[Imperial Guard|balls of steel]]?]]
* Mark Strong (who you may remember from his previous roles starring in Rocknrolla, Kickass, Robin Hood, Stardust and Sherlock Holmes) as the voice of Captain Titus. (Don't forget Merlin from the Kingsman! Who wouldn't want to see Captain Titus murdering some greenskins while belting out Country roads by John Denver)
* <s>JUMP PACKS.</s> Out of fuel. (They be awesome while they last though)
* Pre-Order skins for [[Black Templars]], [[Blood Ravens]], [[Space Wolves]], <s>[[Iron Hands]]</s> [[Iron Warriors]] and [[Emperor's Children]].
* Apparently, even the games demo would destroy a PC's motherboard due to its extreme epicness. Watch here for proof [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47PDV9Rcjv4]
* Co-op comes in the form a 4-player Horde mode.
* Standard multiplayer is Chaos vs. Spess Mehrens. Fuck yes.
* You get to paint your own multiplayer character, much like the army painter system in DoWII. BETTER, because you can change every part of your power armour and paint up to THREE COLOURS FOR EVERY PART. Seriously, is a delight to try paint schemes, it have an asslot of colours and your (Chaos)Space Marine is in glorious 3D. You also get to pick your own loadout.
*Cock of Duty-like perks. Yes, multiplayer perks. However some of them are cool and are named after rules from the TT game, Most make sense, others are FUCKING STUPID (see bottom of next list). One real nice thing about the perks is that you can use them along with your tailored loadout in EXTERMINATUS.
**Said mode brings together 4 battle brothers able to act essentially like mini-Tituses, healing at ridiculous rates with Zeal, Larraman's Blessing or Iron Halo and slaughtering 20 waves worth of orks and one of chaos (or guardsmen, for Chaos Unleashed players)
*Livery changes for the single player are widely available for free. If you still hate the smurfs, you can easily change that by playing something like the [[Black Templars]] or [[Angry Marines]]. <s>are unlocked at level 5 and only affect multiplayer. Enjoy your smurfs.</s> ACTUALLY: whilst it is true that customization options are only available from level 4 onwards, there are unofficial modifications available for livery changes for a great number of chapters in single player. (see: http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?262044-Space-Marine-Custom-Titus-Skins-Armour-of-Angelos)
*After release fans wouldn't stop bitching (read flooding the official forums) asking for a mute all button in the multiplayer lobby. A couple weeks later an update included the mute all button, in short THEY [[Gets_shit_done|GET SHIT DONE]]
*New DLC just added [[Dreadnought]]s (AKA ungodly walking rape machine).
*The Anniversity Edition, released on 9/23/21 made all the DLCs free for people who have it, as well as giving goodies like soundtracks, classic and new wallpaper, the manuel, ringtone, artbook, collector's cards, and the launch trailer as well

== Things that Suck ==
* When the daemons first show up, Titus refers to them as "Chaos daemons!" Is there any other kind? <s>WAIT, DON'T ANSWER THAT!</s>
* Cadians are portrayed as pussies who have to rely on the Smurfs to get anything done, with the sole exception of Mira. Someone at Relic mistakenly believed that Cadians are just another one of those regiments that rely purely on numbers to get shit done. In reality, with all the training from birth and living next to the Eye of Terror things, they should be telling the Orks where to shove it and Chaos forces whose dicks to suck. (While outnumbered at least 100 to 1 and cut off from resupply? ESPECIALLY when outnumbered and undersuplied, CADIA LIVES!)
* Explosions look like total ASS. While the texture work on the game is extremely detailed, they apparently skimped on their pyrotechnic effects. Some of the smoke and explosion effects look like they came off a PS1 game. This is painfully jarring in the opening aerial battle between the navy and the Orks.
* Ultrasmurfs. (Bear in mind though, you would probably bitch about it if they mentioned any other chapter as "the greatest of them all". [[Ultramarines:The_Movie|Observe]]). However, it could be argued that part of the joy of the badassery of Captain Titus is that he lends credit to that stereotype.
* While "Cover is for Pussies" is a manly mechanic, being able to fire from cover while being pinned by tons of Ork Shootas and Chaos Havocs in unreachable positions wouldn't be so bad.
** Don't forget the waves of renegade guardsmen who posses an inexhaustible supply of grenades that they lob at you without hesitation. This alone makes it nearly impossible to complete the later chapters without abusing cover and Lascannon camping.
*No awesome executions in multiplayer. Multiplayer executions were dropped because it would leave you vulnerable while performing it and [[Matt Ward|some people]] would get upset at seeing their marine having their organs torn out. This leaves one wondering why it wouldn't be left in as an optional humiliation move.
**More baffling is that it is being left out of the upcoming co-op as well for the exact same reasons, despite it being in singleplayer, meaning you can only regain health by [[Gay|hiding in cover while your health regenerates.]][[Derp| "Cover is for the weak" indeed.]]
***Further undermined by the fact that not taking cover against Tankbustaz will get you killed in a ludicrously quick-and-dirty way, as will charging into a pack of Traitor Guardsmen whilst they burn you alive in your artificer armor with volleys of [[Lasgun|flashlight]] fire.
* Explaining things to the newbs.
*<strike>There is NOBODY in fucking multiplayer, seriously, I've fucking waited for hours.</strike> NOT ANYMORE. The free giveaway have given new life to the multiplayer, with a small but loyal fanbase playing practically every day.
* They wanted to cast Sean Pertwee (Who played Governor Severus in Fire Warrior) as one of the characters, but they already had enough VA's. Not having Sean Pertwee in a Warhammer game, or film, is just plain wrong (though they do express desire to cast him in a possible sequel). '''UNFORTUNATELY!''' <s>THQ said that there won't be a sequel. [[Rage|FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!]]</s> <s>There might be a sequel, apparently, but only if THQ doesn't collapse in on itself like a super-massive star due to all its debt.</s> THQ just went belly-up. The sequel's destiny is now in the hands of Sega....Emperor preserve us all.
* Another 40k game about some Space Marine snowflake. See Ultrasmurfs. But on the bright side, only Leandros acts like the generic Mary sue Ultramarine, Titus and Sidonus are, more-or-less likable, even by those with a slight distaste for the Ultramarines.
* Not enough choppy. For a game that relies a lot on melee combat, not a lot of actual melee weapons to go around, only a knife (Which you can only use at the beginning of the game), chainsword, power axe, and thunder hammer and additionally, sync-kills are fairly limited for each one and starts to get "meh" after a few playthroughs. Given 40K's extensive armory of choppy choppas, you would think Relic could include more things like more power swords, fists and claws, eviscerator chainswords (And a large two-handed, flamer-toting chainsword would have been emprah-like to have), or just more sync-kills for said 4 weapons so players would have more variety in the amount of gore present.
* [http://www.spacemarine.com/blog-post/warhammer-40000-space-marine-e3-game-demo-walkthrough Apparently, melta guns are shotguns now and the Lascannon is some kind of retarded sniper rifle with slow-mo.]
**<s>[[Matt Ward|Sounds somehow familiar, no?]]</s> The Meltas are only shotguns as far as digital [[crunch]] is concerned; they're still burning death rays fluff-wise, disintegrating tons of orks and even daemons in one shot. As for the Lascannons, they aren't any more or less of a sniper weapon here than they are on the tabletop (basically an anti-materiel rifle, except on super grimdark space steroids). Neither of them do a lot against Dreads, which is bullshit. The lascannon has a minor mitigation in that Titus doesn't have the accompanying power-backpack, which could understandably make each shot less powerful.
*Games consist of melta, plasma cannon, stormbolter, or vengeance launcher spam, the few players who disdain cheap tactics (oddly the ps3 space wolves champion this view) lose on principle unless they're banned in a tournament or are a cheating fuck named jwolf96 who bolt pistols you with a headshot WHILE JUMPING AROUND AS ASSAULT.EVERY TIME.hax.
*No [[Flamer]]s. (melta gun doesn't count)
*No [[Grav-Weaponry]]. (No halofags the Thunder Hammer is '''not''' a grav-weapon)
*Gears of War fanboys constantly saying that the game is a copy of Gears of War, even though it's a hack and slash shooter hybrid that does not feature a cover system (GOW is like a ducking simulator). They're also too magnificently retarded to realize that Warhammer 40,000 came Waaaaaaaaayyyyy before Gears of War. Not to mention the [[Space Marines]] of 40k inspired the giant space marine with the huge weapons.
*FUCKING audio stutter during times where you're battling hordes of enemies (which, in a hack-and-slash game, happens all the time). It's revealed that this is not hardware related as even those with high-powered machines and updated drivers also suffer from this. Relic might provide a fix for this but some are shifty about this, fearing that they might pull off the old [[Dawn of War]] ignorance on this game too. If you want a slightly acceptable temporary fix for this that doesn't require you playing this game in silence, infinitely loop a battle theme of your choosing on your music player such as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRiU2N03Rzs Requiem for a Tower] while playing, set your volume to a level of your choosing, and gleefully continue hacking your opponents to shreds and curb-stomping them to paste. If you need the voices for tactical input, just enable subtitles.
*Shitty voice acting from anyone who is not a space marine (or lieutenant mira)
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbiqNn6LxFM Shitty fucking lag that has remained unfixed over a month after its released], ergo consigning the game to the dustbin as new Vidya Gaems that are frankly better than it are released.
*<s>Only five maps, all of which encourage outright camping and grenade spam.</s> They're releasing more maps every few months.
*Matchmaking sucks a bag of dicks the size of a [[Nurgle|Great Unclean One]].
*<s>Devastator Marines are vastly more powerful than all other Marines, and it's possible to circumvent the Heavy Bolter's setup time by switching to/from your pistol. The switch-setup was fixed in a patch, but Devastators are still infinitely superior to anything any other Marine class can do damage-wise Assault/Raptor with thunder hammer/daemon maul with Killing Blow. Nuff said.</s> Plus the inability to dodge effectively, (Learn to combat roll, dumbass. Saves my bacon all the time.) slow recharge times on armor and health, and the fact that one shot from a tactical marine's plasma gun will melt your shit instantly balances it out. N00bs need to STFU and get some skill and stop whining. Also, unlike Raptors/Assault Marines, Devastators can't FLY.
*There were originally going to be Combi-Weapons in the game, but it was scrapped.
*Environments need more variety. A lot more variety. The game really doesn't start shaking shit up until about halfway through. Till then, everything is cityscape type level killing a bunch of Orks.
*On the console versions, accusations of Standbying (abusing host lag) are ''rampant''.
*<s>Makes no fucking sense from a chronological perspective - Graia was OMNOMNOM'd by the [[Tyranids]] (caught in the path of the initial Hive Fleet that approached Macragge) long before the events of Dawn of War and Dawn of War 2 - meaning that Titus' victory was ultimately a pyrrhic one, unless there's another Graia out there in the Imperium of Man. It's an alternate timeline, and it takes place on a different Graia (this particular Graia is located in the Segmentum Tempestus, not Ultima Segmentum). You can tell because Titus is the Captain of the Ultramarine's Second Company instead of Sicarius and Titan Invictus wasn't destroyed in the 13th Black Crusade (which was way before Dawn of War).</s>
**It takes place some time into M42, and it's a different Graia. Evidence: In Ultramarines: The Movie, Captain Severus was 2nd Company Captain, and the film took place after the battle for Macragge given their WE MARCH FOR MACRAGGE creed. Sicarius is either dead or been promoted by now. With Severus dead by the hands of the Daemon, Titus becomes his successor. Further proof comes from the Blood Ravens appearance. Hive Fleet Leviathan, a splinter of which was defeated by the Magpies in DOW2, showed up in the final years of M41. Given that Retribution takes place 11 years after that, and Titus mentions the Aurelian Crusades, Relic has left the 41st Millennium behind. In four games, Relic has pushed further with the 40K timeline than Games Workshop has in twenty years.
***This is more or less confirmed by 8th edition. Cato Sicarius gets lost in the Warp at one point, so naturally they would have promoted someone else (namely Titus) to fill in. Sure the [[Great Rift]] doesn't appear on the map in the intro, but it hadn't been made up yet IRL, what are you gonna do?
* Not enough Ham. From the company that brought such gems as "BEAR WITNESS TO MY ASCENSION!!!!" and "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! LET THE GALAXY BURN!", it's a bit of a letdown when <s>even the Orks sound bored</s> you call "GIT OFF MAH SHIP, SPACE MUHREEN!!" bored? Calm Space Marines are boring Space Marines. Shout your litanies to the Emperor, dammit!
*<s>[[Butthurt|Multiplayer perks. COCK OF DUTY MODERN SHITFUCK ANNOYING FUCKING 'MARTYRDOM' RIPOFF. Yes. Your armor's power-pack/jump-pack EXPLODES with a ludicrous kill zone. FUCKING ANNOYING.</s>]] The noobs want perks deal with it. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
**<s>this game is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with bigger guys for you.</s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|Heresy!}}
* Multiplayer: MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. NOW I LAG LOLOLOLOLOL. But this comes as a result of no dedicated servers due to a small playerbase. (One player goes as far as to call Host Migrations "Warp Storms" over voice chat, due to the seeming level of warp-dickery behind their timing.)
*<s>[[Butthurt|Dreadnoughts are unstoppable rape machines that will steamroll the entire enemy team by themselves unless it is made up entirely of devastator marines (RELIC SUCKS AT BALANCE!)]]</s> the concept of game balance is bullshit. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
* Final boss fight with Nemeroth is disappointing. Instead of having a proper fight like against Grimskull, it's just a quick-time event. While being sort of epic the first time you play it (You ''are'' falling down a space elevator, after all) it gets repetitive and boring in following play-throughs. Also, you can spam all three of the required inputs at once with no penalty.
** And to get to the irritating button mash you have to drudge through a long and annoying fight with his OP minions.
*Good luck finding a game that's on any of the DLC stuff, or outside of the original five maps, You won't find any matches that aren't Seize Ground or Annihilation. We seriously need a new Space Marine game.
* There's no-one fucking playing multiplayer anymore
* We're never gonna get a sequel :c
* A squad of [[Veteran Squad#Sternguard Veterans|Sternguard Veterans]] or [[Terminators]] could have solved both the Orc and Chaos problems in under thirty minutes. A squad of each should have been aboard the [[Strike Cruiser]] in orbit. Deamon Prince Nemeroth whiled on by Assault Terminators led by Titus would have been funny and [[awesome]] to see.
* Your a dwarf in a barrel.
* Exterminatus glitching the fuck out.
* The bolter behaves like a generic assault rifle. Orks will take like 10 shots to die. Fire warrior (shudders) remains the only 40k game to get the bolter right.
*Said Anniversity Edition now made it priced at $60 USD, overpriced considering that it released 10 years ago

== Downloadable Content ==
The game is constantly being supported and so much new content has been added over the past few months, it's astonishing. New content includes new modes such as capture the flag mode, capture and control, and dreadnought assault. New maps have been released, and previous pre-order only skins are now available (including new ones such as the Legion of the Damned skin-YEAH!) Below is a list of all the dlc you <s>can buy now(some of which is free by the way.)</s> have as of the Anniversary Edition.

*Exterminatus: This is a free update that added co-op to the game. A much needed add-on. Let's you play as Loyalist Marines in a team of four vs hordes of orks. Fun and crazy, (SPOILER!) final round is a bonus round against Chaos (end of spoiler.) Can use all your multiplayer loadouts and gain experience as well.

*Chaos Unleashed: You can now play as Chaos Space Marines in the Exterminatus game mode. Gameplay wise it isn't different from the Loyalist version, but new enemies along with the ol' ORKS are present. These new enemies are the Imperial Guard and the orks get a new unit (read ork entry below.) Oh yeah and we can now KILLZ US SOME SPACE MARINES! ULTRAMARINES TO BOOT!

**IG units include: regular shock troops with lasguns, veterans with chainswords (yes you read that right), sanctioned Imperial psykers who can also tackle stun you, troops with melta guns and troops with grenade launchers.
**Apart from the IG forces the Orks have their old units returning with the addition of KILLA KANZ coming in during the bonus round! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2sni61dms The start of the bonus round and how fucking tough it is.]
**Yes, space marines are part of the enemy now, and they are tough as hell to kill. If anyone made it to the bonus chaos round for the loyalists, they will know. They have the same armor and health as the CSM of that bonus round, but come standard in every arena (during the later half usually.) You need to work together as a team to take them down, if not you'll get overwhelmed pretty easily. They have the tactical marines, assault marines without jump packs (Thank the Dark Gods) and devastators with plasma cannons (That can fuck your shit in case you allow them to fire a volley)
**Three new maps including Habs Ablaze, Station Tertius and Aquila Canyon. This dlc also includes new achievements and trophies.

*Capture the flag (free update): Regular run of the mill capture the capture the flag mode. Unfortunately, devolves into everyone camping their sides to defend their flags and going long range. IF you've got balls of steel. then charge the other side to scare the hell out of them. Preferably use the Assault Marine with a hammer and "Death from above" upgrade.

*Capture and control: <s>Currently playing. Will update soon.</s> Sadly, due to bad matchmaking and division of map rotations, I cannot find a game to play of this mode. Will try to update soon. If anyone else has, you obviously have the right to update it on your own... something something this was written maybe 3 years ago. Also a run of the mill game mode, Assault unit hell.

*Dreadnought Assault: Probably the most controversial of the game modes. This player has already played it and highly recommends it. But the playerbase is apparently divided. Basically, you have to capture the Dreadnought capture point and as soon as it is captured, a teammate that is inside the point will be chosen to pilot the <s>suit</s> rape machine (at random? no idea. Needs confirmation.) You have to use the dreadnought to <s>capture the other points</s> assrape the other team. It is an ungodly powerful machine with a lot of health and you gain the auto/assaultcannon, powerfist/claw (both former weapons for loyalists and latter for Chaos, the auto-cannon and assault cannon are the weapons that differ from their counterpart on the other side, with the auto having lower RoF but higher damage per shot, and the assault having higher RoF but less damage per shot, but both fire rapidly enough to be used the same way), and meltagun. Obviously becomes a fire magnet and players will mostly use <s>devastators</s> Thunderhammers/Power Mauls on it. (contrary to tabletop, DEVASTATORS/HAVOCS CAN'T SCRATCH THE DAMN DREADNOUGHT) Comes with appropriate skins for Chaos and Loyalist marines.

**Includes three new maps as well; Desolation, Dome Mechanicus and Chem Refinery. New achievements/trophies also included.
**Has apparently vanished into the ether on the Xbox marketplace and is no longer available (on that system at least). Perhaps the playerbase bitched too much?

*As said before, pre-order skins are now available, including some new ones. Just to get you drooling, Iron Hands and Death Guard armor. OH YEAH!

*Subsection F, article U:

+[ How to destroy the Dreadnought ]+

As tested by two players, one yours truly, there is a limited number of options when it comes to dealing with an enemy Dreadnought.

#Lascannons do minimal damage. Headshots can do some decent damage - but it's finicky due to lag and a weird head hitbox (especially since the extra-damage weak point on the Dreadnought is the engine at the back, not the head, oops).
#Stalker Bolter is more reliable, but nowhere near as good against the Dread. Works well on its escorts, though.
#Heavy Bolter can damage it but it takes a lot of shots, and the Dread *will* return fire at the first opportunity and fuck your ass. Fire and move.
#[[What|Meltaguns do nothing.]] Avoid. (They take off exactly 10% of the Dreadnought's health from pointblank range, make of this what you will).
#Grenades only annoy it, but Flash Grenades can blind it for a second.
#Devastator stomp does nothing (and if you were trying to do this in the first place, [[Tau|gb2Tau]]).
#Plasma Guns and Pistols do absolutely nothing unless charged, and are questionably useful if charged. The "Sticky" charged shot though is great for drawing a Dread's attention, and can do a bit of damage to help out or soften it up prior to an attack.
#A Dread's close combat arm will put your head through your ass and send you flying in one hit.
#The Dreadnought has its own Iron Halo shield, but only for one charge that lasts for about 30 seconds. When activated, the Dreadnought strikes a distinctive pose while its arm glows. Firing at it now is a waste of ammo and your life.

Your destructive answer in this case is PLASMA, followed by VENGEANCE LAUNCHER. Plasma cannons are the only heavy weapon that will reliably do anything of relevance to the Dreadnought, and it takes around 10 shots. The only option other than Plasma Cannons are the Vengeance Launcher and the Thunderhammer/Power Maul. The former will do in a Dread in about 12 shots; the latter, if you have the Killing Blow perk, will make quick work of the Dreadnought.

Devastators:
#'''USE PLASMA CANNONS AT RANGE.''' Fire a barrage and fuck off. Watch for return fire, the Assault Cannon/Reaper Autocannon have a hellish rate of fire and will tear you to shreds.
#'''ALTERNATELY, USE HEAVY BOLTER AND CAMP TACTICAL LOCATIONS.''' Heavy Bolter can rack up insane damage very, very quickly and can easily wipe a squad of Escorts if you set up correctly. Surprisingly, the Heavy Bolter can also do a lot of damage to the Dread if it doesn't get a chance to return fire (I.E. it has its attention held by Plasma Cannoneers and the like).
#'''LASCANNON ONLY IF YOU'RE THE HOST.''' Lag makes Lascannon headshots completely unreliable unless you're the host, and turns the potential the Lascannon has against both the Dread and its escorts to functionally nil. If you ''are'' the host, feel free to use the Lascannon, as it can damage the Dreadnought (not as much as the Plasma Cannon though) and easily wipe the Escorts out. Generally though, you will want one of the other Heavy weapons (again, mostly Plasma Cannons).

Assaults:
#'''DRAW SOME ATTENTION WITH THE PLASMA PISTOL.''' The Plasma Pistol's virtually worthless damage-wise against the Dread, but a charged shot will stick to it, fuck up its vision for a half-second or so, and rattle around its aim a bit. Consider a Plas Pistol charged shot when you need to get the Dread's attention and keep it from a safer distance.
#'''SWORDS AND CHAINSWORDS, LEAD THE WAY.''' Combine a Sword (Chain or Power) with Swordsman's Zeal and Combat Drugs. You'll generally not do any appreciable damage to the Dreadnought, but that isn't the point: You can use this combo to land next to a Dread, get in a swipe or two on either it or its escorts, and fuck off, potentially drawing fire and attention away from much more important matters (like the Devastators your team has lining up shots). Note, however, that if you delay or the enemy team is smart, you will wind up a bloody smear on the floor. If not on active Dread attention-getting duty, help cap points and deal with the escorts.
#'''AXES ARE RISKY BUSINESS.''' Axeman's Zeal offers bigger damage chunks and the same delicious healing, and works the same way as the Sword/Chainsword tactic above, but it leaves you open more. Bear this in mind. If you're not that good with the Axe, leave it at home.
#'''THUNDER HAMMER/DAEMON MAUL - THE KILLING BLOW.''' Killing Blow helps. A ''fucking'' lot. Without this perk, you can still wreck up the Dreadnought, but not by yourself. Two or more Assaults with hammers and the Dreadnought is [[Ork|proppa]] fucked.
#'''SUICIDE IS PAINLESS.''' It's a dick move, but loading up with Final Vengeance Assaults can do some good damage to the Dreadnought if absolutely every other fucking tactic fails. Fly in, spam grenades, Swing Sword/Axe/Hammer until killed, die on purpose, explode.

Tacticals:
#'''PLASMA GUN IS AN OKAY CHOICE I GUESS.''' Similar to the Plasma Pistol, you aren't taking the Plasma Gun for the damage, even though it is a little higher than the Plasma Pistol's and it can damage the Dread better. The main advantage is punching the fucking escorts with it, or sticking charged shots to the Dread itself to draw attention, damage it a little, and throw off its aim. Fire off a shot, then get the fuck out of dodge.
#'''HELP CAP FUCKING POINTS.''' Damned things won't handle themselves, and you need 'em to win.
#'''MOST OF YOUR WEAPONRY WON'T HURT THE DREADNOUGHT.''' The Tactical has ''one'' weapon that can contribute to a fight with the Dreadnought, and it's also the one weapon almost fucking nobody uses: The Vengeance Launcher. It takes about 12-14 shots given ideal aim, but the Vengeance Launcher ''can'' kill the Dreadnought. Working in teams, this can actually be just as effective as Plasma Cannon spamming - do note that it holds much less ammo, though, and is much harder to use.
#'''HELP YOUR TEAMMATES.''' Teleport Homer may be the most unsung hero of Dreadnought fights. One Tactical in a good spot can effectively act as a mobile spawnpoint for his buddies. Ideal for Devastator teams which need a quick way into the fight that isn't a [[METAL BOXES|Metal Box]].
#'''YOU STILL HAVE GRENADES.''' Grenades can still do damage and still blind the Dreadnought, so for fuck's sake, use them.
#'''STALKER BOLTER THE FUCKING ESCORTS.''' Stalker Bolter will cut the escorts to shreds if you're a good shot, and can reliably damage the Dreadnought a tiny bit if there's no other targets of opportunity handy (generally you want to avoid pissing it off as a Tactical, though). Stalker the escorts though, to ensure your teammates can deal with the Dread easier without worrying about its squad of tagalongs.

''An important note about the DLC. While a lot of the new stuff is fun and cool, the lists are divided by map rotations. Meaning when you choose a specific game mode, you choose the content you want to play in. Normally this isn't so bad, but what ends up happening is that you wait and wait for games to appear for the selected content. If you don't join a game for that dlc during that waiting time, you are pushed into a standard content game. So you want to join a Chaos Unleashed map, but there's no one around, so you join (read: forced into) a regular match. Oh no, the second you join said match, other people joined the CU list and you just left. Hopefully something will done about that.''

[ How to spam Chaos Unleashed Exterminatus ]
This DLC added IG and SPESS MAHREENS to your Ork hordes, while allowing you to be HERETICS. Sounds awful, right? WRONG. This mode is actually easy to spam to the bonus wave.
STEP 1: if you manage to get a full four players, divide yourselves among Raptors and Tacticals. (With a minimum of one raptor, but preferably two or three)
STEP 1.5: If you're a raptor, have the perks for damage when you lift off and land on with your jump pack, and a daemon maul or chain axe if you don't like the low swing speed of the maul. (not required but it helps.)
If you're a/the tactical marine, have the teleport homer and perk that allows an extra weapon. Have a bolter, melta gun, and plasma gun. (Again, not required but it helps)
STEP 2: When you enter the map, have one raptor jump to the Orks, and the other jump to the IG forces, while the tactical marines camp in a corner of the map of their choice.
STEP 3: Have the raptors bait the two forces together, kill a few if you're feeling ballsy, and jump away back to the tacticals. The Orks and IG should start beating the fuck out of each other while only a few stragglers chase your gang. Kill the ones that follow you (it will still be a pretty steady stream, but the majority of their forces will be Shooting/chopping each other. )
STEP 4: The IG WILL win once teh SPESS MAHREENS show up. But usually they'll only have a small squads worth of either. You now have two options.
1: have the raptors charge to draw fire, toss grenades, do some damage and leave, while the tacticals charge and blow them up with their meltas, should ammo run out, use fully charged plasma shots. then have them run. repeat until all forces are destroyed.
OR
2: All of you run in from different directions, If you've beaten the main game 1 marine and a guardsmen or two isn't difficult, hopefully (sometimes the AI will still charge one guy, ignoring targets that are closer) they will be split up enough for each player to take out his group and help the others who haven't.
These work all the way up to the bonus round, which is just killa kans.
NOTE: These require some pretty good amounts or coordination between your squad members, and due to the AI's nature have a chance of entering an "allies of desperation" pseudo alliance and zerg-rushing your squad while only minimally chopping each other, this is rare however and the above strategies work 9 times out of ten.
ONE PLAYER METHOD.
STEP 1: Be a raptor with the above described perks and equipment (Much more essential this time.)
Step 2: Basically the same as the other step 2, except you're only choosing one side (usually the orks, they'll chase you longer) and leading them to the other
Step 3: 9 out of ten on the maps have tiny rock outcroppings or similar that you can jump up to and are inaccessible to everything else. jump to one of these, If you don't know where one is, just go to the side of the map.
Step 4: When the IG win you need to do some scouting, usually the AI marines don't clump together, so find an isolated one and take him out. If they are clumped together, throw all of your grenades at them, jump in, kill one (or two if you're feeling ballsy) and jump away, there are usually one or two full refills for your grenades around the level. repeat as necessary until only Guardsmen remain, you should know how to kill a few guardsmen.
NOTE: This falls prey to the Allies of desperation flaw of the other one, if this happens you're fucked.

== Mod: Space Marine Augmented ==
You want a rebalanced game? Want a non-sucky game start/match-making? Additional weapons? Additional armour? All DLC unlocked? All perks unlocked? Start matches with 2 people?
Then Space Marine Augmented is for you!

The following additional new items are in the game:
* MK3 armour
* Chapter/Legion specific artwork/armour pieces
* Flamer
* Astartes Shotgun
* Autocanon
* Power Fist
* Several Bolter patterns like Tigrus, Phobos and relic
* Several Chainswords: the original one, a relic one, a tabletop style one
* Lightning Claw

Terminators and Dreadnoughts are planned.

The mod is started from a launcher. You create a non-steam account in it to store your stuff online and see others in the game.
You can only play with other players who use the mod though, so spread the word!

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uni0jPEK4JY
* https://smaugmented.github.io/

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:Space Marine screenshot 1.jpg|"Space Marines!"
Image:Space Marine screenshot 2.jpg|"Kill da Space Marines!" ("Space Marines!")
Image:Warhammer chaos.jpg|Come hither brother, for I only wish to embrace you.
Image:Mira-noscale.jpg|She wants to fuck
Image:Space Marine screenshot 4.jpg|Stop Ripping-off Henlein, GW, just STOP!
Image:Warlord Class battle Titan.jpg|Dat Heeeuuge
Image:Space Marine screenshot 5.jpg
Image:Space Marine screenshot 6.jpg|This was cut. Probably for the best, as fighting a Deff Dread would have been either a huge letdown or harder than hell. (Actually, that's a Killa Kan. Note the two arms, instead of four)
Image:Renegadeguards.jpg|Wera firin ah grehn lazahs!!!
Image:Bloodlettercharging.jpg
Image:Taintedpsyker.jpg
Image:297690.jpg
Image:Sidonus.jpg|He still should go for the bionic eye implant.
Image:Lieutenant Miranda Nero.jpg|The text box pretty much says it all. Also, hot as hell. Yeah, Rule 34 should follow quickly.
File:Mira.jpg|"When confronted by this particular situation, the only reasonable course of action would be to give her the D." --[[Roboute Guilliman]], The [[Codex Astartes]]
</gallery>

== See Also ==
*[https://store.steampowered.com/app/55150/Warhammer_40000_Space_Marine/ Space Marine on Steam]
*[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyLLeKcxw24XO-696pWe0Ztxx14rNs-a1 The game's soundtrack]

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Space Marines]]

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

2021-10-14T03:13:01Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* The Plot */

{{/vg/}}
[[File:Space Marine poster.jpg|550px|thumb|center|Where he's going, you won't need eyes...]]
'''Space Marine''' is a 3rd-person video game which is featured on the PC, the [[/v/|ECKSBAWKS 360, and the PS3]]. Its genre is a hybrid of shooting and hack and slash. It was released on September 6, 2011.

== The Plot ==
The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2o-LmI3kiE&|The story] is set on the Forgeworld of Graia. It's being invaded by Orks who wish to loot the shit out of it; weapons, ammunition, vehicles, you name it. Rather surprisingly, the Orks have an actual objective this time: to steal a Warlord-class Titan of the Morning Star Legion '''''(cuz iz ded shooty)''''', an idea the Imperium isn't overly fond of. At first, the 203rd Cadian regiment was sent in to reinforce the forgeworld's defenses, but were eventually overwhelmed and pushed into a desperate defensive posture due to the Orks shooting down the majority of their support craft with a captured surface to air artillery cannon and simply outnumbering them by 100:1. Captain Titus and a small force of [[Ultramarines]] are then sent to hold back the invading Orks with the help of what's left of the Guard while the liberation fleet is on its way.

The Forces of Chaos also have a part to play, and are led by a Terminator sorcerer lord named Nemeroth. They're basically here to open a warp portal using a heretically radical device to both turn Graia into a daemon world and also so Nemeroth can become a Daemon Prince. And unlike previous games, this features actual traitor guardsmen, not the "we've recently converted to chaos and we're here as fodder" guardsmen featured in Dawn of War, fuck no, these are kickass [[Lost and the Damned]] guardsmen.

Not surprisingly, [[Blood Ravens|BLOD REHVENS]] play a role, set against Chaos as they were seen holding the initial incursion, though they only appear in brief cameo. If the game is set after [[Dawn of War II|DoWII]] then we will see [[Gabriel Angelos|Gabe's]] reforms in action, which is nice (if the Marine ending in Retribution takes place).

== Gameplay ==
[[File:SpaceMarinePCBig.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Captain Titus vs EVERYTHING]]
[[Commissar Fuklaw|No cover system. As a man from Relic said: "cover is for pussies". Space Marines are too awesome to be cowering behind cover]]. As a Space Marine, you are given enhanced regenerative abilities and an Iron Halo shield (due to your status as Captain). There are also brutal kills which the player can do to make the enemy's deaths more humorous/gory (to regain health like a man and to show-off the awesomeness of the Angels of Death, of course). Since you are playing as a Space Marine (and better yet, a veteran of 200 years of battle) you could easily kill thousands of Orks with just a simple vertical slash.

That being said, the Forces of Chaos are a lot tougher. Traitor guardsmen are still as weak as ordinary Ork sluggas and shootas, but are quite tactical, being able to organize and <s>plan strategies</s> spam grenades like they're playing a Call of Duty game. Corrupted psykers can spawn enemies and easily kill you from afar. Khorne Bloodletters can teleport, making it hard for you to shoot them, deal massive amounts of damage and can withstand quite a bit themselves. Chaos Space Marines are far more deadly. They pack weapons that are functionally the same as yours are by far the most durable enemies, and they have regenerating shields like you do.

Instead of having regenerating health like every other shooter out there, you can only regenerate health by stunning enemies and [[Awesome|FATALITY-ing them Mortal Kombat-style]]. Additionally, ''Space Marine'' features a Fury system, which allows you to slow time when aiming a ranged weapon or to unleash a devastating melee attack (provided that you filled up the fury bar by killing enemies of course). While Titus' starting equipment consists of a bolt pistol and combat knife, weapons can range from bolters to lascannons to plasma guns to thunder hammers. You also get to take jump packs which allows you to fly and make an assault jump, which allows you to create an AoE explosion by violently landing in a position of your choosing, though this does restrict your loadouts to only melee weapons and bolters.

== Characters ==
{{spoilers}}
* '''[[Captain Titus]]''' - A Captain of the Ultramarines Chapter and their last hope of finally getting some <s>badass</s> redemption of any kind. He is sent with his company of Ultramarines to prevent an Ork Waaagh!! from looting a forgeworld. It should be noted that his character was first seen as bald but was changed to have a shaved head in the early trailers. He was finally changed to a standard space marine HAIR-etic. He is voiced by Mark Strong. Yes...'''HE'S VOICED BY FUCKING MARK MOTHERFUCKING STRONG!''' He looks kinda like Proteus from Ultramarines the Movie, excluding the longer hair and the better looking armor decor. Despite being a shrewd commander, he is looked upon with suspicion by some of his fellow Ultramarines after being the only surviving battle-brother from a battle with a Chaos Sorcerer. Deep strike is his favorite entry tactic as shown by his affinity of jumping out of vehicles.
**At the end of the game, it's shown to the player that he does indeed possess an unnatural resistance to the warp, likely a result of his massive [[blackstone]] balls. Unfortunately, Leandros doesn't know that (the faithless cur), and since Titus is the only smurf <s>with something vaguely resembling a clue</s> who's realized that honor has a time and place, he gets roped in by the Inquisition on suspicion of '''HERESY!''' Thankfully, Thrax doesn't take his gun, implying that he isn't buying it... but that still means a certain newbie smurf is going to have a very long discussion on the merits of trust with a power fist, right after the <s>anal probing</s> tests of faith are done.

* '''Veteran Sergeant Sidonus''' - A slightly grumpy smurf, Sidonus is a veteran of the Ultramarines and designated comedian of the squad, delivering dry humor to the heart of the enemy when necessary (or when not so necessary). He is said to have battled Tyranids, Orks, Eldar, Chaos space Marines and Necrons during his centuries of battle. Quite badass, <s>for an</s> like all old Adeptus Astartes. He also has a bionic arm after getting his real one nom'd by Tyranids [[Tarkus|(Wait, I think I've already heard something like this...)]]. Also lost his eye and half of his face when an Eldar weapon blew up in his face [[Huron Blackheart|(... and something like this too...)]]. Decided not to get reconstructive surgery done, opting instead to leave the scars because it looks badass.

* '''[[Lawful Stupid|Brother Leandros]]''' - A newly recruited Ultramarine clinging to his shortened copy of the [[Codex Astartes]] and behaves as a typical Wardian-era smurf. He is the youngest of the squad, being only 75 years old (which is considered young by Space Marine standards) yet he has one of the highest honors that a chapter can bestow (<s>that, ironically enough, seems to be missing from Sidonus' power armor mantle as a ''veteran'', it is assumed that he is trained in the use of terminator armour, like all 1st company ''veterans'')</s> except the Crux Terminatus is a award, so he should still have been carrying it, Terminator honors. <s>Titus probably took his, so now he's mad at him for it... perhaps a little too mad...</s>

* '''Second Lieutenant Miranda Nero''' - Being the only loyalist commissioned officer left, Mira leads what remains of the 203rd Cadian that was reassigned to Graia. Turns out they went too far out into the green sea and got cut off from supplies and support. She seems to share [[Merrick]]'s view of placing the lives of her men above the Imperium. '''HERESY!!!''' The fact that she's holding the entire operation together despite being just a lieutenant impresses even Titus.

* '''Inquisitor Jean-Baptiste Emanuel <s>Zorg</s> <s>Skrillex</s> Drogan''' - The Inquisitor. He looks like he hasn't slept in a week (which is understandable, given that he's fighting both an Ork [[WAAAGH]] and [[Chaos Space Marine]]s), and his hair is really dirty and emo looking. He also has a metal plate attached to the right side of his head. Must be a radical. He's also '''EXTREMELY''' obsessed with killing xenos due to him being previously tortured by xenos (<s>possibly [[Dark Eldar]]</s>) Yeah, because we know that anyone can escape from Commoragh) for several years. During his time on Graia, his '''EXTREME''' obsession made him create mysterious experimental weapons in hopes of getting revenge, and one of these experiments included a portal that led to '''EXTREME''' consequences. This is due to the fact that the forces of chaos used said portal to enter the forge world, '''EXTREME'''ly. His eyes also lit up during a cutscene. MUST BE A HERETIC. BIG TWEEST. HE'S A PUPPET FOR THE LORD SORCERER.......... Okay it isn't that simple. Turns our he had a "subject" delivered to his laboratory to test his shiny new weapon on, the "subject", turned out to be a daemon which escaped, and proceeded to buttrape poor Drogan (all the backstory is in the audio logs). Since this daemon read the fluff, he's decided that ''maybe'' the '''EXTREME''' factions have a bit more pull, so he pretends to be '''EXTREME'''.

* '''[[Nemeroth|Lord Nemeroth]]''' - A Chaos Terminator Sorcerer Lord and the '''Big Bad''' of the game. He is possibly the Sorcerer Titus "killed" previously. He leads a warband consisting of [[Chaos Space Marines|Chaos Marines]], Khornate [[bloodletters]], [[Blight Drone]]s, and Tzeentch psychers (presumably the forces of [[slaanesh]] were left out so as to avoid an adults only rating in America). He also proves Relics infinite creativity at naming characters, for the difference between him and Eliphas' nagging wife is but two wretched letters. Also found a way around the of the Squishy Wizard law, because he wears '''TERMINATOR ARMOUR'''. Still got beat up by an Ork wearing almost no armour, though. Titus manages to defeat Nemeroth because the latter forgot to wear a helmet (then again, so does Titus). Shame, too, because he was just at the doorstep of becoming a [[Daemon Prince]].

* '''[[Warboss Grimskull]]''' - He is the Ork Warboss leading his Ork [[WAAAGH]]!!! on Graia with the intention of stealing the planet's Titans. Later on, he becomes interested in the power source Titus and Inquisitor Drogan possess. [[https://youtu.be/Uox82AiheLI|He ain't so easy to kill]].

* '''Inquisitor Thrax''' - The inquisitor that appears at the end of the game, where his name was mentioned on the monitor for the status on Graia. He came to take Titus heresy investigation after Leandros' accusation. Was likely planned to be a major character in the sequel, but that unfortunately never came to fruition.

== Things that rock ==
[[File:Angry marine by mysteryone617-d3j5gzj.png|300px|thumb|The official sequel]]
* Seemingly a better game than that [[Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior]] where you play as a [[Tau|Space Communist]] on his first day of duty, who is apparently a one man (well, xenos) army that could single-handedly kill genetically modified super soldiers, <s>a daemon prince</s> TWO Daemon Princes and a greater daemon of [[Tzeentch]]. lolwut?
* You get to play as a Space Marine.
* Guardsmen who fight alongside you have balls of steel, they rarely fall back. (Which makes crunch sense: with a Space Marine Captain alongside them, they too SHALL KNOW NO FEAR!)
* Orks (this time they actually look like a credible threat, not just dumb drunk ape-brawlers on steroids)
* Captain Titus isn't a total Mary Sue like the rest of this Chapter, even going so far to say that the [[Codex Astartes]] is just a guidebook and not meant to be taken literally. Thus: FUCK YOU MATT WARD.
* NO REALLY FUCK YOU MATT WARD
* Hilarious amounts of blood, dismemberment, and all other forms of gore you could imagine. [[Khorne]] would probably favor this game, even if you do play an Ultramarine.
* Executions (like the sync kills in DoW, which you can do to a stunned enemy) are actually required for you to restore your health, rather than going around and picking up medpacks, ducking in a corner and letting your wounds heal like magic, or some other unmanly method. Ensuring that playing longer requires you to give those guys screaming at you a good ol' fashion Chainsword enema, which is awesome.
* Chaos Space Marines.
* BLOODLETTERS!!!
* You pick up an [[Autocannon]] in <s>one</s> TWO levels.
[[File:The weak.jpg|300px|right|thumb|One is running away from the enemy, the other is running '''INTO''' the enemy. <s>Which do you think is loyal to the Emprah?</s> Another difference: one is a genetically modified super soldier with a FUCKHEUGE power armor and Ultrasmurf plot armor, the other is a normal man with a cardboard armor and a flashlight. Both are facing [[Angry Marines|angry]] green warmongers. Which do you think has [[Imperial Guard|balls of steel]]?]]
* Mark Strong (who you may remember from his previous roles starring in Rocknrolla, Kickass, Robin Hood, Stardust and Sherlock Holmes) as the voice of Captain Titus. (Don't forget Merlin from the Kingsman! Who wouldn't want to see Captain Titus murdering some greenskins while belting out Country roads by John Denver)
* <s>JUMP PACKS.</s> Out of fuel. (They be awesome while they last though)
* Pre-Order skins for [[Black Templars]], [[Blood Ravens]], [[Space Wolves]], <s>[[Iron Hands]]</s> [[Iron Warriors]] and [[Emperor's Children]].
* Apparently, even the games demo would destroy a PC's motherboard due to its extreme epicness. Watch here for proof [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47PDV9Rcjv4]
* Co-op comes in the form a 4-player Horde mode.
* Standard multiplayer is Chaos vs. Spess Mehrens. Fuck yes.
* You get to paint your own multiplayer character, much like the army painter system in DoWII. BETTER, because you can change every part of your power armour and paint up to THREE COLOURS FOR EVERY PART. Seriously, is a delight to try paint schemes, it have an asslot of colours and your (Chaos)Space Marine is in glorious 3D. You also get to pick your own loadout.
*Cock of Duty-like perks. Yes, multiplayer perks. However some of them are cool and are named after rules from the TT game, Most make sense, others are FUCKING STUPID (see bottom of next list). One real nice thing about the perks is that you can use them along with your tailored loadout in EXTERMINATUS.
**Said mode brings together 4 battle brothers able to act essentially like mini-Tituses, healing at ridiculous rates with Zeal, Larraman's Blessing or Iron Halo and slaughtering 20 waves worth of orks and one of chaos (or guardsmen, for Chaos Unleashed players)
*Livery changes for the single player are widely available for free. If you still hate the smurfs, you can easily change that by playing something like the [[Black Templars]] or [[Angry Marines]]. <s>are unlocked at level 5 and only affect multiplayer. Enjoy your smurfs.</s> ACTUALLY: whilst it is true that customization options are only available from level 4 onwards, there are unofficial modifications available for livery changes for a great number of chapters in single player. (see: http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?262044-Space-Marine-Custom-Titus-Skins-Armour-of-Angelos)
*After release fans wouldn't stop bitching (read flooding the official forums) asking for a mute all button in the multiplayer lobby. A couple weeks later an update included the mute all button, in short THEY [[Gets_shit_done|GET SHIT DONE]]
*New DLC just added [[Dreadnought]]s (AKA ungodly walking rape machine).
*The Anniversity Edition, released on 9/23/21 made all the DLCs free for people who have it, as well as giving goodies like soundtracks, classic and new wallpaper, the manuel, ringtone, artbook, collector's cards, and the launch trailer as well

== Things that Suck ==
* When the daemons first show up, Titus refers to them as "Chaos daemons!" Is there any other kind? <s>WAIT, DON'T ANSWER THAT!</s>
* Cadians are portrayed as pussies who have to rely on the Smurfs to get anything done, with the sole exception of Mira. Someone at Relic mistakenly believed that Cadians are just another one of those regiments that rely purely on numbers to get shit done. In reality, with all the training from birth and living next to the Eye of Terror things, they should be telling the Orks where to shove it and Chaos forces whose dicks to suck. (While outnumbered at least 100 to 1 and cut off from resupply? ESPECIALLY when outnumbered and undersuplied, CADIA LIVES!)
* Explosions look like total ASS. While the texture work on the game is extremely detailed, they apparently skimped on their pyrotechnic effects. Some of the smoke and explosion effects look like they came off a PS1 game. This is painfully jarring in the opening aerial battle between the navy and the Orks.
* Ultrasmurfs. (Bear in mind though, you would probably bitch about it if they mentioned any other chapter as "the greatest of them all". [[Ultramarines:The_Movie|Observe]]). However, it could be argued that part of the joy of the badassery of Captain Titus is that he lends credit to that stereotype.
* While "Cover is for Pussies" is a manly mechanic, being able to fire from cover while being pinned by tons of Ork Shootas and Chaos Havocs in unreachable positions wouldn't be so bad.
** Don't forget the waves of renegade guardsmen who posses an inexhaustible supply of grenades that they lob at you without hesitation. This alone makes it nearly impossible to complete the later chapters without abusing cover and Lascannon camping.
*No awesome executions in multiplayer. Multiplayer executions were dropped because it would leave you vulnerable while performing it and [[Matt Ward|some people]] would get upset at seeing their marine having their organs torn out. This leaves one wondering why it wouldn't be left in as an optional humiliation move.
**More baffling is that it is being left out of the upcoming co-op as well for the exact same reasons, despite it being in singleplayer, meaning you can only regain health by [[Gay|hiding in cover while your health regenerates.]][[Derp| "Cover is for the weak" indeed.]]
***Further undermined by the fact that not taking cover against Tankbustaz will get you killed in a ludicrously quick-and-dirty way, as will charging into a pack of Traitor Guardsmen whilst they burn you alive in your artificer armor with volleys of [[Lasgun|flashlight]] fire.
* Explaining things to the newbs.
*<strike>There is NOBODY in fucking multiplayer, seriously, I've fucking waited for hours.</strike> NOT ANYMORE. The free giveaway have given new life to the multiplayer, with a small but loyal fanbase playing practically every day.
* They wanted to cast Sean Pertwee (Who played Governor Severus in Fire Warrior) as one of the characters, but they already had enough VA's. Not having Sean Pertwee in a Warhammer game, or film, is just plain wrong (though they do express desire to cast him in a possible sequel). '''UNFORTUNATELY!''' <s>THQ said that there won't be a sequel. [[Rage|FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!]]</s> <s>There might be a sequel, apparently, but only if THQ doesn't collapse in on itself like a super-massive star due to all its debt.</s> THQ just went belly-up. The sequel's destiny is now in the hands of Sega....Emperor preserve us all.
* Another 40k game about some Space Marine snowflake. See Ultrasmurfs. But on the bright side, only Leandros acts like the generic Mary sue Ultramarine, Titus and Sidonus are, more-or-less likable, even by those with a slight distaste for the Ultramarines.
* Not enough choppy. For a game that relies a lot on melee combat, not a lot of actual melee weapons to go around, only a knife (Which you can only use at the beginning of the game), chainsword, power axe, and thunder hammer and additionally, sync-kills are fairly limited for each one and starts to get "meh" after a few playthroughs. Given 40K's extensive armory of choppy choppas, you would think Relic could include more things like more power swords, fists and claws, eviscerator chainswords (And a large two-handed, flamer-toting chainsword would have been emprah-like to have), or just more sync-kills for said 4 weapons so players would have more variety in the amount of gore present.
* [http://www.spacemarine.com/blog-post/warhammer-40000-space-marine-e3-game-demo-walkthrough Apparently, melta guns are shotguns now and the Lascannon is some kind of retarded sniper rifle with slow-mo.]
**<s>[[Matt Ward|Sounds somehow familiar, no?]]</s> The Meltas are only shotguns as far as digital [[crunch]] is concerned; they're still burning death rays fluff-wise, disintegrating tons of orks and even daemons in one shot. As for the Lascannons, they aren't any more or less of a sniper weapon here than they are on the tabletop (basically an anti-materiel rifle, except on super grimdark space steroids). Neither of them do a lot against Dreads, which is bullshit. The lascannon has a minor mitigation in that Titus doesn't have the accompanying power-backpack, which could understandably make each shot less powerful.
*Games consist of melta, plasma cannon, stormbolter, or vengeance launcher spam, the few players who disdain cheap tactics (oddly the ps3 space wolves champion this view) lose on principle unless they're banned in a tournament or are a cheating fuck named jwolf96 who bolt pistols you with a headshot WHILE JUMPING AROUND AS ASSAULT.EVERY TIME.hax.
*No [[Flamer]]s. (melta gun doesn't count)
*No [[Grav-Weaponry]]. (No halofags the Thunder Hammer is '''not''' a grav-weapon)
*Gears of War fanboys constantly saying that the game is a copy of Gears of War, even though it's a hack and slash shooter hybrid that does not feature a cover system (GOW is like a ducking simulator). They're also too magnificently retarded to realize that Warhammer 40,000 came Waaaaaaaaayyyyy before Gears of War. Not to mention the [[Space Marines]] of 40k inspired the giant space marine with the huge weapons.
*FUCKING audio stutter during times where you're battling hordes of enemies (which, in a hack-and-slash game, happens all the time). It's revealed that this is not hardware related as even those with high-powered machines and updated drivers also suffer from this. Relic might provide a fix for this but some are shifty about this, fearing that they might pull off the old [[Dawn of War]] ignorance on this game too. If you want a slightly acceptable temporary fix for this that doesn't require you playing this game in silence, infinitely loop a battle theme of your choosing on your music player such as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRiU2N03Rzs Requiem for a Tower] while playing, set your volume to a level of your choosing, and gleefully continue hacking your opponents to shreds and curb-stomping them to paste. If you need the voices for tactical input, just enable subtitles.
*Shitty voice acting from anyone who is not a space marine (or lieutenant mira)
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbiqNn6LxFM Shitty fucking lag that has remained unfixed over a month after its released], ergo consigning the game to the dustbin as new Vidya Gaems that are frankly better than it are released.
*<s>Only five maps, all of which encourage outright camping and grenade spam.</s> They're releasing more maps every few months.
*Matchmaking sucks a bag of dicks the size of a [[Nurgle|Great Unclean One]].
*<s>Devastator Marines are vastly more powerful than all other Marines, and it's possible to circumvent the Heavy Bolter's setup time by switching to/from your pistol. The switch-setup was fixed in a patch, but Devastators are still infinitely superior to anything any other Marine class can do damage-wise Assault/Raptor with thunder hammer/daemon maul with Killing Blow. Nuff said.</s> Plus the inability to dodge effectively, (Learn to combat roll, dumbass. Saves my bacon all the time.) slow recharge times on armor and health, and the fact that one shot from a tactical marine's plasma gun will melt your shit instantly balances it out. N00bs need to STFU and get some skill and stop whining. Also, unlike Raptors/Assault Marines, Devastators can't FLY.
*There were originally going to be Combi-Weapons in the game, but it was scrapped.
*Environments need more variety. A lot more variety. The game really doesn't start shaking shit up until about halfway through. Till then, everything is cityscape type level killing a bunch of Orks.
*On the console versions, accusations of Standbying (abusing host lag) are ''rampant''.
*<s>Makes no fucking sense from a chronological perspective - Graia was OMNOMNOM'd by the [[Tyranids]] (caught in the path of the initial Hive Fleet that approached Macragge) long before the events of Dawn of War and Dawn of War 2 - meaning that Titus' victory was ultimately a pyrrhic one, unless there's another Graia out there in the Imperium of Man. It's an alternate timeline, and it takes place on a different Graia (this particular Graia is located in the Segmentum Tempestus, not Ultima Segmentum). You can tell because Titus is the Captain of the Ultramarine's Second Company instead of Sicarius and Titan Invictus wasn't destroyed in the 13th Black Crusade (which was way before Dawn of War).</s>
**It takes place some time into M42, and it's a different Graia. Evidence: In Ultramarines: The Movie, Captain Severus was 2nd Company Captain, and the film took place after the battle for Macragge given their WE MARCH FOR MACRAGGE creed. Sicarius is either dead or been promoted by now. With Severus dead by the hands of the Daemon, Titus becomes his successor. Further proof comes from the Blood Ravens appearance. Hive Fleet Leviathan, a splinter of which was defeated by the Magpies in DOW2, showed up in the final years of M41. Given that Retribution takes place 11 years after that, and Titus mentions the Aurelian Crusades, Relic has left the 41st Millennium behind. In four games, Relic has pushed further with the 40K timeline than Games Workshop has in twenty years.
***This is more or less confirmed by 8th edition. Cato Sicarius gets lost in the Warp at one point, so naturally they would have promoted someone else (namely Titus) to fill in. Sure the [[Great Rift]] doesn't appear on the map in the intro, but it hadn't been made up yet IRL, what are you gonna do?
* Not enough Ham. From the company that brought such gems as "BEAR WITNESS TO MY ASCENSION!!!!" and "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE! LET THE GALAXY BURN!", it's a bit of a letdown when <s>even the Orks sound bored</s> you call "GIT OFF MAH SHIP, SPACE MUHREEN!!" bored? Calm Space Marines are boring Space Marines. Shout your litanies to the Emperor, dammit!
*<s>[[Butthurt|Multiplayer perks. COCK OF DUTY MODERN SHITFUCK ANNOYING FUCKING 'MARTYRDOM' RIPOFF. Yes. Your armor's power-pack/jump-pack EXPLODES with a ludicrous kill zone. FUCKING ANNOYING.</s>]] The noobs want perks deal with it. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
**<s>this game is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with bigger guys for you.</s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|Heresy!}}
* Multiplayer: MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. MIGRATING TO NEW HOST. NOW I LAG LOLOLOLOLOL. But this comes as a result of no dedicated servers due to a small playerbase. (One player goes as far as to call Host Migrations "Warp Storms" over voice chat, due to the seeming level of warp-dickery behind their timing.)
*<s>[[Butthurt|Dreadnoughts are unstoppable rape machines that will steamroll the entire enemy team by themselves unless it is made up entirely of devastator marines (RELIC SUCKS AT BALANCE!)]]</s> the concept of game balance is bullshit. [[Skub|GIT GUD STOP WHINING.]]
* Final boss fight with Nemeroth is disappointing. Instead of having a proper fight like against Grimskull, it's just a quick-time event. While being sort of epic the first time you play it (You ''are'' falling down a space elevator, after all) it gets repetitive and boring in following play-throughs. Also, you can spam all three of the required inputs at once with no penalty.
** And to get to the irritating button mash you have to drudge through a long and annoying fight with his OP minions.
*Good luck finding a game that's on any of the DLC stuff, or outside of the original five maps, You won't find any matches that aren't Seize Ground or Annihilation. We seriously need a new Space Marine game.
* There's no-one fucking playing multiplayer anymore
* We're never gonna get a sequel :c
* A squad of [[Veteran Squad#Sternguard Veterans|Sternguard Veterans]] or [[Terminators]] could have solved both the Orc and Chaos problems in under thirty minutes. A squad of each should have been aboard the [[Strike Cruiser]] in orbit. Deamon Prince Nemeroth whiled on by Assault Terminators led by Titus would have been funny and [[awesome]] to see.
* Your a dwarf in a barrel.
* Exterminatus glitching the fuck out.
* The bolter behaves like a generic assault rifle. Orks will take like 10 shots to die. Fire warrior (shudders) remains the only 40k game to get the bolter right.
*Said Anniversity Edition now made it priced at $60 USD, overpriced considering that it released 10 years ago

== Downloadable Content ==
The game is constantly being supported and so much new content has been added over the past few months, it's astonishing. New content includes new modes such as capture the flag mode, capture and control, and dreadnought assault. New maps have been released, and previous pre-order only skins are now available (including new ones such as the Legion of the Damned skin-YEAH!) Below is a list of all the dlc you <s>can buy now(some of which is free by the way.)</s> have as of the Anniversary Edition.

*Exterminatus: This is a free update that added co-op to the game. A much needed add-on. Let's you play as Loyalist Marines in a team of four vs hordes of orks. Fun and crazy, (SPOILER!) final round is a bonus round against Chaos (end of spoiler.) Can use all your multiplayer loadouts and gain experience as well.

*Chaos Unleashed: You can now play as Chaos Space Marines in the Exterminatus game mode. Gameplay wise it isn't different from the Loyalist version, but new enemies along with the ol' ORKS are present. These new enemies are the Imperial Guard and the orks get a new unit (read ork entry below.) Oh yeah and we can now KILLZ US SOME SPACE MARINES! ULTRAMARINES TO BOOT!

**IG units include: regular shock troops with lasguns, veterans with chainswords (yes you read that right), sanctioned Imperial psykers who can also tackle stun you, troops with melta guns and troops with grenade launchers.
**Apart from the IG forces the Orks have their old units returning with the addition of KILLA KANZ coming in during the bonus round! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2sni61dms The start of the bonus round and how fucking tough it is.]
**Yes, space marines are part of the enemy now, and they are tough as hell to kill. If anyone made it to the bonus chaos round for the loyalists, they will know. They have the same armor and health as the CSM of that bonus round, but come standard in every arena (during the later half usually.) You need to work together as a team to take them down, if not you'll get overwhelmed pretty easily. They have the tactical marines, assault marines without jump packs (Thank the Dark Gods) and devastators with plasma cannons (That can fuck your shit in case you allow them to fire a volley)
**Three new maps including Habs Ablaze, Station Tertius and Aquila Canyon. This dlc also includes new achievements and trophies.

*Capture the flag (free update): Regular run of the mill capture the capture the flag mode. Unfortunately, devolves into everyone camping their sides to defend their flags and going long range. IF you've got balls of steel. then charge the other side to scare the hell out of them. Preferably use the Assault Marine with a hammer and "Death from above" upgrade.

*Capture and control: <s>Currently playing. Will update soon.</s> Sadly, due to bad matchmaking and division of map rotations, I cannot find a game to play of this mode. Will try to update soon. If anyone else has, you obviously have the right to update it on your own... something something this was written maybe 3 years ago. Also a run of the mill game mode, Assault unit hell.

*Dreadnought Assault: Probably the most controversial of the game modes. This player has already played it and highly recommends it. But the playerbase is apparently divided. Basically, you have to capture the Dreadnought capture point and as soon as it is captured, a teammate that is inside the point will be chosen to pilot the <s>suit</s> rape machine (at random? no idea. Needs confirmation.) You have to use the dreadnought to <s>capture the other points</s> assrape the other team. It is an ungodly powerful machine with a lot of health and you gain the auto/assaultcannon, powerfist/claw (both former weapons for loyalists and latter for Chaos, the auto-cannon and assault cannon are the weapons that differ from their counterpart on the other side, with the auto having lower RoF but higher damage per shot, and the assault having higher RoF but less damage per shot, but both fire rapidly enough to be used the same way), and meltagun. Obviously becomes a fire magnet and players will mostly use <s>devastators</s> Thunderhammers/Power Mauls on it. (contrary to tabletop, DEVASTATORS/HAVOCS CAN'T SCRATCH THE DAMN DREADNOUGHT) Comes with appropriate skins for Chaos and Loyalist marines.

**Includes three new maps as well; Desolation, Dome Mechanicus and Chem Refinery. New achievements/trophies also included.
**Has apparently vanished into the ether on the Xbox marketplace and is no longer available (on that system at least). Perhaps the playerbase bitched too much?

*As said before, pre-order skins are now available, including some new ones. Just to get you drooling, Iron Hands and Death Guard armor. OH YEAH!

*Subsection F, article U:

+[ How to destroy the Dreadnought ]+

As tested by two players, one yours truly, there is a limited number of options when it comes to dealing with an enemy Dreadnought.

#Lascannons do minimal damage. Headshots can do some decent damage - but it's finicky due to lag and a weird head hitbox (especially since the extra-damage weak point on the Dreadnought is the engine at the back, not the head, oops).
#Stalker Bolter is more reliable, but nowhere near as good against the Dread. Works well on its escorts, though.
#Heavy Bolter can damage it but it takes a lot of shots, and the Dread *will* return fire at the first opportunity and fuck your ass. Fire and move.
#[[What|Meltaguns do nothing.]] Avoid. (They take off exactly 10% of the Dreadnought's health from pointblank range, make of this what you will).
#Grenades only annoy it, but Flash Grenades can blind it for a second.
#Devastator stomp does nothing (and if you were trying to do this in the first place, [[Tau|gb2Tau]]).
#Plasma Guns and Pistols do absolutely nothing unless charged, and are questionably useful if charged. The "Sticky" charged shot though is great for drawing a Dread's attention, and can do a bit of damage to help out or soften it up prior to an attack.
#A Dread's close combat arm will put your head through your ass and send you flying in one hit.
#The Dreadnought has its own Iron Halo shield, but only for one charge that lasts for about 30 seconds. When activated, the Dreadnought strikes a distinctive pose while its arm glows. Firing at it now is a waste of ammo and your life.

Your destructive answer in this case is PLASMA, followed by VENGEANCE LAUNCHER. Plasma cannons are the only heavy weapon that will reliably do anything of relevance to the Dreadnought, and it takes around 10 shots. The only option other than Plasma Cannons are the Vengeance Launcher and the Thunderhammer/Power Maul. The former will do in a Dread in about 12 shots; the latter, if you have the Killing Blow perk, will make quick work of the Dreadnought.

Devastators:
#'''USE PLASMA CANNONS AT RANGE.''' Fire a barrage and fuck off. Watch for return fire, the Assault Cannon/Reaper Autocannon have a hellish rate of fire and will tear you to shreds.
#'''ALTERNATELY, USE HEAVY BOLTER AND CAMP TACTICAL LOCATIONS.''' Heavy Bolter can rack up insane damage very, very quickly and can easily wipe a squad of Escorts if you set up correctly. Surprisingly, the Heavy Bolter can also do a lot of damage to the Dread if it doesn't get a chance to return fire (I.E. it has its attention held by Plasma Cannoneers and the like).
#'''LASCANNON ONLY IF YOU'RE THE HOST.''' Lag makes Lascannon headshots completely unreliable unless you're the host, and turns the potential the Lascannon has against both the Dread and its escorts to functionally nil. If you ''are'' the host, feel free to use the Lascannon, as it can damage the Dreadnought (not as much as the Plasma Cannon though) and easily wipe the Escorts out. Generally though, you will want one of the other Heavy weapons (again, mostly Plasma Cannons).

Assaults:
#'''DRAW SOME ATTENTION WITH THE PLASMA PISTOL.''' The Plasma Pistol's virtually worthless damage-wise against the Dread, but a charged shot will stick to it, fuck up its vision for a half-second or so, and rattle around its aim a bit. Consider a Plas Pistol charged shot when you need to get the Dread's attention and keep it from a safer distance.
#'''SWORDS AND CHAINSWORDS, LEAD THE WAY.''' Combine a Sword (Chain or Power) with Swordsman's Zeal and Combat Drugs. You'll generally not do any appreciable damage to the Dreadnought, but that isn't the point: You can use this combo to land next to a Dread, get in a swipe or two on either it or its escorts, and fuck off, potentially drawing fire and attention away from much more important matters (like the Devastators your team has lining up shots). Note, however, that if you delay or the enemy team is smart, you will wind up a bloody smear on the floor. If not on active Dread attention-getting duty, help cap points and deal with the escorts.
#'''AXES ARE RISKY BUSINESS.''' Axeman's Zeal offers bigger damage chunks and the same delicious healing, and works the same way as the Sword/Chainsword tactic above, but it leaves you open more. Bear this in mind. If you're not that good with the Axe, leave it at home.
#'''THUNDER HAMMER/DAEMON MAUL - THE KILLING BLOW.''' Killing Blow helps. A ''fucking'' lot. Without this perk, you can still wreck up the Dreadnought, but not by yourself. Two or more Assaults with hammers and the Dreadnought is [[Ork|proppa]] fucked.
#'''SUICIDE IS PAINLESS.''' It's a dick move, but loading up with Final Vengeance Assaults can do some good damage to the Dreadnought if absolutely every other fucking tactic fails. Fly in, spam grenades, Swing Sword/Axe/Hammer until killed, die on purpose, explode.

Tacticals:
#'''PLASMA GUN IS AN OKAY CHOICE I GUESS.''' Similar to the Plasma Pistol, you aren't taking the Plasma Gun for the damage, even though it is a little higher than the Plasma Pistol's and it can damage the Dread better. The main advantage is punching the fucking escorts with it, or sticking charged shots to the Dread itself to draw attention, damage it a little, and throw off its aim. Fire off a shot, then get the fuck out of dodge.
#'''HELP CAP FUCKING POINTS.''' Damned things won't handle themselves, and you need 'em to win.
#'''MOST OF YOUR WEAPONRY WON'T HURT THE DREADNOUGHT.''' The Tactical has ''one'' weapon that can contribute to a fight with the Dreadnought, and it's also the one weapon almost fucking nobody uses: The Vengeance Launcher. It takes about 12-14 shots given ideal aim, but the Vengeance Launcher ''can'' kill the Dreadnought. Working in teams, this can actually be just as effective as Plasma Cannon spamming - do note that it holds much less ammo, though, and is much harder to use.
#'''HELP YOUR TEAMMATES.''' Teleport Homer may be the most unsung hero of Dreadnought fights. One Tactical in a good spot can effectively act as a mobile spawnpoint for his buddies. Ideal for Devastator teams which need a quick way into the fight that isn't a [[METAL BOXES|Metal Box]].
#'''YOU STILL HAVE GRENADES.''' Grenades can still do damage and still blind the Dreadnought, so for fuck's sake, use them.
#'''STALKER BOLTER THE FUCKING ESCORTS.''' Stalker Bolter will cut the escorts to shreds if you're a good shot, and can reliably damage the Dreadnought a tiny bit if there's no other targets of opportunity handy (generally you want to avoid pissing it off as a Tactical, though). Stalker the escorts though, to ensure your teammates can deal with the Dread easier without worrying about its squad of tagalongs.

''An important note about the DLC. While a lot of the new stuff is fun and cool, the lists are divided by map rotations. Meaning when you choose a specific game mode, you choose the content you want to play in. Normally this isn't so bad, but what ends up happening is that you wait and wait for games to appear for the selected content. If you don't join a game for that dlc during that waiting time, you are pushed into a standard content game. So you want to join a Chaos Unleashed map, but there's no one around, so you join (read: forced into) a regular match. Oh no, the second you join said match, other people joined the CU list and you just left. Hopefully something will done about that.''

[ How to spam Chaos Unleashed Exterminatus ]
This DLC added IG and SPESS MAHREENS to your Ork hordes, while allowing you to be HERETICS. Sounds awful, right? WRONG. This mode is actually easy to spam to the bonus wave.
STEP 1: if you manage to get a full four players, divide yourselves among Raptors and Tacticals. (With a minimum of one raptor, but preferably two or three)
STEP 1.5: If you're a raptor, have the perks for damage when you lift off and land on with your jump pack, and a daemon maul or chain axe if you don't like the low swing speed of the maul. (not required but it helps.)
If you're a/the tactical marine, have the teleport homer and perk that allows an extra weapon. Have a bolter, melta gun, and plasma gun. (Again, not required but it helps)
STEP 2: When you enter the map, have one raptor jump to the Orks, and the other jump to the IG forces, while the tactical marines camp in a corner of the map of their choice.
STEP 3: Have the raptors bait the two forces together, kill a few if you're feeling ballsy, and jump away back to the tacticals. The Orks and IG should start beating the fuck out of each other while only a few stragglers chase your gang. Kill the ones that follow you (it will still be a pretty steady stream, but the majority of their forces will be Shooting/chopping each other. )
STEP 4: The IG WILL win once teh SPESS MAHREENS show up. But usually they'll only have a small squads worth of either. You now have two options.
1: have the raptors charge to draw fire, toss grenades, do some damage and leave, while the tacticals charge and blow them up with their meltas, should ammo run out, use fully charged plasma shots. then have them run. repeat until all forces are destroyed.
OR
2: All of you run in from different directions, If you've beaten the main game 1 marine and a guardsmen or two isn't difficult, hopefully (sometimes the AI will still charge one guy, ignoring targets that are closer) they will be split up enough for each player to take out his group and help the others who haven't.
These work all the way up to the bonus round, which is just killa kans.
NOTE: These require some pretty good amounts or coordination between your squad members, and due to the AI's nature have a chance of entering an "allies of desperation" pseudo alliance and zerg-rushing your squad while only minimally chopping each other, this is rare however and the above strategies work 9 times out of ten.
ONE PLAYER METHOD.
STEP 1: Be a raptor with the above described perks and equipment (Much more essential this time.)
Step 2: Basically the same as the other step 2, except you're only choosing one side (usually the orks, they'll chase you longer) and leading them to the other
Step 3: 9 out of ten on the maps have tiny rock outcroppings or similar that you can jump up to and are inaccessible to everything else. jump to one of these, If you don't know where one is, just go to the side of the map.
Step 4: When the IG win you need to do some scouting, usually the AI marines don't clump together, so find an isolated one and take him out. If they are clumped together, throw all of your grenades at them, jump in, kill one (or two if you're feeling ballsy) and jump away, there are usually one or two full refills for your grenades around the level. repeat as necessary until only Guardsmen remain, you should know how to kill a few guardsmen.
NOTE: This falls prey to the Allies of desperation flaw of the other one, if this happens you're fucked.

== Mod: Space Marine Augmented ==
You want a rebalanced game? Want a non-sucky game start/match-making? Additional weapons? Additional armour? All DLC unlocked? All perks unlocked? Start matches with 2 people?
Then Space Marine Augmented is for you!

The following additional new items are in the game:
* MK3 armour
* Chapter/Legion specific artwork/armour pieces
* Flamer
* Astartes Shotgun
* Autocanon
* Power Fist
* Several Bolter patterns like Tigrus, Phobos and relic
* Several Chainswords: the original one, a relic one, a tabletop style one
* Lightning Claw

Terminators and Dreadnoughts are planned.

The mod is started from a launcher. You create a non-steam account in it to store your stuff online and see others in the game.
You can only play with other players who use the mod though, so spread the word!

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uni0jPEK4JY
* https://smaugmented.github.io/

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Image:Space Marine screenshot 1.jpg|"Space Marines!"
Image:Space Marine screenshot 2.jpg|"Kill da Space Marines!" ("Space Marines!")
Image:Warhammer chaos.jpg|Come hither brother, for I only wish to embrace you.
Image:Mira-noscale.jpg|She wants to fuck
Image:Space Marine screenshot 4.jpg|Stop Ripping-off Henlein, GW, just STOP!
Image:Warlord Class battle Titan.jpg|Dat Heeeuuge
Image:Space Marine screenshot 5.jpg
Image:Space Marine screenshot 6.jpg|This was cut. Probably for the best, as fighting a Deff Dread would have been either a huge letdown or harder than hell. (Actually, that's a Killa Kan. Note the two arms, instead of four)
Image:Renegadeguards.jpg|Wera firin ah grehn lazahs!!!
Image:Bloodlettercharging.jpg
Image:Taintedpsyker.jpg
Image:297690.jpg
Image:Sidonus.jpg|He still should go for the bionic eye implant.
Image:Lieutenant Miranda Nero.jpg|The text box pretty much says it all. Also, hot as hell. Yeah, Rule 34 should follow quickly.
File:Mira.jpg|"When confronted by this particular situation, the only reasonable course of action would be to give her the D." --[[Roboute Guilliman]], The [[Codex Astartes]]
</gallery>

== See Also ==
*[https://store.steampowered.com/app/55150/Warhammer_40000_Space_Marine/ Space Marine on Steam]
*[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyLLeKcxw24XO-696pWe0Ztxx14rNs-a1 The game's soundtrack]

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Space Marines]]

Lawful Stupid

2021-10-14T03:11:10Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Examples of Lawful Stupid */

{{fail}}
[[File:Obligatum VII.jpg|300px|thumb|right|[[Inevitable|Obligatum]] [[Elder Evils#Pandorym|VII]], the posterboy of Lawful Stupid.]]
{{Topquote|You wear your honor like a suit of armor, Stark. You think it keeps you safe, but all it does is weigh you down and make it hard for you to move.|[[A Song of Ice and Fire|Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish to Lord Eddard Stark.]]}}
{{Topquote|Individuals should not create fan films or animations based on our settings and characters. To create such content, you need a Games Workshop license.|Games Workshop}}
{{Topquote|Fiat justitia ruat caelum - Let justice be done though the heavens fall|legal maxim}}

'''Lawful Stupid''' is gamer slang (derived from the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[alignment]] system, but can easily be applied to [[character]]s in any [[role-playing game]] as well as fiction in general) for a specific way of playing a [[Lawful Good]] or, especially, a [[Lawful Neutral]] character, most infamously a [[Paladin]]. It is characterized by lack of common sense, following the rules arbitrarily without actually understanding them and just generally being an annoying prick. He's [[that guy]] who will stop a chase scene because he has to chastise someone that was jaywalking. Lawful Stupid players are one of the main reasons (along with asshole [[DM]]s) why people dislike the Paladin class. It can also be a jab at the fact that Intelligence is a common [[dump stat]] for Paladins in 3.5, since their [[MAD]] mandates high Charisma and Wisdom, the traditional dump stats of combat classes. [[Pathfinder]] allows them to dump Wisdom, the only class that can really do so, making this even worse.

Although the iconic Lawful Stupid character is a poorly-played Paladin (Alignment requirement: Lawful Good), non-Paladin depictions are almost invariably [[Lawful Neutral]], since this kind of characterization is a disappointingly logical extrapolation from a character alignment that can be summed up as "[[Judge Dredd|the Law is the Law and all that matters is that it is the law;]] [[Derp|whether or not it helps or hurts people is irrelevant, the LAW must be upheld!]]"

A lot of this really stems from a surface understanding of the Lawful alignment. While following the law is a lawful act, following the rules is not the end-all definition of the Lawful alignment. Lawful means orderly. So the type of person who religiously organizes their sock drawer would be considered Lawful. A Lawful person can disagree with the laws of the land, wanting to replace them with new laws. It's the desire for order and logic that matters. Of course these would be sensible Lawful people, and therefore not "Lawful Stupid".

Compare to [[Chaotic Stupid]], [[Stupid Evil]], [[Stupid Good]], and [[Stupid Neutral]]. There really are a lot of ways to be stupid in fantasy games, aren't there?

== How to avoid it while playing Lawful Good ==
The [[Discworld]] series by Terry Pratchett, in particular any scenes with the Witches of Lancre or the Ankh Morpork City Watch, are all but required reading for understanding. Granny Weatherwax, Sam Vimes, and Carrot Ironfoundersson are all (probably) Lawful Good, but all add their own twists on the formula. Carrot possesses such a high Charisma score that he can literally [[Diplomancer|charm people into doing what he wants]], but when that fails he ''tricks'' people into doing what he wants, technically avoiding a non-Lawful alignment by twisting the law into a pretzel when he can. Vimes follows both the letter and the spirit of the Law whenever he can stretch it, but isn't above committing illegal acts to uphold Lawful purposes. Granny is Evil by nature, but Good by necessity and ''hates'' it, since her sister got first pick on the question "are you a good witch or a bad witch?" and chose to be bad. To combat this, she continually takes out her frustration on other people by acting like the spiteful and entitled octogenarian that she technically is, avoiding a fall into True Neutral or Neutral Evil because witches are ''supposed'' to act a bit nutty, even the Lawful ones, and none of it matters as long as she does what's capital-r Right.

The AD&D book "The Complete Paladin's Handbook" has a section ("Virtues", page 33) on the behavior and code of conduct a Paladin normally upholds; that of a gracious and well-mannered individual who respects good and the law, but is not on an endless crusade to uphold it. They would not upset a tavern just because they detected an evil presence within and risk causing chaos, for example.

Another way to play lawful good is to play your paladin like a modern soldier: able and willing to do anything needed to win, except as decreed by certain laws and customs of war, e.g. for example, the Geneva and Hague Conventions. Those laws still restrict the actions of a soldier, but he is still expected to act with common sense in order to achieve victory and not follow orders that violate those laws.

== How to avoid it while playing lawful neutral ==
This is arguably even harder than avoiding it whilst playing Lawful Good; at least Lawful Good types are ''supposed'' to balance their calling to law & order vs. their calling to good. Lawful Neutral types are often categorized by their firm belief that law and order are the only things of importance, with morality being dismissed as insignificant next to maintaining of order. The primary key to doing so is to keep a proper perspective; traffic laws, for example, have their place in the scheme of things. When you are racing to prevent the nuclear annihilation of a city is ''not'' that place. Don't get so bogged down with legal minutia that you allow far greater acts of destruction and anarchy to occur in whilst you attend to the little things.

[[Judge Dredd]] can be a good example of this. For example, in the opening sequence of the 2012 ''Dredd'' movie, he pursues a car full of criminals but does not shoot at them until they collide with and kill a pedestrian, and even then only shoots to disable the van's tires. He doesn't shoot to kill until one of them threatens to kill a hostage and refuses to accept an offer to surrender. Also, when he sees a vagrant sitting outside the crime scene Dredd tells him not to be there when he gets back instead of arresting him because he has better things to do at the moment. Of course, when he's just doing the rounds on his birthday, he'll issue noise citations to children who sing to him because <s>he is The Law</s> it's just plain embarrassing (and then donate the presents he receives to an orphanage because he's not [[That Guy]]). But not always a good example, like the time in the 1995 movie when Dredd suggested Rob Schneider's character jump off the top of a building rather than vandalize a robot to hide in during a shootout, since as Dredd points out, jumping might be suicide, ''but it's legal''.

This is not to say that a Lawful Neutral character doesn't recognize when they break the law or go against the general sense of law (Law) when called to; they do, and they're likely to be annoyed by it. Tenya Iida from My Hero Academia explores this concept, although he can sometimes break into Lawful Stupid, too.

== Examples of Lawful Stupid ==
* [[Games Workshop#Back_on_the_Old_Shit|The Games Workshop Legal Team]]
* The [[Inevitable]]s, divine [[golem]]-like beings with the duty to enact laws and enforce contracts. There's a story of one named "Obligatum VII" (the seventh in its line because six times prior people had the common sense to stop him) who’s trying to free the [[BBEG]] in a campaign from the book [[Elder Evils]]. The story goes that some mages summoned an eldritch abomination named [[Pandorym]] to blackmail the gods, making a contract with it to destroy the universe when it was summoned. The wizards imprisoned Pandorym instead of finishing the ritual to let it loose so that it wouldn't destroy the universe before they were ready, but the gods just smote the stupid wizards the instant they were done imprisoning Pandorym so he's stuck. Well, Obligatum is here to set things right, and make sure that poor, imprisoned death machine gets the freedom it was promised to carry out its goal, which through some warped sense of honor it is willing to do. How exactly this does not bring him into conflict with another type of Inevitable, the Varakhut, whose job it is to prevent deicide is a whole other box of worms.
* The [[Harmonium]] from [[Planescape]]. ''"The Harmonium believes that peace is a better end than war. [...] If it takes thumping heads to spread the truth, well, the Harmonium's ready to thump heads. Sure, there may not be peace right away, but every time the Harmonium gets rid of an enemy, the multiverse is that much closer to the universal harmony it was meant to have."'' This attitude is how the third layer of [[Arcadia]] shifted into [[Mechanus]], and the gods of Arcadia had to start over. Whoops. What's more, don't forget that they exterminated all non-lawful ''good and neutral'' species in the world where their faction originated. Some good.
* The [[Modron]] race, similarly to the Inevitables above, due to being extraplanar mechanical lifeforms who embody Lawful Neutral. Except they somehow have even less personality. Imagine a poorly-written chatbot with arms, legs and the ability to beat you over the head; that's basically a Modron. They can't even understand the idea that their assumptions may be incorrect.
* [[Helm]], the Lawful Neutral God of Guardians and Watchmen from the [[Forgotten Realms]] has earned this kind of reputation in-universe. Nobody will ''ever'' let him live it down that, during the [[Time of Troubles]], he killed Mystara, the Goddess of Magic, for trying to get back into the upper planes after Ao kicked them all out, despite the fact he knew that this would severely damage the fabric of reality in the process. As a result, [[wild magic]] zones and dead magic zones are commonly called "Helmlands". He also catches a lot of flak for the role his worshippers played in the massacres in [[Maztica]], but that's not so much Lawful Stupid as religious bigotry and the priest's only daughter being sacrificed by one of the natives.
* The stereotypical [[Space Marine]]. Stealth is cowardice, frontal assaults are the only way to go. On the occasion they do utilize tactics like stealth, feints, and flanking, it's all to help the frontal assault succeed rather than the other way around. Retreating is never an option, even if it's to gain more cover. Some will never field [[psyker]]s or ignore [[xenos]], and some won't even cooperate with other [[Space Marine Chapter]]s. A special case being [[Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine|Leandros]].
* The Starks from [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Game of Thrones]]. When Ned Stark finds out that Joffrey and his siblings are incest born bastards, he does the most asinine thing possible and tells Cersei, instead of going to Robert directly. He also tells his daughters of his plan, which causes Sansa to blab to everybody. His son Robb Stark has even more fuckups, namely executing one of his top generals when he should have kept him around (though said Karstark general undeniably disrespected his authority), failing to communicate with Edmure (though Edmure is incompetent), and blatantly breaking his promise to Walder Frey because he felt bad he screwed some other chick and decided to marry her in order to keep their honor intact (though Walder is admittedly a backstabbing opportunist who might have betrayed him anyway, as Robb was undoubtedly losing the war. Also, Walder’s choice to violate one of the most valued rules of honor that even pirates, thieves and murderers keep, simultaneously fucked over his own side by becoming the group absolutely nobody on any side wants to be associated with. Not even the people he betrays Robb in favor of). This kind of shit ends up with the Starks practically destroyed.
** An important qualifier is that these decisions aren't entirely motivated by stupid adherence to honour, with personal history heavily motivating the decisions or with the full consequences of the actions not being immediately obvious.
* The Jedi from the Star Wars Prequels are this, as [[Ultramarines|they followed the Jedi Code - which was meant as a mere guideline - as a set of unbreakable rules]] and set out to completely repress all emotion in somewhat unfounded fear of those emotions leading to the dark side, when they should have acknowledged that which makes us human and simply taught how to use them positively. Such arbitrarily following of the code leads the Council to turn a blind eye to the various problems Anakin Skywalker was having, thereby unintentionally sealing their own downfall.
** Works set before the Prequels shows that this is hardly a new problem for the Jedi Order. Knights Of The Old Republic II features a Jedi named Atris who's incredibly obsessed with following the code to the letter and wiping out the Sith. This leads to her being filled with bitterness and remorse after her best friend/secret crush the Exile is kicked out of the Order, but also leaves her too arrogant to talk to anyone about it. Instead she starts to hide herself away in a temple filled with Sith holocrons to be alone and meditate, and since Sith holocrons literally exude Dark Side-tainted Force energy, she gets unknowingly corrupted into a Sith. Yes, she was so Lawful Stupid that it ''turned her evil''.
* The [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dawi]]. They are obsessed with the concept of revenge, as '''all Grudges must be answered for.''' This causes them to wage many unnecessary wars, which is especially stupid since they are a dying race. This is exacerbated by the fact that many of these wars waged to avenge their honor just end up creating yet more grudges (because weirdly, their enemies might kill a Dwarf or two when defending themselves instead of bending over and accepting their "punishment" like a BDSM starved daemonnette), creating a never ending cycle of conflict. The fluff speaks of two dwarven lords who were fighting each other in a generation-spanning War of Grudges, even while they were being invaded by an Orc warband. The two lords eventually got together and realized that neither of them remembered what their clans were fighting over, forgave each other, and resolved to ally against the Orcs beating down on their gates. Both sides were promptly crushed by a cave-in caused by ''the gods themselves'' for failing to avenge their respective Grudges and the Orcs got to loot another Karak without difficulty.
* The [[Azorius Senate|Azorius]] from [[Magic: The Gathering]]. The guild makes so many laws that they can literally arrest ANYONE, and then justify it by finding one of the myriad of pointless laws they've passed that the individual has undoubtedly broken. They'll even arrest someone for merely ''thinking'' about breaking a law (see the card [https://scryfall.com/card/rtr/47/psychic-spiral| Psychic Spiral] for proof.) This culminates in them, under Dovin Baan, endorsing [[Bolas]] in ''War of the Spark'' - doesn't matter if there's undead killing everyone and everything erupting into war, as long as your guildleader is officially elected everything is fine.
* The Sangheili, or Elites, from the [[Halo]] franchise. With a ridiculously rigid Bushido-style code of honor that makes the Ultramarines seem like pragmatic chaps, the Elites have often lost battles to humans they could have otherwise won, if they weren't so blindingly "honorable" (Ignoring for the minute that they had no problem turning a planet into slag from orbit). Full frontal assaults, suicide charges, blindingly following three shady testicle-looking douchebags, and a stupid insistence on fighting "worthy" enemies fairly are all par for the course (granted, they have no problem massacring unarmed civilians or "dishonorable" opponents). There are also numerous examples of otherwise unarmed Elites preferring death over deigning to touch a fully loaded human weapon at their feet. But the most glaring example of their stupidity has to come from the fact that they consider it a [[What|dishonor to either get their own blood shed off the battlefield or become involved in a medical practice]]. This stigma is to such a degree that the Elite Shipmaster who became the Arbiter was secreted away from his keep in the dead of night to visit a doctor (against his will) after he suffered a severe accident during a training session shortly upon his promotion to Shipmaster. Even Klingons aren't that stupid. The only reason they even win against the Jiralhanae (Brutes) is because the Brutes are more Stupid Evil than the Sangheili are Lawful Stupid. [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|Well, that, and the fact that they had allied with the Humans by that point and have been inspired to move past some of their ass-backward stances on medicine and weaponry.]]
* The Nugganite religion, from Terry Pratchett's ''Monstrous Regiment'': the decrees of the Borogravian god Nuggan forbid everything from garlic, chocolate, and the smell of beets, to the color blue and ''babies''. Many Borogravians privately acknowledge that most of Nuggan's Abominations are completely ridiculous (and let the most extreme ones slide, because they're virtually impossible to enforce anyway), even while fretting about which Abominations they're currently committing. Due the way belief works in Discworld, Nugganites came to believe in nothing but the Abominations themselves, which diverted worship away from Nuggan himself. In the end, it's revealed that Nuggan has rotted away until nothing is left but a disembodied voice babbling Abominations nonstop.
* For the literature amateurs, Inspector Javert from ''Les Misérables''. As the author himself explained: the man was built upon two simple and good precepts, namely respect of authority and refusal of rebellion; but he made those look evil in his fanatical exaggeration of them. In a rare occurrence for that kind of character, Javert ends up overcoming the stupid part of the alignment as part of his character arc: When finally faced with a Lawful Good convict, he [[Blam|BLAMs himself]] rather than capture him (or let him go and live as an imperfect cop). Way to get out of a Paladin dilemma.
** As Hugo injected a ton of social criticism in his books, public servants putting the law above morals is a recurring theme. Ninety-Three has Cimourdain, a political commissar during the French Revolution, who ends up condemning his own adoptive son to death for freeing a traitor. Much like Javert, he takes his own life during the execution.
*Speaking of [[Commissar]]s, although protagonists like [[Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt|Ibram Gaunt]] or [[Ciaphas Cain]] will mostly be sensible individuals (if only because nobody wants to read about a teamkilling fucktard for a dozen or so books), background commissars in the Imperial Guard are often the epitome of Lawful Stupid: You left your post to report vital intel to Headquarters? That's a summary execution for ya. Even "protagonists" aren't immune to this. [[Severina Raine|Critiqued an order that'd get your men killed but didn't refuse to follow it? That's a summary execution for ya.]]
* [https://oots.fandom.com/wiki/Miko_Miyazaki| Miko Miyazaki] from the webcomic ''Order of the Stick'' is another example. She is an overzealous paladin who sees herself as judge, jury, and executioner. The author of the webcomic specifically wrote her to be a parody of 3.5th edition paladins. Her most notable action was murdering her own lord for conspiring against the paladins (although said lord had [[Chaotic Good|good intentions]]). She is disliked by the other members of her order and is sent on missions far away so no one has to deal with her.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Alignment]][[Category:Stupid Alignments]]

Lawful Stupid

2021-10-14T03:08:17Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Examples of Lawful Stupid */

{{fail}}
[[File:Obligatum VII.jpg|300px|thumb|right|[[Inevitable|Obligatum]] [[Elder Evils#Pandorym|VII]], the posterboy of Lawful Stupid.]]
{{Topquote|You wear your honor like a suit of armor, Stark. You think it keeps you safe, but all it does is weigh you down and make it hard for you to move.|[[A Song of Ice and Fire|Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish to Lord Eddard Stark.]]}}
{{Topquote|Individuals should not create fan films or animations based on our settings and characters. To create such content, you need a Games Workshop license.|Games Workshop}}
{{Topquote|Fiat justitia ruat caelum - Let justice be done though the heavens fall|legal maxim}}

'''Lawful Stupid''' is gamer slang (derived from the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[alignment]] system, but can easily be applied to [[character]]s in any [[role-playing game]] as well as fiction in general) for a specific way of playing a [[Lawful Good]] or, especially, a [[Lawful Neutral]] character, most infamously a [[Paladin]]. It is characterized by lack of common sense, following the rules arbitrarily without actually understanding them and just generally being an annoying prick. He's [[that guy]] who will stop a chase scene because he has to chastise someone that was jaywalking. Lawful Stupid players are one of the main reasons (along with asshole [[DM]]s) why people dislike the Paladin class. It can also be a jab at the fact that Intelligence is a common [[dump stat]] for Paladins in 3.5, since their [[MAD]] mandates high Charisma and Wisdom, the traditional dump stats of combat classes. [[Pathfinder]] allows them to dump Wisdom, the only class that can really do so, making this even worse.

Although the iconic Lawful Stupid character is a poorly-played Paladin (Alignment requirement: Lawful Good), non-Paladin depictions are almost invariably [[Lawful Neutral]], since this kind of characterization is a disappointingly logical extrapolation from a character alignment that can be summed up as "[[Judge Dredd|the Law is the Law and all that matters is that it is the law;]] [[Derp|whether or not it helps or hurts people is irrelevant, the LAW must be upheld!]]"

A lot of this really stems from a surface understanding of the Lawful alignment. While following the law is a lawful act, following the rules is not the end-all definition of the Lawful alignment. Lawful means orderly. So the type of person who religiously organizes their sock drawer would be considered Lawful. A Lawful person can disagree with the laws of the land, wanting to replace them with new laws. It's the desire for order and logic that matters. Of course these would be sensible Lawful people, and therefore not "Lawful Stupid".

Compare to [[Chaotic Stupid]], [[Stupid Evil]], [[Stupid Good]], and [[Stupid Neutral]]. There really are a lot of ways to be stupid in fantasy games, aren't there?

== How to avoid it while playing Lawful Good ==
The [[Discworld]] series by Terry Pratchett, in particular any scenes with the Witches of Lancre or the Ankh Morpork City Watch, are all but required reading for understanding. Granny Weatherwax, Sam Vimes, and Carrot Ironfoundersson are all (probably) Lawful Good, but all add their own twists on the formula. Carrot possesses such a high Charisma score that he can literally [[Diplomancer|charm people into doing what he wants]], but when that fails he ''tricks'' people into doing what he wants, technically avoiding a non-Lawful alignment by twisting the law into a pretzel when he can. Vimes follows both the letter and the spirit of the Law whenever he can stretch it, but isn't above committing illegal acts to uphold Lawful purposes. Granny is Evil by nature, but Good by necessity and ''hates'' it, since her sister got first pick on the question "are you a good witch or a bad witch?" and chose to be bad. To combat this, she continually takes out her frustration on other people by acting like the spiteful and entitled octogenarian that she technically is, avoiding a fall into True Neutral or Neutral Evil because witches are ''supposed'' to act a bit nutty, even the Lawful ones, and none of it matters as long as she does what's capital-r Right.

The AD&D book "The Complete Paladin's Handbook" has a section ("Virtues", page 33) on the behavior and code of conduct a Paladin normally upholds; that of a gracious and well-mannered individual who respects good and the law, but is not on an endless crusade to uphold it. They would not upset a tavern just because they detected an evil presence within and risk causing chaos, for example.

Another way to play lawful good is to play your paladin like a modern soldier: able and willing to do anything needed to win, except as decreed by certain laws and customs of war, e.g. for example, the Geneva and Hague Conventions. Those laws still restrict the actions of a soldier, but he is still expected to act with common sense in order to achieve victory and not follow orders that violate those laws.

== How to avoid it while playing lawful neutral ==
This is arguably even harder than avoiding it whilst playing Lawful Good; at least Lawful Good types are ''supposed'' to balance their calling to law & order vs. their calling to good. Lawful Neutral types are often categorized by their firm belief that law and order are the only things of importance, with morality being dismissed as insignificant next to maintaining of order. The primary key to doing so is to keep a proper perspective; traffic laws, for example, have their place in the scheme of things. When you are racing to prevent the nuclear annihilation of a city is ''not'' that place. Don't get so bogged down with legal minutia that you allow far greater acts of destruction and anarchy to occur in whilst you attend to the little things.

[[Judge Dredd]] can be a good example of this. For example, in the opening sequence of the 2012 ''Dredd'' movie, he pursues a car full of criminals but does not shoot at them until they collide with and kill a pedestrian, and even then only shoots to disable the van's tires. He doesn't shoot to kill until one of them threatens to kill a hostage and refuses to accept an offer to surrender. Also, when he sees a vagrant sitting outside the crime scene Dredd tells him not to be there when he gets back instead of arresting him because he has better things to do at the moment. Of course, when he's just doing the rounds on his birthday, he'll issue noise citations to children who sing to him because <s>he is The Law</s> it's just plain embarrassing (and then donate the presents he receives to an orphanage because he's not [[That Guy]]). But not always a good example, like the time in the 1995 movie when Dredd suggested Rob Schneider's character jump off the top of a building rather than vandalize a robot to hide in during a shootout, since as Dredd points out, jumping might be suicide, ''but it's legal''.

This is not to say that a Lawful Neutral character doesn't recognize when they break the law or go against the general sense of law (Law) when called to; they do, and they're likely to be annoyed by it. Tenya Iida from My Hero Academia explores this concept, although he can sometimes break into Lawful Stupid, too.

== Examples of Lawful Stupid ==
* [[Games Workshop#Back_on_the_Old_Shit|The Games Workshop Legal Team]]
* The [[Inevitable]]s, divine [[golem]]-like beings with the duty to enact laws and enforce contracts. There's a story of one named "Obligatum VII" (the seventh in its line because six times prior people had the common sense to stop him) who’s trying to free the [[BBEG]] in a campaign from the book [[Elder Evils]]. The story goes that some mages summoned an eldritch abomination named [[Pandorym]] to blackmail the gods, making a contract with it to destroy the universe when it was summoned. The wizards imprisoned Pandorym instead of finishing the ritual to let it loose so that it wouldn't destroy the universe before they were ready, but the gods just smote the stupid wizards the instant they were done imprisoning Pandorym so he's stuck. Well, Obligatum is here to set things right, and make sure that poor, imprisoned death machine gets the freedom it was promised to carry out its goal, which through some warped sense of honor it is willing to do. How exactly this does not bring him into conflict with another type of Inevitable, the Varakhut, whose job it is to prevent deicide is a whole other box of worms.
* The [[Harmonium]] from [[Planescape]]. ''"The Harmonium believes that peace is a better end than war. [...] If it takes thumping heads to spread the truth, well, the Harmonium's ready to thump heads. Sure, there may not be peace right away, but every time the Harmonium gets rid of an enemy, the multiverse is that much closer to the universal harmony it was meant to have."'' This attitude is how the third layer of [[Arcadia]] shifted into [[Mechanus]], and the gods of Arcadia had to start over. Whoops. What's more, don't forget that they exterminated all non-lawful ''good and neutral'' species in the world where their faction originated. Some good.
* The [[Modron]] race, similarly to the Inevitables above, due to being extraplanar mechanical lifeforms who embody Lawful Neutral. Except they somehow have even less personality. Imagine a poorly-written chatbot with arms, legs and the ability to beat you over the head; that's basically a Modron. They can't even understand the idea that their assumptions may be incorrect.
* [[Helm]], the Lawful Neutral God of Guardians and Watchmen from the [[Forgotten Realms]] has earned this kind of reputation in-universe. Nobody will ''ever'' let him live it down that, during the [[Time of Troubles]], he killed Mystara, the Goddess of Magic, for trying to get back into the upper planes after Ao kicked them all out, despite the fact he knew that this would severely damage the fabric of reality in the process. As a result, [[wild magic]] zones and dead magic zones are commonly called "Helmlands". He also catches a lot of flak for the role his worshippers played in the massacres in [[Maztica]], but that's not so much Lawful Stupid as religious bigotry and the priest's only daughter being sacrificed by one of the natives.
* The stereotypical [[Space Marine]]. Stealth is cowardice, frontal assaults are the only way to go. On the occasion they do utilize tactics like stealth, feints, and flanking, it's all to help the frontal assault succeed rather than the other way around. Retreating is never an option, even if it's to gain more cover. Some will never field [[psyker]]s, ignore [[xenos]], and some won't even cooperate with other [[Space Marine Chapter]]s. A special case being [[Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine|Leandros]].
* The Starks from [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Game of Thrones]]. When Ned Stark finds out that Joffrey and his siblings are incest born bastards, he does the most asinine thing possible and tells Cersei, instead of going to Robert directly. He also tells his daughters of his plan, which causes Sansa to blab to everybody. His son Robb Stark has even more fuckups, namely executing one of his top generals when he should have kept him around (though said Karstark general undeniably disrespected his authority), failing to communicate with Edmure (though Edmure is incompetent), and blatantly breaking his promise to Walder Frey because he felt bad he screwed some other chick and decided to marry her in order to keep their honor intact (though Walder is admittedly a backstabbing opportunist who might have betrayed him anyway, as Robb was undoubtedly losing the war. Also, Walder’s choice to violate one of the most valued rules of honor that even pirates, thieves and murderers keep, simultaneously fucked over his own side by becoming the group absolutely nobody on any side wants to be associated with. Not even the people he betrays Robb in favor of). This kind of shit ends up with the Starks practically destroyed.
** An important qualifier is that these decisions aren't entirely motivated by stupid adherence to honour, with personal history heavily motivating the decisions or with the full consequences of the actions not being immediately obvious.
* The Jedi from the Star Wars Prequels are this, as [[Ultramarines|they followed the Jedi Code - which was meant as a mere guideline - as a set of unbreakable rules]] and set out to completely repress all emotion in somewhat unfounded fear of those emotions leading to the dark side, when they should have acknowledged that which makes us human and simply taught how to use them positively. Such arbitrarily following of the code leads the Council to turn a blind eye to the various problems Anakin Skywalker was having, thereby unintentionally sealing their own downfall.
** Works set before the Prequels shows that this is hardly a new problem for the Jedi Order. Knights Of The Old Republic II features a Jedi named Atris who's incredibly obsessed with following the code to the letter and wiping out the Sith. This leads to her being filled with bitterness and remorse after her best friend/secret crush the Exile is kicked out of the Order, but also leaves her too arrogant to talk to anyone about it. Instead she starts to hide herself away in a temple filled with Sith holocrons to be alone and meditate, and since Sith holocrons literally exude Dark Side-tainted Force energy, she gets unknowingly corrupted into a Sith. Yes, she was so Lawful Stupid that it ''turned her evil''.
* The [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dawi]]. They are obsessed with the concept of revenge, as '''all Grudges must be answered for.''' This causes them to wage many unnecessary wars, which is especially stupid since they are a dying race. This is exacerbated by the fact that many of these wars waged to avenge their honor just end up creating yet more grudges (because weirdly, their enemies might kill a Dwarf or two when defending themselves instead of bending over and accepting their "punishment" like a BDSM starved daemonnette), creating a never ending cycle of conflict. The fluff speaks of two dwarven lords who were fighting each other in a generation-spanning War of Grudges, even while they were being invaded by an Orc warband. The two lords eventually got together and realized that neither of them remembered what their clans were fighting over, forgave each other, and resolved to ally against the Orcs beating down on their gates. Both sides were promptly crushed by a cave-in caused by ''the gods themselves'' for failing to avenge their respective Grudges and the Orcs got to loot another Karak without difficulty.
* The [[Azorius Senate|Azorius]] from [[Magic: The Gathering]]. The guild makes so many laws that they can literally arrest ANYONE, and then justify it by finding one of the myriad of pointless laws they've passed that the individual has undoubtedly broken. They'll even arrest someone for merely ''thinking'' about breaking a law (see the card [https://scryfall.com/card/rtr/47/psychic-spiral| Psychic Spiral] for proof.) This culminates in them, under Dovin Baan, endorsing [[Bolas]] in ''War of the Spark'' - doesn't matter if there's undead killing everyone and everything erupting into war, as long as your guildleader is officially elected everything is fine.
* The Sangheili, or Elites, from the [[Halo]] franchise. With a ridiculously rigid Bushido-style code of honor that makes the Ultramarines seem like pragmatic chaps, the Elites have often lost battles to humans they could have otherwise won, if they weren't so blindingly "honorable" (Ignoring for the minute that they had no problem turning a planet into slag from orbit). Full frontal assaults, suicide charges, blindingly following three shady testicle-looking douchebags, and a stupid insistence on fighting "worthy" enemies fairly are all par for the course (granted, they have no problem massacring unarmed civilians or "dishonorable" opponents). There are also numerous examples of otherwise unarmed Elites preferring death over deigning to touch a fully loaded human weapon at their feet. But the most glaring example of their stupidity has to come from the fact that they consider it a [[What|dishonor to either get their own blood shed off the battlefield or become involved in a medical practice]]. This stigma is to such a degree that the Elite Shipmaster who became the Arbiter was secreted away from his keep in the dead of night to visit a doctor (against his will) after he suffered a severe accident during a training session shortly upon his promotion to Shipmaster. Even Klingons aren't that stupid. The only reason they even win against the Jiralhanae (Brutes) is because the Brutes are more Stupid Evil than the Sangheili are Lawful Stupid. [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|Well, that, and the fact that they had allied with the Humans by that point and have been inspired to move past some of their ass-backward stances on medicine and weaponry.]]
* The Nugganite religion, from Terry Pratchett's ''Monstrous Regiment'': the decrees of the Borogravian god Nuggan forbid everything from garlic, chocolate, and the smell of beets, to the color blue and ''babies''. Many Borogravians privately acknowledge that most of Nuggan's Abominations are completely ridiculous (and let the most extreme ones slide, because they're virtually impossible to enforce anyway), even while fretting about which Abominations they're currently committing. Due the way belief works in Discworld, Nugganites came to believe in nothing but the Abominations themselves, which diverted worship away from Nuggan himself. In the end, it's revealed that Nuggan has rotted away until nothing is left but a disembodied voice babbling Abominations nonstop.
* For the literature amateurs, Inspector Javert from ''Les Misérables''. As the author himself explained: the man was built upon two simple and good precepts, namely respect of authority and refusal of rebellion; but he made those look evil in his fanatical exaggeration of them. In a rare occurrence for that kind of character, Javert ends up overcoming the stupid part of the alignment as part of his character arc: When finally faced with a Lawful Good convict, he [[Blam|BLAMs himself]] rather than capture him (or let him go and live as an imperfect cop). Way to get out of a Paladin dilemma.
** As Hugo injected a ton of social criticism in his books, public servants putting the law above morals is a recurring theme. Ninety-Three has Cimourdain, a political commissar during the French Revolution, who ends up condemning his own adoptive son to death for freeing a traitor. Much like Javert, he takes his own life during the execution.
*Speaking of [[Commissar]]s, although protagonists like [[Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt|Ibram Gaunt]] or [[Ciaphas Cain]] will mostly be sensible individuals (if only because nobody wants to read about a teamkilling fucktard for a dozen or so books), background commissars in the Imperial Guard are often the epitome of Lawful Stupid: You left your post to report vital intel to Headquarters? That's a summary execution for ya. Even "protagonists" aren't immune to this. [[Severina Raine|Critiqued an order that'd get your men killed but didn't refuse to follow it? That's a summary execution for ya.]]
* [https://oots.fandom.com/wiki/Miko_Miyazaki| Miko Miyazaki] from the webcomic ''Order of the Stick'' is another example. She is an overzealous paladin who sees herself as judge, jury, and executioner. The author of the webcomic specifically wrote her to be a parody of 3.5th edition paladins. Her most notable action was murdering her own lord for conspiring against the paladins (although said lord had [[Chaotic Good|good intentions]]). She is disliked by the other members of her order and is sent on missions far away so no one has to deal with her.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Alignment]][[Category:Stupid Alignments]]

Lawful Stupid

2021-10-14T02:56:15Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* How to avoid it while playing Lawful Good */

{{fail}}
[[File:Obligatum VII.jpg|300px|thumb|right|[[Inevitable|Obligatum]] [[Elder Evils#Pandorym|VII]], the posterboy of Lawful Stupid.]]
{{Topquote|You wear your honor like a suit of armor, Stark. You think it keeps you safe, but all it does is weigh you down and make it hard for you to move.|[[A Song of Ice and Fire|Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish to Lord Eddard Stark.]]}}
{{Topquote|Individuals should not create fan films or animations based on our settings and characters. To create such content, you need a Games Workshop license.|Games Workshop}}
{{Topquote|Fiat justitia ruat caelum - Let justice be done though the heavens fall|legal maxim}}

'''Lawful Stupid''' is gamer slang (derived from the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[alignment]] system, but can easily be applied to [[character]]s in any [[role-playing game]] as well as fiction in general) for a specific way of playing a [[Lawful Good]] or, especially, a [[Lawful Neutral]] character, most infamously a [[Paladin]]. It is characterized by lack of common sense, following the rules arbitrarily without actually understanding them and just generally being an annoying prick. He's [[that guy]] who will stop a chase scene because he has to chastise someone that was jaywalking. Lawful Stupid players are one of the main reasons (along with asshole [[DM]]s) why people dislike the Paladin class. It can also be a jab at the fact that Intelligence is a common [[dump stat]] for Paladins in 3.5, since their [[MAD]] mandates high Charisma and Wisdom, the traditional dump stats of combat classes. [[Pathfinder]] allows them to dump Wisdom, the only class that can really do so, making this even worse.

Although the iconic Lawful Stupid character is a poorly-played Paladin (Alignment requirement: Lawful Good), non-Paladin depictions are almost invariably [[Lawful Neutral]], since this kind of characterization is a disappointingly logical extrapolation from a character alignment that can be summed up as "[[Judge Dredd|the Law is the Law and all that matters is that it is the law;]] [[Derp|whether or not it helps or hurts people is irrelevant, the LAW must be upheld!]]"

A lot of this really stems from a surface understanding of the Lawful alignment. While following the law is a lawful act, following the rules is not the end-all definition of the Lawful alignment. Lawful means orderly. So the type of person who religiously organizes their sock drawer would be considered Lawful. A Lawful person can disagree with the laws of the land, wanting to replace them with new laws. It's the desire for order and logic that matters. Of course these would be sensible Lawful people, and therefore not "Lawful Stupid".

Compare to [[Chaotic Stupid]], [[Stupid Evil]], [[Stupid Good]], and [[Stupid Neutral]]. There really are a lot of ways to be stupid in fantasy games, aren't there?

== How to avoid it while playing Lawful Good ==
The [[Discworld]] series by Terry Pratchett, in particular any scenes with the Witches of Lancre or the Ankh Morpork City Watch, are all but required reading for understanding. Granny Weatherwax, Sam Vimes, and Carrot Ironfoundersson are all (probably) Lawful Good, but all add their own twists on the formula. Carrot possesses such a high Charisma score that he can literally [[Diplomancer|charm people into doing what he wants]], but when that fails he ''tricks'' people into doing what he wants, technically avoiding a non-Lawful alignment by twisting the law into a pretzel when he can. Vimes follows both the letter and the spirit of the Law whenever he can stretch it, but isn't above committing illegal acts to uphold Lawful purposes. Granny is Evil by nature, but Good by necessity and ''hates'' it, since her sister got first pick on the question "are you a good witch or a bad witch?" and chose to be bad. To combat this, she continually takes out her frustration on other people by acting like the spiteful and entitled octogenarian that she technically is, avoiding a fall into True Neutral or Neutral Evil because witches are ''supposed'' to act a bit nutty, even the Lawful ones, and none of it matters as long as she does what's capital-r Right.

The AD&D book "The Complete Paladin's Handbook" has a section ("Virtues", page 33) on the behavior and code of conduct a Paladin normally upholds; that of a gracious and well-mannered individual who respects good and the law, but is not on an endless crusade to uphold it. They would not upset a tavern just because they detected an evil presence within and risk causing chaos, for example.

Another way to play lawful good is to play your paladin like a modern soldier: able and willing to do anything needed to win, except as decreed by certain laws and customs of war, e.g. for example, the Geneva and Hague Conventions. Those laws still restrict the actions of a soldier, but he is still expected to act with common sense in order to achieve victory and not follow orders that violate those laws.

== How to avoid it while playing lawful neutral ==
This is arguably even harder than avoiding it whilst playing Lawful Good; at least Lawful Good types are ''supposed'' to balance their calling to law & order vs. their calling to good. Lawful Neutral types are often categorized by their firm belief that law and order are the only things of importance, with morality being dismissed as insignificant next to maintaining of order. The primary key to doing so is to keep a proper perspective; traffic laws, for example, have their place in the scheme of things. When you are racing to prevent the nuclear annihilation of a city is ''not'' that place. Don't get so bogged down with legal minutia that you allow far greater acts of destruction and anarchy to occur in whilst you attend to the little things.

[[Judge Dredd]] can be a good example of this. For example, in the opening sequence of the 2012 ''Dredd'' movie, he pursues a car full of criminals but does not shoot at them until they collide with and kill a pedestrian, and even then only shoots to disable the van's tires. He doesn't shoot to kill until one of them threatens to kill a hostage and refuses to accept an offer to surrender. Also, when he sees a vagrant sitting outside the crime scene Dredd tells him not to be there when he gets back instead of arresting him because he has better things to do at the moment. Of course, when he's just doing the rounds on his birthday, he'll issue noise citations to children who sing to him because <s>he is The Law</s> it's just plain embarrassing (and then donate the presents he receives to an orphanage because he's not [[That Guy]]). But not always a good example, like the time in the 1995 movie when Dredd suggested Rob Schneider's character jump off the top of a building rather than vandalize a robot to hide in during a shootout, since as Dredd points out, jumping might be suicide, ''but it's legal''.

This is not to say that a Lawful Neutral character doesn't recognize when they break the law or go against the general sense of law (Law) when called to; they do, and they're likely to be annoyed by it. Tenya Iida from My Hero Academia explores this concept, although he can sometimes break into Lawful Stupid, too.

== Examples of Lawful Stupid ==
* [[Games Workshop#Back_on_the_Old_Shit|The Games Workshop Legal Team]]
* The [[Inevitable]]s, divine [[golem]]-like beings with the duty to enact laws and enforce contracts. There's a story of one named "Obligatum VII" (the seventh in its line because six times prior people had the common sense to stop him) who trying to free the [[BBEG]] in a campaign from the book [[Elder Evils]]. The story goes that some mages summoned an eldritch abomination named [[Pandorym]] to blackmail the gods, making a contract with it to destroy the universe when it was summoned. The wizards imprisoned Pandorym instead of finishing the ritual to let it loose so that it wouldn't destroy the universe before they were ready, but the gods just smote the stupid wizards the instant they were done imprisoning Pandorym so he's stuck. Well, Obligatum is here to set things right, and make sure that poor, imprisoned death machine gets the freedom it was promised to carry out its goal, which through some warped sense of honor it is willing to do. How exactly this does not bring him into conflict with another type of Inevitable, the Varakhut, whose job it is to prevent deicide is a whole other box of worms.
* The [[Harmonium]] from [[Planescape]]. ''"The Harmonium believes that peace is a better end than war. [...] If it takes thumping heads to spread the truth, well, the Harmonium's ready to thump heads. Sure, there may not be peace right away, but every time the Harmonium gets rid of an enemy, the multiverse is that much closer to the universal harmony it was meant to have."'' This attitude is how the third layer of [[Arcadia]] shifted into [[Mechanus]], and the gods of Arcadia had to start over. Whoops. What's more, don't forget that they exterminated all non-lawful ''good and neutral'' species in the world where their faction originated. Some good.
* The [[Modron]] race, similarly to the Inevitables above, due to being extraplanar mechanical lifeforms who embody Lawful Neutral. Except they somehow have even less personality. Imagine a poorly-written chatbot with arms, legs and the ability to beat you over the head; that's basically a Modron. They can't even understand the idea that their assumptions may be incorrect.
* [[Helm]], the Lawful Neutral God of Guardians and Watchmen from the [[Forgotten Realms]] has earned this kind of reputation in-universe. Nobody will ''ever'' let him live it down that, during the [[Time of Troubles]], he killed Mystara, the Goddess of Magic, for trying to get back into the upper planes after Ao kicked them all out, despite the fact he knew that this would severely damage the fabric of reality in the process. As a result, [[wild magic]] zones and dead magic zones are commonly called "Helmlands". He also catches a lot of flak for the role his worshippers played in the massacres in [[Maztica]], but that's not so much Lawful Stupid as religious bigotry and the priest's only daughter being sacrificed by one of the natives.
* The stereotypical [[Space Marine]]. Stealth is cowardice, frontal assaults are the only way to go. On the occasion they do utilize tactics like stealth, feints, and flanking, it's all to help the frontal assault succeed rather than the other way around. Retreating is never an option, even if it's to gain more cover. Some will never field [[psyker]]s, ignore [[xenos]], and some won't even cooperate with other [[Space Marine Chapter]]s. A special case being [[Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine|Leandros]].
* The Starks from [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Game of Thrones]]. When Ned Stark finds out that Joffrey and his siblings are incest born bastards, he does the most asinine thing possible and tells Cersei, instead of going to Robert directly. He also tells his daughters of his plan, which causes Sansa to blab to everybody. His son Robb Stark has even more fuckups, namely executing one of his top generals when he should have kept him around (though said Karstark general undeniably disrespected his authority), failing to communicate with Edmure (though Edmure is incompetent), and blatantly breaking his promise to Walder Frey because he felt bad he screwed some other chick and decided to marry her in order to keep their honor intact (though Walder is admittedly a backstabbing opportunist who might have betrayed him anyway, as Robb was undoubtedly losing the war. Also, Walder’s choice to violate one of the most valued rules of honor that even pirates, thieves and murderers keep, simultaneously fucked over his own side by becoming the group absolutely nobody on any side wants to be associated with. Not even the people he betrays Robb in favor of). This kind of shit ends up with the Starks practically destroyed.
** An important qualifier is that these decisions aren't entirely motivated by stupid adherence to honour, with personal history heavily motivating the decisions or with the full consequences of the actions not being immediately obvious.
* The Jedi from the Star Wars Prequels are this, as [[Ultramarines|they followed the Jedi Code - which was meant as a mere guideline - as a set of unbreakable rules]] and set out to completely repress all emotion in somewhat unfounded fear of those emotions leading to the dark side, when they should have acknowledged that which makes us human and simply taught how to use them positively. Such arbitrarily following of the code leads the Council to turn a blind eye to the various problems Anakin Skywalker was having, thereby unintentionally sealing their own downfall.
** Works set before the Prequels shows that this is hardly a new problem for the Jedi Order. Knights Of The Old Republic II features a Jedi named Atris who's incredibly obsessed with following the code to the letter and wiping out the Sith. This leads to her being filled with bitterness and remorse after her best friend/secret crush the Exile is kicked out of the Order, but also leaves her too arrogant to talk to anyone about it. Instead she starts to hide herself away in a temple filled with Sith holocrons to be alone and meditate, and since Sith holocrons literally exude Dark Side-tainted Force energy, she gets unknowingly corrupted into a Sith. Yes, she was so Lawful Stupid that it ''turned her evil''.
* The [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dawi]]. They are obsessed with the concept of revenge, as '''all Grudges must be answered for.''' This causes them to wage many unnecessary wars, which is especially stupid since they are a dying race. This is exacerbated by the fact that many of these wars waged to avenge their honor just end up creating yet more grudges (because weirdly, their enemies might kill a Dwarf or two when defending themselves instead of bending over and accepting their "punishment" like a BDSM starved daemonnette), creating a never ending cycle of conflict. The fluff speaks of two dwarven lords who were fighting each other in a generation-spanning War of Grudges, even while they were being invaded by an Orc warband. The two lords eventually got together and realized that neither of them remembered what their clans were fighting over, forgave each other, and resolved to ally against the Orcs beating down on their gates. Both sides were promptly crushed by a cave-in caused by ''the gods themselves'' for failing to avenge their respective Grudges and the Orcs got to loot another Karak without difficulty.
* The [[Azorius Senate|Azorius]] from [[Magic: The Gathering]]. The guild makes so many laws that they can literally arrest ANYONE, and then justify it by finding one of the myriad of pointless laws they've passed that the individual has undoubtedly broken. They'll even arrest someone for merely ''thinking'' about breaking a law (see the card [https://scryfall.com/card/rtr/47/psychic-spiral| Psychic Spiral] for proof.) This culminates in them, under Dovin Baan, endorsing [[Bolas]] in ''War of the Spark'' - doesn't matter if there's undead killing everyone and everything erupting into war, as long as your guildleader is officially elected everything is fine.
* The Sangheili, or Elites, from the [[Halo]] franchise. With a ridiculously rigid Bushido-style code of honor that makes the Ultramarines seem like pragmatic chaps, the Elites have often lost battles to humans they could have otherwise won, if they weren't so blindingly "honorable" (Ignoring for the minute that they had no problem turning a planet into slag from orbit). Full frontal assaults, suicide charges, blindingly following three shady testicle-looking douchebags, and a stupid insistence on fighting "worthy" enemies fairly are all par for the course (granted, they have no problem massacring unarmed civilians or "dishonorable" opponents). There are also numerous examples of otherwise unarmed Elites preferring death over deigning to touch a fully loaded human weapon at their feet. But the most glaring example of their stupidity has to come from the fact that they consider it a [[What|dishonor to either get their own blood shed off the battlefield or become involved in a medical practice]]. This stigma is to such a degree that the Elite Shipmaster who became the Arbiter was secreted away from his keep in the dead of night to visit a doctor (against his will) after he suffered a severe accident during a training session shortly upon his promotion to Shipmaster. Even Klingons aren't that stupid. The only reason they even win against the Jiralhanae (Brutes) is because the Brutes are more Stupid Evil than the Sangheili are Lawful Stupid. [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|Well, that, and the fact that they had allied with the Humans by that point and have been inspired to move past some of their ass-backward stances on medicine and weaponry.]]
* The Nugganite religion, from Terry Pratchett's ''Monstrous Regiment'': the decrees of the Borogravian god Nuggan forbid everything from garlic, chocolate, and the smell of beets, to the color blue and ''babies''. Many Borogravians privately acknowledge that most of Nuggan's Abominations are completely ridiculous (and let the most extreme ones slide, because they're virtually impossible to enforce anyway), even while fretting about which Abominations they're currently committing. Due the way belief works in Discworld, Nugganites came to believe in nothing but the Abominations themselves, which diverted worship away from Nuggan himself. In the end, it's revealed that Nuggan has rotted away until nothing is left but a disembodied voice babbling Abominations nonstop.
* For the literature amateurs, Inspector Javert from ''Les Misérables''. As the author himself explained: the man was built upon two simple and good precepts, namely respect of authority and refusal of rebellion; but he made those look evil in his fanatical exaggeration of them. In a rare occurrence for that kind of character, Javert ends up overcoming the stupid part of the alignment as part of his character arc: When finally faced with a Lawful Good convict, he [[Blam|BLAMs himself]] rather than capture him (or let him go and live as an imperfect cop). Way to get out of a Paladin dilemma.
** As Hugo injected a ton of social criticism in his books, public servants putting the law above morals is a recurring theme. Ninety-Three has Cimourdain, a political commissar during the French Revolution, who ends up condemning his own adoptive son to death for freeing a traitor. Much like Javert, he takes his own life during the execution.
*Speaking of [[Commissar]]s, although protagonists like [[Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt|Ibram Gaunt]] or [[Ciaphas Cain]] will mostly be sensible individuals (if only because nobody wants to read about a teamkilling fucktard for a dozen or so books), background commissars in the Imperial Guard are often the epitome of Lawful Stupid: You left your post to report vital intel to Headquarters? That's a summary execution for ya. Even "protagonists" aren't immune to this. [[Severina Raine|Critiqued an order that'd get your men killed but didn't refuse to follow it? That's a summary execution for ya.]]
* [https://oots.fandom.com/wiki/Miko_Miyazaki| Miko Miyazaki] from the webcomic ''Order of the Stick'' is another example. She is an overzealous paladin who sees herself as judge, jury, and executioner. The author of the webcomic specifically wrote her to be a parody of 3.5th edition paladins. Her most notable action was murdering her own lord for conspiring against the paladins (although said lord had [[Chaotic Good|good intentions]]). She is disliked by the other members of her order and is sent on missions far away so no one has to deal with her.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Alignment]][[Category:Stupid Alignments]]

Lawful Stupid

2021-10-14T02:55:09Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* How to avoid it while playing Lawful Good */

{{fail}}
[[File:Obligatum VII.jpg|300px|thumb|right|[[Inevitable|Obligatum]] [[Elder Evils#Pandorym|VII]], the posterboy of Lawful Stupid.]]
{{Topquote|You wear your honor like a suit of armor, Stark. You think it keeps you safe, but all it does is weigh you down and make it hard for you to move.|[[A Song of Ice and Fire|Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish to Lord Eddard Stark.]]}}
{{Topquote|Individuals should not create fan films or animations based on our settings and characters. To create such content, you need a Games Workshop license.|Games Workshop}}
{{Topquote|Fiat justitia ruat caelum - Let justice be done though the heavens fall|legal maxim}}

'''Lawful Stupid''' is gamer slang (derived from the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] [[alignment]] system, but can easily be applied to [[character]]s in any [[role-playing game]] as well as fiction in general) for a specific way of playing a [[Lawful Good]] or, especially, a [[Lawful Neutral]] character, most infamously a [[Paladin]]. It is characterized by lack of common sense, following the rules arbitrarily without actually understanding them and just generally being an annoying prick. He's [[that guy]] who will stop a chase scene because he has to chastise someone that was jaywalking. Lawful Stupid players are one of the main reasons (along with asshole [[DM]]s) why people dislike the Paladin class. It can also be a jab at the fact that Intelligence is a common [[dump stat]] for Paladins in 3.5, since their [[MAD]] mandates high Charisma and Wisdom, the traditional dump stats of combat classes. [[Pathfinder]] allows them to dump Wisdom, the only class that can really do so, making this even worse.

Although the iconic Lawful Stupid character is a poorly-played Paladin (Alignment requirement: Lawful Good), non-Paladin depictions are almost invariably [[Lawful Neutral]], since this kind of characterization is a disappointingly logical extrapolation from a character alignment that can be summed up as "[[Judge Dredd|the Law is the Law and all that matters is that it is the law;]] [[Derp|whether or not it helps or hurts people is irrelevant, the LAW must be upheld!]]"

A lot of this really stems from a surface understanding of the Lawful alignment. While following the law is a lawful act, following the rules is not the end-all definition of the Lawful alignment. Lawful means orderly. So the type of person who religiously organizes their sock drawer would be considered Lawful. A Lawful person can disagree with the laws of the land, wanting to replace them with new laws. It's the desire for order and logic that matters. Of course these would be sensible Lawful people, and therefore not "Lawful Stupid".

Compare to [[Chaotic Stupid]], [[Stupid Evil]], [[Stupid Good]], and [[Stupid Neutral]]. There really are a lot of ways to be stupid in fantasy games, aren't there?

== How to avoid it while playing Lawful Good ==
The [[Discworld]] series by Terry Pratchett, in particular any scenes with the Witches of Lancre or the Ankh Morpork City Watch, are all but required reading for understanding. Granny Weatherwax, Sam Vimes, and Carrot Ironfoundersson are all (probably) Lawful Good, but all add their own twists on the formula. Carrot possesses such a high Charisma score that he can literally [[Diplomancer|charm people into doing what he wants]], but when that fails he tricks people into doing what he wants, technically avoiding a non-Lawful alignment by twisting the law into a pretzel when he can. Vimes follows both the letter and the spirit of the Law whenever he can stretch it, but isn't above committing illegal acts to uphold Lawful purposes. Granny is Evil by nature, but Good by necessity and ''hates'' it, since her sister got first pick on the question "are you a good witch or a bad witch?" and chose to be bad. To combat this, she continually takes out her frustration on other people by acting like the spiteful and entitled octogenarian that she technically is, avoiding a fall into True Neutral or Neutral Evil because witches are ''supposed'' to act a bit nutty, even the Lawful ones, and none of it matters as long as she does what's capital-r Right.

The AD&D book "The Complete Paladin's Handbook" has a section ("Virtues", page 33) on the behavior and code of conduct a Paladin normally upholds; that of a gracious and well-mannered individual who respects good and the law, but is not on an endless crusade to uphold it. They would not upset a tavern just because they detected an evil presence within and risk causing chaos, for example.

Another way to play lawful good is to play your paladin like a modern soldier: able and willing to do anything needed to win, except as decreed by certain laws and customs of war, e.g. for example, the Geneva and Hague Conventions. Those laws still restrict the actions of a soldier, but he is still expected to act with common sense in order to achieve victory and not follow orders that violate those laws.

== How to avoid it while playing lawful neutral ==
This is arguably even harder than avoiding it whilst playing Lawful Good; at least Lawful Good types are ''supposed'' to balance their calling to law & order vs. their calling to good. Lawful Neutral types are often categorized by their firm belief that law and order are the only things of importance, with morality being dismissed as insignificant next to maintaining of order. The primary key to doing so is to keep a proper perspective; traffic laws, for example, have their place in the scheme of things. When you are racing to prevent the nuclear annihilation of a city is ''not'' that place. Don't get so bogged down with legal minutia that you allow far greater acts of destruction and anarchy to occur in whilst you attend to the little things.

[[Judge Dredd]] can be a good example of this. For example, in the opening sequence of the 2012 ''Dredd'' movie, he pursues a car full of criminals but does not shoot at them until they collide with and kill a pedestrian, and even then only shoots to disable the van's tires. He doesn't shoot to kill until one of them threatens to kill a hostage and refuses to accept an offer to surrender. Also, when he sees a vagrant sitting outside the crime scene Dredd tells him not to be there when he gets back instead of arresting him because he has better things to do at the moment. Of course, when he's just doing the rounds on his birthday, he'll issue noise citations to children who sing to him because <s>he is The Law</s> it's just plain embarrassing (and then donate the presents he receives to an orphanage because he's not [[That Guy]]). But not always a good example, like the time in the 1995 movie when Dredd suggested Rob Schneider's character jump off the top of a building rather than vandalize a robot to hide in during a shootout, since as Dredd points out, jumping might be suicide, ''but it's legal''.

This is not to say that a Lawful Neutral character doesn't recognize when they break the law or go against the general sense of law (Law) when called to; they do, and they're likely to be annoyed by it. Tenya Iida from My Hero Academia explores this concept, although he can sometimes break into Lawful Stupid, too.

== Examples of Lawful Stupid ==
* [[Games Workshop#Back_on_the_Old_Shit|The Games Workshop Legal Team]]
* The [[Inevitable]]s, divine [[golem]]-like beings with the duty to enact laws and enforce contracts. There's a story of one named "Obligatum VII" (the seventh in its line because six times prior people had the common sense to stop him) who trying to free the [[BBEG]] in a campaign from the book [[Elder Evils]]. The story goes that some mages summoned an eldritch abomination named [[Pandorym]] to blackmail the gods, making a contract with it to destroy the universe when it was summoned. The wizards imprisoned Pandorym instead of finishing the ritual to let it loose so that it wouldn't destroy the universe before they were ready, but the gods just smote the stupid wizards the instant they were done imprisoning Pandorym so he's stuck. Well, Obligatum is here to set things right, and make sure that poor, imprisoned death machine gets the freedom it was promised to carry out its goal, which through some warped sense of honor it is willing to do. How exactly this does not bring him into conflict with another type of Inevitable, the Varakhut, whose job it is to prevent deicide is a whole other box of worms.
* The [[Harmonium]] from [[Planescape]]. ''"The Harmonium believes that peace is a better end than war. [...] If it takes thumping heads to spread the truth, well, the Harmonium's ready to thump heads. Sure, there may not be peace right away, but every time the Harmonium gets rid of an enemy, the multiverse is that much closer to the universal harmony it was meant to have."'' This attitude is how the third layer of [[Arcadia]] shifted into [[Mechanus]], and the gods of Arcadia had to start over. Whoops. What's more, don't forget that they exterminated all non-lawful ''good and neutral'' species in the world where their faction originated. Some good.
* The [[Modron]] race, similarly to the Inevitables above, due to being extraplanar mechanical lifeforms who embody Lawful Neutral. Except they somehow have even less personality. Imagine a poorly-written chatbot with arms, legs and the ability to beat you over the head; that's basically a Modron. They can't even understand the idea that their assumptions may be incorrect.
* [[Helm]], the Lawful Neutral God of Guardians and Watchmen from the [[Forgotten Realms]] has earned this kind of reputation in-universe. Nobody will ''ever'' let him live it down that, during the [[Time of Troubles]], he killed Mystara, the Goddess of Magic, for trying to get back into the upper planes after Ao kicked them all out, despite the fact he knew that this would severely damage the fabric of reality in the process. As a result, [[wild magic]] zones and dead magic zones are commonly called "Helmlands". He also catches a lot of flak for the role his worshippers played in the massacres in [[Maztica]], but that's not so much Lawful Stupid as religious bigotry and the priest's only daughter being sacrificed by one of the natives.
* The stereotypical [[Space Marine]]. Stealth is cowardice, frontal assaults are the only way to go. On the occasion they do utilize tactics like stealth, feints, and flanking, it's all to help the frontal assault succeed rather than the other way around. Retreating is never an option, even if it's to gain more cover. Some will never field [[psyker]]s, ignore [[xenos]], and some won't even cooperate with other [[Space Marine Chapter]]s. A special case being [[Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine|Leandros]].
* The Starks from [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Game of Thrones]]. When Ned Stark finds out that Joffrey and his siblings are incest born bastards, he does the most asinine thing possible and tells Cersei, instead of going to Robert directly. He also tells his daughters of his plan, which causes Sansa to blab to everybody. His son Robb Stark has even more fuckups, namely executing one of his top generals when he should have kept him around (though said Karstark general undeniably disrespected his authority), failing to communicate with Edmure (though Edmure is incompetent), and blatantly breaking his promise to Walder Frey because he felt bad he screwed some other chick and decided to marry her in order to keep their honor intact (though Walder is admittedly a backstabbing opportunist who might have betrayed him anyway, as Robb was undoubtedly losing the war. Also, Walder’s choice to violate one of the most valued rules of honor that even pirates, thieves and murderers keep, simultaneously fucked over his own side by becoming the group absolutely nobody on any side wants to be associated with. Not even the people he betrays Robb in favor of). This kind of shit ends up with the Starks practically destroyed.
** An important qualifier is that these decisions aren't entirely motivated by stupid adherence to honour, with personal history heavily motivating the decisions or with the full consequences of the actions not being immediately obvious.
* The Jedi from the Star Wars Prequels are this, as [[Ultramarines|they followed the Jedi Code - which was meant as a mere guideline - as a set of unbreakable rules]] and set out to completely repress all emotion in somewhat unfounded fear of those emotions leading to the dark side, when they should have acknowledged that which makes us human and simply taught how to use them positively. Such arbitrarily following of the code leads the Council to turn a blind eye to the various problems Anakin Skywalker was having, thereby unintentionally sealing their own downfall.
** Works set before the Prequels shows that this is hardly a new problem for the Jedi Order. Knights Of The Old Republic II features a Jedi named Atris who's incredibly obsessed with following the code to the letter and wiping out the Sith. This leads to her being filled with bitterness and remorse after her best friend/secret crush the Exile is kicked out of the Order, but also leaves her too arrogant to talk to anyone about it. Instead she starts to hide herself away in a temple filled with Sith holocrons to be alone and meditate, and since Sith holocrons literally exude Dark Side-tainted Force energy, she gets unknowingly corrupted into a Sith. Yes, she was so Lawful Stupid that it ''turned her evil''.
* The [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dawi]]. They are obsessed with the concept of revenge, as '''all Grudges must be answered for.''' This causes them to wage many unnecessary wars, which is especially stupid since they are a dying race. This is exacerbated by the fact that many of these wars waged to avenge their honor just end up creating yet more grudges (because weirdly, their enemies might kill a Dwarf or two when defending themselves instead of bending over and accepting their "punishment" like a BDSM starved daemonnette), creating a never ending cycle of conflict. The fluff speaks of two dwarven lords who were fighting each other in a generation-spanning War of Grudges, even while they were being invaded by an Orc warband. The two lords eventually got together and realized that neither of them remembered what their clans were fighting over, forgave each other, and resolved to ally against the Orcs beating down on their gates. Both sides were promptly crushed by a cave-in caused by ''the gods themselves'' for failing to avenge their respective Grudges and the Orcs got to loot another Karak without difficulty.
* The [[Azorius Senate|Azorius]] from [[Magic: The Gathering]]. The guild makes so many laws that they can literally arrest ANYONE, and then justify it by finding one of the myriad of pointless laws they've passed that the individual has undoubtedly broken. They'll even arrest someone for merely ''thinking'' about breaking a law (see the card [https://scryfall.com/card/rtr/47/psychic-spiral| Psychic Spiral] for proof.) This culminates in them, under Dovin Baan, endorsing [[Bolas]] in ''War of the Spark'' - doesn't matter if there's undead killing everyone and everything erupting into war, as long as your guildleader is officially elected everything is fine.
* The Sangheili, or Elites, from the [[Halo]] franchise. With a ridiculously rigid Bushido-style code of honor that makes the Ultramarines seem like pragmatic chaps, the Elites have often lost battles to humans they could have otherwise won, if they weren't so blindingly "honorable" (Ignoring for the minute that they had no problem turning a planet into slag from orbit). Full frontal assaults, suicide charges, blindingly following three shady testicle-looking douchebags, and a stupid insistence on fighting "worthy" enemies fairly are all par for the course (granted, they have no problem massacring unarmed civilians or "dishonorable" opponents). There are also numerous examples of otherwise unarmed Elites preferring death over deigning to touch a fully loaded human weapon at their feet. But the most glaring example of their stupidity has to come from the fact that they consider it a [[What|dishonor to either get their own blood shed off the battlefield or become involved in a medical practice]]. This stigma is to such a degree that the Elite Shipmaster who became the Arbiter was secreted away from his keep in the dead of night to visit a doctor (against his will) after he suffered a severe accident during a training session shortly upon his promotion to Shipmaster. Even Klingons aren't that stupid. The only reason they even win against the Jiralhanae (Brutes) is because the Brutes are more Stupid Evil than the Sangheili are Lawful Stupid. [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|Well, that, and the fact that they had allied with the Humans by that point and have been inspired to move past some of their ass-backward stances on medicine and weaponry.]]
* The Nugganite religion, from Terry Pratchett's ''Monstrous Regiment'': the decrees of the Borogravian god Nuggan forbid everything from garlic, chocolate, and the smell of beets, to the color blue and ''babies''. Many Borogravians privately acknowledge that most of Nuggan's Abominations are completely ridiculous (and let the most extreme ones slide, because they're virtually impossible to enforce anyway), even while fretting about which Abominations they're currently committing. Due the way belief works in Discworld, Nugganites came to believe in nothing but the Abominations themselves, which diverted worship away from Nuggan himself. In the end, it's revealed that Nuggan has rotted away until nothing is left but a disembodied voice babbling Abominations nonstop.
* For the literature amateurs, Inspector Javert from ''Les Misérables''. As the author himself explained: the man was built upon two simple and good precepts, namely respect of authority and refusal of rebellion; but he made those look evil in his fanatical exaggeration of them. In a rare occurrence for that kind of character, Javert ends up overcoming the stupid part of the alignment as part of his character arc: When finally faced with a Lawful Good convict, he [[Blam|BLAMs himself]] rather than capture him (or let him go and live as an imperfect cop). Way to get out of a Paladin dilemma.
** As Hugo injected a ton of social criticism in his books, public servants putting the law above morals is a recurring theme. Ninety-Three has Cimourdain, a political commissar during the French Revolution, who ends up condemning his own adoptive son to death for freeing a traitor. Much like Javert, he takes his own life during the execution.
*Speaking of [[Commissar]]s, although protagonists like [[Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt|Ibram Gaunt]] or [[Ciaphas Cain]] will mostly be sensible individuals (if only because nobody wants to read about a teamkilling fucktard for a dozen or so books), background commissars in the Imperial Guard are often the epitome of Lawful Stupid: You left your post to report vital intel to Headquarters? That's a summary execution for ya. Even "protagonists" aren't immune to this. [[Severina Raine|Critiqued an order that'd get your men killed but didn't refuse to follow it? That's a summary execution for ya.]]
* [https://oots.fandom.com/wiki/Miko_Miyazaki| Miko Miyazaki] from the webcomic ''Order of the Stick'' is another example. She is an overzealous paladin who sees herself as judge, jury, and executioner. The author of the webcomic specifically wrote her to be a parody of 3.5th edition paladins. Her most notable action was murdering her own lord for conspiring against the paladins (although said lord had [[Chaotic Good|good intentions]]). She is disliked by the other members of her order and is sent on missions far away so no one has to deal with her.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Alignment]][[Category:Stupid Alignments]]

Stupid Evil

2021-10-14T02:39:21Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Other /tg/-relevant examples */

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{{Heresy}}
{{Topquote|No Muttley, we can't win fairly. We are villains, ergo we have to cheat!|Dick Dastardly, recognizing his role in ''Wacky Races'' while being unable to avoid playing it. Naturally, the finish line is right behind him.}}
{{Topquote|If you acquire a reputation as a mad dog, you'll be treated as a mad dog; taken out back and slaughtered for pig feed.|Roose Bolton to his son Ramsay in ''Game of Thrones''.}}
[[File:Skeletor.jpg|right|300px|thumb|"Nevermind what I said, just do what I said!"]]
Yes, [[Stupid Good]] has its Evil counterpart. A general trait of '''Stupid Evil''' is doing evil things for the sake of being evil (e.g. pettiness, self gratification, etc.), rather than because they are (morality aside) easy or viable paths towards wealth, power, revenge, or whatever the villain's goal is. This is especially true when a non-evil (or less evil) way of doing things would work better.

A villain who is truly insane can get away with this sort of thing since what compels them to act in an evil manner is the fact that they have some screws loose, and likewise comedic villains can get away with it because their evil is just a plot device to cause funny things to happen. However, "serious" nemeses and long-term, high-threat villains are usually expected to have a goal and some capacity for rational planning; a villain who takes time out of a busy day to kick a puppy or eat a kitten just to establish evil credibility will probably be treated with derision by players. By the same token, a villain who presents an otherwise seemingly insurmountable threat being undone by a massive fatal flaw - such as pride or hubris - can make for quite a compelling yarn.

[[TVTropes|Compare]] to [[Chaotic Stupid]]. They're not quite the same, but there's often a lot of overlap due the tendency of bad players and writers to mistake "chaotic" with "act like as big of an obnoxious asshole as physically possible".

==Examples of Stupid Evil==
There is oh so much of it...
===[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]===
The amount of retarded villains in this series is truly staggering. And yet, despite all of the stupid evil committed by them, [[Grimdark|they were able to secure many victories in the beginning]], even if only because the good guys are either more [[Lawful Stupid]] or [[Stupid Good]]. Ultimately however, most of the Lannisters and their allies, including the Boltons and Freys met their ends in spite of their ruthlessness.

Of course, A Song of Ice and Fire is known for its frequent grey morality, and most Stupid Evil characters have something of an explanation. Even then, you'd be inclined to wonder how far ahead some of them were really thinking, especially in the adaptations - though it's arguably intentional, possibly to demonstrate how [[Not As Planned|a lack of pragmatism fucks people over in the long-term]], especially in a realm so rapidly driven by [[Just as planned|ever-changing politics and schemes]] ([[Skub|or possibly because of bad writing, who knows]]).

'''The Lannisters'''

Lannister-brand parenting and ruling revolves around nepotism, an iron fist and enough money to solve any problem thrown at them. While they enjoy significant successes at first, they also gave birth to some of the most short-sighted sociopaths who rely on their fortune, both material and immaterial, to try and win the Game of Thrones, and all ultimately lose in the end due to both fortunes running short. Examples of the Lannisters' worst offenders:

* Joffrey Baratheon is both very impulsive and sadistic, which is an already disastrous pairing of personality traits to combine with the fact that he's 12 - 15 years old across the books. On the note of not-even-really-excuses, there's also possible mental instability resulting from the fact that he's inbred and his mother is Cersei (more on her in a moment).
** He hires a peasant and gives them a Valyrian Blade to kill Bran Stark - this is one of only a few hundred such weapons in all of Westeros, and an unusual weapon for a common hitman when a common dirk would have sufficed; when that fails, it causes the Starks to suspect the Lannisters. He also kills Eddard Stark to make an example of him, therefore sparking an unnecessary and very costly civil war that went against what his family had planned. Despite that, they still came out on top since they are still standing while the Starks are scattered, due mainly to Tywin and Tyrion being [[Creed|tactical geniuses and strategic masterminds.]]
** He also chooses to ignore his duties and the welfare of his people in favor of satiating his sadistic behavior, even abusing them when they're seeking his help. He regularly abuses Sansa in particular, and threatens to have her killed despite the fact it will reduce her value as a political hostage and (in their eyes) could cause the Starks to kill their political hostage, Jaime Lannister.
** Having no regard for the peasants and working class under your charge is already a bad idea, but is ''especially'' so when there's an impending siege plus a food shortage and tensions are already high. This leads to a riot that causes several deaths when he orders a mass execution after one member of the crowd threw a dung ball at him.
** Even his family isn't safe from his viciousness, occasionally to the point of team-killing fuckery: he has one of his Kingsguard try to murder his uncle Tyrion in the middle of the Battle of Blackwater instead of just simply poisoning him (as Tyrion pointed out) and didn't even wait until after the battle which Tyrion was essential in. He even calls Tywin a coward. ''Out loud. In front of other people. '''To his face.''''' Luckily for Joffrey they were related, or he would have been struck down. And as what turns out to be a final hurrah at his wedding, he insults his in-laws and his bride at their wedding reception and subjects Tyrion to petty tortures in front of everyone.

* Cersei Lannister, while not as dumb as her son Joffrey (low a bar as that is), is egotistic and paranoid as fuck; if she, for any reason, thinks you might threaten her or her children, even for something as minor as telling her her latest idea is a bad one, you're in trouble. At best, she will view you as an enemy and will be a passive-aggressive bitch to you, and at worst she'll have you brutally tortured to death, even if you're one of House Lannister's allies to whom good relations are vital. On top of all that, she's a contender for Worst Mother in Westeros, and her cruelty drove away even her incestuous lover, Jaime Lannister (which happened much earlier into the books than in the TV show).
** She invited Gregor Clegane (see below) to King's Landing at the same time Oberyn Martell is visiting, despite the fact that Gregor is the reason there's bad blood between House Lannister and House Martell, and the Martells know it.
** After Joffrey died, she went out of her way to rig the trial for his death against Tyrion, despite the circumstances ''already'' being against him - this made him more determined than ever to survive, and tipped off Oberyn that Tyrion is innocent of the crime. This led to the duel between Oberyn and Gregor that ruined the Lannister/Martell alliance and ''nearly'' cost the Lannisters their pet beast.
** She also responded to a satirical puppet show about House Lannister being evil tyrants by having anyone who saw it either fined (up to half of all their money if they're rich) or mutilated (an eye cut out if they're too poor to pay), and then ordering the puppeteers executed. She didn't even mind the play at first - she only took offence because the ending had the Lannisters getting their comeuppance at the hands of a Targaryen. Then, instead of the headsman, she did something worse and handed the puppeteers over to her resident mad scientist for deadly experiments at his request. Ironically, events following this would vindicate the puppeteers for their play (more on ''that'' below).
** Cersei encouraged the worst aspects of her sons; in the case of Joffrey, this is like attempting to put out a forest fire with napalm. Her atrocious parenting, combined with conceiving Joffrey with her brother Jamie AND Robert's own negligence, is the reason Joffrey's such a repulsive asshole. She ignores the numerous acts of cruelty and stupidity of her eldest son, and treats any criticism of him as a personal attack on ''her''.
** She was an overbearing mother to Tommen - her actually half-decent person of a second son - to the point of [[What|trying to make him more like Joffrey]], which inevitably failed and made Tommen a gullible yes-man of a momma's boy. This in turn left them vulnerable to the ambitions of Margaery Tyrell, who tries to drive a wedge between them and threatens her plans to rule as queen regent until Tommen was of age. Cersei also neglected her daughter Myrecella since the patriarchal nature of Westeros royalty meant she was unlikely to get power... despite Cersei regularly complaining about sexism against women.
** She killed a high septon because he was a cat's paw Tyrion put into power to keep the faith in House Lannister's pocket (being a decent but easily manipulated man), because Cersei's paranoia meant she feared that Tyrion was out to get her and that guy was in on it. This leads to a more competent and devout high septon getting into power with ambitions of his own. She then let him raise his own army, creating another player to threaten House Lannister's precarious position and one unbeholden to politics, which leads to her arrest - though in the books he was smart and played Cersei like a fiddle. In context, Cersei's undoing is a good thing - especially for everyone not allied with House Lannister.
** In the TV show, as revenge for the High Sparrow imprisoning her and Margaery taking her place as Queen (which is partly her fault in the ''first place''), she makes the perfectly rational decision to blow them all to fuck using magical napalm while they were at church for a trial. The end result was: Making the High Sparrow a martyr and driving the followers of the faith into a fervor that fuels uprisings; driving Tommen (who was friends with the High Sparrow and loved Margaery dearly) to commit suicide via jumping out a window; and pushing a pissed Olenna Tyrell to withdraw all the house's support from King's Landing and declare for the resurgent House Targaryen alongside Dorne. Cersei and House Lannister now literally had no major allies left in Westeros sans the Freys, who aren't at all reliable and were being destroyed by Arya and the Boltons when their treachery outstripped the benefits.
Unfortunately, she was still one step ahead and easily took out Houses Tyrell and Dorne despite their efforts, using the Iron Bank to buy herself a mercenary force and recruit Euron at the cost of losing Casterly Rock to her rivals (though this was helped by some internal team-killing from Oberyn's widow thanks to the fact the Martell/Tyrell relation are as bad as Stark/Lannister, it's a bloody epidemic in that show).
** Also in the TV show, when Daenerys and her supports come to parlay with Cersei's forces for help against the White Walkers and their zombie armies - showing proof by cutting up a captured zombie with the pieces still attacking - Cersei did the stupidest possible thing and refused to support them, deciding she'd rather "let the dead eat them all". She ignored the fact that this would leave her on the receiving end of a curb-stomp battle from either the aforementioned While Walkers (whose undead army would be bolstered by the dead from Daenerys') or Daenerys' forces AND everyone else grateful Daenerys beat the White Walkers/sick of Cersei. This ultimately comes back to bite her when she kills Missandei and pushes Daenerys over the edge from Lawful Neutral to Stupid Evil as she gives no quarter to anyone in King's Landing and commands the Dorathki, Unsullied and her dragon to rape, pillage and burn down King's Landing and leave no survivors - Cersei and her brother Jamie were crushed to death by the falling rubble. Of course, as will soon be made clear, Danerys was turned into a draconian (hue) powder keg of Stupid Evil herself, but for now we move to...

* Arguably Tywin Lannister: while known for his image of being a deviously competent politician and general, his actions don't hold up to the hype under further scrutiny. His neurotic obsession with protecting his house's reputation leads him to condone and engage in acts of excessive cruelty and brutality that have long term negative consequences, with his patriarchal narcissism ultimately resulting in his death at the hands of his dwarf son.
** Spurned Tyrion out of spite for his unintentional role in his wife's death - she died in childbirth. He did this for Tyrion's entire life, including annulling Tyrion's marriage to a peasant girl by having her gang-raped while forcing Tyrion to watch ''and later join in'' - this act horrified even Bronn, Tyrion's amoral sword-for-hire who'd kill a baby for the right price, saying in Tyrion's shoes he'd have killed Tywin for that, father or not. All this leaves the only one of his children who was both competent ''and'' legally available to inherit Casterly Rock with a burning hatred for Tywin.
** Sent Gregor Clegane after Elia Martell and her kids, planning for the children's death but hoping to use Elia as leverage against the Dornish; however, he forgot what a monster Gregor is and she dies as a result, with House Martell despising House Lannister, and likely setting in motion a possible (though ultimately ineffectual) poisoning with Widow's Blood by Oberyn Martell (It stops up the bowels until the victim dies of sepsis, which may have been why he was on the shitter when Tyrion killed him).
** Ordered Clegane and the Brave Companions/Bloody Mummers mercenary company to run wild in the Riverlands, causing a major agricultural zone for the continent to drop in productivity during the onset of a winter that could last years. Those affected by the rampages of Gregor and the Bloody Mummers also started to join the Sparrows religious movement, creating more opponents of House Lannister that have deep personal grievances with them (such as a peasant innkeeper whose son was murdered by the Mummer's and whose daughter was raped by Gregor).
** Orchestrated the Red Wedding, shredding House Lannister's political image and credibility throughout Westeros - nobody wants to negotiate with someone who doesn't follow the same rules of war as them, like say, honoring a right to hospitality that the entire continent respects. In a bitter stroke of irony, his own grandson Joffrey would be murdered by Olenna Tyrell at his own wedding with Margery to spare her of the same fate Sansa suffered, meaning that everything he did to bring Joffrey to power was all for nothing ''and'' widened the rift between Tyrion by letting him take the fall for Joffey's death, as well as allowing the Tyrells to have an advantage over the Lannisters with help from the Sparrows who as mentioned above, were supported by the Tyrells thanks to the atrocities committed.
** In particular, he berated Tyrion for whoremongering while using prostitutes himself. This is worth noting not merely for the expected hypocrisy, but for the fact that Tywin likely took issue with his ''severe'' lack of discretion more than anything else: what son of a Lannister, much less ''his'' own son, should be so well-known as a skirt-chaser? Then he was founding banging Tyrion's sugar baby Shae; this last hurrah got him killed, as he mouthed off at Tyrion when the latter had a loaded crossbow pointed at him while he was stuck on the toilet and had learnt of his ultimate betrayal (it also led to Shae's death). He also died with the shameful legacy of being found dead on the toilet with his corpse stinking up his own funeral, his daughter being remembered as a Targareyn-wannabe (not a compliment), his grandson being a wimpy tyrant and his oldest son being an oath-breaking team-killing sister-fucker... all while his rivals Ned and Robb were lionized (heh) as martyrs.

* Gregor Clegane is a serial killer with a short temper. He's gone through three wives who died under suspicious circumstances.
There's a high turnover rate among the servants at his keep and even animals avoid his chambers. Before this, he maimed his brother Sandor and would've killed him if three men didn't intervene, and he's heavily implied to have murdered his sister and father, despite the father doting on him even when his evil started to become apparent.
** The circumstances surrounding him and his brother are as such: Gregor once caught his brother playing with one of Gregor's discarded toy soldiers when they were children. He took the logical next step of holding his brother's face over a fire, permanently disfiguring that half of his face and mentally scarring him; on top of a case of pyrophobia it arguably made him stagnate into a phase of prolonged "adult childhood" from a developmental disorder, based on this and his other actions.
** Before the story starts, it's an open secret that Gregor raped and murdered Rheagar's wife Elia Martell, even though he hadn't been ordered to do so and she was valuable political hostage. He also killed a baby, and though he'd been ordered to do that, the fact remains that [[Grimdark|he had no qualms about the deed and went so far as smashing his head against a wall]]. This bites him and the Lannisters in the ass BIG TIME later on, though he deserved it.
** After losing a jousting match, Gregor decapitated his own horse, then tries to kill his opponent, Loras Tyrell, and his own brother Sandor when the latter intervenes. Had Gregor succeeded, it's likely the Lannisters would've kissed any hope of an alliance with the Tyrells goodbye.
** The men who Gregor recruits as his hand-picked warriors aren't chosen for their intelligence or resourcefulness, and not even loyalty; they serve Gregor out of fear and desire of plunder, and prize their fighting skills and sadism, essentially raping and torturing random peasants to death for the lulz. This includes the prisoners from the taking of Harrenhal, many of whom were nobility and could have been used as leverage in the war. And due to the atrocities of people serving under his command, they would be partially responsible for the Sparrows rise to power and led by the above mentioned Tyrells no less.
** Arguably when, before killing Oberyn, Gregor shouted a confession to his crime of murdering and raping Elia in front of all of the nobles in King's Landing. This would've put House Martell and House Lannister at open war... if the Martells hadn't been already secretly plotting to destroy them, though this ''does'' push their schedule forward and undermine the Lannister's supporters.
** For all that, there is at least some "justification" as to why this guy is kept around by House Lannister. He's a brutal warrior in every sense of the word who projects an aura of fear, and for all his butchery, raping, rage, and blunt cruelty, he's never threatened House Lannister directly and is (for want of a better word) content to be their pet beast. It also doesn't help that he's addicted to milk of the poppy (opium in all but name) since he consumed so much to combat the migraines brought on by his gigantism that it no longer works on him and he's always in an addled state.

* Ramsay Bolton is the son of Roose, a cunning general who manipulated and back-stabbed his way into rulership of the North; unlike Roose, Ramsey lacks any strategic foresight and critical thinking, and is totally fearless and reckless with his actions, which Roose correctly points out will be his downfall if they are not curbed. This ends up coming across as more of an informed attribute due to the TV show's writing, but the result is ultimately the same. [[Fail|Shame he didn't listen to his old man, huh?]]
** He killed his half-brother, despite the fact that this also deprived his father of another heir, which in medieval-esque societies is important; the more offspring they have, the more likely the noble family is to survive.
** His savage exploits are known across Westeros, and he continuously pisses off the other Northern lords by hunting down their subjects for fun, partly inspiring half of the Northern Houses rebel against Bolton rule. He chose to flay Ironborn captives alive, despite promising them clemency if they surrendered, along with turning Theon Greyjoy into his personal eunuch slave. This has ensured that the Ironborn will now fight to the death rather than sue for peace, and contemplate a full invasion of the North instead of merely raiding its settlements and pledged loyalty to Daenerys. Unfortunately in the TV Series, thanks to treachery by Euron usurping the throne from Yara, most of the Iron Fleet joined the Lannister who proves instrumental in crushing the Martell's for their previous transgression of fatally poisoning Clegane.
** In the books, after marrying the fake-Arya Stark (who everyone else thinks is the real one) he tortures her, threatens her and [[FATAL|tries to make her do certain things to his hunting dogs]]. This sets off the Northerners' [[Powder Keg of Justice]], causing an uprising against the Boltons that will likely end with Ramsay's and Roose's heads on spikes.
** He sent an assassin after Jon Snow. As Roose pointed out, Jon was the leader of a well-known and politically neutral organization, whose claim to the throne of House Stark was tenuous at best, and would've gone against his vows, a big deal in Westeros. Killing him would almost certainly create a martyr, or at least demonstrate to the other houses that House Bolton has no respect for neutrality.
** The TV version actually murdered his father in the middle of the war, fed his step-mother and infant half-brother to his dogs, and he'd also raped Sansa Stark beforehand after manipulating an arranged marriage between them. Yet he [[Mary Sue|somehow manages more (and often downright insane) successes than his book counterpart]] in spite of acting like little more than a rabid dog raised in nobility (the infamous "twenty good men" scene where trained killers' armor and expertise suddenly become useless against a half-naked Ramsay comes to mind).
** Unfortunately (for him), his fortune doesn't last, as being a team-killing fucktard ultimately got his own army wiped out before he was beaten to near-death by Jon Snow, culminating in Sansa feeding him to his own dogs -- who were only hungry enough to turn on him because he'd starved them for a week beforehand in anticipation of feeding them the Starks and in his previous hunts he'd deliberately cultivated a taste for human flesh in the dogs.

* Slaver's Bay (aka ''Stupid Evil: The Civilization''), a neo-Ghiscari settlement, is run by a bunch of decadent slave dealers who do nothing besides wax on about how great the 5 millennia dead old Ghiscari Empire was and leave their society in the Bronze Age... in a world one step removed from [[Medieval Stasis]].
** Of the four cities of Slaver's Bay, two of them, Meereen and Yunkai, believe that a bunch of slaves with spears and shields led by fops on horseback or in chariots wearing linen vests and helmets made to accommodate their stupid hairdos constitute a proper army. After Yunkai gets its ass kicked by Daenerys when she brings a half decent army to the field that doesn't run at the first excuse, they decide that it would be a good idea to raise ''new'' slave armies that are [[What|chained together and fight on stilts]].
** One of them, Astapor, trains Unsullied elite spear slaves who obey any order given to them without question, which they sell and use for defense. The Masters of Astapor [[Derp|agree to sell all the Unsullied they've got to Dany exchange for one of her dragons]], and she then proceeds to have the Unsullied sack their city and kill them.
** Admittedly, the prospect of owning a dragon, especially after they’re thought to be extinct for centuries and being the equivalent of a self-replenishing WMD, is an awfully tempting one given how new Unsullied are made each year. Despite that, it’s ''still'' extremely stupid that they questioned neither the possibility of how they can control said dragon (leading to one Master burning to death seconds after grabbing the dragon’s chain) ''nor'' the sense in selling every Unsullied warrior-slave to the same person and leaving none to defend themselves. They also never considered that the Unsullied, though trained to be obedient, might resent the brutality involved in their training ([[Grimdark|which included castrating them at a young age, sending aspirants into the city tasked with killing babies in front of their mothers to prove they'll follow even the vilest orders, giving them a puppy to care for in their first year then making them strangle it to death as a test of loyalty - killing those who fail this test, and making them take new names each day on pain of death - demeaning names like "black rat", "blue toad" or "red flea" - so they can't develop a sense of individual identity]]), and would seize a chance for vengeance which Dany happily gave them.
** For no particular tactical reason, the leadership of Meereen decided to taunt an oncoming army by having child slaves nailed to mileposts to die along the road - a decision which backfires on them rather spectacularly.

* Daenerys Targaryen of the TV show's continuity takes her newly earned spot in this list with a single but major action, through the sheer power of bad writing. In the second-to-last episode, she reduces the entire citizenry to dragonfire kindling through a series of events that Cersei is somewhat at fault for: Dany was already fixing to blow several gaskets because she was rejected by Jon Snow (who is her nephew and not as incest-willing as Jamie) and got one of her dragons killed (by [[What|completely forgetting about an entire fleet of ships]]), and then Cersei slams the final nail in the coffin of her rational thought by having her close friend Missandei publicly killed. This last act is the impetus for Dany to torch 'em all and let the Seven sort it out, throwing away any and all goodwill she would have gained from King's Landing - virtually nobody held much love or loyalty for Cersei, and most of the common folk would have loved her had she not then decided to literally become her father.
** Don't get us wrong, signs of a dark, sadistic side to Daenerys were always there with the signpost punishment and other early signs of a "pay evil unto evil" mentality that cast shadows of doubt onto her image as the liberating Breaker of Chains. But with the way said signs were developed in the show (which is to say, almost ''not at all''), it is beyond stupefying how she went from "Messiah, Breaker of Chains" to truly being her father's daughter in the grand span of ''two episodes''. It's no wonder everyone save the Unsullied (who themselves were retconned enough that they might as well be unthinking automatons now - a cruel irony since a big part of their story was slave-soldiers developing their own identities... though Grey Worm had the excuse of being distraught over Missandei's death since he loved her) and Dothraki (who actually enjoy random acts of slaughter like this) turned on her the moment they saw what she has become and got her assassinated... which created its own plot hole as to why the Dothraki and Unsullied didn't try to avenge her.
***Worth mentioning that the ''concept'' of turning Daenerys Targaryen to the dark side wasn't in itself horrible. It could be a big shock while remaining a realistic turn (a girl raised to power in a tyrannical land who moved in a feudal one), and it was a good reminder to [[Dune|not blindly trust the charismatic leader.]] The problem is that execution was absolutely abysmal. She just snaps, kill everyone and turn literally hitler.
** And no, we're not shitting you: in a televised interview, the showrunners were asked why Daenerys didn't do anything about the Iron Fleet, and Beinoff nervously said outright that [[What|she kind of forgot about them]] (more likely the writers themselves forgot about them). That is almost (but just barely not quite) ''Dexter'' finale or ''Supernatural'' finale levels of shit writing, wasting such a spectacular crew and cast on them to boot. If GRRM intends to turn Dany evil and kill her off, he knows what NOT to do in ADOS - assuming TWOW, let alone ADOS, are ever finished.

===Other general examples===
* Strawman villains in poorly written fiction across the board.
* Villains in Saturday morning cartoons and similar fare (e.g. Wacky Races, Captain Planet).
* [[Grimderp|Grimdark as a whole often suffers]] from characters who make things crappy just for the sake of making things crappy.
* [[Edgy|Edgelord]] characters by preteens/actual teens (or users with a similar enough mentality) on DeviantArt (though one could argue Edgelords are more [[Chaotic Stupid]], this is a case by case basis).
* The 'villains' of many fringe-conspiracy theories would be Stupid Evil if they existed as depicted, since their plans undermine their own power bases, have little to no tangible gain, or else draw attention by plastering their logo on everything. It's also weird that despite how cartoonishly evil they are thought of, they don't bother to kill anyone exposing the conspiracies while making it look like an accident. This is probably because there is some overlap with the strawman characters - they just have to be Evil™ enough to scare whoever you're selling your bridge to into action, said action being pissing off people who aren't uneducated enough to fall for your snake oil and the ignorant making you rich.

===Other /tg/-relevant examples===
* The Sith in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' universe suffer from this greatly, and it's a major reason they keep losing to the Jedi and failed to keep any of their empires intact long-term. In fact, one could argue that they're a perfect case study on why Stupid Evil is a bad idea:
** Firstly, whereas the Jedi code encourages understanding yet controlling your emotions (that way you take them into account, but they don't prevent you from doing what is necessary), the Sith code encourages embracing your emotions and indeed, many of the most powerful Sith like Darth Vader are incredibly emotionally damaged. Thus Sith tend to do things in the heat of the moment and often lack the patience needed to be truly effective. Darth Malak can't find Revan and the Ebon Hawk crew on a planet he has control of? Oh well better just ''level his own planet'' with Star Destroyers, costing himself thousands of workers and soldiers in his psychotic and desperate rush to off his old master.
** Secondly, the Sith code is built on a hyper-Darwinist, "survival-of-the-fittest" structure. While this sounds decent enough on paper, in practice it meant that the Sith ''constantly'' backstabbed each other in idiotic power plays, often leading to Sith killing each other more often than they killed Jedi. Crossing with the "overly emotional" thing above, their lack of patience often led to them betraying each other way before it was beneficial to do so. Darth Bane was the first major Sith Lord to realize how stupid and unsustainable this lifestyle was, and did something about it for the benefit of the Order rather than themselves. His "rule of two" may have led to the Sith population being lower than ever before or after, but at least it kept the Sith order alive and prevented most of them from slaughtering each other in pathetic attempts to gobble up more power.
*** It should be noted that even the Sith themselves violate or weasel their way around the Rule of Two every now and then. Darth Maul was alive at the same time as Dooku & Palpatine (technically before Dooku defected after Qui-Gon's death but it still counts as Palps was already planning to replace him in Legends), and in the EU during Vader's time there were the Force-using "Hands of the Emperor" agents such as Mara Jade. They also have characters like Ventress who aren’t officially Sith Lords, yet are trained just like one. So while it decreases their numbers by a lot, they find ways around even when they actually obey said rule. This again is an aversion of idiocy, as a spare is a good idea when only two people are allowed.
*** Also don't get the idea that Darth Bane's plan was sensible or not-backstabby. He wiped out almost all of the Sith in exchange for merely a small group of Jedi in an admittedly epic and arguably goddamn hilarious backstab, and part of the reason he did so wasn't because he was sure they'd fall into infighting - in fact, Lord Kaan had most of them under his thumb thanks to psychic influence and strength - but because the Sith were acting in very un-Sithy ways, relying purely on strength of arms and unified armies rather than mastery of the Dark Side. Even when there was a very real chance the Sith could've won via these methods, he couldn't have that or slink off and make his rule of two on his own - he had to backstab everyone else first. Then, go figure, his sucessors ended up using those same pragmatic tactics until the Jedi declined enough to almost destroy them in one blow. To be fair, the survivors (read: the assholes who didn't help with the 300-year long galactic dark age after two and a half millennia of almost nonstop war) and their policies lead to the decline of the Jedi Order until they got Order 66'd.
** Thirdly and finally, Sith who engage in too much evil and envelope themselves too deeply in the Dark Side often suffer from an inability to properly sense the Light Side. This alienation of the Light is what lead to the otherwise brilliant Palpatine's death. He alienated altruism and good so utterly that he was not only unable to sense Luke Skywalker's presence during a critical moment, but he was also unable to sense that his apprentice Darth Vader still had some morality in him. Thus he attempts to tortuously kill Luke, and is killed himself when he fails to sense Vader's own paternal feelings and the betrayal they influence.
* The [[Skaven]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy]], whose rival clans always plan on backstabbing each other even if they're all fighting a mutual (and often far worse) enemy. A perfect plan for them involves getting their own enemies and allies to kill each other, until they are the only one left to face the next enemy - keep in mind that "they" doesn't just mean rival clans either; in an apocalyptic scenario, even their personal secretary is only barely less of an enemy than the hordes of the undead. As above, it takes the [[Horned Rat]], their god, as well as the invention of instant communication via the [[Farsqueaker]], to get their fuzzy little asses united...though in the Skaven's case, them being a species of Stupid Evil is entirely the ([[Lulz|hilarious]]) point and their society is explained as surviving in spite of themselves due to a ridiculous breeding rate.
* Humans in science and fantasy fiction often end up being Stupid Evil when the (usually incompetent) writer wants to make a statement about discrimination. According to these tales, humans are apparently overly-panicky and violent psychopaths itching for an excuse to murder the shit out of other species. For instance, in [[Avatar]] the human army is portrayed as a bunch of jingoist lunatics who want to slaughter the peaceful Na'vi for the resources they need, rather than trying to reap long-term benefits by making peaceful contact, in a clear exaggeration of tendencies that might have existed in the colonization era. The advent of [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]] is in part a reaction to this phenomenon.
** Heck, even if you're genocidal, when you have total orbital supremacy you should just [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|drop rocks]], rather than charging into battle in your mecha.
* Some followers of [[Chaos]], such as [[Firaeveus Carron]], can prove to be this most of the time.
* [[Lolth]] actually enforces Stupid Evil in her worshipers: because of her, the Drow spend 3 quarters of their energy fighting each other instead of defending themselves, which is a really bad idea since they live in an underground city under constant threat of being [[rape]]d by [[illithid]]s and [[beholder]]s. In fact, when things get really bad, she literally has to tell them to get their shit together for a short period of time.
* [[/co/|The Joker.]] Once "merely" [[Tzeentch|a criminal mastermind with a chaotic, unpredictable bent]] and joke-themed weapons (like a joy buzzer that gives a lethal electric shock and a squirting flower that sprays acid), he devolved in the 90's into a murder-happy rabid dog who kills for the jollies and because [[/d/|he gets off on being punched in the face by Batman]]. With the ''Dark Knight'' and ''Joker'' movies, it's been shown that he can be convincingly chaotic evil for reasons that make Batman look like a whiny rich kid, though this depends heavily on the writer. That being said, Joker is one of the cases that is actually fun to be written as one hundred percent Stupid Evil. There is just something hilarious about the ridiculously cruel things he keeps coming up with when written well and as Joaquin Phoenix masterfully demonstrated, he can be made into a nuanced character with understandable motivations as well.
* General Zod and his minions as depicted in Man Of Steel. Zack Snyder tried to make them complex but botched up the execution. Seriously, they brag about how [[Dark Eldar|lacking any semblance of a moral compass makes them superior]]. Michael Shannon’s laughably misguided performance certainly didn’t do any favors for our suspension of disbelief (for the record, we blame Zack Snyder for Zod’s performance, as Synder was the director).
* Starscream from [[Transformers]]. He's too ambitious and egotistical to realize how good his position as Megatron's second-in-command is, and so spends much of his time trying to usurp his leader with predictable failure. He also tends to do things on the spur of the moment to satisfy his own ego, as demonstrated in ''Prime'' where he angrily takes credit for killing Arcee's best friend Cliffjumper ''while in handcuffs in front of Arcee'', simply because he doesn't want Airachnid stealing the credit for things he did.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Alignment]][[Category:Stupid Alignments]]

Stupid Evil

2021-10-14T02:36:25Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73: /* Other /tg/-relevant examples */

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{{Heresy}}
{{Topquote|No Muttley, we can't win fairly. We are villains, ergo we have to cheat!|Dick Dastardly, recognizing his role in ''Wacky Races'' while being unable to avoid playing it. Naturally, the finish line is right behind him.}}
{{Topquote|If you acquire a reputation as a mad dog, you'll be treated as a mad dog; taken out back and slaughtered for pig feed.|Roose Bolton to his son Ramsay in ''Game of Thrones''.}}
[[File:Skeletor.jpg|right|300px|thumb|"Nevermind what I said, just do what I said!"]]
Yes, [[Stupid Good]] has its Evil counterpart. A general trait of '''Stupid Evil''' is doing evil things for the sake of being evil (e.g. pettiness, self gratification, etc.), rather than because they are (morality aside) easy or viable paths towards wealth, power, revenge, or whatever the villain's goal is. This is especially true when a non-evil (or less evil) way of doing things would work better.

A villain who is truly insane can get away with this sort of thing since what compels them to act in an evil manner is the fact that they have some screws loose, and likewise comedic villains can get away with it because their evil is just a plot device to cause funny things to happen. However, "serious" nemeses and long-term, high-threat villains are usually expected to have a goal and some capacity for rational planning; a villain who takes time out of a busy day to kick a puppy or eat a kitten just to establish evil credibility will probably be treated with derision by players. By the same token, a villain who presents an otherwise seemingly insurmountable threat being undone by a massive fatal flaw - such as pride or hubris - can make for quite a compelling yarn.

[[TVTropes|Compare]] to [[Chaotic Stupid]]. They're not quite the same, but there's often a lot of overlap due the tendency of bad players and writers to mistake "chaotic" with "act like as big of an obnoxious asshole as physically possible".

==Examples of Stupid Evil==
There is oh so much of it...
===[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]===
The amount of retarded villains in this series is truly staggering. And yet, despite all of the stupid evil committed by them, [[Grimdark|they were able to secure many victories in the beginning]], even if only because the good guys are either more [[Lawful Stupid]] or [[Stupid Good]]. Ultimately however, most of the Lannisters and their allies, including the Boltons and Freys met their ends in spite of their ruthlessness.

Of course, A Song of Ice and Fire is known for its frequent grey morality, and most Stupid Evil characters have something of an explanation. Even then, you'd be inclined to wonder how far ahead some of them were really thinking, especially in the adaptations - though it's arguably intentional, possibly to demonstrate how [[Not As Planned|a lack of pragmatism fucks people over in the long-term]], especially in a realm so rapidly driven by [[Just as planned|ever-changing politics and schemes]] ([[Skub|or possibly because of bad writing, who knows]]).

'''The Lannisters'''

Lannister-brand parenting and ruling revolves around nepotism, an iron fist and enough money to solve any problem thrown at them. While they enjoy significant successes at first, they also gave birth to some of the most short-sighted sociopaths who rely on their fortune, both material and immaterial, to try and win the Game of Thrones, and all ultimately lose in the end due to both fortunes running short. Examples of the Lannisters' worst offenders:

* Joffrey Baratheon is both very impulsive and sadistic, which is an already disastrous pairing of personality traits to combine with the fact that he's 12 - 15 years old across the books. On the note of not-even-really-excuses, there's also possible mental instability resulting from the fact that he's inbred and his mother is Cersei (more on her in a moment).
** He hires a peasant and gives them a Valyrian Blade to kill Bran Stark - this is one of only a few hundred such weapons in all of Westeros, and an unusual weapon for a common hitman when a common dirk would have sufficed; when that fails, it causes the Starks to suspect the Lannisters. He also kills Eddard Stark to make an example of him, therefore sparking an unnecessary and very costly civil war that went against what his family had planned. Despite that, they still came out on top since they are still standing while the Starks are scattered, due mainly to Tywin and Tyrion being [[Creed|tactical geniuses and strategic masterminds.]]
** He also chooses to ignore his duties and the welfare of his people in favor of satiating his sadistic behavior, even abusing them when they're seeking his help. He regularly abuses Sansa in particular, and threatens to have her killed despite the fact it will reduce her value as a political hostage and (in their eyes) could cause the Starks to kill their political hostage, Jaime Lannister.
** Having no regard for the peasants and working class under your charge is already a bad idea, but is ''especially'' so when there's an impending siege plus a food shortage and tensions are already high. This leads to a riot that causes several deaths when he orders a mass execution after one member of the crowd threw a dung ball at him.
** Even his family isn't safe from his viciousness, occasionally to the point of team-killing fuckery: he has one of his Kingsguard try to murder his uncle Tyrion in the middle of the Battle of Blackwater instead of just simply poisoning him (as Tyrion pointed out) and didn't even wait until after the battle which Tyrion was essential in. He even calls Tywin a coward. ''Out loud. In front of other people. '''To his face.''''' Luckily for Joffrey they were related, or he would have been struck down. And as what turns out to be a final hurrah at his wedding, he insults his in-laws and his bride at their wedding reception and subjects Tyrion to petty tortures in front of everyone.

* Cersei Lannister, while not as dumb as her son Joffrey (low a bar as that is), is egotistic and paranoid as fuck; if she, for any reason, thinks you might threaten her or her children, even for something as minor as telling her her latest idea is a bad one, you're in trouble. At best, she will view you as an enemy and will be a passive-aggressive bitch to you, and at worst she'll have you brutally tortured to death, even if you're one of House Lannister's allies to whom good relations are vital. On top of all that, she's a contender for Worst Mother in Westeros, and her cruelty drove away even her incestuous lover, Jaime Lannister (which happened much earlier into the books than in the TV show).
** She invited Gregor Clegane (see below) to King's Landing at the same time Oberyn Martell is visiting, despite the fact that Gregor is the reason there's bad blood between House Lannister and House Martell, and the Martells know it.
** After Joffrey died, she went out of her way to rig the trial for his death against Tyrion, despite the circumstances ''already'' being against him - this made him more determined than ever to survive, and tipped off Oberyn that Tyrion is innocent of the crime. This led to the duel between Oberyn and Gregor that ruined the Lannister/Martell alliance and ''nearly'' cost the Lannisters their pet beast.
** She also responded to a satirical puppet show about House Lannister being evil tyrants by having anyone who saw it either fined (up to half of all their money if they're rich) or mutilated (an eye cut out if they're too poor to pay), and then ordering the puppeteers executed. She didn't even mind the play at first - she only took offence because the ending had the Lannisters getting their comeuppance at the hands of a Targaryen. Then, instead of the headsman, she did something worse and handed the puppeteers over to her resident mad scientist for deadly experiments at his request. Ironically, events following this would vindicate the puppeteers for their play (more on ''that'' below).
** Cersei encouraged the worst aspects of her sons; in the case of Joffrey, this is like attempting to put out a forest fire with napalm. Her atrocious parenting, combined with conceiving Joffrey with her brother Jamie AND Robert's own negligence, is the reason Joffrey's such a repulsive asshole. She ignores the numerous acts of cruelty and stupidity of her eldest son, and treats any criticism of him as a personal attack on ''her''.
** She was an overbearing mother to Tommen - her actually half-decent person of a second son - to the point of [[What|trying to make him more like Joffrey]], which inevitably failed and made Tommen a gullible yes-man of a momma's boy. This in turn left them vulnerable to the ambitions of Margaery Tyrell, who tries to drive a wedge between them and threatens her plans to rule as queen regent until Tommen was of age. Cersei also neglected her daughter Myrecella since the patriarchal nature of Westeros royalty meant she was unlikely to get power... despite Cersei regularly complaining about sexism against women.
** She killed a high septon because he was a cat's paw Tyrion put into power to keep the faith in House Lannister's pocket (being a decent but easily manipulated man), because Cersei's paranoia meant she feared that Tyrion was out to get her and that guy was in on it. This leads to a more competent and devout high septon getting into power with ambitions of his own. She then let him raise his own army, creating another player to threaten House Lannister's precarious position and one unbeholden to politics, which leads to her arrest - though in the books he was smart and played Cersei like a fiddle. In context, Cersei's undoing is a good thing - especially for everyone not allied with House Lannister.
** In the TV show, as revenge for the High Sparrow imprisoning her and Margaery taking her place as Queen (which is partly her fault in the ''first place''), she makes the perfectly rational decision to blow them all to fuck using magical napalm while they were at church for a trial. The end result was: Making the High Sparrow a martyr and driving the followers of the faith into a fervor that fuels uprisings; driving Tommen (who was friends with the High Sparrow and loved Margaery dearly) to commit suicide via jumping out a window; and pushing a pissed Olenna Tyrell to withdraw all the house's support from King's Landing and declare for the resurgent House Targaryen alongside Dorne. Cersei and House Lannister now literally had no major allies left in Westeros sans the Freys, who aren't at all reliable and were being destroyed by Arya and the Boltons when their treachery outstripped the benefits.
Unfortunately, she was still one step ahead and easily took out Houses Tyrell and Dorne despite their efforts, using the Iron Bank to buy herself a mercenary force and recruit Euron at the cost of losing Casterly Rock to her rivals (though this was helped by some internal team-killing from Oberyn's widow thanks to the fact the Martell/Tyrell relation are as bad as Stark/Lannister, it's a bloody epidemic in that show).
** Also in the TV show, when Daenerys and her supports come to parlay with Cersei's forces for help against the White Walkers and their zombie armies - showing proof by cutting up a captured zombie with the pieces still attacking - Cersei did the stupidest possible thing and refused to support them, deciding she'd rather "let the dead eat them all". She ignored the fact that this would leave her on the receiving end of a curb-stomp battle from either the aforementioned While Walkers (whose undead army would be bolstered by the dead from Daenerys') or Daenerys' forces AND everyone else grateful Daenerys beat the White Walkers/sick of Cersei. This ultimately comes back to bite her when she kills Missandei and pushes Daenerys over the edge from Lawful Neutral to Stupid Evil as she gives no quarter to anyone in King's Landing and commands the Dorathki, Unsullied and her dragon to rape, pillage and burn down King's Landing and leave no survivors - Cersei and her brother Jamie were crushed to death by the falling rubble. Of course, as will soon be made clear, Danerys was turned into a draconian (hue) powder keg of Stupid Evil herself, but for now we move to...

* Arguably Tywin Lannister: while known for his image of being a deviously competent politician and general, his actions don't hold up to the hype under further scrutiny. His neurotic obsession with protecting his house's reputation leads him to condone and engage in acts of excessive cruelty and brutality that have long term negative consequences, with his patriarchal narcissism ultimately resulting in his death at the hands of his dwarf son.
** Spurned Tyrion out of spite for his unintentional role in his wife's death - she died in childbirth. He did this for Tyrion's entire life, including annulling Tyrion's marriage to a peasant girl by having her gang-raped while forcing Tyrion to watch ''and later join in'' - this act horrified even Bronn, Tyrion's amoral sword-for-hire who'd kill a baby for the right price, saying in Tyrion's shoes he'd have killed Tywin for that, father or not. All this leaves the only one of his children who was both competent ''and'' legally available to inherit Casterly Rock with a burning hatred for Tywin.
** Sent Gregor Clegane after Elia Martell and her kids, planning for the children's death but hoping to use Elia as leverage against the Dornish; however, he forgot what a monster Gregor is and she dies as a result, with House Martell despising House Lannister, and likely setting in motion a possible (though ultimately ineffectual) poisoning with Widow's Blood by Oberyn Martell (It stops up the bowels until the victim dies of sepsis, which may have been why he was on the shitter when Tyrion killed him).
** Ordered Clegane and the Brave Companions/Bloody Mummers mercenary company to run wild in the Riverlands, causing a major agricultural zone for the continent to drop in productivity during the onset of a winter that could last years. Those affected by the rampages of Gregor and the Bloody Mummers also started to join the Sparrows religious movement, creating more opponents of House Lannister that have deep personal grievances with them (such as a peasant innkeeper whose son was murdered by the Mummer's and whose daughter was raped by Gregor).
** Orchestrated the Red Wedding, shredding House Lannister's political image and credibility throughout Westeros - nobody wants to negotiate with someone who doesn't follow the same rules of war as them, like say, honoring a right to hospitality that the entire continent respects. In a bitter stroke of irony, his own grandson Joffrey would be murdered by Olenna Tyrell at his own wedding with Margery to spare her of the same fate Sansa suffered, meaning that everything he did to bring Joffrey to power was all for nothing ''and'' widened the rift between Tyrion by letting him take the fall for Joffey's death, as well as allowing the Tyrells to have an advantage over the Lannisters with help from the Sparrows who as mentioned above, were supported by the Tyrells thanks to the atrocities committed.
** In particular, he berated Tyrion for whoremongering while using prostitutes himself. This is worth noting not merely for the expected hypocrisy, but for the fact that Tywin likely took issue with his ''severe'' lack of discretion more than anything else: what son of a Lannister, much less ''his'' own son, should be so well-known as a skirt-chaser? Then he was founding banging Tyrion's sugar baby Shae; this last hurrah got him killed, as he mouthed off at Tyrion when the latter had a loaded crossbow pointed at him while he was stuck on the toilet and had learnt of his ultimate betrayal (it also led to Shae's death). He also died with the shameful legacy of being found dead on the toilet with his corpse stinking up his own funeral, his daughter being remembered as a Targareyn-wannabe (not a compliment), his grandson being a wimpy tyrant and his oldest son being an oath-breaking team-killing sister-fucker... all while his rivals Ned and Robb were lionized (heh) as martyrs.

* Gregor Clegane is a serial killer with a short temper. He's gone through three wives who died under suspicious circumstances.
There's a high turnover rate among the servants at his keep and even animals avoid his chambers. Before this, he maimed his brother Sandor and would've killed him if three men didn't intervene, and he's heavily implied to have murdered his sister and father, despite the father doting on him even when his evil started to become apparent.
** The circumstances surrounding him and his brother are as such: Gregor once caught his brother playing with one of Gregor's discarded toy soldiers when they were children. He took the logical next step of holding his brother's face over a fire, permanently disfiguring that half of his face and mentally scarring him; on top of a case of pyrophobia it arguably made him stagnate into a phase of prolonged "adult childhood" from a developmental disorder, based on this and his other actions.
** Before the story starts, it's an open secret that Gregor raped and murdered Rheagar's wife Elia Martell, even though he hadn't been ordered to do so and she was valuable political hostage. He also killed a baby, and though he'd been ordered to do that, the fact remains that [[Grimdark|he had no qualms about the deed and went so far as smashing his head against a wall]]. This bites him and the Lannisters in the ass BIG TIME later on, though he deserved it.
** After losing a jousting match, Gregor decapitated his own horse, then tries to kill his opponent, Loras Tyrell, and his own brother Sandor when the latter intervenes. Had Gregor succeeded, it's likely the Lannisters would've kissed any hope of an alliance with the Tyrells goodbye.
** The men who Gregor recruits as his hand-picked warriors aren't chosen for their intelligence or resourcefulness, and not even loyalty; they serve Gregor out of fear and desire of plunder, and prize their fighting skills and sadism, essentially raping and torturing random peasants to death for the lulz. This includes the prisoners from the taking of Harrenhal, many of whom were nobility and could have been used as leverage in the war. And due to the atrocities of people serving under his command, they would be partially responsible for the Sparrows rise to power and led by the above mentioned Tyrells no less.
** Arguably when, before killing Oberyn, Gregor shouted a confession to his crime of murdering and raping Elia in front of all of the nobles in King's Landing. This would've put House Martell and House Lannister at open war... if the Martells hadn't been already secretly plotting to destroy them, though this ''does'' push their schedule forward and undermine the Lannister's supporters.
** For all that, there is at least some "justification" as to why this guy is kept around by House Lannister. He's a brutal warrior in every sense of the word who projects an aura of fear, and for all his butchery, raping, rage, and blunt cruelty, he's never threatened House Lannister directly and is (for want of a better word) content to be their pet beast. It also doesn't help that he's addicted to milk of the poppy (opium in all but name) since he consumed so much to combat the migraines brought on by his gigantism that it no longer works on him and he's always in an addled state.

* Ramsay Bolton is the son of Roose, a cunning general who manipulated and back-stabbed his way into rulership of the North; unlike Roose, Ramsey lacks any strategic foresight and critical thinking, and is totally fearless and reckless with his actions, which Roose correctly points out will be his downfall if they are not curbed. This ends up coming across as more of an informed attribute due to the TV show's writing, but the result is ultimately the same. [[Fail|Shame he didn't listen to his old man, huh?]]
** He killed his half-brother, despite the fact that this also deprived his father of another heir, which in medieval-esque societies is important; the more offspring they have, the more likely the noble family is to survive.
** His savage exploits are known across Westeros, and he continuously pisses off the other Northern lords by hunting down their subjects for fun, partly inspiring half of the Northern Houses rebel against Bolton rule. He chose to flay Ironborn captives alive, despite promising them clemency if they surrendered, along with turning Theon Greyjoy into his personal eunuch slave. This has ensured that the Ironborn will now fight to the death rather than sue for peace, and contemplate a full invasion of the North instead of merely raiding its settlements and pledged loyalty to Daenerys. Unfortunately in the TV Series, thanks to treachery by Euron usurping the throne from Yara, most of the Iron Fleet joined the Lannister who proves instrumental in crushing the Martell's for their previous transgression of fatally poisoning Clegane.
** In the books, after marrying the fake-Arya Stark (who everyone else thinks is the real one) he tortures her, threatens her and [[FATAL|tries to make her do certain things to his hunting dogs]]. This sets off the Northerners' [[Powder Keg of Justice]], causing an uprising against the Boltons that will likely end with Ramsay's and Roose's heads on spikes.
** He sent an assassin after Jon Snow. As Roose pointed out, Jon was the leader of a well-known and politically neutral organization, whose claim to the throne of House Stark was tenuous at best, and would've gone against his vows, a big deal in Westeros. Killing him would almost certainly create a martyr, or at least demonstrate to the other houses that House Bolton has no respect for neutrality.
** The TV version actually murdered his father in the middle of the war, fed his step-mother and infant half-brother to his dogs, and he'd also raped Sansa Stark beforehand after manipulating an arranged marriage between them. Yet he [[Mary Sue|somehow manages more (and often downright insane) successes than his book counterpart]] in spite of acting like little more than a rabid dog raised in nobility (the infamous "twenty good men" scene where trained killers' armor and expertise suddenly become useless against a half-naked Ramsay comes to mind).
** Unfortunately (for him), his fortune doesn't last, as being a team-killing fucktard ultimately got his own army wiped out before he was beaten to near-death by Jon Snow, culminating in Sansa feeding him to his own dogs -- who were only hungry enough to turn on him because he'd starved them for a week beforehand in anticipation of feeding them the Starks and in his previous hunts he'd deliberately cultivated a taste for human flesh in the dogs.

* Slaver's Bay (aka ''Stupid Evil: The Civilization''), a neo-Ghiscari settlement, is run by a bunch of decadent slave dealers who do nothing besides wax on about how great the 5 millennia dead old Ghiscari Empire was and leave their society in the Bronze Age... in a world one step removed from [[Medieval Stasis]].
** Of the four cities of Slaver's Bay, two of them, Meereen and Yunkai, believe that a bunch of slaves with spears and shields led by fops on horseback or in chariots wearing linen vests and helmets made to accommodate their stupid hairdos constitute a proper army. After Yunkai gets its ass kicked by Daenerys when she brings a half decent army to the field that doesn't run at the first excuse, they decide that it would be a good idea to raise ''new'' slave armies that are [[What|chained together and fight on stilts]].
** One of them, Astapor, trains Unsullied elite spear slaves who obey any order given to them without question, which they sell and use for defense. The Masters of Astapor [[Derp|agree to sell all the Unsullied they've got to Dany exchange for one of her dragons]], and she then proceeds to have the Unsullied sack their city and kill them.
** Admittedly, the prospect of owning a dragon, especially after they’re thought to be extinct for centuries and being the equivalent of a self-replenishing WMD, is an awfully tempting one given how new Unsullied are made each year. Despite that, it’s ''still'' extremely stupid that they questioned neither the possibility of how they can control said dragon (leading to one Master burning to death seconds after grabbing the dragon’s chain) ''nor'' the sense in selling every Unsullied warrior-slave to the same person and leaving none to defend themselves. They also never considered that the Unsullied, though trained to be obedient, might resent the brutality involved in their training ([[Grimdark|which included castrating them at a young age, sending aspirants into the city tasked with killing babies in front of their mothers to prove they'll follow even the vilest orders, giving them a puppy to care for in their first year then making them strangle it to death as a test of loyalty - killing those who fail this test, and making them take new names each day on pain of death - demeaning names like "black rat", "blue toad" or "red flea" - so they can't develop a sense of individual identity]]), and would seize a chance for vengeance which Dany happily gave them.
** For no particular tactical reason, the leadership of Meereen decided to taunt an oncoming army by having child slaves nailed to mileposts to die along the road - a decision which backfires on them rather spectacularly.

* Daenerys Targaryen of the TV show's continuity takes her newly earned spot in this list with a single but major action, through the sheer power of bad writing. In the second-to-last episode, she reduces the entire citizenry to dragonfire kindling through a series of events that Cersei is somewhat at fault for: Dany was already fixing to blow several gaskets because she was rejected by Jon Snow (who is her nephew and not as incest-willing as Jamie) and got one of her dragons killed (by [[What|completely forgetting about an entire fleet of ships]]), and then Cersei slams the final nail in the coffin of her rational thought by having her close friend Missandei publicly killed. This last act is the impetus for Dany to torch 'em all and let the Seven sort it out, throwing away any and all goodwill she would have gained from King's Landing - virtually nobody held much love or loyalty for Cersei, and most of the common folk would have loved her had she not then decided to literally become her father.
** Don't get us wrong, signs of a dark, sadistic side to Daenerys were always there with the signpost punishment and other early signs of a "pay evil unto evil" mentality that cast shadows of doubt onto her image as the liberating Breaker of Chains. But with the way said signs were developed in the show (which is to say, almost ''not at all''), it is beyond stupefying how she went from "Messiah, Breaker of Chains" to truly being her father's daughter in the grand span of ''two episodes''. It's no wonder everyone save the Unsullied (who themselves were retconned enough that they might as well be unthinking automatons now - a cruel irony since a big part of their story was slave-soldiers developing their own identities... though Grey Worm had the excuse of being distraught over Missandei's death since he loved her) and Dothraki (who actually enjoy random acts of slaughter like this) turned on her the moment they saw what she has become and got her assassinated... which created its own plot hole as to why the Dothraki and Unsullied didn't try to avenge her.
***Worth mentioning that the ''concept'' of turning Daenerys Targaryen to the dark side wasn't in itself horrible. It could be a big shock while remaining a realistic turn (a girl raised to power in a tyrannical land who moved in a feudal one), and it was a good reminder to [[Dune|not blindly trust the charismatic leader.]] The problem is that execution was absolutely abysmal. She just snaps, kill everyone and turn literally hitler.
** And no, we're not shitting you: in a televised interview, the showrunners were asked why Daenerys didn't do anything about the Iron Fleet, and Beinoff nervously said outright that [[What|she kind of forgot about them]] (more likely the writers themselves forgot about them). That is almost (but just barely not quite) ''Dexter'' finale or ''Supernatural'' finale levels of shit writing, wasting such a spectacular crew and cast on them to boot. If GRRM intends to turn Dany evil and kill her off, he knows what NOT to do in ADOS - assuming TWOW, let alone ADOS, are ever finished.

===Other general examples===
* Strawman villains in poorly written fiction across the board.
* Villains in Saturday morning cartoons and similar fare (e.g. Wacky Races, Captain Planet).
* [[Grimderp|Grimdark as a whole often suffers]] from characters who make things crappy just for the sake of making things crappy.
* [[Edgy|Edgelord]] characters by preteens/actual teens (or users with a similar enough mentality) on DeviantArt (though one could argue Edgelords are more [[Chaotic Stupid]], this is a case by case basis).
* The 'villains' of many fringe-conspiracy theories would be Stupid Evil if they existed as depicted, since their plans undermine their own power bases, have little to no tangible gain, or else draw attention by plastering their logo on everything. It's also weird that despite how cartoonishly evil they are thought of, they don't bother to kill anyone exposing the conspiracies while making it look like an accident. This is probably because there is some overlap with the strawman characters - they just have to be Evil™ enough to scare whoever you're selling your bridge to into action, said action being pissing off people who aren't uneducated enough to fall for your snake oil and the ignorant making you rich.

===Other /tg/-relevant examples===
* The Sith in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' universe suffer from this greatly, and it's a major reason they keep losing to the Jedi and failed to keep any of their empires intact long-term. In fact, one could argue that they're a perfect case study on why Stupid Evil is a bad idea:
** Firstly, whereas the Jedi code encourages understanding yet controlling your emotions (that way you take them into account, but they don't prevent you from doing what is necessary), the Sith code encourages embracing your emotions and indeed, many of the most powerful Sith like Darth Vader are incredibly emotionally damaged. Thus Sith tend to do things in the heat of the moment and often lack the patience needed to be truly effective. Darth Malak can't find Revan and the Ebon Hawk crew on a planet he has control of? Oh well better just ''level his own planet'' with Star Destroyers, costing himself thousands of workers and soldiers in his psychotic and desperate rush to off his old master.
** Secondly, the Sith code is built on a hyper-Darwinist, "survival-of-the-fittest" structure. While this sounds decent enough on paper, in practice it meant that the Sith ''constantly'' backstabbed each other in idiotic power plays, often leading to Sith killing each other more often than they killed Jedi. Crossing with the "overly emotional" thing above, their lack of patience often led to them betraying each other way before it was beneficial to do so. Darth Bane was the first major Sith Lord to realize how stupid and unsustainable this lifestyle was, and did something about it for the benefit of the Order rather than themselves. His "rule of two" may have led to the Sith population being lower than ever before or after, but at least it kept the Sith order alive and prevented most of them from slaughtering each other in pathetic attempts to gobble up more power.
*** It should be noted that even the Sith themselves violate or weasel their way around the Rule of Two every now and then. Darth Maul was alive at the same time as Dooku & Palpatine (technically before Dooku defected after Qui-Gon's death but it still counts as Palps was already planning to replace him in Legends), and in the EU during Vader's time there were the Force-using "Hands of the Emperor" agents such as Mara Jade. They also have characters like Ventress who aren’t officially Sith Lords, yet are trained just like one. So while it decreases their numbers by a lot, they find ways around even when they actually obey said rule. This again is an aversion of idiocy, as a spare is a good idea when only two people are allowed.
*** Also don't get the idea that Darth Bane's plan was sensible or not-backstabby. He wiped out almost all of the Sith in exchange for merely a small group of Jedi of the Jedi in an admittedly epic and arguably goddamn hilarious backstab, and part of the reason he did so wasn't because he was sure they'd fall into infighting - rather, Lord Kaan had most of them under his thumb thanks to psychic influence and strength - but because the Sith were acting in very un-Sithy ways, relying purely on strength of arms and unified armies rather than mastery of the Dark Side. Even when there was a very real chance the Sith could've won via these methods, he couldn't have that or slink off and make his rule of two on his own - he had to backstab everyone else first. Then, go figure, his sucessors ended up using those same pragmatic tactics until the Jedi declined enough to almost destroy them in one blow. To be fair, the survivors (read: the assholes who didn't help with the 300-year long galactic dark age after two and a half millennia of almost nonstop war) and their policies lead to the decline of the Jedi Order until they got Order 66'd.
** Thirdly and finally, Sith who engage in too much evil and envelope themselves too deeply in the Dark Side often suffer from an inability to properly sense the Light Side. This alienation of the Light is what lead to the otherwise brilliant Palpatine's death. He alienated altruism and good so utterly that he was not only unable to sense Luke Skywalker's presence during a critical moment, but he was also unable to sense that his apprentice Darth Vader still had some morality in him. Thus he attempts to tortuously kill Luke, and is killed himself when he fails to sense Vader's own paternal feelings and the betrayal they influence.
* The [[Skaven]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy]], whose rival clans always plan on backstabbing each other even if they're all fighting a mutual (and often far worse) enemy. A perfect plan for them involves getting their own enemies and allies to kill each other, until they are the only one left to face the next enemy - keep in mind that "they" doesn't just mean rival clans either; in an apocalyptic scenario, even their personal secretary is only barely less of an enemy than the hordes of the undead. As above, it takes the [[Horned Rat]], their god, as well as the invention of instant communication via the [[Farsqueaker]], to get their fuzzy little asses united...though in the Skaven's case, them being a species of Stupid Evil is entirely the ([[Lulz|hilarious]]) point and their society is explained as surviving in spite of themselves due to a ridiculous breeding rate.
* Humans in science and fantasy fiction often end up being Stupid Evil when the (usually incompetent) writer wants to make a statement about discrimination. According to these tales, humans are apparently overly-panicky and violent psychopaths itching for an excuse to murder the shit out of other species. For instance, in [[Avatar]] the human army is portrayed as a bunch of jingoist lunatics who want to slaughter the peaceful Na'vi for the resources they need, rather than trying to reap long-term benefits by making peaceful contact, in a clear exaggeration of tendencies that might have existed in the colonization era. The advent of [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]] is in part a reaction to this phenomenon.
** Heck, even if you're genocidal, when you have total orbital supremacy you should just [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|drop rocks]], rather than charging into battle in your mecha.
* Some followers of [[Chaos]], such as [[Firaeveus Carron]], can prove to be this most of the time.
* [[Lolth]] actually enforces Stupid Evil in her worshipers: because of her, the Drow spend 3 quarters of their energy fighting each other instead of defending themselves, which is a really bad idea since they live in an underground city under constant threat of being [[rape]]d by [[illithid]]s and [[beholder]]s. In fact, when things get really bad, she literally has to tell them to get their shit together for a short period of time.
* [[/co/|The Joker.]] Once "merely" [[Tzeentch|a criminal mastermind with a chaotic, unpredictable bent]] and joke-themed weapons (like a joy buzzer that gives a lethal electric shock and a squirting flower that sprays acid), he devolved in the 90's into a murder-happy rabid dog who kills for the jollies and because [[/d/|he gets off on being punched in the face by Batman]]. With the ''Dark Knight'' and ''Joker'' movies, it's been shown that he can be convincingly chaotic evil for reasons that make Batman look like a whiny rich kid, though this depends heavily on the writer. That being said, Joker is one of the cases that is actually fun to be written as one hundred percent Stupid Evil. There is just something hilarious about the ridiculously cruel things he keeps coming up with when written well and as Joaquin Phoenix masterfully demonstrated, he can be made into a nuanced character with understandable motivations as well.
* General Zod and his minions as depicted in Man Of Steel. Zack Snyder tried to make them complex but botched up the execution. Seriously, they brag about how [[Dark Eldar|lacking any semblance of a moral compass makes them superior]]. Michael Shannon’s laughably misguided performance certainly didn’t do any favors for our suspension of disbelief (for the record, we blame Zack Snyder for Zod’s performance, as Synder was the director).
* Starscream from [[Transformers]]. He's too ambitious and egotistical to realize how good his position as Megatron's second-in-command is, and so spends much of his time trying to usurp his leader with predictable failure. He also tends to do things on the spur of the moment to satisfy his own ego, as demonstrated in ''Prime'' where he angrily takes credit for killing Arcee's best friend Cliffjumper ''while in handcuffs in front of Arcee'', simply because he doesn't want Airachnid stealing the credit for things he did.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Alignment]][[Category:Stupid Alignments]]

Stupid Evil

2021-10-14T02:31:37Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:70C7:EFBC:3846:DC73:

{{fail}}
{{Heresy}}
{{Topquote|No Muttley, we can't win fairly. We are villains, ergo we have to cheat!|Dick Dastardly, recognizing his role in ''Wacky Races'' while being unable to avoid playing it. Naturally, the finish line is right behind him.}}
{{Topquote|If you acquire a reputation as a mad dog, you'll be treated as a mad dog; taken out back and slaughtered for pig feed.|Roose Bolton to his son Ramsay in ''Game of Thrones''.}}
[[File:Skeletor.jpg|right|300px|thumb|"Nevermind what I said, just do what I said!"]]
Yes, [[Stupid Good]] has its Evil counterpart. A general trait of '''Stupid Evil''' is doing evil things for the sake of being evil (e.g. pettiness, self gratification, etc.), rather than because they are (morality aside) easy or viable paths towards wealth, power, revenge, or whatever the villain's goal is. This is especially true when a non-evil (or less evil) way of doing things would work better.

A villain who is truly insane can get away with this sort of thing since what compels them to act in an evil manner is the fact that they have some screws loose, and likewise comedic villains can get away with it because their evil is just a plot device to cause funny things to happen. However, "serious" nemeses and long-term, high-threat villains are usually expected to have a goal and some capacity for rational planning; a villain who takes time out of a busy day to kick a puppy or eat a kitten just to establish evil credibility will probably be treated with derision by players. By the same token, a villain who presents an otherwise seemingly insurmountable threat being undone by a massive fatal flaw - such as pride or hubris - can make for quite a compelling yarn.

[[TVTropes|Compare]] to [[Chaotic Stupid]]. They're not quite the same, but there's often a lot of overlap due the tendency of bad players and writers to mistake "chaotic" with "act like as big of an obnoxious asshole as physically possible".

==Examples of Stupid Evil==
There is oh so much of it...
===[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]===
The amount of retarded villains in this series is truly staggering. And yet, despite all of the stupid evil committed by them, [[Grimdark|they were able to secure many victories in the beginning]], even if only because the good guys are either more [[Lawful Stupid]] or [[Stupid Good]]. Ultimately however, most of the Lannisters and their allies, including the Boltons and Freys met their ends in spite of their ruthlessness.

Of course, A Song of Ice and Fire is known for its frequent grey morality, and most Stupid Evil characters have something of an explanation. Even then, you'd be inclined to wonder how far ahead some of them were really thinking, especially in the adaptations - though it's arguably intentional, possibly to demonstrate how [[Not As Planned|a lack of pragmatism fucks people over in the long-term]], especially in a realm so rapidly driven by [[Just as planned|ever-changing politics and schemes]] ([[Skub|or possibly because of bad writing, who knows]]).

'''The Lannisters'''

Lannister-brand parenting and ruling revolves around nepotism, an iron fist and enough money to solve any problem thrown at them. While they enjoy significant successes at first, they also gave birth to some of the most short-sighted sociopaths who rely on their fortune, both material and immaterial, to try and win the Game of Thrones, and all ultimately lose in the end due to both fortunes running short. Examples of the Lannisters' worst offenders:

* Joffrey Baratheon is both very impulsive and sadistic, which is an already disastrous pairing of personality traits to combine with the fact that he's 12 - 15 years old across the books. On the note of not-even-really-excuses, there's also possible mental instability resulting from the fact that he's inbred and his mother is Cersei (more on her in a moment).
** He hires a peasant and gives them a Valyrian Blade to kill Bran Stark - this is one of only a few hundred such weapons in all of Westeros, and an unusual weapon for a common hitman when a common dirk would have sufficed; when that fails, it causes the Starks to suspect the Lannisters. He also kills Eddard Stark to make an example of him, therefore sparking an unnecessary and very costly civil war that went against what his family had planned. Despite that, they still came out on top since they are still standing while the Starks are scattered, due mainly to Tywin and Tyrion being [[Creed|tactical geniuses and strategic masterminds.]]
** He also chooses to ignore his duties and the welfare of his people in favor of satiating his sadistic behavior, even abusing them when they're seeking his help. He regularly abuses Sansa in particular, and threatens to have her killed despite the fact it will reduce her value as a political hostage and (in their eyes) could cause the Starks to kill their political hostage, Jaime Lannister.
** Having no regard for the peasants and working class under your charge is already a bad idea, but is ''especially'' so when there's an impending siege plus a food shortage and tensions are already high. This leads to a riot that causes several deaths when he orders a mass execution after one member of the crowd threw a dung ball at him.
** Even his family isn't safe from his viciousness, occasionally to the point of team-killing fuckery: he has one of his Kingsguard try to murder his uncle Tyrion in the middle of the Battle of Blackwater instead of just simply poisoning him (as Tyrion pointed out) and didn't even wait until after the battle which Tyrion was essential in. He even calls Tywin a coward. ''Out loud. In front of other people. '''To his face.''''' Luckily for Joffrey they were related, or he would have been struck down. And as what turns out to be a final hurrah at his wedding, he insults his in-laws and his bride at their wedding reception and subjects Tyrion to petty tortures in front of everyone.

* Cersei Lannister, while not as dumb as her son Joffrey (low a bar as that is), is egotistic and paranoid as fuck; if she, for any reason, thinks you might threaten her or her children, even for something as minor as telling her her latest idea is a bad one, you're in trouble. At best, she will view you as an enemy and will be a passive-aggressive bitch to you, and at worst she'll have you brutally tortured to death, even if you're one of House Lannister's allies to whom good relations are vital. On top of all that, she's a contender for Worst Mother in Westeros, and her cruelty drove away even her incestuous lover, Jaime Lannister (which happened much earlier into the books than in the TV show).
** She invited Gregor Clegane (see below) to King's Landing at the same time Oberyn Martell is visiting, despite the fact that Gregor is the reason there's bad blood between House Lannister and House Martell, and the Martells know it.
** After Joffrey died, she went out of her way to rig the trial for his death against Tyrion, despite the circumstances ''already'' being against him - this made him more determined than ever to survive, and tipped off Oberyn that Tyrion is innocent of the crime. This led to the duel between Oberyn and Gregor that ruined the Lannister/Martell alliance and ''nearly'' cost the Lannisters their pet beast.
** She also responded to a satirical puppet show about House Lannister being evil tyrants by having anyone who saw it either fined (up to half of all their money if they're rich) or mutilated (an eye cut out if they're too poor to pay), and then ordering the puppeteers executed. She didn't even mind the play at first - she only took offence because the ending had the Lannisters getting their comeuppance at the hands of a Targaryen. Then, instead of the headsman, she did something worse and handed the puppeteers over to her resident mad scientist for deadly experiments at his request. Ironically, events following this would vindicate the puppeteers for their play (more on ''that'' below).
** Cersei encouraged the worst aspects of her sons; in the case of Joffrey, this is like attempting to put out a forest fire with napalm. Her atrocious parenting, combined with conceiving Joffrey with her brother Jamie AND Robert's own negligence, is the reason Joffrey's such a repulsive asshole. She ignores the numerous acts of cruelty and stupidity of her eldest son, and treats any criticism of him as a personal attack on ''her''.
** She was an overbearing mother to Tommen - her actually half-decent person of a second son - to the point of [[What|trying to make him more like Joffrey]], which inevitably failed and made Tommen a gullible yes-man of a momma's boy. This in turn left them vulnerable to the ambitions of Margaery Tyrell, who tries to drive a wedge between them and threatens her plans to rule as queen regent until Tommen was of age. Cersei also neglected her daughter Myrecella since the patriarchal nature of Westeros royalty meant she was unlikely to get power... despite Cersei regularly complaining about sexism against women.
** She killed a high septon because he was a cat's paw Tyrion put into power to keep the faith in House Lannister's pocket (being a decent but easily manipulated man), because Cersei's paranoia meant she feared that Tyrion was out to get her and that guy was in on it. This leads to a more competent and devout high septon getting into power with ambitions of his own. She then let him raise his own army, creating another player to threaten House Lannister's precarious position and one unbeholden to politics, which leads to her arrest - though in the books he was smart and played Cersei like a fiddle. In context, Cersei's undoing is a good thing - especially for everyone not allied with House Lannister.
** In the TV show, as revenge for the High Sparrow imprisoning her and Margaery taking her place as Queen (which is partly her fault in the ''first place''), she makes the perfectly rational decision to blow them all to fuck using magical napalm while they were at church for a trial. The end result was: Making the High Sparrow a martyr and driving the followers of the faith into a fervor that fuels uprisings; driving Tommen (who was friends with the High Sparrow and loved Margaery dearly) to commit suicide via jumping out a window; and pushing a pissed Olenna Tyrell to withdraw all the house's support from King's Landing and declare for the resurgent House Targaryen alongside Dorne. Cersei and House Lannister now literally had no major allies left in Westeros sans the Freys, who aren't at all reliable and were being destroyed by Arya and the Boltons when their treachery outstripped the benefits.
Unfortunately, she was still one step ahead and easily took out Houses Tyrell and Dorne despite their efforts, using the Iron Bank to buy herself a mercenary force and recruit Euron at the cost of losing Casterly Rock to her rivals (though this was helped by some internal team-killing from Oberyn's widow thanks to the fact the Martell/Tyrell relation are as bad as Stark/Lannister, it's a bloody epidemic in that show).
** Also in the TV show, when Daenerys and her supports come to parlay with Cersei's forces for help against the White Walkers and their zombie armies - showing proof by cutting up a captured zombie with the pieces still attacking - Cersei did the stupidest possible thing and refused to support them, deciding she'd rather "let the dead eat them all". She ignored the fact that this would leave her on the receiving end of a curb-stomp battle from either the aforementioned While Walkers (whose undead army would be bolstered by the dead from Daenerys') or Daenerys' forces AND everyone else grateful Daenerys beat the White Walkers/sick of Cersei. This ultimately comes back to bite her when she kills Missandei and pushes Daenerys over the edge from Lawful Neutral to Stupid Evil as she gives no quarter to anyone in King's Landing and commands the Dorathki, Unsullied and her dragon to rape, pillage and burn down King's Landing and leave no survivors - Cersei and her brother Jamie were crushed to death by the falling rubble. Of course, as will soon be made clear, Danerys was turned into a draconian (hue) powder keg of Stupid Evil herself, but for now we move to...

* Arguably Tywin Lannister: while known for his image of being a deviously competent politician and general, his actions don't hold up to the hype under further scrutiny. His neurotic obsession with protecting his house's reputation leads him to condone and engage in acts of excessive cruelty and brutality that have long term negative consequences, with his patriarchal narcissism ultimately resulting in his death at the hands of his dwarf son.
** Spurned Tyrion out of spite for his unintentional role in his wife's death - she died in childbirth. He did this for Tyrion's entire life, including annulling Tyrion's marriage to a peasant girl by having her gang-raped while forcing Tyrion to watch ''and later join in'' - this act horrified even Bronn, Tyrion's amoral sword-for-hire who'd kill a baby for the right price, saying in Tyrion's shoes he'd have killed Tywin for that, father or not. All this leaves the only one of his children who was both competent ''and'' legally available to inherit Casterly Rock with a burning hatred for Tywin.
** Sent Gregor Clegane after Elia Martell and her kids, planning for the children's death but hoping to use Elia as leverage against the Dornish; however, he forgot what a monster Gregor is and she dies as a result, with House Martell despising House Lannister, and likely setting in motion a possible (though ultimately ineffectual) poisoning with Widow's Blood by Oberyn Martell (It stops up the bowels until the victim dies of sepsis, which may have been why he was on the shitter when Tyrion killed him).
** Ordered Clegane and the Brave Companions/Bloody Mummers mercenary company to run wild in the Riverlands, causing a major agricultural zone for the continent to drop in productivity during the onset of a winter that could last years. Those affected by the rampages of Gregor and the Bloody Mummers also started to join the Sparrows religious movement, creating more opponents of House Lannister that have deep personal grievances with them (such as a peasant innkeeper whose son was murdered by the Mummer's and whose daughter was raped by Gregor).
** Orchestrated the Red Wedding, shredding House Lannister's political image and credibility throughout Westeros - nobody wants to negotiate with someone who doesn't follow the same rules of war as them, like say, honoring a right to hospitality that the entire continent respects. In a bitter stroke of irony, his own grandson Joffrey would be murdered by Olenna Tyrell at his own wedding with Margery to spare her of the same fate Sansa suffered, meaning that everything he did to bring Joffrey to power was all for nothing ''and'' widened the rift between Tyrion by letting him take the fall for Joffey's death, as well as allowing the Tyrells to have an advantage over the Lannisters with help from the Sparrows who as mentioned above, were supported by the Tyrells thanks to the atrocities committed.
** In particular, he berated Tyrion for whoremongering while using prostitutes himself. This is worth noting not merely for the expected hypocrisy, but for the fact that Tywin likely took issue with his ''severe'' lack of discretion more than anything else: what son of a Lannister, much less ''his'' own son, should be so well-known as a skirt-chaser? Then he was founding banging Tyrion's sugar baby Shae; this last hurrah got him killed, as he mouthed off at Tyrion when the latter had a loaded crossbow pointed at him while he was stuck on the toilet and had learnt of his ultimate betrayal (it also led to Shae's death). He also died with the shameful legacy of being found dead on the toilet with his corpse stinking up his own funeral, his daughter being remembered as a Targareyn-wannabe (not a compliment), his grandson being a wimpy tyrant and his oldest son being an oath-breaking team-killing sister-fucker... all while his rivals Ned and Robb were lionized (heh) as martyrs.

* Gregor Clegane is a serial killer with a short temper. He's gone through three wives who died under suspicious circumstances.
There's a high turnover rate among the servants at his keep and even animals avoid his chambers. Before this, he maimed his brother Sandor and would've killed him if three men didn't intervene, and he's heavily implied to have murdered his sister and father, despite the father doting on him even when his evil started to become apparent.
** The circumstances surrounding him and his brother are as such: Gregor once caught his brother playing with one of Gregor's discarded toy soldiers when they were children. He took the logical next step of holding his brother's face over a fire, permanently disfiguring that half of his face and mentally scarring him; on top of a case of pyrophobia it arguably made him stagnate into a phase of prolonged "adult childhood" from a developmental disorder, based on this and his other actions.
** Before the story starts, it's an open secret that Gregor raped and murdered Rheagar's wife Elia Martell, even though he hadn't been ordered to do so and she was valuable political hostage. He also killed a baby, and though he'd been ordered to do that, the fact remains that [[Grimdark|he had no qualms about the deed and went so far as smashing his head against a wall]]. This bites him and the Lannisters in the ass BIG TIME later on, though he deserved it.
** After losing a jousting match, Gregor decapitated his own horse, then tries to kill his opponent, Loras Tyrell, and his own brother Sandor when the latter intervenes. Had Gregor succeeded, it's likely the Lannisters would've kissed any hope of an alliance with the Tyrells goodbye.
** The men who Gregor recruits as his hand-picked warriors aren't chosen for their intelligence or resourcefulness, and not even loyalty; they serve Gregor out of fear and desire of plunder, and prize their fighting skills and sadism, essentially raping and torturing random peasants to death for the lulz. This includes the prisoners from the taking of Harrenhal, many of whom were nobility and could have been used as leverage in the war. And due to the atrocities of people serving under his command, they would be partially responsible for the Sparrows rise to power and led by the above mentioned Tyrells no less.
** Arguably when, before killing Oberyn, Gregor shouted a confession to his crime of murdering and raping Elia in front of all of the nobles in King's Landing. This would've put House Martell and House Lannister at open war... if the Martells hadn't been already secretly plotting to destroy them, though this ''does'' push their schedule forward and undermine the Lannister's supporters.
** For all that, there is at least some "justification" as to why this guy is kept around by House Lannister. He's a brutal warrior in every sense of the word who projects an aura of fear, and for all his butchery, raping, rage, and blunt cruelty, he's never threatened House Lannister directly and is (for want of a better word) content to be their pet beast. It also doesn't help that he's addicted to milk of the poppy (opium in all but name) since he consumed so much to combat the migraines brought on by his gigantism that it no longer works on him and he's always in an addled state.

* Ramsay Bolton is the son of Roose, a cunning general who manipulated and back-stabbed his way into rulership of the North; unlike Roose, Ramsey lacks any strategic foresight and critical thinking, and is totally fearless and reckless with his actions, which Roose correctly points out will be his downfall if they are not curbed. This ends up coming across as more of an informed attribute due to the TV show's writing, but the result is ultimately the same. [[Fail|Shame he didn't listen to his old man, huh?]]
** He killed his half-brother, despite the fact that this also deprived his father of another heir, which in medieval-esque societies is important; the more offspring they have, the more likely the noble family is to survive.
** His savage exploits are known across Westeros, and he continuously pisses off the other Northern lords by hunting down their subjects for fun, partly inspiring half of the Northern Houses rebel against Bolton rule. He chose to flay Ironborn captives alive, despite promising them clemency if they surrendered, along with turning Theon Greyjoy into his personal eunuch slave. This has ensured that the Ironborn will now fight to the death rather than sue for peace, and contemplate a full invasion of the North instead of merely raiding its settlements and pledged loyalty to Daenerys. Unfortunately in the TV Series, thanks to treachery by Euron usurping the throne from Yara, most of the Iron Fleet joined the Lannister who proves instrumental in crushing the Martell's for their previous transgression of fatally poisoning Clegane.
** In the books, after marrying the fake-Arya Stark (who everyone else thinks is the real one) he tortures her, threatens her and [[FATAL|tries to make her do certain things to his hunting dogs]]. This sets off the Northerners' [[Powder Keg of Justice]], causing an uprising against the Boltons that will likely end with Ramsay's and Roose's heads on spikes.
** He sent an assassin after Jon Snow. As Roose pointed out, Jon was the leader of a well-known and politically neutral organization, whose claim to the throne of House Stark was tenuous at best, and would've gone against his vows, a big deal in Westeros. Killing him would almost certainly create a martyr, or at least demonstrate to the other houses that House Bolton has no respect for neutrality.
** The TV version actually murdered his father in the middle of the war, fed his step-mother and infant half-brother to his dogs, and he'd also raped Sansa Stark beforehand after manipulating an arranged marriage between them. Yet he [[Mary Sue|somehow manages more (and often downright insane) successes than his book counterpart]] in spite of acting like little more than a rabid dog raised in nobility (the infamous "twenty good men" scene where trained killers' armor and expertise suddenly become useless against a half-naked Ramsay comes to mind).
** Unfortunately (for him), his fortune doesn't last, as being a team-killing fucktard ultimately got his own army wiped out before he was beaten to near-death by Jon Snow, culminating in Sansa feeding him to his own dogs -- who were only hungry enough to turn on him because he'd starved them for a week beforehand in anticipation of feeding them the Starks and in his previous hunts he'd deliberately cultivated a taste for human flesh in the dogs.

* Slaver's Bay (aka ''Stupid Evil: The Civilization''), a neo-Ghiscari settlement, is run by a bunch of decadent slave dealers who do nothing besides wax on about how great the 5 millennia dead old Ghiscari Empire was and leave their society in the Bronze Age... in a world one step removed from [[Medieval Stasis]].
** Of the four cities of Slaver's Bay, two of them, Meereen and Yunkai, believe that a bunch of slaves with spears and shields led by fops on horseback or in chariots wearing linen vests and helmets made to accommodate their stupid hairdos constitute a proper army. After Yunkai gets its ass kicked by Daenerys when she brings a half decent army to the field that doesn't run at the first excuse, they decide that it would be a good idea to raise ''new'' slave armies that are [[What|chained together and fight on stilts]].
** One of them, Astapor, trains Unsullied elite spear slaves who obey any order given to them without question, which they sell and use for defense. The Masters of Astapor [[Derp|agree to sell all the Unsullied they've got to Dany exchange for one of her dragons]], and she then proceeds to have the Unsullied sack their city and kill them.
** Admittedly, the prospect of owning a dragon, especially after they’re thought to be extinct for centuries and being the equivalent of a self-replenishing WMD, is an awfully tempting one given how new Unsullied are made each year. Despite that, it’s ''still'' extremely stupid that they questioned neither the possibility of how they can control said dragon (leading to one Master burning to death seconds after grabbing the dragon’s chain) ''nor'' the sense in selling every Unsullied warrior-slave to the same person and leaving none to defend themselves. They also never considered that the Unsullied, though trained to be obedient, might resent the brutality involved in their training ([[Grimdark|which included castrating them at a young age, sending aspirants into the city tasked with killing babies in front of their mothers to prove they'll follow even the vilest orders, giving them a puppy to care for in their first year then making them strangle it to death as a test of loyalty - killing those who fail this test, and making them take new names each day on pain of death - demeaning names like "black rat", "blue toad" or "red flea" - so they can't develop a sense of individual identity]]), and would seize a chance for vengeance which Dany happily gave them.
** For no particular tactical reason, the leadership of Meereen decided to taunt an oncoming army by having child slaves nailed to mileposts to die along the road - a decision which backfires on them rather spectacularly.

* Daenerys Targaryen of the TV show's continuity takes her newly earned spot in this list with a single but major action, through the sheer power of bad writing. In the second-to-last episode, she reduces the entire citizenry to dragonfire kindling through a series of events that Cersei is somewhat at fault for: Dany was already fixing to blow several gaskets because she was rejected by Jon Snow (who is her nephew and not as incest-willing as Jamie) and got one of her dragons killed (by [[What|completely forgetting about an entire fleet of ships]]), and then Cersei slams the final nail in the coffin of her rational thought by having her close friend Missandei publicly killed. This last act is the impetus for Dany to torch 'em all and let the Seven sort it out, throwing away any and all goodwill she would have gained from King's Landing - virtually nobody held much love or loyalty for Cersei, and most of the common folk would have loved her had she not then decided to literally become her father.
** Don't get us wrong, signs of a dark, sadistic side to Daenerys were always there with the signpost punishment and other early signs of a "pay evil unto evil" mentality that cast shadows of doubt onto her image as the liberating Breaker of Chains. But with the way said signs were developed in the show (which is to say, almost ''not at all''), it is beyond stupefying how she went from "Messiah, Breaker of Chains" to truly being her father's daughter in the grand span of ''two episodes''. It's no wonder everyone save the Unsullied (who themselves were retconned enough that they might as well be unthinking automatons now - a cruel irony since a big part of their story was slave-soldiers developing their own identities... though Grey Worm had the excuse of being distraught over Missandei's death since he loved her) and Dothraki (who actually enjoy random acts of slaughter like this) turned on her the moment they saw what she has become and got her assassinated... which created its own plot hole as to why the Dothraki and Unsullied didn't try to avenge her.
***Worth mentioning that the ''concept'' of turning Daenerys Targaryen to the dark side wasn't in itself horrible. It could be a big shock while remaining a realistic turn (a girl raised to power in a tyrannical land who moved in a feudal one), and it was a good reminder to [[Dune|not blindly trust the charismatic leader.]] The problem is that execution was absolutely abysmal. She just snaps, kill everyone and turn literally hitler.
** And no, we're not shitting you: in a televised interview, the showrunners were asked why Daenerys didn't do anything about the Iron Fleet, and Beinoff nervously said outright that [[What|she kind of forgot about them]] (more likely the writers themselves forgot about them). That is almost (but just barely not quite) ''Dexter'' finale or ''Supernatural'' finale levels of shit writing, wasting such a spectacular crew and cast on them to boot. If GRRM intends to turn Dany evil and kill her off, he knows what NOT to do in ADOS - assuming TWOW, let alone ADOS, are ever finished.

===Other general examples===
* Strawman villains in poorly written fiction across the board.
* Villains in Saturday morning cartoons and similar fare (e.g. Wacky Races, Captain Planet).
* [[Grimderp|Grimdark as a whole often suffers]] from characters who make things crappy just for the sake of making things crappy.
* [[Edgy|Edgelord]] characters by preteens/actual teens (or users with a similar enough mentality) on DeviantArt (though one could argue Edgelords are more [[Chaotic Stupid]], this is a case by case basis).
* The 'villains' of many fringe-conspiracy theories would be Stupid Evil if they existed as depicted, since their plans undermine their own power bases, have little to no tangible gain, or else draw attention by plastering their logo on everything. It's also weird that despite how cartoonishly evil they are thought of, they don't bother to kill anyone exposing the conspiracies while making it look like an accident. This is probably because there is some overlap with the strawman characters - they just have to be Evil™ enough to scare whoever you're selling your bridge to into action, said action being pissing off people who aren't uneducated enough to fall for your snake oil and the ignorant making you rich.

===Other /tg/-relevant examples===
* The Sith in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' universe suffer from this greatly, and it's a major reason they keep losing to the Jedi and failed to keep any of their empires intact long-term. In fact, one could argue that they're a perfect case study on why Stupid Evil is a bad idea:
** Firstly, whereas the Jedi code encourages understanding yet controlling your emotions (that way you take them into account, but they don't prevent you from doing what is necessary), the Sith code encourages embracing your emotions and indeed, many of the most powerful Sith like Darth Vader are incredibly emotionally damaged. Thus Sith tend to do things in the heat of the moment and often lack the patience needed to be truly effective. Darth Malak can't find Revan and the Ebon Hawk crew on a planet he has control of? Oh well better just ''level his own planet'' with Star Destroyers, costing himself thousands of workers and soldiers in his psychotic and desperate rush to off his old master.
** Secondly, the Sith code is built on a hyper-Darwinist, "survival-of-the-fittest" structure. While this sounds decent enough on paper, in practice it meant that the Sith ''constantly'' backstabbed each other in idiotic power plays, often leading to Sith killing each other more often than they killed Jedi. Crossing with the "overly emotional" thing above, their lack of patience often led to them betraying each other way before it was beneficial to do so. Darth Bane was the first major Sith Lord to realize how stupid and unsustainable this lifestyle was, and did something about it for the benefit of the Order rather than themselves. His "rule of two" may have led to the Sith population being lower than ever before or after, but at least it kept the Sith order alive and prevented most of them from slaughtering each other in pathetic attempts to gobble up more power.
*** It should be noted that even the Sith themselves violate or weasel their way around the Rule of Two every now and then. Darth Maul was alive at the same time as Dooku & Palpatine (technically before Dooku defected after Qui-Gon's death but it still counts as Palps was already planning to replace him in Legends), and in the EU during Vader's time there were the Force-using "Hands of the Emperor" agents such as Mara Jade. They also have characters like Ventress who aren’t officially Sith Lords, yet are trained just like one. So while it decreases their numbers by a lot, they find ways around even when they actually obey said rule. This again is an aversion of idiocy, as a spare is a good a idea when only two people are allowed.
*** Also don't get the idea that Darth Bane's plan was sensible or not-backstabby. He wiped out almost all of the Sith in exchange for merely a small group of Jedi of the Jedi in an admittedly epic and arguably goddamn hilarious backstab, and part of the reason he did so wasn't because he was sure they'd fall into infighting - rather, Lord Kaan had most of them under his thumb thanks to psychic influence and strength - but because the Sith were acting in very un-Sithy ways, relying purely on strength of arms and unified armies rather than mastery of the Dark Side. Even when there was a very real chance the Sith could've won via these methods, he couldn't have that or slink off and make his rule of two on his own - he had to backstab everyone else first. Then, go figure, his sucessors ended up using those same pragmatic tactics until the Jedi declined enough to almost destroy them in one blow. To be fair, the survivors (read: the assholes who didn't help with the 300-year long galactic dark age after two and a half millennia of almost nonstop war) and their policies lead to the decline of the Jedi Order until they got Order 66'd.
** Thirdly and finally, Sith who engage in too much evil and envelope themselves too deeply in the Dark Side often suffer from an inability to properly sense the Light Side. This alienation of the Light is what lead to the otherwise brilliant Palpatine's death. He alienated altruism and good so utterly that he was not only unable to sense Luke Skywalker's presence during a critical moment, but he was also unable to sense that his apprentice Darth Vader still had some morality in him. Thus he attempts to tortuously kill Luke, and is killed himself when he fails to sense Vader's own paternal feelings and the betrayal they influence.
* The [[Skaven]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy]], whose rival clans always plan on backstabbing each other even if they're all fighting a mutual (and often far worse) enemy. A perfect plan for them involves getting their own enemies and allies to kill each other, until they are the only one left to face the next enemy - keep in mind that "they" doesn't just mean rival clans either; in an apocalyptic scenario, even their personal secretary is only barely less of an enemy than the hordes of the undead. As above, it takes the [[Horned Rat]], their god, as well as the invention of instant communication via the [[Farsqueaker]], to get their fuzzy little asses united...though in the Skaven's case, them being a species of Stupid Evil is entirely the ([[Lulz|hilarious]]) point and their society is explained as surviving in spite of themselves due to a ridiculous breeding rate.
* Humans in science and fantasy fiction often end up being Stupid Evil when the (usually incompetent) writer wants to make a statement about discrimination. According to these tales, humans are apparently overly-panicky and violent psychopaths itching for an excuse to murder the shit out of other species. For instance, in [[Avatar]] the human army is portrayed as a bunch of jingoist lunatics who want to slaughter the peaceful Na'vi for the resources they need, rather than trying to reap long-term benefits by making peaceful contact, in a clear exaggeration of tendencies that might have existed in the colonization era. The advent of [[Humanity Fuck Yeah]] is in part a reaction to this phenomenon.
** Heck, even if you're genocidal, when you have total orbital supremacy you should just [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|drop rocks]], rather than charging into battle in your mecha.
* Some followers of [[Chaos]], such as [[Firaeveus Carron]], can prove to be this most of the time.
* [[Lolth]] actually enforces Stupid Evil in her worshipers: because of her, the Drow spend 3 quarters of their energy fighting each other instead of defending themselves, which is a really bad idea since they live in an underground city under constant threat of being [[rape]]d by [[illithid]]s and [[beholder]]s. In fact, when things get really bad, she literally has to tell them to get their shit together for a short period of time.
* [[/co/|The Joker.]] Once "merely" [[Tzeentch|a criminal mastermind with a chaotic, unpredictable bent]] and joke-themed weapons (like a joy buzzer that gives a lethal electric shock and a squirting flower that sprays acid), he devolved in the 90's into a murder-happy rabid dog who kills for the jollies and because [[/d/|he gets off on being punched in the face by Batman]]. With the ''Dark Knight'' and ''Joker'' movies, it's been shown that he can be convincingly chaotic evil for reasons that make Batman look like a whiny rich kid, though this depends heavily on the writer. That being said, Joker is one of the cases that is actually fun to be written as one hundred percent Stupid Evil. There is just something hilarious about the ridiculously cruel things he keeps coming up with when written well and as Joaquin Phoenix masterfully demonstrated, he can be made into a nuanced character with understandable motivations as well.
* General Zod and his minions as depicted in Man Of Steel. Zack Snyder tried to make them complex but botched up the execution. Seriously, they brag about how [[Dark Eldar|lacking any semblance of a moral compass makes them superior]]. Michael Shannon’s laughably misguided performance certainly didn’t do any favors for our suspension of disbelief (for the record, we blame Zack Snyder for Zod’s performance, as Synder was the director).
* Starscream from [[Transformers]]. He's too ambitious and egotistical to realize how good his position as Megatron's second-in-command is, and so spends much of his time trying to usurp his leader with predictable failure. He also tends to do things on the spur of the moment to satisfy his own ego, as demonstrated in ''Prime'' where he angrily takes credit for killing Arcee's best friend Cliffjumper ''while in handcuffs in front of Arcee'', simply because he doesn't want Airachnid stealing the credit for things he did.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Alignment]][[Category:Stupid Alignments]]