The developers from Owlcat Games are hard at work on the 4th major DLC for cRPG Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Titled The Last Sarkorians, it will let players learn more about the land that was ruined by Areelu Vorlesh. In addition to the new story beats, the DLC will also add a new companion and a new playable class: Shifter. You can pre-purchase the expansion separately or acquire it as a part of the game’s Season Pass 2 which will also grant you access to the two more planned DLCs when they are out.
However, while the Crusaders are preparing to venture deeper into the Worldwound to unveil its secrets, another adventure invites players to travel among the stars. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is a new project from Owlcat Games that is currently available in Closed Alpha version. Those who have pre-ordered certain editions of the game can try it out for themselves and explore a large slice of Chapter 2.
The initial announcement in June was met with a particular mix of delighted surprise and a bit of apprehension: there were certain worries about the fate of the Pathfinder game series now that the studio is working on another IP as well as the jump from classic fantasy to a setting known for its grim, dark futuristic aesthetic.
The worries were eventually put to rest as Owlcat Games announced more content for Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (including the entire Season Pass 2 and a possibility of Season Pass 3) and revealed that there is a dedicated team working exclusively on Pathfinder.
Still, the difference between the Pathfinder universe and that of Warhammer 40,000 is great enough to have players express their doubt whether they will like the new game or not. If you find yourself among the hesitating, let’s dive into the Closed Alpha and compare the two to see if it is a fit for you!
Note: this piece is more about the overall setting and the tone of the game vs. a detailed comparison in terms of gameplay. With Rogue Trader currently being only in the Alpha stage that is missing systems and features and is not indicative of the finished product, it is too early to draw such a comparison.
A bit about myself: I love fantasy, and cRPGs have always been that one niche comfort genre that I always turn to. Sadly, sci-fi or a variety of punk-settings don’t do it for me with some rare exceptions like the Mass Effect series.
My relationship with the Warhammer universe is a peculiar one. While I did dip my toes into the Warhammer Fantasy setting, everything I know about Warhammer 40,000 has been largely learned against my will thanks to some highly passionate friends. Overall, my knowledge of the universe can be summed up as “WAAAGH! RED GOEZ FASTA!” and “Skulls for the Skull Throne, blood for the Blood God!”. I don’t actually know who the Blood God is, but the battle cry is catchy and the memes are plentiful.
Needless to say, the announcement of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader caught me unawares. On the one hand, it is an upcoming cRPG from Owlcat Games. From my many hundreds of hours in Pathfinder games, I am confident it will be a grand experience in a variety of ways.
On the other hand… It’s Warhammer 40,000. That one setting that people rave about and that pushes the “dark” and “grim” to a point where they become embedded into anything and everything in the franchise. Thanks to the developers I had a chance to try out the alpha of the game for myself before I had to make the choice of whether to commit or not, and I’m here to share my observations with fellow fantasy lovers that find themselves daunted by the gargantuan that is Warhammer 40,000.
As comes from the name of the game, you play as the Rogue Trader of the von Valancius dynasty. Among other things, you will find yourself saddled with the task to restore the might of your trading empire that is currently somewhat crumbling in your hands due to a variety of circumstances. The position of Rogue Traders is quite unique. Due to the issued Warrant of Trade, these agents of the Imperium of Man enjoy a much higher degree of freedom compared to your regular citizen or even a high-ranking official. So much so that you will find yourself unbound by many common laws and rules and able to toy with the matters that would see others disposed of for heresy.
But with great power comes great responsibility: your choices will have consequences rippling through the Koronus Expanse, affecting the lives of your loyal companions and even entire worlds. It doesn’t make you completely immune either. While you do have the right to stick your nose into everything you see, there are others who match or even exceed your authority. The Inquisition’s watchful eyes follow your every movement to make sure you don’t succumb to Chaos while other Rogue Traders are looking for opportunities to undermine you for their own profit.
The position is not entirely unlike that of the ruler of the Stolen lands in Pathfinder: Kingmaker, only on a much, much grander scale. And, much like in Kingmaker, it is up to you how your “kingdom” will progress and how your character will behave.
If you are worried that the Warhammer 40,000 setting automatically means that you will have to be a brute burning xenos left and right and stomping on the weak for the glory of the Emperor, you don’t have to play that way. There will be plenty of opportunities to roleplay a genuinely decent, rational person, though not everyone might be able to appreciate it and not try to exploit that “weakness”.
In this case, your character can be likened to that of the Knight Commander of the Fifth Crusade: no matter how good and lawful you want to be, sometimes you have to make the decisions that apply to the current dire circumstances. Not everyone can be saved. Not everyone wants to be saved, but that doesn’t mean you will not get an opportunity to try. And just maybe, against all odds, you will manage to succeed.
On the other hand, you can play as that brute that burns xenos left and right and stomps on the weak, should you want to. Or you can stick to being short with outsiders while taking care of your own crew and holdings. Even in the Alpha Rogue Trader shows a surprising amount of variety in dialogue choices.
Jumping from Pathfinder into Warhammer 40,000 can be quite the experience. From bows, magic, swords and axes to… bolters, psykers, chainswords and plasma-axes?
The events of the game are set in the distant future, around the turn of the 42nd millennium. Spaceships, plasmatic weapons, overabundance of tech… and yet almost medieval brutality of views, the hatred towards anything foreign and the dystopian hopelessness and cynicism in behavior of its inhabitants.
With the presence of supernatural and magic, daemons and possession, elf-like Eldar and more, very soon you get used to the difference in setting and adjust much like you would to Blackwater in Wrath of the Righteous. After all, “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” and Warhammer 40,000 slots into dark sci-fantasy nicely.
Overall, from the Alpha, my feeling is that Rogue Trader is not necessarily darker than Wrath of the Righteous in tone but rather much more so in scope. Where the fall of Drezen meant thousands of innocents slain by demons with utmost brutality, the sheer size of Koronus Expanse raises that number to millions if not billions at once. The game does not shy from pointing that out and rather insistently showing it, either. Recall the senseless brutality of the Season of Bloom in Kingmaker, now multiply it by a few thousands. Yeah.
At the moment, the Closed Alpha begins at some point in the second chapter of the game. Your character has already claimed the position of the newest Rogue Trader and acquired quite the retinue. Needless to say, the blank spot left by the lack of the first chapter is felt acutely when you are just trying to settle into the new universe and learn the ropes.
However, the game strikes a nice balance between unloading buckets of lore, weaving its story and guiding your hand through gameplay – at the very least from the position of someone completely new to the setting but with certain experience in the genre. Your companions will explain what is expected of you and how much you can get away with. Or how little, in other circumstances such as politics and diplomacy.
On this journey, you will be accompanied by a cast of diverse characters, coming from all walks of life and all having their own reasons for sticking with you. Additionally, each companion will have a special quest chain that explores who they really are, but in the Alpha you can only go so far before you run into cut-off.
Some of the possible companions include: a Sister of Battle (basically, an extremely zealous and faithful battle nun that delights in combat), an interrogator of the Inquisition (local Regill but taller), a Navigator that will guide your ship through the horrors of the Warp (a noble mutant with access to enviable power in exchange for mutations wracking her body), a space smuggler, an unsanctioned Psyker that is only alive because you are protecting her, a surprisingly rational and almost friendly xenos and more. You can learn more about the important NPCs such as Theodora von Valancius and the companions that make up your ever-noble retinue on the official site.
As you can imagine, this bunch frequently almost comes to blows and offers their highly varying opinions on anything and everything you do. If you want to play as a loyal agent of the Empire and want to surround yourself with like-minded individuals, you can. If you want to play a largely loyal and rational person that doesn’t mind toying with the line every now and then, there are those who will support you.
At the moment, it feels like those who want to tread the path of a Radical or embrace Chaos do not have as many options as the other paths, but the Closed Alpha is not indicative of the finished product and the developers from Owlcat Games have already hinted that we haven’t yet seen everything. Far from it.
When it comes to gameplay, there are noticeable similarities, like using the Unity engine and featuring pretty similar humanoid models and UI, but also some very glaring differences. Let’s tackle the latter.
Unlike the Pathfinder games, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is exclusively turn-based. If the lack of the real time with pause option is the deal breaker for you (and I totally understand), this is the time to turn back. It was a thought-out decision by the developer who wanted to push the related mechanics further.
Among other new things, Rogue Trader features lines of sight, partial and full cover, more team-oriented mechanics (Strategist/Leader buffing party members, giving extra turns, extra movement points, marking the locations that grant a variety of beneficial effects), ultimate abilities/drastic measures, greater verticality and destructible environments.
Lining up shots and abilities will also show you their chances of succeeding, relying on a number of circumstances including if the enemy is currently in cover or not. Certain enemies, such as the Daemonic Engines mini-bosses, also feature attacks of retaliation that you will have to consider before tackling them.
Instead of guiding a fledgling barony and turning it into a powerful kingdom or leading a crusade against demonic invaders, you will be exploring every nook and cranny of the Koronus Expanse. And that comes with managing its own sub-system: your Voidship and everything related to it, including space battles.
At the moment, they are introduced in the alpha in a very barebones fashion, enough to let you know what the system will be about at a later point but not enough to tell exactly how it will play. Just be prepared for more Owlcat strategic goodness that can randomly kick your butt. Whether or not you can simplify it or automate completely like the Kingdom or the Crusade is for later versions of the game.
To sum it up, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader builds up on what is offered in Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. There are enough similarities in gameplay to comfortably settle into the new title and yet it is different enough to not feel like Pathfinder 3 with its deeper dive into the tactical side.
Despite what Warhammer 40,000 might tell you, the grim darkness of the future holds more than war. There is enough wonder, intrigue and even humor featured in Rogue Trader. However, while the overall tone is not too different from Wrath of the Righteous, it has frequent dips into something darker and messed up in a variety of ways.
If purely turn-based gameplay and the grimdark violence doesn’t scare you, Rogue Trader will likely pull you in for another couple hundred hours, much like the Pathfinder games. It serves well as the starting point for Warhammer 40,000 newbies by slowly introducing you to the universe in a meaningful way.
Note: Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Steam key was provided for the purposes of covering the game.
