The future is coming and it’s about to bring terror, chaos, and a twisted sci-fi RPG for good measure. Thankfully the year 014.M31 is some way off, but we got a glimpse of what’s coming and a chat to the team at Owlcat Games as we took an early look at Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader.
For those that haven’t seen the news, 40K is getting an audacious makeover from the team at Owlcat Games. The studio that went to work on Kickstart back in 2017 for Kingmaker and has also successfully brought us even more epic fantasy RPG adventure of late, with Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. Now the team behind these epic fantasy titles is taking a very different step through Warpspace and into territory that is dangerous in its own way.
The only thing that is certain about Warhammer video games is that success is not certain. They are almost as inconsistent as Star Trek movies and just as expensive to make. For every Total War Warhammer, there is a Space Wolf. This time though we’re likely to get a very different take on the Warhammer universe as we leave the orcs, vampires, and Space Marines behind to take on the role of a Rogue Trader and expand the influence of mankind out on the fringes of space. Players who pick up this new adventure can expect a deep dive into the Imperium of Man, but from a very different perspective. Playing as one of the few elites that has evaded the drudge that befalls the menial working class, players will spend their days bringing planets back in line, exploring space, and generally rolling for adventure in the furthest reaches of the universe.
In our first look we got a snippet of just one such scenario, where players land on a planet that was cut off from the wider Imperium. By the shifting influence of massive Void Storms. Exiting a landing craft and beginning on a seemingly abandoned planet, this tour of Rogue Trader deposited us on the balcony of a towering gothic city. A world of opulence and grandiose architecture lay abandoned before our brief overview of Rogue Trader and this dimly lit façade was not a welcoming destination.
Like any good adventure game, this RPG bundles the Rogue Trader and a party of allies, this time made up of 5 companions, into a series of quests, side missions, and encounters that explore the world around them. In this case, it seems like Rogue Trader is set to delve into areas of 40K that we don’t always see, hopefully allowing Owlcat to play on the fringes of established cannon and delve into the underworlds that don’t make for epic tabletop campaigns. This time, we moved off into this abandoned citadel. The background and overall aesthetic is just as imposing as you might expect from any great 40Kgame. While our landing craft for this expedition into the unknown might have seemed impressive enough, the scale of the architecture around it was immense, conjuring up images of the gargantuan Grand Cruisers that make up the Imperial Navy. Like much of Warhammer 40K this setting succeeds in making you aware of just how insignificant you and your loyal cannon fodder are against the harsh reality of the universe before thrusting you into an unfortunate situation.
All this stoic posing from a dead world complete, we tripped over ourselves to head into this deadly necropolis. Our tour through Rogue Trader turned out to be a primarily combat based expedition, and an opportunity to see one of the big changes of direction for the development team at Owlcat. Previous outings with Pathfinder have incorporated a dynamic action combat system, where initiative rolls and attack score are all calculated on the fly and attacking an enemy can feel chaotic. This time around players familiar with the Pathfinder approach will find a more methodical way to take down enemies alongside an entirely new repartee of unusual allies. Entering a snow swept lobby, our group of ferocious heroes were eagerly accosted by some scarily savage beasties, but his did give us an opportunity to unfurl the turn-based combat that stands front and center in Rogue Trader.
Allies & Enemies
Form the off, it’s clear that allies and companions in Rogue Trader are likely to be very different to the class archetypes you’re used to in other RPGs. While the Space Marines are likely off fighting Xenos somewhere, we spotted the likes of a Psyker, a shifty looking Tech Priest, Assassins and more in our party. Hopefully that is enough to uncover what happened to this world, but first we need to deal with a Drukhari ambush. While plenty of dialogue, companion side quests, and more will be crammed into this massive title, right now were far more focused on the 3 Drukhari and their wonderfully horrific pair of Khymeraes.
Most striking in this encounter is the opening moments isn’t the turn based combat that instigates a whole new way to play, but the visual detail. In amongst the monolithic architecture of this now abandoned world, the once high and might Drukhari and their own companions are wonderfully details. Despite the wide overview of the lobby that acts as our very own kill zone, zooming in on the Khymeraes reveals a torturous looking beast with intricately detailed appendages that quiver and slash when they leap into the fray. These Animals represent one of the most potent problems in this particular encounter, with their own unique combat capabilities. Every other attack does absolutely no damage, so choosing when to attack and soaking up damage at the right time is going to be a crucial situation. Just to make things even mor complicated, snipers are drawing our attention away from these melee range dangers. Thankfully Rogue Trader goes into incredible detail, ploughing the lore of Warhammer 40K to bring some of the Emperor’s best Adepts to life. More studious class types help this rag tag band of recruits, zealots, and chancers by studying the enemy armor, sharing tactical knowledge, and effectively increasing the chance of scoring a decent hit.
More obvious accommodations for tactical team battles get a look in with the Tech Priest who can heal, but the central character’s leadership skills seemed the most interesting here. The Rogue Trader begins with a basic career, choosing to specialize and gather a set of very particular skills and abilities. In our case the Rogue Trader fits as a natural leader, focusing on supporting and aiding those under his command. Rather than rushing into battle the real power of this character is to convince even the most timid of explorers and conscript4ed antiheroes that they can do more than they might ever imagine.
This particular leader of men, rather than primarily spend movement points trotting right up to a Drukhari and then chewing up a bunch of action points trying to bash it in the face, can funnel those AP into giving orders and convincing the team that they can and will survive this horrific encounter, allowing players to re-use characters that might be left in an open position. Tons of incredibly interesting design idea and combat mechanics cropped up, like a momentum effect that allows specific characters to go all in depending on their repeated success or abject failure. These ingenious tweaks to the way this combat come together are further complicated, and given nuance, by the addition of a much more vertical world than Pathfinder particularly built. Even in this encounter, our team sat in a lobby surrounded by staircases, meaning players could shoot across open ground, up through an open balcony, and even, I imagine, bludgeon each other on a stairwell.
Like the intricately detailed Khymeraes and other characters, Owlcat gave a lot of attention to the environment. In a time where technology has come on beyond the bow and arrow, using the walls and walkways that surround this dimly lit backdrop becomes increasingly important. It also proved to be an unexpected challenge for Owlcat too, who detailed how cover and line of sight could make a massive difference to casts and projectiles. Even individual steps can impact the chance to score a crit, delving into a level of minutia that speaks to the obsessive need to craft an outstanding experience.
What Owlcat showed us would, to the passing eye, look like a cool looking but unremarkable turn-based RPG. It’s when you get down on the ground with this band of loosely affiliated Adepts, stare into Warp space, and experience the refreshing ideas Rogue Trader brings to a firmly establish set of trope that you really understand why the Imperium of Man is headed for a glorious future with Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader.
