BIGBEN Games, EKO Software in partnership with Games Workshop have done a great job of bringing the desert of Nehekhara to life as an ARPG. They dive into the lore right away and I am happy to say that all around the game feels improved from voice acting to combat. Unfortunately, there are a few issues that keep the new DLC from being an amazing addition to the game. This is our Warhammer: Chaosbane – Tomb Kings DLC review.
One thing to get out of the way first is that there is no new class for this DLC, the dwarven engineer is on the way however and will be released early 2020.
Voice acting has improved from the original campaign, characters seemed more expressive and believable. It seemed like the voice actors have settled into their roles and were able to put more into the performances. Some will still find the voice performances still over the top at certain key moments, but it fits well with the Warhammer setting.
The development team has been doing a great job to improve the gameplay so far along with the inclusion of the legendary rank system and the rework of the blessing system in the 1.08 September patch, combat feels more responsible compared to the original release. The Tomb Kings patch specifically includes a few quality of life updates that really gave the gameplay a better feel, I really like that ability to swap between builds in the middle of combat depending on the enemies you are fighting. The new god skill tree for each character is also a great addition and expands on character customization a lot.
The lore imparted to the player at the start of this DLC was a great way to introduce new players to the Tomb Kings and to have fans of Warhammer invested quickly by the narrator’s name dropping of a few main historical characters. It was a quick start to the storyline and the visuals were a great change from the main campaign. Each of the new tilesets, from the desert to the crypts, looks great and the monsters are all right out of Tomb Kings lore.
This DLC had so much potential… but my main complaint is that its way to short. The way in which the storyline is presented feels like this will be our only visit to the desert lands of the ancient dead and at best its a short side story of only a few hours. It doesn’t feel like it is really connected in any way to the main storyline, other than for your character has been sent to accomplish a side task/mission. The lore imparted at the start of the DLC almost sets it up for a story that could be so much more. This could have been an entire game onto itself and I truly hope that the team revisits Nehekhara again in the future to expand further on the story content.
For a game that already has a high price tag and unless you picked up the Magnus Edition, you will be paying more for the Season Pass or Tomb King DLC. Depending on how quickly you run through the content I would estimate it at about 2-4 hours maximum of a storyline, I finished my playthrough and was disappointed that there was not more to the new chapter. There is at least a new gameplay mode for the endgame, relic hunt. For this game mode, you essential spend gold on scrolls that will add affixes to your enemies and boss while increasing the loot percentage for a generated instance.
Other than being too short the other issues I noticed were very minor. Loot still feels a bit off until you hit max level, at which point you start to have more interesting drops. Also, some minor visual and sound effects feel like they are missing and could have added to the player immersion. For example, I would have really liked to see footsteps in the sand that fade as you walk away and if possible a fix for cloaks clipping sometimes with the armor.
Overall Tomb Kings is a good DLC for the game and adds a lot of improvements to an already good/great game, depending on much of a fan you are of the Warhammer Fantasy setting. If you are Warhammer Fantasy fan like I am you should enjoy what there is for the new storyline quite a bit, but for everyone else, the amount of story content vs price is hard to justify unless it is on sale.
A game key was provided for the purpose of review.
COMPARE TO: Path of Exile, Pagan Online, and Diablo 3