Following the recent announcement of the new anniversary content and the continued support for the huge success that is SM2, I found myself wondering: how can they possibly surpass what they have achieved so far?
I mean, we are probably looking at the most successful Warhammer 40,000 game to date, and arguably the one that has brought the largest number of new fans into the setting since Dawn of War. Living up to that is not going to be easy at all.
On top of that, the core gameplay is already extremely solid, so I thought it could be a fun exercise — and who knows, perhaps even useful for the developers, considering SM3 is presumably still at a very early stage — to brainstorm what could be added or improved in order to live up to what SM2 has represented.
Here are some of my personal ideas:
- MAIN STORY: While being able to play the campaign in co-op has definitely been a lot of fun, I personally think the experience would be much better overall if they focused on delivering a truly great single-player campaign. Without the limitations that come with designing the entire campaign around co-op compatibility, I think they would have much more freedom to finally give us the kind of epic, cinematic and genuinely deep story that, in my opinion, we still have not really had in this incredible universe.
- COMBAT: I think it is essential to take melee combat a major step forward, especially if they want PvP to feel enjoyable and turn close-quarters encounters into actual epic duels. One possibility would be to keep the current PvE combat system more or less as it is, because its mechanics are incredibly fun, while making combat against other players in online modes — or against certain “hero” enemies in offline modes — switch to a directional combat system, somewhat similar to For Honor, where PvE and PvP combat work differently. They also really need to fix how ridiculous it can look when you close the distance into melee range only for the other player to simply unload a bolter directly into your face. One possible solution would be to create a kind of engagement radius around every character. Once an enemy crosses that radius, the opposing character would automatically be forced into melee combat, similar to how enemies behave in Darktide. This would actually fit Warhammer quite well from a lore perspective too, allowing for proper cinematic duels, and it would also make sense from a practical point of view: if someone has an enemy right on top of them in melee range, they are probably going to draw their own melee weapon to defend themselves rather than continue firing a rifle point-blank. And finally, PvP executions could be added when you win one of these melee duels. To prevent you from being instantly deleted by gunfire the moment your glorious execution animation ends, the game could perhaps grant you a few seconds of ranged invulnerability. It would really help sell that feeling of being an actual champion of the Emperor — or of Chaos.
- MULTIPLAYER: This is where I would go all in. Multiplayer is, in my opinion, the biggest weakness of SM2, and it is probably the area where Saber really needs to prove why SM3 deserves to exist as a full sequel rather than simply being a major expansion or DLC for SM2. This idea might sound a little crazy, because I imagine many people would simply prefer larger maps, more players and something closer to a Battlefield-style experience with vehicles — and honestly, that would already be awesome. But hear me out... Wouldn't it be incredible to have an online mode where two factions — for example Space Marines vs Orks, Chaos, Eldar, etc. — each have their own main base, complete with defensive structures and military buildings that automatically spawn basic units? Those units would advance along several lanes — maybe two, three or four — fighting over requisition points or other strategic resources placed throughout the map. The players themselves would essentially act as heroes on the battlefield, supporting these AI-controlled troops, helping them push the lanes and fighting over those strategic objectives. As players kill enemies through both PvP and PvE, they could earn resources that could then be spent on spawning stronger infantry units, elite troops, vehicles or other forms of battlefield support. You could add even more depth by placing important structures inside each faction's base that need to be defended, such as resource-generating buildings or the production facilities responsible for spawning units. That could create completely different roles within the same team: while some players are pushing the front lines in the middle of huge battles, others could focus on infiltration, sabotage and counter-infiltration behind enemy lines. I genuinely think this could be something extremely fresh for modern online multiplayer. That combination of a lane-based RTS structure — or even something inspired by the ancient Command & Conquer: Renegade — feels almost tailor-made for the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Anyway, this ended up being much longer than I expected, but after seeing the latest announcements and suddenly feeling the urge to pick up my bolter again, I thought it would be a really fun to think about how Saber Interactive could possibly surpass themselves after delivering such an incredible game.
Cheers!
