Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters

Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters is an excellent XCOM-like and one of the best 40K games since Dawn of War II. Our review:

A brutal but graceful and comprehensible mix of ideas from Warhammer, XCOM and Gears Tactics.

A layered and engaging space opera that triumphs both on and off the battlefield.

While there’s enough tactical depth and customization to sustain a playthrough, much of Daemonhunters’ battles feel like vehicles for getting across its great story, and not the other way around. For many, XCOM is as much about the long journey — failures and do-overs included — as it is the destination. And while I don’t think Daemonhunters offers that same kind of obsessive replayability, it does lay a crunchy, thrilling tactical base for its brazen aesthetic and brilliant story to tread upon.

A deep and riveting turn-based tactics game, Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters embraces the mayhem to create one of the most thrilling strategy epics of recent years.

Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters manages to successfully separate itself from most other tactics games on the market, while also capturing the gritty spirit of Games Workshop's universe. Daemonhunters' punishing difficulty spikes may turn some away, but hardcore strategy fans looking for an uncompromising challenge will likely embrace the chaos.

Warhammer 40K: Chaosgate - Daemonhunters is a prime example of the Warhammer license meeting a genre it's absolutely built for.

Deamonhunters had some big shoes to fill given how the original Chaos Gate was not just a fond memory, but also a formative game from my childhood. Did it make the cut? Yes, it's precisely what I expected it to be, and I'm happy that it finally made its way to consoles. Some minor camera-related gripes aside, the game looks, sounds and plays great. Many-a-demons were slain in the last few days and I can now rest easy knowing that the galaxy is a little bit safer... at least until the DLC hits console storefronts. For the Emperor!

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters has many good ideas, but they're poorly executed. Despite solid mechanics, Complex Games' production is unbalanced, with difficulty that can frustrate even the most patient players. The constant waves of Chaos servants clash with the lore, and the repetitive missions and grinding make it an enormous missed opportunity.

In a world filled to the brim with terrible Warhammer 40K games, the last thing we need is terrible DLC that diminishes the handful of decent titles set in this marvelous universe. Normally, I wouldn’t mind it too much, but the game already had a bad – and frankly, predatory – DLC in the form of the Castellan Champion Upgrade Pack. Duty Eternal certainly brings a lot more to the table, which only serves to highlight how egregiously overpriced the first DLC is, but it’s only a small step in the right direction. If Complex Games really wants players to keep coming back to Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters, they need to do a lot better than Duty Eternal. This one feels more like Doody Eternal.