The surprise announcement that Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 3 is officially in development, coming just six months after the record-breaking release of Space Marine 2, has certainly got fans excited. Now the dust has settled on the news, thoughts inevitably turn to where the heroic Demetrian Titus will head next on his third video game adventure.
Warning! Spoilers for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 follow.
Let’s briefly recap the events of Space Marine 2 before we go on to speculate about what Space Marine 3 might have in store.
Space Marine 2 sees Titus of the Ultramarines go up against the Tyranids and the Thousand Suns Traitor Legion in a campaign that ends up with a massive battle against a demon army and even a trip to the warp. With the aid of Ultramarines Chapter Master Marneus Calgar, Titus successfully fends off both enemy factions before he’s sent on a mysterious mission that teases the continuation of the story in a sequel.
Now on to the speculation. Space Marine 3 looks certain to feature the Necrons, Warhammer 40,000’s deathless skeletal robot xenos, in some capacity. One Space Marine 2 mission that takes Titus deep within the bowels of an alien planet shows ancient and mysterious wall markings that are a clear nod to the Necrons.
There’s even a dataslate (Space Marine 2’s audio logs) that reveals Necron constructs have been killing Techpriests. You can see these constructs lying about the place.
Indeed, during the third act of the campaign, Titus heads to a Necron Tomb World packed with Necron buildings and technology. Some players thought the xenos would make a surprise appearance as a third enemy faction in the campaign, given the nature of the mission. Alas, they did not.
Could other enemy factions also turn up in Space Marine 3? Space Marine 2 does not reveal the nature of Titus’ secret new mission (the Warhammer 40,000 animation in Amazon’s Secret Level anthology, which acts as a Space Marine 2 sequel of sorts, doesn’t reveal much of anything), but with the eternally suspicious Chaplain Leandros keeping a close eye on proceedings just in case there’s a whiff of corruption, we’re sure Titus will be kept on the straight and narrow.
At this point it’s worth referring back to an IGN exclusive interview with Saber Interactive Chief Creative Officer Tim Willits, conducted soon after Space Marine 2 came out. At the time, Willits said there was the possibility of story DLC, and revealed that ideas were already floating around for Space Marine 3.
In the interview, Willits teased Space Marine 3 may introduce new chapters as well as new enemy factions. “There’s so many different factions…” he teased, “there are other chapters, too, that are interesting…”
Other chapters, eh? Could Titus leave the Ultramarines behind to join up with a different chapter for his Space Marine 3 adventure? If so, it’s almost impossible to say at this point which chapters might make the cut. Blood Angels, Dark Angels, and Salamanders are among the most popular Space Marine chapters outside poster boys the Ultramarines, but in truth there is a long list to draw upon. Perhaps we’ll get to join forces with a towering Adeptus Custodes at some point?
And what about an enemy Chaos faction to fight against? It would be a shame to return to fighting the Thousand Suns having done so in Space Marine 2. How about this time we battle Abaddon the Despoiler’s Black Legion? Or the Death Guard? Or maybe the Emperor’s Children? They’re a noisy bunch and would be sure to keep the party going.
Meanwhile, what type of gameplay might we get from Space Marine 3? Games Workshop, publisher Focus Entertainment, and developer Saber Interactive aren’t saying much at this point, but there is talk about “introducing large-scale battles that are even more spectacular.”
To me, that means vehicle gameplay, something some had hoped to see from Space Marine 2. Could we get to pilot a Dreadnought? A Rhino? A Land Speeder? A Land Raider? An Assault Bike? Upping the scale, a set piece in which you pilot a Thunderhawk during a ground assault would be epic indeed.
As for characters, Space Marine 2 features the aforementioned Ultramarines Chapter Master Marneus Calgar. Could Space Marine 3 go one better and include Ultramarines Primarch Robute Guilliman himself? In the current setting, Dark Angles Primarch Lion El’Jonson is also knocking about the galaxy. Perhaps we’ll run into him.
On the flip side, there are a number of high-profile traitor Primarchs who are currently terrorizing the Imperium in demon form. Maybe one of those will make a cameo (fingers crossed for Mortarion!).
Whatever Games Workshop and Saber Interactive has up its sleeve, it seems we won’t find out for quite a while. Games Workshop has said Space Marine 3 “is likely years away from release.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
