Rumor: Warhammer 40K third-person shooter in development

by Alexander Sliwinski { Sep 8th 2008 at 2:50PM }

Apparently, there's some "leaked" footage of a third-person Warhammer 40K shooter floating around the internets. The game, with the awfully generic subtitle of "Space Marine," appears to be a mix of Gears of War and God of War. The voice-over that accompanies the video, which Eurogamer guesses belongs a developer, explains that the game is focused on brutal, close-quarters combat.

We've contacted THQ, which holds the video game license to the Warhammer 40K universe, to see if it can shed some of the Emperor's light on this topic. While we're not exactly sure about the video's authenticity, it certainly has had some nice work put into it. Find it after the break.

Tags: space-marine, thq, warhammer-40k, warhammer-40k-space-marine

Related From Joystiq

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Jakka(Naked Peach Brigade) @ Sep 8th 2008 2:55PM

YESSS!

FOXHOUND @ Sep 8th 2008 3:26PM

I second his jubilant response, and retort with even more "YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!1!!". This kind of game is LONG overdue.

And now, a WH40K Wishlist (if the rumor is true):
- Multiple Space Marine Chapters to play as
- Personalized SM Chapter creation/modding for clans
- Though it could be done via episodic content, it would be nice to see all of the Species (Tyranids, Tau, Orks, Eldar, Chaos, etc.)
- DREADNOUGHTS!

Friday_Knight @ Sep 8th 2008 3:30PM

@ FOXHOUND's post:

THIS. ^

Very yes.

wootman @ Sep 8th 2008 4:40PM

M. Bison would be proud.
YESH!
YESH!

DarkNessBear @ Sep 8th 2008 8:30PM

I say this looks like a developers game reel in order to convince a publisher to back their game.

Mr.ESC @ Sep 9th 2008 11:47AM

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oy8TR_jSo7Y&feature=related

wocyob @ Sep 8th 2008 3:01PM

hm what?! gears of war i can understand but not god of war

WhoMe @ Sep 8th 2008 5:52PM

Funny, I'd say it looks more like GoW than gears. The environments definitely feel like GoW as they are a lot larger and stuff and there's more going on in the background, just like in GoW. Feels like GoW with shooting to me.

Anyway, I see potential, but it's also very, very rough around the edges. The combat isn't fluid at all and the animation looks aweful in some places (like timing and connecting).

But then it is a WIP and leaked at that.

theturtle363 @ Sep 8th 2008 6:04PM

it's really hard to figure out what you're saying when both games abbreviations are GoW

WhoMe @ Sep 8th 2008 7:04PM

Which is why I use GoW and gears. I've seen gears called GeoW as well, so.. yeah.

But anyway God of War was first and as such, it is GoW in my book.

Haggard @ Sep 8th 2008 3:01PM

Saw this footage the other day; the 'cinemaction' parts or whatever they were called look really annoying, goes into a little 5 second death cutscene for every enemy..

wocyob @ Sep 8th 2008 3:03PM

yea i know what you mean...i too think there a tad bit too long

Hyams @ Sep 8th 2008 3:14PM

To be fair, all they really are is a different camera angle as you pull off a cool looking move. They shouldn't be too intrusive.

Veras Gunn @ Sep 8th 2008 11:12PM

That's why I'm worried. not the scenes, but the immensely stupid nicknames they're trying to give all of these already done features. I'm thinking this is a new development group who doesn't know spit about games.

Kevin949 @ Sep 8th 2008 3:23PM

It's like tenchu with all the stealth kills. *Shrug* Or GoW with the chainsaw kills. *Shrug* Or a few other games with similar "cinemaction moments". why harsh on this game?

Haggard @ Sep 8th 2008 3:31PM

Because in Gears of War you pull of a chainsaw kill maybe every 5 minutes. Here it's every 15-20 seconds.

Jakka(Naked Peach Brigade) @ Sep 8th 2008 3:38PM

Haggard, first of all it all it does is changing the angle.It's not like the move would take less time if it was in the normal view.

Second of all, they stated they were going to implement thousands of finishers which sure mixes things up a lot.

Hyams @ Sep 8th 2008 4:50PM

Holy crap, are me and Jakka actually AGREEING on something?

xxHughesxx @ Sep 9th 2008 5:47AM

If they can manage to pull them off like Assassin's creed then i will absolutly love this game. Assassins was the best single player game iv played in years and years and alot of it was to do with the visceral feeling in those little moments, it made the combat fun instead of just "hit the guy and he goes down with a red patch on his chest.

If they do it well it will be great and not annoying, we just have to hope they dont rush it out of development...

KumaJr @ Sep 8th 2008 3:03PM

Looks great. Love to see a nice non-strategy 40k game.

Hyams @ Sep 8th 2008 3:13PM

Lookin' good. And I'm loving how they've managed to nail the 40K universe. Everything feels so accurate: the size of the Space Marines compared to normal humans, the insignias, the space ship's designs, the architecture, everything. It's great.

The only thing I don't really like is the way the stunned enemies stand there and wobble around a bit. It looks like a Mortal Kombat game (and in a bad way).

Jakka(Naked Peach Brigade) @ Sep 8th 2008 3:29PM

Five bucks says, it's essentially an Alpha Engine Demo.

Hyams @ Sep 8th 2008 4:48PM

Well, yeah. The 'explosion' gives that away. ;)

I guess I just don't like the idea of 'stunning' your opponent at all. It always seems so fake. I can't imagine someone just standing there for five plus seconds whilst their life is in severe danger.

Odog4ever @ Sep 8th 2008 3:26PM

DO WANT!

Nice spin on "quick time" events

knighty (GT: ZeraKnight) @ Sep 8th 2008 3:27PM

It just reminded me of what Gears of War managed to so successfully do that other shooters seem to fail at, giving characters weight. Nothing worse than seeing supposedly huge characters spin around instantly with crappy animation. Looked pretty terrible to me gameplay wise, especially with the "cinemaction" rubbish but the visuals were amazing outside.

Friday_Knight @ Sep 8th 2008 3:29PM

This looks amazing. I really want to hear some official word on the existence of this game before I get my hopes up though.

I am a huge sucker for third person action games and 40k in general. I do really like the focus of this game though I do hope they add a little more ability of fight at range (I play Ultramarines table-top and part of the strength of marines is that they can be really focused on ranged combat or melee. They're very versatile) and I hope they work on integrating those killing-blow cinamatics a little better.

A slow-mo death sequence is all well and good, but if it happens on every single guy you kill it kind of stops being cool and special.

Overall though this looks incredible. Can't wait.

riot9 @ Sep 8th 2008 5:39PM

I'm also worried about focusing too much on melee combat. His bolter seems like a bb gun. And the other big concern I have is... 40K is all about squads, where's this guy's squad? The silly "fists of the north star-punch the guy where I tell you to" minigame and slo-mo finishing moves implies that co-op is out of the question. Not impossible, unlikely.

I have high hopes. I love Warhammer 40K, and I think it's a great idea to try something new. Art direction looks good. Just some gameplay mechanics have me worried.

vannyx @ Sep 8th 2008 3:55PM

For the emperor.

Friday_Knight @ Sep 8th 2008 7:43PM

How dare you use His name and not pay it proper respect with proper capitalization.

If you were only Holy Terra that sort of blasphemy would have you executed as a Heretic.

For the Emperor!

RobLink (Alex Kidd incarnate) @ Sep 8th 2008 3:58PM

I like the look of it. It's obviously a bit rough around the edges, and needs some work on the animation and definitely needs more of the death sequences and melee attacks (like the dude said there would be).
However, the thought of a whole game of this sounds really good, especially if they implement some more of the in depth lore - I'm thinking plasma pistols, melta bombs, power fists, terminator armour. Oh, and ewnemies other than Chaos. Orcs and 'nids specifically.
I'll be keeping an eye out for this, because this doesn't look like a fake or fan-made.

DJNasir @ Sep 8th 2008 4:19PM

I'd love to see a Space Hulk, Vengeance of the Blood Angels remake some day.

Hyams @ Sep 8th 2008 4:49PM

I want an Inquisitor Eisenhorn game. =(

penpoint @ Sep 25th 2008 4:42AM

me too! be nice if they busted out a five player co-op version. def be playing that with my old school dorkin out friends.

chenry @ Sep 8th 2008 4:35PM

A very nice start! I can't wait to see it with a bit more polish.

wootman @ Sep 8th 2008 4:43PM

Reminds me of fire warrior.

Mr.Ironic @ Sep 8th 2008 7:02PM

Don't say that. Hated that, from the only the first level.

G-Anderton @ Sep 14th 2008 10:43PM

I hope to god this game is better quality than "fire warrior" was back in the day.

theturtle363 @ Sep 8th 2008 5:59PM

FUCK YES! I will finally be able to personally burn the heretic, kill the mutant and purge the unclean! FUCK YES

Lavat @ Sep 8th 2008 6:47PM

They did say it was their first build....But yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I was a kid I had a dream of a 3rd person 40k game. And this practically does it. I have been waiting years for this. Really great again for a first build though. They can can do alot of great stuff with it.

But developers seem to really want to catch the feel for the Warhammer world...and they have seem to read alot of the literature. The Hero fighting hand to hand and the brutality of it all.

Mr.Ironic @ Sep 8th 2008 7:00PM

It does look really cool, much more of an up close mellee game than a shooter which I think is good. They should focus on that. So if they get that right it will be amazing. Really need to link those combos and add crunch. Also see the start of the swing before the death scene cut comes in, it was a little disconnected. Also none of this backing off two steps after downing an enemy and standing there, that looked odd.

There needs to be a plausible reason why he's running around on his own though. I'm all for plausibility.

I assume they'll be set pieces like a dreadnought storming by, bursting out of a wall, or a squad of Terminators, mini guns blazing, if only briefly. Or a tank battle in the back ground.

With out making it a squad game the character should meet up with 'a' squad at some point charging into battle together even if they then all die. They're not called brothers for nothing.

Jim @ Sep 8th 2008 7:47PM

Of course it won't be a HDD, they'll use some kind of solid state medium.

fred @ Sep 8th 2008 8:46PM

I WOULD PLAY THIS SO HARD

UNF UNF

D:

EdZ @ Sep 8th 2008 9:12PM

Nice concept, but poor execution. The camera cutting is TERRIBLE; jumping to an up-close shot is OK, because you don't have direct character control during the close-up, but cutting directly back is horribly jarring for successfully taking back control of your character. Combat looks very slow and clunky. Lots of slowly rotating on the spot, enemies sit back and wait for you to attack, or have slow and obvious wind-ups before attacking, ranged weaponry looks poorly implemented (watch how his arm always jumps to level and fires no matter where the actual target is).

Yes, this is an early build, but as it stands it looks like they have a LOT of work to do to make it into an enjoyable game.

BatAttack @ Sep 9th 2008 12:16AM

Ugh, I inderstand they want a melee focus, but making the guns so weak is ridiculous. The guy is standing around while being shot at, and is in no danger at all.
If the guns are so weak, just throw them away.

WH40k has never had weak guns, so I think this is a poor choice. They should make the guns powerful, but make ammo limited so you go into melee when you can, to save ammo (or when you run out of ammo).

Poddie @ Sep 9th 2008 1:37AM

Love the look of it, love the 3rd person, love the Space Marines in general.

Really HATE the "cinemactions". YUCK. Very jarring, would much rather just have them happen in the regular view.

But I am impressed with the graphics and all the events going on around you.