ADEPTUS CRITICUS GAME REVIEWS

*** Technical issues delayed this review, apologies to the readers. System – Xbox Series X. Developer – Owlcat. Type – Isometric RPG ***

Review written by Andrew Hughes.

Rogue Trader! The name, for those who know the lore, filled me with anticipation. The opportunity to push the edges of the map, decide fates with supreme authority and cleanse in the name of the Emperor. This game does not disappoint. With some exceptions it is a great, well-rounded game that delivers what many games in the modern age of gaming fail at – a story. Combat, action and a multitude of choices are everywhere these days, driven by the ideas of ‘customization’ and the idea that you should be able to ‘be whatever you want to be’ but narrative has suffered. Rogue Trader proves that you are able to have both, and that in many ways the narrative can drive everything else. So, that said, lets get into it.

Aesthetics & Atmosphere

In both of these categories Rogue Trader excels – and it shows in comparison to comparable games in the industry. It makes an obvious attempt to stay faithful to the lore and universe of 40K, which gives it a solid foundation from the first minutes of the game. It uses the body of what fans love and instead of insulting it attempts to explore and – at times – enhance it where appropriate. At no point to you get the sense that Owlcat thinks 40K is anything but an amazing space to have some fun in. Its world is dark and gritty, filled with lowly peasants to execute and intrigues to navigate. Whilst you have the ability to be an Iconoclast or Heretic (more later) it feels terribly satisfying to stay Dogmatic and purge the Koronus Expanse of all weaknesses. Even the larger areas that you can explore convey a very distinct galaxy – one where the divide between the aristocrat hedonism and peasants crushed by work is well done.

The music is second to none and from the title screen sets the tone for the whole gaming experience. From gothic chants to fast paced combat rhythms it never fails to invoke a sense of the dark millennium that it no doubt set out to recreate. Its composer goes a long way to filling the world you explore with the right atmosphere to enhance what your eyes are taking in in a pleasing way. What cinematics there are is well done and usually have their own little bit of music to go alongside.

Those expecting a graphical technicolour dream coat will be disappointed – this is not what Owlcat went for and this was a wise decision. The colours are pastel rather than vibrant – for the most part – and the modelling is detailed enough to do the job but does not seek to detract from the games more important points – the narrative and the gameplay. Graphics are too often used to prop up poor products and there is nothing of that here. The Isometric RPG standard mould is far from broken aesthetically but I would expect nothing less for a world that is more about its gritty darkness than anything else.

Combat

You get to Purge the Heretics solidly. Given that this is a Isometric RPG you would expect that the combat system would be a solid one and it doesn’t disappoint. Solid, stable and simple enough to understand it forms a good core for Rogue Trader to form around. There’s enough extra mechanics to explore that it doesn’t seem to derivative but nothing insanely unique or new that it feels like a ground-breaking innovation. It’s a Ronseal – it does what it says on the tin. And that’s okay too, many games try to be something they are not and fail. Rogue Trader stays faithful to what it is – a CRPG.

Difficulty of fights are variable depending on how deep you want to take the combat system, party composition and related but it trends nicely towards more and more difficult fights through the game. Yes you can make it trivial if you wish to game the systems but if you keep faith with how things were intended to be played it is a satisfying experience. I reloaded a fair few key battles and though frustration grew when the win came through it was all the sweeter to see the flames of righteousness burn the foul heresy away.

There is enough variety with skills, equipment and weapons to make Rogue Trader a different enough experience on each play through that you can get through a few campaigns and not feel overly samey. I’d like to see Owlcat keep the system largely as is but add something a bit more innovating or left-field in any additional content. Still, the combat feels good enough through the game that it ends up more a solid friend than a stab in the back…or front.

It keeps the game flowing and lets the light of the Emperor shine in other areas all the brighter.

Technical Grox

As is the fashion these days there were a series of tech issues on release – no doubt caused by despicable traitors to the Imperium. These dissidents have presumably since been purged as there are blessedly few left that are noticeable. The Emperor’s Grace has descended and the following were the only ones that I encountered – intermittent slow loading screens, some dialogue bugs that repeated conversations already done and (the most annoying) the selection cursor running wild and auto-cycling across selectable abilities – thus breaking combat. All were fixed by reloading an autosave and only reared their mutant heads after Act 3 (and then intermittently through to the end of the Act 5, and the game’s end).

I will say, though, that they were so few and far between that they were definitely noticeable, and thus annoying. It is, however, a credit to the narrative and general atmosphere that Rogue Trader brings to the table that it is so annoying – I genuinely wanted to keep playing and anything that got in the way, or broke immersion, was subject to a forceful decree that it should not exist. Still, the game is reasonably stable and I experienced hardly any crashes and what bugs seem to be left after updates should be easily fixed in future one would think.

Narrative & Gameplay

This is were in my opinion, Rogue Trader truly shines. What could easily be a standard ‘Xcom-esque’ experience with side filler ends up being far more than that – because of the narrative. Wasteland would be closer but I still think Rogue Trader does some things better. But first – gameplay.

Gameplay is good and filled with enough interactivity that it doesn’t feel too much like a directed journey. This is an achievement given that Rogue Trader is one, in essence. The acts of the game have enough freedom, and some notorious curveballs, that it stays fresh throughout. Companions are reasonably well rounded and come with their own motivations, stories and loyalties. It would have been nice to see those explored more, and in more interesting ways, but you can see why they aren’t – the focus remains upon driving the story and keeping momentum where possible. Cutscenes during warp jumps are novel and interesting, at times they are downright hilarious depending upon your choices. There’s a lot of flavour that changes based upon choice, which is a good thing and should be kept going forwards. Your thoughts and feelings towards your companions could have been built further but are not so much a disappointment as you might think, more what feels like a missed opportunity – there are enough conflicting personalities that Owlcat could have had a lot more fun with them if they had desired, which would have made exploring the map a lot more fun.

And about that map…it’s annoying. Not at first, it is interesting to begin with. The idea of jumping through the Warp, settling your own worlds and creating your won routes – optimizing them if you know what to expect in advance even – but after a while it feels somewhat lacking. The incidents and Warm shenanigans are random but the same and the stock wears out all too quickly. I would have liked to see more interesting activities and events. Planets are well done and have enough resources and odd things to explore as side fluff. It would have been better to weight Act 2 strictly towards ‘required’ worlds and a few extras rather than leaving the true gamer to explore them all before Act 3 begins. It would have balanced exploration throughout the game’s acts perhaps and led to less staleness.

The story – however – puts all of that into a mild annoyance and repetition really. Honour, betrayal, politics, ambushes, ship battles, reputations with organisations, questions of morality and existence, judgements, romances (within reason – looking at you Amazon), funny comments/chats, the Inquisition, gang takeovers…there’s a lot to explore and have fun with. And it all feels like it expands the narrative rather than detracts from it. There are points where you genuinely don’t know how to advise your companions. There are moments where you want to throw your controller through the screen – in a good way. And there are moments where you savour the sweet satisfaction of hoisting someone on their own petard. The story is truly what makes Rogue Trader what is is – a great game. You go from knowing nothing to knowing more than you might expect about the 40K universe, and you love every earned step. It holds your hand just enough to then let you go…and fall. And then stand again.

No spoilers – it’s great – and you should play it.

Scores On the Doors

Rogue Trader is an easy 8.5/10 – is it perfect? No. Does it get close? Yes. In an era where gaming seems to be becoming more and more obsessed with politics and grox outside of what gaming should be interested in (like, controversially, the actual gaming experience) Rogue Trader stands out as a beacon of sense – and a way to show that sticking to the lore and concentrating on game mechanics and narrative is what wins in the long run.

Games of late have released updates that have injected politics into their products after release but so far updates and support have served to correct problems and attempt some rebalancing, which is to be expected given that true gamers break the games they love and given how many videos online there are about exploiting this game (filthy Heretics) there are – there’s a lot of love.

Expansions and DLC will be played and further reviews given as and when they come out, but if Owlcat continue their focus then these should improve rather than detract. They had better, lest they wish to incur the Emperor’s Wrath. May the line against the filthy Xenos and Heresy be drawn and the purging of the industry of its vile abominations continue. And remember…

The Emperor Protects!