Space Hulk: Deathwing

Feels like a fairly solid addition to the Warhammer 40k Universe. Its setting and visuals offer a great look at the dark gritty universe and the deliberate choices in combat mechanics will make you feel like a Space Marine. However, those same choices will definitely be a turn off to a lot of FPS players and when coupled with some awkward AI it’s safe to say this title won’t be for everyone.

Space Hulk: Deathwing delivers a solid, challenging campaign with all the elements and the atmosphere of the Warhammer 40,000 franchise. The Enhanced Edition, however, comes short on PlayStation 4 in terms of actual enhancements and polish.

The team has made very little progress in those aspects that could have turned the title into a reference product for the cooperative shooter.

If you're looking for a science fiction FPS that'll feed your hunger until the heavyweights arrive, give it a go. Despite its flaws there's still fun to be had.

Albeit an arguably better version of Deathwing, this enhanced edition isn't able to overcome the faults of the original game. The emperor is displeased.

Fans of the Games Workshop board game may find an interesting adaptation, but as a first person shooter, Space Hulk has many flaws: technical and gameplay wise.

It's hard to find a match online, and offline the game shows its age with a stuttering framerate, long load times, and a drop in texture detail when the screen fills with enemies. [Issue#151, p.94]

An engaging and atmospheric tactical FPS with some critical technical issues.

Space Hulk: Deathwing – Enhanced Edition is an improvement on the original version, but still nothing more than a semi-decent co-op shooter chained to a ditchwater dull campaign.

Deathwing has so much potential sitting there with the Dark Angels alone, not to mention roaming a Space Hulk, it’s an absolute shame it falls short of the Emperor’s expectations.

A decent and atmospheric tactical shooter which finds itself marred by a raft of technical issues, Space Hulk: Deathwing isn't the high caliber Warhammer 40K FPS we thought it would be.

Space Hulk’s latest iteration is potential squandered, regularly broken and guilty of a crime worse than the Horus Heresy…It’s boring.

So is Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition worth your time? Well, no. Not really. It isn’t awful, but it isn’t exactly great either. If you’re mad for Warhammer 40,000 and the lore surrounding the franchise then perhaps you’ll get more out of Space Hulk than I did. However, if you’re looking to freshen up your first-person shooter collection then feel free to skip this one.

A very basic shooter. While the single player campaign felt lacking throughout, the rewarding progressive components added to the multiplayer aspect of the game delivers a worthwhile experience – if you have Brothers willing to follow you into battle.

Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition has a few enjoyable moments, especially in multiplayer, but, despite a few graphical improvements, and some technical fixes, it does very little to improve on 2016’s original. The game is simply a old, boring and downright lacklustre first-person experience.

While the Enhanced Edition does make for a more tolerable experience, Space Hulk: Deathwing is still held back by an incredibly under-designed campaign, along with clunky mechanics that ooze into the multiplayer. The aesthetic, and overall tone, does shine, but the core gameplay loop feels severely lacking. While it's by no means bad, the combat simply isn't engaging enough to justify long playthroughs and the improved performance does nothing to fix the fundamentally inconsistent level design.

Exploring every nook and cranny of dark, desolate environments in which grotesque creatures can be lurking around every corner very much appeals to me. What Space Hulk: Deathwing Enhanced Edition is lacking is finesse in its execution, however. And it's also lumbered with the fact that Space Marine Terminators are big, bulky things that surprisingly aren't much fun to play as.

Space Hulk: Deathwing accurately looks and feels like a Warhammer 40k licensed game. Unfortunately, for what it has in atmosphere and looks it just isn’t that great to play. Instead, the game is a slow and laborious slog mixed with laborious combat that rarely feels satisfying.

Space Hulk Deathwing Enhanced Edition doesn't feel enhanced. The gunplay and enemies are boring, the story isn't interesting and the crashes (on PlayStation 4) are very frustrating.

With a dearth of decent games based in the Warhammer 40k universe, Space Hulk: Deathwing seems at first glance to be heading in the right direction. With a reverence for the source material that’ll appeal to Warhammer 40K aficionados, it successfully evokes the space hulk setting and the relentless battles at its heart. While the basic building blocks of a decent experience seem to be here, the undeveloped gameplay, and repetitive structure – that degenerates into tiresome battles of attrition – mean that even transplanting it into the co-op multiplayer mode and adding more unlocks and rewards won’t be enough to keep your finger on the trigger for long.

Those wanting a great squad-based shooter or a truly essential Warhammer 40,000 game will have to keep searching. At a glance, Deathwing seems like a solid adaptation and it nails that distinctive Space Hulk look and atmosphere, but there’s just not enough variety or depth to keep players engaged beyond those first few encounters.