Review: Warhammer 40K Mechanicus
Warhammer 40K, the beloved series that never dies and thrives for the best next thing within the Warhammer universe. There have been so many Warhammer games, it’s hard to count them with two hands. Warhammer 40K takes on a popular genre and makes it their own. This can easily be one of the best games within the Warhammer 40K universe…
Mechanicus is a tactical turn-based game where you take on the role as Magos Faustinus who’s a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The Adeptus Mechanicus is a mysterious order that specializes in combining the sacred Imperium’s advanced technology with human flesh. The Tech-priests of Mars are venturing through space when a distress call catches their eyes. To understand what’s happening they orbit above the planet that’s sending out this distress call. A closer look with a scout team makes it clear that this is no ordinary save-and-rescue mission. Scouting the area acknowledge the existence of the Necrons and they’re all awakening from their slumber. It’s up to Magos Faustinus to cure the universe of this Necrotic disease but time is of the essence…
Observing the universe in your space dreadnought, you and your team scout the campaign map for other interesting points. These random spots are given by your team members and it’s up to you when to tackle a certain event. These team members are of course not interested in the same knowledge as you might think. Team members will point out different spots on the campaign map to focus on different priorities. As a leader, you put together a team of Tech-Priests and lead them into battle without actually spawning on the map. Faustinus directs the team on the surface through his virtual strategy map.
“Getting stronger, along the journey is also a factor that will instinctively be on your mind.”
This virtual map is also viewed from the player’s perspective. You point out the team from one node to another. Each node acts differently. Some nodes offer you interesting events which give you a choice of 3 different options. Each option is explained and it’s up to you to make a decision and deal with the consequences. Each consequence is different and can be positive or negative. Some decisions give you resources, some will alter the conditions on the battlefield in a positive/ negative way.
Talking about the battlefield, it’s all about taking turns. The moment you start up a battle, there’s a tactical overview of the battlefield. You start with placing your Tech-Priests on the battlefield and once the battle has started, you’ll also get the opportunity to summon cannon fodder, in other words, expendable soldiers. Your Tech-Priests start with a certain amount of cognition points, these points will tell how many actions your troops can take during a turn. These cognition points can also be gathered during these battle sequences but if you go with the flow, each amount of cognition points will be refilled once your turn starts again. The movement uses another resource but most of the time it allows you to move around the battlefield “almost” freely. As long as the game allows it. How you start the battle is influenced by the decisions you’ve made during your scouting. Examples: who starts firsts, with how many cognition points do you start, are your Tech-Priests injured, …
Your team has a health bar and armor. Instead of focusing on hit modifiers or taking your team members to cover, health and armor are the basic needs for your team to survive. Different actions will have a stronger impact on either of these bars. The more time spent within the game, the better your units will become. Missions give you different rewards, considering your actions have been beneficial. Equipping your Tech-Priests with your latest findings will power up them even more! Each Tech-Priest has a talent tree which can be filled in that suits your playstyle the most. There are a lot of talents and each build can definitely give you an edge over the enemy troops.
“Time is against you…”
Starting a battle also leaves you a bit in the dark, the battlefield is perfectly clear however the knowledge about your enemies is still unknown to your Tech-Priests. Getting to know your enemies, is the key to victory. How you’re able to do that, is with the help of your servo skull. Sending out your servo skull will gather information about the enemy’s troops. This information will reveal the enemy’s health bars and weaknesses. Sending out this servo skull doesn’t require any cognition points and is a helpful tool during the battle. Not only does it allow you to gather information, but the servo skull is also able to gather cognition points for your Tech-Priests. As you probably would have guessed, CP is important, and you’ll have to manage it very carefully. Killing/ hurting the enemy before it’s the other way around is the main objective and it will help with the survival of your team. Like I’ve said before CP points will refill towards your next turn but there are also other ways to gather this CP. There are CP nodes on the battlefield, using your troops as cannon fodder also gives you CP and killing an enemy also regenerates CP. Theoretically, it’s impossible to use only one of the Tech Priest’s set of abilities but it takes a while to get used to “managing this CP”.
Once you’ve knocked out a Necron, you will have to hit it again with as little damage as you can because the Necron needs that final push to become obliterated. Keeping your team alive is very important as they don’t regenerate health or armor during their mission. Once the mission’s complete, they’ll regain all of their strength when they’re beamed up. You will also have to keep in mind that “time” also plays an important role, the longer you stay around in the crypt, the faster the Necrons will re-appear and they WILL overwhelm you at the end. In the end, your team will become stronger, but you still won’t have that feeling of “invincibility”. Your shots can hit hard but with a random critical percentage, your enemy has the opportunity to strike even harder.
Getting stronger, along the journey is also a factor that will instinctively be on your mind. Gathering Blackstone shards will give you the opportunity to level up your Tech-Priest. Leveling up goes hand in hand with armor and equipment. Be sure to equip your Tech-Priest with the best equipment as you can because they’ll need it. Not only do they need it, but your gameplay experience will also be a lot more enjoyable. Like I’ve said before your Tech-Priests have talent trees and these talent trees are all different to each other but accessible by every Tech-Priests. Getting new ability unlocks and implants can be done in the order of your choosing. You’re also not prohibited to use only one talent tree. Combining different talent trees with each other can make up for some awesome combinations. This type of customization is so important to bend the outcome of your game to your will.
Time is against you, as you probably would have guessed and it’s not only about the timers during your mission. The game forces you to play as quickly as you can because each build-up of your timers during your missions will be added to your campaign timer. If the campaign timer reaches a certain number, it’s game over! The Necrons are awakened and there’s no turning back. This is a great feature to create some suspense but sometimes the flow of the game feels a bit rushed as there is no time for grinding for better gear. Adding this time meter is probably to stimulate the player to play the game multiple times because the time in combination with the decision making makes up for some long game hours.
The technical side of things looks and feels great. The tombs you’re exploring have their own atmosphere which makes them different from one another. The 2D storytelling has been done great and this also counts for the voice acting. You can truly tell that the developers stayed as much true as they can to the Warhammer 40K universe. The tactical overview is simple but well designed. It’s also amazing to see that the different equipment is being applied to your Tech-Priest on the battlefield. This makes the sense of progression a lot more fun.
Mechanicus – Heretek is the first downloadable content for the game. This DLC adds a couple of more missions, new Xenotech for you to use and some new cyborg cannon fodder: Ruststalkers and Sicarian Infiltrators. The Ruststalkers are better melee opponents and will be a great addition to your team, as well as the Sicarian Infiltrators that are strong stealth units. You’ll also have to face some Tech-Priests that turned their backs against the Omnissiah. This new Heretek DLC will also have you make decisions that impact the plot of its mini-campaign. This twisted two war story will definitely keep your attention at bay and a great addition to the base game.
Conclusion:
Warhammer 40K Mechanicus has been an amazing gameplay experience, especially if you’re a fan of the tactical genre. The game looks/ feels great, even the detailed attention to the Warhammer 40k within the storytelling is worth mentioning. Building up your team of Tech-Priests and bending them to your own playstyle has been well designed. It’s fun to see your characters grow. The time pressure and the decision keep you on the edge and opens up a lot of replayability. Of course, time pressure won’t be for everyone and even though the game can become challenging, it can feel a bit easy at times.
