Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Master Crafted Edition

For context, I have 100% of the achievements in this remaster, and it took me over 85 hours to do. For the TLDR, I cannot help but feel that this game was an attempt to ride the success of Space Marine 2, rather than a meaningful game in its own right. I think the UI is considerably worse than the original, and for the multiplayer achievements, the player count is so low that I had to buy the game for my friends so we could play and grind them. There are still considerable performance problems, and I do not feel that this game has been patched enough. The last patch was in September 2025, so buy it knowing it has likely been abandoned. So, for the good, it looks nicer than the original graphics-wise and plays the same, more or less, with the same gameplay and flaws. It is a near-1:1 remaster of a great game that belongs in the annals of gaming history. If you like the original version, chances are you will like this too. For the not so good. There was no reason to change the UI at all. It is worse in every way. I still get stuttering while playing, whether on my PC or Steam Deck, and experienced two crashes while playing Exterminatus with my friends. I feel that, aside from the graphics, this remaster lacks the charm of the original and is unnecessary. The multiplayer servers are dead, and I wonder if there is a bug, since it was released on Xbox and Game Pass as well. Some people say it is because crossplay is turned off by default, but I couldn’t figure out what the issue was. I had to buy three additional copies for my friends to 100% this game. The older edition of Space Marine still has people you can play with. Keep this in mind if you are a completionist, as most of the achievements require multiplayer in some capacity. For achievements, I found this guide helpful: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3233872665 I cannot forget what happened at launch: only after an outcry, and only for a limited time, did those who owned the original game get a discount. I see that it is deeply discounted now, which is good, but as a gamer who advocates for best practices, I must push back against this anti-consumer nonsense. I give this game a 5/10. Buy it on sale, and know that it still has serious performance issues. Know also that if you pay full price, you are supporting anti-consumer behaviour. Even if you are a hardcore Warhammer 40k fan like I am, you can skip this and not miss much if you have played the original Space Marine in any capacity.

I only bought this because the Anniversary Edition gave me a black screen right after the opening cutscene. None of the fixes suggested online worked. So I spent the extra $40 to buy the "master crafted" edition just so it would run. I finished the game in 7 hours. I see others mainly complaining about the price, and I agree. They ran a limited time deal where people who owned the Anniversary Edition (also $40) could get this game with a discount, but in my opinion it should not have been a limited time deal. It should have remained heavily discounted for people who already owned the Anniversary Edition. This is only a remaster, not a remake, and for having come out in 2025 it doesn't look like it. The graphics got only a minor improvement compared to the Anniversary Edition, the game still doesn't look like a 2025 game. The price tag for a slight graphics upgrade is atrocious. They could have made a proper remake. Update the graphics, update the mechanics to be more modern. The most annoying part of the gameplay mechanic is having to execute an enemy to gain health back. The execution animation cannot be interrupted, and you CONTINUE TO TAKE DAMAGE while this long animation plays out, and you don't get health until the animation is done.

[b]Rating: [/b] ★★★ - Okay [b]Time Played:[/b] 8 hours [b]Difficulty:[/b] Normal [b]Gameplay:[/b] - The melee-ranged hybrid loop is genuinely satisfying in the first few hours. Chainsawing through Orks while toggling to a bolter mid-combo feels exactly as brutal as it should in 40K. - The Fury system is the only real ability, and while it improves slightly never truly feels evolved. - Combat variety exhausts itself well before the mission list does. Same Ork mob types, same counters, same environmental layouts recycled across industrial corridors that all start to look identical. - Jump pack sections are scripted setpieces, not a persistent tool. While they're fun, they don't last long. [b]Story\Dialogue:[/b] - Titus is a competent protagonist. Stoic. Loyal. Unsubtle. Very 40K, and he carries the campaign on personality alone. - The mid-game pivot from Orks to Chaos adds genuine stakes. - Leandros's ideological friction with Titus is the only character thread with real tension; everyone else exists to deliver exposition. - Dialogue is serviceable 40K bombast. Declarations, not nuance. - The ending is a deliberate cliff-hanger that went unresolved for 13 years. It lands differently now that Space Marine 2 exists, but it definitely felt like half a story. [b]Graphics\Music:[/b] - The remaster is improved but not transformed. In isolation it reads as a polished 2011 game, not a 2025 one, which is an honest limitation to set expectations around. - Environments are the weak point: sprawling, flat, monocolour, and poorly detailed. Lighting also makes everything look blended and low-contrast, which undercuts the scale the art direction is aiming for. - Character models and armour detail are noticeably better and hold up well in close-range execution cutscenes where the camera lingers but still could be improved. - Audio is the clear standout. Bolter fire, chainsword revs, and execution crunches are weighty and visceral, genuinely improving the feel of combat. - The score is full-throated 40K orchestral bombast and fits perfectly. It's one of the few elements of the original that needed no improvement. [b]Before you Play:[/b] - Don't buy this expecting Space Marine 2 with older graphics. It's a shallower, more repetitive experience and should be treated as a piece of 40K history rather than a comparable modern game. Better compared to Gears of War 1. - While the enemies change at the half-way point, the game never feels like it shifts or changes which can turn into a burnout problem. What you have at hour one is what you have at hour eight. - Health does not regenerate. Executions are your sustain, so stay aggressive with a push and pull of melee and ranged fire. - Save Fury for named/elite enemies rather than mobs. It trivialises mini-boss encounters and is wasted on adds. - If the combat hasn't deepened for you by chapter 4, it won't. The game shows you its full toolkit early and adds nothing mechanically; manage your expectations accordingly or set a natural stopping point.

Very enjoyable action game, short and sweet. I was never sold on the idea of the space marine super-hero action game, since the idea of the WH40K is a really slow moving guy with really heavy armor and weapons. In terms of the "remaster", it worked really well for me from start to finish. There was one crash in one cinematic in 10 hours, and I don't recall any bug or glitch worth mentioning. The graphics are pretty good, although probably not a big jump from the original. There is no upscaling support and not much in the way of graphics options, but it looks pretty good and ran well on my PC. The game manages to stay more or less faithful to that idea of the Astartes while at the same having really fun dynamics. The jump pack is absolutely glorious, a true super-hero moment, worth every dollar of the price and every minute played. Other than that, it's not sophisticated, I mean you know what you came for: this is a super-super-human guy who really doesn't skip leg day and sees big enemy monsters as walking little health potions. It was not very hard. But that wasn't the point. And it didn't overstay its welcome either.

Would be fun if it worked properly, dont buy! If you use an analog keyboard but want to play on a controller or kb/m, good luck. Eventually I got it working by simply unplugging everything but my controller. Then in the first level, when doing certain actions, the screen will simply turn black except for the UI Ofc that makes the game unplayable. Its broken and abandoned by its devs.

Boycott any game that forces the EU licensing agreements.

Controller does not work. Tried all the fixes on youtube, google, chatgbt and steam community discussions. This is a known issue and we cannot play. The game works on keyboard and mouse but the icons are from controller and it's so annoying. Unplayable.

fun!!! but this is the only way you can play space marine 1 now since they purposely destroyed the original version in its anniversary update

Terrible stuttering not even playable anymore

The bad reviews for this don't make a lick of sense. This is literally just Space Marine with a bit of spitshine added on, looks great and still plays great. Pick it up when its on sale for a classic Warhammer 40k game experience.