Blatantly blunt

In German, 'war (der) Hammer' translates to something like 'was amazing' - which, according to critics, is an accurate description for this game of the Warhammer series. Despite its origins as a tabletop game for the full-blooded nerds of the gray prehistoric era, the series has now fought its way into the mainstream and both the fantasy Warhammer and the sci-fi variant 40,000 (or 40k) are more popular than ever.

Before the big wave of (very good) spin-offs from this universe hit us recently - the action game Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, the retro shooter Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun and the role-playing game Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader are just a few examples - things looked rather bleak in terms of games. Before that, the franchise was probably best known to strategy gamers, as the Dawn of War games in the early 2000s allowed them to enter the battle between Space Marines, Orks, Eldar and Chaos Space Marines. Fans of the fantasy version, on the other hand, were satisfied with the Total War: Warhammer spin-off.

Now the next smash hit was launched at the beginning of September, which unexpectedly impacted like a landing capsule. As a sequel to the first part released in 2011, our thickly armored protagonist Titus is once again tasked with setting the anatomy status of masses of enemies of the empire to "it's complicated". So you can imagine the game to be a bit like Gears of War with a touch of Bioware epicness added to the story. That's all I can say, as I'm currently in the middle of my second Baldur’s Gate 3-playthrough and don't expect to tackle any new games until Q1/25.

The score

Let's move on to the soundtrack. As has fortunately slowly become the norm, we are treated to an original soundtrack (OST), i.e. an official release from the developer/publisher. With 29 tracks, it is rather lavish and can be described as quite solid for representatives of the TL;DR (Too long, didn't read) faction. Anyone else interested in reading can accompany me for a little while longer.

The Iranian Nima Fakhrara and the American Steve Molitz were hired as composers, neither of whom have any experience in the Warhammer-universe as far as I know. While I haven't had the chance to get to know Molitz yet, I was able to experience Fakhrara's artistry in Detroid: Become Human and found his work and individual pieces well worth listening to. Not groundbreaking, but decent.

The same can probably be said about their composition for Space Marine 2 . As was to be expected, the testosterone storm rains down on us as soon as we start the album. It quickly becomes clear that we won't find sentimental tones or subtle nuances any more than our opponents will find mercy. Gloomy, powerful percussion, menacing strings and a male choir - it's all cliché and familiar. And it all works for me.

In its 'quieter' moments (Death Is My DutyNima Fakhrara4, Machinus Divinitus IntroSteve Molitz3, Servant of the Machine IntroNima Fakhrara3) the score sounds like one of Rocksteady's Batman-games, in its epic battles (SkyfireSteve Molitz5, VoidsongSteve Molitz5, ImurahSteve Molitz5) like Destiny. However, we don't get a cohesive picture through motifs or recurring melodies, but rather the façade of musical violence and mass murder. The game is blunt and the score does the same.

To my mind, that's enough. Not that I think back to the fancy tracks and wish I could hear that one song from Space Marine 2 now. But when it comes on, I jump to my feet and am ready to go into battle for the Emperor... or something. The album is certainly no masterpiece, but it does justice to the demands of the game and serves up epic music without a lot of frills. Sometimes that's all it needs.