Space Hulk: Death Wing Enhanced Edition (PS4) Review

Stomping through a Gothic playground and exploring the remains of a massive spacecraft, all while wearing some of the most devastating weapons possible sounds like a thrilling time. However, is the FPS genre the right direction for Warhammer 40K, or is Space Hulk: Death Wing Enhanced Edition yet another poor iteration of the Space Hulk universe?

Space Hulk: Death Wing Enhanced Edition (PS4) Review

Imagine the scene from Aliens, as Ripley and the well-armed Colonial Marines arrive on LV-426 for the first time. Now, replace the Colonial Marines with Space Marines wielding huge mech-like suits, psychic powers, and space age weaponry, then multiply the amount of Xenomorphs by about 100. That’s roughly what the average day in Space Hulk: Death Wing feels like. While the insane level of carnage and combat throughout each mission is exciting and intense, largely thanks to the impactful weapons and abilities, it quickly falls off and becomes a competitive slog through seemingly endless spaceship corridors – each level feeling all too similar to the last.

The repetition of endless combat and similar levels could be forgiven if the game offered an immersive narrative outside of these segments, but all too often the only bite-sized elements of story are delivered over a communications system, drastically reducing any chances of becoming connected with the story and cast of characters. As my adventure drew to a close, the only memorable connection I experienced was my deep hatred for my so-called “Brothers.” The companion AI leaves a lot to be desired, as your comrades often fail to secure any particular direction, leaving you at the mercy of enemies shooting from every imaginable angle.

Thankfully, there’s a remedy for the personality lacking AI: jump into multiplayer and replace them with Brothers from around the world. While still suffering from a certain level of repetition, the multiplayer components are Space Hulk: Death Wing’s true saving grace. A multitude of classes with progressive rewards and unlocks saves the otherwise linear and limited campaign in favor of a more rewarding and engaging multiplayer experience. There are six unique classes in total, combining to offer more than 1,000 unique unlockables and upgrades from armor adornments to weapons.

Unfortunately, there is no remedy for the poor technical performance throughout the game and both single and multiplayer modes. Random framerate drops (and the occasional total freeze) really brings the games shortfalls to light. While not destroying the experience entirely, it does detract from the overall quality of the game, as the textures and other graphical elements do not warrant poor technical performance on current generation hardware.

One final impressive aspect of Space Hulk: Death Wing is the detail to atmospheric immersion. While the graphics themselves are somewhat outdated, the overall atmosphere throughout the game is a very Gothic, dark, and repressed environment. It pays homage to the Warhammer 40k universe, and gives fans, if nothing else does, something to sink their teeth into.

Space Hulk: Death Wing Enhanced Edition is 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.