This is one of the best RPGs of 2023, it’s based on Warhammer 40k, and lest we forget about it, they just released a DLC so good it kidnapped me for 20 hours – Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader

The truth is that 2023 was not a bad year year. Although we are at the peak of events this year, which began shortly before the pandemic stopped everything in 2020, with great games scheduled for release later this year in 2024 or as early as 2025, players role playing game lovers We’ve been enjoying a good menu for the past five years, and 2023 is no exception. I know that when thinking about last year’s role-playing game, Baldur’s Gate 3 comes to mind for many of you, but here another great RPG that stole my heart:Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, a project from which I expected almost nothing and which is now It kept me hooked with its DLC for hours.almost a year after its release.

History of Owlcat games and Larian Studios It was very similar. Although they don’t have as prolific a resume as the Belgians, the Cypriots got into fantasy and role-playing games in 2018 with Pathfinder, a role-playing universe that rivals Dungeons & Dragons for fame. This project made them grow as a studio and as a team to be reckoned with until they adapted the Warhammer 40K universe in 2023. moving away from the epic this world and paying more attention narration And intelligence than in action.

Now, with Void Shadows, the European studio is expanding a game that was already extremely long (at least 140 hours of campaign if we want to make the most of it) by adding more 20 hours of cruelty, horror and blood and the same steady hand in one narration What drinks a lot at a traditional table. But the best part is that these two dozen hours captured me with the same force as the main game. Not only that, but as a Warhammer 40K fan, it gave me a break from all the seriousness, blood, and ultimately… worst in the known galaxy.

15 hours of the best Warhammer 40K RPG

The Void Shadows expansion for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader adds a significant level of depth to the already impressive base game, enriching it in terms of narrative, mechanics and gameplay. Over the course of 15 hours, which gives us approximately one hour of play for every euro investedOwlcat Games takes us into an even more twisted version of the Games Workshop universe. Because yes, it seems possible. In fact, “Shadows of the Abyss” seems to be taken from a brainstorm designed to warp universes and bring them to horror, in the purest style of “Alice: Madness Returns”, but inside it is already creepy Lor Warhammer 40K.

This is partly due to the fact that Void Shadows introduces Death Cultwhose members revere the God-Emperor through rituals associated with his figure as a deity of death, rather than this image of worship as the savior of mankind. The best part is that Owlcat Games integrates this DLC into the base game so seamlessly that I honestly had a hard time figuring out how to access its missions. The reason is simple: this content takes us to Explore the lower decks of the Nether shipthe ship that we constantly control in the main game.

If you know anything about Warhammer 40K lore, the ships of the Empire are real monsters that function as cities in themselves. There are people who are born and die on one of these ships without even leaving – those who are called “born in the Void“, and depending on what level they are at, life will be better or worse. Considering that life on these ships is always difficult, being in the lowest echelon is nothing more than torture in life.

Void Shadows receives megalophobia be felt in an RPG environment from a semi-zenithal point of view, while we explore previously inaccessible areas such as religious chapel And Crypt of Ancient Rogue Tradersall this keeps us in a constant moral dilemma about the need to destroy it pagan hierarchy or let her live, knowing in our conscience that we have failed the Emperor.

A new character that expands the gameplay.

Aside from its setting and plot, which I won’t comment on so as not to spoil the interesting details (besides the impossibility of explaining everything without doing the text in parts), one of the biggest additions to the DLC is the character KybellaA Death Cult Assassin who joins the crew as the Lord Captain’s bodyguard. Kybella, in addition to being a character we can romance, represents two new archetypes: He Blade Dance And Executioner.

The best thing is that if you had complaints O How Owlcat coped with the fight In the base game – a legitimate complaint – the new archetypes expand the melee options that were sometimes solved by the classic exchange of blows. They both specialize in hand-to-hand combat and stand out for their ability to cause area of ​​effect damage with well-designed animation – as if it were a dance – which adds a tactical aspect that was missing in the original game. Of course, you can start a new game of Rogue Trader with any of these archetypes for your protagonist, but if you don’t want to go through the entire process, you have the option to enjoy his moves by watching Kybella masterfully perform them in an already running game.

After 15 hours of playing I can say the following. Kybella’s development is not merely superficial.as his personal story reflects the larger themes of the game universe. The Assassin experiences an existential crisis upon first interacting with the upper decks, highlighting the class differences between the inhabitants of the lower decks and the high-ranking officers. This class conflict is reflected in side missions that force us to weaken or increase tension between the privileged And depressedalways under the cold and judgmental gaze of Kybella.

This isn’t a problem at all, but adds an interesting emotional punch to what Owlcat does with the Void Shadows scenario. One particularly difficult mission revealed tensions between the inhabitants of the lower decks and the officers of the upper decks, culminating in a mutiny and a tyrannical decision to continue oppressing the already oppressed, making the group’s situation even worse. Empathizing with Cybella but being dogmatic about what the Imperium has established will cause emotional conflict and a rift within the team that will be impossible to ignore. This type social narrative adds a political aspect to the game that is rarely seen in other Warhammer 40K games, and is more focused on exterminating alien species.

In addition to the main content of Void Shadows, the free patch accompanying the DLC adds important improvements such as: Gloomy Dark Modewhich enters Ironman style of play games like XCOM. While I’m not a big fan of this type of modality, the idea is simple and Owlcat adds virtually nothing new, challenging the player with a single saved game, increasing the tension with each decision and forcing us to restart the game if we fail.

Although the missions start from Chapter 2, the DLC feels like a seamless addition to the main game. However, Owlcat recommends starting a new game to ensure that all content is activated correctly. For those who have already completed the base game, having to restart may be a disadvantage, so if you are in the same situation as me where I have already started and completed the DLC with the ongoing game without having access to the new archetypes of your Lord Captain hardly justifies starting over. However, fear not: Void Shadows’ roughly 15 hours of gameplay are well worth it and are so well integrated into the base game that I recommend going to the lower decks right now..

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