💥 TRENDING: App/ - High Quality

I just finished my first campaign and I... I don't even know how to put into words how great of an experience that was. I'm sort of in awe of the scale and quality. Whoever wrote these characters and dialogue is legitimately on another level. There will be READING. Yes, plenty of reading. But the payoff... my goodness. The detail on the lore, character development, the combat, the SPACESHIP BATTLES! Emporer protect, this game has it all.

I've had this in my library a long time knowing I'd like it but was just never ready to take it on, it seemed like a heavy investment. It looked like work to play this game. I very much regret not playing the game sooner. This review doesn't do any sort of justice for this absolute masterpiece of a space opera. Do yourself a favor and jump in.

I actually expelled vomitum from mine mouth when uh...I am loathe to even say it...minimum wage workers...demanded that my officers stop beating, starving and freezing them to death. Disgraceful behaviour from the common scum. I shan't hardly get more than 10 hours sleep tonight due to this trauma. Anyway remember to hit up your local polling places on election day.

Completed Chapter 1

+ Best Designed Turn Based Gameplay
I have never seen such intuitive game design as this.
(Compared to Baldur's Gate 3, Divinity Original Sin 2, and XCOM 2)

* You can send a hologram of your character to a square you want to move to and assess what targets you can shoot and your hit chance. No longer like XCOM will you move for a better angle to just discover you have no line of sight!

* Inventory Management. Inventory weight is only an inconvenience. In this game, it is entirely scrapped. Everything you pick up either goes to your ship or your inventory. Furthermore, you search enemies in an area of effect, meaning you can loot 4-5 enemies at once.

* Frequent kills, but many enemies. In this game death for enemies is frequent and easy. Few enemies are treated as the elites of the round and require 3-5 hits to kill. This is a great plus to the game because it lets you slaughter countless enemies while still feeling like a challenge. Plus the animations are incredible.

* Easy to use and impactful consumables. Played Baldur's Gate 3 and end with the game hoarding an infinity of scrolls and throwables? Me too. In inventory, you have a designated 4 slots for consumables. These are shown on your screen during combat frequently reminding you they are available.

+ Decisions Matter

* During dialogue, your main character is always the one to advance the story. "But what if I went all in on combat and neglected their persuasion skill?" No problem. This game allows you to pass any skill test in dialogue using you or any of your allies with the highest skill level. No more micromanaging who handles dialogue like Baldur's Gate 3.

* Being a Rogue Trader, you're freedom is nearly boundless. You could be a ruthless lord captain who is beligerant to all who pass his way and delivers death to anyone even with a hint of heresay. You could be a heroic lord captain granting mercy and generosity. You could be a psychopatic heretic, subverting the emperor's will and shredding the veil welcoming the void.

The decisions the game throws at you are frequent, and by far one of the greatest qualities of the game. All of them carry weight and have significant consequences tailored towards your desired ideology in the game.
(Dogmatic - Strict Puritan. Iconoclast - Merciful Moralist. Heretic - Unhinged Heretic.)

Is this person innocent or are they concealing their treachery?

Spare them, execute them, or make them my servitor?

* The plot and conflict of the story is fantastically immersive and invests you into your position as Rogue Trader. With Theodora assassinated and the ship injured by the cultists, you inherit the role of the Rogue Trader. Continuing through the Rykad system you uncover the mutiny on the voidship was not the last you will see of the cultists. These frequent encounters of the cult give great motive to combat the warp and insight into it's sinister potential.

- Leveling Up

* "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility."
These are endless talents, skills, and characteristics you gain from leveling up. This game gives you unlimited freedom in what kind of playstyle you want to have in combat, buuuuutttt... You will easily spend up to 1 to 2+ hours by the end of chapter 1 analysing what will be the best upgrade for your character. Maybe more. You end up with around 6 companions so believe me... Choosing your upgrades will take a LONG time.

* On Controller, upgrading archetypes is deviously annoying. Highlighting previous or further level ups is about impossible because the UI meant to appear showing what you want to select is invisible half of the time. This is incredibly time consuming and frustrating understanding the importance of a well built character.
(POSSIBLY FIXED IN THE DECEMBER 26 HOTFIX. Option highlighting is currently present for me.)

* On Controller, a minor inconvenience appears when trying to change weapon sets. You have two weapons slots, these can hold 1 two-handed weapon or 2 one-handed weapons. Using the X button to flip between these sets alter between hold or tap depending on if you are using the D-pad to choose an attack or the Rail to choose an ability. Confusing when this ought to just be one kind of change or the other.

- The Reading

* This will be a hit or miss depending on who you are. Reading in this game is frequent and long. In my opinion this does not subtract from the experience of the game, only immersing you further into the story, but it certainly is something you will have to get used to playing the game.

- Voice Acting

* Voice Acting is great in the game. Two downsides however. Not all dialogue is voiced, only important story beats. Second downside, character's dialogue is only read once. It isn't a standard feature of dialogue games, to let you replay their lines, but I feel it would be in place with the intuitive combat features.

(Tips for New Players)
1. Once going to protect the Relic on Rykad Minoris, be sure to enter the door to the left after entering. You will gain a companion here you will want to take advantage of.

2. After assuming position as Rogue Trader, you may want to add a temporary companion to your repertoir. Their biography is undefined and they merely serve as a mute combatant for your party. This will cost 1 profit factor and can be done through talking to the character behind the table for exploring the system, who is at a monitor.

3. On hard difficulties, try to leave Footfall as late as possible. The Rogue Trader planets have a significant difficulty spike.