Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 evolves World War Z's swarm tech to build "epic battles" with "maybe thousands of Tyrannids"

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is upping the amount of on-screen chaos by building off of technology used for the World War Z game.

Before starting work on Space Marine 2, developer Saber Interactive pumped more zombies than I've ever seen on screen in its co-op World War Z shooter that had players mowing down hundreds of brainless foes who would literally topple over each other and come at you in waves. 

In a Gamescom interview with Gamesradar+, Saber Interactive CCO Tim Willits explains that Space Marine 2 and World War Z are so committed to that carnage because both games share a director (Dimitriy Grigorenko) and "swarm tech."

"The swarm tech brought in all these hordes of zombies and then we evolved that technology with updates to World War Z," Willits says, before explaining that the tech has seen a "new evolution" in Space Marine 2. "So we're able to create these epic battles where you have just hundreds, maybe thousands of Tyrannids coming at you in the swarm, and then when they hit the breaker, and they start to turn, and separate, and come after you."

Not only do Warhammer's Tyrannids have numbers on their side, but they've also got the brains the zombies were lacking. "In World War Z, the zombies were a little dumb," Willits continues. "But in Space Marine 2, when those Tyranids break off, they are smart, and they're coming for you."

What makes matters even more frightening is the existence of an under-the-hood "AI director" that "controls the swarms, controls the enemies" and "knows about you, and knows about your teammates." Space Marines are canonically OP, but hopefully the threat of being outsmarted will keep us on our toes because, as Willits says, "the game won't be fun if you're just invincible."

"So there's this kind of balance, and then you start to get overwhelmed with the heavier Tyranids, or Chaos Marines, appear in the battle, and then things start to maybe go bad for you, but you fight through it," Willits says. "And we created this system where you can really get that power fantasy of being a Space Marine, kicking ass, destroying Tyrranids, having fun, and you can truly feel like you are the toughest, most badass Space Marine in the universe."

Space Marine 2 was actually inspired by Doom 2016, just as the OG Doom inspired Space Marine 1, which inspired Doom 2016.