Though I'm by no means an expert on Warhammer 40K lore, I've played enough Tomb Kings in Total War: Warhammer 3 to recognize dusty old Necron activity when I see it. So imagine my surprise when, far from the splendor of Avarax and sprawling jungles of Kadaku, Space Marine 2 revealed that the Chaos-warped planet Demerium was actually a Necron tomb world, just one of many places in the universe where millions of ancient alien-android warriors lie dormant. During the level Dawn's Descent, telltale hieroglyph-style markings adorn a dig site far beneath the planet's surface, and inquisitive marines can find data slates that suggest something very angry has been awoken by the Adeptus Mechanicus.
For those who don't follow 40K too closely, the dingy tunnels are merely a nice change of pace from the rest of the game – claustrophobic and almost creepy, it's one of the few instances where it feels like something tougher than a space marine is lurking just out of sight. For those aware they've walked into a tomb world, though, that tension is amplified tenfold. But, as creative director Oliver Hollis-Leick and game director Dmitriy Grigorenko tell 12DOVE, squeezing in this Necron homage was an effort in itself.
Sleeping beauties
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"It would be fair to say that Dmitriy and I had to fight quite a lot for that to be in there, because there was a concern raised by one group at one point that we were putting too much into the game," explains Hollis-Leick. "It was almost becoming a kind of 40k fancy dress party in their mind."
But the creative director argues that on the flip side, being able to hint at a looming presence without diving into them outright lends itself well to establishing the size and age of 40K's universe, areas that the pair didn't want to shy away from in Space Marine 2. Note: spoilers regarding the campaign's Project Aurora are below.
"One of the great things about putting that [level] in there is it demonstrates the sheer age and scale of this universe," Hollis-Leick explains. "You know, you could be having a huge battle on the surface of a world, and then you dig down underneath, and there's something that's been there for millions of years before human beings ever existed, and that technology is very much a part of the Mechanicus' approach – you know, the Blackstone obsession that the Mechanicus have and all that. So I'm really glad that Dmitriy pushed for that, because I think it adds that extra dimension to it. But it wasn't easy to get it."
"Now people are disappointed that we don't have Necrons," says Grigorenko, laughing. The game director agrees that fighting for the tomb world's inclusion "was a good thing," but acknowledges that making a Warhammer game suitable for both newcomers and lore hounds is a "challenge".
"While we know that this game is for fans, we knew a lot of players would come and play this game as a shooter-slasher," he explains. "Things we use in our narrative, like Blackstone and Necron Obelisks [...] the majority of non-Warhammer fans don't know what that is. Things like reversing the polarity of Blackstone, closing the Great Rift, they don't know that! So it was very difficult to find this balance – and if we didn't show this, it would be kind of weird to mention it and never show it."
On a broader note, Hollis-Leick says that although he's "constantly" asked why Space Marine 2 doesn't feature the likes of orcs, Eldar, and more Chaos factions beyond Tzeentch's servants, it's much harder than merely having the team "whip up a few skins, throw them in, and copy the animations".
"Because it's such a vast universe, there's so much you could include," says Hollis-Leick. "But in order to hit the quality level that we had absolutely set for this game and refused to go below, it was more important to have quality than quantity, and that's been one of the guiding principles. We've tried to make sure we have enough [enemies], but we never want to get to a place where we're just throwing things in to satisfy demand."
So while Necrons were a no-show on Demerium, a space marine can still dream. After all, Saber Interactive is already exploring ideas for a sequel or DLC – although Grigorenko stresses the team doesn't want to be caught in "an endless loop of releasing content as soon as possible".
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