Five Things We Love About the ‘Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader’ Beta
Let’s take a look at why the new Rogue Trader video game is so great and how you can get your hands on a Beta Key.
Rogue Trader is a brand new CRPG (computer role-playing game) coming out. It is set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe and under development by Owlcat Games, the people behind hits like Pathfinder: Kingmaker. In the game, you take on the role of a Rogue Trader, exploring the fringes of the galaxy and battling a diverse set of enemies.
Currently, the game is in Beta and set to come out later this year. A few weeks ago, we got a chance to have a first look at the game, which you can read here. I’ve also spent a few weeks with the Beta and, spoilers–I love it. So let’s go ahead and take a look at why I loved it.
Full disclosure, I did get a free Beta copy of the game (and you can too! Check out the end of the article!) however, other than this, Owlcat has not compensated me in any way for this review or required I do a review. Indeed, I’ve been really looking forward to the game and would have covered it anyway. So with that said, let’s take a look at what I loved.
It’s Like Pathfinder, Without Pathfinder
Owlcat Games did a great job with their Pathfinder games. These are deep, fun, and very detailed games. I’ve had a lot of good times with them. However, my big issue with them is that I don’t really like the Pathfinder system. Owlcat did such a good job translating that system that it hinders my enjoyment of their games.
Pathfinder is a super dense system with just a ton, arguably too many, choices. Combat can also get very repetitive, as in each fight, your caster put up the same group of buffs, and then you win in a round or two. Well, Rogue Trader has all the attention to detail and fun writing of the Pathfinder games, without the baggage of Pathfinder, and I love that.
They Got Bolters Right
This is something of a small detail, but it’s important to me. The bolter is the most iconic weapon in 40K. It’s a huge part of the setting and lore and a very common weapon. It’s also supposed to be incredibly powerful. The bolter is not just a big damn gun. It’s also a mini rocket launcher welded by only the most elite troops. However, because it’s also kind of a default weapon in a lot of games, it’s just not very good. Or interesting. Well, in Rogue Trader, I really feel like they got it right.
In one early fight, I was being charged by a horde of cultists, and I had my bolter-armed Sister of Battle open up at full throttle. Oh boy, was it awesome! Bolts blew people away; some punched through multiple enemies, and others blew off heads. It was impressive. It was fun. I was hooked.
It Nails The Grim Dark
The 40K setting isn’t like your standard D&D setting. This is the Grim Darkness of the Far Future. You can’t just be a good guy here. Owlcat really gets this.
In a lot of RPGs, you often want to play as a purely heroic character, always doing the right thing. In Rogue Trader, you can’t. Here you have to do “bad things” or at least hard things. Someone corrupted by Chaos can’t be saved. Sometimes you have to burn a planet. It’s all shades of grey. Once I entered an Imperial faculty to find a room filled with naked corpses. At that point, I genuinely didn’t know if this was the work of an evil cult or just normal for this place.
That’s not to say the game is unrelentingly dark. You do have many options to be a hero. There are chances to do the “good” or “right” thing. However, they may not always have positive outcomes. But sometimes they do! Trying to hold onto your soul, and humanity is kind of a hidden part of the game, and that’s great.
A Diverse Group of Heroes
The game also features a really great and broad cast of characters. Because you are a Rogue Trader and operate on the fringe of the Imperium it makes sense to have a big mix of people following you around. It’s not Chaos Gate: Deamonhunters. That was a great game, but all the characters were pretty similar. Here you’ve got a really big group with different skills and weapons and backgrounds, and that makes the game very rich.
The Depth and Scope
Rogue Trader is also a game with a lot of depth and scope. There is a lot going on here. You aren’t playing some low-level commander, but a Rogue Trader. You control worlds and fleets and also go shoot cultists. Even though I’ve spent over a dozen hours in the game and been to multiple systems, I haven’t really scratched everything the game has to offer. I haven’t gotten into the spaceship side of things at all, but I’m excited too! There’s a lot to do and see, and so far, I’m liking everything.
Final Thoughts & How to Win a Beta Key
So far, I like Rogue Trader a lot. It’s a very fun and rewarding game. I’ve had very few moments of real annoyance with it. It gets 40K pretty well and delves into parts of the setting you don’t see talked about as much. The game is, however, clearly in beta right now.
Some features are missing, such as a lot of the leader class and other character-building options. I ran into one big bug but was able to find a workaround. I’ve seen some other minor glitches. Some things in the game are still really poorly explained. But Owlcat isn’t claiming it’s a finished game, and frankly, I’ve played much worse games that ARE finished. Overall if you like CRPGs and/or 40K I highly recommend it.
And if you’d like to give it a try yourself, you can win a free Beta Key to start playing right now! But hurry–the contest ends this Friday at midnight.
