Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II

This game is a lesson to never purchase something before looking at reviews because the first game was very good. They dropped the ball on this one is so many ways.

This is a travesty in comparison to the first game. A complete and utter failure of a sequel to the beloved original in everyway. The music of the first game was one of the strongest points, it's unique and creative blend of techno beats and church organ notes was a beautiful art piece by itself and elevated the games atmosphere. It is completely devoid of any soul in this game. The music is bland, forgettable, and belongs in a public domain bin for generic sci-fi music. The techno-lingus of the first game sold the entire faction as a unique culture in the 40k universe in a way few other things have managed. It is a rushed and tacked on afterthought here. The gameplay removed the built-your-own tech priest mechanics of the first game to replace it with a poorly balanced and/or poorly thought out RPG style perk tree for set characters. The mechanics they introduced in the first game which helped distinguish it, the cognition points, the machine spirt attacks, or either de-empathized or completely removed. Why are the votann even here? Sure, it's nice to see more the new faction, but they are barely present at all. They are a waste of resources that could been used to add more …

Just a terrible sequel to a brilliant game. Fundamentally going away from having a team of upgradable tech priests to very set teams with set abilities takes away meaningful player choice, maps are uninspired (I had really hoped the extra variety compared to the first game would be good but they're just dark damp messes) and it's incredibly poorly optimised. Just really disappointing given the stellar first game. I really wanted to like this but I can't recommend anyone buy this at any price.

Ok - so I've played through this game, both campaigns, plus both epilogues. The main storyline writing is good, the gameplay is fun... but Mechanicus I was better. In this game, the missions get repetitive, the maps are the same, the supporting story from a 3rd faction is not very engaging. I played Mechanicus I (plus DLC) through 3 times - because it deserved a second playthrough and the third was during a time when I was sick and needed something fun to do. While this was, on balance, a positive experience, it wasn't worth the price. Wait for this one to go on sale, and then only pick it up if you are accustomed to slogging through the same map every battle after you are 12 hours in.

I tried SO hard to love this game. I WANTED to love this game. But how am I supposed to enjoy building my characters, and feel the powerful synergies of my retinue, if said bonuses bug out ALL the time? My locust heavy destroyers STILL deativate their perks at random. The techpriest canticles only activate their modified effects half the time, IF at all. The game is a bug-ridden mess. The only bug of the many I have encountered that has been fixed is the endless loading screen of death. I'm sorry to say: stay away.

This is a very solid game! Not as good as the first, but it's still genuinely a lot of fun. You have to change your mind and mindset for the campaign missions. You're more building a team around a single Tech-Priest. It tells a great story from both sides as well! Highly recommend!