This game worth it already?

[Doragor]

So I was hoping to get the entire game but I read reviews and it seems :
Champion is a scam
Dreadnought is terrible
Execution force is pretty good
Dont mind buying soundtrack too but eh.
DRM

Would like to hear some fresh reviews from the angriest of customers and most sweatiest of gamers if I should spend my holy thrones here or skip

[Bubs]

don't skip

[cswiger]

I'm happy enough with just the base game; try that and then see whether you want more....

[Alex]

The complainers were expecting a brainless snorefest/dress-up simulator a la Firaxis' X Com. Got an actual strategy game that, although not overly complex, expects the player to have more than two braincells. If your thing is nu-XCom or console strategy-rpgs like Fire Emblem you might bounce off of this one. Otherwise, I'd recommend it. The game has issues design-wise, but it's easily the most engaging TBS of this sort (using Firaxis' design as a broad template) that I've seen released in the last decade. And all DLC are worth the money. Except the champion, that is.

[Will]

The game is fantastic, the dreadnought is very fun and can be accessed with each bloom by looking for the "Extreme" version of a mission. The execution force are great to add to a mission to spice things up a bit. All in all it's very fun with its own twist on TBS and up there with some of the best TBS ever made.

[Feikki]

A bit light game but good theme, good gameplay, good flavor. I just have the base game.

[Shigoshi]

Base game alone is great and even had things added to it along side each of the DLCs (you don't need them to access the free content that was added like new mission types).
In terms of gameplay, it is X-Com without the screwing you over part with a far more clean and fast paced progression through levels.
Main things that stands out is the fact that the game has 2 soft states you go between; Combat and "exploration" though I use exploration in the loosest sense. You move through each map the same way as you do combat (and might I add: movement waypoints in this game are just amazing. The auto-pathing does a great job though there are a few times you may need to set some custom points of movement to avoid hazards) however when there are no active patrols (Patrols you have seen with your squad), if you then engage a patrol all current actions are cancelled (commonly this just means the knight you moved stops moving), the patrol gets a free movement to get into position to fight then YOU as the player now get a full refresh of your turn with 3AP for all your characters so you don't need to fog-creep like in X-Com.
Upon clearing all active patrols, you now reset back into "exploration" mode which also refreshes your AP.
Yes, this does mean that if you do things correctly and with the correct skills you can technically one turn clear the entire mission by leap-frogging from one enemy patrol to the next. And yes, it feels GREAT.

Shooting is not done with percent chance to hit, instead all weapons do a flat amount of damage that is modified by cover and range, and various abilities. The only percentage based mechanic is criticals. So if you target an enemy unit with a ranged weapon, and it says it will do 2 damage; it will do 2 damage and not have your knight suddenly spin 180 degrees and spit bullets into the ether. Melee is the same idea but unlike X-Com is far more common and required to be used. There is some element of balance issue with the fact the hammer is outright the best one of the default gear but as you find various unique weapons in the campaign, there is a massive variety that will create unique and powerful load-outs.

The campaign itself is done on a node map where moving around it is important and unlike x-com the reason for only being able to deploy to one node at a time is far more valid (and we'll touch on this later as this gets a slight help from one DLC). It works as you would expect and functions well. Makes you think about positioning yourself on the map strategically rather than just waiting around any random node.

The characters of Ectar, Lunette and Vakir as your main cast you will interact with commonly are fantastic, well written and behave as they should. If you know the universe of 40k, they all act like you would think, talk as you would expect and all in all are always pleasant to interact with (and by that, you will get genuine annoyances at their characteristics and personality, instead of being annoyed at what feels like game mechanics being game mechanics).
Lots of love for the universe of 40k was poured into this game and the people making this gave a lot of consideration for it. While not all lore may be respected to 100%, I feel they give a fairly reasonable excuse for each of these and arguably the only one that could be considered nonsense is the execution force DLC but again, this can be forgiven by the outside reason of "its cool as hell to use these units! and they fit the gameplay well!"

Within the base game, Crow (the special DLC knight guy) isn't worth it imo. His class is the purifier and while he isn't terrible unfortunately he is set-up as to not have one of the big reasons to take purifiers imo; grenades. Coupled with the fact you can't change his gear, nor upgrade it I would say he more rapidly becomes a very effective sacrificial piece of your squad that even then, would of been better served with a fully fledged member who would add more. Sad because in lore he is pretty bad-ass but not reflected here sadly.

So now the DLCs and well, you won't hear much bad about execution force so lets talk the main thing that people whine about; Duty Eternal.
To pre-face: Execution Force AND Duty Eternal are worth it imo. Both add some really nice stuff.
Duty Eternal adds 3 big things: Dreadnought (the big stompy robot dude), Techmarine Class AND the Side-Quest Chain that allows access to a second deployment option, albeit it is an auto-resolve trade-off, as you are the commander won't be present to manage the operation.
The Dreadnought is only available during missions that allow it, this alone has earned the DLC a bad rep as people wanted to deploy this large lad in every mission. He as a unit is a special class that uniquely can be specialised into each of its various weapon options he gets with a few unique abilities here and there. While potent, his deployment is only on missions where his firepower is needed due to more potent enemies also being present. Ultimately I find the dreadnought a little hard to assess just because as a unit he is incredibly versatile towards what you want him to be. AoE monster, Armour breaker or just straight up melee terror.
Techmarines are the generic class that you can take on all mission types and stand as a unique unit in that they themselves can become a small squad from the core gimmick of this class: Servitors. The Techmarine also packs his own assortment of abilities and tricks but his main strength is in the vast array of Servitors he can bring.
These unique adds each bring a singular ability that is their whole thing. While this seems fairly low scale, they don't just act as abilities for the techmarine, they also can act as bait units and ways to distract the enemy from wailing on your precious knights...don't worry about these servitors dying as they are replaced freely and con't count against you for anything (I believe...not found a secondary mission that punishes you for having them die). The second gripe with the DLC rears here as the Techmarine is the "apothecary" for mechanical units...which...we only have 2 of: Servitors and the Dreadnought. That being said, these abilities are designed to work with the servitors first and the repair abilities he has being able to repair the dreadnought are more secondary. All things considered, he is a great unit with some really fun builds you can do that will get work done and each servitor is in their own right incredibly powerful.
The final thing from Duty Eternal is the secondary Frigate you can get. Yes, a little spoiler but ultimately this is the ultimate pay-off of the DLCs side-quest chain and can't be ignored if we are talking about value from DLCs. This gives you the ability when looking over missions that have spawned in to deploy the Frigate with a squad of your knights to go deal with the matter, this mission being auto-resolved and results determined by RNG. Success rates are modified by the level of the Knights you send AND what gear you give them so it does pay to arm your away-team with good stuff to help minimise injuries. It won't give you any of the unique chances at new weapons and armour however you do still get the standard reward of the mission they complete (so if you were getting Requistion, you would get the requisition). This is a major deal as this can help you manage to keep down the enemy for longer. A very helpful addition.

Overall Chaos Gate is worth it, though I would maybe advise waiting just a little bit. We are at that critical point where we near Steams winter sales and since the game and DLCs have been out a while, will likely get a discount during that time and possibly even a discount bundle for the whole lot. However if you don't want to wait:
Base Game: worth it
Duty Eternal: worth it
Execution Force: worth it
Crowe: Skip
Soundtrack: up to you, the soundtrack isn't anything special or stand out. Personally I would skip it but up to you.

[✙205🍉🐆→]

The game has no alternatives (I haven't seen any), but the difficulty is made specifically to make me endure it or GTFO

[cswiger]

Originally posted by ✙205🍉🐆→:

The game has no alternatives (I haven't seen any), but the difficulty is made specifically to make me endure it or GTFO

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus. You've got tech-priests instead of Grey Knights, and you fight Necrons instead of Nurgle.

[Black Hammer]

It's worth it if you have a high tolerance for lethally punishing RNG. This game will relentlessly kick you and there is nothing you can do about it. Randomly lose units for months, randomly get units killed in combat, randomly watch your attempts to make good decisions get screwed over.

It's not as bad as it sounds, and does help keep things varied, but if you're someone who finds losing control of the game frustrating, you will hate this.

[Galdred]

Originally posted by Black Hammer:

It's worth it if you have a high tolerance for lethally punishing RNG. This game will relentlessly kick you and there is nothing you can do about it. Randomly lose units for months, randomly get units killed in combat, randomly watch your attempts to make good decisions get screwed over.

It's not as bad as it sounds, and does help keep things varied, but if you're someone who finds losing control of the game frustrating, you will hate this.

Actually, once you know the outcomes of some events (through experience, reload, or a guide), the strategic part becomes much more manageable.

I fully recommend this game (I played it more than 200h). It has quite a few flaws indeed, but the combat is very good, and is quite different from what you have in XCOM (you are expected to melee your opponents instead of hiding behind cover).

[Will]

Originally posted by Black Hammer:

It's worth it if you have a high tolerance for lethally punishing RNG. This game will relentlessly kick you and there is nothing you can do about it. Randomly lose units for months, randomly get units killed in combat, randomly watch your attempts to make good decisions get screwed over.

It's not as bad as it sounds, and does help keep things varied, but if you're someone who finds losing control of the game frustrating, you will hate this.

I love when I have to react to a situation and feel like a constantly have to adapt, nothing worse than playing a game where I feel like I am in control. Each to their own though.

[Archon Dagoth]

If you are new to games of this type, I recommend either skipping the dreadnought DLC or, if you do purchase it, turning it off for your first campaign. Then, after completing the initial campaign and finding it too easy, you can start a new game using the dreadnought and other DLC enemies included.

The difficulty ramps up very quickly when including the DLC, giving it more of a 'new game plus plus' feel. Many players have reported being surprised by how challenging things become very early on. So for your first playthrough without the DLC, you can get accustomed to the basic mechanics and flow of the game before increasing the difficulty level substantially.

[Sprybb]

If you dont mind the bugs and haveing to find solutions thne its great

[Demiurge]

Originally posted by cswiger:

Originally posted by ✙205🍉🐆→:

The game has no alternatives (I haven't seen any), but the difficulty is made specifically to make me endure it or GTFO

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus. You've got tech-priests instead of Grey Knights, and you fight Necrons instead of Nurgle.

though I like chaos gate, I have to say, Mechanicus was a lot more fun

[fakemon64]

Originally posted by Demiurge:

Originally posted by cswiger:

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus. You've got tech-priests instead of Grey Knights, and you fight Necrons instead of Nurgle.

though I like chaos gate, I have to say, Mechanicus was a lot more fun

i've been thinking about getting mechanicus, what are a few things you specifically enjoy more about mechanicus over chaos gate? Also, do you think it is more or less challenging?

i didnt get it when it came out because im not the biggest admech fan but ive heard many people compliment its gameplay.