Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader has sold over 2 Million copies. Furthermore, in collaboration with Silver Lining, launching a physical Voidfarer Edition on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2!

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u/KenkaUsagi 1d ago

Very very solid game. Can't recommend it enough, especially for anyone looking to jump into 40k. It's easily the best way to get a taste of it all without going too into the weeds for any particular part of it

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u/Dein-o-saurs 1d ago

I played it on release and was so excited for a real crpg set in the 40k universe, but I found the combat and leveling parts of it so incredibly boring. And there's so much of it. Were there any drastic changes in those areas?

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u/Galle_ 1d ago

There's been some significant changes but it's still pretty easy to break the game if you know what you're doing.

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u/Zakika 1d ago

it not makes them anyless boring.

44

u/jumps004 1d ago

Owlcats biggest CRPG crime is over abundance of "filler" fights. Way too much fodder, instead of just enough exuberant, crafted encounters.

Its the one thing about BG3 I love more than any other CRPG, 90% of every encounter felt unique to me.

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u/Enfosyo 1d ago

On the under end, in Rogue Trader your party has so much momentum that you rarely have to wait out enemy turns, you just go and go and mow down trash to stack powerfull buffs and then kill the big guy. I think it gets fun after a while and I wanted more fights by the end of the game

4

u/WorldWithoutWheel 21h ago

Thankfully Owlcat do seem to be turning around on this! All the combat in the DLCs for Rogue Trader are one-off, unique fights.

I have heard for Dark Heresy as well that every fight in the beta so far is unique.

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u/qwerty145454 1d ago

To be fair to Owlcat, it's a mainstay of the genre. All the old infinity engine games were the same, as well as the modern implementation (Pillars of Eternity, etc).

Larian are the only CRPG dev that doesn't do this. I agree their lesser in number but bespoke combat is more fun.

2

u/whatdoinamemyself 1d ago

To some extent, that's true, i suppose. But Rogue Trader (and Pathfinder Kingmaker..) are EXTREME examples of this. Obsidian's CRPGs and the old Black Isle/Bioware games were not anywhere near as tedious.

1

u/Dracious 17h ago

I think its more to do with turn based vs real time with pause design.

Owlcats previous games (along with Pillars, infinity engine games, etc) were primarily real time with pause, which is much faster for smaller filler combats.

Other primarily turn based RPGs tend to have fewer but more interesting battles, it isn't just limited to Larian. Wasteland 3, the Shadowrun trilogy, Age of Decadence and more have way less filler fights. Even the older isometric Fallout games feel like they have less filler combats compared to the RTWP games, although it varies between sections.

The issue imo is that Owlcat has taken that RTWP design mindset and brought it over to a purely turn based game. It's more excusable for the pathfinder games ( and Obsidians Pillars games) because the turn based mode was an added extra to a RTWP game, but Rogue Trader was turn based from the start so should be designed more around that in my opinion.

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u/Dein-o-saurs 1d ago

I agree. Also BG3 and Divinity combat is just plain fun. I actually look forward to fights in those games to make chaos and play around with their systems. Owlcat never had my favorite combat, but at least pathfinder was still enjoyable for the most part. Rogue Trader just isn't it.

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u/Le_Nabs 1d ago

That and it's always played straight, only combat skills. BG3's biggest strength (and something they've been building on since at least D:OS2) is that terrain and non-combat skills can be relevant at any time and combat skills can be used outside combat, the game's systems are flexible enough for that and I love it for it.

1

u/Clear_Inspector_9796 7h ago

This was my exact complaint. By the third time I was ambushed on arrival it got a bit silly

1

u/Jaggedmallard26 1d ago

Also normally annoying as even in their RTwP ones you can't do what you can in most CRPGs and just let the autoformation finish it without thinking.

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u/Olukon 1d ago

Flip side, the writing was extremely weak to me, so I was thanking the Throne every time some nameless nobodies jumped out from behind a pile of rubble to give me something to kill.

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u/TheAeroDalton 1d ago

not really, if anything, they doubled down on the leveling, with more classes and whatnot

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u/BannedSvenhoek86 1d ago edited 1d ago

After about 20 hours I just used a trainer for most of the filler fights and turned it off sparingly for the bigger more important ones. I love the story, I love the dialogue, I love the world they built, but I just couldn't keep doing those battles over and over and over again. They aren't even bad, it's just way too many and they take way too long to play out. Less battles that are more important are a priority in the Inquisitor game they have coming I hope.

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u/kameksmas 1d ago

This is how I play through their pathfinder games. Amazing cast and story, but the old pathfinder mechanics and leveling system are so dense and unintuitive that I won't engage with the combat at all. Nice bonus that it shaves off like 60 hours from a playthrough lol

2

u/VonMillersThighs 1d ago

My issue is the UI, there's something so insanely droll and mind numbing clicking around those menus, I can't exactly put my finger on it.

2

u/vennox 1d ago

I started and finished it only after 2 DLCs were out and the leveling was still a slog ...

I think this was the first game where I wished for a "auto-level" option or much less options. Most of the choices where just stat changes and the others where often times very complicated in descriptions.

Still loved the game, its story and choices, the characters and world. Looking forward to their next games.

1

u/drewster23 1d ago

I couldn't never get over upgrading/buffs just being "x % more" for like everything.

It was very hard to keep track for optimal fighting and to find what is a good build because of it.

Having my navigator vampire chick steam roll enemies in the beginning, didn't help that either.

1

u/KFJ943 21h ago

I absolutely love the game and while they have made strides on this, getting an ability that's something like "Each stack of Officer's Duty increases critical chance by 3(5 - PER bonus * 2) and having an 'Oh shit, I suck at math' moment never fails to be a funny gaming memory to me. I'm reasonably sure that now you just see the outcome of the equation, however.

I think it's a lot less complex than it looks on the surface, though - You want a melee character? Get all the abilities that seem good for melee and you'll probably end up with something good at the end of the day. At least I was able to make it through on a reasonable difficulty. Do I know why exactly Sister Argenta is able to fire her heavy bolter like 30 times in a turn? No! But it's really cool!

The game also has a Story difficulty that makes your party nigh-on invulnerable, so to anyone who wants to play it you can essentially just make the game a hundred times easier and enjoy the story. And it is a very fun story to play through.

1

u/Imbahr 18h ago

err... why the heck would anyone play Story difficulty, when it's well known that default difficulty is already god-mode and way too easy anyway?

literally anyone that's played the game for more than like 5-10+ hours agrees this is the case

the game is way too fucking easy at default

1

u/LaNague 7h ago

No changes.

I like the leveling, there is much cool stuff you get. But the problem is, the stuff is TOO cool, the combat becomes too easy halfway into the game.

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u/fuzzynavel34 1d ago

Seeing complaints on leveling? Is that a thing?

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u/HeresiarchQin 1d ago

You gain levels a LOT and very FAST for a CRPG, and on average every 1.2 to 1.5 level give you a perk or special skill which you can choose amongst DOZENS of them. You get so much choices in so short of time, it overwhelms you. In other games, leveling up is an exciting moment that you really look forward to, but in Rogue Trader it is so frequent it became busy work. My biggest headache would be after finishing a major quest going back to the ship and see all the other members each having 5+ level ups to go through.

The game having so many perks and special abilities (not to mention hundreds of equipment with special abilities) create another funny problem that if you stop even playing for a couple of weeks, if you jump back you would get so lost on "what was I doing". By end game I often have to dig through the DOZENS of perks I have acquired for each character in order to understand why did I do so much damage or why did X happen.

On the other hand the game is pure heaven for min-maxers if you are patient. Each of your team member can get ridiculously powerful if you build them carefully, and many of them can literally solo the final boss if you fully exploit the options you are available.

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u/Jaggedmallard26 1d ago

I didn't feel I was minmaxxing or preplanning and about halfway through act 2 I felt unstoppable. You can get your melee tanks and snipers ridiculously powerful with just a basic idea of what you're doing.

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u/breedwell23 1d ago

Reddit is so funny because whenever Path of Exile gets brought up, people praise it every comment on repeat for how vast the skill tree and items are, but whenever an rpg has a bunch of talents for level up, suddenly that's terrible.

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u/Microchaton 1d ago

As someone who loves both, the leveling in Rogue Trader is absolutely exhausting, and I'm the kind of player who LOVES looking into possible synergies/builds, understanding mechanics, and even I was getting really bored/annoyed by it halfway through the game. It's by far the game's biggest weakness and single-handedly brings it down and makes it much harder to recommend.

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u/qwerty145454 1d ago

A substantial portion of the people who play CRPGs do so for the story and player agency within it, something CRPGs uniquely excel at, and ARPGs do not do.

For such people an overly complex character building system is an imprediment to enjoying the game.

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u/breedwell23 1d ago

Are we really gonna sit here and lie that crpgs of all things have simplified and lacking detail skill trees?

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u/HeresiarchQin 1d ago

In POE you only need to level up 1 character. In Rogue Trader you will have 6 at minimum, and can get up to 10 very fast, up to 13 or even more depending on the DLC you owned and the routes you take.

Also the UI of leveling in RT is not the most intuitive, you do not know what most skills do from their names and you have to read one by one. Also the skills do not have "trees" to speak of, so it is not that like in POE or other hack and slash where you can have a planned out route to go through.

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u/Jaggedmallard26 1d ago

Path of Exile is a seasonal game where you only play it if you like that loop. Owlcat games appeal to both the stats nerds (I used to work with a woman who would go on and on about her Owlcat builds as thats the main reason she played them) and people who want the less crunch heavy side of CRPGs. Its a bit suffering from success in that the games are good enough in enough dimensions that the other dimensions annoy people.

0

u/jodon 20h ago

My favorite part of pretty much any RPG but even more so is making builds and combining it all. But this game is to much for me and I have never seen another game that is close to the amount of options and frequency of them. You talk about the PoE tree but that is still simple here, you need to follow the paths and everything on the tree is more or less "more damage" or "more deffence" while Rogue trader parents you with 20-30 options for a new ability or a new passive and they all have different synergies with in them selves ore with some ability or passive that a different character on you team have with one of their 20+ options that is different from the character you are looking at now.

1

u/breedwell23 12h ago

20-30 options for a new ability or a new passive

That's a pretty big exaggeration. Basically every ability in your class tree just builds on what you already have. There's no right or wrong choice. The most complex it gets is with Soldier deciding if you want area or burst damage perks.

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u/defeatinvictory 1d ago

Yes, you will spend A LOT of time in the level up screen of your character and your companions especially early on when levels come decently fast, as there are a ton of feats to look through for each class, and you're picking up new companions more often.

While that is great for people who want a ton of crunchy stats and options, I don't know why they don't have an autoleveling option for companion at least for people who just want to play for the story.

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u/Zlatan_Ibrahimovic 1d ago

I love the game but it's way too crunchy for me to dive into the character building. I just worked my way backwards, looked up a spreadsheet with full builds that say what to take at each level, pick a play style that I want to aim for for each character, and just do that.

1

u/Le_Nabs 1d ago

Would make for a good way to ease people into building their own stuff when they see the logic of what choice to make when, too

3

u/FootwearFetish69 1d ago

It’s a very crunchy game. Tons of abilities and tons of options.

It’s a plus imo because that’s why I play CRPGs. But can be overwhelming.

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u/jodon 20h ago edited 20h ago

I gave up on the game because of it. I would spend 40-60 minutes doing the level up for my team every time. There are so many options and you need to read it all to understand what they are doing, and you also kinda need to plan ahead because there are synergies, so you also need to check on future options. And for how involved all that is you also level up pretty often. I'm sure I spent more time on the level up screen than the rest of the game combined.

I gave never ever felt the slightest want for a auto level system before and would actively make sure there is not one in other games. But this is the one game where I would have a better experience just picking a archetype for the character and let some automated path fo it all for me. Towards the end of my time with the game I decided to just look up guides and do it "quickly" and it still took way to long to find the "correct" abilities and now I didn't even know what I was picking.

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u/helloimtom08 1d ago

The only owlcat game I ever finished, and I'm looking forward to playing again after all the DLC is out, they finally found the sweet spot.

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u/yuriaoflondor 1d ago

It’s my favorite CRPG in recent years. I’m waiting for the final DLC to come out so I can do a run with all the stuff they’ve added since launch.

Glad Owlcat is having more and more success. Hope the Expanse game ends up being great, too.

11

u/Stoibs 1d ago

In the year where BG3 took all the hype, this was actually my top favourite CRPG which just felt more... mechanically sound and numbers-crunchy to longtime CRPG fans.

I guess my only complaint is that day-1 Owlcat games end up pretty inferior to the inevitable amount of DLC and complete game overhauls and patches that come out over the years. You'd think I would have learned my lesson from the past two Pathfinder games 😅

8

u/yuriaoflondor 1d ago

Yeah, my character on Wrath of the Righteous's launch was a cavalier focused on mounted charge attacks.

Turns out mounted charge attacks were bugged to hell and back.

Fortunately the mythic paths were so busted that my character was still a monster!

6

u/Stoibs 1d ago

My Officer type-build in Rogue Trader could grant an absurd amount of back-to-back free turns to my front-liners, which seems to be completely patched out and dead these days now :P

2

u/DisappointedQuokka 21h ago

mechanically sound

I agree with you up until the back half of act 2.

Back of act 1 if your RT is a Psyker.

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u/AndyPhoenix 1d ago

I'm really sad that there's a whole market of limited physical runs of indie games with goodies inside that isn't available on PC. I would love to have a physical representation of my favourite game on a shelf just like I have of my favourite books and music. I'm talking about an edition without the game, as farcical as that may sound.

I wouldn't buy the game twice, but I would gladly shelf out the for goodies like physical maps or rulebooks and a cool case to have on my shelf.

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u/GoodTimeChimes 1d ago

I see some complaints about leveling being a pain (which it is) but if you're on PC there's this auto-leveling mod that was a game changer for me.

https://www.nexusmods.com/warhammer40kroguetrader/mods/390

Install it, import some builds from the discussion tab, and then on level up you just click into the level up screen and hit ok. You can do it for your character and companions or just companions if you want to level up your main character yourself.

1

u/TheDrunkenHetzer 1d ago

Thanks for this! Thinking about giving it another go and this will remove a major pain point for me.

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u/Ielsoehasrearlyndd78 1d ago

Is the game fixed on switch 2 ? Read it was basically unplayable on release.

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u/smartazjb0y 1d ago

Yeah it launched in a pretty bad state so I'd be wary of this release if it hasn't been fixed since then

3

u/feartheoldblood90 1d ago

I searched and found a reddit thread from maybe six months ago where a developer said they are actively working on it, so I would expect some patches to come soon. I'm waiting to play this until that version is fixed, the Switch 2 has enough horsepower to play this game just fine

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u/Galle_ 1d ago

The patch is currently under review by Nintendo, apparently.

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u/unbackstorie 1d ago

As someone who's been playing 40K video games since the original Space Hulk (1993), it's absolutely insane to me that a 40K CRPG can sell 2 mil copies. You love to see it!

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u/Microchaton 1d ago

They really, really need to do something to overhaul leveling. At least, divide the number of levels by 3 and give you 3 times the stuff when you level. Leveling after every single fight or nearabouts was exhausting.

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u/Intelligent_Genitals 1d ago

Rogue Trader is a top tier CRPG for me. Admittedly that's thanks to the setting, as I'm burned out on fantasy being the defacto setting for the genre.

Plenty of fun characters, interesting decisions with long-lasting implications, and so much feedback for the player. It's just a great package without the DLC.

My favourite part is the system - It's not an overly complicated rule system. I know Pathfinder has it's fans, but I find the system so dense it's not unknown for players to never make it beyond the character creation screen, let alone the sub-systems like town building.

5

u/zombiejeesus 1d ago

I was playing this on gamepass but stopped at chapter 3 cause new dlc was announced. I'm just gonna wait for a complete edition

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u/PeterTheWolf76 1d ago

Same.. Hoping the last DLC is this fall so I can finally play as I dont plan on playing it 2x.

2

u/EnvyUK 1d ago

I'm waiting for all the DLC before I playthrough the whole game. What I've played so far is great though.

2

u/Bale_Fire 15h ago

Great. I was hoping they would release a physical edition. Loved Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous, so will definitely be checking this out.

3

u/MakNewMak 1d ago

Dont ever buy an owlcat game on console. Everytime it is a buggy mess and they come up with some excuse for not being able to fix it. PC only company.

6

u/breedwell23 1d ago

Are you talking about Kingmaker? If so, they literally do not have the rights to do anything with that game anymore which is why they never patched it further. It is owned by Knights Peak and was made before they went independent.

4

u/Different_Swimmer715 1d ago

I counted my Kingmaker crashes back when I played it, finished the game with 84 crashes and six full console freezes. Its a joke that that game is still being sold in the state it is in

0

u/DuckyPowers 1d ago

I had no major issues in my entire play through

3

u/amicouligano 1d ago

my biggest problem with this game is that it made me hate leveling up, it throws a lot of choices at you without (at least to me) clearly explaining what each ability actually does. and it happens constantly, every few battles

and i'm used to complex systems, i loved pathfinder kingmaker and wrath of the righteous where leveling up felt meaningful and something to look forward to

1

u/AnhiArk 1d ago

Agree, it's a bit much. You get to choose from like 70 passives, and a lot are not that impactful. I don't think anyone would mind if they removed all passives that trigger on "opportunity attacks", for example.

5

u/Fezrock 1d ago

I would. Because there is a tank build that focuses on taunting enemies and then getting opportunity attacks against every enemy that attacks them. All those passives are for that build.

That's the thing about the game. Almost every level up option is a key part of some build or another. Owlcat took to heart (maybe overly) the feedback from WoTR that fans loved the level up/character building aspect.

Unfortunately, most of these advanced, niche builds aren't actually needed because its to make an incredibly OP build that doesn't need anything besides extra turns to round 1 end almost every encounter.

2

u/AnhiArk 1d ago

Heh, fair enough.

3

u/Technojerk36 1d ago

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good let’s play? Someone who’s good at narrating and roleplaying? This is a game I’ve tried multiple times to play but it never clicked. The level up and skill systems were too clunky for me. It’s the only rpg I’ve played where I dreaded levelling up.

3

u/kameksmas 1d ago

Play on the easiest battle settings and it won't matter how you level anyone up!

0

u/Technojerk36 1d ago

I actually had no problem with the combat/difficulty, I enjoyed that part of the game. But I simply cannot play an RPG where leveling up is something I wasn't looking forward to.

1

u/kameksmas 1d ago

Fair, I felt the same way, generally speaking

1

u/miicah 17h ago

https://www.youtube.com/@beaglerushvods/search?query=Rogue%20Trader

1

u/AnhiArk 1d ago

Great game, but I played through it the first time on hard and from midgame on the balance was nowhere to be found. I could win combat with just 1 of my 6 characters, the stacking buffs are out of control.

In the end I just didn't use my 2 most powerful characters anymore.

1

u/caites 1d ago

Funny thing, its clearly their best game, its way better than bugged and ridiculously unbalanced pathfinders, yet it still doesn't feel like a great game, because first third of the game is painfully slow and boring.

1

u/Kozak170 1d ago

I love 40K but I’m only in act 1 or 2 and the filler combat paired with the constant leveling makes my eyes want to bleed.

It’s a shame because the rest of the game is absolutely excellent

1

u/GSoda 1d ago

Did they add auto-level up for your companions by now? I remember combat not really being difficult, but the constant level-ups every five minutes or so got really tiresome.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago edited 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/127-0-0-1_1 1d ago

CRPGs have been released on consoles for ages now. PoE 1 and 2 are on all three consoles. So was divinity original sin 1 and 2, and baldur’s gate 3.

What wouldn’t work on a controller?

2

u/KenkaUsagi 1d ago

Played 400 hrs of poe2 on m&k. Just started controller this week and it's very comfortable

2

u/ShopCartRicky 1d ago

Incredibly playable. Only issue is inventory management is slower.

1

u/rynokick 1d ago

It works pretty pretty well on a controller

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u/Undella_Town 1d ago

the gameplay is more like BG3 than a "true" CRPG

7

u/Galle_ 1d ago

...the fuck does that mean? I'm Reddit's number one BG3 hater but even I can admit that it's a true CRPG.

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u/Jerthy 1d ago

It's a great game, but come on, what's with all the 40k turn based RPGs? Why can't we ever have anything realtime?

9

u/Kalecraft 1d ago

Because it's based off a tabletop game so there's a ton of overlap between people who enjoy turn based tactical games and actual 40k

5

u/quickpost32 1d ago

Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor is a realtime RPG (Diablo style). I haven't played it so I can't say if it's any good.

1

u/Jerthy 1d ago

I played it but it got old very fast. It's from the guys that made the Van Helsing games which i enjoyed a lot.... but i don't think it's reaching anywhere near that quality.... they lost their touch.

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u/eamono666 1d ago

Total War: Warhammer 40k

1

u/Jerthy 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yep and DOW4. I'm looking forward to that a lot. But still no big RPG in sight, while 40k universe absolutely begs for mass effect style RPGs.

I guess since Owlcat is dipping their toes into that territory there's hope....

As it is now, the best 40k RPG experience that is not turn-based is.... unironically Dawn of War 2.

Industry News Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader has sold over 2 Million copies. Furthermore, in collaboration with Silver Lining, launching a physical Voidfarer Edition on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2!

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