At the beginning of June I was able to take a very detailed look at Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Traders throw, the new RPG from the Pathfinder developers. The beta already offered a lot of content back then, but there is still more to come: On the gamescom in Cologne, Owlcat Games showed me a fight that takes place in the endgame of the roleplaying game.
After around 80 hours of play, the group of six characters is already well equipped and, thanks to a few level ups, already has a number of skills. This is also particularly important because the following fight that the devs show me is by no means trivial.
Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader – Every move counts
Rogue Trader bets differently than that Pathfinder-Games, on a complete turn-based combat system – Baldur’s Gate 3 sends regards. The classic RTwP has apparently had its day in Owlcat as well. Nonetheless, the fight against a couple of Necron enemies that the developers bring to me shows classic strengths: there’s a lot at stake tactics, the skills must be used well. Above all, defensive buffs are important, because attacks by the powerful Necron units really hurt, as was impressively demonstrated to me shortly afterwards.
Although the developers are already inflicting a lot of damage on an opponent with Marazhai, a capable melee fighter, among others, it is far from over. On his turn, however, the Necron ignores the stabbing fighter and instead shoots at a support, who goes down completely after just two hits. Especially mean: There is no revive during battle. As soon as a character’s life points are at 0, he remains dead for the rest of the fight. As the developers tell me, there are only a few isolated buffs that can prevent a deathblow once.
Otherwise, it also shows in the later battles of Rogue Trader that the role-playing game in terms of presentation and optics can’t compete with a Baldur’s Gate 3, but definitely has its own strengths. They are mainly in the tactics, because if you don’t diligently use your skills and attacks correctly, you will quickly run into problems. However, there is no extreme destruction and dynamics of the environment, as known from the Larian games – even if isolated explosion barrels invite to be used offensively.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is the biggest problem
In general, Baldur’s Gate 3 is the most difficult hurdle for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Traders. You can clearly see that Larian was simply in a different budget class here: while you’re in the current role-playing hit, here it goes, by the way to our testfully voiced characters, tons of cutscenes and beautiful visuals, Owlcats Rogue Trader is a hit much more spartan and classic in comparison out of.
There are a few isolated settings, but otherwise there is an obligation read much to have to. Visually, the excursion into the world of Warhammer 40,000 is also on the right track, but cannot keep up with the highly detailed 3D worlds of Baldur’s Gate 3. On the other hand, the combat system has been convincing so far and how the story develops overall can only be shown by the test version at the latest.
But that probably won’t be the case this year. When asked, Owlcat Games told us that the release of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader will not take until 2025. But it probably won’t happen again this year. Given Baldur’s Gate 3, Starfield and the many other releases in the autumn of games, but that is probably manageable.
