You Can Now Play Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Ahead of Release

The long, long wait for a sequel to 2011’s Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is nearly over, but for players who can’t spend another weekend pining, early access is available for a price.

Players who purchased the Gold or Ultra Editions of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 now have access to the full game, whether they bought it for a PC or the PlayStation 5 or Xbox X or S consoles. The early perk comes at a cost: The Gold Edition is priced at $100 on consoles and $90 on PC, and the Ultra is $110 and $100 on those platforms, respectively. The Standard Edition costs $70 on consoles or $60 on PC through Steam or the Epic Games Store. The higher-cost editions also include a season pass.

All editions include the Macragge’s Chosen downloadable content if the game is preordered.

The official game release is Sept. 9.

The game itself is a third-person shooter from Saber Interactive and Focus Entertainment developed by the creators of World War Z. As a beefy ultra-marine, you’ll fight swarms of hundreds of Tyranid enemies through a solo or three-player battle-brothers co-op campaign, or engage in multiplayer PVE or PVP modes. A gameplay overview shows more detail about the game’s story mode, its multiplayer options and some of the gruesome eye candy players can expect. Do you like chainswords? This might be the game for you.

Ahead of the game launch, a tempest in a teapot may be brewing. The game is apparently being review-bombed, with some claiming the Epic Games Store launcher is installed when the game is purchased from that storefront. This isn’t true, but the game does install Epic Online Services software that enables cross-play between PC and console players. The game’s developers say the software can be uninstalled. 

PC system requirements for Space Marine 2 are:

Minimum:

• OS: Windows 10 (1903 min)/11 (64-bit)

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X/Intel Core i5-8600K

• RAM: 8GB RAM

• GPU: 6GB VRAM, AMD Radeon RX 580/Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060

• DirectX: Version 12

• Available storage space: 75GB available space

• Additional Notes: solid-state drive required. 30 FPS in 1920×1080 with “Low” preset.

Recommended:

• OS: Windows 10 (1903 min)/11 (64-bit)

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X/Intel Core i7-12700

• RAM: 16GB RAM

• GPU: 8GB VRAM, AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT/Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070

• DirectX: Version 12

• Available storage space: 75GB

• Additional Notes: SSD required. 60 FPS in 1920×1080 with the “Ultra” preset.