Space Marine 2 Boss Confirms the Xbox Exclusive That Was its Single Greatest Inspiration, Just Like Many Fans Suspected

Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 stands as a follow-up to the original hit from 2011, carrying on its tradition of bloody combat with a futuristic setting. Set in the Warhammer 40k universe, players step back into the shoes of Space Marines and fight off against hordes of Tryanids. It’s a massive success that has already prompted discussions for a potential sequel in the near future.

Space Marine 2‘s success can be attributed to various factors. Developer Saber Interactive has gone one step ahead of the competition and managed to give us a generational hit. However, as suspected by many fans, the biggest source of inspiration for the developer for creating this masterpiece was none other than the legendary Gears of War franchise.

Space Marine 2 was Directly Inspired by Gears of War Franchise

Although neither Saber nor publisher Focus Entertainment has given us a sales figure for Space Marine 2, Focus has confirmed that over two million gamers played the title at launch. Currently, it stands as the most played and downloaded Warhammer video game of any kind released on Steam, with 225,690 peak concurrent players on Valve’s platform.

The biggest appeal of Space Marine 2 is the fact that it’s a perfect title for gamers craving simpler and more cinematic shooters. It’s often been compared to the golden era of Xbox 260 shooters such as Halo and Gears of War, which completely go against the current trend of pushing out live-service slops such as Destiny 2 and Fortnite.

In a recent interview, Space Marine 2‘s game director, Dimitriy Grigorenko, touched upon the title’s development and gave us various insights. He outright states that the Space Marine sequel’s most significant source of inspiration is the Gears of War series.

But was that tone deliberate? “I didn’t know it was that obvious. “But that was the intention. We wanted to make a perfect sequel [to Space Marine] – that was in the original pitch. The ‘perfect sequel’ implies it’s the exact same game – a 360 game with a story campaign, some PvP, and a horde mode to accompany it. We wanted to make a classic experience.

Saber Interactive has intentionally designed the Space Marine sequel to recapture the essence of classic Xbox games, with a fantastic campaign, PvP, and Horde modes, echoing the style with which we were all familiar growing up.

Even the game’s creative director, Oliver Hollis-Leick, fondly recalls how playing the Space Marine sequel brought back the nostalgic memories of playing with friends, proving that the game has successfully managed to bring back the simplicity and fun of earlier gaming era that we all had been desperately seeking for ages.

Space Marine 2 Continues to Evolve

Due to the Space Marine 2‘s immense success, Saber has been consistently updating the third-person shooter on a weekly basis, evolving the game to new levels. The game’s latest 3.0 update rolled out last week, and new features were introduced, including the much-anticipated Private Operations mode.

Just like the name suggests, this game mode allows players to experience all the operations without needing to partner up with random players during missions. Hence, Private Operations can be enjoyed either by allying with bots or friends. Some other additions in the latest patch include the ability to reset your color presets.

The 3.0 update also finally brought in ultrawide support for the PC version of the title, as well as the Hub Sparring Arena. The latter is a place where you can host PvP matches with players in your squad. You can find this arena on the Battlebarge, and it is available in Eternal War Game and Operations mode.

The update also introduces various weapon tweaks and changes to make the gameplay much more enjoyable in the Veteran mode, alongside dozens of bug fixes.

If Saber manages to build upon the game’s current momentum, no one can stop the Space Marine sequel from snatching the Game of the Year award.

With that said, are you enjoying Space Marine 2? If yes, let us know in the comments below what you would like to see in the game with future updates.