Since its release on September 9th, Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 has absolutely smashed it! The sequel is a big hit on Steam, reaching the concurrent player peak ever recorded for a Warhammer 40k game on the platform. Both long-time fans and new players simply can’t get enough of the game.
As it’s a co-op horde shooter, it’s inevitable for it to be compared to one of the biggest hits of the year, Helldivers 2. Many expected the Space Marine sequel to surpass what Arrowhead had given us, but it turns out it really isn’t the Helldivers 2 killer we’d been hoping for, as it’s simply in a league of its own.
Space Marine 2 Offers a Unique and Thrilling Experience
Both Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 and Helldivers 2 are considered to be natural rivals or, at the least, have some kind of friendly competition. With the Arrowhead game facing a downward spiral in recent months, many expected Saber Interactive to deliver a game that could prove its might. However, each game has its own strengths for gamers looking for a particular experience.
With its mighty boss battles and superhuman playable characters, Space Marine 2 brings an experience that’s more of a hack & slash hybrid than Helldivers 2. Not to mention, the Warhammer 40k game has a number of progression systems and customization options that offer everyone an incentive to keep engaging with the repetitive gameplay loop.
Helldivers 2, on the other hand, offers a thrilling and chaotic co-op experience. The game’s Galactic War unfolds over time, drawing in swarms of players for major events to take down common enemies and unlock new weapons, creating an exhilarating gameplay experience.
Helldivers 2‘s variety of enemies, planets, and challenges make for infinite replayability, with no missions feeling similar at all. Space Marine 2‘s loop of Operations can burn you out as they lack a variety of missions and the overall nature of each Operation.
However, it’s worth keeping in mind that Space Marine 2 also brings a PvP mode, Eternal War, to the table, which shares progression with the PvE operations, allowing players to boost their characters. The game offers a much more in-depth character class and weapon progression system.
The Arrowhead game often revolves around a small handful of meta load-outs, with many Stratagems and weapons. However, the weapon balancing can prove to be wacky sometimes.
Space Marine 2 is much more accessible to solo players by offering an offline mode as well as a filling-in bot for team slots, whether gamers are online or offline. By allowing gamers to take control of the strongest units from Imperium of Man, battles tend to be extreme.
Helldivers 2 presents the best possible way to enjoy a co-op experience where gamers have fewer tricks up their sleeves. Still, by design, Helldivers are far more expendable in the grand scheme of the entire Galactic War
Space Marine 2‘s Off to a An Incredible Start on Steam
Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 managed to survive a review-bomb and was confirmed to be the biggest opener for the franchise of all time. However, the milestones just don’t stop there, as the game has managed to reach the tenth biggest launch of any title on Steam this year.
According to data from SteamDB, the game debuted with a whopping 225,690 concurrent gamers on Steam, standing as the tenth highest of 2024. Given that it’s a fairly niche IP and was up against some massive releases, it’s truly an impressive stat.
Of course, the game couldn’t compete against Black Myth Wukong, which got the biggest single-player count of all time, but many of the games it faced were from established series or free-to-play titles.
Saber Interactive has already given us a look at the game’s 2024-2025 roadmap, which will add new Operations, enemies, weapons, and, among other things, for everyone who owns the game. Let’s keep our fingers crossed, and we hope they can carry forward this momentum.
With that said, are you enjoying the latest Warhammer 40k title? If yes, let us know in the comments below what you think about the game!
