Looks like Space Marine 2 will continue the first game's grand tradition of PvP multiplayer

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 art
(Image credit: Focus Entertainment)

A video uploaded to YouTube by prdalien0 showing a flick-through of The Art and Making of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 seems to have confirmed Saber Interactive's sequel will have a PvP mode. A two-page spread shows the armor of Chaos Space Marines who will apparently be playable in the mode, from the chapters of the Death Guard, Black Legion, Iron Warriors, Night Lords, Alpha Legion, and World Eaters.

We've already seen a little of Space Marine 2's co-op campaign (which can also be played solo, with the two other marines controled by AI), but this leak is the first we've seen of a PvP mode. Notably, Relic's original Space Marine had a cracking online multiplayer scene, with a team-based mode where two squads of eight marines faced off against each other. There really was nothing like jetpacking out of the sky onto an opponent, chainsword revving in your hand.

That PvP mode included a progression system that let you unlock different classes—Tactical, Devastator, and Assault marines—as well as various weapon and armor customizations. A bunch of DLC with extra maps, armor sets and the like followed, though if you own Space Marine on Steam these days you'll have the anniversary edition, which includes all those extras as standard.

As announced at The Game Awards, Space Marine 2 is due out in September of this year after having been delayed out of 2023.

Jody Macgregor
Weekend/AU Editor

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.

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