The Warhammer 40K: Inquisitor ARPG Is Very Explodey
Destructible cover and very shiny statues
Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr, the action RPG from the folk behind the Van Helsing hacker-slashers, has been quiet for the best part of a year, presumably because the horrifying punctuation of its title caused a directory error which rendered all its files inaccessible. The heretic-burning Diablolike just broke cover anew, offering us decent insight into what, yes, looks very much like an action-RPG in the 40K universe, and that is not something I'm ever going to argue with. It's also very shiny, in a very grimdark sort of way.
The major remix to ARPG tropes is that there's a cover system and destructible scenery. Interesting idea - ARPGs traditionally go for the most basic, silly approach to guns, rather than anything remotely tactical. However, this is showy as well as tactical: there's some neat destruction on show here, and the idea of slaying one's foes by shooting a nearby pillar into pieces until it collapses on top of them is appealingly over the top. Here's how it all looks:
And last year's teaser if you missed it:
I think most of us were feeling a tad burned out on 40K videogames after the recent deluge of so-so stuff, but Battlefleet Gothic has restored some hope that care is being taken with the license again. Too soon to call Inquisitor one way or another, but going on this it's not looking throwaway, at least.
More details on the cover and destruction systems here, as part of what's planned to be a weekly devlog.
Devs Neocore aren't hurling around a release date yet, but you can go see a pre-alpha version of the game with your actual human eyes later this month at Warhammerfest 2016. It's on at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, UK, on the 14th and 15th of May.