For The Emp- Er, Uh: WH40k Eternal Crusade Released
Hmm!
Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade [official site] left Steam Early Access to properly launch on Friday, but it sounds like that may have been too soon. I've not had a crack myself but broad consensus seems to be that the multiplayer shooter is still unbalanced, unpolished, and buggy. Which are the sorts of things I'd usually expect early access to remedy.
Anyway! This is a News Post so let's crack on. Eternal Crusade is a class-based third-person shooter in the world of Warhammer 40k, with the Space Marines, Orks, Eldar, and Chaos Space Marines duking it out. It's mostly competitive multiplayer with folks bashing each other in Battlefield-ish battles, but does have a touch of PvE too.
However, do be quite clear that it's very different from the PlanetSide-style shooter MMO in a persistent open world that was originally planned. The persistent world, at launch, is not a 3D but rather a 2D campaign map changed by the results of matches. The Steam page from when it first was sold in Early Access certainly makes it sound like a lot more. Games inevitably change over development according to time, budget, whim, and intent, but yeah, it hasn't come out as PlanetSide.
I was interested in the endless war as originally announced - especially the idea of letting everyone play Orks without paying so the world would be filled with hordes of da gitz - but I'll probably skip the finished product.
Our Eurogamer pals wrote a review [note: a review is a sort of Wot I Think -ed.] saying it still needs work, and many Steam user reviews agree - though some definitely are digging it.
Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade is £39.99/49,99€/$49.99 on Steam. It's made by Behaviour, the gang behind Dead by Daylight and, er, Naughty Bear. Bandai Namco are the publishers. Here, launch trailer:
