Battlefleet Gothic 2 new mode & campaign coming after co-op finished
Better late than never?
A fourth campaign and dirty gert fleets are in the works for Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2, which officially launched today, though the first post-launch priority is to, ah, finish its cooperative mode. Right now that's officially classed as "in an early access state", basically due to running out of time, with the polished and de-bugged mode expected to follow in a few months. Beyond that, they're looking at adding a new mode with huge fleets, tweaking balance, and so on. While the unfinished co-op is a bummer, considering Armada II is otherwise pretty decent for spacechurches and meatships blowing each other to heck in an eternal futurewar, the additions sound good.
Publishers Focus Home Interactive said in today's launch announcement that "as we're working around the clock to polish every part of the game, we're forced to release the co-op mode in an early access state today." They explain that it is playable but "we're simply not entirely satisfied yet by the level of polish," so they'll be improving it and fixing bugs in expectation of a proper launch in March.
"This first major update will be followed by the development of new ships and continuous work on balancing," they continued. Then got to the good stuff.
"After this we will be focusing on major new features. This includes a massive new game mode giving you access to skirmishes with truly humongous fleets and legendary ships (the Phalanx, Macragge's Honour, and other ships you see during the campaign). Thanks to the incredible support the game has received so far, Focus Home Interactive and Tindalos Interactive have also begun work on a new, full grand campaign."
More and bigger sounds good if you want spectacular spacefights. Do you want spectacular spacefights? Nic Rueben's recommendation in our Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 review was contingent upon what you expected.
"If you're looking for an incredibly deep 4x – no," he ruled. "If you're up for some big, beautiful, dramatic RTS campaigns with weighty, satisfying combat, and don't mind waiting for a patch to iron out a few creases – then yes."
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 is out now on Steam for £35/€40/$40.