Dakka's Delight - Space Hulk: Deathwing Trailer

I am hopeful that Warhammer 40K FPS-RPG Space Hulk: Deathwing [official site] will be, at the very least, a weird game. Developers Streum On Studio were behind E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy, another FPS-RPG about an order of warrior monks stomping around a dystopian future in ornate power armour. It was hugely ambitious, baffling and wonky yet fascinating and endearing, which I'll take over mediocre any day. So a new trailer choosing a soundtrack with mariachi-tinged rap from a Swiss pop band, well, that's certainly unconventional for a 40K game. I'm quietly hopeful.

We're still not seeing gameplay, and that footage has been touched-up, but aren't those nice explosions? Aren't those pretty guns? Isn't this a weird music choice? Granted, it's just a trailer, but it's quite different to your standard orchestr-o-choral 40k music. I imagine the game is much more conventional but with so many uninteresting 40K games going around lately, anything unusual is a nice change. Heck, good - or great! - would be even better. I'd be happy with weird.

Streum On came from a modding background, and E.Y.E. had that special Half-Life mod scene energy. It was had open levels and hacking and implants respawning enemies and psi powers and guns and swords and so many nonstandard design choices and odd additions that several hours in, I still wasn't sure quite what the game was. Having a publisher and a license, not to mention more experience, will surely reign that energy in a little, but I hope it's still in Deathwing.

Space Hulk, I should briefly explain, is the branch of 40K where Space Marines go stomping around colossal derelict spaceships that've picked up all sorts of nasties as they drifted around space, usually those those naughty insectile Tyranids. That's this lot.

That song, by the way, is Walking with a Ghost by Kadebostany [warning: artistic nudity].