I didn’t expect much from Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters. I’ll play any Warhammer game, from Ork shmups to RTS classics, but few keep me hooked as much as this XCOM-like from Complex Games. I fully expected to still be on board the Darktide train right now, but instead I’m directing little Grey Knights across the virtual battlefield to purge the rot of Nurgle from every planet I come across.
Daemonhunters (come on, I’m not writing out that whole name every time) made my Game of the Year list last year, and I’m half tempted to put it on this year’s too. Frontier’s finest achievement has been supplementing the game with regular, quality DLC at just the right time. As you find yourself getting a little bored or in a gaming rut, Daemonhunters unveils a brand new asset for your arsenal, new threats to eliminate, and new missions to undertake. Inquisitor Vakir is a relentless mistress.
First was Duty Eternal, which any self-respecting reader of the Codex Astartes will instantly know means Dreadnoughts. It also meant Technophage – a disease affecting machinery – and Techmarines, who have become a mainstay in my raiding parties ever since.
Duty Eternal was bountiful. Rescuing and controlling Dreadnoughts was perfectly destructive; firing plasma cannons at hordes of Plague Marines never gets old, and charging directly through enemy lines left a satisfying trail of carnage in your wake. I built my Techmarine armed with self-destructing servitors and an array of repair capabilities, and sent them into battle against hordes of Poxwalkers with a brutal smile writ large across my face.
I haven’t played Daemonhunters in a while, but I was immediately drawn back in by Execution Force. Instead of joining up with more Adeptus Astartes in the game’s second DLC, Execution Force sees you ally with the agents of the Officio Assassinorum. The additional firepower is most welcome, as the DLC also adds three enemy units, the Plague Surgeon, Nurgling Swarm, and fearsome Beast of Nurgle. Use your new allies to control the battlefield, and follow the missions to tackle the Tentarus Hive.
That explanation doesn’t showcase how cool the assassins really are. I am, and have always been, a Vindicare man, creeping through the shadows and unloading high-calibre sniper rounds into pustuled foreheads from afar. It’s arguably the most boring of the assassins, but the implementation in Daemonhunters is excellent. The Exitus Rifle is perfectly balanced, doing enough damage to feel powerful but not so much to topple the delicate scales of the game’s difficulty.
The Eversor assassin is my favourite design, with its skull helmet making it seem like a distant cousin of Skeletor, a cousin who uses horrific toxin concoctions to strike fear and confusion into the minds of its targets. The Culexus is skilled in hunting Psykers, and therefore perfect for any missions where you might encounter Aeldari forces. Finally, the Callidus is the most traditional assassin, employing deception and stealth above all else.
I’ve taken a Vindicare to most missions, but the Eversor has joined my noble soldiers on occasion too. All that’s left to do is set forth with a strike force made up entirely of assassins, one of each. I assume that’s possible, but I’ll only know for sure when I’ve saved up enough requisition tokens to hire them – they won’t work for free. Tackling the agents of Chaos with four assassins scaling planetary defences will be like going to war armed with four glass cannons, one in each hand and another in each foot. I guess I’m sliding into battle on my arse or something, but it’s worth the risk.
Each assassin plays very differently in Daemonhunters, and choosing the right one for each mission is important due to their frail nature. Always bring an Apothecary too for mid-fight healing, even if that’s at the expense of your precious Techmarine. The assassins will alter your playstyles in ways you don’t expect, turning even the most familiar missions on their head as you piece together the puzzle of each battlefield.
Daemonhunters’ DLC is incredibly clever because of how it impacts the game you thought you knew. You understand your Grey Knights after playing through a whole campaign, or more, with them, but add in a Dreadnought, Techmarine, and machine-virus? Everything is different now, from the way you can send your power fist through plague-ridden ceramite to the way you navigate routes through ruined cities.
Assassins do the same again, iterating on the core game in inventive ways that make you rethink gameplay you’d begun to take for granted. There are no big changes to how Daemonhunters plays with each DLC, but the additions are so meticulously designed, thoroughly playtested, and cleverly integrated that it feels like a brand new game each time around. If nothing else, it sets your imagination racing as you and your allies fight each new threat with skills anew. Daemonhunters is built around XCOM-style warfare, but it’s really about characters, whether that’s the strong personalities of Lunete and Vakir or the individual skills of your rank and file squaddies. It’s chess, if your pieces talked back to you and you could bring a sniper rifle to headshot the opposing king.