Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus – a retrospective

Released in 2018, Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus a turn-based, tactical strategy game in the Warhammer 40,000 Franchise.

Story

The story focuses on the Adeptus Mechanicus on their epic quest to raid the Necron tombs for knowledge. You will be asked to make decisions that will influence the story and the game ending. So, the game has various alternative endings. Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus does an excellent job of telling a tale from the Warhammer 40k lore. The story is deep and well-written.

Gameplay

You play as a Tech-priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The game features resource management, unit management, and intense tactics. The game takes a little while to get used to. But, once you get the hang of it, the ride becomes pleasurable. The A.I units are forgiving at first, but they become brutal as your skills become better. Everything in the game is well-balanced.

The strategic combat is intense and requires a lot of tactics. The turn-based battles are epic and will task your brain as you try to beat your enemies. Each unit has limited cognition points that determine how far you can move on the map and how much damage you deal. Cognition points play a huge role in your strategy.

You can customize your team and upgrade your units. There are various character classes, so you can create squads for any type of playstyle. When you upgrade your units, they get more slots to equip weapons, gadgets and armor.

You’ll always have a choice of two to three quests to play at a time. So, the quests are non-linear. Each quest has varying enemies, stories, difficulties and rewards.

Unlike other games in the series, Warhammer 40k: Mechanicus features no cover system. So, if you are visible, you can be shot. This makes for fast-paced intense gameplay. You throw your units with heavy armor right at the enemy and hide your fragile units at a distance away allowing them to deal long-range damage.

The leveling system is quite flexible. You collect achievements that reward you with abilities that you can use once every mission to help you win battles. You’ll have fun raiding the Necron tombs and stealing the loot. But over-looting will cause the Necrons to wake and wreak havoc. So, you need to loot the tombs cautiously.

The graphics really make you feel you are living in the 40k universe and the audio complements the game nicely. Due to the story choices and multiple endings, the game offers a lot of replay value. There are over 50 missions to play, so the game is by no means short.

Bottom Line

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus is one of the best games in the Warhammer 40k series. It stands out from the remaining mediocre games in the series. In an avalanche of numerous poor Warhammer 40k games, Mechanicus is solid gold. Everything about it is good. The gameplay, graphics, music, animation, customization options, environment design, and other things all complement each other perfectly.

Pros