Warhammer 40K: Space Marine Master Crafted Edition Review – Shiny Paint Job, Classic Chassis

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Master Crafted Edition Review

Anyone who is a fan of third-person action games is certainly aware of 2024’s Space Marine 2. It was a huge success with fans and critics, iterating on the 2011 original in lots of great ways. Amazing graphics, epic battles, and an engaging campaign were all part of the fun. I’m betting that a large number of gamers were inspired to go back and replay the original Space Marine, and they might have been more than a bit disappointed by the visuals and controls. After all, fourteen years is a very long time. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition has the goal of making the 2011 game look, feel, and sound a lot more like a contemporary title. It’s about as close as a remaster can come without being an actual remake.

Welcome Back Again, Titus

I’m not going to rehash the entire narrative. It pits Commander Demetrian Titus and his fellow Space Marines against the Orks and later, the forces of Chaos. While the enemy forces might have seemed impressively large in 2011, they’re comically dwarfed by the numbers in Space Marine 2. The vast, intricate cathedrals and military strongholds of the sequel are nowhere to be found in the first game.

But the first game had impressively brutal action, pitch perfect — at least in the terse Warhammer way — characters, and well-acted dialogue. For fans of the tabletop game, Space Marine brought authenticity and respect for the lore to an engaging third-person shooter. Since 2011, respect for Space Marine has only grown. At least in part due to a confused legacy of publishers, Space Marine never received a proper remake. The Anniversary Edition in 2021 was a repackaging of the original and all the DLC, and a free upgrade for owners.

Master Crafted Good Time

Traditionally, remasters are mostly cosmetic. They spit-shine the graphics and the audio, and maybe make some UI tweaks. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition goes about as far as it can in this direction. Resolution has been bumped up to 4K and environmental textures have been upscaled. Figure models, animations, lighting, and battle effects have all been modernized. The game’s original and very dated UI and controller support have been given a lot of attention, too.

There is no amount of digital Botox that would make Space Marine look like the sequel, but it doesn’t have to. The original’s slightly stylized art made it a bit future proof, and the Master Crafted Edition sharpens everything up a great deal. While there are some textures that still lack detail, the visuals are crisper and quite impressive. Of course, the game’s rather linear level design hasn’t changed.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition’s combat is just as punchy and visceral (literally) as the sequel. In large part this comes from the remastered audio and impressive sound design, which includes some newly recorded dialogue. Weapon sounds are excellent, reverberant, and varied. Warhammer 40K is defined by its narrative operatic excess, with absurdly oversized characters and situations. That all remains and is heightened in the remaster.

Clear Choice

As much as I enjoyed playing the Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition, there were one or two issues. The new controller implementation and updated UI are great. However, I had a persistent issue with the game’s weapon wheel being slow, inconsistent, or downright unwilling to respond. Smooth and rapid weapon switching is key in Space Marine, so this little bug became a pretty big deal. Aside from that, there were some issues with enemies getting stuck in textures and a few times where the game froze and required a restart.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition includes 8v8 multiplayer combat but I was unable to test this out during my review time. The game also includes all the original’s DLC bundled in, as well as all the weapons and skins that were part of the Anniversary Edition. In other words, the Master Crafted Edition is about as complete a package as possible.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine was more than just a game that spawned a remarkable sequel. It was a thoroughly entertaining third-person shooter that perfectly translated Games Workshop’s brutal IP into digital form. Dusting off 14 years of cobwebs and creakiness, the Master Crafted Edition makes the 2011 original look, sound, and play as close as possible to brand new. I don’t think those with the original or Anniversary Edition will regret picking it up, and it’s an absolute no-brainer for anyone who doesn’t already own the game.

***PC code provided by the publisher for review***