Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Previews

This year’s Gamescom my be behind us, but articles from the event keep trickling in. And as a result, we can now check out a couple of new previews for Owlcat Games’ Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader and learn more about the game’s setting and mechanics.

Here’s IGN’s preview:

The final major system Gusev shows me is Momentum, a stat that builds with each attack and heal. At high Momentum, a character is able to use an ultimate-style ability that could be the devastating finale to a multi-turn strategy. Daring Breach, for instance, is a ‘Heroic Act’ that allows a character to move and attack multiple times in a turn. Essentially, it’s the deluxe version of the soldier’s basic skill. The really interesting thing about Heroic Acts, though, is that they can also be used at low Momentum… for a price. The alternate version of Daring Breach is Desperate Rush, which allows the same skill to be used but the character is then put into a stun lock for two turns. Once again, this forces you to map out a multi-turn strategy: either work out a way to build Momentum and unleash Daring Breach as soon as possible, or use Desperate Rush right now and devise a plan to keep your fighter protected for the next two turns.

And here’s one from WCCFTech:

Combat was the meat of the Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader presentation. The inevitable comparison, if only because the developer made it, is to XCOM. You could probably liken it to XCOM with traditional cRPG sensibilities, where the percentage is critical, but unexpected results are always possible. For example, a Drukhari marksman took a shot at one of the Rogue Traders squad and missed. Only the shot, with projectiles designed as physical elements, ended up hitting one of the other characters behind the target. The system accounts for more than just percentages; if a character is physically in the way of the stray bullet, they’ll get hit.