Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Chaos Interview

Thanks to a new interview with Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine game director Raphael van Lierop on Destructoid, we now officially know that the action RPG’s storyline will pit us against Chaos space marines.

Dtoid: Relic expressed concern before that having Chaos Marines as enemies would be problematic, due to their power being on par with an average Space Marine (thus it would be unbelievable to have them mowed down like disposable enemies). How is Relic dealing with this issue? Will the Chaos Marines be sporadic, almost boss-like enemies a’la the Fire Warrior game, or will we be suspending our disbelief and cutting them down in bloody swathes?

RVP: While Orks attack in brutal and animalistic hordes, Chaos is a much more devious enemy, with the Chaos Space Marines being lethal in small numbers. But, we’re not trying to create a 1:1 threat relationship between the Chaos Space Marine and Captain Titus, who is, after all, an Ultramarines Captain and an especially powerful fighter by any standard. But while Titus can fight 30+ Orks at once, fighting 2 or 3 Chaos Space Marines presents a serious challenge. Then when you layer in Chaos fodder and ranged specialist units in there, the game definitely becomes challenging in whole new ways.

Dtoid: What kind of units can we expect to see from the Chaos forces? Cultists, demons, maybe a Defiler or two?

RVP: We have multiple types of Chaos Space Marine enemies, equipped with a variety of heavy weapons (ex. Autocannon, Plasma Cannon, etc.), Snipers, and some can pull out melee weapons and engage you in close quarters. Additionally, we’re throwing Renegade Guard at you — who can present a real ranged threat when they attack en masse. There are Bloodletters, intimidating demons, who are a very high-damage melee enemy — they attack in groups and kind of ‘˜phase’ in and out, making them very difficult to target with ranged weapons, and when they get up close they attack you with vicious swords and rending attacks that can take you down quickly if you’re not careful.

There are Psykers, who can damage you from afar with psychic blasts and warp in other enemy units to mess with you. So, just like with the Orks, Chaos presents a lot of variety and gives us tons of opportunity to layer the enemies together in interesting scenarios to provide a challenge that really puts a whole new spin on the game by the time you encounter them.