Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Preview

If you’d like to know more about the systems at play in Owlcat Games’ upcoming sci-fi RPG Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, you should check out this recent NME preview that talks about how the game fits into the wider turn-based landscape, its RPG elements, and its Warhammer background.

Here’s an excerpt to get you started:

Beyond the difference in weapons, each character’s class lends itself to different styles of play. A Tech-Priest can hit enemies with a range of debuffs or perk their allies up, while a Smuggler is all about fast movement and sneaking in as many potshots as possible. Each class also has its own background – the Smuggler in the demo was a former soldier, which meant they were a running, gunning killing machine that had no difficulty turning the table on a set of Druchii ambushers.

That being said, it wasn’t a clean fight. Rogue Trader draws inspiration from the older X-COM games: there’s a vast middle ground between simply hitting or missing a shot. A Druchii marksman’s shot on the Smuggler went wide, but a sigh of relief died as the stray bullet caught the party’s Psyker in the shoulder. This mechanic added a lot of life to the shootout – even on the receiving end – and there was a messy, frantic atmosphere to the fight that’s a rare find in a lot of strategy games.