Last week, I visited Bandai Namco’s office to test out Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade. This was the first time that I had ever played a Warhammer title so I was eager to see what developer, Behaviour Interactive, had in store.

Currently in Steam Early Access, Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade is a massive online third-person shooter set in a persistent world. Players are able to choose to play as one of four factions (Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, Orks or Eldar) and engage in huge military campaigns. Whether you are playing the PvP or PvE mode, you’ll have to work as a team with the other members of your faction in your quest for victory. In addition, there are thousands of weapons and customizable combinations for you to choose from, along with veteran heroes and elites.

Fans have been waiting for this type of game for ages and Behaviour have therefore created it as a tribute to those that have been waiting. Behaviour have also stated that they want the game to be true to the Warhammer universe, which is why the game has been inspired by the Warhammer lore rather than the tabletop game.

Gameplay

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If you have been playing Eternal Crusade on Steam Early Access, you will know that the game is still in the Alpha stage. This is obviously very apparent when you boot up the game. The build that I tested was on PS4 and unfortunately, the game did not run well at all. At points, the framerate dropped below ten fps, making it absolutely impossible to engage in any sort of combat. The game routinely crashed after a short period of time which kept forcing me to start over and as you can imagine, this got quite frustrating after a while. Throughout the preview I tried to persevere through the framerate drops and flickering textures but this greatly drained my excitement as the day went on.

Sandwiched between these unplayable periods and the incredibly long loading screens, I had a few moments where I was actually able to wander through the vast worlds of Eternal Crusade. I played on the Space Marines’ side and consequently had the chance to test out most of the Space Marine chapters. From what I could tell, most of the Space Marines’ chapters play very similarly with the main differences being their armour and weapons. You are able to set up to five custom loadouts (including the Tactical, Devastator, Assault, Apothecary and Ground Assault presets) where you can choose your weapons, armour, trinkets, grenades, consumables and more before jumping into a game. As you progress, you will also receive advancement points which can be spent on upgrades such as “+1 fuel assault” or “20% reduced Fuel Regen Delay” – although it’s important to note that some of these advancements are limited to specific classes.

Overall, I feel as though I have to agree with many of the fans on the Eternal Crusade subreddit and other forums: the game just isn’t ready yet (on PS4). It’s clear that Behaviour are deeply invested in creating a massive shooter, built strictly on the Warhammer lore however, I would not feel comfortable throwing down the full asking price for this game right now. From what I have seen of the game so far, it looks as though it has a long way to go before it achieves all the promises that Behaviour has been making. Of course, it’s important to note how fast Behaviour are moving with this game and interesting to see the progress that they have made so far but it does not feel complete enough to make me want to spend more time playing it. Nonetheless, it may be a lot easier for diehard fans that have been waiting years for it, to feel more passionate about the game, even at this early stage in development.

Additional Information

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Many players will be happy to hear that Behaviour’s long-term strategy for expansions and updates in Eternal Crusade is to make them free of charge. Instead, the in-game store will serve as the long-term funding for the game as the developer continues to improve and add to it. What’s even better is that the store will only offer cosmetic items such as skins for sub-faction shoulder plates etc. After speaking to the Behaviour team, their stance is pretty clear: you can pay to look cooler but not to win and you’ll be rewarded for playing well. Exclusive weapons (also known as ‘relics’) will be available along with Elite units. Elite units will be the ultimate way for players to show what they have achieved as they will embody the best-looking skins.

System Requirements

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MINIMUM:

OS: 64-bit Operating Systems (Windows 7, Windows 8 & Windows 8.1)

Processor: Intel Core i3 4170 or AMD FX-8120

Memory: 8 GB RAM

Graphics: DX11 Compatible GeForce GTX 460 1GB or AMD HD5850 1GB

Additional Notes: Minspec for release. See recommended requirements for Early Access

RECOMMENDED:

OS: 64-bit Operating Systems (Windows 7, Windows 8 & Windows 8.1)

Processor: Intel Core i5 or AMD FX-8300 or higher

Memory: 8 GB RAM

Graphics: DX11 Compatible GPU with 2 GB VRAM (AMD HD7800 or higher)

Additional Notes: Current Early Access Minimum Requirements.

Most Anticipated Feature

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Firstly, seeing what the game actually looks like when it releases. It’s still in the Alpha stage but is due to release in the summer – that’s so soon! More specifically, I would like to jump into a Fortress battle (30v30) and focus on some bloodthirsty melee-orientated play as the animations for this style of combat look particularly cool.

Release Date

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There seems to have been quite a bit of confusion surrounding when Eternal Crusade is set to release. After speaking to some of the Behaviour Interactive team, I can confirm that the game is due to release in the next few months (Summer 2016). However, this will not be the ‘final’ version of the game. As I mentioned earlier, all updates and expansions for Eternal Crusade will be free and will continue to build on the core game from summertime onwards. So even if the game doesn’t include all of the features that you want right now, it appears as though the Behaviour team are doing their best to include everything… at some point.