Genestealers, the horrifying species from the Tyranid race prevalent in the 40k universe, reappear in Space Hulk: Deathwing as the main enemy to you and your crew. Not so much of a threat on their own but when they’re in a swarm, it’s very easy to be overwhelmed. Try to stick to narrow corridors to mow the onslaught down, as large open spaces can be your undoing because of the large number of places they can come from. Try to stay in cover when there’s a lot of them too, as some are able to equip weapons like rocket launchers and shoot at you from a distance. Their AI is unpredictable, meaning you need to have your wits about you as they won’t always take the quickest route to devour you, they’ll attempt to flank and take advantage of their speed. To combat their flanking manoeuvres though, you can seal doors behind you so there’s one less direction to worry about.

Interestingly, there’s a lot of dungeon crawling and roguelike elements in this representation of the popular tabletop game. The demo shown to us was on a huge space hulk with a lot of different rooms and paths, with multiple ways to the end objective. Hidden secrets and easter eggs are prevalent too, so exploring everywhere has its benefits. The environments look visually stunning, with a lot of detail in the surroundings while the genestealers themselves look incredibly menacing with their long tongues and predator like bodies. Creaks and moans from the hull of the ship will constantly have you on edge too while you’re not being bombarded by vicious genestealers. When you are, your guns echo around the hallways and chambers as you fill the oncoming wave with lead. The sound design is utterly fantastic.

Backing you up as you traverse through the dark and dingy corridors are three fellow Space Marines; the squad you lead. You’re able to issue them commands dependent on your situation, like requesting them to defend a specific position or move ahead to a point, almost like scouts so you don’t get surprised from around a corner. If you have friends playing the game, it supports up to four player co-op online too. Just don’t stray too far from each other or you’ll be genestealer bait before you know it, although it won’t actually kill you. Your power armour has separate hit boxes so if your leg gets damaged, you won’t be able to move as quick until you’re damaged enough that your suit becomes too heavy for you to move, downing you.

One of the powers granted to you as a Librarian is the ability to create a Psy Gate wherever you are in the level, which has a direct connection to a hub room back in your base. There you and your squad can access an armoury to switch up your loadout configuration and repair your armour, bringing downed foes back to the fight. You need to be strategic with your placement of the Psy Gates though, as you have a limited number per mission to avoid cheesing each level.

Genestealers aren’t the only foe you’ll come across. Each Space Hulk has its own built in defences such as turrets which you can destroy, or if you’re feeling extra courageous, attempt to hack so they turn on the genestealers and can defend different routes for you. Bosses await you at the end of each level in various forms and with a lot of different attacks. Blocking is difficult to time correctly and pull off when fighting a boss, but it can often be clutch when you’re near death. One of the bosses shown to us in the demo was a Scythe Genestealer which is immune to ranged damage, so be prepared to get up close and personal. It also spat acid, meaning if you’re not close enough to melee it, you’re going to want to find some cover until you can get close enough.

The campaign lasts around 15 hours and is shaping up to be a dark horse in the great games of 2016. Space Hulk: Deathwing releases in November on PC. Check out the Gamescom 2016 trailer below.