Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters

"In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war."
 

If you ever heard this phrase, then you've heard about Warhammer 40000. WH40K is a dystopian version of a far future (40th millenium) where humans, chaos gods and a great number of xeno races are fighting for control of the galaxies.

In a perfect world this is the only thing you'd need to know about Warhammer 40k before playing any of the games. But this is not a perfect world.

The WH40k universe is full of weird terminology, nuanced overarching story spanning 10000 years, I'll TRY to keep things simple and direct as possible.

Let's start with the fact, that I've never played miniature wargame (which Warhammer 40k originally is) and only learn about the universe through the videogames and books. Currently I'm on my 9th book into 50+ book journey into the "Horus Heresy" book cycle.

Story:

In the game's prologue, you play as Captain Agravain of the Grey Knight Strike Force, Xiphos, who battles on the fallen planet of Gaheris against a Khornate warhost. Despite successfully banishing the demon, Captain Agravain and most of his squad are killed.

So now it's up to you, the nameless leader, to lead a squad of Grey Knights - super-soldiers with psychic abilities, built to fight Chaos demons. Right after your designation as the new leader of the Grey Knights, you get contacted by the Inquisitor Kartha Vakir, who commands you to help her with her mission, despite your recent losses. Her mission (and overall story) centers on stopping a galaxy-wide plague called the "Bloom," created by Nurgle, the Chaos god of decay. You'll be navigating the galaxy in your ship called "Baleful Edict" in the attempt to minimize the effect of this plague, by destroying the heretics and chaos demons. 

You’ll deal with clashes between Inquisitor Vakir (who’s all about winning, no matter the cost), Brother-Captain Ectar (who sticks to Grey Knight traditions) and Lunete (who's the tech priest from Adeptus Mechanicus Dominus and her only wish is to keep the ship safe). The plot has some cool twists and feels like a tabletop campaign. It's a treat for the hardcore WH40k fans, but if you’re new to Warhammer 40k, some terms might confuse you.

Look, I promised to keep the things simple but without delving into what each and every term means, it's kinda hard to do. I highlighted the terms and names for the convenience sake, so you can Google those if you want to get more info, because the game assumes that you do know who Space Marines are, what is the Chaos and what Adeptus Mechanicus Dominus actually means. I really want to explain each and every term myself, but we'd be here all day.

Graphics:

The visuals are mostly fine. The ship interior is beautiful and packed with neat details: holographic screens flicker, machinery moves, etc.

The Grey Knights look awesome, with detailed armor and weapons, which can be visually customized. All metal surfaces, manuscripts have nice textures and the levels are packed with gross, rotting details. All fire, plasma and other effects are great too. Maps even look like they’re lifted from a tabletop game, which fans will love.

Sadly, the same can't be said about animations.

Combat animations are superb. The sight of a Grey Knight bashing the door with his leg, shattering it in the process or the enemy being split in half with one punch (space marines pack a punch with force comparable with head on collision with a 40 ton truck) or even simple act of throwing a grenade is beautiful. Camera takes nice shots, showing different angles, changing from a tactical bird's eye view to a close up.

Plus every time you commence the mission, your Grey Knights have to be teleported to the surface down below, games shows you this awesome quick animation of teleportation pulse moving through the ship's insides.

But then you get to the ship's story scenes and all the main characters have this weird, jerky, almost robotic movement. Which is fine for Lunete, since the only human part left in her is probably the brain. But when the beautiful (IMO) Inquisitor Kartha Vakir moves all weird and jerky, it looks super off-putting.

Then there's the matter of performance.

This particular games was built on the Unity engine, which is not a problem by itself, but performance is bad. From what I gathered on Steam forums, a lot of people with top PCs have low FPS. I had to resort to using resolution 1600x900 instead of 1920x1080, not to mention several options I had to change from high to mid-low. And even then the game have constantly tried to melt my PC and sometimes stuttered when my units killed an enemy.

Gameplay:

If you ever played the XCOM games, Enemy Unknown/Enemy Within or the XCOM 2, you'll feel right at home as the game have a bunch similarities.

• Guaranteed Shots: If an enemy’s in range, you’ll hit them, but damage depends on cover or distance.
• Risk vs. Power: Using psychic abilities builds "Warp Surge," which can spawn daemons or debuffs. Push your luck too far, and things get messy.
• Executions: Stun enemies to fill a meter, then finish them off for bonus actions, it's the key to winning tough fights.
• Big-Picture Strategy: Manage your ship, research upgrades, and pick missions. You’ll have to sacrifice planets to slow the Bloom’s spread.

Squad Customization:

You start with four Knights, each fitting a class:

• Justicar: Tanky leader with buffs.
• Apothecary: Healer/support with poison grenades.
• Psyker: Glass cannon with devastating Warp attacks.
• Interceptor: Fast melee specialist. 

Unlock more classes (like the Paladin or Chaplain) as you progress, each with unique skill trees. Customize their gear, weapons, and abilities to fit your playstyle.

Mission Variety:

Missions aren’t just “kill all enemies.”

• Sabotage demonic structures.
• Rescue civilians (who often die anyway, because…Warhammer).
• Defend points against endless Chaos hordes.
• Maps are littered with hazards, like explosive barrels or Nurgle’s corruption zones that poison your squad.

Strategic Layer:

Between missions, manage your ship, the Baleful Edict.

• Research: Unlock better gear or buffs.
• Healing: Your Knights get permanent injuries if downed too often.
• The Bloom: A spreading plague infects planets. Let it fester, and missions there get harder.

Stop it by sacrificing planets (planet scale bombardment - Exterminatus is an option), which locks you out of their resources.

Fair warning: This game can be HARD. Missions throw endless daemon reinforcements at you, and bad decisions on the strategy map can ruin your run. Start on "Beginner" if you’re new to the genre.

Audio:

Sound design is solid. The Grey Knights shout over-the-top lines like "We are the Emperor’s hammer!", and explosions/psychic attacks sound punchy. Voice acting is strong, especially Inquisitor Vakir. The music fits the grim mood but it's not that memorable. This is sad, because I know for a fact that even a budget Warhammer 40k title can have a perfect soundtrack, shoutout to "Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus".

Oh, I can't not mention one weird decision on audio part. All the main scenes are fully voiced, but when you're having a casual conversation with either of the characters present on the ship, you get a text box, but only the first (or the second, or any other) sentence is voiced. 

Conclusion:

Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters is clearly a budget title, but a solid one. If it wasn't for the poor perfomance or the lack of some voiced lines, it would be a solid 9/10.

I can't say it's a perfect game for a person who lacks the knowledge about the WH40K universe and it does a poor job of explaining who's who or what's what. It's clearly made for fans. 

But if you're willing to learn or simply want to try a decent tactics games, you should get this.