Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, PC
The Warhammer franchise – be it the fantasy-flavoured Age Of Sigmar or the sci-fi nightmare fuel of the 40,000 branch – is undeniably one of the world's most popular and successful strategy games, whether you're considering its roots as a tabletop miniatures wargame or any number of its video game adaptations over the decades. It's built a legion of loyal fans who are captivated by its grim settings, gory aesthetics, and bleak narratives. For some, though, the fundamental problem of the Warhammer 40,000 universe is that there are no heroes to cheer, no hope to pursue. It's by design – after all, its slogan is literally "in the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war" – but a universe full of contemptible bastards wherever you look doesn't make for a fun time.
So it is in Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector – the latest in what feels like an avalanche of 40K games released over the last couple of years, thanks to owner Games Workshop having a liberal approach to licensing arrangements. However, while there's been something of a trend towards action or real-time strategy in many of its peers, Battlesector sticks to a turn-based strategic model, closer to that of the original tabletop experience.
If you're not already a fan of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, this is unlikely to make a convert of you.
Players predominantly control a faction of Blood Angel space marines, with a few Sisters of Mercy joining over the course of the campaign, although the Xenomorph-"inspired" Tyranids can be controlled in multiplayer or skirmish modes. Even if they’re yet more hulking, genetically-modified, transhuman space soldiers, the Blood Angels are at least one of the more interesting sub-factions in WH40K, possessed of a "red thirst" that makes them a quite literally bloodthirsty group of warriors.
As a turn-based strategy, Battlesector is merely fine, neither offensively poor nor impressively great. If you've played anything from Advance Wars to Gears Tactics, you'll get the gist – take turns to move your army around a top-down map, using each unit's particular skills to eradicate enemies. It's all perfectly serviceable, if for the most part uninspiring. Charitably, it does incentivise more aggressive play than other examples of the genre – though that's often because the effectiveness of taking cover is seemingly left to chance, with bullets or enemy attacks sometimes passing right through walls.
Where Battlesector differs from a lot of its genre-mates is its ‘Momentum’ system, which does offer a glimmer of innovation. Thanks to their red thirst, Blood Angels earn Momentum with each kill, and when a unit earns over 100 Momentum points, they enter a ‘Surge’ state, unlocking bonus moves per turn or more powerful charged abilities. Different units gain Momentum in different ways – Tyranids rely on hive-mind interaction with booster units, while Sisters earn Momentum for taking as well as dealing damage – and as you progress, you'll almost be able to chain Momentum gains and Surge abilities, allowing you to devastate enemy forces. It's perhaps the most interesting aspect of Battlesector.
Unless you're already deeply entrenched in WH40K lore, the story is damn near impenetrable. There are some potential seeds of interest early on, with one generation of Blood Angels having to come to terms with their genetically-improved Primaris Marines successors, but such a potentially human story seemingly has no place in Warhammer. Before you know it, it’s on to "Lord Primarch" this and "Devastation of Baal" that, a succession of bloody, gothic campaigns so desperate to convey a sense of gravitas that they circle back around to become comically over the top.
Ultimately, if you're not already a fan of the WH40K universe, this is unlikely to make a convert of you. Even if you consider yourself primarily a fan of turn-based strategy games and are unconcerned by the branding, there are better examples of the genre out there that don't have quite so steep an entry requirement as Battlesector does. For those who are already part of the Warhammer faithful and have been waiting for a video game that returns to the tabletop roots of Games Workshop's universe, this is a fine distraction though.