Space Hulk: Ascension Edition Review

Space Hulk: Ascension Edition is a Strategy Turn-Based Warhammer 40k Game, produced by a small yet dedicated team at Full Control ApS. They have digitally recreated the original 1989 Board Game by Games Workshop that is still going strong today.

I strongly advise starting with the tutorial to get to grips with the games mechanics, controls and general feel for the game as it has a brutal learning curve that will see your heavily armoured Terminator Squad ripped to shreds in front of your very eyes.

The game is a dark yet graphical masterpiece seeing the board game come to life as you trudge down dimly lit corridors trying to cover as many angles as you can before your movement limit runs dry. A great addition to the games is a small first person view that appears in the top right of the screen, that’s made even better when a Genestealer (the games viciously clawed alien enemy) is eviscerated by Bolter Fire, burned by a Heavy Flamer or punched by the pale glow of a Power Fist.

Starting a new campaign sees you with three chapters of Terminator Space Marines to pick all with unique abilities and bonuses. The blue Ultramarines focus on ranged attacks with minus stats to melee, the red Blood Angels are the balanced mix between both but have more points to spend in each turn of combat, where as the grey Space Wolfs and my choice are melee combat experts.

The first mission is a simple get from A to B that’s only hampered by the spawning Genestealers, you need to be very careful not to overstretch yourself, going too far and not being able to assign a vulnerable character with overwatch is like signing his death warrant when you press “End Turn”. As the game progresses different scenarios play out, you get to upgrade and kit out your squad better and get to utilise two squads in one mission which really cranks up the difficulty and strategy of the game.

Games like this strive on the customisation of the squads or characters you play, and this game in my view has a balanced mix of this. You can rename and customise each character in your squads and as they level up equip them with better stats and gear which is a really good aspect to the game as you start to get an attachment to each member of your team.

I have played a few Games Workshop games, Dawn of War, Warhammer 40K Space Marine and really enjoyed them, I used to collect and paint in my youth and still read the books from time to time. It’s a great universe to get into and i feel, for a die-hard fan, Space Hulk could be added to the greats in that genre. It has everything to offer from the graphics, character customisation to the old school feel of a strategy turn based game.

The downside to this game is sadly i believe it is still in progress, even as i played there where some big patches to download, the controls aren’t the greatest for a game like this, the AI is sometimes quite bad and the achievements seem to be glitched. Then there is the £23 price tag which is really high if you compare it to a similar game in the genre like XCOM that’s priced at £14.99 each or the double pack for both is £30.

Overall I’d give this game 7/10 it’s a good game but seems to lack something, if a few more patches improve it and the games reduced in a sale then it’s well worth a play.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary PC code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.