Warhammer 40K: Rouge Trader

 For the Emperor 

Writing my way through this blog sometimes feels like going through a series of baring confessions where I'm forced to reveal my embarrassing shortcomings in my presentation as a 'nerd' or 'proponent of geek culture'. Each time it sort of feels like I'm stamping on my own foot as I bare myself, but there's no better place to write my truth than out here on this blog so I guess this is simply the way it's going to be. And yes, those of you who are particularly perceptive might be seeing where I'm going with this. Despite being an ostensible nerd I have never actually played, or even gotten interested in, the famous role playing universe known as 'Warhammer'. Aside from a small amount of time playing Vermintide, but even then I was more interested in the actual concept of a first person horde-mode game than I was in the world and universe. (Which was not exactly helped by the fact that Vermintide straight up introduced itself as taking place in a setting that was bordering on the end of the world. No hyperbole either, the entire setting was being retired completely and so it just felt like there was no point coming to learn anything about the dying world before me.)

That is not due to some inexplicable lack of exposure, either. Warhammer has been everywhere when I was growing up, from several Game Workshop shops being nearby my local shopping center, to odd school acquaintances being fans of the 40k setting. Although both seemed excessively embarrassed to admit to and share their obsessions with me, even knowing exactly how I was and the things that I liked, so I guess you could say circumstance just regularly danced around me when it came to this franchise wrapping it's claws on my throat. Which is just a huge shame considering the niches of this franchises offshoots really do seem up my street. You have the cool gothic sometimes close to dark-fantasy setting for the old Warhammer which I think just oozes character and atmosphere, you have 'Age of Sigmar', which I'll admit to being totally clueless on, and then there's the 40k space setting which is all intergalactic empires and bloody space wars and all the stuff I love seeing in my space operas. But it's all just a little- intense, I guess.

With my fictional worlds I love to feel as though I've really entered an entire foreign society that simulates life in times of peace as well as bitter strife. I want to be able to recognise what a normal life looks and feels like in this universe, so I can understand how out of the norm I can be when turning everything upside down. 40k doesn't seem to have that 'normal life'. Everything from the smallest degree to the wildest war is about tyranny and battles and space religion and alien war machines and chainsaw swords and Space Marines. It's all just a lot, you know? Which is why some fantasy worlds like this, and Halo for that matter, have had a hard time resonating with me even though they seem like my cup of tea. (With Halo the problem is more that it's 'normal life' aspects are totally boring and uninspired.) But if there is any developer who can not only challenge my presumptions on that, but totally and effortlessly change my tune; it's going to be Owlcat games.

Owlcat, for those that don't know, are the powerhouses behind the amazing 'Pathfinder' game series which brings that DnD derivative to the video game market in two tough-as-nails CRPGs that conjure entire full campaigns for the enterprising player to work their way through. Kingmaker being an extended journey of the trials and tribulations to become the fresh monarch of a kingdom beset by a powerful and ancient curse, and 'Wrath of the Righteous' detailing a holy crusade against an army of demons who threaten to enslave and wipe out the world. Both games are said to be incredible (I'm still going through my Kingmaker playthrough, and loving it) and at this point anyone who has had the pleasure to enjoy their games is going to be salivating at the mouth to try anything with their logo attached to it. Which is why I have absolutely no reservations when I'm told their next game is going to be 'Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader', despite my own lack-of-history with the source material.

'Rogue Trader' is apparently a title that reaches back into Warhammer antiquity as one of the first campaign books that introduced the world of Warhammer 40K to a great many people through the lens of a space Privateer licenced by the good graces of the Emperor. Fitting with Owlcat's design philosophy of mixing matured and complex CRPG systems with totally realised and important metagames, Rogue Trader is going to be presenting the player with a huge 'void ship' and the control of all the varied crewmates kept therein. It is the Trader's job to mount their mercantile empire as they expand the horizons of the Empire ever outward to cement the tyrannical dominion of the human empire on all who dare shun their graceful boot on their necks.

This game is offering to present a space hopping adventure across the fringes of 'civilised' space in service of an all-powerful deific ruler who demands subjugation, and not in the 'backwards anti-hero' manner that Tyranny does. (Not to knock Tyranny, I loved that game.) This is an invitation to explore the vast reaches of the Warhammer universe and do so alongside what sounds like a diverse cast that touches the various popular areas of this lore. Including a Space Marine. I had no idea they sometimes ended up planet hopping without their military cohorts, but I guess today is a day to learn. And being as this is Owlcat, you can fully expect some unforgiving and violent encounters that will totally rip you to shreds for the mere crime of approaching them even remotely unprepared.

I love this company and their approaches to RPGs. They're like Bioware if Bioware ever managed to go past their experimental stage of RPGs and created a totally focused and full adventure to the tune of Origins but bigger. Rogue Trader is set to be another sweeping epic from their studios and I'm absolutely willing to have their lens be the glass through which the light of Warhammer finally shines down upon me. I was very much in the same position of blissful ignorance towards Pathfinder before Kingmaker, and now I'm somewhat more invested and interested in their world than I am in DnD! This company is really good at introducing these long lived franchises to new faces, and I'll put my faith in their abilities any day of the week. Plus it's great to have a Warhammer game which isn't just constant action coming our way, which allows people like me to get involved with that 'normal side of the universe' I'm always harping on about.

Rogue Trader is still very much in the development stage, given the fact that they're still working on finishing up the season pass content for 'Wrath of the Righteous', so it makes sense for the team to be a little sparse on details right now. But this is a game I want to follow completely from conception to birth, because like Larion studios I consider Owlcat to be one of the great hopes of Western RPGs for this age. If you're a fan of CRPGs I would recommend taking a look at what they're doing for yourself, although I'm not sure if the pre-orders they're already taking are quite an advisable investment whilst we know so little of the actual gameplay of this game. I know I said I trust them and all, but CDPR makes me hesitant to trust even those I love. Oh, and if you haven't; play the Pathfinder games. Seriously.