It's been a full year since Kasedo's first ever trailer for Warhammer 40k: Mechanicus 2. Bathed in the perfect amount of eerie, neon green, the XCOM-like classic is back, this time centered around longtime big bad, the Necrons. Allowing players to experience both sides of the story, you'll be able to play as the skeletal Xenos and the titular Adeptus Mechanicus, an unsettling machine race dedicated to the Omnissiah. But, as the latest gameplay trailer reveals, during the course of our journey we'll run into both some familiar faces and a Warhammer 40k faction that has never appeared in a videogame before. That's right, the Leagues of Votann are ing the fray, and I quiz product manager Tony Cross about how it happened.
What sets strategy game's story. You'll be exploring long-forgotten Egyptian-style tombs, and fending off skeletal monsters in the towering tech cities of the Mechanicus, all with one aim in mind: extermination.
Mechanicus 2's newest trailer showcases all of these environments, but also some of the firepower we'll be using to reject respective invaders. There's a giant mech with a flamethrower, various tanks, and laser beams, with full customization available for your individual units, too. You'll need to analyze your foes, strike at their weak points, and tear them asunder with numerous faction-specific skills if you want to survive the onslaught. We also see glimpses of the new XCOM-style cover system, too, which allows the Mechanicus to dive behind various objects to mitigate damage, while the Necrons can simply destroy it.
But, perhaps most importantly, the trailer confirms that the Leagues of Votann – one of 40k's newest factions – will be making its debut in Mechanicus 2. While their motivations remain shrouded in shadows and it's unclear whether or not we'll be able to play as them, it's exciting to see The Kin finally make it into the virtual Warhammer universe.
I ask Cross about how the team brought the Leagues to the game, and how it navigated the complexities of having less lore to work with given that their codex only dropped in 2022. "Bringing the Leagues of Votann into Mechanicus 2 was a really exciting opportunity for us," he tells me. "Although, as a newer faction in the Warhammer 40k setting, our reference sources were more limited, that also gave us more creative breathing room to explore how they might interact with the Adeptus Mechanicus, especially from a philosophical and technological standpoint. There's a natural tension between two deeply advanced but very different approaches to knowledge, machine-worship, and heritage, and that made for compelling narrative and gameplay possibilities."
But working with a newer faction isn't without its challenges. "There's less established lore to draw from compared to the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Necrons, so we had to work closely with Games Workshop to ensure everything we created – from sound and visual effects to game mechanics and dialogue – felt authentic and respectful to their emerging identity," Cross says. "That process, however, also allowed us to help shape how the Kin of the Leagues of Votann are represented in the digital space, which is a rare and rewarding opportunity that we couldn't turn down."
While we still don't have a release date for Warhammer 40k: Mechanicus 2, Kasedo has confirmed that the first game is having a free weekend from Thursday May 22 to Monday May 26 on Steam. You can get involved right here, and wishlist the sequel here.
In the meantime, however, we have a list of all the best turn-based strategy games, too.
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