Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf has come to Nintendo Switch after originally launching on mobile phones in a free-to-play form. The game has been reworked in several ways that have improved the gameplay, but a number of technical shortcomings and design issues stop the game from living up to its potential.
In Warhammer 40,000, the Imperium of Man is an interstellar empire that is beset at all sides by opposing alien factions. Humanity is protected by the might of the Space Marines, who are genetically engineered super soldiers that are bred for war. The Space Marines are broken up into different chapters and Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf focuses on the Space Wolves, who are noted for their ferocity in battle.
In The Grim Dark Future, There Is Only Cards
The story of Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf stars Valgard Twice-Slain, a member of the Space Wolves chapter who is trapped on the planet Karnak, with his men scattered and the forces of Chaos everywhere. It's up to Valgard to gather the remaining Space Wolves and survive against overwhelming odds. Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf has a lengthy story campaign that is broken up into missions, where Valgard and his team need to slay enemies of the Imperium while completing individual objectives, such as holding locations or protecting specific units.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf is a turn-based strategy game, in which the player controls up to three Space Wolves as they battle against the enemies of the empire. Each of the characters has a deck of cards and the player uses these to perform every action in the game. The deck consists of weapons that can be used to attack enemies, items that can be equipped, and specialist action cards, such as healing. Any card can be spent to move the marine, but the player can only spend two cards per character turn. The enemies also have their own cards, many of which are unique to their faction.
The F2P Elements Have Been Banished To The Warp
The original version of Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf was a free-to-play mobile game that encouraged players to spend money in order to receive booster packs full of cards. The game was later ported to PC, where it was possible to purchase DLC chapters that were filled with new content.
The Nintendo Switch version of Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf comes with all of the DLC included and all of the F2P elements removed, making for a great deal in comparison to the other versions of the game.
The Slow Decline
Unfortunately, the Switch version is not the definitive edition of the game, not by a long shot. Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf was designed with mobile phones in mind, so it's baffling why the Switch version runs so poorly. The game chugs while selecting options on the main menu and there is a noticeable delay when choosing actions in the game, to the point where you might think that the game isn't registering inputs.
The actual pace of the game is agonizingly slow, to the point where it's a major detriment to the experience, especially when facing lots of foes. There is a speed-up option in the game (that is hidden in the in-game Settings menu and cannot be accessed from the main menu for some bizarre reason), which can double the speed of the game and it's advised that players switch this option on ASAP. There is also no touchscreen support for the game in handheld mode, which is baffling for a mobile port.
Turns & Turning
The Warhammer 40,000 setting is ripe for an X-COM style game, but Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf stumbles in a few different ways. The lack of any kind of cover system means that the player doesn't need to put much thought into where they move their units. The fact that characters need to spend an action to turn to face the enemy is a ridiculous design choice that does nothing but slows down the game. The fact that characters cannot pass through friendly units makes movement feel awkward, even though it's possible for characters to fire through enemy units to hit people behind them.
One of the biggest issues with Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf is that there is very little strategy in this turn-based strategy game. Enemies have a tendency to teleport into battle, meaning that characters can be killed by actions outside of the player's control, as they can appear and take their turn before the player can respond. The random nature of the cards means that no two battles are alike, but the game ultimately comes down to reacting to new threats and the whims of a deck, rather than rewarding careful planning or ingenuity on the part of the player.
The actual biggest issue with Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf is that IT NEEDS TO BE CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET AT ALL TIMES. The game will not work without an Internet connection, which sort of defeats the purpose of it being on a portable system. Want to play this game on a plane or train? Too bad! This is a major flaw that is also present in the mobile version, but it is much harder to defend in a game that people have to pay for.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf has moments of enjoyment and there is definitely depth to be found in building multiple decks, but the slow speed of the game and the random nature of the enemy placements diminishes what fun there is to be had. The Warhammer 40,000 universe is currently underrepresented on the Nintendo Switch and fans of the franchise might enjoy the game as a simple strategy game that uses the lore of the series, but there isn't much else to recommend for those who aren't familiar with the tabletop game.
A Switch copy of Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf was purchased by TheGamer for this review. Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf is available now for Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, and PC.