Playing Warhammer: Chaosbane is like watching someone throw their Warhammer miniatures collection and fantasy novels into Diablo and then exporting the result to your screen. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Blizzard's dungeon crawler franchise has given us some great games, and Warhammer: Chaosbane has taken aspects of that and added a Warhammer twist by incorporating its own characters, and lore. If you liked the original, then you'll be more likely to enjoy Tomb Kings. If you were more ambivalent, then this DLC is unlikely to change that.
A New Adventure
Warhammer: Chaosbane's gameplay is reasonably balanced, the characters fairly unique, and the storyline generally enjoyable, especially if you know your lore. It falters, however, because of how cramped and bland it feels in places, especially early on. There is also a large amount of repetition as maps feel very similar as you progress. Tomb Kings fixes a couple of these issues, but sadly, not all of them.
In terms of content, the pack is a stand-alone story comprised of ten quests that make up a new chapter. The story is simple, but reasonable, and the enemies and maps are new. As I entered the first area, I was excited to explore the Egyptian-style tombs and all of their inhabitants.
An Egyptian Experience
You can see the Egyptian influence in the design of this new pack. Everything from the story, to the desert setting, to the new enemies is heavily themed. There are hieroglyphs on the walls, tombs to discover, and skeletons to fight.
The dungeons also feel more open, with larger areas to explore and bigger rooms packed full of mobs. Even the linking corridors are wider, giving a better view of the area.
This is especially important in this game as, unfortunately, the camera is completely fixed, meaning those narrow paths can be virtually impossible to see in places. While I still encountered some blind spots where loot and small enemies could be hidden, these were less prevalent than the original game, which is a great improvement. However, not everything was improved.
Have I Been Here Before?
The biggest problem is that pesky déjà vu is back. After you enter the third dungeon, you realize it looks pretty much exactly like the one before, and now - come to think of it - it also feels like the first dungeon.
Visually the levels are beautiful and intricate. The issue is that they are pretty much all the exact same beautiful and intricate levels, just in a slightly different order.
For those who don't mind the repetition and enjoy the mindless grind for levels and loot, this DLC, which comes with the game's season pass or individually, will offer more of both. As with the rest of the game, the content can be played on all end-game modes and includes new exclusive loot.
The detailed tombs are definitely a much nicer way to grind out levels, although the boss fights leave a little to be desired. While each of the ten quests in the chapter have bosses, you can pretty much ignore the mechanics of the fights.
The only boss which truly requires you to pay attention and do something other than point and click is the final one, which does involve some strategy and movement. I didn't even come close to dying until I got very far into the story, and even then I only actually died on the final boss, mostly because I wasn't fast enough to figure out the mechanics.
Tomb Raider
Overall, the enjoyment you get out of this pack will be directly related to how much you enjoy the game itself. Tomb Kings is very much just more of the same with a glossy covering. While it brings you some cleaner and nicer areas to explore, it really is just an extra, stand-alone chapter to the game. Nothing more, nothing less.
A review code of Warhammer Chaosbane: Tomb Kings was provided to TheGamer for this review. The Tomb Kings DLC is available as part of the Warhammer Chaosbane Season Pass or individually. It is currently available on Steam for PC and will be coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One early 2020.