Space Marine 2 developers wanted it to feel like a Xbox 360 throwback shooter, but 'didn't know it was that obvious'

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 aims to be a classic, bombastic shooter, harking back to the Xbox 360 era, focusing on a cinematic campaign, co-op, PvP, and a horde mode, intentionally defying current live-service trends and drawing comparisons to older Halo and Gears of War titles.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has gotten tons of praise for throwing things back to an era where shooters could just focus on being bombastic spectacles, otherwise known as Xbox 360 shooters, rather than chasing live-service trends, and the developers say that was very intentional.

Space Marine 2 is quite adamant that it has to follow on from everything its predecessor did: the boisterous cinematic campaign, the host of co-op modes, a tense PvP offering. And that commitment has earned it nice comparisons to older Halos and Gears of Wars. "I didn't know it was that obvious," game director Dmitriy Grigorenko said of the similarities in an interview with Gamesradar+. "But that was the intention."

"We wanted to make a perfect sequel [to Space Marine] – that was in the original pitch," Grigorenko said. "The 'perfect sequel' implies it's the exact same game – a 360 game with a story campaign, some PvP, and a horde mode to accompany it. We wanted to make a classic experience."

Saber Interactive's creative director Oliver Hollis-Leick thinks the team definitely recaptured that nostalgic feel. "I recently went to an old friend's house, and we used to play all of those Gears of War games," he said. "I'd go around on a Friday night, and we'd play until we finished the campaign – you could finish the campaign in one evening. We'd drink, eat, and play. I went back to his house last weekend, and we played Space Marine 2 from start to finish. It was just this amazing flashback experience!" 

*Take a look at the Space Marine 2 roadmap to see everything that’s still coming to the breakout shooter. *