Factions in Space Marine 2: Is It Just the Astartes?

As you almost certainly know by now, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 is due to launch this September, and this means we're finally getting a new chapter in the story of Lieutenant (formerly Captain) Titus. Now a Primaris Marine, Titus is going to have to duke it out with a Tyranid Hive splinter that's set its sights on an important part of the Imperial Galaxy. Which other factions and races might appear, though?

Warhammer 40K titles are often, after all, all about featuring as many different and unique alien races and factions as possible. Right? What's stopping Saber Interactive from throwing in, say, the Tau, the Necrons, or even Imperial forces for good measure? Well...

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What Factions are Playable in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2?

There's only one technically playable faction in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2, and it's the Imperial Astartes, specifically the Ultramarine chapter. Even in the game's awesome multiplayer modes, Astartes will remain the sole playable faction, with the obvious caveat being that the Chaos' Thousand Sons traitor chapter will oppose the Ultramarines in PvP.

The Tyranids themselves will, much like the Orks from the first Space Marine, be seemingly relegated to chaff enemies and the unplayable opposition. As for the other races, it doesn't seem like they'll even be making an appearance. This makes perfect sense, too, if you consider the Space Marine series to be a streamlined narrative chapter of a particular event in Warhammer 40K history.

Notably, the developer Saber Interactive may well end up entirely diluting the experience if they were to start throwing factions in willy-nilly, to say nothing of balancing and managing a huge array of playable units in a game as high-fidelity as this. It's simply not feasible at this level.

The good news, though, is that we'll get to step into the genetically upgraded shoes of a Primaris Marine for the first time, which is downright awesome. And don't forget, the customizable Space Marine character playable in Operations and PvP will be able to switch between 6 different Marine roles/classes, so that'll add a whole host of variety to the mix!