WARHAMMER 40,000 SANCTUS REACH is everything i could hope for in a Warhammer 40,000 game. It has awesome audio and voice work with inspiring epic war cries and agony filled death filled moans.
Music is top notch excellence alive with ground thumping troop stomping tribalism encased in the armor of classical music as if coming from the very earth with eerie whispers and chant like rhythms.
Graphics are euphoric to experience with incredible detail to units as if playing with tabletop minitures and blissful levels of visual carnage including bodily dismemberment capturing the extreme gore in all its grim ghastly heroic godliness like no other Warhammer game has since Chaos Gate. The user interfaces and different menu screens are all professionally done with stunning art work giving off the perfect mood of the game world's reality.
Optimisation is on the money with everything working flawlessly. The stats and modifiers richness making for game balance which feels miraculous in its execution as i command huge numbers of troops who use morale, cover and terrain with different height levels keeping me smiling and wide eyed like the happiest kid in the world as i have a unit of Space Wolves take a flamethrower to green orky flesh.
When am setting up a attack its very easy to see what the possible outcomes are with all the on screen information giving a very natural elegance and sense of what is going on. Game mechanics are in the style of BATTLE ACADEMY with plenty of morale checks reminding me of STEEL PANTHERS with all the mayhem and chaos going on in the battlefield. Using squares instead of hexes for movement does not feel odd actually feeling quite natural with a game mechanic where you can turn your units facing to focus its attention in a certain direction.
When all my movement and action points are used the game lets me know with a bullet icon above the unit which is great for avoiding second guessing. There is also a button on the ui which takes you to the next available unit awaiting orders. For an ocean's worth of information there is a tactical mode which will reveal all sorts of info about what is going on in the field. Scale feels more personable so am assuming its squad based or in the same style of BATTLE ACADEMY.
Gameplay is more tactical with morale, type of weapons and their range, different terrain types with many variables for cover all effecting situational awareness and combat outcomes. Terrain and certain types of cover can also be destroyed by weapons fire.
Troops gain experience and eventually level up where they become more efficient and deadlier combatants. Between battles such as during deployment you can see how much more experience is needed to level up and if one is acquired the game will let you know so there is no searching huge numbers of your men to see who has leveled up. All armies including the enemy can suffer from friendly fire which can lead to some funny moments when a sure kill ends up taking out one of your own units as well.
Unit characteristics are on the mark with everything feeling as powerfully epic as it should with Terminators kicking humongous tail and Gretchins getting some love being a threat and sinister distraction as cannonfodder.
Sanctus Reach also reminds me alot of Final Liberation from the 1990s with its variety of troops and how many are on the battlefield at the same time including the massive ground cracking monolithic Dreadnoughts.
Another cool thing about SANCTUS REACH is seeing individual men and orks die as the unit is worn down by long range and melee fire giving a sense of accomplishment with each shot or melee attack that hits.
WARHAMMER 40,000 SANCTUS REACH feels like the spiritual successor to the 1990s classic FINAL LIBERATION while still being its own complete different animal a proud wolf bringing home the joy of tabletop gaming nirvana like no other Warhammer game before. I cant believe something this perfect is selling for such a low price.
WARHAMMER 40,000 SANCTUS REACH, BUY IT! PLAY IT! Feel the adrenaline happiness the uncontrollable gaming smile of satisfaction absolute upon your face FOR THE RUSS! FOR SLITHERINE!!! AWOOOOOO!