Adeptus Titanicus: Dominus
- March 26, 2021
- Membraine Studios
- 5h median play time
Get on Steam"Adeptus Titanicus: Dominus" is a tabletop game adaptation that brings devastating battles between massive Titans to life in a detailed 3D environment. Command and customize your Titan Legions, managing their loadouts, skills, and tactics in turn-based combat. Experience immersive gameplay with destructible environments, advanced physics, and dynamic weather systems, while engaging in a rich narrative campaign or facing off against other players in multiplayer mode.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game captures the essence of Titan combat from the Warhammer 40k universe, providing a fun and engaging experience.
- The graphics and models of the Titans are well-designed, creating a visually appealing atmosphere.
- The developers are responsive to community feedback and actively working on updates, showing promise for future improvements.
- The game feels unfinished and lacks depth, with repetitive gameplay and limited strategic options.
- There are numerous bugs and technical issues, including crashes and poor AI behavior, which detract from the overall experience.
- The campaign is poorly written and lacks engaging content, making it feel like a missed opportunity for storytelling.
- story192 mentions
- 18 % positive mentions
- 78 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The game's story is criticized for being shallow and generic, primarily revolving around a simplistic narrative of defending against an invasion, which lacks depth and character development. While the comic-style cutscenes and voice acting are noted as positive elements, many players feel that the overall storytelling is uninspired and fails to engage, often reducing the campaign to a series of repetitive skirmishes rather than a cohesive narrative experience. Despite some interesting artistic choices, the lack of variety in missions and the absence of meaningful story progression leave players disappointed.
“The comic-style graphics in the introduction to a mission are a great element and draw the player into the current situation, with dialogue that is both interesting and immersive.”
“The story has a nifty comic book style to it; the voice acting is pretty good, and you get to control titans.”
“The 'motion-comic' art style for narrating the campaign story is also great and one of my favorite storytelling devices I first encountered playing Ace Combat: Shattered Skies.”
“I have yet to beat the campaign but there is very little story or character development, just stock 40k titan legion characters speaking a very utilitarian back and forth.”
“If it weren't for the storytelling devices when launching them, you could quite easily call this campaign just a string of skirmish games, not helped by the lack of continuity.”
“You will repeat one and the same mission over and over - capture useless points or destroy everyone - and the story can be put into one sentence: 'chaos is invading an industrial world and you have to stop it.'”
- graphics186 mentions
- 26 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game receive mixed reviews, with many players noting that they are generally subpar and reminiscent of older titles, often described as "barebones" or "mediocre." While some appreciate the comic-style cutscenes and the overall aesthetic fitting the Warhammer 40k universe, numerous reports highlight graphical bugs, lack of detail, and a need for significant improvement. Overall, the visuals are seen as a major drawback, detracting from the gameplay experience despite some positive elements.
“The graphics are good and convince you that your tabletop terrain is alive.”
“The opening title shows a titan in amazing detail, and I thought to myself, 'if this is going to be the cinematic graphics, I'm in for a treat.'”
“The graphics were originally a bit barebones but are looking really nice now, and there's been some interesting recent changes to the rules which fans of the original tabletop may be on the fence about, but I think they are positive changes in the right direction that suit its video game format.”
“The graphics are ugly; it takes forever for the AI to do anything, the gameplay is super simplistic and just dull.”
“Graphics look like they're from a game made 15 years before the release.”
“The visuals are barely even mobile device quality, which is a shame considering how awesome 40k visuals have the capability of being.”
- gameplay144 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 71 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The gameplay has been described as enjoyable yet plagued by glitches and a lack of depth, with many reviewers noting its simplicity and repetitiveness. While the core mechanics of commanding titans are straightforward and can be fun, the overall experience is marred by unpolished graphics, slow pacing, and minimal tactical options. Many players feel that the game has potential but requires significant improvements to its mechanics and presentation to fully realize it.
“The core gameplay is relatively simple to learn, with each unit selecting a movement speed and a target, with four variants to choose from, which are a scale between how far you can move and how accurately you can shoot.”
“Each weapon makes an identifiable sound which builds immersion and assists with intuitive gameplay.”
“I must say that my first impressions of this early version of the game are that it's great; it has really fun, addictive gameplay.”
“Glitchy, unpolished, incredibly basic graphics, no sense of scale, no sense of weight or inertia, terrible UI, and overly simple gameplay with no depth, tactics, or strategy.”
“There are practically zero tactics involved, and gameplay consists of selecting a titan, telling it where to move, then selecting a target to shoot at.”
“The campaign doesn't let you customize or upgrade your troops; most of the mechanics are slow and clunky (and not in the 'it feels big' way, but in the 'it takes 20 seconds for the AI to tell you that it has no troops to activate' way).”
- stability28 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is widely criticized for its instability, with numerous reports of bugs, crashes, and unpolished features, particularly in its cinematic camera and movement mechanics. While some players acknowledge the fun factor and potential of the game, they emphasize that it remains in an alpha or beta state, leading to a frustrating experience marred by glitches. Overall, many reviewers advise caution, suggesting that the game's current stability issues significantly detract from its enjoyment.
“Buggy and unfinished.”
“Cinematic camera is buggy and janky, phasing through terrain or being blocked by objects or shaking aggressively.”
“I got this game on sale for less than 10 dollars, and I still can't recommend it; it is buggy as hell and the voice acting is poor at best.”
- music26 mentions
- 46 % positive mentions
- 42 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising its weight and power, particularly in relation to the titans and the overall atmosphere. However, some players noted that voice lines are often drowned out by the music, and a few tracks feel out of place for the game's grim setting. Overall, while the soundtrack is generally appreciated, it lacks diversity and some players feel it does not fully compensate for the game's other shortcomings.
“I love the music, the weight and power of the titans and their attacks.”
“Yet still I absolutely adored the music, and the art style for the campaign scenes was absolutely gorgeous.”
“The graphics are good, the music is great, and the gameplay is strategic.”
“Voice lines are barely heard over the music tracks.”
“The music is average with very low diversity.”
“To be honest, I just really want the soundtrack.”
- monetization10 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 10 % neutral mentions
- 80 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with some praising its lack of microtransactions and active developer-community engagement, while others criticize it as a cash grab, describing it as a soulless and rushed product that fails to meet the standards of other titles in the franchise. Overall, the sentiment leans towards disappointment, with many feeling that the game does not justify its price.
“They made a quality game that does not have any microtransactions, and the developers are active with their community.”
“Another crapfest, another cash grab.. this has become a running theme with the non-A-list studios and GW IP.. pump, dump and run..”
“Great concept hamstrung by the '40k cash grab' of a few years ago.”
“Overall this game is like a 4/10, it's functional, it's Titanicus kinda, but it just feels like it's soulless when compared to other 40k specialty game adaptations, Space Hulk, and Battlefleet Gothic. This just feels like a rushed cash grab, makes me super upset to see that, but this game is just really soulless.”
- atmosphere10 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is praised for effectively capturing the grimdark essence of the Warhammer 40k universe, with well-designed maps that evoke a tabletop feel rather than a literal interpretation. While the music and overall ambiance are well-received, some players note that improvements in sound and animation quality could enhance the experience further.
“This game captures the grimdark atmosphere of 40k well.”
“I really liked the music and atmosphere, and the game looked promising.”
“The maps that are fought over are also more of a tabletop adaptation of what a hive world might look like, and are not meant to be a literal translation with atmospheric-breaking hive sprawls.”
- replayability8 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Overall, the game is praised for its replayability, particularly with the inclusion of a new game + mode that enhances the experience. However, many users feel that additional features such as endless campaign modes, deeper customization, and improved visuals could further increase its replay value. The potential for variety and complexity suggests that the game could become even more engaging with future updates.
“I found this game to be pretty fun, and the new game + mode added some replay value.”
“Even if it is a tabletop adaptation, it should include way more features such as princeps tree skills, replayability in the shape of an endless campaign mode (random mission generator), gear upgrades, deeper customization, more appealing visuals, animations, and camera among other things.”
“The game’s claim that it’s easy to learn and challenging to master may hold true, especially if the final product incorporates features that offer variety, complexity, and replayability.”
- humor8 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is derived from its numerous glitches and absurd scenarios, such as AI titans walking through buildings and chaotic gunfire directed at random objects, which players found amusing. Players reported laughing at the broken mechanics, including misplaced objectives and turn-taking confusion, contributing to a lighthearted experience despite the game's flaws. Overall, the humor appears to stem from the game's unpredictability and the players' ability to find joy in its imperfections.
“The battlefield has space marines firing their bolters with tracer fire streaming across the battlefield, sometimes the gunfire is at other chaos space marines who are shooting back and sometimes at nothing at all (which is hilarious), an unfortunate munifactorum container receiving endless volleys of bolter fire.”
“We spent the whole time laughing about the many broken elements, such as 'objectives spawn outside the map', 'forgetting who's turn it is and allowing your opponent to take turns during your turn', 'no matchmaking (randomly assigned online play)', and 'chat window doesn't work'.”
“There were a couple of times AI titans walked through buildings; the mission to escort the bascalists was funny as they moved way too far and quickly.”
- optimization6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is notably poor, with users reporting significant issues such as audio looping, disappearing sound effects, and frequent stuttering and framerate drops, even on high-end hardware. Additionally, the lack of options to adjust texture quality limits performance improvements, leaving players with subpar gameplay experiences despite decent graphics. Pathfinding and shooting mechanics are also unreliable, further detracting from the overall experience.
“Random stuttering, framerate drops, unit pathing and shooting (half of the time they didn't shoot the target I ordered them to).”
“Optimization: I have a pretty beefy laptop, and while playing this game it could not run it well even on the lowest settings, averaging 30 fps.”
“The audio loops badly, some sound effects disappear, and the graphics still look great in low resolution, which is kind of bad if you really want to push the game for performance since there's no choice to lower the texture like other games.”
- emotional4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional impact of the game is notably strong, with players expressing feelings of heartbreak and disappointment, particularly due to frustrating gameplay mechanics that detract from the overall experience.
“Man, this one is heartbreaking.”
- character development2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is largely criticized for being minimal, with players noting a lack of engaging story and depth, as the dialogue primarily consists of generic exchanges between standard 40k Titan Legion characters.
“I have yet to beat the campaign, but there is very little story or character development; just stock 40k Titan Legion characters speaking a very utilitarian back and forth.”
“I have yet to beat the campaign, but there is very little story or character development; just stock 40k Titan Legion characters speaking a very utilitarian back and forth.”
