Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2
- January 24, 2019
- Tindalos Interactive
- 28h median play time
Involved, spectacular, space battles packaged into satisfying campaigns, and great fan service too.
Greatly expanding on the groundwork laid out by the first game, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 is a full-blown sequel: bigger, richer, and more ambitious than the original game. At launch, it will include all 12 factions from the original tabletop game and its expansion Armada it is based on: the Imperial Navy, Space Marines, Adeptus Mechanicus, Necrons, Chaos, Aeldari Corsairs, Aeldari Craftworld, …
Reviews
- story1,971 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 66 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The story in "Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2" is generally well-received, with many players appreciating its immersive lore and engaging narrative that expands on the Warhammer 40,000 universe. However, criticisms arise regarding the repetitiveness of missions, a lack of variety in gameplay, and technical issues that disrupt the storytelling experience, such as frequent crashes and poorly designed missions. While the voice acting and cutscenes are praised, some players feel the overall campaign lacks depth and coherence compared to its predecessor, leading to a mixed reception of the story's execution.
“The introduction of multiple campaigns—each with distinct storylines and faction perspectives—adds depth to the single-player experience, making it feel more immersive and rewarding.”
“Fantastic story line, campaign mechanics, battle mechanics, artwork, AI opponents, maps, and terrain.”
“The story is engaging and fun, and the ins and outs of handling all the different scenarios requires lots of planning and forethought.”
“The single player / story mode is broken... crashes all the time and it has been broken for years so don't expect it to get fixed anytime soon.”
“The story missions are poorly designed and force you to send your main character personally every time leading to you wasting your best fleet on just moving for most of the game.”
“Overall the campaign is just not fun to play through with a lot of the story missions being tedious and annoying.”
- gameplay1,558 mentions
- 31 % positive mentions
- 62 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2" is generally praised for its engaging mechanics and strategic depth, offering a mix of real-time and turn-based elements that cater to both newcomers and veterans of the genre. While the game features a variety of factions with unique abilities, some players find the learning curve steep and the user interface unintuitive, leading to a somewhat clunky experience. Overall, the game is considered fun and addictive, though it can become repetitive and may require significant micromanagement, particularly in higher difficulty settings.
“Building on its predecessor, this sequel not only addresses previous shortcomings but also expands upon the core gameplay mechanics to create a rich and engaging experience for both newcomers and veterans alike.”
“At its heart, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 offers a complex yet accessible gameplay experience.”
“Its engaging gameplay, stunning visuals, and rich lore make it a must-play for fans of strategy games and the Warhammer 40,000 universe.”
“The UI is unintuitive, the strategic gameplay is shallow, and the camera is zoomed in much too far.”
“Unfortunately, the gameplay is tedious and clunky.”
“The gameplay is painfully slow.”
- graphics841 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The graphics in "Warhammer 40,000: Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2" are widely praised for their stunning visuals, intricate ship designs, and vibrant space environments that effectively capture the essence of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. However, some players have noted issues with lighting and optimization, which can hinder the overall experience, particularly on lower-end systems. Despite these concerns, the game's aesthetic appeal and attention to detail are frequently highlighted as standout features, making it a visually impressive entry in the real-time strategy genre.
“The visuals are this game's greatest accomplishment.”
“Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 is a masterful blend of strategic depth, captivating lore, and stunning visuals that has truly elevated the real-time strategy genre within the Warhammer 40,000 universe.”
“The graphics are stunning, with intricately designed ships and vibrant space environments that truly capture the essence of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.”
“The graphics lighting on the levels makes it difficult to see the full glory of the artwork that Games Workshop normally applies to its games; however, it makes up for it in strategy and gameplay as you really have to work hard to maintain your position in the universe.”
“This looks like a cheap mobile port; the graphics are muddy and terrible regardless of settings, and look nothing like what is shown.”
“This game just has no soul; it feels like playing some Warcraft 3 total overhaul mod, graphics are bad, on max settings it looks nothing like screenshots, ships are very poorly made, just simple 3D models, combat is very simple and nothing epic.”
- music244 mentions
- 69 % positive mentions
- 28 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received a mixed reception, with many praising its epic orchestral quality that enhances the Warhammer 40,000 atmosphere. However, some players noted that the soundtrack can become repetitive over extended play sessions, leading to a desire for more variety. Overall, while the sound design and music are generally considered excellent, there are criticisms regarding the limited number of tracks compared to previous installments.
“The soundtrack is fantastic too and definitely adds to the 40k flavor of the game.”
“The music fills my ears with the grim darkness of an era that no person would dare want to imagine living in with wars, death and horrors on unimaginable scale.”
“The atmosphere, the music, the voice acting, the artwork... everything is insane.”
“Worst part of the game for me is actually the soundtrack at this point.”
“The music on the star map is so annoying by now that I either play with music muted or I have it on and then quit after 30 minutes.”
“Music score gets a bit repetitive, and the UI is serviceable but could do with improvements; wider zoom for a start.”
- stability244 mentions
- 2 % positive mentions
- 1 % neutral mentions
- 97 % negative mentions
The game's stability is widely criticized, with numerous reports of frequent crashes, freezes, and various bugs affecting gameplay and menus. Many players express frustration over the game's unplayable state, particularly in multiplayer and campaign modes, and note a lack of support from developers to address these issues. While some users find enjoyment in the game, the overwhelming consensus is that its stability problems significantly detract from the overall experience.
“The game also runs very smoothly; I've had no glitches or crashes.”
“No glitches to report so far, which is nice.”
“To comment on the hardware compatibility, the game runs great on both my Ryzen 2600 CPU and RTX 2080 GPU, and my AMD CPU and GPU laptop.”
“The game is really buggy; I couldn't even click anywhere on the menu or move the mouse across all menu items when I first launched the game.”
“Game crashes constantly and the development team has abandoned the game in a buggy, unplayable mess.”
“Game was genuinely much more stable in beta; now not only is it buggy as hell, but for many people it doesn't even work (crashes at startup, crashes mid-battle, crashes in menus).”
- grinding190 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game has received significant criticism, with many players finding the campaign tedious and repetitive, particularly in the late game. While some appreciate the strategic depth and visuals, the overwhelming micromanagement and slow pacing often lead to frustration, making the experience feel more like a chore than enjoyable gameplay. Overall, the consensus suggests that the grind can detract from the otherwise engaging elements of the game.
“Its tedious and frustrating at times and it took me about 220 turns to finish my first ever campaign on medium difficulty.”
“However, this game's campaign is best defined with one word: tedious - and that's the worst thing when you try to just beat the game and instead of thinking: "can't wait to see what's next" you're thinking "geez, when will this be over."”
“The campaign plays like it hasn't been tested at all - there are several missions where it puts you up against the most grindy thing you can imagine - boarding out space marine vessels in the case of the necron - all the while making it to where if your flagship gets boarded out (the one thing the space marines are good at) you fail.”
- atmosphere138 mentions
- 59 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its immersive and detailed representation of the Warhammer 40k universe, with exceptional graphics, sound design, and voice acting that enhance the overall experience. Reviewers highlight the game's ability to capture the grim, dark essence of space battles, complemented by well-crafted cutscenes and a rich narrative. While some note minor gameplay flaws, the overwhelming consensus is that the atmosphere is a standout feature that draws players into its captivating world.
“The visuals are top-notch, with detailed ship models, dazzling weapon effects, and environments that ooze atmosphere, whether you're navigating asteroid fields or breaching fortified space stations.”
“The atmosphere, the music, the voice acting, the artwork... everything is insane.”
“You can tell a lot of love went into the atmosphere of this game.”
“Despite the below negatives, the campaign does have atmosphere.”
“Atmosphere from BFGA 1 is a bit toned down, but more factions really multiply replay value... while I have to admit that most effort was given to Empire and Chaos which have way more options and variety than others... but overall good game 8/10 :)”
“In terms of atmosphere and especially visual effects, it's really a masterpiece.”
- optimization128 mentions
- 28 % positive mentions
- 44 % neutral mentions
- 28 % negative mentions
The optimization of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players reporting smooth performance on high-end systems, while others experience significant stuttering, crashes, and poor performance even on powerful hardware. Many users highlight that the game is poorly optimized, leading to frustrating gameplay issues, particularly in multiplayer modes, and a lack of meaningful updates to address these problems. Overall, while some players find it playable on lower settings, the consensus leans towards a need for substantial improvements in optimization.
“As a newcomer to the genre, I think this is the perfect game for someone to try as it has a modern interface, great graphics, good optimization for entry-level systems, and it's just a lot of fun!”
“The quality and performance has been excellent and it is released in a polished state.”
“I am really enjoying the game so far, all races play uniquely, graphics are really good (maps and their backgrounds are beautiful), the game is fun and fairly well optimized for having just released.”
“The game is in an unplayable state ever since they 'fixed' the performance issues many users had, except now it's even worse, making the game completely unplayable for even more people.”
“Game is ridiculously unoptimized; I have a 1080 Ti, 32 GB of RAM, SSD & 7th gen i7 and this game takes an absurd amount of time to load & going into the per ship menu actually causes 5-10 second game freeze.”
“I'm running the game on epic settings with a Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, and I don't understand how such bad performance is even possible with such a high-end card.”
- replayability116 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 62 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
Replayability in the game is a mixed bag, with some players finding it high due to the variety of factions, customizable campaigns, and engaging multiplayer modes, while others criticize the campaign for being repetitive and lacking depth. The absence of a robust skirmish mode, which was a highlight in the previous installment, has also led to diminished replay value for many. Overall, while there are elements that can provide hours of enjoyment, the campaign's limitations and the difficulty in finding matches have left some players feeling that replayability is not as strong as it could be.
“This game's campaign mode still has my attention and replayability; I enjoy the progression and have a ton of fun with different fleets using various builds and styles of ships.”
“Command iconic fleets, engage in epic space battles, and enjoy endless replayability with a variety of factions, deep customization, and challenging AI opponents.”
“Every faction is so different in their gameplay that there is a whole lot of replayability even without counting on how different each campaign is.”
“In short, this game feels way too overly simple, to the point that it offers very little replayability.”
“The replay value is low because every fight is the same.”
“However... replayability is not really there.”
- humor38 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with some players finding the absurdity of certain mechanics and scenarios amusing, such as the reliance on network connections for a single-player game and the quirky interactions of ships. While there are moments of "funny-bad" dialogue and entertaining gameplay, the overall experience can become repetitive and frustrating, particularly in multiplayer. The game's comedic elements, including exaggerated AI behavior and chaotic battles, provide a lighthearted contrast to its serious themes, though some players feel this undermines the game's intended tone.
“I really wanted to play Orks because they're hilarious!”
“Zoom in when big cannons fire to see a hilarious cloud of Minecraft pixels.”
“Haha, funny phalanx go brr.”
- monetization20 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 90 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy of the game has been widely criticized as a "shameless cash grab," with players feeling that additional content, such as ship models, should have been included at launch rather than sold separately. While there are no microtransactions, the game's advertising is seen as misleading, particularly regarding cooperative play and the scale of battles, leading to disappointment among fans who feel exploited. Overall, the sentiment reflects a lack of trust in the developers, who are perceived to prioritize profit over quality and player experience.
“There are no microtransactions in this game, which is a refreshing change.”
“I appreciate that the game doesn't include any microtransactions.”
“This is a big, big, big cash grab.”
“Major cash grabs to add in additional ship models for another race that should have been included at launch.”
“This is a shameful cash grab that they know the fan base will want to get.”
- emotional14 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players highlight the game's powerful emotional impact, driven by a compelling score that amplifies the narrative's weight and responsibility. Many express that the experience evokes deep feelings, with some describing it as heart-wrenching and emotionally intriguing. Overall, the game resonates strongly, leaving a lasting impression on its audience.
“The score is also noteworthy, providing an epic backdrop that enhances the emotional weight of the gameplay.”
“It really made me feel the weight of Stride's responsibility.”
“Few games have yielded such an emotional intrigue from me.”
- character development4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Character development is largely criticized as non-existent, with previously interesting characters failing to evolve or receive any meaningful growth throughout the game.
“The character development is non-existent.”
“Previously interesting characters get no character development at all.”
Critic Reviews
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 review
Involved, spectacular, space battles packaged into satisfying campaigns, and great fan service too.
84%Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 Review – For the Emperor
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 is a treat for fans of Warhammer and the space combat genre in general.
80%Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 (PC) Review
While not quite a homerun, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 is a fun, tactical space combat experience with some nice story to boot.
75%