Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Steam Deck Review (Ongoing) – Game of the Year Worthy, but Better to Play on Other Platforms for Now

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2: A 22-Hour Steam Deck and PS5 Timeline Test Before Official Deck Support

Background: Years of 40K Games Lead to Space Marine 2

Most fans have been waiting for many years for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, or at least a true sequel to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. I did not really know the first game until I played Total War: Warhammer and began looking into other Warhammer 40,000 games. Since then, I have played many of them, with Boltgun and Rogue Trader standing out as favorites. I also played some of the original Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine on Steam Deck many months ago, mostly to see how it felt. After playing many Warhammer 40,000 games on PC and, more recently, on console, I was excited to see how Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 would feel after its amazing reveal.

This review is in progress because the situation is still moving. Over the last eight days, I put in about 22 hours across Steam Deck and PS5, using cross progression and testing the online mode. I cannot score a game like this without testing cross platform multiplayer and public servers after launch. There is also another reason: Focus and Saber have confirmed that they are working on official Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Steam Deck support and are aiming to have it out by the end of the year.

The screenshots used in the original testing notes with the performance overlay or fps counter were from my Steam Deck OLED, while the 16:9 screenshots came from my PS5 playthrough. The Steam Deck testing was done on Proton GE 9-9 and Proton Experimental, including the bleeding edge build.

Development: Eight Days, 22 Hours, and What the Game Does Well

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a third person action shooter that feels brutal, gorgeous, and fun at the same time. That balance also works for newcomers to the world of Warhammer 40,000. After a brief but well thought out tutorial-like intro segment that teaches the basics of combat and movement, the player arrives at the main hub, the Battle Barge. This is where missions are selected, game modes are chosen, cosmetics are adjusted, and other progression systems are managed.

The moment to moment gameplay is superb. The controls and weapons feel polished. Some players will prefer ranged combat, but the melee weapons stand out because the close range action feels visceral. The executions and the flow of cutting through large groups of weaker enemies before tougher foes arrive never grew old. The campaign is fun when played solo, and it is also fun with a friend or two in co-op. I generally dislike defense missions, but the implementation here did not bother me too much.

Playing with a friend who lives in another country made the game feel like a big budget take on a co-op shooter from the Xbox 360 era, a type of game we do not really see much of these days. It got its hooks in me in the same way as Earth Defense Force and the recent Gundam Breaker 4. I hope Saber and Focus can somehow work with SEGA to give the original game's campaign a modern facelift.

My knowledge of Warhammer 40,000 comes mainly from Total War: Warhammer, Dawn of War, Boltgun, and Rogue Trader. With that background, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 feels refreshing. It is already one of my favorite co-op experiences in years. It is too soon to say whether it will become my favorite Warhammer 40,000 game overall, but I kept wanting to return to Operations mode with a friend, trying out different classes and slowly progressing through missions and unlocks.

I do not want to make a definitive statement about the full online experience because I have not played Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 after launch with random players. The co-op I have experienced so far is superb. I am looking forward to properly testing the online mode once the game launches with cross progression and cross platform online play.

Visually, I can comment on the PS5 and Steam Deck versions. On PS5, the 4K mode looks impressive, especially when played on my 1440p monitor. The game has always looked good in trailers, but the environments are stronger than expected. There is clear care in making the world feel alive, not only through the massive number of enemies in the swarms, but also through the texture work and lighting. This is supported by strong direction for the main character voice acting and by the large number of gear and customization options. The customization tools make it easy to show off personal style.

There is also a photo mode available during singleplayer. It lets the player adjust frames, expressions, visible characters, FOV, and much more. One issue is that on Steam Deck right now, some frames or effects do not look as good when using FSR 2 and a lower resolution. On PS5, however, the photo mode is excellent.

The audio side deserves attention too. Ideally, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 would have shipped with Bolt Thrower's Realm of Chaos, though that likely was not an option. That is the same kind of wish as wanting God of War 2018 to include Amon Amarth music. Setting that aside, the real strength of the audio is the voice acting and general sound design. Those are top tier. The music is very good, but so far I have not heard a track I would want to listen to heavily outside the game. It works perfectly inside the game itself.

Development: PC Port Features, Visual Settings, and Controls

When Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 boots up on PC, it installs Epic Online Services, but there is no need to link an Epic account. I have one, but I did not bother linking it.

The PC graphics options include display settings, display mode choices such as windowed, borderless, and fullscreen, and resolution settings starting at 800x600 and above. Render resolution can be set to native or dynamic to hit a target. Presets include quality, balanced, performance, and ultra performance. Resolution upscaling options include TAA or FSR 2 on Steam Deck. Other available settings include dynamic resolution target, v-sync toggle, brightness adjustment, motion blur intensity, and fps limit options of 30, 60, 90, 120, or unlimited.

The visual quality settings use four presets that adjust texture filtering, texture resolution, shadows, screen space ambient occlusion, screen space reflections, volumetrics, effects, details, and cloth simulation. The PC version ships with DLSS and FSR 2 support, while FSR 3 is planned for post-launch. FSR 3 could benefit the Steam Deck whenever it ships. I also hope the team adds full 16:10 support when the ultrawide update arrives, because the game is currently 16:9 only.

On the control side, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 supports keyboard and mouse in addition to full controller support. Initially, I could not get it to display PlayStation button prompts on Steam Deck by default, but turning off Steam Input fixed that issue. I noticed an adaptive trigger option under control settings, which made me try disabling Steam Input. The control menu also allows remapping of keyboard and mouse bindings.

When using my DualSense controller over Bluetooth, the game displays PlayStation button prompts. It also supports Adaptive Triggers wirelessly on PC, which is not too common and is worth highlighting.

Latest Progress: Steam Deck Performance, Multiplayer, PS5 Features, and Cross Save

Before reaching the visuals and performance numbers, I had some freezing while booting up the game on the default Proton build or Experimental bleeding edge. I did not have that issue when using Proton GE 9-9. Aside from that, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is technically playable on Steam Deck without a config change. The bad news is that it is currently a bit too much for Valve's handheld.

At 1280x800, using the low preset with FSR 2.0 at Ultra Performance, the game still cannot hold a locked 30fps. There are regular dips to the mid 20s during tense combat, and it can go lower. Even when playing at a lower resolution, it drops below 30fps. For a game like this, that is not close to ideal. I hope it can eventually reach a stage where it runs at 30fps, but that is not possible right now based on the 10 hours I spent on my Steam Deck OLED.

Using dynamic upscaling for a 30fps target with the low preset can hit the 30s, but it often drops into the low 20s. That mode still looks very good on the Deck's own screen, but Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is still too demanding for Steam Deck at the moment. There is also an exit issue: the game sometimes does not quit correctly, requiring a manual force close.

I also wanted to confirm whether Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is playable online on Steam Deck. Some games use anti cheat systems that block online play on Proton or Linux. Thank fully, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 worked perfectly online during testing. I played with a friend in Canada and we had a great time for a few hours in co-op. The only issue I encountered was an internet related disconnection. Since these were pre-release servers, I will wait to test the game in a more public environment with random players and friends once the game launches.

Because I also played Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 on PS5, it is useful to cover how it feels on a current console for people who split time between Steam Deck and consoles. So far I have only tried performance mode, and it feels mostly great. Do not expect a locked 60fps, though. There seems to be some dynamic resolution or upscaling happening, because I noticed the image got very blurry during two big fights in Operations mode with a friend. Aside from that, based on my time with the game, I would recommend Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 on PS5 right now, but I want to make sure the online works cross platform before giving a definite recommendation.

Load times are fast. The PS5 version also supports Activity Cards for different modes, making it easier to return to a save file from the PS5 dashboard and saving time. As of this writing, there is no gyro support on PS5. If that changes, the review can be updated, but I did not see anything hinting at gyro support in the pre-release build I played.

Cross save progression is one of the most important pieces for people like me who move between Steam Deck and PS5. While this may change with the full launch, I was able to take my Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 progress across Steam and PS5. There is some sort of two-day cooldown period before progress can be synced back or moved to another platform. I reached out to Focus to check whether the final build will allow immediate syncing again or keep the cooldown.

The question of whether Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is worth it for solo play only is still being weighed. The solo campaign is strong, and the co-op is excellent, but the final verdict depends on the full launch state, public servers, cross platform multiplayer, and the eventual official Steam Deck support from Focus and Saber. For now, the review remains in progress because the eight-day, 22-hour testing window has already shown a superb action shooter, while the Steam Deck version still needs the post-launch support the developers are aiming to provide by the end of the year.