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Some thoughts on Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War

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Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War recently released with same-day Linux support and now I've had some time with it I do have to say I'm pretty happy with it. Note: Copy supplied by GOG.

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War on all sides!

One of the main things missing is diplomacy, although given the setting it certain does make sense. With that in mind, it makes it feel like quite a streamlined game, although some may feel a little basic. For those who just love to crush others, it's probably a game you would enjoy over something like Civilization.

The Quest system is what will keep you moving forward, as it helps you progress through the story of your chosen faction as you play. Each quest offers a reward and completing the final quest will result in victory, naturally though you can also just completely destroy everyone else to win.

As you explore, you will come across alien life, ancient relics and more which are interesting to find and they can be rather useful for resources, although they're quite limited in their variety.

The tech tree is also really quite simple, perhaps a little too simple. It works in a straight line, with you researching at least two items in the current level to be able to access the next level. Thanks to that, it's a little too easy to go through and pick exactly what you want one after the other as you race to get the most powerful units. Although, I ended up somewhat enjoying it like this as it does end up giving more freedom than research systems in some other games.

Given that the world is in ruins, I actually found the map looked quite nice:

I think it's the combat that has me most underwhelmed, especially since the AI often doesn't make sense as it will often take damage, run away and then come back again without any healing. Take the Space Marines as another example, throwing grenades looks like they've thrown a few stones, the combat just needs more meat to it—where are my big glorious explosions? The sounds of the weapons are great, just the visuals don't always match up to make it as exciting as I feel it could have been.

It's a pretty good game overall, as a strategy fan I have enjoyed it I just wish it had a little more to it. It feels like it's missing a few things to push it from be good to great. They seem to be responding to feedback quite well, with their most recent patch adding in a requested UI scaling option, although it still needs work and they plan to improve it further and they continue to fix bugs as well.

You can grab it now from Humble Store, GOG and Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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About the author -
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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5 comments

Zlopez Jul 18, 2018
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QuoteYou wouldn't really expect the Space Marines to sit around a table with the Necrons (a race of robotic skeletal warriors) now would you?

Unfortunately this is already in one Warhammer 40k codex. It was between Blood Angels and Necrons (probably Sautekh dynasty) against Tyranids.


Last edited by Zlopez on 18 July 2018 at 12:33 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Jul 18, 2018
Quoting: Zlopez
QuoteYou wouldn't really expect the Space Marines to sit around a table with the Necrons (a race of robotic skeletal warriors) now would you?

Unfortunately this is already in one Warhammer 40k codex. It was between Blood Angels and Necrons (probably Sautekh dynasty) against Tyranids.
As always, Warhammer is so massive it's easy to miss things and apparently you're right, it apparently happened once in a short story. The basic point is though, they wouldn't normally :P

Edit: Looking further it seems it might have actually been more than once, god damn Warhammer lore. Decided to remove that line, since I'm obviously wrong there.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 18 July 2018 at 12:46 pm UTC
rkfg Jul 18, 2018
It's a good game, I was a beta-tester in their closed beta stage. I reported several Linux-specific bugs that prevented the game from launching (missing libraries mostly) and it was fixed quite fast so I'm happy with their Linux support. My main complaint is still the GUI, seems that some people also noticed that (it's mentioned in the reviews). It's extremely basic and doesn't have any style unlike in other WH40k games. I genuinely thought it was just a draft for the beta but unfortunately it was final.

Other than that, it's a bit similar to Pandora (a great game from the same studio) with many changes like equipment, heroes, several weapons on the same unit, completely different building system (even different among factions), elevations on the map and so on. Enough to say that it's a different game and not a reskin like it was with Civ:BE. It's hard to say what the game lacks exactly, diplomacy is not that important. I hope they'll continue to polish it and add new factions. Some people complained about the lack of faction squad names to roleplay better, I personally don't care.


Last edited by rkfg on 18 July 2018 at 1:49 pm UTC
TheRiddick Jul 18, 2018
The Tyranid threat often had the emporium break tradition, except when the Tyranid attacks chaos forces that is (something about being a threat to its food supply), then they just slowly back away.
Tchey Jul 19, 2018
I really like it so far. Not perfect of course, but i'm hooked. It's better than Pandora, so far, in my opinion. They did a great job with their new game.

I am doing a complete game on video with the Space Marines. Already 4 episodes published, and 4 more to go until the end.

It's in french, but if you want to watch it it's there : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkuhO0P1wmePJZ9rAKYAagPY2iWIgbNFs
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