Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Nov 13, 2014

  This review is for those of you who aren't certain what this game is. There is a great deal of confusion surrounding the two Space Hulk games Full Control have released here on Steam. Hopefully, what I have to say here will dispel some of the inaccuracies and misinformation. I also intend to justify why I recommend this game during the course of the review. Space Hulk: Ascension Edition is a squad-size Turn-based Tactical Strategy game based upon Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 tabletop miniatures game and the spin-off boardgame, Space Hulk. In this specific case, that means the central focus of game play will be to command a unit of five to ten individual characters, Space Marine Terminators to be exact, as they progress through a confined map and encounter enemy characters while attempting to meet certain Mission goals. The enemies encountered will be the classic Genestealers and Broodlords that fans of the Warhammer 40,000 game line might be familiar with. As with many TTS games, controlling the environment in Space Hulk: Ascension is just as much a key to victory as killing the enemies that get in your way. Game play is executed by the use of an "Action Point" system. Terminators are alloted a certain number of points in a pool(typically 4 to start), and the pool grows larger as characters progress in experience levels based on the influence of special Sergeant characters, skills and each character's Agility Attribute. At the start of each Player Turn, all Action Point pools refill, but in each turn it is key to use this finite resource wisely as Action Points are the means to doing everything, including moving through map squares, using a piece of equipment, reloading a weapon or setting Overwatch to defend a killzone from Genestealer advances. Combat in the game is very straightforward, but has provisions for a number of tactical considerations. During a Player's turn, they can choose from a variety of Ranged attacks which can be as simple as taking a potshot at an enemy, or as complicated as causing a movement debuff or removing Action Points from the targetted enemy's Action Point pool. There are also Melee weapons, but melee combat is much more straightforward and simplified; you either attack, or you defend against an attack. Resolution of combat is based on a Percentile check against a random number generator. Your Terminators will start with a base percentage chance to hit the target, and the base chance will be modified by factors such as skills, type of weapon used, the range (in squares) away from the target and even which Chapter of Space Marine you chose to play the game with. Typically, if you plan appropriately and select your attacks wisely, your characters will be quite successful in destroying their enemies, but as this is a squad-based game, planning appropriately usually means maneuvering multiple units into positions to support one another.So as far as combat is concerned, you decide how complex it becomes for yourself.You can make it as simple as spamming Overwatch and Aimed Shots, or as complicated as using a series of Killzones with Suppression fire and melee Terminators. The key to success is in using the right Terminator for the job, and learning where each of these tactics will be most useful. Included in this game is an individual Character Advancement system which uses a basic experience point reward system. Meeting Mission goals, killing Genestealers, and ultimately just surviving the very deadly environment of the Space Hulk nets each terminator xp rewards, that can increase the level of the character and allow them to upgrade their Attributes and gain access to new Skills that buff combat performance and Weapon Loadouts. This allows for some rudimentary character customization, and is sufficiently streamlined that there are no wasted points while upgrading. The system is simplified, but still provides tactical advantages for the player. Changing gears now, the Graphics of Space Hulk: Ascension are clean and solid. Low-end machines can still play the game and enjoy all of the game play features, but will miss out on the detailed textures of the maps and models, as well as the massive assortment of dynamic lighting effects. Higher-end machines and true Gaming Beast-Rigs will find the game has some very good lighting and special effects which add to the claustrophobic feel of hunting Xenos in the dark, confining, Gothic-based corridors of a Space Hulk. Terminators models themselves can be quite detailed, and even customized prior to entering a Mission with various extra chains, skulls and other bits attached to their armor for aesthetic purposes. This gives a unique feeling of investment to many players, which even further adds to the tension of fighting in the Hulk. Sound quality is good as well, with ambient effects being highly stressed. The roars of distant Genestealers, furtive rustling and the creaking of the Hulk are just some of the small details which enhance the quality of the experience. Add to this the combat sounds of crashing metal against chitin, Bolter-fire roaring across a corridor and the clattering of Terminator armor and you have a very dynamic feel. The only thing missing is a quality music soundtrack to go with it, but as this is written on Release day, it is highly possible that the developer may be adding one in with a patch at some point. Overall, I recommend Space Hulk: Ascension Edition for gamers of any skill level who enjoy a variety of strategy games. The gameplay experience can be tailored to a Casual environment where you play 30 minutes a day, or to a Hardcore Completionist's need to get their Achievement Hardcore-Mode fix. Although some aspects of play can become repetetive, the ability to customize your units and the branching Campaign paths allow for some unique changes of pace that keep the game from going stale. With good graphics and sound, a decent amount of polish at Release (no game is ever bug-free on Launch day), Space Hulk: Ascension is well-worth the investment of $30US.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 14, 2014

  This is an early review from a 40k fan that was very disappointed with the first Space Hulk game by these guys. ======= I'm pretty early into Ascension right now (Blood Angels/Hard/Sin of Damnation), but based on my experience a few hours into the campaign -- THIS is the Space Hulk game I wanted, and here's why. [h1]Graphics[/h1] The immediate obvious upgrade are the visuals. Everything looks remarkably better now. Especially glorious are some of the improved animations. My favorite being the new Genestealer finisher moves; fittingly brutal and memorable ends to our heroes of the Imperium. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] Tactical options are similarly improved -- and vastly expanded. Think XCom/Jagged Alliance 2 style trade-offs between accuracy and AP, and fine-tuned % chance to hit instead of D6 rolls. Every mission completion will make you feel like a master of calculated risk, instead of a broken peasant berated by the shrieking laughter of the dice gods. Weapons are way more interesting now. Bolters overheat during extended firefights ala Incubation. Melee is now way less of a near-certain death sentence, as it is possible to improve a Terminator's melee skill via leveling and perks. The heavy flamer now has template options which are *excellent* -- you can choose to shoot a long narrow stream of fire, a short wide one, or in-between. Squad customization and leveling is well implemented and a huge plus. With customization and leveling comes a much deeper feeling of ownership and attachment to your every success and disaster. On hard difficulty, I assure you, you will sacrifice your rookies in desperate moves to support and protect your veterans. [h1]Campaign and RPG Elements[/h1] Did I mention the campaign? No more linear mission list. It's now a branching campaign with random flash missions on the side. Did I say campaign? I meant 3 campaigns. And now your squads can stick together through all 3 campaigns as a persistent force, leveling up and unlocking perks together the whole way through. One last thing I need to mention is probably my favorite improvement --how much faster and fluid the enemy turn is. Now all of your Terminators fire as all of the Genestealers rush you simultaneously. It looks epic and delivers a much more intense payoff when you brace for an assault and hit the end turn button. It's about as far removed as possible from the tedious (and frankly boring to watch) combat resolution of the previous title. It actually feels like combat now. [h1]Suggestions[/h1] I do have some suggestions for the developer. I want a hotkey for reloading. I want icons over unit cards so I can see who is out of ammo, or has an overheated or jammed weapon. I think the deployment process during mission start should be improved. I want music in the loadout screen. I posted these suggestions in the forum last night. Soon after, in my thread and many others, I saw the developers quickly respond and let us know that suggestions are very welcome, and will be used for internal discussions. That kind of customer interaction should be commended, and it's the main reason why I decided to spend a chunk of tonight writing this review, rather than just playing all night and keeping my excitement to myself. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] Overall there are a ton of changes both big and small that elevate this game far above its predecessor. If you like combat-focused turn-based strategy games, and the idea of spraying alien guts all over the walls of a space derelict sounds like your kind of party, then all I can say is -- the xenos must be PURGED, brothers.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 16, 2014

  This game is really enjoyable and finally makes Space Hulk addictive. It is extremely satisfying to level up your favourite, personally named and customized Terminator and give him the equipment you deem appropriate for smashing slimy Genestealers in the name of the almighty Emperor. Many reviewers have recommended the game, I do as well. However, there are various shortcomings which make it seem as if the game were either finished in a hurry or still in beta stage. - level design seems not too well thought through. Some later levels are ridiculously easy, others are very hard. - there is no voiceover in the mission briefing, and numerous typos; the whole storyline seems rather rudimentary ("go there, kill all genestealers"). There are also logical errors, for instance, you meet Broodlords way before the "New Genestealer type (=Broodlord) encountered, find genetic sample"! mission. This lack of a compelling storyline is a pity because the Warhammer world offers some fascinating narrative, doesn't it! - there is only one voice for all your Terminators. - the in-game manual doesn't really explain much. Combat mechanics? Weapons? Functions of Terminator stats? You get some very basic info, the rest is left to your imagination. For instance, the Stormbolter and the Combi-Bolter have different accuracy stats, apparently, but I have no idea why and how they differ. And how does Genestealer poison work? The developers leave this shrouded in mystery. - the set-up zone markers don't disappear after the initial set-up. Instead, all through the mission, they glow obnoxiously green and pulsate. This can get incredibly annoying on those maps where there are lots of possible set-up positions. Combined with other lighting effects and numerous eye candy, this means that - the entire screen is constantly glowing, pulsating, displaying special lighting effects and command auras etc. to a degree where you can't see what's actually going on and where your Terminators are facing (aside from these effects, the game is incredibly dark). This is especially nasty because - your unit markers and their stats description are tiny. It is quite hard to discern which unit is on overwatch, etc. Moreover, - the special effects fireworks totally ruins the framerate; big maps with lots of set-up-zones (see above...) and two squads of Terminators are a stop-and-go nightmare. If the Emperor knew, he'd send his Inquisition! - your main weapon, the Bolter, sounds like an automatic BB gun - the "End Turn" button is positioned exactly at the spot where Steam displays a message when one of your Steam buddies enters a game. If like me you have lots of buddies, you'll occasionally have a hard time ending a turn, because buddy xy is once more starting "Euro Truck Simulator" and you can't click the "End Turn" button! - "Next Mission" Bonus items actually apply to the current mission (the one they were found in) - I'm quite sure that Genestealers with 6 AP can move 7 tiles. There are other design decisions which will be appreciated by many gamers. I find the following, however, to be less than optimal: - there is no "undo move" option. I find this a real downside as the controls are fiddly and you occasionally end up moving a Terminator where you didn't want him to move. - you can't see the whole map and its tiles; you have, so to say, fog of war. Given that the entire game is incredibly dark (apart from the abundant lighting effects mentioned above), you often simply have no idea what is five or eight tiles away from your Terminators. Genestealer entry points? Air ducts? Good luck finding where they are. - the flamethrower has a minimum range of two tiles. Certainly, many have lauded the new firing options for the flame thrower, and they were right in doing so; you can e.g. shoot a long line of flame (nice for long hallways) or a T-shaped pattern (nice to get around corners). However, Space Hulk is a game which forces you to fight in extremely confined spaces, and having in these circumstances a minimum range for your flamethrowers greatly reduces their versatility. Holy Emperor, the flamethrower is a short-range weapon, isn't it? How dare you give it a minimum range? It is therefore always a good idea to give your heavy weapons guys some melee skill. - the flamethrower's fire only lasts for the enemy's turn. This reduces its strategic value to block the way for the Genestealers, it is more easy for you to proceed however. All in all: fantastic Beta - when do we get the final version?
• gamedeal user

  Nov 16, 2014

  Total Control's last foray into Space Hulk was a faithful conversion of the board game, and subsequently lauded by existing fans while crushing new players underfoot due to the difficulty. Whichever side of the fence you found yourself on however, it was still a bit soulless. It put the board game on the screen, but beyond that, it didn't exactly push back the boundaries. It also suffered from unfair comparison to X-Com, and received generally middling scores in reviews. A success in my eyes, but a view that pushes me into the minority. Ascension seems to be almost a slap in the face style challenge to those who made those comparisons and criticisms. More RPG elements? Fine. More of an arcade style play? Fine. You want percentages instead of digital dice? You got it. You want to name your marine Susan? Oh hell, if you must! Considering how much I liked the board-faithful game, I was fully prepared to dislike Ascension with all the fan-offence of a true alienated geek. The result is, however ... surprisingly fun. It's a different game - let's get that out of the way immediately. It looks vaguely similar, but plays very differently. So much so, the discount offered to owners of the first game surprises me slightly. It won't quench the angst of the self-entitled few who feel downtrodden by such evil injustice as FC not giving them a whole new game, but it's a welcome gesture. So what's it like? Whereas it does contain the board-game set missions, it cloaks them in much more theatricality, and offers many side-missions to flesh out the story behind each campaign. The missions seem much more connected now. The three campaigns are flavoured for the three Chapters included, the Space Wolves, Ultramarines, and the staple of Space Hulk, the Blood Angels, but you're free to play them with whichever Chapter you prefer. Instead of an unlucky dice roll jamming your stormbolter, weapons now have a rising heat mechanic which prevents unlimited sustained fire, but which also means the first bolt out of your weapon won't result in a jam. It's a nice little touch which evens out the bumps in play and makes your imminent misfortune a touch more predictable, and subsequently allows you to plan for it. There are now deployable items, sensors and the like that emit a revealing pulse, while using a very familiar sound. It adds another welcome level of tactics and evokes a smile at the aural homage. Melee combat no longer seems like assured death. When it does come however, the marine no longer falls over as though someone unplugged his Terminator armour. There are more death animations now, thankfully. The animations all round seem more polished, as indeed does the rest of the game. You'll be surprised to find upon teleporting in that you can't see a great deal. With some exceptions, the Hulk is very, very dark until explored by your marines. Some will complain about this, as it does add an additional level of difficulty to the game. However, it also does what it was most likely intended to do. The game feels much more claustrophobic and oppressive. You don't feel like rushing ahead, because frankly, you don't know what might be out there. Sure, you can see the 'ping' markers for movement, but until you can see exactly how the corridors are laid out, your decision of how to proceed must be a considered one. Now I know what Hicks and Drake felt like, creeping along one step at a time despite having enough firepower to level a small village. The ability to rename and customise your marines adds that little bit of empathy, and makes their death all the more of an event to be avoided. No longer are they replaced by the faceless masses. When Percival the III, space marine sergeant extraordinaire goes down under a hail of genestealer claws, he leaves behind some considerable boots to fill. Hicks Jnr will just have to man-up. There are skills now, allowing you to customise your marines further as they gain experience, assuming you don't get them slaughtered that is, which can still happen. Extra movement is always welcome, as is increased to-hit percentage, or do you want to make a melee powerhouse called Francine? There are loads of nice touches, like the heavy flamer having different patterns, the thermal view through the shoulder-cam, which is generally an improvement over the first game in all ways, and even in-mission goodies to find and collect. So that's some of the good stuff, but is it all worthy of the Emperor? Well ... no, not quite. There are customisation options, certainly, but considering you can have ten marines in the game at once, the options are quickly exhausted. There are not many heads to choose from, so my marines all go with helmets, except the valiant sergeant of course. It stops them all looking like interbred cousins from space. There's a law somewhere that says if you're going to offer customisation options, make them many and varied. If not, there should be. There are some performance issues, especially with framerate when all ten marines are deployed, although FC seem to be already tackling that. Likewise, there are some bugs that have been reported and seem to be receiving due attention. No custom chapter: Other developers have set the bar on this, so high that we almost expect as standard now some type of interface to allow you to design your own chapter from the ground up in honour of the game origins, which was essentially about you tediously painting very expensive figurines and inventing your own chapter if you chose to do so. It's lacking here, which is a shame. Bolter sounds: It's a minor quibble, sure, but in the first game, bolters sounded ferociously chunky as they unleashed a thunderous volley. They now spit and plink. This is likely a case of FC not being able to please everyone. They came under criticism the first time around for the bolters sounding so loud. Damned if you do ... Voice actors: If there's more than one, I'll apologise. "Vengeance of the Blood Angels" from 1993 already showed how to do Space Hulk voice acting well. FC could do worse than buy an old Sega Saturn and copy of Vengeance off E-bay, fire it up and check it out. Instead of a load of very distinct voices giving a true sense of a squad in combat, we have the same monotone for all marine responses, and even the briefings. It's not a game-breaker by any means, but it is a missed chance for immersion. It's things like that which elevate a game from good to great. On the whole, it's a fine game, or will be once some of the technical problems are fixed. Is it perfect? No, but my complaints are not deal-breakers, and some are not really complaints, but a list of wishes. It was perhaps released a touch early, but that can be dealt with. If you can live through a few teething problems, and if you're a fan of Space Hulk, or indeed 40k in general, then there is much to enjoy here, which is what I should be doing instead of writing ridiculously long reviews. Back to the Hulk I go, in the Emperor's name, of course.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 27, 2014

  The original was a direct port of the board game to PC - with all the problems that entails. You can have perfectly good tactics in the board game ruined by a run of shonky dice rolls that results in a "GG - you win" (or throwing a strop and chucking the board/pieces in the air and finding Genestealer limbs scattered around the living room for the next six months) - and in the board game, that's fine. However, that doesn't translate well to a computer game, especially in the campaign where outright failure isn't really an option and it just results in frustrating reloads. This is a much more computer-friendly version of Space Hulk - yes the graphics and sounds are better than the previous version but far more importantly it's taken away almost all of the annoyances I had with the previous version; random command points are gone, random Storm Bolter jams on rolling a double are gone (they still jam but in a much more predicatable manner which gets rid of those irritating turns where everybody seems to jam, all the time), they've put a "Load Game" option into the quick-menu accessible during the game (previously you'd have to quit to the main menu to reload which was an unecessary pain in the a***)... hell, even Lightning Claws aren't necessarily a complete death sentence now. Also added are some RPG-lite elements - hits work on a percentile based system rather than dice rolls so as your marines gain experience you can train up their Ballistic skill (for example, there are six skills in all) so they have a better chance of hitting. In basically every way, this is a better game than the previous version (I don't even mind the removal of the tactical map). Is it perfect? No. While there are 3 parts to the campaign (3 hulks, one for each Chapter available basically) the campaigns are not significantly different. The missions are pretty samey and it doesn't take full advantage of the fact that it's not constrained by being a board game - for example, they removed the tactical map so you don't know the exact layout of the level... OK, fine. However one set of missions revolves around retreiving a C.A.T. unit, which is a little droid that potters around mapping the hulk - they could have used that to activate a tactical map once you'd retrieved it. There are a few missed opportunities like that. Other than that the voices are repetitive and some of the graphics (especially the character cards) lack polish, but this isn't a Triple-A title so I can forgive that. Like the previous version, this isn't going to be a game for everyone. It's still Space Hulk; a fairly slow paced, tactical take on one aspect of the Warhammer 40K universe. However, if you like Space Hulk this is a really good computer translation of the game and well worth the ~ £20 shelled out for.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 30, 2014

  I am big fan of everything 40k and loved the first space hulk they brought out. If you have the original one and were not a fan of the RNG'nes of the dice rolls, Then Ascension will be a pleaseant surprise for you. Shooting, Overwatch and Close Combat is no longer done with dice rolls and instead with a percentage chance to hit. Which in my opinion is a good fit as the percentage will get higher over time whe you use skills and find weapon upgrades inside crates during levels. This, along with customisation of your terminators, makes your squad feel bad ass compared to the rookie squad that you will end up neglecting ( unless you play the harder difficulties anywas). The nice thing about all this is that even if you have an excellent team and don't save scum, 1 wrong move and you're bound to lose one of your guys. The graphics have gotten a noticable overhaul compared to the original. The lighting is alot better, Excellent shadows (better then some AAA games i've seen) and the visual effects are without a doubt much better. Time for the bad part I guess, If you've read anything about the game, people are saying it runs at a really low frame rate or that the menu is basically a slide show cause it's poorly optimized, I say to them that they need to stop blinking so fast. My frame rate is over 60 fps and drops to about 30-40 with fire everywhere, dead bodies and everybody on overwatch with the sight cones active. So as you can tell, that's not the bad part cause fps doesn't make the game unplayable.. Even at 10-20fps. What does is the part where if you equip your heavy terminator with a cyclone missile launcher you can't click on him, to move him, shoot, overwatch, nothing. Tiem to restart the level it is. Started again, same thing, reset the game, same thing. The cyclone missiles just plane bug the game out (at least for me anyway)... Then later in the Ultramarine campaign, )Im guessing really close to the end.) I have my squad with combi-flamers and it was running fine. All of a sudden I could't move, click on anyone to do anything with them. Not sure if it's an isolated case due to the fact that apparently nobody has had any time to write about it anywhere cause they still insist on complaining about a frame rate issue that seems fine to me. Time to restart my entire campaign and see if it happens again. Anyways, Would I recommend this game? Hell yes. (if you like 40k) Great graphics, Gameplay, Fun to play (despite the no multiplayer and game breaking bugs). But all in all it's a fantastic game make by what seems to be people that love what they do and put some actuall effort into thier work ulike some... wont mention names. *cough* ubisoft *cough* Keep up the good work guys and fix my damn missile launchers :)
• gamedeal user

  Dec 18, 2014

  Good recreation of the SH boardgame, surprisingly good actually. The community asked for difficulty tweaks and the team answered with a patch that gave full customization, a new DLC and plenty of bugfixes and other tweaks. This means: the game is good, the DEVs listen to the community, hence this game is a worthy investment.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 30, 2014

  Genre - Games Workshop Sci-Fi Board Game Conversion I have played the original Space Hulk and was unsure whether to invest in this game also. All I can say is I am glad I did. It appears the developers have learnt from the first game that a straight board game conversion needs some tweaks to make it more fun on for the average PC gamer. Gone are the random bolter malfunctions and now if you fail it is more down to bad tactics and not just being very unlucky at the wrong time. Don't get me wrong there will still be instances you have to re-load within a level to avoid a bad timing incident. You now get persistent upgrades for your Terminators, which makes it feel more like a squad based RPG. I have lost some men on the way and on normal mode they are replaced with equivalent levels, so you don't feel you have to re-load everytime you let a man die (Hooray for casulties of war, shame there are no records of them like XCom and Cannon Fodder). The Genestealers themselves now have different mutations making them a more interesting threat, e.g. some burst into acid, whilst others are just tougher to kill. There are three chapters included each with their own campaign and there are optional and alternative routes to complete each one. Basically this is Space Hulk the sequel, and it is a lot more Aliens than Alien vs Predator.
• gamedeal user

  Feb 24, 2015

  So now that I've played this game over 60 hours and finished all campaigns twice(except DLC ones), I think it's time to share my opinion on it, since very few of my friends have bought it. Many people think that Ascension is just some expansion for the ordinary SH with some niceties here and there, but it's not just it imo. It had gone far from the tabletop game and has a lot of new elements, that fit perfectly. I'd say it's a well done sequel, and its gameplay entertains me much more, than the original(tabletop is fine, but it was quite boring in PC version, never could make myself play more than 1 mission in a row). So what we have here: 1) Fully customizable squad in terms of weapons and appearance. Different heads, bodies, holy symbols and all that. You can give every terminator a name of your choosing. 2) Weapons with different stats and mechanics. Combi-flamer, combi-melta, combi-plasma, melee weapons from chainfist to thunder hammer and lightning claws, they all have different bonuses and have their own uses. 3) XP and level system. Your terminators gain XP for completing mission and killing enemies, and when you gain a new level, you unlock new weapons, new perks(skills), new equipment like mines and power field generators and raise one of their 6 stats. This allows for building your team in your own unique way. I enjoy this RPG elements very much. Also, terminators are divided into several classes: melee, ranged, heavy, librarian, sergeant. They all have access to weapons, exclusive to their class, and they all gain perks in different way. 4) 45 missions in 3 campaigns, not counting the random(flash) missions. The game doesn't look as repetitive as the previous installation of the tabletop. Various tyranid enemies make the gameplay more interesting in a long run, it's not just standard GS and Broodlord in the original. Here you have debuffing genestealers, exploding genestealers, MK Scorpion-like("Come over here") genestealers. It's fun! Well, I guess that pretty does it. All that is left to say is one thing the devs screwed up with: MELEE COMBAT. Forget the melee. Never build your strategy relying on melee advance. It's a fawkin' roulette. I say it as a player who chose Space Wolves for my first playthrough(they are "decent" melee fighters, but poor shooters and don't have Ranged class terminators at all, which is a HUGE disadvantage). It was painful and I walked through hell of save\load game since I hate to lose my characters. P.S. Always take a librarian in a squad. ALWAYS.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 1, 2015

  Edit: 27-01-2016 A new series of fixes have been released and seems the game bugs are being repaired at last. Praise The Techpriests. End of edit: 27-01-2016 Review: Do you like Alien and Aliens, to feel like Gorman giving crappy commands from the safety of the APC while his men got killed fighting their way out of the alien nest? Do you like Games Workshop tabletop games and have an open mindset about a pc game not being identical to its tabletop counterpart and you are not a graphic vvhore who will complain because the texture in that hidden surface noone else would notice doesnt have a bazillion pixel resolution? Like Turn Based Strategy, slow paced gameplay with a cup of tea at 3:00 in the night? If the answer is yes, buy this game. Highly recomended, and its hard and im not even deep into the first campaign and already regret not having acquired it earlier. Edit: Would like to add some clarifications about Space Hulk Ascension for those undecided: In this game you will lead one or two squads of Terminators in a series of engagements in opressive and dark corridors aboard abandoned ships. you will have to keep your men together, advance together, make good use of opportunities, keep a constant watch of your flanks (being exposed = being dead). Your men will level up (max level is 10) and unlock a series of skills, gear and weapon access. Its nothing too deep but it is OK, you can play with builds, try to go full melee, range specs, mixed with psychic or medic support, etc (here is when the "racial" traits of each chapter come in handy). The game offers a small but very interesting amount of weapons to customize your men, each with its own pros and cons, altough their descriptions might seem misleading at first. The difficulty levels can be customized but you wont get achievements if you select a custom difficulty. Regarding the DLC packs: they are not mandatory to enjoy the game but they enhance it a lot by adding 3 long new campaigns and 3 more or less interesting chapters (with some new specializations and weapons) to an already good game. If overall you are enjoying the base game and like the Warhammer universe they are a recomendable purchase. I guess im missing some important stuff but hope this little edit helps to enlighten a bit. End of Edit. Btw, the game looks amazing and has enough customization options for the terminators. Its a turn based strategy game, not an mmo to stand afk looking good with some cosmetic items in the city capital of Dorkland online. May The Emperor forgive me for having Mordheim City of the Damned labelled as favourite game instead of Space Hulk Ascension, but these two titles are probably my favourite turn based games, ever.