More time spent customising your squad’s layout and going over various stats may sound cumbersome and it would be if its implementation was simply throwing dozens of white, green, and purple Chainswords and Bolters at the player.
![dawn of war 2 corruption dawn of war 2 corruption](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/915/images/6/6-1557771844-1918937043.jpeg)
This new element coupled with a loot-drop rate that has increased by an obscenely nonsensical percentage (say, like 10,000%) means a lot more time spent in the post-mission command centre, going over each item and character layout. Or will it? Probably not, but avoiding corruption early on does lead to some benefits later in the game. The approach is very clear in its challenge to the player, almost taunting you to try and stay pure, trying to trick you into thinking it won’t get you anything apart from an inflated sense of self worth, which unfortunately doesn’t come in the form of a +1 to all skills item. It’s not really a stretch to succumb to the allure of equipping a piece of kit that will slowly corrupt one of your party members, especially when you’re rewarded when you do so. You can try and counteract the long term effects of corruption, or simply ‘go along for the ride’. Dabbling in corruption leads to immediate stat boosts across all skills and abilities. Corruption is what led to the rise of the Chaos Marines, who are essentially demon-possessed Space Marines with the same penchant for killing various races, but this time in the name of evil and not the Space Emperor. The introduction of corruption into your party, leads to many alternate objectives and outcomes where usually the easiest or simplest way to approach a target, location or other objective, is the path of corruption.īut what is corruption, and should you really care? Cleverly, this is kept very clear cut with a story that simply proposes that as a Space Marine your duties are that of doing good, which usually means killing various races, in this case the Chaos Marines. This leads to an overall shorter campaign, but also one that feels a lot more varied and focussed in the story it’s trying to tell.
![dawn of war 2 corruption dawn of war 2 corruption](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/original/gamespot/images/2010/074/reviews/1270135-974356_20100316_004.jpg)
Chaos Rising takes a page out of the RTS handbook by introducing mission objectives as a means to design each campaign map and encounter. This of course sounds a lot worse than it was, as the style of gameplay, following an action-RPG template, lends itself to repetition and a clear focus on the immediate battles and encounters. One of the key complaints that players had with Dawn of War II was the repetition of campaign maps and the side-missions, where templates were simply copied and pasted, leading to several identical looking missions. Chaos Rising builds on this foundation whilst addressing some of the faults that could be attributed to the relatively simplistic nature of the original game. With the core engine and battle mechanics kept similar to its RTS counterparts, with cover based tactics, flanking and use of specific unit skills, everything else was based on classic action-RPG concepts pioneered by titles like Diablo, with character levelling, loot finding, and yes, even some grinding. Dawn of War II on the other hand felt like an experiment, albeit one that paid off handsomely. Starting with the first Dawn of War title, and perfected with their WWII based Company of War series, developer Relic helped define the 21st century real-time strategy game with a string of fantastic games that helped integrate a fully robust 3D environment with equally robust gameplay. With the rise of the Chaos Marines and corruption threatening to destroy the purity of the Space Marines’ recent victory over the Tyranids, the path to victory presented in this stand-alone expansion is literally covered with Faustian bargains - in the form of awesome loot, with awesome stats.ĭawn of War II was a definite departure from the RTS styling’s cultivated by developer Relic over recent years.
![dawn of war 2 corruption dawn of war 2 corruption](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/9450/ss_195f0a360eb3ee1600510d6b9c59771021027e4c.1920x1080.jpg)
Although providing tasty bonuses in attack, defence, and other stats, equipping a corrupted item will sooner or later result in Avitus, Tarkus, Thaddeus, or another one of your ‘insert name-us here-us’ party members succumbing to the forces of Chaos. Not in the traditional sense of course, as the dilemma here takes shape in the form of armour and weaponry corrupted with the evil forces of Chaos.
![dawn of war 2 corruption dawn of war 2 corruption](https://gamefabrique.com/storage/screenshots/pc/warhammer-40000-dawn-of-war-2-chaos-rising-09.png)
So, apparently even Space Marines sometimes find themselves in the middle of a moral dilemma.