Space Marine 2 finally gets some Chaos cosmetics, and I'm shocked they're free

Why is Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 so good? It's captured the gaming zeitgeist perfectly, at a time when Warhammer is more popular than ever thanks to the popularity of Stranger Things and a pandemic boost. It's got crunchy combat and brutal boss battles. Best of all, though, you can customize your Space Marine to whatever Chapter you wish. Unless you're an Iron Hands player like me, in which case you're still waiting for your champion pack or chapter pack. Thankfully, developer Saber Interactive has revealed the roadmap for the game's second year, and there's a lot of good news.

Most importantly, I'll get my Iron Hands Chapter Pack in Patch 13, which is due in Q1 next year, just after the release of the Techmarine class. However, Saber has also announced the release of cosmetic packs for the Carcharodons and Raptors, and a champion pack for the Black Templars. This marks the first successor Chapters to receive such an honor.

If you lean more towards the heretical side of things, don't worry. Snuck into Patch 10, which arrives next month, is a Chaos armor pack. Yes, you read that right, you can finally represent your favorite Chaos legion in Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2. This has probably been my biggest complaint (besides the lack of Iron Hands) of the hit multiplayer game—where are the heretic skins?

Thankfully, Saber is fixing the game's biggest issue. What's more, the armor sets, six of which are shown in the trailer above, are divorced from the season pass, meaning they will be available free of charge. You bet I'll be repping the Night Lords until my beloved genetic freaks get their chapter pack.

There's a whole host of non-cosmetic updates, too. Patch 10, which celebrates the game's first anniversary, will include a new PvE mission, a new PvP mode (Helbrute Onslaught, where you can play as the eponymous daemonic walker), a new PvP arena, a new PvE mode called Stratagems, three new weapons, and the Chaos Spawn as a majoris enemy. Phew.

More, similar updates will occur throughout the season, and you can read them all on the roadmap (or 'battle plan') above. Other than playing an Iron Hands Techmarine for the entirety of 2026, I'm most excited by the 'redacted' champion pack. What successor Chapter could possibly be so secretive that it needs redacting? My mind immediately wanders to the Blood Ravens, and whether this could signal a Dawn of War tie-in with the fourth game. That would suggest Dawn of War 4 will launch in Q2 2026, which feels a little early to me, but time will be the judge of that.

Whatever that redacted Chapter is, the future of Space Marine 2 looks bright. The best time to play it was during the launch excitement, but the second best time is right now.

Space Marine 2's anniversary patch launches on Thursday, September 4. You can buy the game on Steam here.

If you can't wait two weeks (or will be busy playing Silksong when it drops), try some other Warhammer 40k games in the meantime. Make sure you've got one of the best gaming monitors, too, in case you don't have the Techmarine's latest ocular enhancements yet.

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