Reviews

• 

  Alexios Eaglebearer

  Jan 9, 2023

  almost exactly like what the table top is love it highly recommend!!!!!
• 

  Velcro Spider

  Jan 20, 2017

  I'm an hour in an my thoughts are positive. We've had a ream of poorly executed or just downright terrible 40k games and it's nice that this is another which is actually fun to play! Though quite simplistic it's a very good interpretation of the table top game. The graphic style is clean and clear, though if it wasn't for the map I might sometimes miss gretchin hiding in the grass; the ability to highlight enemy units would be handy. The unit and firing animations are basic at best; the game weighs in at under 1GB so this is not surprising. Still despite this I think the main focus of the game has gone into the gameplay and that's a far better place to spend your time! I'm only an hour in but just wanted to post positive feedback for those wanting to invest in a good 40k game but not be burnt...again.
• 

  L4Z4RVS

  Jan 20, 2017

  Very nice game. Buy it if you like: 1. Warhammer 40k lore; 2. Good turn based strategy mechanics; 3. Miniatures. Don't buy if you want a great cinematic story driven campaign. The game doesn't have one. Sanctus Reach is an indie title done right.
• 

  Your pal Jeff

  Jan 21, 2017

  If you like turn based strategy games and WH40k, you will enjoy this game. It is a very good adaptation of the tabletop, and acts as a good substitute if you're like me and can't even dream of affording that stuff. They actually gave all the space wolves an accent, which was well done, and the campaign actually has a decent difficulty curve. Music is ok, albiet repetitive, and the sound effects are pretty good as well. Of note is the interesting mechanic, where if you are firing through other units from more than one tile away, you have a chance to hit the enemy/ally that is in the way. The other cool mechanic is the promotion system, where if your unit gets enough xp (earned by dealing the killing blow), they will receive a unique benefit in the form of a passive buff like special munitions/wolf amulets or an active ability, usually a grenade of sorts. This leads to some absurd combinations, like the thundernators that healed for 20hp every turn, had a wolf amulet forcefield, and a wolf charm(?) that gave them extra damage and hit chance, or the dreadnought that got a teleportation unit. The reason that this game is only pretty good and not amazing is the lack of polish. In my 28 hours(Holy shit. TBF, I left the game running when I left for class.) I found at least 3-4 actual bugs, when a blood claw pack got the smoke grenade upgrade and used it, they got a mysterious 'bonus attack' complete with an unfinished texture. This attack could be repeated anywhere between 2-3 times, and when it stopped showing up, all you had to do was throw the now off cooldown smoke grenade. Other bugs include 100% to hit shots doing no damage, and whirlwind missile impacts dealing no damage to hit units. Both of these last two are rather rare. To follow up with the bugs, the AI varies wildly to cunningly brutal, to brutally retarded. At some times orks will move up and swarm out of place marines, surround and cutoff transports, and properly use gretchin as proper tarpits. But in the next minute it has units of boyz disengaging from smashing a land speeder to run around in circles, or units of mega nobs doing laps around an exposed unit of blood claws. Of particular note, is the killa-kans relectance to fire their weapons or stab things with their claws in the majority of situations, the battlewagons forgetting that they have guns at all, and shooting attacks being directed through ranks upon ranks of their own men, doing more damage to themselves rather than me (although I think that one may be intended cause orkz). Despite all of this, it is still a very fun game. I hope that the bugs and AI deficiencies will be rounded out in the future, as they really hold the game back. Not a MUST GET AT ALL COSTS game, but if you like Turn based WH40K strategy games that handle the property right, and have the money, go for it. Show less
• 

  bigritchie

  Jan 23, 2017

  This is a fantastic game for 30 dollars. Real Turn based Warhammer 40k!! Hooray! If you are a 40k fan you will love this. The story is not on par with Armagedon, but I think the gameplay is maybe more fun. It is more xcomish. Cannot wait till they add more content, this is one game I hope they deluge us with DLC, more races, chapters, etc etc. Fantastic game!!! Support these Devs! Aloha from Hawaii! So just to add, the Imperial Guard is a Blast. So just to continue my review after the last 2 expansions, this game has gotten better and better, with new units, great updates, balance changes (And they actually listen to their fans) I cannot recommend this game enough. it is simply FUN.
• 

  Thagomizer

  Jan 30, 2017

  I tried to get into tabletop WH40K. Good lord, did I try. But those buggers are expensive, they're time consuming, and it's almost impossible to find people to play with unless you're willing to crawl through the seedy underbelly of the comic-book-store-basement scene. So, instead, I consumed the novels, I bought every 40K game I could get, and I waited patiently for a virtual version of the tabletop game. I tasted hope back in the 90s with Chaos Gate, but it was a short lived pleasure. I felt bitter disappointment after disappointment with the bottom-tier offering from other publishers. I had, quite frankly, almost given up hope that I would ever find that perfect mix of strategy and lore that is WH40K - at least in game form. And then, out of the blue, without fanfare or spectacle, Sanctus Reach slipped onto the Steam New Release list. "Wait, what's this? A new 40K game? When did this happen?" I wondered aloud. Then I saw the screenshots and the trailers, and I wasn't sure what to make of it. So I read the forum, and I started to smell something that seemed like hope. Hope that my old dream of a virtual WH40K tabletop would become a reality. So, purchase it, and install it I did. And, much to my most GLORIOUS pleasure, I found it. I finally found it! My white whale! That most elusive of dream became a reality, and it did so quitely - with dignity. Sactus Reach has done this thing, for us. For all of us lost souls, dreaming of a day when we could indulge our secret nerdy desire to pit superhuman space vikings against overgrown greenskin invaders in a TRUE tabletop representation. Buy this game. Support these developers. Keep this dream alive. Keep this ball rolling. Do it for the children of the future. They deserve this. And so do you.
• 

  Nico snow

  Feb 4, 2017

  A Must have for Warhammer geeks . I have tabletop armies too (that I never have/will use) but love painting them and that seemed to draw me into just about everything WH40K. Sanctus Reach is clearly just the 1st installment of a much larger game. Its fun and has plenty of strategy. Well worth the money.
• 

  Paladin

  Feb 8, 2017

  I think I have enjoyed from Warhammer 40k since I was a child. Too bad that figures where so expensive that I had never a chance to buy those. When I grew up I had money, but then there weren't any one to play with. So figures were left in the store. Still I wished to play WH40K. I think it was a late 90 th. I found a game called Final Liberation, a massive battle against green tides of orcs. It was a blast! Then came the Chaos Gate, Ultramarines chapter struggle against chaos forces. Those were epic experiences what I have been wanting to experience again. After that I have played probably all WH40K games found out at the pc. Most of them were major disappointments, so I wasn't expecting too much from Sanctus Reach either, but I gave it a try. Sanctus Reach was a blast! I think this is the best turn based WH40K game. This is the game I have been missing ever since Chaos Gate ended. Sanctus Reach captures tt. experience well. It feel that you actually have those tiny figures who are fighting against orcs. Rules are simple but still good. Hitting the opponent feels like one would be rolling dices. Learning curve is well done. It isn't too simple but not too hard. Units have have strengths and weaknesses, which adds more strategy to the game. In some games you can't have all the units you want, which means that one can't have the perfect army. It gives more variety to missions. Random map generation in a skirmish battles is nice, since you can't expect what happens in the battle. Skirmish battles are defensive, offensive or clash at the middle. Map chances give variation to that, but over all skirmish battles feel the same. I hope that in a future patches skirmish battles would feel more different. Maybe that defensive side would have less units and one would have to defend winning points. Or maybe even hold few points x many turns or escort unit to point x. Over all unit balance is well done. Units are interesting and every patch balances unit more. There are enough diversity in units and many of iconic units are included in both armies. Only real balance issue at current version is the (op) Battlewagon. But in future patches that will be fixed. Also in the first space marine campaign there could be more space marines with anti tank weapons. Game isn't really too hard, but in many missions it felt that I had too little ways to deal with armored units. Unit promotion is something player can't affect. I think it is a bad thing. Some times promotion is disadvantage, which isn't fun. But that happens rarely and usually promotion is a good one. I hope in a future player could choose upgrades. Graphics aren't perfect but not a bad either. While writing this I haven't tried to latest version, but according the patch notes animations should be smoother. I think it makes the game play better experience. I hope that in future there will be more landscapes and more armies. Even with the flaws this is a great game! Like I wrote earlier the best tt. based WH40K game. I hope all those who enjoy from turn-based WH40K games try this game. I hope that we get more games like this in future!
• 

  Commissar Antonios

  Jun 5, 2017

  Well met fellow WH40K maniacs. If you are a veteran in PC gaming and Final Liberation and Chaos Gate were two of your favorite games, look no further!!! Your quest for finding a similar title has ended. Sanctus Reach is a squad/unit turn based strategy game, with basic objectives in every mission/map and with a linear campaign. But Sanctus Reach really shines in combat. Large variety of units for Space Wolves and Orks, cover tactics, fear/panic system when units suffer heavy damage and abilities that make units unique (terminators with stormshield/thunderhammer,teleport ability and iron mantle for extra toughness dominate the battlefield and can bring down ANY ork freak). Scout operations with landspeaders, wolfriders and other units, shock tactics with flamers and close combat specialists and many more strategies you can use in combat. The game can truly offer unique moments, like in mission 2 in first campaign where you have to transfer your units and some rhinos (space marines APC) on the other side of the cannyon through fire,rockets and endless ork reinforcements, i used a terminator unit as a rearguard inside a imperial structure carcass...in one turn they survived 10 attacks...they did buy enough time for the rest of the army, their sacrifice was not in vain. Although the campaigns ARE linear and the objectives are very, very simple/basic the combat system will reward you!!! As for the "new" gamers, you guys better try a demo before buying it. This game is a must buy for '80s and '90s gamers generations, but for the rest of the passionates, cannot recommend it...but better give it a try, you never know. Last notice, the game runs pretty smothly in low end laptops (i5, 2,5ghz, 8 GB ram and intelHD 4000) so have no worries.
• 

  Mojo Amok

  Jun 27, 2017

  I'm editing this review as I go along, but I've really enjoyed this so far. The mechanics are pretty simple, but you can have quite a lot of troops under your command, making it feel a nice balance with the amount of granularity. Positives - Very nice damage tracking with your fire teams; each individual model takes damage individually and the team's firepower degrades as they go down. Units are more vulnerable from the rear and there's even a physics system that tracks the shots and will hit intervening units (friend or foe). - Intuitive and elegant systems for morale and overwatch. - The capabilities of the unit's armor and weapons is well modeled with different weapons performing well or not depending on the appropriateness of the target that they're shooting at - Units level up as they gain kills and you then have a choice between two random abilities (often war gear). There seem to be quite al to of these. - Well crafted level design overall - There is also a random mission and map generator, which is fairly simplistic, but it does work and isn't buggy. - While it does rely on the random map generator for filler missions between the handcrafted ones, there's a pretty good bit of content here with the two campaigns. At 37 hours in, I finished the first campaign and am on the early stages of the second one (maybe that's longer than average and I'm a cautious player?). - The overall graphical fidelity isn't blow away, but the units themselves look pretty good and very much like miniatures on a table (some are actually identical to the current GW model - check the Painboy, for example). While a matter of opinion, the art direction overall is quite credible to my eyes. - Performance is exceptional, with my framerates far surpassing other turn based titles with what I would consider equivalent graphical fidelity. - Excellent support with ongoing patches and new content (we got a new Space Wolf hero for free as I'm writing this). Neutral-atives - Good replay value overall, but you might tire of the scenario objectives being driven by capturing control points each time (rectified in the Weirdly DLC for the Ork campaign to my understanding) - Lots and lots of missions with turn limits that mean you need to attack aggressively - this is probably a love or hate type proposition and I really like how they're done personally, but it's worth noting for people who hated that in XCOM 2. It's not like you're going to be permanently losing veteran units that don't make it to the extraction point or anything, but are often required to press the attack. - This is kinda a positive and a negative conjoined, but you've got a huge number of different unit types for both the Space Wolves and the Orgs, but with only those two factions. The unit variety and how they play is great with your tactical capabilities varying greatly based on what you decided to deploy. However, that's balanced against....only two factions. Negatives - Overall production values aren't great - this comes up with animations, sound effects and particle effects more than anything. All of those points are hit and miss. - The cover system is a bit counterintuitive with lots of LOS breaks cropping up when you aren't really expecting them. - Level design is good as noted, but not all of the missions are balanced as well as they should be. A few missions that I thought should have been highly climactic ended up being far too easy and I was thinking to myself hat I could have completed them with about half as many troops. There were a few where the inverse was true, but these were more related to the procedurally generated missions and outlier scenarios where assorted factors converged (ie. bad troop options and/or placement options for the terrain involved and so on). Overall I've had a lot of fun and its very similar to the now ancient 'Final Liberation: Warhammer Epic 40,000.' Not far off from moving miniatures around on the table either. I definitely see myself playing quite a lot of this one and it's easily worth the asking price for fans of this type gameplay. I really wish Total War: Warhammer had tactical battles that played like this.
• 

  rssmith_4

  Oct 1, 2017

  This is an immersive and enjoyable game which successfully captures the look and feel and spirit (if not actual rules) of the tabletop game. Sure it is a bit rough around the edges compared to some AAA games (thinking animation, sound and some genral presentation/interface clunkiness) but the gameplay itself is satisfying, challenging and fun. There is a decent level of complexity in the combat system with line of sight, morale, zones of control, armour and armour penetration all being taken account, and a large number of melee/ranged weapons, units and vehicles for the two base game factions (Space Marines and Orks). The actual models are very close in resemblance to the game miniatures which is very cool. Continuing support from the dev for the base game and extra content/factions in the form of DLC means this game is continuing to evolve and improve. Recommended if you like WH40K in particular or turn-based strategy in general.
• 

  Dragon

  Nov 23, 2017

  Pros: A very fun game, similar gameplay to the Epic 40k game from the 90's. Probally the closest game to the actual 40k tabletop experience available on steam. (Including inexplicable moments where a titan has trouble taking out a gretchen due to bad dice rolls) Negatives: There are only 3 races currently but hopefully more will be released in the future. It used to be a little buggy but they seem to have sorted them out.
• 

  Turbulent

  Feb 10, 2018

  Pros - Very good 3D modeling of units, models are very very close to the GW hompage model examples. - 40k feeling and environment. - Relatively close feeling to 40k TT than other 40k PC games. (reminds me of epic armageddon during 4th edition) - Turn-based = does not need multitasking & fast mouse speed. Your idea and tactics matter. - Story line of single campaign follows the Sanctus Reach, anyone who read Sanctus Reach would feel more immersion. - Future potential and possibility for next series. - Random list = prevents the emerge of specific meta and balance breaking from MP. Cons - Repetitive campaign with a group of skirmish missions between story missions. This makes the campaign somewhat boring. - AI cheats. They just rely on massive number, and sudden spawn in very cheesy positions of the map. - Only 3 factions only so far, but additional one (Chaos daemons) is planned. - Random list = sometimes this can be an unfair element in MP (but overall MP balance is kinda OK, IMO). - Turn-based = some folks say that turn-based games are boring. This is purely personal taste. - PBEM only MP = needs hotseat mode MP. - No sync kill, and lack of fancy effects. Needs more eyecandy and earcandy. - Not all codex units are appearing in this game, some of units are not introduced. = needs more units from codex. - You cannot choose wargears, you need to fight with what the random list offer to you. I'm OK with this system as well, but I wish this game allow us to a freedom to choose wargears in the future. Overall: - Good quality turn-based 40k strategy game, I recommend this game to any 40k fans. I would give a score 80 over 100. Right now there are some drawbacks, but this game has huge potential for the future. Advice for any ppl who are considering this game: a) Are you 40k fan? b) Do you enjoy turn-based tactical games like XCOM series? c) Have you ever read Sanctus Reach novel? d) Do you think single campaign quality important? e) Do you enjoy turn-based PBEM multiplay? If you say 'yes' to 4~5 questions above, I recommend you to buy this game, you will not regret. If you say 'yes' to 2~3 questions above, then buy this game during sale, or think about the purchase carefully. If you say 'yes to 1 or 0 then don't play this game.
• 

  Jay Abaddon

  Apr 7, 2018

  Sanctus Reach is the Closest you can get to tabletop without the downside of being horribly poor and a having to develop painting skills. 10/10
• 

  rlg007

  Oct 21, 2018

  This is a copy/remake of an old game called Warhammer 40k : Final Liberation. That is kinda a good thing because Final Liberation was a good turn based 40k game. In this game it is fun to stomp around the battle field... for awhile. Then the shine wears off and you realize there is no story and there are no strategic consequences to your actions. Sanctus Reach is just a patch work of little battles that dont really matter. It gives you an option of which battle to fight next on a map, but it doesnt matter what order you go in, they all dont matter. At first I wanted to choose a battle that might be like a flanking move on a strategic scale, but nope it was just another plain battle. It would have been 100000% better if they would make a game with a strategy map with objectives, strategic options, and force pools (force pools that matter - for you and the AI). The game feels like a table top simulator that was released before the strategy part of the game could be make. Too bad, warhammer needs a good strategy PC game (since the Chapter Master game closed down). Buy it on sale if you want a few hours of fun...
• 

  G00N3R

  Oct 29, 2018

  Sanctus Reach is a turn based strategy game set in the Warhammer 40K universe. The player controls the Space Wolves faction in epic battles against the Orks. My knowledge of W40K lore is limited, so this review is intended to judge the quality of the game, not how faithful it is to the source material. The good • Turn based combat is fun to play, and has a lot of tactical depth. Its a bit like Xcom, where the player will move and attack with each of their units individually, and then the CPU will do the same. • Both factions have a wide variety of units available, including melee with chainswords and hammers, ranged with bolters, flamethrowers, rocket launchers and laser cannons, heavy armour, tanks, helicopters and more. • Each unit has a points value, and at the start of every mission you’ll select which units you want to use up to a maximum points total. This allows the player to construct an army that suits your own playing style. • Units gain XP for killing enemies, eventually levelling up and acquiring new abilities, including increased damage, more armour, different types of grenades, and heals. • Positioning is important because its possible to damage your own units with friendly fire, and larger units can block line of sight completely. • Most units automatically get overwatch for free, meaning they can return fire on the enemy’s turn. As many of the Ork units are melee focused, if you bring lots of ranged units, its possible to kill several Orks on their own turn as they rush forward. • The base game includes two lengthy campaigns which provide good value for money. There are also DLC campaigns, which I haven’t played yet, where you can fight against Chaos or play as the Orks. • I didn’t suffer from any bugs or crashes. The bad • Story is extremely basic. Important missions get barely a paragraph of text in the pre-mission briefing to explain what is happening, and skirmish missions get even less than that. Completing a campaign gives you a simple “congratulations” screen before dumping you back at the main menu ... and in fact both campaigns end with the exact same screen. • Remember how I mentioned friendly fire earlier? The AI is a bit stupid and will frequently damage its own units. • No achievements. Not the end of the world, but still worth mentioning. When done intelligently, achievements can extend the life of a game after you’re done with the campaigns, or influence the player to experiment with different playing styles. • Graphics are boring to look at. The colour scheme is mostly grey and brown. • Music is repetitive. I could be wrong, but I felt like the same track was looped endlessly in every mission. • Most units attack twice per turn, and because the Ork horde has dozens of units per mission, on the CPU’s turn it can take several minutes to cycle through all their units, move, attack, attack, move, attack, attack, etc. Eventually I realised there’s an option in the menu to put movement on fast forward – I strongly advise enabling this. The recommendation Sanctus Reach is a good game which has enjoyable gameplay, and although its let down by poor presentation, I’d still recommend it to fans of the strategy genre.
• 

  WOLFENSTEIN

  Jul 28, 2019

  I would like to thumbs up this game but it was too shallow and the reviews too inflated. The idea of the game is great and is essentially what every warhammer fan has wanted. With that said, its super repetitive and the strategy is limited. It has a bunch of potential to increase on the latter by improving terrain bonuses, unit leveling, defenses, and the campaign map. You basically pick regions linearly with little to no background. The rest is monotonous clicking and waiting for enemy turns. I hope they build upon this game as it could be a really awesome game. I just finished the two base game dlcs and cannot imagine buying a DLC.
• 

  bear_storm

  Apr 23, 2020

  This isn't a strong 'no'. The game's a decent turn-based tactics with Myth-style unit progression across multiple missions, as well as a variety of playable races (i.e. a few, provided you have the dlc.) The playable races feel different, and work best with different strategies (just as in the tabletop wargame). And overall the tactics side of things is mostly satisfying, and moderately deep. If you get this to play against your friends, I'd imagine it would be pretty fun. However, if you're like me and you play tactics games for the campaign mode, you're not going to have a great time. Not because the game is fundamentally bad, but because the campaign is artificially bloated with meaningless non-content. There isn't much writing in Sanctus Reach, and that's sort of okay. This is a gameplay first experience. However, for every actual mission, you have to play three or four generic skirmishes against the AI, each one lasting a bit under an hour. The skirmishes are okay, but they're not what anyone plays a campaign for. And putting the next campaign mission behind them creates a grindwall that isn't fun to climb over---even if you're willing to melt 30+ hours doing so. Probably a sixth of my playtime is campaign missions. The rest is skirmishes. Over the course of 30+ hours, I cleared the first campaign and started on the second. During those 30+ hours, I played about 7 hours of content, and 23 hours of generic skirmish mission x3. In the hopes that maybe the dlc fixed this, I dipped into those, and they have the same issue. My suspicion is the devs tried to pump up the playtime to make it seem like this game was better value for its money, but this is not the way to do that. It's the equivalent of forcing the player to stomp the same goomba a couple hundred times in order to play the next level of mario. As things stand, if you want to play this game for its campaign, find some good podcasts and get ready to waste a majority share of your time on skirmishes. If there's a mod that removes them, or if you're planning to only do PvP, then this might be a safe buy on sale. Otherwise, caveat emptor.
• 

  Failed Turing Test

  Jul 19, 2020

  This game could be good, but just...has so many annoying things to it. I have been playing 40k itself, tabletop wise, since the early 90's. This game comes the closest to emulating the game itself, which is probably why it hasn't existed until now. But it has not been well tested and needed more development. Some issues in the list: -Whatever unit kills something gets all of the experience, even if it's 1 damage point. This makes you want to avoid using max level units, and draw out games to only finish games with units you want to level up. -Basically all of the missions are really just victory point holding. It's boring as hell. Just kill the enemy and take VP's as you go. No variation. Play one campaign and it's pretty much covered. -Weapon roles are largely unimportant. A squad of heavy bolters which should mow down an enemy squad with ease? Typically less effective than a rhino with a storm bolter. Wanting to take down a tank? A storm bolter from behind will mess that thing up, but lascannons are kinda a joke and they should treat that armour like butter. Similarly, unless you have a close combat ability that hits all units in the squat (like the venerable dreadnaught) close combat is nearly useless in comparison. -RELATEDLY, your GIANT TANK is being hit by a dude with a stick. You cannot move your tank. It's locked in close combat. In any realistic situation it could not only drive away, but run it down. Like in real life and in 40k. But in this game? NOPE. -ALSO: You're in base to base contact with a giant damn tank...but you're close...(And remember, the tank isn't allowed to move in close combat, so it's not like it's moving). You now have a 20% chance to hit this IMMOBILE BARN. -Sooo many missions they just decide not to let you take transports, or otherwise have very heavy amounts of units with minimal mobility, which makes those missions very annoying, and low mobility units just don't really get used. I really could just take this list onward, but the point is that I've played 40k for decades, and love seeing a computer version of it, but this is just straight up boring and filled with annoying problems that could have been figured out with someone just playing through a partial campaign, let alone the whole game, if they could bother.
• 

  Auchit

  Dec 1, 2020

  Repetitive. For me it fell into the category of match-3; a time killer. Bought it on sale, didn't expect a lot due to the many Warhammer games of mediocre quality. It wasn't buggy or misleading just not real engaging. i.e. nothing wrong with it, just can't recommend it.