The first Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus explored the culture and purpose of the Adeptus Mechanicus, a sort of technological monk class within the Imperium of Man, the largest political force in the galaxy. Imagine an engineer with a mind designed by an all-consuming government bent on maintaining its power by exploiting the cheapest resource it has available: human life.

Pretty heavy stuff for a turn-based strategy game, even for a universe like Warhammer. This was a game made for the hardcore fans, by the hardcore fans.

Now Warhammer enthusiasts have a huge reason to get excited about the upcoming sequel, Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II. The Adeptus Mechanicus won’t just be fighting the ancient humanoid force known as the Necrons—this time, players will get a chance to see the battle from the Necrons' point-of-view, with the mysterious robotic species getting their own fully-featured and distinct campaign.
 

The Necrons awaken

Warhammer fans knew the basics of the Adeptus Mechanicus faction going into Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus, but the teams at Bulwark Studios and Kasedo Games knew they'd need a lot more detail to fill up an entire game told from the Mechanicus' point-of-view.

“When you have a series of leaders playable in a Mechanicus game, and from a game design point of view you need for them to play quite differently, with their own unique traits and unique play styles? We kinda had to push the bounds of what the priests have so far been doing in the background and how they've been shown," said Tony Cross, Product Manager at Kasedo Games.

Fans ate it up, and Emmanuel Monnereau, Creative Director of Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II and co-owner of Bulwark Studios, knew that the community was fixated on one central idea when it came time to create a sequel.

“There was one piece of recurrent feedback that we read dozens of times, where players asked if Necrons were playable in the original Mechanicus,” said Monnereau. “If we were committing to a sequel, we knew we couldn't ignore this.” Making the Necrons playable was one of the changes that spurred the team into creating the sequel, in fact. “It was one of the initial core pillars that kickstarted the project.”

You’ll be able to select whether you’d like to play as the Adeptus Mechanicus or the Necrons when you begin Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II. Both campaigns will tell the same story—but from a different point of view.

“It's been a real challenge at several levels. First we had to write a story for the campaign that can sustain hours of gameplay as the Adeptus Mechanicus, but also as the Necrons,” said Monnereau. “Each event happening during the Adeptus Mechanicus campaign should be interesting to experience and reflect on the Necrons—and vice versa.”

It was also important that each campaign look and feel distinct.

“It'll certainly play quite differently, to be honest, comparing the Necron campaign to the Mechanicus campaign,” Cross explained. “Going in, one of the things we knew would be really important—it can’t look the same as the Mechanicus campaigns, even down to the UI. Everything’s very much geared towards the Necrons.”

This meant that, like the Adeptus Mechanicus in the first game, the team at Bulwark Studio had to work with Games Workshop (the company behind the Warhammer universe) to come up with characters and units that fit the game, and to make sure the details, tone, and feel of the Necron faction came through in every aspect—both as antagonists against the Imperium in one campaign and heroes for their own faction in the other.

“If we say we need a whole, whole lot more Necron Lords than you currently have, miniature-wise—rather than us inventing a bunch of things that they potentially don't like, [Games Workshop] says, ‘That department will come up with some designs,’ which is quite cool,” Cross explained.

The story of the first Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus was often conveyed via multiple characters who often disagreed with each other about how to approach each situation, while ultimately leaving the decisions up to the player. But the Necron campaign will have a very different framing.

“There's going to be a narrator, essentially—almost in the style of a Homeric epic. We have a character from the Necrons who is almost narrating what's going on in their current campaign,” Cross explained. “It should feel very different from the Mechanicus campaign. Also more fitting, I think, for the Necron faction.”

You’ll need to play both campaigns to get the full story, and Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II will also feature multiple endings, with many chances for players to decide how the story unfolds. Telling the same conflict from two points of view gives the narrative more room to breathe, although that approach also came with its own challenges.

“You'll play through one, and you'll see events from one side. Then you'll see the events from the other side, and it will start filling in blanks as you're playing,” Cross said, outlining how the campaigns work together. “It’s obviously challenging creating an interweaving narrative where the campaigns can run alongside each other and not necessarily contradict, depending on player actions, but it's been an interesting challenge.”

To get the “true ending” of Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II (as the team puts it), you’ll want to fully explore both sides of the campaign.

If you’re not already a Warhammer enthusiast and you feel a little lost reading all this? Don’t worry—the second game will also work harder to make sure newer players aren’t expected to know all the lore the moment the game begins.

“I used to work at Games Workshop in the main studio, producing the publication of the Codexes and rule books,” said Cross, “And as an editor, one of my main jobs is making sure it’s accessible to new people. I think Mechanicus was great in terms of the authenticity, because the universe is very strange—but I think a lot of people were worried about being overwhelmed by it. With Mechanicus II we’re trying to soften that introduction a bit.”
 

Take cover—or destroy it

“One thing I'm really proud of is the combat system. We iterated on it to make it feel more brutal and fluid in Mechanicus II, without sacrificing the depth of making interesting tactical choices.” said Monnereau. “In both campaigns, you're leading platoons composed of a leader (with a unique progression system) accompanied by expendable troops. And what matters most is completing the mission, even if there are losses in your ranks.”

The two campaigns didn't just need to look different and provide new perspectives on the same story. It was important that the two factions play differently as well. One of the most important ways this is achieved in Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II is the addition of cover—a system that didn’t exist in the first game, although the team noticed that many players intuitively played as if cover were a factor.

“People clearly want cover, and they played the original Mechanicus that way,” Cross said. There was no bonus for keeping your units behind a wall or breaking line-of-sight, but players moved their units in such a way that it looked like they would be more protected, even if the game’s rules didn’t take cover into account. If the team was going to add cover to Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II though, they wanted to make sure it helped differentiate the two factions from each other.    

“I mean, we've got Necron soldiers who just move mercilessly forward. They're not gonna be ducking behind cover,” Cross explained. “Cover will definitely be utilized more by the Mechanicus, and that makes for quite an interesting gameplay dynamic. You'll see them trying to create cover through destructible terrain, whereas the Necrons are trying to deny them that cover…The main goal was making them play very differently.”

The battle isn’t just underground

The second huge addition to Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II are the outposts you’ll be able to build and upgrade along with your units, with gameplay that will take place on the surface of the planet as well as underground. Where you place your leaders on the map will matter in terms of upgrades and bonuses—but using them to hold ground means that they won’t be available to send into combat. Thinking strategically about the best use for each of your units will be crucial to winning.

“With Mechanicus II, the main aim was introducing these additional gameplay layers—particularly this top-level fight for the world, where you'll have kind of a strategic resource management and spending thing going on, as well as taking territories and holding territories,” Cross explained, the excitement coming through in his voice. “That will then impact how the battles play out as well.”

This aspect of the game was yet another way for the team at Bulwark Studios to make the two campaigns feel very different. The Necrons are placed in a defensive role, trying to defend their tomb complexes as more of their forces join the battle. The Adeptus Mechanicus, on the other hand, will be focused on building resource generators in different territories, expanding their abilities and power on the battlefield.

Sometimes you’ll take new areas, sometimes areas will be taken from you, but paying attention to the game’s strategic level will be crucial. Where you keep your leaders, and whether you send them into battle or use them to hold sections of the map, may determine whether you’re the most powerful force in a battle or the weakest.

The time pressure from the original Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus also returns. If you decide to explore and build your power as the Adeptus Mechanicus, you’ll be giving the Necrons more time to activate their troops and amass power on the map. In other words? Time is the fire in which you’ll burn, although there will also be missions that allow you to walk back some of the Necrons' gains if you spend too much time planning and moving into position. Everything you do comes at a price, and you’ll want to keep a close eye on the clock to make sure you’re balancing risk and reward.

And yes, there is a canonical ending to the original Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus, and characters will react to the fallout from the first game as you play through both campaigns. As for who ends up looking better after Mechanicus II…the real question is why do you expect there to be “heroes” in a Warhammer game at all?

“There aren’t many games where you get a full fledged Necron campaign with Necron characters with their own flaws and motives,” Cross said, chuckling. “I think the great thing about the Warhammer universe, for me, is there really aren't any good guys. When you get to see the different justifications from both sides, it really highlights how the Imperium aren't necessarily the good guys.”

Want to get caught up on the story before Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II releases? You can pick up Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus on the Epic Games Store.