James Lynch 
In a slight departure from the usual Kalypso published content, there was a presentation of Bulwark Studios’ Warhammer 40k: Mechanicus at this years Gamescom, where we got the rundown of the main features, and what fans can expect on the lore side of things.
As the first licensed Warhammer game to feature the Adeptus Mechanicus as a fully controllable race, this turn-based strategy title follows Magos Dominus Faustinius as he leads an expedition to the newly rediscovered planet of Silva Tenebris. Tech Priests are your best soldiers with regular troops providing the much needed fodder in the face of a fairly intimidating enemy. The Priests themselves can have their limbs “upgraded” (and when I say upgraded I mean removed), and replaced with arms and legs made from the blessed metal of the Omnissiah. These changes will grant additional bonuses to how they function in combat, as well as unlocking new options entirely. In a further nice touch, these augments are reflected in the 3D models of the priests, changing their look for the rest of the play-through.
You control your ground team from the Ark Mechanicus, guiding them through the treacherous dungeons of the game. There are also choices, from which your responses will affect the experience to come, either making it easier or more difficult. Movement has an interesting mechanic, as you are able to move a certain distance for free with anything further than that costing a limited resource know as “condition points”. These can be regained from killing enemies during the battle, meaning finding the right balance and knowing when to extend yourself will prove the key to success.
The standard weapons are, of course, guns but there is a melee mechanic for close quarters fighting. The other critical thing to note is that once the enemy Necrons have been downed, they are not necessarily out. They will need to be finished off on the ground before you can truly breathe a sigh of relief. Lastly, the battle environment does play its part, with enemies crawling up the walls and out of pits on the sides of bridges and similar structural features on the landscape, meaning avoiding getting flanked is a really big deal.
The solid release date for this one is November 15th for Windows, Mac and Linux.
