Warhammer Chaosbane is the latest in a long list of Warhammer tie-ins. Developed by Eko Software and published by Bigben Interactive, you take on the role of one of four heroes, in this loot driven Diablo-esque action-RPG, as you attempt to thwart yet another attempt by the forces of Chaos as they try to infiltrate the Old World.
It isn’t a completely terrible game but nor is it up to par with the increasing quality of Warhammer tie-ins (Total War: Warhammer for example) and nor does it come close to Diablo, the game it is clearly trying to imitate.
You can view the Warhammer Chaosbane story trailer below:
You get to choose from four different heroes each with their own playstyles, strengths and weaknesses. You can pick from Dwarf Slayer, Wood Elf Archer, High Elf Mage and Empire Captain. Although each character does have a different skill set I found myself playing them in a pretty similar way.
Despite all of the skills and attacks, you can unlock as you progress I found they did little to alter my playstyle. It was always simply a case of spamming a basic attack, use an AOE attack when you get surrounded and use an attack that regenerates health when you’re taking damage.
I spent most of my time playing as the Dwarf Slayer, as anyone in their right mind could only want to play as a suicidal maniac with a ginger mohawk surely!? The Slayer is a melee class and uses two massive axes to mow down the enemy. All of his attacks are based around axe swings and although they all supposedly do different things I didn’t really see much difference in them. I found myself using just three attacks as I described above with the occasional axe throw here and there for good measure. To put it bluntly, the grind through the dungeons to get to the bosses is dull and repetitive.
The environments vary from sewers and city streets to forest scenes but they all kid of blend into one and though they are beautifully made they become repetitive very quickly. There is also a story in there somewhere but to be honest I lost interest very quickly. To sum up the story: Chaos is bad, kill Chaos.
Next, we come to the loot. In games like this loot should be everything but sadly Chaosbane doesn’t really deliver on this front either. The amount of drops is staggering but each item really only offers a small stat upgrade. All of the loot pieces also look very similar so there is nothing to make your character stand out. I found the looting became somewhat arbitrary.
Thankfully the inventory system made it very quick and easy to see when an item could offer me an advantage. I would have liked to have seen armour sets that once complete would offer unique bonuses and abilities. This would make me want to repeat bosses in order to complete the set.
So far so bad but there are a few shining lights in Chaosbane. The boss fights were a refreshing change from the grind of the dungeons with some interesting mechanics to learn. I also found one aspect of the general combat to be awesome. As you slaughter your way through the Chaos hordes they can release orbs of bloodlust, collect enough of these and you can trigger your bloodlust ability and basically go even more bat shit crazy killing everything in your path with massively enhanced killing power.
I also found the game much more enjoyable when playing with other people and the addition of 4-player local co-op could be the game’s saving feature. I can imagine being in a party with your friends as you slay enemy after enemy being quite good fun. Chaosbane isn’t particularly taxing on the brain so you’d have plenty of time for chat and banter meaning Chaosbane could be an enjoyable way to while away an evening.
If you want a sneak peek you can watch me take down the first boss in the video below:
To sum up, Warhammer Chaosbane doesn’t quite do it for me, this is mainly down to the very repetitive nature of the combat and the lack of variety in loot and environments. Thankfully the boss battles are great and the local co-op is a real winner. I’m not really sure what the Warhammer licence brings to the party either as I didn’t really feel like I’d been thrust into a different world.
Warhammer Chaosbane was reviewed using a digital code supplied by the publisher.
Publisher: Bigben Interactive Developer: Eko Software Release Date: 31st May, 2019 Reviewed On: PC/Steam Also Available On: PS4, Xbox One
