Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Review

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader reviewed by Leana Hafer on PC.
Even in such a banner year for RPGs, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader stands out as one you wouldn't want to miss. Excellent writing, great combat, and the chance to get up close and personal with some of the most interesting and exciting elements of the 40K universe makes for a stimulating gore-feast of a journey. Its systems are a complicated beast to master and the bugs are numerous and significant, but it speaks to the quality of everything surrounding them that they didn't sour the experience more than they did. Owlcat has taken a proud step forward as an RPG developer to keep an augmentic eye on. Count this one among the Imperium's finest.

[@ronuss]

If you played pathfinder games you know what to expect. deep learning curve, deep mechanics, lots of rp, and lots of small bugs through out the game. if you enjoy 40k as well, this is a must buy. Honestly the best 40k game ever made tbh.

[@olmsfam1]

This developer always releases nearly broken but great games due to their ambition outstripping their talent. However they age like fine wine as the bugs are patched out and the gem polishes.

[@Kagato9885]

@@olmsfam1 Indeed, WotR is an absolutely amazing game but when it released back in 2021 it was a bug-ridden mess. Hell, the devs are still pumping out patches and fixing stuff. So we can expect the exact same thing with Rogue Trader.

[@LTG22]

No, that is still Dawn Of War.

[@stevens9625]

And just like Pathfinder, you probably want to wait for Owlcat to put out a major patch first.

[@5686darryl]

agree 100%

[@marcos.bastos1905]

Game is absolutely amazing and made me read up on Warhammer 40k lore which is awesome but people say the later acts are pretty buggy. I'm in the beginning of act 2 and no bugs so far, but I'll take my time.

[@daddyyu-gi-oh4330]

Check out the Night Lords omnibus Soul Hunter Blood Reaver Void Stalker Listen to the audiobooks and come back and thank me when you’re done

[@risshizentsukuyomi]

most of them show up in Chapter 4, with a few in Chapter 3

[@carbodude5414]

After Baldur's Gate 3, this is the perfect game for those who want something similar but with guns and power armor

[@bingobongo1615]

And extreme character progression and combat depth

[@ObjectiveAnalysis]

This is far better than BG3. The writing alone is in a different league (and this is coming from someone who’s favourite game of all time is Baldurs Gate 2)

[@hervegirod1479]

@@ObjectiveAnalysis The game is a fest of major bugs beginning with Act 3. And there are a lot of uninteresting combats which look like fillers, which also have a lot of flaws in their mechanics.

[@Childofbhaal]

@@hervegirod1479BG3 is a buggy mess too and that act 3 was horrible and unfinished

[@hervegirod1479]

@@ChildofbhaalYou know its not true

[@Cronta90]

Well to be honest servitors bugging into a T pose may actually be canon 😅

[@jacquesjtheripper5922]

So will b a 9 easy after some patches. A must have for me

[@paulszki]

so wait until actually "some patches" are out and not buy right away.

[@Yuxkta]

@@MonkiKim Not every game needs voice acting

[@suddenimpulse030]

@@MonkiKim you must be a kid

[@kaiocortes]

Its an 8. You're welcome.

[@wrathfirex]

But but but... iGN always gives 7 😮. Thank you by the way

[@geoolympics]

@@wrathfirex that means they found it EXCEPTIONAL, anything above 7 is amazing.

[@ericjohnson6476]

Thanks bro

[@christianflex4all]

Ty big daddy

[@GENESIS.50-20]

Without bugs its a 10?

[@ohdubwest7533]

Owlcat is making quite the name for themselves.

[@ThisIsJarges]

for the most bugged games ever, yeah.

[@MrMegamansx]

@@ThisIsJarges nobody will top blizzard or bethesda in this regard

[@user-ii4rv3ti3n]

​@@ThisIsJargesdid you forget bethesda was a studio?

[@jimmythegamer2231]

​@@MrMegamansx Larian and Act 3 of BG3 says hi. And for the record, games like Diablo 4 from Blizzard were never that buggy

[@XXveny]

Owlcat is like a grandma who gives you sweets after everyone else refused to :D

[@thefrenchspacer]

its not bugs heretic, it warp anomalies!!

[@Spinnekk]

Games of this complexity always need a few more months of patching after release...

[@ThisIsJarges]

Owlcat games need years of patching, not months

[@RaphaelAmbrosiusCosteau51]

@@ThisIsJarges do you really have nothing better to do than leave a bunch of hate comments about this studio on an IGN review?

[@shamelor5430]

@@RaphaelAmbrosiusCosteau51 he is not wrong though, their previous games has tons of bugs even after a few years of patches, pathfinder is unplayable on the consoles at all

[@thisismyhandle16]

​@@shamelor5430I played it quite fine on console

[@nahqiv]

@@RaphaelAmbrosiusCosteau51 their pathfinder games literally have game-breaking save file issues. And apparently, this one is no exception. Yeah, it's justified.

[@2nd_Directorate]

There is a mod called Toybox which let´s you sidestep nearly all bugs, which are mission advancements won´t trigger. It is bug free enough, BUT if something happens it is most of the time a mission advancement. Edit for new players: Keep Idra Tlass in your group. her +1 to Psyker Rating due to her being unsactioned makes her so extremely powerful later on. Especially paired with Cassia and her abilitie to keep the veil intact.

[@alexanderbakulin8836]

She's horrible. The worst companion in the game. Veil degradation is not the issue, the issue is that she has a 5% chance to cause an anomaly on every cast. She constanly summons demons in the middle of the fight, while veil is healthy. It's not worth of +1 psy rating. You can pump psy rating of your sanctioned psyker instead . For example, there's an item that gives +4 psy rating for iconoclast character

[@alshabib5849]

Ableard, throw this witch sympathizer out of the airlock

[@archavenx]

This game has a lot of fun and it's 9 for me personally. If it wasn't for the bugs it would have been 9.5. Ask ourselves which game that is out today that doesn't have bugs? Anyway the game devs are notorious for bugs though which probably all due to limited resources and financial.

[@perer005]

The bugs will be erradicated, Brother!

[@virtualpilgrim8645]

If you don't like bugs, then don't play a game when it first comes out. Give it at least two years when the price is half and the bugs worked out.

[@suddenimpulse030]

@@virtualpilgrim8645 people don't have this mentality with any other product. absurd.

[@elmhurstenglish5938]

​@@suddenimpulse030True, but other products are other products. This is the reality of gaming whether we wish it so or not.

[@nevermore7285]

@@suddenimpulse030I mean, most other products don’t get regular updates.

[@CesarIsaacPerez]

Going to be my first Owlcat game. I've enjoyed Chaosgate and Mechanicus, and I'm also interested in Realms of Ruin.

[@Protagoras_42]

The Pathfinder games (Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous) are awesome.

[@surgen5101]

how was it?

[@Spitfire-zx7rj]

I'll wait till they smooth the bugs out. Was looking forward to play asap but even when it's their 3rd game I'm bit disappointed to see the game still riddle with bugs

[@Kentbrockmann]

Insanely fun, but the bugs have lost me about 6 hours all up just in act 1 alone. The difficulty curve is also incredibly steep after act 1

[@DontKnow-hr5my]

The difficulty curve suddenly shoots up, is around 2.30 tall, armored like a walking tank and charges you with a heavy bolter

[@Pharaohmolo]

A question for those who’ve played it: is an evil run fun? Is it nuanced or not as interesting as the other convictions?

[@discovermajid]

mere mortal, the Emperor commanded to maim all doubters

[@Ederius939]

If I'm being real, most of the game is an evil run except one specific path, so I'd say yeah it's pretty fun

[@whiskeybravo5567]

Dogmatic and Chaos (heretical) both have their merits. They both have significant costs as well. Unfortunately for chaos in particular, those familiar with the universe will find that it was integrated nowhere near as well as it could have been and there is no feature that allows you to corrupt or kill off many companions, like there should be. Their treatment of the rogue trader as somebody learning about chaos with no knowledge of the pantheon was cleverly done, at least.

[@HrHaakon]

@@whiskeybravo5567 It's kinda fun because if you DO know about the pantheon, and you see certain symbols and colours, etc. you're immediately turning to Sister Argenta and asking her to prep the flamer. The *heavy* flamer.

[@Mercator89]

Heretical run is definitely lacking compared to the other two. Gonna need some more content and story narratives figured out.

[@darkokotev]

30 hours in and didnt encountered any bugs, the game is awsome.

[@KarmikCykle]

I love a crunchy RPG, I grew up on D&D 3rd edition/3.5. I couldn't get into BG3 because I do not care for 5e. So getting all that crunch in the 40k setting without focusing completely on the Space Marines sounds right up my alley.

[@johnfink9020]

@@KarmikCykle 3.5e ftw!

[@scotlandsbest6039]

if this game was fully voice acted it would go up a point for me or if it was narrated by someone its missing something like that so much

[@coldsting7580]

It seems bg3 spoiled you 🤣

[@suddenimpulse030]

voice acting is insanely expensive especially quality VA.

[@kapitankapital6580]

​@@coldsting7580 Tbf I'm pretty sure the Pathfinder games had more VA than Rogue Trader.

[@deficit06]

@@kapitankapital6580 also, tbf for owlcat rogue trader is more experimental and had a chance of failure, while pathfinder is their popular game

[@FABIOZITO11]

Rogue Trade needs the Disco Elysium: The Final Cut treatment

[@BillJohn-jg2fg]

IGN kudos for getting an actual warhammer fan to review this. When the reviewer has obvious passion for the title it gives the review much more credence.

[@terraxptan]

Game is great finished today and for a WH40k game even a happy ending was possible.

[@rickkhemai1443]

a happy ending in wh 40k is ultra heresy

[@Dr.Akakia]

Inquisitor eneters...

[@GigglePig2000]

Is it possible to keep on playing after the ending?

[@barryvercueil2346]

Absolutely brilliant game.

[@suddenimpulse030]

broken as heck in act 4 and 5.

[@bobalert5485]

@@suddenimpulse030 What's broken can be fixed, but a bad game can't

[@TonkarzOfSolSystem]

Imagine the entire original point of the setting being a fresh take.

[@davenic2471]

These devs totally earned my respect for fixing the ps5 performance so quickly. At launch it was consistently running in the low 50s and dropping below that constantly, now it's running at a rock solid 60 frames basically 100% of the time.

[@LordShrub]

Runs great on my cogitator.

[@chrisdupuis2523]

Typical Pony, nothing to say about story lines, characters, game play, or anything else. Nope, straight to the frame rate.

[@SemperSalam]

Lot of fun but I’m afraid to progress too far due to all the bugs.

[@linhliver]

will they fix them soon?

[@KaitoGillscale]

As someone who played this back in the beta...they have been and will keep crushing bugs. It's a fantastic game, but back in the beta the bugs were WAY worse. Give it time...sometimes it's best to report the bugs and wait for them to respond.

[@shahman76]

Don’t be. The bugs I’ve seen so far are just, mildly annoying but nothing game breaking. PS5 player here though

[@BrendenEngelbrecht]

@@shahman76I had to stop playing due to game breaking bugs. Great game, but holey moley the bugs are real.

[@ThisIsJarges]

@@linhliverthey wont, pathfinder games are still bugged

[@Unknown-SwedeX]

Absolutely love the game, favorite game this year for me this and aliens dark decent.

[@MaxBlair]

Loved Dark Descent also, needs more love. Was on the fence about Rogue trader but will wait for a physical edition

[@jamesgornall5731]

DD was sublime

[@eldar-ps]

Loved Darked Descent, this comment sold me on this game

[@kuuro_7712]

40k games are on a roll recently. Got my fingers crossed for a fire warrior reboot

[@Goatboy451]

If they bring out Warhammer 40,000: Ork Warboss, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

[@jamesgornall5731]

Maybe next if they can make enough money

[@MrFroggster]

Just an 8?...it is an awesome warhammer classic/strategic rpg.

[@AWY-LO]

8 is a fair score with all the bugs they currently have.

[@koolunit]

Its IGN.

[@MrFroggster]

@@AWY-LO BG3 also had or has many bugs.

[@AWY-LO]

@@MrFroggster yup but not as pronounced.

[@thisismyhandle16]

​@@AWY-LOIt was also in early access for 3 years which helped

[@BiosTheo]

There are three bugs that will brick your save, two in Act 4 and one in Act 5. Multiple bridge scenes and romance scenes also will fail to trigger throughout Act 2, which will block all subsequent scenes.

[@JohannaFlow]

A masterpiece as writing goes. Felt like i ve been reading the most epic interactive WH40k Book. Sure aint a perfect game, but kept me captivated from start to end, and for that, I belive is the most amazing game i played within wh40k universe.

[@ChiTownTx]

Honestly just got done with this one and it's probably the best 40k game out to date. Many hours of gameplay and the story is amazing and reactive to the choices you make.

[@ObjectiveAnalysis]

30 hours in and this is the biggest and best game I’ve played since Baldurs Gate 2 twenty years ago. Its already one of my favourite games of all time. Buy it!

[@EvgenijGr]

2:50 «Can feel like reading an academic paper on differential equations» That’s oddly specific! As someone who constantly uses and teaches differential equations, I’m quite intrigued 😂

[@gagnorblu]

It’s hilarious to find out that Games Workshop decided to put the kibosh on dating some of the characters compared to BG3.

[@leonharris9400]

It is quite misleading to complain about lots of bugs, but then near the end of the video say the most of the bugs have been removed. A review should be based on what the game is at the video/game's release, not what is was before.

[@paulszki]

there is no contradiction. it had a ton of bugs, now it "only" has a lot of bugs.

[@theamazingbatboy]

On the contrary. The reviewer should write about their experience playing the game, along with any caveats or updates they're aware of before publishing. It's not their job to provide patch notes and damage control for the game.

[@BloodBuffalo]

Im excited for this. Probably buying very soon.

[@jonathankilby6636]

Bugs? Honestly haven't found any massive ones myself.

[@blackfistxu7953]

Fantastic RPG! I’ll be playing this game for well over 100 hours

[@jamesgornall5731]

The bolter noise alone adds an extra .5 to the score

[@MR67UToob]

Great game but the spaceship combat can be really difficult at times and really needs an overhaul!

[@doomzstrafe2749]

The constant comparison to BG3 is annoying af.

[@GiantBat]

It's a great game, but yeah the bugs are kinda annoying. Also some of the NPC's AI can be erratic at times. Overall it's a solid game though

[@popejpv]

ngl id kinda just want a party of imperial storm trooper types

[@willumbermarchant5510]

A 40k game where the biggest glitch is that the steam achievements are fcked. That immediately makes it the best game of all time!

[@HAL_NOVEMILA]

Ah, if only it was the biggest glitch... From ACT IV it's pretty much unplayable :-|

[@willumbermarchant5510]

@HAL_NOVEMILA only playing multiplayer so it's gonna take me a year to get there

[@HAL_NOVEMILA]

I'm loving the game, but the sheer amount of quest breaking bugs are simply unacceptable...

[@thisting4524]

Is there any game that you’re happy with?

[@Aaron14LifeZZZ]

UI reminds me of Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous, also made by OwlCat Games

[@angelaraya9268]

really liking this game

[@gamer-sf6qp]

Ive stopped playing it for now because Frame drops are bad on ps5 and also when you select performance mode its blurry even on quality mode its bad games fun but they need to sort it

[@AW-wf2dx]

A breath of fresh air compared to the disastrous PC Gamer review.

[@wb3159]

Its the best 40k video game yet

[@Mickyfitz96]

Let’s stop saying intentionality when we mean approach/attitude

[@Mistychan]

So what was this OP skill combo that leads to "near infinity damage"?

[@efoxneo]

Will get it in a year or so. Almost every game comes out half baked on release. Will get BG3 the second it goes on sale during the holidays.

[@dch528]

Idk man, BG3 was amazing out of the gate

[@melodiasrojas8428]

​@@dch528it had5some bugs too

[@archavenx]

you should do the opposite if you are actually smart. the reason for a buggy game is because bg3 has a very huge development budget. where as this has a small budget. they are tied with limited funding and resource. talented gamedevs are rare these days. bg3 is already a great success and the money has already poured in. i'll probably go and buy the season pass just to support owlcat.

[@dch528]

@@melodiasrojas8428 yeah, so? Every modern game that comes out has some bugs. It is still an amazing experience. I’m not going to sit here and excuse buggy releases given the current climate, but BG3 is an exception. It’s a once in a decade caliber game.

[@danijelkotur1720]

​@@dch528 it was played on realse sometime whennu attack u dont get animation it is just stuck then fast foward game had ton of bugs now it is beter in fact now it is time to play it

[@vitaminc2161]

just like the previous owlcat games it needs at least 1 year before really bug free

[@evilmiera]

Yeah, unfortunate but true.

[@kevinedwards8122]

With all the patches and updates a year later, it's easily up there in the 9 category. It will never hit the main stream highs of baldur's gate. But if your a 40k lore snob. It is just as good now

[@Mrdresden]

I'll grab this in a few years when OwlCat has stabilized the game.

[@Blackwolf-gr6ch]

it is definitely you using the old, there are bugs but nothing as bad as you have personally an 8 for me

[@geoffok]

This game looks (visuals) *exactly* like Inquisitor: Martyr. Does GW provide some sort of engine for these games or something?

[@Arhatu]

Buggy but if you leave that part out, undoubtably the best PC game of 2023.

[@SonySteals]

Don’t buy it on ps5. Game constantly crashes (also during saving), loadings are insane, controls are terrible and battles aren’t pleasant enough to justify these. It’s a half baked mid product that will maybe become 8/10 one day. MAYBE. Now the experience is more like 6/10 and that’s just because writing is decent. It feels like and an old game that aged poorly. Shame.

[@serahcornelia]

So much focus on Argenta combat in the video...

[@ianjohne]

So it's like a Baldurs Gate 3 with robots and guns

[@kingbugs3558]

Lol no, not robots.

[@leon4545]

Visual language!! its pretty much every D&D game does! every Pathfinder is text heavy and so are Obsidian crpgs.

[@xtruthx]

Realms of ruin is a way more polished game, and everyone is crapping on it and not giving it any chance of surviving. Very sad to see.

[@chakradarrat8832]

amount of content

[@Edward_242]

I'd normally buy this in a heartbeat but all the reports about bugs are making me hesitate.

[@CENB71]

It's toleratable imo, the fun of the game made me ignore bugs.

[@archavenx]

they are a small studio. these gamedevs are extinct. it's true that myself personally is annoyed by these bugs. but there are reasons for that. financial and resource. hence i'm looking to buy the season pass just to support them.

[@raindrain1]

Give it another month or two. The game is playable but once the major (progress-blocking) bugs are fixed it's going to be amazing.

[@jirehchua]

nun shall stand in my way - Argenta, Sisters of Battle

[@protheus1452]

Ok, is there also a spyware like the one the studio put into the Pathfinder?

[@crookedsmile8474]

🐸 Spyware? 🐸

[@Joey-mr3sk]

"Never stops being a research project to find out what the talent actually does" Ah yes so EXACTLY like playing 40k

[@myhatelect]

Is your voice digitally slowed down to hit ten minutes? Its really odd

[@tavakio]

the only points it falls short of bg3 are graphics , voice acting and variety of choice , in terms of content, story , mechanics its on par or better

[@verde5738]

Variety of choice? You have to be joking, BG3 is as shallow as a puddle compared to Rogue Trader.

[@azku]

Variety of choice as a plus point for BG3?

[@Mikebrowski]

OH THIS WAS FROM OWLCAT they are like liran studio, but more walmart

[@jerryreynolds5700]

Justice for Prospero

[@GeoShock]

They need to improve optimization for this game. My GPU is reaching really high temps when playing this game. Compared to BG3 that game plays smoothly.

[@nolanburke3669]

What is the name of the music used in the video since I'm pretty sure it's not from the game

[@martinithechobit]

Thanks yall.

[@meistermiller]

dear reviewer: Welcome to d100 rpg's with percentile systems. Be glad it's a video game and not sitting around calculating this stuff manually.

[@meistermiller]

this is literally directly based off of the actual pen and paper Rogue Trader rpg, right down to character creation.

[@thelemonpepperdon]

Heresy the Emperor protects against bugs

[@Bloodynine606]

The emperor protects

[@patrickbateman69420]

Set playback speed to 1.25x to make the narrator not sound mentally challenged 👍

[@nachoolo]

So like any Owlcat game. You're better off playing the game a few months after release rather than right away.

[@jamesgornall5731]

The space combat game see.d like someone played Armada first. Well played

[@ninethreefivesix]

This is an exceptional game. Literally incredible and the only issue are the bugs but those are slowly being fixed. Get it if you can

[@awesomehpt8938]

Finally a review

[@DuelMp5]

this game seems closer to Wasteland than Baldur Gate though?

[@melanp4698]

It has a lot of parallels with both.

[@supremeoverlord5220]

You should have released this earlier

[@RonnieMyers777]

Is this like Wasteland 3?

[@BadRusMan]

Русский геймдейв смог в ваху) Молодцы!

[@wushun8002]

Many people says it is a Cyprus based dev though, well us Chinese know owlcat is Russian dev❤

[@BritishWalrus]

The dude narrating this video is also doing no favors.

[@napoleonmeowparte3874]

Captain Midnight?

[@orcvsivstitia7608]

They are called death worlds

[@somebodyontheinternet1090]

Literally complaining about the game being complex and hard to read. Alcat games only does games like that

[@N5O1]

it is not 10/10 but without bigs it couod be 9/10

[@Boss_Fight_Index_muki]

i'm too dumb to play a game like this

[@melodiasrojas8428]

You can just play in the easy difficulty

[@georgecullum9927]

Perfect! Just what we needed, yet another turn based Warhammer game.

[@chainsofdoom3465]

Jesus how about showing more clips!

[@JamesZinger-no7yt]

Каковы мнения о Бастионе среди игроков Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader? Стоит ли переходить на Бастион, чтобы узнать, что говорят о нем те, кто уже щупал игру?

[@Juju-cm7ge]

I’ll wait 6 months until it’s patched 😂 I dont trust this developer anymore

[@Memelord2020]

8/10

[@eddiebarton7217]

Is the reviewer name wrong? It says leana but it’s a guy reviewer

[@another_random_ace8820]

The person who reads the IGN review is usually a different person than the author.

[@eddiebarton7217]

@@another_random_ace8820 youre a saint 7 months later