Void Shadows first becomes apparent in Chapter 2 when you learn about a Death Cult on your capital ship and it is through this that you meet your new companion Kibellah, who introduces new archtypes, the Executioner and the Bladedancer, which are both interesting new additions for your rogue trader and offer a lot of variety. These archtypes are great for close combat gamers and also those who wish to combine with other classes for a wide variety of abilities. These are not the best new archtypes, but they are fun to play with.
Now I could talk in general about the expansion, and how it delves into the Lower Decks aspect of Voidships and how society works on them, as Rogue Trader does not hesitate to delve into dark topics and Void Shadows explores some very interesting dynamics about how the society on the ships function, but there is more. There is a new major antagonist and new endgame sequences and it is clear that Owlcat heard the fan complaints and made adjustments to the problems that were identified. But more than that, the game just feels overall better.
Rogue Trader was a fun game when it was released, but it was clearly in need of more polish and fixes. With Void Shadows, Owlcat has introduced a wave of improvements and changes that have made the experience far more enjoyable, such as difficulty adjustments, general bug fixes and new challenge modes. There are also new options for the story that help you deal with difficult choices and with real consequences based on what you choose, which is refreshing compared to some other games. One other change is the revamp of the computations for hits, dodges, powers, and skill. Now you will just see a cumulative effect instead of the calculations and while you can choose to use the older method, this is a very welcome change as it is far more streamlines while not being too reductive.
Warhammer 40 000 is known for being Grimdark and there are no options that will let you feel particularly good, but that is part of what makes the game work. The story is deep and involving and the role playing aspects are well realized and emphasized more than ever. It may not be at the level of Baldur’s Gate 3 for some, but to me the experience was far more satisfying, especially thanks to the over 20 hours of new content.
Speaking of Grimdark, there is a new mode as well in the game entitled Grim Darkness mode, which acts as a new way to challenge yourself. This mode makes you face the experience with only a single save slot that updates when you quit and cannot be backed up, essentially locking you into your decisions, but there is more than that. Death is permanent in this mode and once your ship is destroyed, it’s game over, and while you can continue in a custom mode, this will lock you out of the achievement for completing Grim Darkness mode. It is not a pure hell challenge though as you can still alter the difficulty level of the game, and make adjustments to difficulty without issue, along with tinkering with some loss conditions.
One neat addition is that there are new tabs added such as a list of expansions and DLC that you own, but more importantly, there is a mod tab, confirming that official mod support is coming without needing to use the Toybox method. This is something I have been eagerly awaiting and I cannot wait to see what mods fans can come up with. It would be cool to see conversion mods that create experiences based on other 40K RPGs like Dark Heresy, but whatever we get will be good.
Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader Void Shadows is a brilliant addition to a great game and both manages to introduce a new companion who is integrated well into the game, but also improves on so many issues fans had with the initial release. Void Shadows is so well integrated into the experience that it cannot be understated how seamless the experience is. This is how a DLC expansion should be made and is what fans wanted from the developers at Owlcat. This comes with our highest recommendations, not just for Warhammer 40K fans, but for fans of the Role Playing Game genre in general. If you are dissapointed by the lack of role playing mechanics, and amounts of railroading in some games, then try Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader Void Shadows for an awesome experience,.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
