Alright. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is done and dusted. This. Was. Epic. Like seriously, this is one of the most expansive and detailed games I think I've ever played, and as a CRPG, my personal favorite genre, it's easily top five all-time. I realize it had a bit of a shaky release, but as it is right now (April 2025), the game is magnificent. It's like GRRM and Simon R Green and Clive Barker and Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson were all consultants for this one. Which, to be fair, is kind of WH40K in a nutshell anyway, but it really really stands out here. You take on the role of a newly minted Rogue Trader, and the game does an amazing job of taking you from your inception as a Rogue Trader through all the trials and tribulations you will face, all the way to a conclusion that completely reshapes the world around you.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3468845336

As I wrapped up Rogue Trader, I couldn't help but feel a bit exhausted. Not because it's in any way bad or cumbersome, but rather because it takes you through so much, and the growth of you and your companions is so vast from start to finish, that it just took a heavier emotional toll on me than your average RPG typically has. It really makes the player feel so invested in what is happening in the game, that as you sit back and reflect on everything that happened, it can take a bit to process everything taken in totality. The crazy thing is, in the 116 hours or so that I played this, never did the game stop moving forward. And just when you think things couldn't get crazier or more out of control, they do. And when you think you've got things under control, things take another turn and you realize it was just a smaller part of a greater whole and your control is tenuous at best. The game will let you rest for a little while, but it mostly keeps you on your toes the entire playthrough. It is quite riveting from a story perspective.

And the story really informs the gameplay. Which is a very dialed in and yet system dense and diverse CRPG, with what should seem like an overwhelming number of things to keep track of. But the game does a great job of introducing things at a pace that makes everything feel natural. Eventually, you will be managing a cast of twelve characters, including your own character, the Rogue Trader (potentially thirteen characters if you unlock the secret character via your choices in game). You will also be managing your ship's crew and dealing directly with its officers. You will be managing your Rogue Trader's little empire, which includes solving problems and using resources and standing to research different things to help your empire and your ship and your crew. You will also engage in some politics dealing with nobles, other Rogue Traders, Xenos, etc...

And on top of that, you will be exploring. Exploration actually borrows from the Mass Effect series fairly heavily I would say. You'll travel to various solar systems, scanning planets for resources and anomalies. Sometimes, the anomalies are handled in choose your own adventure style. Other times, you and your party will drop down to investigate in person. The wrinkle to space travel and exploring though is that you will be dealing with the Void, which is how your Voidship travels between systems. And the Void is pretty much a Lovecraftian place where daemons and spirits abound. Sometimes, travel is safe. Other times, you will have to defend your ship from Void denizens, who do such fun things as possess your crew and destroy your sentient AI computers. Stuff like that.

You will be called on to handle things yourself of course, from time to time, and for that, you can form your party with yourself and up to five of your companions. This is pretty standard isometric CRPG stuff overall. With of course some wrinkles pertaining to the Void as well. Because some of your characters are Psykers, who pull their powers from the Void itself and open themselves up potentially to the dangers held within, lol. Beyond that though, it's real time exploration with turn-based grid combat. With a very large variety of maps, that contain obstacles, cover, and sometimes multilevels.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3467060886

When combat starts, wherever your characters were standing is considered their starting point. You can place them anywhere you want within their total movement rate. So, if your character can move 8 squares then that's your placement radius. After that, it's an initiative-based system and nothing you haven't seen before.

There is also ship combat, which is also turn-based grid style, but you don't get to place your ship. It just starts where it starts. You do have a lot of combat options with your ship though, depending on who you select to man its various stations (weapons, maneuverability, etc...) and whatever weapons and such you have equipped your ship with. And your ship does level up much like your characters do.

The level up system for characters is about as deep as you're going to see in a game. And actually, this is where I would anticipate people feeling a bit overwhelmed, due to the sheer volume of options available. But fortunately, there are a lot of build guides online, and this is something I would suggest taking a look at. Don't be scared to level up the way you want to, but the guides will sort of clue you in to how to do so more efficiently for various types of builds.

Visually, this game is a feast for the eyes. The sheer quantity and quality of set pieces is stunning. Character designs are super cool. Combat animations are top tier. Cutscenes are animated movie quality. And the same goes for the audio. The voice acting? Chef's kiss. It's about as good as things can be. And a special shoutout to whomever voiced UIfar. The way that actor dove completely into the role was impressive. Equally impressive though was the soundtrack, which all seemed to be original compositions, and Owlcat hired an orchestra to record it. All of the musicians are credited, and there are a lot of them. This is the way to do it. John Williams would be proud.

This carries over to the dialogue, which is so well written. Something I personally enjoyed is that the game always knows exactly who it is dealing with. Your companions factor heavily into this as do your own morality choices (from three basic paths: Iconoclast, Dogmatic, Heretic). They have a lot of banter of course, but something I truly appreciated is how NPC dialogue changes based on who you have in your party at any given moment. Some of your companions have their own relationships or reactions to different NPCs, and vice versa.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3471929460

I would like to note here that the addition of the current expansion into the game was as seamless as I've seen. I'll speak more on that in my review of Void Shadows, but it's easy to forget that you even are playing DLC content, so perfect was its integration into the base game. Flawless execution there.

Honestly, this game deserves far more than the character limit Steam imposes on reviews but suffice to say that if you are in any way a CRPG and/or Warhammer fan, this is a must play, and sci-fi fans in general should be taking note of this game. It's definitely going into my top 10 all-time favorites, newness bias be damned, and it absolutely earns every bit of its asking price. It has been bundled though and is on sale pretty frequently these days, so you know. Make the decision that seems right for you in that regard. :)

Alright. Celestial Return is done and dusted. I played the demo for this a few years ago, before their KS campaign, and now I've played through the full game. Twice. And have seen two endgame endings (and three total variations of them (there are actually five variations of these two endings, tmk)), plus a pair of early game premature death/arrest endings. This game is a fascinating and evocative exposé on how the elite manipulate public opinion to galvanize 'we the people' to work against our own best interests. It's also low-key a megastructure game, where we get to explore a dystopian cyberpunk megastructure city sealed off from the rest of the world for undisclosed reasons.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3786011065

Celestial Return fits into the category of a Disco-like quite neatly, although I would think it directly has more in common with Esoteric Ebb in several ways. This is a dice driven narrative adventure where we follow Howard, an ex-PID officer turned private detective as he attempts to discover the cause of a sudden rash of high-profile suicides in Netherveil City. Howard's traits all have their own personality and dialogue of course. Perception, Virtue, Anger Issues, etc...

My wife asked me why I carry a gun around the house. "To fight the Mimics," I said. She laughed. I laughed. The coffee mug laughed. I shot the coffee mug.

We're introduced to Howard initially during his time in the PID, a law enforcement agency tasked with hunting down Abstracts; anomalous beings that take can either take the form of common items or in rarer instances, possess or emulate humans. During the events of that mission, we also learn that not all Abstracts are born equal, and some are actually of benefit to society. From there, we fast forward several years. Howard is now down on his luck, retired from PID, and mostly drinking his life away. But, he also has a reputation for solving the unsolvable, and as such, the actual police department tracks him down to help with the mysterious suicides case. From that point forward, the game takes you on a pretty wild rollercoaster ride where nothing is quite what it seems.

The lore in this world is actually a seamless blend of Cyberpunk and Cosmic Horror, and is very definitely inspired by Disco Elysium, Prey, TTRPGs, etc... Not to mention, there is a definite focus on the interaction of music and Ed Wood style FMV imagery to tie everything together while also creating even more chaos. And really, chaos is the order of the day. In some ways, this game plays out like a blockbuster action movie, but in other ways, it's hard-boiled grit and neon-soaked intrigue. It is also very much Pulp inspired writing.

So, in this world, dice function as both currency and the RNG resolution of all uncertainty. You are given four-sided dice, numbered 0-3, with a top and bottom roll for each die. Which is to say that each roll can end in a number between zero and six, if that makes sense. Each die is a single use item. Many have buffs or debuffs, such as -2 to perception or +4 to anger issues; or a static roll (such as a straight four rather than a RNG result). In order to actually complete the game, one thing you will need to do is be selective in how you use your dice. Hoarding as many as you can while still using whatever dice you actually need to resolve each situation. There are also other single use items that can give you rerolls or buffs to rolls, and there are a few constant passive buff/debuff items as well, that you will find, buy, or be rewarded with throughout the adventure.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3786011099

As mentioned, this is a narrative experience and so dice rolls resolve both combat and dialogue in a choose your own adventure style. Your actual narrative decisions do also shape the adventure and can offer you new ways to resolve future situations or lock you out of some solutions. Including one of the endings, which requires one specific decision at a specific moment. If you miss it, which you probably will, you're SOL unless you're willing to play through the game again. With that in mind, I would personally recommend playing through the game the first time blind to see where it leads with the choices you would naturally make based on your personality or what have you. And then check the game's forum to see the solution to get the secret ending. :)

The character development in this game is fantastic, and the writing in general is engaging throughout. Which is really important for a narrative driven game. This world truly comes to life as you play through it. Add to that the fantastic soundtrack and amazing, almost comic book-esque visuals which never stop offering a feast for the eyes, and what you get here is a truly unique and vibrant world that keeps on giving as you progress.

The only real negative to this game IMO is that there are definitely seemingly innocuous ways to lock you out of story arcs. To combat this, it's advisable to fully explore every point of interest offered, truly think through your decisions, and try as much as possible to complete every quest offered. It's worth it anyway for the additional world building and storytelling.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3786011036

This is definitely a game you should play at least twice. My first playthrough took around six hours. My second playthrough took about four, since I was able to skip through dialogue I was already familiar with via my first playthrough. There is definitely a third playthrough to be had here as well, although I'm going to take a little break before playing it a third time. This game really surprised me with its depth and creativity, and I enjoyed every minute of it. That $14.99 asking price is completely fair, and honestly, kind of a huge bargain in my estimation. I do think the devs missed an opportunity to get the game in more people's hands by skipping the recent Isometric game sale on Steam, but there will be more opportunities to highlight their game in the future. And I definitely hope the devs continue with this IP. It's deserving of that.

I received this license via our IndieGems Curator program.