You take one of four classes into the depths of Plague God Nurgle’s horde-based hell, and each is a named character, but customizable with the loot and treasure you find along the way (the dwarf character’s beard and tattoos pleasingly change depending on setup). It does the job as hubs go, and you learn a bit of story information here and there, but it’s not a particularly memorable place to hang about in. You start in a palace hub area, and can head off in one of several directions, either to take on the main quest, or one of the side quests on offer.

It’s not overly gory, but there’s plenty of claret spilled as you chop down foul beasts along the way. Oh, and it isn’t afraid of a bit of blood and grime. It’s not exactly struck with much in the way of imaginative visual flair, but it is at least easy on the eyes. Compared to many recent Warhammer games, Chaosbane is assuredly polished, running fairly smoothly and brimming with world detail. Sure, it’s ready-made to slot into that game model when you think about it for more than a second, but to make that slotting comfortable is a whole other matter, and that’s exactly what’s been achieved here, and it looks pretty good for it too. Still, it isn’t without its charms.įor a start, it’s managed to blend the world of Warhammer with the world of dungeon crawling perfectly. Quite brazenly Chaosbane is not only near-identical to its inspiration, but it’s also a weaker variant.

You see, Warhammer: Chaosbane is essentially Diablo, and if you’re going to try and be like Diablo, you need a different approach to stand out (see last year’s charming Book of Demons).

Eko Software’s Warhammer: Chaosbane is closer to the latter, but does manage to be enjoyable to a degree. Some of these have gone on to be great in their own right while others end up being a pale pastiche of the games they mimic. There’s been Gears of War-type cover shooters, Left 4-Dead-style co-op shooters, and even a sports game. The Warhammer license has been used to make pretty much every type of popular game genre and type possible. Find out why this dungeon crawler is a pretty, but bland, take on the genre in Bloody Disgusting’s Warhammer Chaosbane review.

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