$17.99 gets you Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 right now — 70% off the $59.99 launch price — and the deal is moving units. Saber Interactive’s third-person shooter sits at #4 on Steam’s top sellers chart with 16,985 concurrent players as of May 22, 2026, according to Steam’s own storefront data. The discount runs through the Warhammer Skulls Festival, alongside a free trial on Steam and PlayStation 5 that lets players sample the campaign’s opening missions and several multiplayer modes.

The freshly released Purgation Update (Patch 13) adds a new PvE Operation, a revamped Siege Mode, and the Iron Hands Chapter Pack for Season Pass 2 owners — giving returning players something new to chew on, per Focus Entertainment’s official announcement.

But scroll past the numbers and the landing page tells a different story.

Steam’s algorithm surfaces the “most helpful” reviews first. Right now, two of the three most-visible reviews are negative. One player with 3.1 hours logged reports being unable to launch the game at all, citing unresponsive support and a denied refund. Another with 76.3 hours calls the combat a letdown compared to the original Space Marine, arguing the sequel chases the Soulslike crowd instead of delivering the power fantasy that made the 2011 game a cult favorite.

The aggregate tells a rosier story: 86% positive across 117,779 reviews. Metacritic sits at 82. IGN gave it an 8/10, praising the weapon variety and enemy design.

The dissonance is the story. An 86% approval rating is strong. But a prospective buyer at $18 sees launch failures and combat complaints before they see praise — and the people who can’t get the game running aren’t exactly reassured by the 101,869 players who could.

Worth the pickup at $18 if it works on your machine. That “if” is doing more heavy lifting than any Tyranid swarm.

Sources