Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

Space Marine 2 is a third-person co-op action game where you and two partners cut down, shoot and crush thousands of Tyranids (an insect-like alien devourer race that destroys whole planets) in real time on the worlds of the Imperium of Man. It is the main co-op hit of 2024: 12 million copies in nine months, second place in European sales for all of 2024 after Call of Duty, and 25,000+ active players on Steam every day in 2026.

Who it suits: players looking for a 3-person co-op action game against hordes of enemies, with cinematic scale and concrete survival mechanics. Space Marine 2 is not an open world and not an RPG: it has a linear campaign of 10-12 hours plus an endless endgame in Operations. If you want co-op sessions of 1-2 hours with rising difficulty, this is it.

Story: Commander Demetrian Titus is an Ultramarine (an elite Space Marine of the Imperium) who returns after a hundred years in an Inquisition prison. The Fourth Tyrannic War: the galactic swarm Hive Fleet Leviathan attacks hundreds of planets at once. His brothers Chairon and Gadriel are either live players or AI. The finale has a twist involving a character from the first game (2011) who sent Titus into custody: the redemption arc closes for both.

The campaign is a story progression, solo or co-op for 3 players. It includes iconic "hold the line" scenes against a growing avalanche of Tyranids, which became some of the most discussed game moments of 2024. The phrase "We Hold This Ground" spread through viral clips on TikTok and YouTube. After the finale, most players move on to Operations, the main endgame mode.

Operations has 12 replayable PvE missions for 3 players (6 at launch and 6 added through Year 1/Year 2 patches by February 2026), 4 difficulty levels and class progression. Crossplay between PC, PS5 and Xbox. Eternal War (PvP) offers 6v6 modes: Annihilation, Seize Ground, Capture and Control, plus Helbrute Onslaught (Patch 10, September 2025). PvP matchmaking is split: PC vs Console, and activity is lower outside peak hours.

There are 7 classes in Operations, each leveled independently through an upgrade tree: Tactical (all-rounder), Assault (Jump Pack, leaping strikes), Vanguard (Grapnel Launcher, hooks to pull to an enemy), Bulwark (shield + Chapter Banner, heals the team), Sniper (Camo Cloak, invisibility), Heavy (heavy weapons + Iron Halo), Techmarine (Omnissian Axe + crowd control, added for free in Patch 12, February 2026).

Combat mechanics: a blue attack flash means parry (counterstrike), a red one means dodge. Executions on stunned enemies are the main way to restore health. Hundreds of enemies at once is no exaggeration; the engine is optimized for massive swarm scenes.

Titus is voiced by Sergey Ponomarev, Chairon by Alexander Noskov, and Gadriel by Mikhail Shklovsky.

2026 support: the Year 2 Roadmap is active. Patches 10-12 are out (Techmarine, 6 new Operations, Helbrute Onslaught PvP), and patches 13-15 are planned. Season Pass 2 (cosmetics only) launched in September 2025. All gameplay content is free for all owners. Space Marine 3 was announced in March 2025, so the franchise is long-term.

Developer: Saber Interactive (registered in the USA, HQ in Fort Lauderdale FL), with offices that include Saber St. Petersburg. Publisher: Focus Entertainment Publishing (a publishing sub-brand of PulluP Entertainment Group, France). Despite its Russian offices, Saber is an American company by jurisdiction.

A three-player co-op shooter against hordes of Tyranids. A global hit of 2024: 12 million copies, full Russian voice-over, active support in 2026. Commander Titus returns for the Fourth Tyrannic War.