Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader – Void Shadows review: Home is where hearts get cut out

Owlcat delivers a strong DLC for its grimdark CRPG

Owlcat

One of the aspects of the Warhammer 40,000 setting that always gets me is its ridiculous scale. Take our Void Ship in Owlcat Games’ Rogue Trader CRPG as an example: It’s such a colossal vessel that the crew who works its systems literally lives and dies on the job. Children inherit their parents’ position. They have children in turn, never leaving their specific section of the ship. Heck, many don’t even get to see the stars for their entire lives, because they may be working deep inside the spacecraft – and all of this has been going on for generations. These crew members have evolved their own cultures, political systems, and even religions by now. 

That’s the world Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader – Void Shadows, the first DLC for the CRPG with around 15 hours of new content, makes you venture into.

Structurally, the story of Void Shadows is fully and neatly integrated into the main story of the title, so the best way to experience the DLC is on a fresh save and playthrough. Don’t worry if you do not have the time for a new run, though: The new content can also be experienced in one piece by loading up a save somewhere between the shenanigans on Commorragh and the final stage of the game. That’s certainly not the optimal way to play it, though, because the DLC’s story is really meant to be played as a part of the main journey from as early on as Chapter 1, which will introduce the new companion, Kibellah.

Void Shadows, in essence, is the perfect excuse to start a new run or pick the game back up if the technically questionable state at release made you bounce off too quickly. Owlcat’s been working non-stop ever since launch and brought the game up to par, fixing bugs and delivering balance adjustments that make the Koronus Expanse all the more enjoyable.

Kibellah comes with her own personal storyline and is another romance option for the Rogue Trader, which is another reason you may want to get her early on and start a fresh adventure. She also represents one of the two new character archetypes the DLC adds – the Bladedancer (an Agility-based and mobile class) and the Executioner (focused on debuffs and damage over time effects). These melee-focused skill trees are also available to your Rogue Trader and to Abelard, who starts off as a Warrior.

I won’t spoil anything huge here, but Kibellah is, uh, certainly a grimdark character. Born on the Void Ship, she belongs to a death cult that has established itself there and that’s devoted to its service to the Rogue Trader – which is a good thing, because without its fanaticism for imperial doctrine, one might mistake their love for blood and murder as worship of a certain angry Chaos God.

Aside from the new companion, Void Shadows introduces several NPCs that enrich the Void Ship with their presence. These additional interactions transform what previously felt like mere interludes between planetary stops into a full-fledged experience on your flagship, helping you to learn more about the vessel and its inhabitants – and forming connections with them.

Assisting with this is the fact that your decisions in the new storyline heavily influence the end of the game, so the choices you make – even though they are concentrated on your ship – feel very important.

I don’t actually want to talk about the main threat of the story too much, aside from what’s already known, because the way Owlcat executed it all is quite great – and best experienced afresh: You will need to contend with a Genestealer infestation on your ship. Previously, the Tyranids weren’t all too present in the Koronus Expanse, a few bread crumbs here and there aside. This time, the dangerous Genestealer breed becomes an existential threat for the von Valancius dynasty and you’ll need to keep a cool head – and a lot of muscle power – to deal with them.

Genestealers cause chaos and paranoia. Concerningly, they are often used to prepare an area for a larger Tyranid invasion. / Owlcat

Void Shadows does not lack challenging combat encounters and it definitely felt like Owlcat used all the feedback it got for the base game to design these, making them feel less overwhelming at times. That could also be connected to the fact that it actually gives you accurate info on what exactly your abilities do now without you having to solve math equations in your head, though.

What’s so interesting about Void Shadows is that it gives us something we rarely get to see in a Warhammer 40,000 game. Most of them – understandably – focus on war, slaughter, and the threat of Chaos. Void Shadows casts you as the main character of a well-executed horror thriller, making you face the sort of paranoia, mistrust, and betrayal a Genestealer assault would cause.

Impressive writing, a wonderfully atmospheric soundtrack, and meaningful gameplay additions all come together to form what is possibly the strongest DLC offering Owlcat has ever published. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader – Void Shadows should put this great CRPG onto your radar, in case you somehow held off on it so far.

Score: 9/10

Platform tested: PC (Steam)