Warhammer 40000: Rogue Trader Preview (Steam Beta)

by Jim Smale · June 12, 2023

For this Warhammer 40000: Rogue Trader Preview, we play a game that is Set in the Koronus Expanse, a little-charted and perilous region of space, this backwater sector is rife with opportunities for explorers and adventurers alike. As a Rogue Trader, you will traverse incredible distances in your giant voidship as you chart this cluster of planets.

Warhammer 40000: Rogue Trader Preview Pros:

Decent graphics.
33.41GB download size.
Graphics settings – display, display mode, resolution, lock mouse inside the window, camera shake effect, graphics preset, v-sync, frame rate, fsr mode, volumetric lighting and shadow quality, SSR, bloom, depth of field, footprints, anti-aliasing, hbao, film grain, and crowd quality.
Accessibility options – Colourblind sliders, and font size slider.
Safe zone setting.
Display settings – gamma correction, brightness, and contrast sliders.
Input settings – can rebind controls, enable the camera to follow characters, screen edge scrolling, enable scrolling beyond the game window, the speed of rotation of the camera with the mouse/keyboard, keyboard scrolling speed.
Gameplay settings – Auto-save and set how many quick and auto-save slots to use, tooltip delay, tutorials, autopause and what it can do, auto end turn, and increase enemy and player animation speeds slider.
CRPG gameplay.
Two difficulties – normal and core.
Three pre-generated characters to choose from or you can create a character.
Extensive character creator – appearance (portrait/appearance/hair/tattoo/implants/voice), homeworld which affects stats (Death world/Void born/Hive world/Forge World sub skin implants/Forge world analytics implants/forge world locomotion implants/imperial world feudal/imperial world military traditions), Origin (Astral Militarum commander/commissar/Vagabond/ministorum priest/navy officer/noble/sanctioned psyker biomancer/sanctioned psyker diviner), triumph, Darkest hour, doctrines (fighter/leader/adept/marksman/assassin/vanguard/hunter), stats, and ship name.
Beautiful art and portraits.
Powerful soundtrack,
Hover over text that helps explain menu options.
Choice-driven interactions affect relationships and the story.
A 3D world with full camera control.
Interactive elements from doors to switches to loot chests.
You are moving around the world by clicking the left mouse button.
Fantastic world to explore.
Animated tutorial pop-ups.
Turn-based combat.
In combat you have mp and ap, mp is movement points and ap is action points as to what you can and cannot use.
The journal houses all the quests, rumors, and orders.
Passive skill check system so in the background your characters skill/knowledge/abilities can affect what you can do in situations.
Play how you want from the combat to conversation choices.
Excellent animations and dismemberment.
The cover is a must in the game. You can get partial and full cover from the environment or use a shield.
Damage numbers pop on the screen.
The menu/inventory system can be done by double-clicking an item or the traditional drag and drop.
When moving you see a silhouette of yourself before committing to the action.
Get temporary buffs from party members like positive effects which can raise your abilities for a short time.
Actual skill checks show in dialogue.
Party members can be moved around independently.
A really good story that grabs you straight away.
Zero rounds – this is where you cannot shoot but you can move so you can get in a good position.
Gained exp shows up on the screen.
Gamers of the genre will find the controls and basic flow very familiar.
Hit chance and damage done show above a character before you perform the action.
Companions (party members) earn exp and levels at the same rate as you even if they are not in the active party.
Level-ups can be done manually or automatically.
Inspect killed enemies to loot them.
Handy comparison tables pop when hovering over items and gear.
When there is a load of enemy bodies close together you loot them all at once.
Voidmap unlocks new locations as you progress but you can go back and forth as you like.
When you level up you pick a skill from the current doctrines skill tree and a state to upgrade.
Psykers can analyze enemies so you can learn about weaknesses etc.
Handy grid system for movement and ability casting.
Everyone will have a different experience.

Warhammer 40000: Rogue Trader Preview Cons:

It’s a beta but has no Steam achievements.
Doesn’t support controllers.
Not all the character creator fields are available like Triumph and Darkest Hour and ships.
The performance is all over the place no matter what graphic settings get tweaked.
Voice work is good but not used a whole lot.
Your character uses his voice way too much with repetitive one-liners.
A lack of a mini-map makes traveling around not as fun as it could be.
The loading times are up and down but it loves hanging on 100 percent.
The general moving around is not as smooth as it could be and a lot of it is to do with how the camera follows you.
Parts of the walls don’t break down or go see-through when you are panning around or moving.
A few times I found myself stumped on very basic tasks because everything is laid out in a way that says you already know what to do… When you actually do not.
Parts of the skill trees were locked out.
Lower graphic settings make a lot of things fuzzy.

Warhammer 40000: Rogue Trader:

Official website.

Developer: Owlcat Games

Publisher: Owlcat Games

Store Links –

Steam