The original Space Marine is getting a re-release with 4K and crossplay, and the orks wear all black now for some reason

A pair of armor-clad orks fire their shootas at the camera. — (Image credit: SneakyBox/Relic Entertainment)

After today's Warhammer Skulls Showcase and its deluge of announcements, it might be hard to remember a time when great Warhammer games weren't falling down upon us like so much steel rain. But I remember! In fact, I recall a time when things were so dire that the original Space Marine—a decent enough character action game with a plot so predictable you might confuse it for a sundial—felt like the second coming of the God Emperor himself.

Well, get ready to experience a second second coming of the God Emperor himself: it was announced at the Skulls event that Space Marine will be getting its very own gentle remaster treatment alongside the venerable Dawn of War. The new Space Marine Master Crafted edition releases June 10, only a couple weeks away.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Master Crafted Edition - Official Announce Trailer - YouTube

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Maybe the weirdest aspect of this remaster is that all the orks in the trailer are now seemingly Goffs, wearing black armor with iconic checker patterns on the shoulders. In the original Space Marine, they just wore generic leather armor as far as I remember. According to PCGamesN, developer SneakyBox noted that it's part of an effort to realign the game's portrayal of orks to be more canon-friendly—a mission that took a bunch of model tweaks and "over 100 new voice lines."

And that's… sort of it! It does come bundled with all the original game's DLC, but so does the anniversary edition from a few years back, and you can grab that now for 10 bucks. I had a lot of fun with the game's sorta-kinda Gears of War-inspired multiplayer back in the day, so I'm happy to see it make some sort of return (with cross-play this time!). That said, whatever new audience this remaster is after, it'll inevitably have to compete with the bigger, bolder, more popular sequel.

If you're chomping at the bit to squash heretics in 4K, the Master Crafted Edition of Space Marine is available to wishlist on Steam.

Justin first became enamored with PC gaming when World of Warcraft and Neverwinter Nights 2 rewired his brain as a wide-eyed kid. As time has passed, he's amassed a hefty backlog of retro shooters, CRPGs, and janky '90s esoterica. Whether he's extolling the virtues of Shenmue or troubleshooting some fiddly old MMO, it's hard to get his mind off games with more ambition than scruples. When he's not at his keyboard, he's probably birdwatching or daydreaming about a glorious comeback for real-time with pause combat. Any day now...

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