Space Hulk: Tactics' playable Genestealers look nastier than any we've seen before

In Space Hulk: Tactics, the Warhammer 40K turn-based strategy game due out October 9, you won't just be able to play as Space Marines—you'll also get control of the nasty Genestealers in multiplayer matches, skirmishes, and a standalone campaign. In a new trailer, above, developer Cyanide Studio details exactly how they'll work, and they'll require a completely different playstyle to the Space Marine Terminators.

Genestealer units don't start on the map. Instead, you have to first spawn 'blips' by converting cards once per turn. These blips, which move as normal units, act as entry points for either one, two or three Genestealers, and the Terminators will be able to see them on their scanners. You can then spawn your Genestealers when you choose, or they'll spawn automatically once a blip crosses a Space Marine's line of sight.

When revealed, Genestealers will be faster than Terminators, with more action points to spend, and you won't have to worry about any fancy objectives—their sole aim is to massacre their enemies.

You can also spawn decoy blips to distract the enemy team, or convert regular blips into special Genestealers using your pool of cards. These more powerful units include the Bulwark biomorph, who moves slowly but can tank more damage, and the Broodlord, who can jump across the map in one leap and spawn additional blips.

You'll be able to customise all your units with different colour options, which is a nice touch.

If you're interested, the Steam page is this-a-way.

Samuel is a freelance journalist and editor who first wrote for PC Gamer nearly a decade ago. Since then he's had stints as a VR specialist, mouse reviewer, and previewer of promising indie games, and is now regularly writing about Fortnite. What he loves most is longer form, interview-led reporting, whether that's Ken Levine on the one phone call that saved his studio, Tim Schafer on a milkman joke that inspired Psychonauts' best level, or historians on what Anno 1800 gets wrong about colonialism. He's based in London.