Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader: Void Shadows DLC – A Bloody Penumbra

Christmas came early for me last year when I played Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader. It was a blast to go through and I knew that expansions were planned. The first of those has just dropped in the form of the Void Shadows DLC. It’s the sort of DLC that really goes best with a new playthrough, so if you’ve finished the base game already, you might have to find an older save to enjoy the goodness.

The highlight of Void Shadows has to be the introduction of two new Archetypes and a new retinue member to show off said Archetypes. Players can now choose the first-tier Bladedancer and the second-tier Executioner. Bladedancers, as the name suggests, are all about mobility and in-your-face violence. No wimpy ranged combat here; it’s cold steel and cold-blooded slaughter for the glory of the Emperor. Bladedancers have a lot of Movement Points and can cover a lot of ground without them using what is probably the signature ability of the Archetype, “Death From Above.” It allows the Bladedancer to literally jump into the fray and slice up everything in close proximity, painting the decks red and potentially making it possible to move further without using MPs if the right advances are taken. They’re a very interesting AoE DPS class to deploy, with their own bodies as the epicenter. Paired up with the Executioner Archetype, and anything that the character doesn’t turn into red mist in the first turn will probably wish it had been in subsequent rounds.

Nahh, this isn’t ominous at all…

To get a good sense of how the new Archetypes play out, players gain a new retinue member named Kibellah, a member of an Imperial Death Cult known as the Bloodspun Web hiding out in the lower decks of the Rogue Trader’s voidship. She starts off as a Bladedancer initially, but can be promoted to an Executioner (which is probably the “canon” advancement path), an Assassin, an Arch-Militant, or a Master Tactician. As you travel with Kibellah, you’ll meet up with the Bloodspun Web and learn about their functions on the ship, as well as potentially romancing Kibellah herself. She might be a little more… unsettling than some of the romance options in Rogue Trader, but nowhere near as kinky as Marazhai.

New storylines have also been added for Void Shadows, and with them new scenarios for combat. Probably the most challenging enemies you’ll come across are the Necrons, those metal monstrosities who just won’t die no matter how much punishment you dish out. The notes I received indicated that the Rogue Trader might also be running into a genestealer cult, but alas, I was unable to trigger that particular storyline. Still, there was quite a bit just with the Bloodspun Web which kept me occupied. For Warhammer 40K lore nerds, it’s a satisfying hunk of backstory which should certainly entertain for a good long while. And, of course, there’s all sorts of new gear laying around, begging to get picked up and used to expand the Imperium (or just your personal fief).  An estimated 15 hours of new gameplay is a modest bump, though given how long one might be playing a typical Rogue Trader runthrough, it’s probably going to pass by seamlessly and unobtrusively.

In the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium, safewords are heresy.

Going through the review process for Void Shadows, I came across a stumbling block which I hadn’t previously appreciated during my review of the base game. Owlcat Games was good enough to provide some pre-made save files to hit the ground running. However, the various retinue members were not built up. While this would allow reviewers to build their party pretty much however they wanted, it revealed a weakness: when you’ve got a very high level character and you haven’t been keeping up on advancing the retinue members, there’s no option for a “quick build” character. You have to go through each retinue member’s advances one by one instead of quickly optimizing for a desired play style. I lost quite a bit of time trying to get each retinue member fully built up. With that particular problem mentioned, I will say that Owlcat appears to have fixed a lot of the performance problems I observed during my Rogue Trader review. Load times are more consistent and it doesn’t feel like the game will crash out unexpectedly at the worst possible moment.

For gamers who couldn’t get enough of Rogue Trader when it first dropped, and who’ve been going through it again and again, Void Shadows will give you an all-new excuse to start up a new game. Not like you probably needed one, but, you know. Expect your battles to be bloodier, your party quibbles to be snappier, and the Koronus Expanse to be a little more fleshed out.

Axel reviewed the Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader: Void Shadows DLC on PC with a review code.

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