Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Fans Have a Good Idea Which Enemy Faction They’ll Fight in Space Marine 3

With Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 now over a week old, players have completed its campaign and started to get to grips with the co-op Operations mode and the PvP mode, Eternal War. But already fans are speculating about which enemy faction they’ll go up against in the seemingly inevitable Space Marine 3 — and based on hints in the game, there can be only one pick.

Warning! Spoilers for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 follow.

Space Marine 2 sees Titus of the Ultramarines go up against the Tyranids and the Thousand Suns Traitor Legion in a campaign that ends up with a massive battle against a demon army and even a trip to the warp. With the aid of Ultramarines Chapter Master Marneus Calgar, Titus successfully fends off both enemy factions before he’s sent on a mysterious mission that teases the continuation of the story in another sequel.

This sequel — let’s go with Space Marine 3 given Space Marine 2’s breakout success suggests developer Saber Interactive will indeed make more games in the series — looks certain to feature the Necrons, Warhammer 40,000’s deathless skeletal robot xenos. Why do fans believe the Necrons are next, after Space Marine 1’s Orks and Space Marine 2’s Tyranids and Thousand Sons? There are clear hints that the Necrons are coming buried within Space Marine 2 itself.

To set the stage, one mission that takes Titus and co deep within the bowels of an alien planet shows ancient and mysterious wall markings that are a clear nod to the Necrons.

There’s even a dataslate (Space Marine 2's audio logs) that reveals Necron constructs have been killing Techpriests. You can see these constructs lying about the place (the one below looks like a Canoptek Tomb Stalker to me).

This hint is part of the third act of the campaign, which sees Titus head to a Necron Tomb World packed with Necron buildings and technology. Some players even suspected the xenos would make a surprise appearance as a third enemy faction in the campaign, given the nature of the mission.

Indeed, it turns out that the Space Marine 2 story sort of revolves around the Necrons. The Techpriest who goes off the rails is trying to use an ancient Necron artifact to nullify the influence of Chaos by closing off the warp, the hell dimension from which Chaos spews forth. At least that’s what the Techpriest thinks the artifact does (it doesn't, then it does).

Assuming the Necrons do turn up at some point, they’ll probably be very angry indeed. As a faction they have a collective ‘got up on the wrong side of the bed’ attitude, given they’re waking up from a 60 million year-long slumber beneath the Imperium’s feet. They’ll probably have something to say about the Adeptus Mechanicus banging on their door during the Space Marine 2 campaign, that's for sure.

As for Ttitus, he’ll no doubt be drafted in to save the day once again, fighting Necrons as well as the forces of Chaos with the sort of enthusiasm we've come to know and love, but with Chaplain Leandros keeping a close eye on proceedings just in case there’s a whiff of corruption. Honestly, give poor Titus a break, won't you? Perhaps we’ll get Ultramarines Primarch Robute Guilliman himself to have a word.

For Warhammer 40,000 fans, it’s all very exciting, but alas we'll have to wait for a story expansion or Space Marine 3 to find out what happens next. Space Marine 2 has enjoyed over two million players, and according to its developers, has sold faster than any Doom game. It’s already the most-played Warhammer 40,000 game of all time by Steam concurrents, and could grow further when DLC finally kicks in.

We’ve got plenty more Space Marine 2 coverage, including details on its post-launch roadmap, the upcoming addition of class matching for co-op after players found themselves locked in a class standoff ahead of Operations mode missions, and a report on those creepy flying babies you keep seeing on the Battle Barge.

IGN's Space Marine 2 review returned an 8/10. We said: "Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 may not break the third-person shooter mold, but it looks amazing, makes good use of its Warhammer lore, and has brutal combat that just feels great."

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.