I’ve currently played this game for 10 hours and I want to note how similar Rogue Trader is to Baldurs Gate 3. I haven’t played much more of Larian’s brainchild, but enough to be able to compare the beginnings of both games. And this is not a fanatical equation of any isometric RPG with the newly-minted “Game of the Year” – it just so happens that these examples are largely authentic, and were inspired by common ancestors. This is felt both through the voluminous documentation dedicated to tortuous and difficult-to-digest rules, and through the appearance and interface of the new product. However, there are also plenty of differences between Rogue Trader and Baldurs Gate 3, although they are not so obvious. To a lesser extent, this is the gameplay, compared to Baldur’s Gate, it is more traditional and constrained in freedom and functionality, and to a much greater extent it is the narrative, the role and place of the player in the world, dialogues and drama.

Baldurs Gate 3 kicked the player into https://noaccount-casinos.co.uk/review/golden-pharaoh-casino/ its world, giving them a goal but no context – a true adventure of ragamuffins where anything can happen along the way. Especially if a player, like me, for example, knows nothing about the world of D&D, and, in principle, has little understanding of what coordinate system he is in. In the case of Rogue Trader, everything is different – from the first minutes of the game you are closely involved in the realities of the world of Warhammer 40.000, not only being a full part of it, but also occupying paramount importance in it. And although Larian’s approach seems more attractive to me – because there are already plenty of plots about high-ranking, outstanding chosen ones of fate, and you try writing a story about the adventures of the rabble from the bottom – but the narrative proposed by Rogue Trader works much better for immersion. Moreover, the game perfectly works out its setting from the very first moments, presenting it in colors and details, emphasizing the uniqueness and subtleties of the “World of Eternal War”, without refusing to explain them to those for whom this fictional universe is as unknown as D&D is for me.

Albeit hastily, but based on what I saw, I would like to say that Rogue Trader is the best video game in the Warhammer franchise, precisely in terms of demonstration and immersion in the proposed world, rich and amazing. And if Dawn of War perfectly played out the theatrical cruelty with which war proceeds in Warhammer, then Rogue Trader better than others reveals the meanings, orders and boundaries with which this universe lives. The main character is the owner of one of the highest titles that has a place in the Imperium of mankind – his charter of privileges and liberties, transmitted by inheritance, was once signed by the Emperor himself, in those distant times when He still walked among people. And this is not something nominal – the game is imbued with this idea, puts it at the forefront of everything. The most obvious example of this is the participation in the life of one’s own ship, an imperial cruiser – on the one hand, one of the smallest ships at the disposal of the Imperium, on the other hand, even in this status it is a grandiose structure in its scale, which has been home to thousands of people for entire generations. And this, again, is not something nominal, as in the same Battlefleet Gothic – the player is permanently in this context, sets the course of the ship and manages its characteristics, walks along the richly decorated bridge and dirty compartments of the lower decks, communicates with the crew and close staff about pressing matters from the height of his status, and, what is especially interesting, takes a direct part in the life of the ship. So far, I have had the opportunity to take part in resolving a conflict with the sailor mob, bordering on rebellion, to organize a meeting with orphans whose parents fell, fulfilling their duty to the Imperium and my family, I was also free to decide the fate of an individual officer who expressed disrespect to me – and all this is not a small line of dialogue, but full-fledged small episodes in which I am free to determine the measure of generosity and punishment.

It wouldn’t be so interesting and remarkable if it weren’t for the richness with which Rogue Trader immerses you into its world. Especially regarding dialogues. If Baldurs Gate 3 was reminiscent of Dragon Age in terms of interaction with the world and the characters under your care, then Rogue Trader is a nod to ancient RPGs, where the dialogues are branched and replete with content. Most of the time in Rogue Trader you read, and you are interested – each character is a person, he has his own categories of thinking, his own manner of speech and a list of topics on which he wants to talk. Rogue Trader, in addition to complex hero development systems, is a real RPG in that same role-playing vein, where the player character takes an active part in the events of the world around him, driven by both a global goal and immediate needs. This kind of thing found its response on the very first mission I went on – to an interstellar fortress belonging to one of the Navigator dynasties. Through some logical and moral research, with reference to the extremely unclear prophecies of a personal psyker, I came to the conclusion that both sides of the conflict must die, which surprisingly turned out to be an acceptable and even positive option. However, I’m still not sure if I was right in letting such an unnatural creature on board my ship. But there was little choice in such a disastrous situation.

To sum it up, I really like Rogue Trader. The game, upon close comparison, is inferior to the same Baldurs Gate 3 both in the depth of mechanics, and in their variability, and in all the same graphics, but I find it much more enjoyable to play than the creation of Larian’s hands. And not because it’s a game based on the Warhammer franchise, and I’m a fan, but because the game meets my personal needs much better, being both more understandable and convenient in gameplay, and more meaningful and ambitious in narrative. Rogue Trader has this pleasant feeling that the player character has weight in the world, his own importance and influence on others, even if it is more of a pleasant illusion than a full-fledged choice whose consequences will be felt further. On the one hand, this is a typical adventure, where the world begins to revolve around the main character, on the other hand, it is done with high quality and has not yet caused me any rejection. Unlike the same Baldurs Gate 3, which I couldn’t get used to even after ten hours, always re-reading the same skill descriptions, always trying to figure out who I am and what I need in this game. And although I recognize the merits and advantages of the “Game of 2023” over another unnoticed game based on “Vakha”, for some reason I want to play the second one. Which is what I will continue to do.