Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (Switch 2) Review-In-Progress

Game Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 series is one of the biggest blindspots in my gaming and sci-fi repertoire, as I have never done a deep dive into the various pieces of media encompassing this massive brand.

Starting life as a tabletop wargame using miniatures, this experience is set in a science fiction world far in the future, detailing the constant conflict between humans and aliens. Most famously, this series has been licensed out to dozens of video game developers over the years, and the IP appears in various genres, including third-person action and first-person shooters. However, in keeping with its tabletop roots, several turn-based role-playing games and tactics titles have also been created. 

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is an isometric RPG that was originally released in 2023 on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. Set in a dangerous region of space known as the Koronus Expanse, players control the titular Rogue Trader, a combination merchant/explorer sent on a quest to trade and conquer across the far reaches of the galaxy.

This new release sees developer Owlcat Games bring their RPG to the Nintendo Switch 2. While I’m not familiar with the brand, I’m always on a quest to find solid science fiction fare like my beloved Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, so I kept an eye on Rogue Trader as it had all the trappings of a complex RPG, but with a space-themed coat of paint. 

In my first few hours, I was greeted by some exceptional atmosphere and music. The mix of fantasy elements like large, medieval throne rooms set within large spaceships is a cool clash, and this type of iconography is something I know 40K is famous for. Reminding me of a more industrial Star Wars, I dig the look. 

Played from an isometric point of view, players create their Rogue Trader, customizing not only their physical appearance but also choosing an origin that greatly affects things like the skills they use in combat and buffs/bonuses that can be employed in dialogue choices. I was pleasantly surprised at how many options there were in building my character, and took time to mull over the wealth of choices, featuring everything from specialized military officer to crime lord. 

Speaking of options, there are a plethora of them within the menus that allow players to customize virtually every aspect of gameplay. There are standard difficulty settings, of course, but there are also sliders affecting combat, such as how effective cover can be, or how much damage players take during fights. It’s honestly a little overwhelming to see how many choices there are, but such flexibility is appreciated for a newcomer to the genre like me. 

Gameplay mostly consists of turn-based tactical battles. Players control a party of six, attacking and moving on a grid, and smart placement is just as important as brute-forcing through enemy encounters.

The variety in attacks and choices in a skirmish is great. For example, I focused on making sure I was an adept shooter and invested in skills that did a lot of direct damage. Other party members include PSI users and brutes who carry large swords, offering a variety of skillsets that were further reinforced by the combat menu options. I was never overwhelmed in battles, but being a newcomer to this style of tactical combat, I struggled a bit with to-hit percentages, chances, and what determined those success rates. Owing to its tabletop origins, I found myself playing with a guide by my side to understand the numerics in the mechanics. There are also plenty of conversations to have with NPCs, which make use of different skills, such as lying effectively.

Initially, my first draft of this write-up consisted of the pre-patch Nintendo Switch 2 version, rife with a mountain of framerate drops and other major technical issues. That low framerate affected movement both in and out of combat, as the already slow-paced battle system would chug along tremendously. I also encountered a few crashes, as well as one annoying glitch in which the opening loading screen would stop at 41% and stay stuck until I closed the game and opened it up again. 

As of this writing, the developers have released a patch that promised various fixes, including “A few minor performance updates.”

In my experience, booting up this patched version, I was surprised at how much smoother some aspects of gameplay were. Navigating the in-game world felt better, as the choppiness that was present seemed to be gone. The framerate is still low, but it’s more consistent than before. Menus still feel sluggish, though, as trying to choose between different options takes way too long. I was also hit with the same loading screen bug, although it crops up less frequently.

It’s not perfect, but I commend the developers for trying to address these issues. While I love and appreciate the amount of choice as well as the gorgeous art style, the sad truth is that even with these fixes I cannot continue playing Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader until we see further improvement on this Nintendo Switch 2 version. It definitely seems like a great game to sink time into, but I’ll either wait for a heftier Switch 2 patch or pick it up on more powerful hardware down the line.

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