At E3 this year, we were able to sit down and check out a demo of the upcoming action RPG Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr. This is the first time the Warhammer universe will get an open world sandbox action RPG and the folks at Neocore Games were proud to show off the latest version of the game on the show floor.

Since this is an action RPG, Neocore Games introduced a cover system mechanic into the gameplay and the system looks fluid. Character models tuck and peek when lined up against walls or other forms of cover, and the camera gives an interesting top down perspective as players navigate through the maps. The developer said that Martyr will have “massively destructible environments” and the demo did not disappoint. Grenades lobbed at pillars created mounds of rubble, pipes were blasted to create new paths to enemies, and even monuments were torn to pieces.

In combat, players can switch between weapons quickly and can highlight different enemies to attack. When fighting bosses or bigger enemies, players can choose which part of the enemy they want to attack. For an enemy like the Helbrute, players would want to shoot the giant “machine gun” arm to disable the Helbrute’s ranged attack, then take out of the other arm that has a giant syclthe. After that they can easily take down the Helbrute’s health and perform a finishing attack.

Martyr will launch with three playable heroes out of the gate and two were on display in the demo. Ezekiel Varus is a Crusader who uses various guns and a chainsaw sword while Samara Cotant is a sniper rifle wielding, double glowing blade carrying Death Cult Assassin. Both Inquisitors were adept at dispatching enemies on the different missions they completed.

Speaking about the missions, Martyr will have partial randomly generated maps. Every time a player jumps into a mission there will be prefabricated segments that are randomly put together. The map is generated as the mission is loaded so even though players start with the ability to see only a small portion of the map, the map is already fully formed. The developer did say though that the single player campaign will not have procedurally generated maps. There also is an indirect player vs player aspect to the game as players will be able to attack each other’s fortresses. Players will not get the chance to fight against each other in a hero vs hero sense, but they will fight minions and other guards defending the fortresses.

Overall, Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr looks like a fun, action packed game for Warhammer fans. The only concern with the game is the pace of the fighting as players and enemies seem to move around the map at a kind of slow pace though that might be a optimization issue as the demo was running on multiple monitors. Either way fans of the franchise should get excited as Neocore Games is taking Warhammer in a new direction.

Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr launches in 2017 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.