I'm not big into Warhammer 40,000, or the numberless fantasy variant for that sake, but when I saw CohhCarnage stream this game over on Twitch earlier today I decided that I wanted to give this game a go. Multiplayer racing shooter based on the Warhammer 40k Orc aesthetic? Sign me up.

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What is Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks?

Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks is a free-to-play multiplayer racing shooter set in the Warhammer universe. Those that know Warhammer will know that there's quite a few races and factions in this universe. This game seems to focus in on the orcs and the goblins and their machine loving culture as the clans battle it out for glory and carnage!

In its current alpha state there isn't really much more to say about the game. There's currently only one game mode available for play on a few different maps. You can also try out 7 different classes that I'm pretty sure are all gonna see quite a few changes as this goes through development. It's not much but what can you really expect from an alpha?

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My thoughts

The developers themselves described how the game feels in its current state pretty well. Ramshackle and bolted together. It really does feel like that from the moment you load up the game. Driving the cars feels a little clunky and there's some questionable UI choices. Like if you want to know how the game mode or your class works you have to press M or Q during the match to read a small wall of text and you're a sitting duck while reading through it. If you want to leave this screen you have to press the same hotkey again but if you, like me, forget which hotkey that was you're stuck on this screen until you've pressed all of the keys on your keyboard trying to figure out which one it was. Disastrous for a fully released AAA game, completely fine for a game in its alpha stage.

Gameplay however is solid fun although at this point you don't need to play for much more than 30 minutes before you've seen it all. You drive around in war machines trying to blow up your enemies while focusing on the objective of a fun but simple game mode.

The game mode we get to test during this alpha is called Deff Rally. It's a rather simple capture the point kind of game mode with a focus on destruction. At the start of the game an objective is activated. The first team to race to this objective gets a small head start of 50 points. From there on out it's all destroying your enemies while holding onto the objective. Whichever team holds the objective scores 1.5x more points for killing enemies. Once a timer has finished counting down the race is on for the next objective where you're able to score another 50 points by being first. After all objectives have been exhausted there's a final race to the finish for that last bonus.

I have to say that this was a pretty fun game mode. It's simple but it works and since there's only one objective at a time most people will be focusing on it since most of the action will be in close vicinity to it. In the games I played I didn't see anyone going on a solo raid instead of focusing on the objective. There's a lot of potential to expand on this game mode by giving players more ways of earning points.

As of now there's 7 classes that can be played that each has their own style. Some are focused on close range combat, some are focused on long range combat and some are pure tanks that are perfect for holding onto an objective. I gave all of them a whirl and sadly I found most of them to be quite boring except for the Shokkjump Dragsta. This is a high speed long range class that shoots electricity while also being able to boost the speed of teammates. He's got a slow fire rate and high damage which means your aim needs to be true. He's also great for being first to capture those objectives due to his high speed.

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Verdict

Warhammer 40,000: Speed Freeks is fun. It's currently in a very simple and ramshackle state which is expected of an alpha test. If I were to choose one part of the game to see some changes going forward its the classes. None of them currently feel to unique and game changing which is something I feel is important in a class based game. It is however a great foundation to build upon and I'm excited to follow the development of this game.

If you want to learn more about the game I recommend checking out the announcement trailer below. If you want to play it for yourself you can do so on Steam right HERE. There's also a huge sale on Warhammer games on Steam right now so any fans might want to check that out right HERE.

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^{All images in this post are screenshots taken by me.}

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