The 7.0 “Trygon Update” was released recently forSpace Marine 2, bringing the eponymous Tyranid hunting mission “Exfiltration” alongside a raft of improvements. Every class had its arsenal expanded, weapon perks got enormously reworked across the board, and to top it off, both the Space Wolves and Imperial Fists got a champion pack.
One of the big changes to the game’s PVE experience was the addition of Prestige Ranks, which offer new rewards to chase for players with max level classes. These can be chosen after resetting a class to level 1, then leveling it back to 25 up to three times, with the ability to have four Prestige perks active at once. However, since it was tried out on the public test server, the Prestige system has divided some players, as it could set a bad precedent for how Saber handles support forSpace Marine 2in the future.
Ever sinceSpace Marine 2’s strong launch in September 2024, its player numbers have been in decline. This is a natural consequence of a game that is driven by a single-player campaign - post-launch support will only keep a certain number of players around. Each update Saber releases brings some players back for a while, but the game has struggled to serve its more hardcore audience, having to add two additional difficulty tiers to get close to satisfying them.
One area that has quickly been a problem for the long-term prospects of PVE is class progression. Classes have maxed out at level 25 since release, with only the potential to level weapons after that. This tends to mean that once a class has reached level 25, there is little reason to play it. While it may be fun to play a max level class for a little bit, repeating the same missions with no prospects for new unlocks can become stale.
to address this segment of the community, Saber trialed Prestige Ranks on the public test server, before releasing them inSpace Marine 2’s 7.0 Trygon Update. With Prestige Ranks, classes can now be leveled up to four times, picking a new Prestige perk each reset, for a total of 29 perks. The system lets experienced players dive into the game all over again with renewed enthusiasm, as they’re finally able to chase some extra rewards.
However, the implementation ofPrestige Ranks inSpace Marine 2has upset some players, who don’t believe the grind is worth the eventual rewards. It’s a big ask to get someone to reset a character completely, and not everyone will be prepared to do that. As a small carrot for resetting, XP gains are increased by an extra 10% for every reset, helping speed up the process. Some players have mentioned that certain classes feel like they get very powerful Prestige perks, while others don’t receive nearly enough incentive.
Prestige Ranks Are Welcome, but Feel Like a Stopgap Solution
Saber has said that it does not want Prestige to be the automatic choice for every player, as it recognizes certain players may not want to feel obligated to reset. But by adding Prestige Ranks, the developer has set a bad precedent forSpace Marine 2’s content strategy. As much as Prestige is a step forward in one area, the requirement to grind levels all over again feels like padding out the content, instead of delivering a substantive new experience, which is a strategy that shouldn’t be relied on in the future.
The developers will always be up against the simple fact that players will run out of things to do, but increasing the grind is not a sustainable way of keeping people interested. Many players are glad thatSpace Marine 2is not a live-servicetitle, showing the game respects their time better, so this grind feels like a step back. Leveling in PVP is already fairly slow, and that game mode needs new content much more desperately than the PVE portion does, no matter how good the newer missions are.
Prestige Ranks have good intentions, but the implementation leaves something to be desired. The content updates have been steady and modest, so far delivering great quality of life changes and a few extra toys to play with. But at some point, Saber will need to put out more than just incremental improvements to meaningfully engage endgame players. Perhaps anew faction forSpace Marine 2DLCwould be the perfect way to satisfy a large chunk of the community.
