{"id":1651901,"date":"2026-08-02T20:26:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T20:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fpZaxwwAMn9JuZNJLaJEPD"},"modified":"2026-08-02T20:26:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T20:26:02","slug":"one-day-owlcat-will-make-an-rpg-thats-perfect-out-of-the-box-but-3-years-after-launch-its-time-to-get-disgustingly-into-warhammer-40k-rogue-trader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/one-day-owlcat-will-make-an-rpg-thats-perfect-out-of-the-box-but-3-years-after-launch-its-time-to-get-disgustingly-into-warhammer-40k-rogue-trader\/","title":{"rendered":"One day Owlcat will make an RPG that’s perfect out of the box, but 3 years after launch, it’s time to get disgustingly into Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I’m not sure whether to feel sheepish or smug that I exclusively come to Owlcat games late. On the one hand, I feel like a fairweather fan of this underrated RPG powerhouse, one whose output and ambition is honestly kind of scary. <\/p>\n

But on the other hand: Owlcat has yet to have a single smooth launch. PCG weekend editor Jody Macgregor gave Rogue Trader a 59%<\/a> in his review at launch in December, 2023, and I don’t blame him one bit.<\/p>\n

I hated <\/em>this game when I tried the beta that fall. The fun unfamiliarity of being a 40K newcomer was outmatched by the frustrating unfamiliarity of a complicated new RPG system\u2060\u2014Rogue Trader is at least as intricate as Pathfinder, but without any built-in, D&D-derived muscle memory. The fact that “hit points” are called “wounds” made me feel indignant in a way I struggle to describe. You’re not special, stop calling them that!<\/p>\n

But perhaps Rogue Trader has earned its silly little proper nouns by now. With the release of its Infinite Museion DLC<\/a>, I decided to finally dive back in and give it the second chance I’d always planned to, just like Jody did last year<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Similar to Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and Kingmaker before it, Rogue Trader has grown into an all-timer RPG. It’s also hit one of my main quality indicators for the genre: I’m so obsessed with its character building that, dissatisfied with the first guy I made after 20 hours, I rolled a new one and beat its first act again<\/a> in half the time.<\/p>\n

In the Navy<\/h2>\n
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\"Rogue<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Owlcat)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I played Rogue Trader in beta, there were no guides I could rely on, and its level-up screen made for a quagmire of effects, stats, and nouns with little indication of what was actually good. I’d recommend a guide, either from cRPG Bro<\/a> or Revan619<\/a> on YouTube\u2060. <\/p>\n

For my playthrough on the notch above normal “Daring” difficulty, I’m following builds for my main guy and every single companion<\/a>, but after 30 hours of gameplay, I do finally feel like I have enough knowledge to make tweaks at my discretion.<\/p>\n

On my first guy, I made what’s widely agreed to be the most powerful single build with the\u2060\u2014let me take a deep breath here\u2060\u2014”Death World Pyromancer Psyker Blade Dancer Executioner<\/a>.” <\/p>\n

It’s built around a few abilities that make you more powerful the more injury debuffs you have on you, as well as a set of powers that let you spend hit points and kill enemies to get a ton of extra actions per turn. It’s certainly powerful, and it’s always cool to be an edgelord with two swords, but it just felt janky and stale after a while.<\/p>\n

I found I was having way more fun controlling the companion Abellard, whose build was basically identical to one buildsmith Revan dubbed “the most fun for new players<\/a>.” That’s right gamers, the Navy Officer Warrior Arch Militant. Basically: You dual wield a sword and a gun. When you score a critical or parry an enemy with your sword, you automatically make a free attack with the gun. <\/p>\n

Eventually, gun attacks make your sword more powerful, and vice versa. It feels badass<\/em>, ultimate lightning tank mode in the middle of all the enemies, instagibbing beefy dudes with your signature one-two punch and parrying chumps left and right.<\/p>\n

Tally-ho<\/h2>\n
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\"Combat<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Owlcat)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I just beat the final boss of Rogue Trader’s first act with my dark future seaman, and I keep playing it out in my head. Spoilers, but you get ambushed by a Chaos Space Marine with twice as much health<\/del> wounds as the next-strongest guy in Act One. The world you’re on just had its sun go out, and in-between shredding your party with his bolter machine gun, this bad hombre will blow up the last remaining shuttles offworld one-by-one.<\/p>\n

That obviously can’t stand, so I had my whole party turn and focus on beef boy, only sending my main man Abellard to tank the annoying support mooks. I knocked off the Space Marine’s first 200 hit points<\/del> wounds with three bolter salvos from my freaky gun nun companion, Argenta\u2060\u2014two on her own, and the third with an extra turn courtesy of fish princess Cassia. <\/p>\n

That teed the boss up for a finisher from my Rogue Trader, wiping out his last hundo or so of health<\/del> wounds with a critical charge and revolver shotgun<\/a> to the face.<\/p>\n

I felt incandescent. That was one of the best-feeling things <\/em>I’ve done in a game in a month of Sundays, and I got a nice little achievement<\/a> (only shared by 12.4% of players!) for taking him down without losing any of those shuttles. <\/p>\n

There’s also a whole RPG here, by the way\u2060\u2014companions, romance, skills, planetary management, Rogueing, Trading\u2060\u2014but that turn-based combat and buildcrafting is the perfectly-charred neapolitan crust of this pizza. Rogue Trader is redeemed, here’s hoping Owlcat’s upcoming Dark Heresy just bangs like this outta the gate\u2060\u2014it sounds like it will<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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