Space Marine 2? – Destructoid

There are three main modes in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2: Campaign, Operations, and Eternal War. While you can enjoy any of these whenever you want after the introduction, you should really play them in the right order to avoid spoilers and have the right context.

The Campaign in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 is the heart of the title. It’s where you’ll experience the story, fight furiously against enemies, and gain an understanding of this world. Operations is a PvE mode that can be played in co-op and will serve to keep you busy for dozens of hours, as will the PvP Eternal War mode. But you need to tackle them in order lest you ruin other parts of the game for yourself.

Should you finish the campaign before playing Operations and Eternal War in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2?

Yes, you should finish the main Campaign mode in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 before playing the other modes if you want to experience the story without any spoilers. However, the game does a good job of restricting how much you can spoil things for yourself in Operations mode, so it’s really just the PvP you’ll want to avoid until you’ve completed the 10-12-hour Campaign.

I recommend that all players work through the Campaign first, then hit Operations mode, and finally jump into Eternal War after they’ve had at least one run through every Operations mission. This will offer the best story experience and ensure you’re in top shape for when you face off against other players.

Operations mode is made up of side missions that take place alongside the main Campaign. In them, you play as other Space Marines from outside the core cast to see how events played out while you were in the role of Titus. They’re designed to be replayable, so the story in them doesn’t hold much weight outside of confirming the outcome you see in the Campaign.

The Eternal War PvP mode pits you against Chaos Space Marines. These are an enemy that require the context of the Warhammer 40K universe to understand properly, and you get everything you need from the Campaign. If you jump into PvP early, though, you might cause yourself some confusion because you won’t have the context of why Chaos Space Marines are showing up where they are and why they need to be fought back into The Warp.