Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition seems like a misstep in the eyes of many Warhammer fans on Steam. Having just released earlier this week, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition is a remaster of the original 2011 third-person action gorefest that promises a host of new improvements, like 4K resolution, remastered audio, and better-looking character models, among other visual enhancements. While Space Marine‘s campaign is the main course, the remaster also comes complete with the original game’s online multiplayer suite and even the four-player co-op Exterminatus horde mode.
Much like last year, 2025 has seen another wave of major Xbox 360/PS3-era titles receive remasters. The surprise release of Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered took the gaming world by storm in April, even outselling the 2006 original within its first week. Later this summer, in August, The Coalition will release its second remaster of the original Gears title, named Gears of War: Reloaded. It’ll serve as the franchise’s debut on PlayStation, which is a huge deal for PS gamers who’ve been waiting for an opportunity to get into the renowned Xbox franchise. Joining Oblivion Remastered and Gears of War: Reloaded is Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition, following last year’s breakout hit Space Marine 2 which was a surprise critical and commercial hit.
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It doesn’t seem like the Space Marine remaster is receiving the same praise as Oblivion Remastered nor the hype surrounding Gears of War: Reloaded‘s multiplayer beta that’s about to kick off today. According to disgruntled fans who are leaving negative reviews on Steam, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition isn’t impressing players, as many are dissatisfied with the remaster’s $40 price tag, technical issues, and subpar visual improvements. One player even reported issues with FOV and ADS, and the game is currently stamped with a “mostly negative” Steam review rating.
Space Marine Remaster Has Reached ‘Mostly Negative’ on Steam
It seems the multiplayer side of Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition is catching some heat as well, with players complaining about the remaster’s matchmaking taking too long, largely due to a lack of dedicated servers. One player points out that the game’s crossplay feature is toggled off by default, causing excruciatingly long matchmaking times. It was common for single-player games in the Xbox 360/PS3 era to come with small multiplayer side modes, but in the age of live service games and behemoths like Fortnite and Call of Duty owning the online gaming market, it’s going to be extremely difficult for the Space Marine remaster’s multiplayer suite to last any significant amount of time with or without dedicated servers.
Many Steam players are hoping a patch will be able to clean up most of the Space Marine remaster’s bugs, but subpar visuals are seldom seen improved via run-of-the-mill post-launch patches. Since the remaster puzzlingly skipped a PlayStation 5 release, it’ll be interesting to see whether Sega is planning a PS5 release for the remaster some time soon, and whether some of these issues will be fixed by then.