Grimdark. That’s the word used to describe works of fiction that are particularly dystopian, amoral, and violent. It’s a portmanteau of words from the tagline of the tabletop game, Warhammer 40,000: “In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war”. There’s also of course the oft-cited refrain to back up this whole grimdark business in Warhammer 40K: “Burn the heretic, kill the mutant, purge the unclean”.

And as it turns out that after playing three different Warhammer 40,000 games in the past year, grimdark is an excellent panacea to the problem of being unable to sleep! Before we go any further, if you haven’t noticed already, the Warhammer 40,000 universe has lent itself to an entire plethora of video games since the 1985 release of Talisman! PC Gamer has an excellent article ranking each game.

Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr

This game was released back in 2018, and I bought a copy on Steam several weeks ago because I had an action RPG itch to scratch while waiting for Diablo IV to be released. The game puts you in the role of an Inquisitor investigating a huge derelict battleship which comes replete with gothic spires and all.

The top-down isometric view and the violence in the game reminded me of Origin’s Crusader: No Regret and Crusader: No Remorse. The environment in the game feels oppressive with an appropriate amount of “ick” since the derelict ship has been tainted by Chaos. These, coupled with really nice-looking cutscenes however didn’t prevent me from falling asleep approximately 10 minutes into the game.

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters

I had high hopes for this when it was released last year, since it was basically XCOM set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. In this game, you take control of a squad of Grey Knights being forced to go on missions to exterminate the forces of Chaos and tackle a plague.

The game is pretty tough, and rewards offense instead of slower, overwatch-based approach which suited me well for both XCOM and XCOM 2. In between missions, the unfamiliarity with the upgrade paths for the Grey Knight’s mobile base of operations and the Grey Knights themselves was vexing, and I didn’t feel vested enough in the game, not unlike XCOM and XCOM 2 where it was humans versus an alien invasion/occupancy.

Don’t be fooled by the nearly 7 hours that Steam claims that I’ve clocked in with the game. Half of it was me catching zzz-s on my Secret Lab chair.

Necromunda: Underhive Wars

Set in a hive city in the 40K universe, this is a turn-based strategy title where you control a squad of gang members fighting other gangs. The game has the feel of a first-person shooter to it and unlike the first two, there are no Space Marines in the game (or I didn’t play enough of it to find out), but in any case, I asleep within 5 minutes of playing the game.

Somber, Dour and Un-funny

It could have been the background music, or the gravel-voiced voice acting, but I genuinely believe that the lack of humour was the main factor that caused me to tune out the games. There’s only so much one can take from the ramblings of psychopathic religious zealots such as a Space Marine or an Inquisitor as main characters in a video game If I recall correctly, the only Warhammer 40K game that I have actually finished was the real-time strategy title, Dawn of War, and that game had Orks in it! And those guys are violent and more importantly funny as hell.

So what games have been a drag to you?